Against the tide by Steven Friedman

In this country, politicians are judged by their slogans, not their policies and actions. As long as they say they want to free us from our apartheid past, no-one notices if they work to take us back there. Which may explain why Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, who may stand for ANC president on a platform criticising the compromises of its leaders,  is threatening a war against people who live in shacks.

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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.