inside politics
Analysis of and commentary on South African politics.
Tag: Mpumalanga
21 September 2012
By the Numbers
SERIES: Some light reading for a Friday: 10 interesting numbers from current affairs and politics that tell a story. Did you know that 20.5% of people in Emfuleni Municipality in Gauteng believe it is legitimate for a man to beat a woman “if she is unfaithful”, the highest proportion of any municipality in the province? For this fact and a range of other curious and disturbing numbers, read on. Below the graphic is the full list of numbers and, in each case, the source from where they originate.
29 May 2012
Mpumalanga declares God the spiritual leader of province
FEATURE: According to the news publication Mpumalanga Today, Mpumalanga Provincial education MEC Reginah Mhaule has signed an agreement on behalf the provincial government dedicating the province to the Christian God and recognising him as the spiritual leader of the province. If the story is true, it is profoundly undemocratic and runs directly against the constitution, which defines South Africa as a secular state and confines the practice of any religion to a strictly private affair.
13 April 2012
Driving Ms Mbete: Part 2
FEATURE: Having set out the details of former Speaker Baleka Mbete’s fraudulent driver’s licence in Part 1 of this retrospective, today we look at how the press responded at the time. The various editorial comments are helpful not only because they gives a sense of the outrage but because they capture nicely the various ethical considerations at play, which are perhaps lost in a factual account of the incident and, certainly, were lost on the ANC at the time.
12 April 2012
Driving Ms Mbete: Part 1
FEATURE: It is now largely forgotten but in 1997 former Speaker in the National Assembly Baleka Mbete was embroiled in a serious corruption scandal. She was accused of obtaining fraudulently a learner’s and driver’s licence and, among 44 others, required to testify before a Commission of Enquiry into the matter. It is worth recalling the story because it illustrated much about the ANC’s attitude to accountability and executive office – an attitude that is now well entrenched. So, here is a retrospective: how Baleka Mbete got a fraudulent driver’s licence and what the ANC did about it.
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