The argument or discourse over Eskom’s structure is not merely about efficiency, competition or balance sheets. It is about whether an African state can retain the knowledge, institutional memory and strategic capacity required to govern the commanding heights of its economy in the public interest. Introduction The restructuring of Eskom [...]
Moving the grid between state entities is not privatisation. The real test is whether accountability moves with it. The argument over Eskom’s unbundling is being framed too narrowly. Eskom chair Mteto Nyati is right to insist that the financial and lender implications of transferring the transmission grid must be handled [...]
An opinion on renewal, coalition governance and the movement’s duty to rebuild local democracy The local government elections on 4 November 2026 will be more than a contest for wards and councils. They will be a referendum on whether the African National Congress can convert its enduring political agency into [...]
"As South Africa selects its next generation of councillors and mayors, public office must be treated as a duty to serve—not a prize to be won." South Africa has entered the decisive phase of choosing the public representatives who will shape local government after the 4 November 2026 elections. Candidate [...]
“A liberation mandate loses its force when governing power ceases to produce measurable transformation.” Introduction: From Democratic Breakthrough to Developmental Impasse South Africa’s democratic settlement brought antagonistic forces into a shared constitutional order. It rested on a difficult reconciliation between the dispossessor and the dispossessed, and on a public willingness [...]
The real question before the Commission is whether criminal networks have moved beyond influencing the state to operating through its police, intelligence and prosecution machinery South Africans may be watching the Madlanga Commission as a parade of allegations, denials, names and institutional intrigue. But its deepest significance lies elsewhere. [...]
TCE alumni should return to Soshanguve not only to remember what was, but to organise for the future of teacher education. From Memory to Purpose On 15 August 2026, alumni of the Transvaal College of Education will return to the former Soshanguve campus. The gathering has been billed as [...]
Patrice Motsepe’s polling lead is less a prediction of the 2027 conference than a revolt against the ANC’s existing leadership supply. The most consequential finding in the latest Social Research Foundation poll may not be the ANC’s fall to 34%. It is that Patrice Motsepe remains the clear public preference [...]
Every August, South Africa commemorates Women’s Month and recalls the courage of the women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956. The ritual is historically necessary, but remembrance alone is politically insufficient. A democratic society cannot honour women symbolically while reproducing institutions, markets and households in which authority remains [...]
The crisis over foreign nationals is not only a migration dispute. It is a warning that South Africa’s state is losing the ability to govern visibly, lawfully and competently where citizens feel most abandoned. Introduction South Africa’s migration flashpoints are not only about foreign nationals. They reveal a deeper crisis [...]
