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Articles by Gavin Hartford
OPINIONISTA: Eskom strike a case of dog eat dog in a spectacle of the blind leading the blind
It strikes this jaundiced observer as odd, bordering on the insane, that today we have the absurd scenario in which the founding Saftu and Cosatu affiliates, Numsa and the NUM, respectively – which both declare themselves governed by workers’ democracy and control principles – completely deny any responsibility or even support for the industrial action taken by their members at Eskom. Surely we cannot have it both ways?
‘My cancer has ushered in a new me that I’m still learning to discover, love’
PART 4 That helps a lot. The bright sunny blue day of my surgery arrives and I am feeling calm and free and present. Surgery is a kind of therapy too. It certainly concentrates one’s mind on being present. Nothing else matters. The white lights, the coated staff, the clinical passageways and lifts and wards. They all are magnified in their presence by their unfamiliarity. That certainly concentrates the mind. You roll with the process. Numberless and nameless. Not caring nor expectant.
Prostate cancer journey: How ‘doctor shopping’ and ‘friend therapy’ gave me hope
PART 3 We leave. Before leaving we are told we must first get to see the oncologist who mixes the drugs. He has consulting rooms in the East Rand suburb of Benoni, in the heart of the metal fabrication wasteland of our country. We schedule an appointment and do the drive to Benoni days later. I know these streets and houses well from my union organising days. They instil fear in me. Though today it’s not the fear of the apartheid monster. It’s the fear of what’s happening on my inside.
‘I feel cheated’: One man’s struggle to deal with prostate cancer diagnosis
PART 2 We are driving to Mbombela to meet the urologist. My rural GP recommended him on the strength of “dad says he is very good”. A cancer survivor herself, she reassures me t it is beatable and she will “pray for me”. That sounds serious. Deadly serious. Bordering on terminal, I think. And then I don’t think and simply drive, zombie-like. “Let’s do this cancer thing” I hum to myself, remembering a phrase my son used when he left for Canada singing his upbeat version of Let’s Do This Thing.
How I trekked through 'west Africa with cancer eating away at my prostate'
PART 1 The back story: it is October 2019 and we are at the end of a year of preparation for an off-road adventure across west Africa. It’s taken its toll of endless admin and vehicle prep work. But we are kind of done. Only some visas to collect and we are gone in four days. My head has left already. I pop in for a routine health check. My GP says she doesn’t like the feel of my prostate and sends me for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. It comes back in the red zone with a 4.5 PSA reading.
South Africa: Nedlac Is Nothing More Than an Insiders' Talk Shop for the Well-Heeled
Nedlac's politics boil down to nothing more than the leaders' club approving what government must do in any event. Nedlac itself, and indeed the stakeholders who breathe life into it, is no longer fit for purpose. It represents yesterday's leaders, locked into a prism of yesterday's can-do and can't-do ideas, bonded together by an unrepresentative Nedlac straitjacket, in a dance of stakeholder engagement and blame games.
OPINIONISTA: Nedlac is nothing more than an insiders’ talk shop for the well-heeled
Nedlac’s politics boil down to nothing more than the leaders’ club approving what government must do in any event. Nedlac itself, and indeed the stakeholders who breathe life into it, is no longer fit for purpose. It represents yesterday’s leaders, locked into a prism of yesterday’s can-do and can’t-do ideas, bonded together by an unrepresentative Nedlac straitjacket, in a dance of stakeholder engagement and blame games. Also read: Gavin Hartford’s take on the state of our nation.
Africa: State of Our Nation - How to Begin the Journey of Healing As an African Nation in Creation
To start our healing journey, we need to reimagine ourselves as a people, as an African nation of the south. An African nation in creation. We need to reimagine ourselves anew, and be bold and decisive in our intent to truly create an ecologically integrated, egalitarian, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic South Africa in the actual lived experience of our people.
OPINIONISTA: State of our nation: How to begin the journey of healing as an African nation in creation
To start our healing journey, we need to reimagine ourselves as a people, as an African nation of the south. An African nation in creation. We need to reimagine ourselves anew, and be bold and decisive in our intent to truly create an ecologically integrated, egalitarian, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic South Africa in the actual lived experience of our people.
Mid-pandemic mankind could learn a lot from the bush
Nature In the animal kingdom, survival depends on coalitions, co-operation and adaption. Only humans let their egos take them to dangerous terrain, writes Gavin Hartford 23 August 2020 - 00:00 By Gavin Hartford It starts like this. We sleep in a glass box. The box lies beneath a blanket of stars. The stars are always there because the nights are always clear. The Milky Way watches us. That's all we see. Night after night. But there's more.
South Africa: We Should Take Off Our Western-Tinted Glasses and Look to African Villages for a Way Forward
It feels oddly surreal, bordering on the insane, to be in the Coté d'Ivoire city of Abidjan, four months into our African overland journey, and to read the stories of the antics and emptiness of a State of the Nation speech back home. It's weird. Other worldly. A sort-of tragedy and a farce all in one act. South Africans are locked into a social and economic death spiral.
OPINIONISTA: We should take off our Western-tinted glasses and look to African villages for a way forward
It feels oddly surreal, bordering on the insane, to be in the Coté d’Ivoire city of Abidjan, four months into our African overland journey, and to read the stories of the antics and emptiness of a State of the Nation speech back home. It’s weird. Other worldly. A sort-of tragedy and a farce all in one act. South Africans are locked into a social and economic death spiral.
Gavin Hartford: Dare I say it: Our rainbow nation is imploding
Our country is dislocating. We are in early stage dislocation requiring hospitalisation. Not yet intensive care, although that is coming. Not yet terminal, but that too may come after intensive care. Everything depends on how we respond to our current death spiral. The endgame has not yet started. But the time for making some big changes that capture the imagination and active support of the broad populace is running out.
Dare I say it: Our rainbow nation is imploding
Our country is dislocating. We are in early stage dislocation requiring hospitalisation. Not yet intensive care, although that is coming. Not yet terminal, but that too may come after intensive care. Everything depends on how we respond to our current death spiral. The endgame has not yet started. But the time for making some big changes that capture the imagination and active support of the broad populace is running out.
New federation must climb mountain of double binds and diverse cultures
The launch of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) was seamless — the constitution adopted, the politics referred to a commission and the office bearers elected. Two years of painstaking unity talks became cemented in a labour marriage of many new and some old unions. Everyone went home happy, a "historic milestone" achieved, said countless delegates. Yet despite this impressive show of unity, most among the seasoned leadership know an arduous road lies ahead.
South Africa: This Is How the ANC Works - the Unwritten Methodology and Practice
analysis By Gavin HartfordWe are going down. The politics of the ANC will make sure of that. It is bigger and stronger and more pervasive than any internal opposition. Irrespective of whether the good guys win or lose. These are just steps on the road. They will not alter the trajectory. Because the politics of subservience and disingenuity is deep in the bloodstream of the ANC. Here is an uncomfortable home truth to muse on. The one that says the president is the master of the politics of survival.
This is how the ANC works - the unwritten methodology and practice
We are going down. The politics of the ANC will make sure of that. It is bigger and stronger and more pervasive than any internal opposition. Irrespective of whether the good guys win or lose. These are just steps on the road. They will not alter the trajectory. Because the politics of subservience and disingenuity is deep in the bloodstream of the ANC. Here is an uncomfortable home truth to muse on. The one that says the president is the master of the politics of survival.
This is how the ANC works - the unwritten methodology and practice
We are going down. The politics of the ANC will make sure of that. It is bigger and stronger and more pervasive than any internal opposition. Irrespective of whether the good guys win or lose. These are just steps on the road. They will not alter the trajectory. Because the politics of subservience and disingenuity is deep in the bloodstream of the ANC. Here is an uncomfortable home truth to muse on. The one that says the president is the master of the politics of survival.
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