‘A Party of Crooks and Thieves’
In the build-up to the 2011 elections in Russia, the opposition rallied around a powerful slogan coined by public corruption fighter and opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The phrase rebranded United Russia, the political party of President Vladimir Putin, from “the party of real deeds” to “the party of crooks and thieves”. As Ben Judah points out […]
Nkandla & Numsa’s ‘Golden Toilet Moment’
Niren Tolsi & Lloyd Gedye On March 19, the final gossamer shreds left covering South African President Jacob Zuma’s ethical nudity were exposed as thin air by the country’s Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela. She released ‘Secure in Comfort’, the report of her findings from the investigation into upgrades of more than R240 million […]
The “Numsa Moment”: A New Trajectory for Workers
In January 1973, dockworkers in Durban embarked on a wave of wildcat strikes against low wages. In total, some 61 000 workers took part. What became known as the “Durban Moment” not only broke the industrial relations framework that had been established after black trade unions had been smashed by the apartheid state in […]
For Whom the Roads Toll
Book Excerpt: The Promise of Justice John Clarke is a social worker who takes the first obligation of his profession seriously: to challenge social injustice on the basis of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Having worked since 2006 with the amaDiba rural residents of the Wild Coast to successfully assert their constitutional rights in opposing […]