POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 33 – 10 March 2016
BUDGET 2016 When Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, delivered his Budget Speech in parliament on 24 February he was forced into a tight corner. Not only after being in office for some ten weeks he had the unenviable task of having to present a tough budget in an...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 32 – 26 February 2016
SONA AND BEYOND The debacle at last year’s State on the Nation Address (SONA) set the scene for immense public interest in this year’s address. The fiasco in December when President Zuma appointed three Ministers of Finance in four days heightened public awareness of...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 31 – 8 February 2016
ZUMA - WHAT NEXT? The Annual ANC NEC Legotla took place in Irene from 25 to 27 January. The Legotla is probably the most influential ANC gathering you can get. Those attending the Legotla include the top six officials, 80 NEC members, also the ANC Women’s and Youth...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – EDITION 30 – 21 JANUARY 2016
WELCOME 2016 2016 has started off with the country in the throes of one of the worst droughts in recorded history, the annual average rainfall is the lowest in 112 years and the agricultural sector is clearly not going to produce sufficient food for home consumption...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – EDITION 29 – 31 DECEMBER 2015
THE YEAR IN REVIEW As this year ends our economy is at its weakest in decades, with rising interest rates, worst-ever currency exchange rates and deplorably high unemployment, perceptions of corruption keeping investment out and stopping our economy growing. This is...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 28 – 16 December 2012
#ZumaMustFall The political cliché "a week is a long time in politics" has been attributed to former British Labour Party Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the 1960’s reportedly first said at a media briefing for journalists at the time of the sterling crisis in 1964....
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 27 – 12 December 2015
ZUMA DOES IT AGAIN On Wednesday evening President Jacob Zuma committed probably the most irresponsible and economically dangerous act of his presidency and that of the democratic South Africa. This is another clear indication that he puts the interest of himself, his...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 26 -3 December 2015
ANOTHER WEEK ANOTHER SHAMBLES This past week must be one that the ANC will be wishing never happened. This week the National Assembly was disrupted to the extent that a sitting of parliament had to be cancelled. No! it was not Julius Malema and the EFF that caused the...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 25 – 20 November 2015
CAN WE TRUST THE ANC GOVERNMENT? Up until President Zuma assumed office although I may not have agreed with many of the ANC government’s policies I did trust them to uphold the democratic order and respect the constitution of the Republic of South Africa and uphold...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 24 – 31 October 2015
#FEES? MUST FALL – THE IMPLICATIONS This past week will surely go down as one of the most defining weeks in South African politics since the advent of democracy in 1994. For the first time The ANC government found out that a sizable number of voters are no longer...
