Protesting in South Africa comes at a price, sometimes a deadly one. From Sharpeville to today’s crackdowns, the state’s response to dissent has often been force, not dialogue. As the country marks Human Rights Day, the question remains: Why does standing up for basic rights still come with heavy consequences?

In this episode of the Sunday Times Politics Weekly, we unpack with experts issues behind police brutality and state repression. Their insights paint a troubling picture of a system where law enforcement is often used to silence dissent rather than protect citizens.

The Sunday Times’ Lizeka Tandwa spoke to Gauteng PTT coordinator Hope Papo about how they intend to turn around the party’s fortunes.

ANC heavyweight Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has expressed her disapproval of the government of national unity (GNU), saying that if it had been up to her, the ANC would not have formed a government with the DA.

ormer president Jacob Zuma has laid out details of an audacious plan to “take back my ANC', by uniting “black” parties under his MK party banner and recapturing the leadership of the party, which he said had “deviated from our ancestors”. He spoke to Sunday Times politics editor Sibongakonke Shoba about various topics, including the formation of the MK Party and his decision not to relinquish his ANC membership.

Former Botswana leader Ian Khama has called on the country’s new president, Duma Boko, to launch an investigation into the ousted Mokgweetsi Masisi’s use of government finances during his period in power. Khama says he feels responsible for the 'dictatorship' that ensued after Masisi took power.

The former president was in conversation with Sunday Times politics reporter, Kgothatso Madisa.

Prof Susan Booysen says the government of national unity (GNU) is a coalition with the DA but the ANC invited other parties to avoid political trouble.

The Wits emeritus professor and independent research consultant explored the survival prospects of the GNU and the changed terrain in which all political parties are having to find their way. She joined Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly podcast.

Former public protector Thuli Madonsela believes white racists should be helped to heal so they don’t wound others.

She joined Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma in conversation after she set the cat among the pigeons with a post on her X account suggesting race supremacists need to be helped to heal from their post-transformation trauma.

Madonsela said supremacists need to accept they are not superior to others.

“It's not always just about race though, it's [also] about gender. Anybody who was raised in that just because they look a particular way they deserve more than others in a society based on human rights, social justice and acceptance of equality of all human beings, to them it feels like a loss of a right as opposed to loss of an unmerited privilege.”

White people should not teach black people to deal with their trauma as they would make wrong assumptions. “White people should help other white people to understand that the ‘loss’ is not really a loss as such but changed expectations.”

The topic harms white and black people, said Madonsela. “For everyone’s sake, in the same way that when it comes to gender we say we need to do ‘man work’, we have to do white work and white people have to do white work."

Just a week after President Cyril Ramaphosa reassured the country he intended to serve a full term in office, ANC Limpopo provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe has come out in support of his continued presidency.

The ANC Youth League secretary-general has warned South Africa is on the brink of a revolution that will see young people rise up against white South Africans if the economy continues to be in the red.Mntuwoxolo Ngudle spoke to TimesLIVE Premium on the state of the economy, accusing the private sector of “treason” for failing to transform the economy.

At the age of just 32 and with a possibly illustrious political career ahead of him, acting ANC national spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi admits that the prospect of inheriting a dying party keeps him up at night.