Engineering News | Columnist | Aubrey Matshiqi

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Aubrey Matshiqi

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

Health of citizens must be SA’s supreme law

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 15th May 2020 Cicero, the highly gifted orator and lawyer – he of the heyday of the Roman Empire – once argued that the health of the people, the health of citizens, must be the supreme law. He, of course, was talking about health in both its narrow and broader senses. He was talking about both the physical... →

The people have spoken

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 31st May 2019 In its strategy and tactics documents, the African National Congress (ANC) talks about ‘the people’ as the key motive force of what the ruling party refers to as the National Democratic Revolution. According to the liberation movement model, the people and the liberation movement are one. The... →

ANC will come out tops – and here’s why

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 3rd May 2019 Apparently there is a general election on May 8. Were it not for the so-called service delivery protests, one would have forgotten that South Africans are going to the polls in a few days. I refer to the rebellion of the poor as ‘so-called’ service delivery protests because the term is, at best,... →

Post-Sona blues

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 1st March 2019 The 2019 State of the Nation address (Sona) will be remembered for two things in the main: the anger with which some social partners greeted the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that State-owned electricity utility Eskom would be unbundled into three independent entities and the... →

ANC manifesto: we’ve heard that all before

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 31st January 2019 Before I start, let me say this: I have spent the past two days thinking about what to say about the election manifesto of the African National Congress (ANC). After reading the ANC’s manifesto, I thought of Duma Gqubule, who, referring to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic stimulus plan, said... →

A reflection on 2018

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 14th December 2018 Almost a year ago, Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC) at the Nasrec national conference of the ruling party. Two months later, he became the President of the republic. His election was greeted with a great sense of euphoria, optimism and hope. The end of... →

State capture – again

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 19th October 2018 In my last interview with polity.org, I argued that there is an Askari element in the African National Congress (ANC). This Askari element consists of members and leaders of the ANC who, since the days of the liberation struggle, have been part of the project to destroy the ANC and, thereby,... →

Facilitators of State capture in SA

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 21st September 2018 The State capture commission of inquiry is under way. The picture that is beginning to emerge is that of a South Africa where, by the time former President Jacob Zuma left the stage, corruption was no longer endemic because it had become systemic. In other words, by the time Zuma was forced to... →

Dissecting the ANC’s sudden interest in land expropriation

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 24th August 2018 Does South Africa belong to those who live in it, or to those who conquered it? In other words, is land expropriation without compensation constitutionally permissible and, is it possible to expropriate land without compensation without the consent of the conquerors? According to the Freedom... →

Ramaphoria index falling

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 20th July 2018 This month we are celebrating the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. I suspect that the country will celebrate more the older Mandela than the young hothead of a militant who became a commander in the armed struggle against white minority rule. To me, the commemoration of the centenary of... →

When crime intelligence is lacking

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 22nd June 2018 The cash-in-transit heists, taxi violence and political assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) should worry us deeply. What they suggest is the possibility that both policing and our intelligence environment may be in a state of crisis. While it is critical that we avoid errors in analysis that... →

A reflection on the DA-De Lille imbroglio

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 28th May 2018 A hegemonic project is at its zenith when its driving logic, values and what it represents have become commonsensical. Hegemony at this stage of development is about the reproduction of relations in society in a way that continues to guarantee the dominance of hegemonic interests. It is about... →

We should be less euphoric about the Ramaphosa moment

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 23rd March 2018 In his State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke about a new dawn, hope and renewal. Quoting from the song Thuma Mina (send me), by the late South African jazz giant, Hugh Masekela, he asked us to act in pursuit of a better life and a better South Africa. Since Ramaphosa's... →

The choices Ramaphosa has to make

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 15th February 2018 As I sit to write this month’s missive, it seems the Zuma moment will be behind us soon. As I write, I am listening to a news bulletin in which it is being reported that African National Congress (ANC) reasurer-general Paul Mashatile told a group of businesspeople at the Mining Indaba, in Cape... →

Ramaphosa headed for stormy seas

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 24th January 2018 The African National Congress (ANC) has a new leader. The question is whether Cyril Ramaphosa is the next President of South Africa. In other words, will Ramaphosa lead the ANC to victory in the national election in 2019, and will the ANC recoup the electoral losses it suffered in the last two... →

ANC leadership race really a contest between Ramaphosa and Zuma

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 15th December 2017 Twelve months ago, I had no doubt that the national conference of the African National Congress (ANC) would elect Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as president of the ruling party and successor to President Jacob Zuma. Today, a day before the commencement of the conference, I am not so sure. In the past... →

Here is why CR17 is not ahead in ANC leadership race

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 24th November 2017 In a matter of weeks, the African National Congress (ANC) will elect its fourteenth president. Depending on who or what section of the media one believes, it is either Cyril Ramaohosa (CR17 to his supporters) or Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (NDZ) who is, as they say, ‘miles ahead’. This is not... →

KPMG scandal could be the tip of the iceberg

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 20th October 2017 The KPMG scandal is an example of what happens when accounting meets the profit imperative. It is also an example of what happens when the profit motive, accounting and politics meet. That said, I am happy that members of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) are not as... →

NDZ not Zuma’s candidate in ANC leadership race

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 22nd September 2017 Let me start by quoting from the book Dictator, by Robert Harris – a book about Rome and the last 15 years of Cicero: “You have the soldiers but no legitimacy, we have the legitimacy but no soldiers. What we do both have, however, is a common enemy.” Another bit from the same book: “Your speeches... →

No credible candidate in the overcrowded race for the presidency of the ANC

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 23rd August 2017 In recent months and weeks, Lindiwe Sisulu, Mathews Phosa, Baleka Mbete and Jeff Radebe have entered the race for the presidency of the African National Congress (ANC). In other words, the 2017 national conference of the ANC has delivered the highest number of presidential candidates since the... →

Conservative streak prevailed at ANC policy conference

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 21st July 2017 At the end of the policy conference of the African National Congress (ANC), President Jacob Zuma declared that the ruling party was more united than it had been when the conference began. In the process of delivering his closing address, he proposed that the loser in the race for the presidency... →

Zille’s antics a big disservice to the DA

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 16th June 2017 There is an interesting irony about the tension between Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane and his predecessor, Helen Zille. The irony lies less in the fact that Zille mentored Maimane but is more about how Zille changed the DA. Maimane, as the first black leader of the party, is a... →

The unravelling of Jacob Zuma

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 19th May 2017 At the memorial service for former President Nelson Mandela, a section of the crowd booed President Jacob Zuma. At the end of last year, former Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom stood up at a meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) and proposed a vote... →

Anti-Zuma campaigners should rather pressure ruling party to eject him

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 28th April 2017 To defeat former President Thabo Mbeki, the coalition that supported the then deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Zuma, did two things. Firstly, they decided to step outside the disciplinary framework of the ANC and created structures outside the ruling party in support... →

South Africa struggling to be reborn

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 23rd March 2017 The South Africa we fought for is struggling to be reborn. In fact, it is being pushed back into the womb. As we prepare to celebrate 23 years of democracy, I find myself wondering whether our ancestors are proud of us. Are they proud of what we have become? →

Foreign policy rows all about the changing balance of power

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 17th February 2017 The year began with two rows on foreign policy. The first was about a visit to Taiwan by Solly Msimang in his capacity as the executive mayor of Tshwane. The second, which riled the African National Congress (ANC) even more, was about a visit to Israel by Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi... →

SA needs a leader who will be able to cure the country’s ills

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 27th January 2017 The election of the leader of the African National Congress (ANC) is not only about individual interests; that is, it is not only about the interests of the individuals who want to ascend to the throne. I am certain that it is almost always about either the ascendance of those that are outside... →

2016: Year of Orwellian manipulation

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 16th December 2016 We must declare 2016 the year of Orwellian manipulation. For the purposes of this article, Orwellian manipulation is about presenting falsehoods as truths, and truths as falsehoods. The aim is to distort political reality and, thereby, change the political environment to the disadvantage of... →

Tide beginning to turn against Jacob Zuma

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 18th November 2016 What a week! In the same week, the National Prosecuting Authority dropped charges of fraud against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, a judge ordered that the report on the investigation into allegations of State capture be released and disparate groups – including the Economic Freedom Fighters... →

Likely consequences of an ANC-EFF merger

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 18th October 2016 For about three years now, there have been consistent rumours that some leaders of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the African National Congress (ANC) have been engaged in on-off discussions about Julius Malema and others in the top echelons of the EFF going back to the ANC. According to... →

Politics to blame as SA hurtles towards downgrade

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 29th September 2016 South Africa is inching closer and closer towards a downgrade to subinvestment grade. To blame, of course, is the increasingly fractious politics of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). If former US President Bill Clinton had been South African, he would have said: “It’s politics, stupid!”... →

Implications of this year’s local government elections

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 24th August 2016 In electoral terms, South Africa is a new country. The South Africa of the day before the local government elections, in relation to the South Africa of the day after the elections, is a country that is foreign to the African National Congress (ANC). As former treasurer-general of the ANC Mathews... →

ANC should lose August elections – but will it?

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 22nd July 2016 The local government elections are upon us. And if things go according to the predictions of political commentators such as yours truly, as well as the number of violent protests we have seen around the country over the past few months, the African National congress (ANC) is in deep trouble. It... →

EFF may well exploit rival parties’ incoherence on the race question

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 24th June 2016 The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the African National Congress (ANC) have some common headaches, chief among which is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). After the 1999 elections, the Democratic Party – the precursor to the DA – conducted a re-envisioning exercise following a successful campaign... →

There’s more to elections than attendance at manifesto launch rallies

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 13th May 2016 An old Prog – a former member of the liberal Progressive Party, one of the precursors of the Democratic Alliance (DA) – told me a story about the 1961 general election, which was held on October 18, 13 months before I was born. →

Nkandla judgment a turning point for ANC

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 15th April 2016 A few weeks ago, I argued in an article I wrote for another publication for a proper alignment between conviction and courage. Since then, people have been asking me what I mean when I talk about ‘a proper alignment between conviction and courage’. In its simplest form, this argument suggests... →

Gordhan vs Zuma

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 11th March 2016 The course of history can, and may, be changed by a single event. In the case of President Jacob Zuma, that event may be the decision to fire Nhlanhla Nene as South Africa's Finance Minister on December 9, 2015. By firing Nene, the President unleashed political and economic forces he clearly did... →

ANC weighing pros and cons of long campaign for municipal elections

By: Aubrey Matshiqi 12th February 2016 The African National congress (ANC) launches its local government election manifesto on April 16. Obviously, the elections will definitely not take place in May. Remember that the term of local government ends in May and that the elections must be held within 90 days after the end of the term.... →

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