South Africa – Page 2 – Zabalaza for Socialism

THEMBELIHLE WAS BUILT THROUGH STRUGGLE: IT WILL BE DEFENDED THROUGH UNITY

Siyafana Sonke Campaign6 July 2026

The Siyafana Sonke Campaign salutes the residents of Thembelihle informal settlement in the South of Johannesburg, Lenasia, who continue to defend the values on which their community was built: solidarity, dignity and the right of all people to live without fear. Thembelihle was born out of struggle. It emerged because poor and working-class people, denied access to […]

Stuck Between Promise and Reality

Suliman Rajah22 May 2026

Soup kitchens, long cold, dry and dark winters Why your local council can’t just make water and electricity free — and what communities can do instead South Africa’s Constitution says everyone has the right to enough water. It says local government must provide basic services fairly. Those are not empty words. They are binding promises. […]

RESPONSE TO THE CONTRADICTIONS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY

Lebohang Phanyeko13 May 2026

The inclusion of right-wing populist formations in the South African Communist Party (SACP) ‘Conference of the Left’ to be held at the end of the month alongside formations such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), can only escalate rather than resolves the deep contradictions facing the South African left […]

Whose Growth?

Suliman Rajah31 March 2026

We do not seek to grow the economy. That statement, within the narrow confines of the present, is heresy. It is the ultimate rejection of the gospel according to the economists, the ministers, and the commentators who see only percentages and indices where we see suffering. Their eternal plea is for “growth,” for “investment,” for […]

This Is Not a Water Crisis. It Is a Capitalist Extraction Crisis.

Suliman Rajah17 February 2026

South Africa is not “mysteriously” running out of water. We are watching the logical outcome of a system that treats rivers as inputs, aquifers as assets, and ecosystems as expendable. The scientific facts are not in dispute. South Africa is a water-scarce country with highly variable rainfall. By the mid-2000s, approximately 98% of reliable surface water […]

The death of politics in South Africa.

Zwelinzima Vavi11 February 2026

We are underestimating the devastating impact of the death of politics in South Africa. Not politics as elections, conferences or speeches, but politics as the conscious, organised participation of ordinary people in shaping their collective future. We have never honestly analysed how the “big man” phenomenon hollowed out our democratic culture. The towering moral authority […]

Mazibuko Jara | Why the SACP needs to focus beyond the Alliance

Mazibuko Jara3 February 2026

Dinga Sikwebu’s article in last week’s City Press (“SACP’s umms and ahhs: Holes in motivations to contest elections”, Sun 18 Jan 2026, https://www.news24.com/citypress/voices/dingwa-sikwebu-sacps-umms-and-ahhs-holes-in-motivations-to-contest-elections-20260117-1174) lands a necessary challenge: the SACP’s decision to contest the 2026 local government elections is politically significant, but it currently reads as a half-step — an “umming and ahhing” posture that may […]

Neoliberalism Deepened under the Guise of “Structural Reform”

ZASO21 November 2025

Zabalaza for Socialism (ZASO) condemns the 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) as a ruthless extension of neoliberal austerity and pro-business restructuring. What the government and Treasury call “structural reform” is in reality a full-scale offensive against workers and the poor. The MTBPS entrenches the conservative Growth and Inclusion (GAIN) framework — a policy designed […]

The EU’s ‘Investment Package’ isn’t Aid — It’s guaranteed profit for private capital

Dominic Brown22 October 2025

The investment gap Over the past three decades, South Africa’s fixed investment — spending on physical assets such as factories, machinery, and infrastructure — has averaged just 16 percent of GDP. This is roughly half the average for upper-middle-income economies. Chronic underinvestment in the real economy, where most jobs are created, has contributed to the […]

Conservatism and democracy – the gulf between leaders and the working class

Zwelinzima Vavi20 October 2025

We must sound the alarm. Conservatism, distorted transformation, spatial cleansing, the collapse of faith in democracy and dangerous nostalgia are the fertile soil in which fascism grows.

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Category: South Africa