Raymond Suttner
The reshuffle, “junk status” and South Africa in crisis
5th April 2017 The word may be over-used but there is little doubt that South Africa is in the middle of a significant crisis, which has engulfed the country’s... →
Remembering “Comrade Kathy” and learning from his life
28th March 2017 Sad as the passing of Ahmed Kathrada is, we need to use these occasions to draw lessons from his life. Kathrada is one of the last of a generation... →
ANC and democratic crisis: what do we do?
22nd March 2017 Last week saw a number of significant judicial decisions. These included a Constitutional Court ruling over the social grants crisis and the... →
Constitutional Court drawn towards decisions of great political significance
14th March 2017 The SASSA debacle moves to the Constitutional Court this week after political efforts failed to resolve the problem in a manner that safeguards the... →
Social grants, obligations and betrayal
6th March 2017 What is at stake in the SASSA crisis? At one level we are dealing with an emergency, which is to ensure that grants supporting 17 million people -... →
Xenophobia and the question of universal rights
3rd March 2017 Professor Raymond Suttner discusses 'How do we address xenophobia?'. →
Empty politics in a time of crisis
6th February 2017 Current South African political discussion appears fixated on the ANC succession race, over who will succeed Jacob Zuma as ANC president (if he... →
Can the DA and its allies displace the ANC nationally?
24th January 2017 While many of us constantly dissect the ANC’s actions, its various weaknesses and the dangers they pose to our country, are opposition forces... →
What is at stake in the ANC “succession” race?
16th January 2017 “The good news is that it was the last time we saw Jacob Zuma delivering the keynote speech at an ANC January 8 birthday celebration.” ‒ Max du... →
The ANC’s January 8 anniversary statement: then and now
9th January 2017 Until the 1990s, the ANC’s January 8 anniversary statement was a very important day in the calendar for very many people. For my generation, and... →
ANC “self-correction”, self-examination and rebuilding democracy
7th December 2016 Since the recent ANC National Executive Committee meeting, where a call was made for President Jacob Zuma to step down, conflicting perceptions... →
Zuma remains president, but vulnerable
30th November 2016 It is only a little over a week ago that MPs gave President Jacob Zuma a standing ovation when he rose to answer questions in the National... →
Armed struggle and gender in the ANC’s past and present
21st November 2016 Among the many controversial features of the liberation struggle waged by the ANC, the place of women in Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) has been one of the... →
ANC takes further steps towards self-destruction. What is our role as citizens?
15th November 2016 It is reported in the City Press that President Jacob Zuma attended a caucus of the parliamentary ANC and instructed MPs to vote against the DA’s... →
Who will lead us out of the present morass?
9th November 2016 Many people say they are demoralised, and some have been so for some time. They had hoped that post-apartheid South Africa would lead to something... →
If Zuma goes, what route to recovery?
3rd November 2016 Over the last week, President Jacob Zuma and his supporters have experienced dramatic reversals of fortune. These setbacks have been partly in the... →
Leadership beyond the time of the rogues
27th October 2016 We are living in a time where rogues seem to abound. Some are giant ones, some are lesser or even apprentice rogues. Others are... →
Chief Albert Luthuli as an ethical leader
14th October 2016 We live in a period where public leadership has been marked by acts of illegality, contempt for constitutional obligations, and personal enrichment... →
South Africa in crisis: how we get out of it
10th October 2016 In 1992, the ANC produced a booklet, Ready to Govern, an outline of its policy programme to transform South Africa from a society of deep... →
Universities crisis: what way forward?
3rd October 2016 After months of failure to engage politically with the crisis in universities, the president has called what is dubbed a representative forum... →
Demise of the ANC: a tentative understanding
19th September 2016 “The opposite of good is not evil, it is indifference.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel There is a growing sense that the ANC may be in the process of... →
We need an inter-generational dialogue on legacies and meanings of freedom
14th September 2016 When Angela Davis delivered the annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture last week she engaged with important issues about how we relate to legacies,... →
Exchange between Raymond Suttner and Edna Molewa
12th September 2016 Here below is the record of an exchange between Raymond Suttner and Edna Molewa which took place during August and September 2016 on the pages of... →
Building our political future in a time of ANC disarray
5th September 2016 As is evident in discord voiced in the media, the ANC is still reeling after the setbacks it experienced in the local government elections of 3... →
Does the ANC face defeat in 2019? What are the implications?
22nd August 2016 No-one should expect the ANC leadership to have anticipated precisely how the local government elections would turn out. Polls predicted some type... →
The Zuma rape trial and its bearing on the post-Zuma era
17th August 2016 The #Zumamustfall movement has taken various forms, while agreeing on the call for President Jacob Zuma to resign. Prominent figureheads and... →
Will removing Zuma solve our problems?
8th August 2016 A common narrative has emerged in the wake of the recent local government elections: that the electoral fortunes of the ANC constituted a... →
Political freedom and values beyond elections
2nd August 2016 This week’s elections, which could lead to significant changes in electoral power of the ANC and other parties, are very important. But if we want... →
Is the ANC still the bearer of Nelson Mandela’s legacies?
27th July 2016 As I wrote this, the Democratic Alliance had just tweeted their new poster: “Honour Madiba’s dream, vote DA!” Some years ago, this would have... →
South Africa in crisis: is there a way out?
20th July 2016 With instability in Zimbabwe, where we are seeing demonstrations that would have been impossible to imagine in recent years, the possibility of... →
ANC legacies? Retrieving and deploying emancipatory values today
5th July 2016 For many decades and for many people, the name “ANC” conjured up selflessness, sacrifice in the service of the oppressed people of South Africa and... →
Tshwane in flames as ANC authority disintegrates
28th June 2016 There have always been problems with ANC electoral lists in post-apartheid South Africa. There have been undercurrents of dissatisfaction since the... →
Are the democratic gains of 1994 irreversible?
22nd June 2016 Every political organisation, including those concerned with emancipatory goals has to at times evaluate its strengths and weaknesses and that of... →
Political violence threatens an already battered democracy
14th June 2016 When I joined the liberation struggle led by the ANC/SACP alliance in the late 1960s, it entailed support for armed struggle. Until then I had been... →
“Show of strength” by declining ANC
8th June 2016 The Gauteng ANC almost fulfilled their promise that they would fill the 95,000- seater FNB stadium for the provincial launch of their local... →
How do we identify ethical leadership and politics?
25th May 2016 Very many South Africans are cynical about politics and doubtful whether it will ever be pursued with integrity, with the purpose of serving the... →
“Imminent arrest” of Pravin Gordhan and undermining of legality
19th May 2016 There has been a flurry of denials since the Sunday Times broke the story that Pravin Gordhan, the minister of finance, faced “imminent arrest” on... →
Democracy beyond electoralism
12th May 2016 The political choice is clear for many South Africans: If you don’t vote for the ANC then it is your duty to get them out of power by voting for... →
Removing Zuma: We need to ensure a democratic outcome
5th May 2016 The outpouring of anger and calls for President Jacob Zuma to step down, although occasioned by the Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla, are... →
Freedom is a constant struggle
25th April 2016 They say that freedom is a constant struggle They say that freedom is a constant struggle →
Yes, Zuma must go. But what are the reasons?
21st April 2016 In life and in politics it often happens that a particular event or experience looms large in public consciousness and memory, representing more... →
