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United States President Joe Biden shakes hands with president-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Is our Trumpian moment coming?

Donald Trump’s return to power is a disaster for America, but we should be mindful that South Africa may risk a similar fate

A response to racially-charged assertions

The article shows ignorance about liberalism, its supporters and what it has done for this country and the rest of the world

The general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), Irvin Jim, was candid in claiming that he did not view the MK Party as a socialist-oriented party.

Numsa’s Irvin Jim claims media takedown campaign

The metalworkers union leader has alleged that NGOs want to capture the union, using media outlets

Quality: ‘New Frame’ staff members in August 2018. The closure of the publication is a blow to the journalists, who want it to be transferred into the control of the people working there

‘New Frame’ closure ‘a terrible loss to the country’

The closure of the publication ‘New Frame’, which sought to chase quality over clicks, is a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of donor funding

The bad news headlines may be true but the good news is often overlooked

No easy fix to SA media money crisis

The closure of the New Frame, which sought to chase quality over clicks, is a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of donor funding

Keep running: The fantasy that Cyril Ramaphosa would play the role of the good king riding in from exile to restore virtue, has also been put to rest. (John McCan/M&G)

A hard and perilous road ahead for SA

We must hold the line against authoritarianism and ensure political participation by the majority

Radical statement: Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu (above), who formed Juluka after performing together as a duo called Johnny and Sipho. (Media24)
Video

Johnny Clegg in retrospect: it all began with Juluka

This piece was first published in October 2000 to mark the 21st anniversary of ‘Universal Men’, the celebrated debut album by Juluka.

Johnny Clegg was a courageous man who confronted history and left an enduring mark on the world in which he found himself, and an extraordinarily gifted and accomplished artist. (Gallo)
Video

Johnny Clegg: Rebel, intellectual, musician

​In death, the artist begins the process of becoming a collective ancestor for South Africans and others around the world

Ramaphosa himself is not unaware of the political impossibility of the fantasy of a return to the way things were before Zuma, but now with added austerity, writes the author. (David Harrison/M&G)

South Africa must avoid authoritarian solutions

A nationalistic, gangster political faction is ready to exploit the crisis created by social inequality

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party

Avoid a Modi authoritarian solution for South Africa

A nationalistic, gangster political faction is ready to feed off the crisis created by social inequality

(John McCann/M&G)

ANC factions rely on silence from the poor

Our history has shown that the exercise of democratic reason can shake power from below

(John McCann)

A hundred years on and I see you, ICU

The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union’s contribution to freedom is mostly unsung

The restoration of basic democratic norms under President Cyril Ramaphosa will not be sustainable as it becomes clear that mass racialised impoverishment will continue to be the defining feature of our society. (John McCann/M&G)

Postcolony SA needs to work out a new way

Until a democratic order delivers some form of social justice, we will lurch from crisis to crisis

When an entire political class comes to be seen as rotten it is not uncommon for people to become deeply cynical about liberal democracy, says the writer (Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

A genuine democracy is needed

Stability demands that those who are brutally excluded must be given a meaningful voice

The commission is headed by former Supreme Court of Appeal president, Justice Lex Mpati. (David Harrison/M&G)

The migrant and the enemy within

We need to forge an embracing social awareness to counter South Africa’s inherent chauvinism

The memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada at the Johannesburg City Hall on April 1

In search of a truly new dawn

With the liberal world order in a state of crisis, genuinely democratic alternatives must be found

Assassination culture reached its apogee in Durban with more than 100 deaths in the Glebelands Hostel in uMlazi

SA’s road to freedom is stalked by death

The entrenchment and normalisation of assassinations are a threat to democracy

‘But Israel

Gaza suffers in long shadow of 1492

The normalisation of racism has very real consequences – look at what is happening in Gaza

The deputy president claims the intelligence services are being used to discredit him and prevent him becoming the country’s next leader.

Urban land question is also urgent

Intra-elite contestation on land seldom takes the often bitter struggles of the urban poor seriously

‘As a growing global movement serves notice on the ubiquity of predatory forms of sexuality we must take full measure of the weight of the fact

‘She was right to regard me with contempt’

Rape culture can lodge even within a progressive project, as the example of Pablo Neruda shows