The World Through My Eyes

It may or may not be the case that the reason Lindiwe Sisulu & Zweli Mkhize were absent in today's Parliamentary Voting on the s89 Panel Report was because they were advised that if they voted "yes" then they'd face suspension\expulsion from the party. I cannot prove nor disprove this as I am quite far from being in a position where I'd be certain of such 'sensitive' information. It doesn't sound too far fetched though if you consider that there's been threats of "internal party processes" to follow for "those that voted yes". While I do understand and respect that joining an organization\political party requires one to discard personal interests together with individualism, after all the whole point of becoming part of a movement that shares the same values and principles as you is to let go of "self" for the greater good of society. As much as I respect this, I do not believe it is wise that whenever members of a...

  As the rest of the world enjoys or at the very least rushes towards the 4th Industrial Revolution, I comfortably sit in the dark with a candle lit as if it's protesting its overuse. I'm not sure if I am to find comfort in that soon France & possibly the USA will follow suit. This contrast between "us" and "them" doesn't only concern resources but is also found in our definition of and approach to democracy. This is going to be a very short piece, I'm not yet sure on what exactly but perhaps you, as the reader, will help me decipher as you read along. It will, however, be on the lines of how having a hundred drillion political parties is counterproductive and defeats the purpose of what these initiators seek to achieve.  Political issues are clear and straight forward, it's black & white, there's no grey area around it. If you understand what it is you stand for both as an individual and as a collective, what it is you want to achiev...

It is an open secret that the ANC has been on the brink of its demise for the past 14+ years, former President Jacob Zuma's implication and participation in the State Capture seemed to worsen the state of the party & the confidence its constituency has. It seems to be common cause now that the party's top officials find themselves in hot water every now and then, one could even say it seems to be a rite of passage. It is therefore no surprise that people get so desperate for a level-headed leader with an actionable vision even if this sends us scrabbling at the past.  My guess is that this is where the strong suggestion and yearning amongst some members of society who believe that former President Thabo Mbeki ought to return to the highest seat in the land comes from. Of course this would be impossible owing to section 88(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which reads "no person may hold office as President for more than two terms, but when a person...

"This systematic criminality, where does it come from? [And] I think all of us have had a sense of this problem that over the years this phenomenon of loss of respect for the law has become more and more widespread..." These are the words of Former President Thabo Mbeki in a lecture given in 2019 titled "Only Human Capital Can Change Society For The Better".   I've noticed there's a growing trend amongst International Relations, Political Science & Law students and young professionals who seemingly want to be the only ones that have an opinion on the happenings of the country & as a result, believe their opinions hold more value and to be quite honest, I do not understand the logic behind this. After all, you don't get more affected by politics just because you've studied Political Science, at the end of the day, we're all victims of the harsh reality created and perpetuated by politicians whose sole purpose is to address 'politics of...

  Procurement processes raising eyebrows is nothing new in our shores, if you remember correctly former President Jacob Zuma set up a Commission of Inquiry in 2011 in terms of s84(2)(f) of the Constitution to look into, what the government at the time called, "allegations" of fraud, corruption, impropriety or irregularity in the Strategic Defence Procurement Package (SDPP). This Commission, widely known as the Arms Deal Commission or the Seriti Commission, was to look at the processes undertaken in acquiring arms for the SANDF, the rationale behind this and ultimately, if it made any economic sense. We will look at this Commission in detail in another piece, today we shine the spotlight on the newly appointed scandalous Finance Minister.  The National Treasury recently published changes to Preferential Procurement Regulations (PPR), these give State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to have their own Preferential Procurement Policies - no longer subjecting them to doing business with ...

About a week ago, I put up a piece which intended to compare the crime rates between South Africa and Zambia, I figured it was unfair to do so without giving somewhat of a ‘context’ on these two countries so here we are today, looking at relations between the two states. As with all African states with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, Zambia and South Africa share a common history: colonialism. This has influenced and shaped the politics of the country itself as well as how it relates to its counterparts.  The former protectorate of Northern Rhodesia was not exempt from an inevitable name-change, in 1964, Northern Rhodesia, Barotseland and the Kingdom of the Lozi people merged to form one independent sovereign state named Zambia (after the Zambezi River). 16 years later, in 1980, the country hosted the formation of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), which later reformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a Regional Economic ...

I spend about 20% of my day scrolling through Twitter. Actually, the truth has been altered here, it's way more than that, I'm just too ashamed to admit it. Naturally, I'll come across a new character or two in a day and the beauty of social media is that in 30 seconds, you would've already known what they do for a living, where they work, if they are homophobes or they occasionally want to choke their helper for frying 2 eggs and even, not too surprisingly since we attach our worth to our wealth, how much they take home. It's insane. Actually, scary is more fitting. I'm rambling, this post is not about people oversharing if they enjoy hiking up the Table Mountain during weekends or if they spend the very little time they have here on earth gulping down a bottle of Hunter's Dry while loudly singing along to Adiwele all the while ducking and diving gunshots. The latter is actually quite relevant here since we're talking about crime, specifically looking a...