South Africa – Page 5 – Zabalaza for Socialism

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 […]

The xenophobia outbreak in South Africa: Strategic questions facing the new social movements

Oupa Lehulere6 May 2026

June 2008 – The township of Alexandra outside Johannesburg, South Africa, has a long history of resistance to oppression and exploitation. In the late 1950s Alex (as it is popularly referred to) was the centre of bus boycotts against increases in fares and of struggles against apartheid, in the 1980s Alex was the centre of […]

OPEN LETTER TO OPERA SINGER AVIVA PELHAM ON HER OBJECTION TO UCT AWARDING IMTIAZ SOOLIMAN AN HONORARY DOCTORATE IN RECOGNITION OF HIS HUMANITARIAN WORK

Mike Van Graan5 May 2026

Dear Aviva, We do not know each other well, but from our brief interactions over many years and from what I’ve seen of your work within the performing arts, my impression was of a huge musical talent and of a warm, generous, humorous and smart human being. Which is why I find your objection (now […]

The Architecture of Continuity: How One Magistrate’s Gavel Speaks for a Whole System

Suliman Rajah21 April 2026

A single sentencing in April 2026 reveals the apartheid logic still running through South Africa’s courts, its water pipes, its power grid, its housing policies, and its hospitals. I. The Core Argument The April 2026 sentencing of Julius Malema is not an aberration. It is not the act of a single biased magistrate. It is […]

Returning to Biko: Black Consciousness in a Time of Tribalism and Xenophobia

Tshezi Azania Soxujwa7 April 2026

We are living in a dangerous time in our occupied Azania. Across townships and communities, we are seeing the rise of tribalism and xenophobia. People are turning against each other South African against “foreigner,” one tribe against another while claiming that others are stealing jobs or bringing drugs.But if we return to Steve Biko, we […]

CONTROVERSIAL COAL SALES

Mel Frykberg7 April 2026

South Africa boosts coal exports to Israel despite taking it to court in genocide case Critics have slammed the South African government, accusing it of hypocrisy, because of the country’s coal exports to Israel that have accelerated in the past two years despite Pretoria’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). […]

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 […]

Municipal Bungling, Water Apartheid, and Systemic Failure in Gqeberha’s Water Crisis

Siyabulela Mama11 February 2026

Gqeberha is once again confronting a deepening water crisis that exposes not only infrastructural decay and municipal failure, but also the enduring realities of racial capitalism marked by water apartheid and neoliberal governance in South Africa. While officials continue to frame the crisis as a technical or climatic challenge, lived experiences across the city reveal […]

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 […]

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Tag: South Africa