The fall and rise of the House of Zuma

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

Jacob Zuma is subsiding into a pitiful caricature of his former virile self, says the writer.

South Africa taking the Covid-19 strain test

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

A black-swan event, such as Covid-19, is when systemic flexibility, political agility and - dare one say it? - national character come into play, writes William ...

Maybe wait and see if the lockdown works before blowing Ramaphosa's trumpet

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

But his economic measures speak tellingly of a fiscus bled dry

Budget Speech 2020 shows ANC’s schizophrenic alliances

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

How a conflict between the unions and the Ramaphosa administration plays out is as important for South Africa as is that between the Ramaphosa faction and the state-capture ...

A dysfunctional Western Cape Health suffers a deservedly humiliating defeat

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

A vindictive, protracted and costly campaign by Western Cape Health against three young doctors for “unlawfully removing” chairs is at last over.

Eskom’s board chair Prof Makgoba is a complicated figure in our public life

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

Makgoba is one of the most complicated figures in our contemporary public life. The right-wing Freedom Front Plus oppose his Eskom appointment but from an unusual ...

The toothless Judicial Services Commission is the real problem, not Hlophe

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

If nothing is now done to rectify the problem - suspension and a speedy investigation - then one has a national, constitutional crisis that goes to the heart of ...

JAUNDICED EYE: Reality casts a pall over seasonal cheer in South Africa

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

A nation gatvol of government crises, institutional collapses, and political scandals was looking forward to a happy holiday. Instead, Eskom briefly imposed an unprecedented ...

ANC’s mantra of 'collective responsibility' is to pass the buck

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

South Africans must take “collective responsibility” for the failures of their leaders. That’s the latest refrain from within President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration, ...

At last, President Cyril Ramaphosa takes a stand

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

In a month, President Cyril Ramaphosa will mark two years in the presidency. Let’s be clear; it’s “mark”, not celebrate, writes William Saunderson-Meyer.

A stench pervades South Africa's Chapter 9 institutions

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

For years the Human Rights Commission has been criticised for its apparent race bias - its speedy and unambiguous findings against white-trash bigots, while dragging ...

Jaundiced eye: South Africans bend over backwards to avoid using the x-word

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

Xenophobia, the x-word, has joined the k-word as unutterable in civilised society

The self-inflicted limitations of ‘last hope’ Ramaphosa

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

While Ramaphosa might be the only person in the government who could save South Africa. Unfortunately, he also appears to lack the courage to do so.

Municipalities slide ever closer to total collapse

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

According to the AG’s report, more than a third of municipalities are bankrupt, 18 are under direct administration. Only 8% received clean audits

#SONA2019: Decoding the inkblots

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

South Africans, after a decade of disaster and gloom, could do with some optimism and encouragement

Batohi may be independent, but the NPA is not

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

More intractable is the other major hurdle, that of the NPA?s competence. Batohi inherits an agency that is dysfunctional, divided and neglected.

New US ambassador to South Africa sells handbags

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

If you want to gauge where we stand in President Donald Trump’s universe, it’s written large in his choice of the new US ambassador to this country.

With cadre deployment enforced, state capture was only inevitable

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

It should not be about race. Nor gender. Nor family, social connections nor party membership. Merit should be the only criterion when making senior appointments. ...

Ramaphosa can only win on jobs by Cosatu

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

The ANC is in a state of ideological paralysis, it knows what government should do, but it is too timid to do it.

Ramaphosa recycles the NDP yet again, sigh

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

There will be “growth enhancing” reforms, public spending will be “reprioritised” to create jobs, infrastructure will be funded and there will be investments in ...

#2018ZimElections: democracy of any hue will do

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

If the opposition wins and Zanu-PF, with the support of the Zimbabwean military, refuses to hand over power, SA will huff and puff - but do nothing

The new dawn of a hate-free future

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

The criminalising of words is not easy, there is an enormous degree of subjectivity and confusion, especially in a country with 11 official languages.

SA needs a Thatcher to take on a bloated public sector

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

The truth is that nothing will change until it has to. Like Britain, SA has to topple into the abyss and then pick itself up and find a way out.

Vicki Momberg case was about vengeance, not justice

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

If only the Human Rights Council would act so energetically in cases of black racism directed at coloured, Indians and whites, writes William Saunderson-Meyer.

#WaterCrisis: Day Zero the first day of a national disaster

WILLIAM SAUNDERSON-MEYER|Published

Capetonians should know that the drip-torture of their sense of superiority has left their fellow citizens with inferiority complexes and a deep-seated envy.