ANC

Today

Andrew Kenny

The dark heart of South Africa’s Expropriation Act

Cape Town How damaging will South Africa’s Expropriation Act be? The legislation, which allows the state to seize private property without compensation, was signed late last month by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The act is consistent with the Marxist ideology of the South African Communist party, an ally of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). It’s claimed it will ‘redress the results of past racial discrimination’ and ‘undo the legacy of apartheid’ (among other platitudes). The reality, however, is that this legislation will likely do nothing to help the country’s majority black population who live in grinding poverty. There is nothing in the act to stop it instead being used by

Thursday

Sam Kiley

Why do South Africans still support the ANC?

Support for South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, has just fallen below 40 per cent, which makes it very likely that, come the May election, there’ll be a coalition government. I’m surprised that support for the ANC is as high as it is. Across South Africa, states run by the ANC are failing. Infrastructure has collapsed and unrepaired sewage systems mean the water is polluted and poisonous. Electrical systems are down and the railways and ports are often closed. Property prices in Cape Town soar as South Africans flee here from all across the rest of the country. Because South Africa’s rand has collapsed against the euro (and

Tuesday

Graham Boynton

From she-devil to heroine – Winnie Mandela’s surprising metamorphosis

Apartheid South Africa created many heroes and villains, and in the heat of battle for the soul of that country it was sometimes difficult to tell which was which. For decades, Nelson Mandela represented righteous liberation for a society enchained by the grim political philosophy of apartheid. Throughout most of this time, his wife Winnie embodied fearless defiance and radical resistance to the system, a charismatic beauty who howled with rage: according to Lord Hain, ‘a quasi-revolutionary to Mandela’s reformism’. A complex Shakespearian tale unfolds of two charismatic figures thrown together by apartheid Today, as South Africa lurches from one crisis to the next, the legacy of the Mandelas is