Here are the standout moments of 2023 and highlights that defined the year:
President Ramaphosa, along with his cohort of friends and enemies, has broken South African reality. Can we get it back?
By Richard Poplak
A prisoner of his own incompetence in the fortress of the Kremlin on Saturday, fearful for his presidency, his own legacy and his very life. As Sunday dawned, he emerged greatly weakened, his brutal grip on power shaken. Why is this man still the South African ruling elite’s best friend, leader to so many?
By Branko Brkic
The faiths and high hopes that a young Mandlakayise John Hlophe carried from KwaDukuza via Cambridge and finally as Judge President of the Western Cape, appear to underpin the lack of appetite for more than a decade to hold him accountable.
By Marianne Thamm
A prisoner of his own incompetence in the fortress of the Kremlin on Saturday, fearful for his presidency, his own legacy and his very life.
By Branko Brkic
The faiths and high hopes that a young Mandlakayise John Hlophe carried from KwaDukuza via Cambridge and finally as Judge President of the Western Cape, appear to underpin the lack of appetite for more than a decade to hold him accountable.
By Marianne Thamm
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is officially out of office after a parliamentary vote saw her become the first person in her role to be removed. Her almost seven years in office have been a wild ride. We look back at some of her most ‘memorable’ moments.
By Rebecca Davis
The City of Johannesburg employs more than 40,000 people, but its engineering teams have been depleted through years of cadre deployment, which has continued under the coalition governments that now run the city. Wednesday night’s explosion in the CBD has exposed its lack of capacity.
By Ferial Haffajee
Multinational tech firm Gartner’s revealing self-disclosure about its corrupt 2015 deal with the SA Revenue Service leaves South Africans with two questions: Did tech businessman Patrick Monyeki bribe then tax boss Tom Moyane to bat a R200-million tech contract to Gartner and, crucially, why are the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority still sitting on their hands?
By Pauli van Wyk
Multinational tech firm Gartner’s revealing self-disclosure about its corrupt 2015 deal with the SA Revenue Service leaves South Africans with two questions: Did tech businessman Patrick Monyeki bribe then tax boss Tom Moyane to bat a R200-million tech contract to Gartner and, crucially, why are the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority still sitting on their hands?
By Pauli van Wyk
At the eleventh hour, University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng jumped before she was pushed — avoiding suspension by the UCT Council by coming to an agreement on a lucrative early retirement package.
By Rebecca Davis
It’s a crazy reality to admit, but the ascendant ideologies on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war have become a very literal acting out of the ancient holy texts. And, on both sides, with each attack and counterattack, with each atrocity that takes the lives of children, health workers and civilians, the ascendant ideologies risk becoming the dominant ideologies. The Torah and the Quran, as the zealots on both sides have always hoped, risk fulfilling their deepest prophecies about the war at the End of Days.
By Kevin Bloom
The loose cannon theory seems unlikely. For one thing, Brigety has not retracted anything he said last week. Or not publicly. If he apologised, it would seem he was doing so for being undiplomatically frank, not for the content of what he said. So his accusations apparently remain on the table.
By Peter Fabricius
As the extortion economy pioneered in KwaZulu-Natal spreads, companies have to cope with a complicit state, mushrooming ‘business forums’ and limited economic space for assimilation. To counter the threat, some have turned to taxi bosses, a group known for their capacity for violent enforcement. What could possibly go wrong?
By Greg Ardé for amaBhungane
As the extortion economy pioneered in KwaZulu-Natal spreads, companies have to cope with a complicit state, mushrooming ‘business forums’ and limited economic space for assimilation. To counter the threat, some have turned to taxi bosses, a group known for their capacity for violent enforcement. What could possibly go wrong?
By Greg Ardé for amaBhungane
One cannot fail to note the cluster of white Afrikaners who seemingly find themselves in the trenches fighting off a criminal siege of the power utility. And some are fighting among themselves too.
By Marianne Thamm
Persuading eight fractious leaders to work together requires patience and wisdom, as Professor William Mervyn Gumede is discovering.
By Rebecca Davis
Persuading eight fractious leaders to work together requires patience and wisdom, as Professor William Mervyn Gumede is discovering.
By Rebecca Davis
Over the past week, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has shown some leadership qualities that only tangentially had to do with the actual winning of the games.
By Tim Cohen
Dear fans of ‘The South Africa Show’, we have now reached Stage 10 Mbalusion — welcome to the real ‘Upside Down’.
By Malibongwe Tyilo
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