In the opinion pages today, Tom Eaton takes aim at the trade unions backing Eskom up against the wall, Erik Naki writes that Ramaphosa will never be like Mandela and Mbeki, and Mbhazima Shilowa thinks the ANC still has a shot at winning the 2024 elections.
Unions champion the poor, right? That’s not what happened at Eskom – Sunday Times Daily
Tom Eaton argues that there is not a single employee that has not benefited from the work labour movements have done over the past 200 years as they wrestled power away from dictatorial employers and created a more balanced employer-employee relationship.
But Eaton writes that the trade unions currently ganging up on Eskom and refusing to accept a 7% wage increase, which is above inflation, shows that unions care little for the unemployed and poor in the country and seek to extort more money for their middle-class, and very much employed, members. Read more here.
Ramaphosa’s glaring leadership mishaps are a problem – The Citizen (for subscribers)
While Cyril Ramaphosa enjoys some waning popularity among the jaded South African electorate and many still consider him to be one of the best, if not the best, ANC leaders (given what the alternatives are), his misjudgements and errors will cost him a better legacy.
Political editor Eric Naki writes that for all the good Ramaphosa does do and the leadership he brings to the party and country over someone from say, the RET faction of the party, he will never quite live up to Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki. Read more here.
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. The ANC can still win in 2024 – News24 (for subscribers)
You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a given that the ANC is going to dip below the 50% mark and lose the next national elections. Commentators have been writing about the imminent demise of the governing party, which has won every democratic general election since 1994, for some time already.
But Mbhazima Shilowa argues the party still has a good shot of winning the 2024 elections and delves further into the reasoning behind the argument. Shilowa refers to how the Labour Party had to redesign itself in the UK to win over the electorate and reclaim power in 1997 after 18 years of Tory government.
The same sort of manoeuvres would need to be made in SA politics but Shilowa does not see a mass body of the electorate coalescing around an opposition party at this stage. Read more here.
Here’s what else we’re reading today:
WILLIAM GUMEDE | Cadre deployment is a threat to democracy. Just look at Mkhwebane – Sunday Times Daily (for subscribers)
Enyobeni tavern tragedy is a sign of the times – The Citizen (for subscribers)
PETER BRUCE: OK greens, you won the mine battle, but what do arriviste jobless eat? – Business Day (for subscribers)
TOBY SHAPSHAK: Faith, hopeless and a charity for the Guptas – Financial Mail (for subscribers)
NATASHA MARRIAN: Perks for a presidential perpetrator – Financial Mail (for subscribers)
After Zondo, the National Prosecuting Authority dare not fail the nation – Daily Maverick
The NPC Diagnostic Report told us what was wrong – the Zondo Reports suggest who the culprits are – Daily Maverick
Oscar van Heerden | Ukraine, Russia and SA: The non-sensical proxy war of the G7 – News24
