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MUCH of what passes for politics today in this country is really theatre – and mostly not the kind which moves or inspires people.

WATER, bread, sun and wind, are basics of daily life. But they matter a great deal to most South Africans, which may be why the national debate does not care much about them.

The national debate loves to talk about ‘merit’. This is often a code for undemocratic prejudice.

YELLING at the government without making clear demands is not enough to make citizen voices matter.

HOW do you get the people to trust you if you don’t trust them? The question is one the ANC still battles to answer.

AMIDST their often very loud disagreements, this country’s politicians – and some who report and comment on them – agree on one core point: they share contempt for the voters who keep them in their jobs.

IF the Phala Phala allegations cost the President his job, party politics and the way democracy works here could change decisively. The point seems lost on a national ‘debate’ which is little more than a moralising chorus.

CRITICISING COURTS, an important democratic right, has fallen into disrepute in this country. The Constitutional Court’s ruling granting Janusz Walus parole should change that.

DURING the 2019 election campaign, some voters took to cyberspace to announce that they were ‘voting the ANC out’. When asked who they were voting in, they became angry and refused to answer.