Finally, we have a date – August 8th.

Natalie Emmerson’s GoFundMe page has raised more the £17 000 to help those suffering in the wake of the Garden Route fires.

The immediate response to Mantashe’s announcement that he will not be seeking any leadership position in the upper echelons of the ANC was speculation about who would succeed him.

The Loyal Opposition’s knee-jerk response to Zuma’s cabinet shuffle was to request a No-Confidence motion. But as the days rolled by, awaiting the return of the House Speaker from a trip to Asia, the question of a secret vote came under scrutiny.

Dear Mr Jackson Mthembu. Suffice to say that I was an ANC activist at university, subsequently in the ANC “junior leadership” programme and in 1994 stepped back but remained a loyal ANC voter.

Dear Mr President. I write this letter because I feel angry. And confused. Angry, confused and betrayed. I am writing to you, Mr President, in desperation as a young South African citizen, deeply concerned about the direction our country is heading in under your leadership.

Dear Mr President, I write this letter representing a concerned group of young people in South Africa.

Send your letters to the editor via: editor@thesouthafrican.com

This is the day a teacher was handed the Finance portfolio. Downgrades will follow the turbulence. The Rand already lost 5% just overnight.

It seems that everyone is talking about the recent incident that took place this weekend at the Spur in The Glen in Oakdene.

Lack of support from the Department of Sport and Recreation has thwarted the dreams of a group of women who hope to become the first black women from South Africa to summit Everest.

The phrase, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” describes the difficult situation President Jacob Zuma finds himself entangled in, as a social grant crisis unfolds, much to the panic of 17 million recipients as to whether they would get paid come 1 April.

The poaching incident at the Thula Thula orphanage – where two rhinos were killed and staff held hostage – has touched the CEO of Helping Rhinos deeply.

I am really angry tonight. I have tried to keep out of this but I am really so sad tonight. 

Dear Riaan, Denver and Friends: The irony is that through your hate towards white people, you are denouncing the existence of coloured people.

The Department of Home Affairs wastes millions of Rands of Tax Payers’ money due to numerous court battles, abject inefficiency and laziness, staff knocking off early, and more.

We’re less than 24 hours away from an extremely important debate over Zuma’s ability to hold office, and already the small, almost ethereal voices of reason rising from among the ANC elite ranks have been (quite forcefully) stifled.

We throw around the word ‘genocide’ sometimes without really understanding what it means. The word obviously is a fearful, brutal one… ‘the intentional act to destroy a people in whole or in part’. Let that sink in for a second. DESTROY a people.

Barely a week in her new position and Busisiwe Mkhwebane has already raised fears that she may be captured, which essentially feeds into the DA’s allegations that she was a spy close to President Jacob Zuma.

Penny Sparrow is a national hero. Or should be one. I’ll tell you why.

I have been inspired to write this piece by the scintillating wisdom of the UCT student who said;
and I quote: “science as a whole is a product of ‘Western Modernity’, and the whole thing should be scratched off!”

Dear Comrade Shaun, congratulations on rounding up the finance minister and two of his former henchmen from the SA Revenue Service. Like you, I despise people who understand numbers.

Some people claim that the ANC has the ability to self-correct. Nevertheless, the issue is not whether it has the ability to self-correct or not, but whether it has a leadership that can self-correct.

Caster, not Oscar.

By now, less than a week before the 2016 local government elections and more than two months since The Conversation had published Co-Pierre Georg’s article, Why Julius Malema’s EFF Doesn’t Offer South Africans a Way Out of Poverty, I had hoped that someone, especially from the EFF, would have engaged him.

I have been investigating a case where an entity within the Department of Transport (DoT), namely the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), has been withholding funds that it should, ultimately, have paid over to National Treasury. Leaked documents indicate that this has been taking place since at least 2007.

I’d like to start by recognising the contribution our youth in South Africa have made in all areas of our country. From fighting fascism to asserting themselves as nation builders through continued change; by having the courage and WILL to run the gauntlet of life and to aspire to the greatness in either form for which their parents and grandparents fought so hard for.

Let’s pause for a moment and think of all the great things we’ve accomplished as a nation and everything we have yet to… now, let’s have a look at what you lot have been sulking about.

Hugo Swire, Minister of State for the Commonwealth encourages all those eligible to vote in the EU referendum to register and have their say on 23 June.

In his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell says, “The laws carry consequences with them.” He goes on to remind those who are in positions of power to apply “the laws and the people will follow” them; or else, he warns, they “will not be able to lead others.”

I am writing you this letter to invite you for a frank conversation about transformation. In particular, about our role in transforming our workplaces.

There is a popular maxim in Sesotho that says, “Moiketsi ha a llelwe,” which loosely translated, means one cannot feel sorry for someone who has brought it upon himself.

As the Constitutional Court (CC), the highest court in the land, has ruled that you have failed to uphold your oath of office, it is, therefore, befitting to address you as Jacob Zuma, not as the President anymore.

Dear Mr. President, I do not accept your apology. You stood before the country and lied to our faces. You take us for fools. You look down on us. You belittle us. You insult our intelligence. Because…

Since his election as State President, Jacob Zuma has had a few major scandals, which have impinged on the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) reputational image.

When I was on holiday in South Africa last year I felt that there was something new in the air, something which was not there on my previous visits, something sinister and threatening.

Some days ago I got to see democracy in action. Demonstrators had congregated on the town square in front of Durban City Hall in the hours leading up to the State of the Nation address. The cause: President Jacob Zuma’s reign and the corruption which seems to plague his and numerous other offices. Unfortunately, what I read as a protest taking issue with economic fraud and negligence devolved into race based polemics.

Mr Maimane, you had me (and a lot of white people) fooled. Here we were, feeling happy and content about the new leader of the DA being a nice young “colour blind” man, leading a group of people who thought that you were genuine.