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Mondli Makhanya

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Author Profile

Name:
Mondli Makhanya


Biography

Mondli Makhanya is the Editor-in-Chief of Avusa Media, a former editor of the Sunday Times and the current chairperson of the SA National Editors' Forum. His weekly Sunday Times column on politics is hard-hitting, incisive and always a national talking point.


Latest Columns

Damn the logic, but admire the fancy survival footwork

And if we are to believe Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the nation's safety is secure

The rise and fall - and rise again - of Ruth Bhengu

Blinded by the rand signs, our political class take liberties with the rule book

We should be encouraging our artists to tell it like it is

Let's press the pause button and think about ourselves and our attitude to art

African languages languish, while one organ stands tall

Promotion of African culture has to go beyond defending Jacob Zuma's lifestyle

Racist tweetheads not the only ones with these views

In time to come people may laugh at this - but they may ask why we allowed it

In SA, the evil men do is oft interred with their bones

We send the wrong message by lionising crooks from the moment they die

Horror story of Zimbabwe must keep us on right track

As we head towards our 20th year of freedom, let us nurture our good habits

When Blade, the intellectual, boxes with third-force ghosts

Communist party chief is increasingly sounding like an overgrown Julius Malema

Liberate the ANC from the chains of strugglethink

For the party to transform, it has to dump its archaic revolutionary frame of mind

South Africa, brace yourself for eight months of toxic warfare

Grin-and-giggle show at Tuesday's press conference by ANC leaders fooled no one

Piling on insults won't solve Zille's real refugee problem

We forgive politicians for saying stupid things - but not when they repeat them

The actors have changed, but the plot stays the same

Like the '80s, the poor are still angry and the government is still out of touch

The JSC must answer a charge of moral cowardice

By following a Luthuli House brief, commission white-ants South Africa's judiciary

Behind the soothing words, there is a power grab at play

Make no mistake about the government's intentions towards judicial authority

Apartheid denialism drives a knife into belly of black SA

A FEW years back, a Dutch friend rode into town and asked to visit the Apartheid Museum. It was a big deal for this individual as her parents had been involved in the anti-apartheid movement in the '70s and '80s.

Let this biff on the nose not keep us from Africa's battles

SA's failed attempt at the AU Commission's top job was at least a sign of vigour

We turn against the constitution at our own peril

Questioning the separation of powers leads SA down a slippery slope

In Sudan, the AU has a chance to prove its grand rhetoric

Here is a situation crying out for 'an African solution to an African problem'

Soccer's power plays condemn the sport to grubby mediocrity

PSL and Safa must find a way to resolve conflicts inherent in two centres of power

Return to the vision that got the world excited about the new SA

The ANC's retreat into ethnic thinking betrays that dream, and the hopes and plans of its own founders for a South Africa free from the dead hand of racism

Can we please have intelligent discourse before Armageddon

The new year - which might be our last - looks very likely to get off to a disappointing start with an ANC centenary speech devoid of ideas or inspiration

It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. For now

If the apocalypse does not hit us on December 21 2012, climate change will do it

Flawed it may have been, but MK helped liberate South Africa

There was gallantry and heroism in that army called Umkhonto weSizwe

We'd all be laughing if Zuma's blunders weren't such a tragedy

Appointing Heath to a crucial corruption-busting post takes the cake

Shame on those who sold our integrity to save their skins

Mbeki ought to reflect on his part in the downfall of Jackie Selebi as the Supreme Court of Appeal sends South Africa's former police chief to prison for 15 years

Monster the ANC created will be with us for some time yet

Julius Malema cannot be wished away with the stroke of a committee's pen

Liberate the public service to do its job. That's Step One

But this baseline proposal for raising SA's game will rattle Luthuli House

Take a bow, citizens, after a good week for this democracy

The president was presidential, and the marchers more than blind followers

Calculating the odds in favour of the great survivor

Zuma's greatest rival may have inadvertently helped secure him second term

It's wrong to accept mediocrity - both on and off the pitch

Bafana's choreographed jive after goalless draw a monument to buffoonery

In Washington and Pretoria, the elite dance to a distant piper

The decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa had little to do with SA-China relations

No need to reinvent the wheel to bring down road death rate

Get traffic police out from behind the bushes and actively fighting law breakers

Veil of secrecy cracks, but the search for truth has just begun

Heather Brookes is the sort of person whose path you do not want to cross if you have something to hide.

More disdain for democracy as the president ducks the question

Over the past two months, I have religiously followed The Times's countdown to President Jacob Zuma's deadline to respond to the public protector's police lease report.

Corporate SA and black business need to get with the programme

THIS coming Wednesday will mark the 20th anniversary of an event that pushed South Africa forward on the road to democracy. This past Wednesday there was a milestone that threw South Africa backwards. A day of which we should not be proud.

Zuma needs to tread carefully as he crushes the monster he helped make

The words of the man I was arguing with still ring clear in my head. For those readers familiar with the story I will beg indulgence.

As Malawi shows, we're still a long way from the Africa we want to be

LAST week Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika fired his entire 42-person cabinet. Without giving any reasons for his action, Mutharika shocked the nation by taking direct control of all ministries until further notice.

Nomination of Mogoeng borders on trivialisation of the judiciary

Those who were present when Mogoeng Mogoeng was interviewed for a position on the Constitutional Court in 2009 remember that day with great hilarity.

Hats off to Malema for putting Botswana's descent on the agenda

SEEING Julius Malema clad in Orlando Pirates attire a few weeks ago made me marginally alter my view of him.

Do the right thing and pick the obvious candidate for chief justice

It was an innocuous line in an otherwise jolly speech that created the conundrum. At his 60th birthday celebration in Durban in 2008, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke recommitted himself to the values of the constitution.

Youth league's anti-white rhetoric is more than childish mischief

EARLIER this week the ANC Youth League sent out a statement alerting the media to its president Julius Malema's visit to the Eastern Cape.

How do you 'do the right thing' when you don't know what it is?

THE optimists in our midst have been calling on President Jacob Zuma to take stern action against police commissioner Bheki Cele and Minister of Public Works Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

How the News of the World has muddied the water for all media

THE past fortnight has been horrendous in the world of media as we have come to terms with the criminality which the News of the World passed off as journalism.

Let's not become a Pontius Pilate regarding the atrocities in Syria

IMAGES of protests on Arab streets have become routine on the evening news - the part where you can get up and switch on the kettle.

We need a state of emergency to take us back to the blackboard

IF ever there was a time to declare a state of emergency in democratic South Africa, it is now. No, I do not pine for Adriaan Vlok and Louis le Grange, so I am not advocating a fascist-style emergency. The one we desperately need is one on education.

May the road rise up to meet him, may the wind be ever at his back

AS per custom whenever I was in Cape Town, I had to stop and have a tipple with the Little Professor, as some of us liked to refer to Kader Asmal.

The ANC needs to pull the plug as the Juju jive goes into overdrive

SOUTH Africa will wake up to a new week with the realisation that it has to endure another three years of Julius Malema at the centre of the political stage.

Ugly omens of a yawning racial divide

On May 31, 30 years ago, the National Party government gathered its sheep at venues around the country to celebrate 20 years of the existence of the apartheid republic.