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Articles by Moeletsi Mbeki
Election day — What DA will have to do to attract Black African voters
For the past 15 years, the South African economy has stagnated while the population has been growing. This has resulted in the people becoming poorer with every passing year. The people, understandably, blame their increasing impoverishment on the policies of the government of the day, the African National Congress (ANC). This is reflected in national voters’ decisions since 2004. The highest vote for the ANC peaked in 2004 (69.8%) and started declining slowly in subsequent elections.
Decades of colonial policies leave SA needing urgent political and economic overhaul
FUTURE FORWARD OP-ED SA’s colonial-era economic model and century-long nationalist politics have left the country with a moribund mining-driven economy, high unemployment, and deep inequality. Reforming political power and driving industrialisation are essential to revive growth and create opportunities for the underclass and investors alike. Illustrative image.
Decades of colonial policies leave SA needing urgent political and economic overhaul
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Destroying business confidence
If the billionaires of Wall Street and Silicon Valley can mismanage the economy the way the present American administration is mismanaging the United States economy, spare a thought for the former refugees and Robben Island prisoners trying to manage the South African economy. In his Daily Friend article last week, “The perfect storm destroying business confidence”, Jonathan Katzenellenbogen chronicles why multinational corporations are upping sticks and leaving South Africa.
How democracy has led to economic stagnation, and what to do about it
POWERING THE FUTURE OP-ED A resident sweeps in a Durban municipal tent shelter during a DA oversight visit on 12 March 2024. The visit aimed to assess the conditions of the shelter, identify challenges and outline solutions that will promote access to opportunities for the most vulnerable, as part of the commitment outlined in the party’s manifesto.
MOELETSI MBEKI: Why politics is necessary in society
A political party is an institution that brings together citizens in a given country who have similar or common socioeconomic interests. The party seeks to influence the state to advance or favour the interests of its members by attempting to occupy elected positions of power in government. The party seeks to persuade broader society that the advancement of the party’s agenda or interests benefits all society, and so society at large should vote for the party’s representatives.
GNU spells end of the road for nationalism in South Africa as new political landscape emerges
GOVERNMENT The night of Sunday, 30 June 2024, will go down in the annals of South African history as the day when 100 years of nationalist rule came to an abrupt end. Afrikaner nationalists gained control of South Africa in 1924 and ruled until they were replaced by African nationalists in 1994. Thirty years later, African nationalists’ rule was rejected by the electorate and they could only stay in power with the support of the Wasp (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) middle class of the DA.
MOELETSI MBEKI: Reflecting on SA’s democratic journey as elections approach
The final phase of what had been a centuries-long struggle against foreign domination, racial discrimination and unbridled exploitation came to an end on April 27 1994, with the first democratic election held in SA. This phase of the struggle, which had started during the last quarter of the 19th century with the beginning of the diamond and gold mining industry, was led by the black African middle class.
Business and civil society must drive social justice
FOB Business and civil society must drive social justice The poor - and business - are casualties of ANC governance, writes Moeletsi Mbeki 29 October 2023 - 00:00 By Moeletsi Mbeki The recently released Edelman Trust Barometer shows that South Africans have far more trust in business and civil society than in the ANC government. A survey conducted this year found that business was the most trusted institution for 62% of respondents. That was followed by NGOs, with 61%.
Moeletsi Mbeki | ANC nationalism, like that of NP, behind SA's socio-economic decline
VOICES In the 1980s, while working as a journalist at The Herald in Harare, Zimbabwe, I had the honour of interviewing the Reverend Beyers Naudé, the late anti-apartheid cleric and theologian. The editor took out a whole page to publish the interview. A couple of days later, I was called to meet the then Zimbabwean minister of information, Nathan Shamuyarira. Get 14 days free to read all our investigative and in-depth journalism. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month.
South Africa is at Another Crossroads
South Africa is at Another Crossroads analysis By Moeletsi Mbeki Johannesburg — A government that is not capable of providing security to the nation must be replaced – democratically – by one that can. South Africa is yet again at a crossroads. This means South Africans must make a major decision regarding their future. At the last crossroads in 1994, South Africans had hoped for a bright future that democracy would bring about.
The Takeover of America's Legal System
If you are a Common Sense reader, you are by now highly aware of the phenomenon of institutional capture. From the start, we have covered the ongoing saga of how America’s most important institutions have been transformed by an illiberal ideology—and have come to betray their own missions. Medicine. Hollywood. Education. The reason we exist is because of the takeover of newspapers like The New York Times. Ok, so we’ve lost a lot. A whole lot. But at least we haven’t lost the law.
MOELETSI MBEKI: The end of the age of nationalism
Every nation has years that are etched in its memory and marked with indelible ink; in this SA is no exception. The year 1994 will forever be remembered as the year that ushered in democracy, and thus liberated SA from the strictures of Afrikaner nationalism that went under the collective name of apartheid. The year 2021 was unique because it was one South Africans want to forget. In 2021 we had a glimpse over the edge of the abyss — and we did not like what we saw.
How bosses earning big bucks is behind SA’s economic malaise Original
The Future We Chose scenarios constructed by the government in 2008 produced three potential outcomes for SA by 2025. Compared with the Memories of the Future scenario process undertaken seven years earlier, the 2008 exercise produced less-optimistic options, with Muvhango as the worst-case outcome. This projected SA into an “age of anything goes”, in which “money fixes everything”.
How South Africa’s elites are stunting the economy and democracy
For many, democracy has proved to be a mirage. This calls for a review of South Africa’s governance. Are we really a democracy or a form of stunted democracy? Nationalist policies, first by the Afrikaner elite and now by the African National Congress (ANC), have entrenched the socio-economic structures of colonialism and held back the economy.
MOELETSI MBEKI: Nationalist rule keeps SA’s economic inequalities intact
In a few weeks SA will have been a democracy for 27 years. This is not a long time as far as the history of democracy goes, but it is long enough to tell us what the key characteristics of SA’s democracy are. A most striking feature is that a large proportion of the electorate has already lost interest in elections and no longer bother to vote. For a recently liberated country it is noticeable how quickly voter turnout has declined.
The US once again has something Africa wants: competent leaders - The Mail & Guardian
We have asked some of Africa’s leading academics and thinkers to reflect on what the inauguration of a new US president means for Africa. This series is produced In collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Centre for the Study of the United States The comprehensive victory of the Democratic Party in the United States November 2020 elections is the best outcome that South Africa and Africa could have hoped for.
Marginalisation of business elite and organised labour is central to challenges
The relationship between capital and politics in SA is characterised by mutual loathing, suspicion, one-upmanship and fear. This is hardly an environment for dialogue and confidence building. Business recently tabled a document, “Post-Covid-19: A new inclusive economic future for SA — delivering an accelerated economic recovery strategy”.
OP-ED: Why South Africa should adopt democratic socialism … and why it probably won’t Original
Illustrative image | Sources: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Sandile Ndlovu | Flickr The ruling political and economic elites in South Africa appear to be either oblivious to or unconcerned about the prospects of the country falling off a fiscal cliff in the next four to five years. One way to avoid this would be to move urgently towards a system of democratic socialism – but that would run counter to the tenets of the ANC’s outdated National Democratic Revolution. It was supposed to be very different.
MOELETSI MBEKI: How a history of conflict made SA the most unequal country in the world
The history of SA’s conquest by the Dutch and British, and the reaction of its native peoples to their conquest, is the only context in which SA’s issues of race and race relations are understandable. Among native peoples I include descendants of slaves and indentured Indian labourers, as well as Dutch settlers who later described themselves as Afrikaners since they also eventually resisted Dutch and British domination.
BEEing and Believing
About The Webinar Join Business Maverick journalist Ray Mahlaka in conversation with political analyst and author Moeletsi Mbeki discussing the successes and failures of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) in reversing the legacy of apartheid over the past 17 years, compliance with B-BBEE in the public and private sector, and if it is possible to discover middle-ground on the controversial B-BBEE issue.
South Africa: It Is Critical to Understand the Difference Between the Afrikaner and African Elites
What is the lesson that the African elite should learn from the Afrikaner elite that Zwelinizima Vavi suggests? The answer: Nothing. In recent months I have come across heightened interest in what black South Africans can learn from the Afrikaners about economic empowerment.
OP-ED: It is critical to understand the difference between the Afrikaner and African elites
Moeletsi Mbeki (Photo by Gallo Images/ Brenton Geach) What is the lesson that the African elite should learn from the Afrikaner elite that Zwelinizima Vavi suggests? The answer: Nothing. In recent months I have come across heightened interest in what black South Africans can learn from the Afrikaners about economic empowerment.
MOELETSI MBEKI: How can we complete the process started by FW de Klerk?
SA’s social structure tells us who has not benefited from our constitutional transformation BL PREMIUM 03 February 2020 - 16:11 Moeletsi Mbeki My family and many other SA families made huge sacrifices to achieve the constitution we have today. However, SA’s first democratic constitution was not the constitution that was negotiated between 1990 and 1996. It was the 1853 Cape constitution.
SA’s uneasy partnership with Africa
By Moeletsi Mbeki - 25 October 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, Nigeria. Picture: REUTERS/NIGERIA PRESIDENCY South Africans — and indeed most Africans — love to think of their country as unique. And SA is unique in Africa — but not for the reasons most people think.
MOELETSI MBEKI: SA’s uneasy partnership with Africa
SA has something of a fraught relationship with the rest of Africa. The blame rests with the vacillations of the country’s political elite BL PREMIUM 24 October 2019 - 05:00 Moeletsi Mbeki South Africans — and indeed most Africans — love to think of their country as unique. And SA is unique in Africa — but not for the reasons most people think.
MOELETSI MBEKI: African governments can learn lessons from Asia’s industrialisation
South Korea’s new ambassador to SA, Jong-Dae Park, recently published a seminal study on how South Korea industrialised and what Africa can learn from his country about how to drive economic development. He makes the important point that economic development is the result of the people and the government working “conscientiously” with a common purpose. “So the real question lies in the intent of sub-Saharan African nations.
South Africa Needs to Change Its Economic Status By Reskilling the Entire Adult Population
analysis By Moeletsi Mbeki South Africa faces another year with no signs that it is able to solve its massive social and economic problems. We have been promised a new dawn but all we see are task teams, commissions of inquiry and more manifestos. Why do South Africa's problems seem intractable to the ANC government nearly a quarter of a century into running the country? A point that we South Africans always overlook is that South Africa, like the rest of Africa, is a neocolonial society.
South Africa needs to change its economic status by res...
Construction cranes are seen over a multi store complex being built in the country's biggest city, Johannesburg, South Africa, 06 March 2018. EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK South Africa faces another year with no signs that it is able to solve its massive social and economic problems. We have been promised a new dawn but all we see are task teams, commissions of inquiry and more manifestos.
Crisis after crisis: What we’ve learnt from 3 generations of leaders
Crisis after crisis: What we’ve learnt from 3 generations of leaders South Africa today boasts the most sophisticated society on the continent. With two thirds of its population urbanised and less than 5% of its labour force engaged in agriculture, it is also the most industrialised country in Africa. Most of South Africa’s sophistication and industrialisation was, however, achieved under the political and economic leadership of Afrikaner nationalists after World War 2.
Why the ANC has failed to transform South Africa
In its 100 years of existence, the ANC has been plagued by bad luck, some of it the result of its own doings but most of it not. When the South African National Convention was convened by the British in 1908, founders of what became the ANC were left out of the great indaba. It was the ANC’s first bad omen.
After colonialists and elitists, SA needs a new political package
Stubborn spatial divides precipitated by apartheid policies have meant millions of the most vulnerable are excluded from participating in the formal economy. Even if there were jobs, they would come at great personal expense in the form of travel time and costs. While the informal economy has grown, the influx of migrants from neighbouring states and further abroad has introduced vigorous competition between traders.
MOELETSI MBEKI: New power coalition needed to include poor and rich
There is therefore no reason to believe that an implosion will not happen during the African nationalist rule. African nationalists of the ANC have bought some time with their extensive social welfare programme. When this fails, which it will given the massive mismanagement of the macro economy, the powers that be have a number of tougher fall-back positions.
Liverpool boss to bring Sterling back to earth after nitrous oxide high
Liverpool boss to bring Sterling back to earth after nitrous oxide high Raheem Sterling shakes hands with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers after being substituted during the match against Newcastle United. Picture: Lee Smith/Action Images via Reuters Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers “will speak to” striker Raheem Sterling after footage emerged of the England international apparently taking nitrous oxide.
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