Aubrey Matshiqi

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Aubrey Matshiqi

Aubrey Matshiqi, Independent Political Analyst - matshiqi@yahoo.com

2015 – the year that was

11th December 2015 As people say, there is never a dull moment in South African politics. Indeed, in 2015 there were many moments in our politics that were definitely not dull. The year started in February with a State of the Nation address like no other since the advent of democracy. President Jacob Zuma stepped... →

South Africa the antithesis of a civilised society

13th November 2015 In the book Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason and the Gap Between Us And Them, author Joshua Greene makes some compelling arguments about some of the factors behind conflict in society. He argues that people in society, or what he calls ‘moral peoples', “fight not because they are fundamentally... →

Our priority task should be to define what constitutes a civilised state

16th October 2015 Broadly speaking, the creation of a society that is the antithesis of our apartheid past constitutes the bare minimum of what we need to achieve as a country. The greater goal is that of a society that is qualitatively better than the antithesis of apartheid. The question is whether South Africa... →

Hysterical pessimism not the solution to South Africa’s problems

11th September 2015 In the book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Joseph Schumpeter states: “Frank presentation of ominous facts was never more necessary than it is today because we seem to have developed escapism into a system of thought.” Schumpeter wrote this in the 1940s but his words are as profound today as... →

Photo by Darlene Creamer
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

South Africa in 2015

16th January 2015 The 2015 political calendar looks very interesting indeed. This is the year of the National General Council (NGC) of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). It is also the year of the special national congress and the thirtieth-anniversary national congress of the Congress of South African... →

Political commentator Aubrey Matshiqi

Let’s do away with ideas that ensure our people are the wretched of the earth

12th December 2014 The year 2014 is the year during which South Africa celebrated 20 years of democracy. But 2014 is also the year during which chinks in our liberal democratic project seemed to occupy centre stage in expressions of pessimism about the direction the ruling party, our institutions and our economy... →

The DA – boon or bane for SA democracy?

14th November 2014 Is the Democratic Alliance (DA) a blessing or a curse to our democracy? Five years ago, the DA went to court to challenge the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to withdraw charges of corruption, racketeering and money laundering against President Jacob Zuma. The then acting... →

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

First salvos fired in ANC leadership battles

17th October 2014 The elective national conference of the African National Congress (ANC) is still three years away but, if the deliberations at the Gauteng provincial conference of the ruling party are anything to go by, the first salvos in the political and leadership battles have already been fired. To put... →

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

Spy tapes ruling opens Pandora’s box

12th September 2014 Democratic alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille, in response to the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to grant the party access to the so-called ‘spy tapes’, said that this decision was “the end of the beginning”. What she was referring to is the fact that her party had fought a court... →

Photo by Darlene Creamer
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

The EFF’s dual character

15th August 2014 Where do the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) come from, and where are they going? In the lead-up to the 1949 national conference of the African National Congress (ANC), the Youth League tried to interest the then president of the ANC Dr AB Xuma in the idea of adopting a radical programme of... →

SA on brink of economic crisis despite assurances

11th July 2014 Is the South African economy on the brink of disaster? Or, to put it differently, is South Africa itself on the brink of disaster? Last month, ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded the sovereign rating of our country to just one notch above investment grade, while its counterpart, Fitch,... →

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

SA should elect a future that foregrounds the greater good

17th June 2014 As they usually say after an election, the people have spoken. The question is: What did they say? In my estimation, what we understood them to be saying depends on our economic, social, political and historical vantage points. It also depends on whether we see our past, present and future as... →

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

Reflections on 2014 elections

23rd May 2014 The 2014 general election is, in terms of the results, most probably the most interesting to decode since the advent of democracy in 1994. While the single-party dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) is still in place at national level, the different results that were achieved by the... →

Moral, ethical issues not major issues for ANC voters despite Nkandlagate

18th April 2014 There is no issue or factor that, on its own, will determine whether the African National Congress (ANC) gains or loses support in the May election. While the anger and disappointment of some sections of our country’s citizenry over the response of President Jacob Zuma and his party, the ANC, to... →

Promises, promises . . .

21st March 2014 Critical and strategic national conversations seldom occur during an election year and this year is not going to be an exception. As evidenced by the content of the election manifestos of different political parties, election pork pies, pipe dreams and things utopian have taken centre stage. As... →

DA-Agang fiasco damaged opposition politics

14th February 2014 The United Party was the ruling party of South Africa from 1934 to 1948, when the National Party came to power. The National Party was in power for 46 years – until it was dislodged by the African National Congress (ANC) in 1994. In short, single-party dominance has been with us for 66 years and... →

Photo by Darlene Creamer
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

Zuma booing an indication of citizens’ unhappiness

17th January 2014 At the memorial service for Nelson Mandela last month, President Jacob Zuma was jeered, booed and heckled by some sections of the crowd in front of tens of heads of State who were in the country to unite with us in our moment of grief. Obviously, the conduct was shameful and it betrayed a serious... →

Photo by Creamer media
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

Ruling alliance a mess as ANC loses plot

13th December 2013 A year ago, the African National Congress (ANC) held its centenary national conference in Mangaung, where President Jacob Zuma won the battle for the presidency of the ruling party by a wide margin. Proceedings at the national conference defied the expectations of what many thought, and others... →

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi

Race and the 2014 election

15th November 2013 Because of apartheid and colonialism, race was the main social contradiction before the democratic breakthrough of 1994. As we approach the 2014 general election, does race still matter? If it still does, will it shape the outcome of the election? In response to the question, there are several... →

Gauteng ANC calling on Mbeki to be Zuma’s cheerleader, flower girl

11th October 2013 According to newspaper reports, the African National Congress (ANC) in Gauteng would like former President Thabo Mbeki to join the 2014 election campaign effort of the ruling party in the province of gold. →

Reflections on 2014 elections

13th September 2013 In the 2009 general election, the African National Congress (ANC) won 11 650 748 votes (65.9% of the vote) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) won 2 945 829 votes, which amounted to 16.66% of the vote. The DA went up by 4.29%, while the ANC went down 3.79% from the previous election. What this means... →

Mandela should not be seen as a commodity

12th July 2013 To whom does Nelson Mandela belong? Who owns him?By way of answering this question, let me start with a trite remark: If Mandela were an ordinary villager from Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, the question of who owns him would never arise. →

Perfect storm of economic, political developments is avoidable

14th June 2013 Worries about the current economic situation and the possibility of more instability in the mining sector must be understood in terms of the economic impact of political uncertainty and the political impact of economic uncertainty. →

Perfect storm of economic, political developments is avoidable

12th June 2013 Worries about the current economic situation and the possibility of more instability in the mining sector must be understood in terms of the economic impact of political uncertainty and the political impact of economic uncertainty. Put differently, is South Africa heading towards a perfect storm... →

Guptagate reignites concerns about national security

17th May 2013 It was with a sense of irritation that many South Africans greeted the news of the unauthorised landing at the Waterkloof Air Force base of a civilian aircraft carrying members of the Gupta family and their guests. →

CAR incident highlights importance of trust between govt, citizens

19th April 2013 There is one thing that governments all over the world, democratic and undemocratic, have in common: they all seem to think that foreign policy is an esoteric area of human endeavour that is beyond the grasp of the mere mortals who happen to be the citizens of the countries they govern or misrule. →

Ramphele’s Agang under the spotlight

15th March 2013 In February, Mamphela Ramphele, a former black consciousness activist, University of Cape Town vice chancellor and World Bank mMD, launched a ‘party political platform’ called Agang (Build!). →

SA needs qualitatively different political, economic system

15th February 2013 In the months leading up to the election of Jacob Zuma as head of State in 2009, there was a lot of concern about his ability to govern a modern economy and State. After his inauguration in May 2009, and after he had given what was a confidence-building inauguration address, the concern gave way... →

Mangaung a bit of a damp squib, but not uninteresting

18th January 2013 The Mangaung conference of the African National Congress (ANC) has come and gone. Will the lot of the ordinary South African be better or worse, and has the conference taken the country closer towards achieving success in the battle against poverty, unemployment and inequality? →

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