The political project around Jacob Zuma is violent, predatory and socially toxic, but it does speak to real lines of exclusion that liberalism cannot address
Many if not most South Africans welcome the decline of electoral support for the ANC. But the alarming reality is that the alternatives could be far worse
The ANC’s decline is deserved. But the ruling party mirrors a society suffused with contempt for poverty and repairing that requires solidarity, not just punishing a grotesque political class at the polls
There is a renewed white arrogance staking a claim to influence in the public sphere. It is fuelled by a swing to the right and needs to be contested
South Africa is correct and courageous to oppose the West at the International Court of Justice but is not a consistently principled actor
As the ANC’s standing and support sink to new lows, there is no emancipatory alternative ready to take to the hustings
The Change Starts Now project, which is backed by billionaires and fronted by former banker Roger Jardine, is a top-down attempt by powerful people to win political clout
Our grief for people we have not personally known is informed by the narratives and stories we are exposed to – but these stories are not equally told
As the ashes cool and xenophobia licks at our shared humanity, it is time for a reckoning with who we have become
Democracy can be about more than elections and the sudden moments of rupture enabled by social media. The patient work of building popular movements remains essential