Against the Tide by Steven Friedman

The ANC believes that, if all its members attend a political school and new members must explain why they want to join, it will reconnect with the voters it has lost. Neither of these changes will help it do that. But the changes do tell us something important about our politicians - that, although apartheid is dead, they still believe that some people are fit to govern and others are not.

This is the argument of my weekly Against the Tide  column sent out to subscribers this morning. To subscribe, please visit the Against the Tide  website. To discuss a free or reduced subscription, contact info@againstthetide.co.za.

Steven Friedman is a public commentator and an academic, currently employed as a Research Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He has been writing on South African politics for the entire democratic period both as a scholar and public commentator. He has published books on South Africa’s transition to democracy, the role of the trade union movement, and current South African politics. He has also written columns and articles for several South African newspapers. His writing seeks to use academic research to shed light on current politics but to ensure that this is conveyed in a way easily understood by people who have no academic training.