Cancelling Freedom of Speech
The suspension of The Jimmy Kimmel Show in the United States has been greeted by some as overdue accountability and by others as the latest blow against freedom of expression. For those inclined
Mphuthumi Ntabeni
Mphuthumi Ntabeni is trained in built environment, reads literature, history and philosophy. He lives in Cape Town. He has written two historical novels, The Broken River Tent & The Wanderers.
South Africa’s Surname Ruling: Between Equality and Ancestry
By Mphuthumi Ntabeni CAPE TOWN — When the Constitutional Court declared parts of the 1992 Births and Deaths Registration Act unconstitutional this September, the ruling seemed almost modest in its phrasing. Men may now
The Rigging of the Rand
Why South Africa must take its currency cartels seriously By Mphuthumi Ntabeni When Standard Chartered signed a settlement with South Africa’s Competition Commission in November 2023, it admitted to something extraordinary, a
The Tinkering President
By Mphuthumi Ntabeni South African President Cyril Ramaphosa projects a genteel calm, a measured cadence born of his trade-union roots, boardroom prowess, and reputation as a consensus builder. Whenever he must make a
South Africa’s National Dialogue: Born of Crisis in the Shadow of History
South Africa’s proposed National Dialogue is, at its core, an act of political triage. For the first time since the birth of democracy in 1994, the African National Congress lost its outright
Turning Crisis into Realignment: Need for South Africa’s Bold Response to U.S. Tariffs
By Mphuthumi Ntabeni | Political Review When the United States announced new trade restrictions on South African imports, tariffs it framed as retaliatory and rooted in a broader matrix of political grievance, it signalled