In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser

In this edition of In The Ring, I analyse Prince Mashele's responses in interviews granted to eNCA, 702 and the SABC, in light of media reports that he had, ok the face of it, been dishonest about the nature of his biography of Herman Mashaba. 

Herman Mashaba is leader of politica  part  ActionSA, and prior to that was always known as a very successful businessman in an against-all-odds tale at the height of apartheid; in recent years he a new career pivot that had also seen him becoming mayor of Johannesburg.

Mashele, a well-known South African political analyst, had claimed that he had "self-funded" his book on Mashaba, and the subtitle of the book declared it to be "unauthorised".

It has emerged that Mashaba had provided funding for the book, and had engaged the author on drafts of the chapter. 

This raises sharp ethical questions: was the work unauthorised or authtoised ? Did Mashele lie on eNCA? Did Mashele WRONGLY withheld the information from Jonathan Ball ? What, most importantly, are the consequences for the professional integrity of the author? And what are we to make of the other actors in this drama: the subject; the publisher; the researcher/former best friend Brutus Malada who 'blew the whistle'?

Have a listen to my uhm unauthorised take. 

Sihle Khumalo has written a fascinating, witty, brilliantly researched new book, Milk The Beloved Country 

One of our continent's best writers, Zukiswa Wanner, came over to my house, and after a hearty lunch we hit the 'record' button for this edition of In The Ring. 

We dissected Sihle Khumalo's new book, reading from it, telling you why we both loved it (for overlapping but also different reasons), and debating where and how we think he might have done things differently (or not).

Dig in! 

Redi Tlhabi, well-known South African journalist now based in London and working across the globe, joined me for a bloody fascinating and blunt conversation about South African media.

It was wide-ranging and interesting. 

Dig in. Debate it. Share it widely.

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I reflect on both Freedom Day and Worker's Day. 
I spend some time arguing that my generation and those of you who are younger shouldn't be ahistorical and glib about the achievements of those who came before us.

That said, we have to be rigorous in our conceptualisation of 'freedom': what precisely is it? Unless we do some definitional work, we can't mind the empirical gap between the normative vision of the constitution and our present social un/realities. 

I end this edition by weaving all of that material, in turn, into a set of reflections on the moral limits of markets. If we want our democracy to flourish, and for all of us to realise our potential, then there is simply no room for the fantasy that questions of fairness or justice can be settled with deference to economic markets. There is no point in pitting the exploited worker against the unemployed.

Let me explain it all. Click. Enjoy. Engage. Leave a rating and review comment. And share the episode with a friend or two!

Enjoy!

All I ask is that you listen to this entry of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser. It is ONLY 6min20sec. 

Only engage me afterwards. Just do me that favour. 

In this exceptionally short audio entry, I voice my argument, first published by TimesLIVE ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2023-04-11-eusebius-mckaiser-the-opposite-of-pointing-out-western-moral-viciousness-isnt-to-let-putin-off-the-hook/ ), for why South Africa should arrest Russian president Vladimir Putin should he come to our country.

Have a listen.

I tweeted a picture of Julius Malema marching to the Uganda embassy where he spoke - with the rainbow flag wrapped around it - condemning the bill criminalising identifying as gay in Uganda.

I accompanied the tweeted image with the following words:

@Julius_S_Malema thanks for showing leadership today and not being worried about homophobic backlash even among some of your supporters online.

Shame on the ANC government for SILENCE.

Doing right isn't about calculating how many 'likes' you'll get.

#GayRightsAreHumanRights

***

A friend of mine called me and wondered why I would praise Malema, suggesting rhetorically that Malema and the EFF are weaponsing allyship and not being genuine. They added that they know I *must* know this, so were wondering what the thinking behind my tweet was.

My friend - love him to bits - asked an excellent and important and incisive question.

In this 10 minute audio, I share some of what I told him in my response to him.

Enjoy

I listened to John Steenhuisen's acceptance speech after he was re-elected as the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition in parliament. This is a very important leadership position given that the DA is the second largest party in the country.

I was shocked by the bizarre content at the heart of the speech. It was filled with relentless negativity and fear mongering, which bodes very poorly if this is a dress rehearsal for how the DA will approach the 2024 national elections. 

There were at least six massive own goals - more - but let's focus illustratively on six examples from Steenhuisen's victory speech that demonstrate my claim that the speech was deeply problematic on multiple levels.

Enjoy. Share the podcast in your own networks and circles. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button before you exit the podcast platform. 

Thanks for your support of, and interest in, my work.

This week, former president Thabo Mbeki wrote an extraordinary 17-page letter to deputy president Paul Mashatile. In it, he essentially critiqued various shortcomings of the current ANC parliamentary caucus.

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I do several things: a) explain the essential point of the letter; b) explain the structure and logic of the letter in a bit more detail; and (most importantly perhaps) c) offer you political analysis of what is at play here, which may not be apparent if you merely focus on the Phala Phala and Eskom case studies that drive the overt argument in the 17-pager. 

Want to know what the heck I am getting at? Dig into this latest episode. And please do share it widely.

[Also, remember to rate the podcast and maybe even leave a comment before exiting. If you never wish to miss future episodes, then it is crucial that you SUBSCRIBE.]

Why do so many people obsess about what queer people do, and how we identify? The latest expression of hatred is in Uganda, where a bill has been passed that now even criminalises merely IDENTIFYING as gay. Yes, you've read correctly. 

Now it is up to the president - a long-time homophobe - to decide whether or not he sign it into effective law.

Everyone must oppose hatred wherever it rears its head. I analyse in detail in this episode why the entire international community ought to be outraged when human rights are trampled on. But I also look at specific aspects of this bill that are, in turn, vague, hate-filled, internally incoherent, and irrational. 

Of course, "the international community" is infamously inconsistent on this score.

Have a listen to my full set of remarks and analysis. AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE A) share this particular episode widely & B) rebuke yourself if you are unmoved by the plight of any group of people whose fundamental rights are trampled on.