POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS – Edition 39 – 15 August 2016
BEYOND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION South African politics will never be the same following the final declaration of the 2016 Municipal Elections on Saturday 6 August. These results were certainly a vindication of the commitment of the 1.7% of the South Africans who...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 37 – 9 June 2016
THE ROLE OF THE SABC With the dawn of our new democracy in 1994 many South Africans, myself included, breathed a sigh of relief that we would not be treated to the Cliff and Pik (Cliff Saunders & Pik Botha) show on SABC every Sunday evening. This was because...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Editions 38 – 23 June 2016
South Africa Burns On Thursday 16 June in his address at the rally to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprising President Jacob Zuma correctly made the point that “in 1976 not a single school was burnt”. He used this as the reason why schools,...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 36 – 27 May 2016
NE STEP FORWARD – TWO STEPS BACK On Monday 9 May South Africans heaved a collective sigh of relief because Moody’s had decided not to downgrade the South African sovereign credit rating to junk status. There was however a minor downgrade from Baa1 to Baa2. The outlook...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 35 – 10 May 2016
THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK Responding to the debate on his budget in the National Assembly on Thursday 5 May 2016 President Zuma said the legislature had become a national embarrassment and demanded the Speaker bring it to order He carried on by saying that as...
POLITICAL PERCEPTIONS BY CLIVE HATCH – Edition 34 – 2 April 2016
QUO VADIS JACOB ZUMA AND THE ANC? The definitive ruling of the Constitutional Court on Thursday will surely go down as the most significant rulings made in the South African democracy, it has set in stone the principle that “no one is above the law” not even the...
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...
