Eusebius's last public contribution to the conversation about the upcoming national elections in South Africa was on 30 May 2023, the day he passed away, in which he asked if there was a viable option to the ruling party in the country. By all predictions, South Africa is likely to end up with a coalition government at a national level. We started our democracy in 1994 as a coalition with the government of national unity, are we approaching a full circle moment after May 2024? In this discussion, Lovelyn speaks to Ebrahim Fakir - Political researcher/Analyst and Mbali Ntuli, Founder of the Groundwork Collective, exploring some key questions about the performance and future of coalition governance in SA. Why hasn't our politics matured enough that we are able to do coalitions well? What does it take for political actors to collaborate properly in service of the people? How should you as a voter be thinking about the power of your vote beyond these elections?

Eusebius McKaiser was very deliberate about expressing his Coloured identity online, showcasing what it meant to him, challenging stereotypes and sometimes hilariously confirming stereotypes. In this conversation, host Lovelyn Nwadeyi speaks to three Coloured South Africans each with differing roles in the South African media landscape: Tessa Dooms a political analyst and author of Coloured: How Classification became Culture; Megan Lubke - Executive TV Producer at the SABC and Investigative Journalist as well as Lance Claasen - Station Manager at Rise FM in Mpumalanga. Each of our guests was invited to reflect on questions about representation, authenticity and what it means to be Coloured in post-apartheid South Africa. In this layered, interrogating and sometimes emotional episode, our guests unpack the history of Coloured identity in South Africa, what it means to them and how they connect to this racialised and cultural experience today.

In this episode, we spotlight key organisations in which Eusebius McKaiser was affiliated. Lovelyn speaks to Wayde Davy, Former Deputy Director of the Apartheid Museum and Zaakira Mahomed, Founder of the Mina Foundation, and explores issues these two organisations face (race, gender and period poverty) as we celebrate our 30 year old democracy. While Eusebius did not consider himself an activist, we delve into his work with the Apartheid Museum and the Mina Foundation as we remember both his selflessness and commitment to building a better and more equitable society...

In this edition of In The Ring, I analyse Prince Mashele's responses in interviews granted to eNCA, 702 and the SABC, in light of media reports that he had, ok the face of it, been dishonest about the nature of his biography of Herman Mashaba. 

Herman Mashaba is leader of politica  part  ActionSA, and prior to that was always known as a very successful businessman in an against-all-odds tale at the height of apartheid; in recent years he a new career pivot that had also seen him becoming mayor of Johannesburg.

Mashele, a well-known South African political analyst, had claimed that he had "self-funded" his book on Mashaba, and the subtitle of the book declared it to be "unauthorised".

It has emerged that Mashaba had provided funding for the book, and had engaged the author on drafts of the chapter. 

This raises sharp ethical questions: was the work unauthorised or authtoised ? Did Mashele lie on eNCA? Did Mashele WRONGLY withheld the information from Jonathan Ball ? What, most importantly, are the consequences for the professional integrity of the author? And what are we to make of the other actors in this drama: the subject; the publisher; the researcher/former best friend Brutus Malada who 'blew the whistle'?

Have a listen to my uhm unauthorised take. 

Sihle Khumalo has written a fascinating, witty, brilliantly researched new book, Milk The Beloved Country 

One of our continent's best writers, Zukiswa Wanner, came over to my house, and after a hearty lunch we hit the 'record' button for this edition of In The Ring. 

We dissected Sihle Khumalo's new book, reading from it, telling you why we both loved it (for overlapping but also different reasons), and debating where and how we think he might have done things differently (or not).

Dig in! 

Redi Tlhabi, well-known South African journalist now based in London and working across the globe, joined me for a bloody fascinating and blunt conversation about South African media.

It was wide-ranging and interesting. 

Dig in. Debate it. Share it widely.

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I reflect on both Freedom Day and Worker's Day. 
I spend some time arguing that my generation and those of you who are younger shouldn't be ahistorical and glib about the achievements of those who came before us.

That said, we have to be rigorous in our conceptualisation of 'freedom': what precisely is it? Unless we do some definitional work, we can't mind the empirical gap between the normative vision of the constitution and our present social un/realities. 

I end this edition by weaving all of that material, in turn, into a set of reflections on the moral limits of markets. If we want our democracy to flourish, and for all of us to realise our potential, then there is simply no room for the fantasy that questions of fairness or justice can be settled with deference to economic markets. There is no point in pitting the exploited worker against the unemployed.

Let me explain it all. Click. Enjoy. Engage. Leave a rating and review comment. And share the episode with a friend or two!

Enjoy!

All I ask is that you listen to this entry of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser. It is ONLY 6min20sec. 

Only engage me afterwards. Just do me that favour. 

In this exceptionally short audio entry, I voice my argument, first published by TimesLIVE ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2023-04-11-eusebius-mckaiser-the-opposite-of-pointing-out-western-moral-viciousness-isnt-to-let-putin-off-the-hook/ ), for why South Africa should arrest Russian president Vladimir Putin should he come to our country.

Have a listen.

I tweeted a picture of Julius Malema marching to the Uganda embassy where he spoke - with the rainbow flag wrapped around it - condemning the bill criminalising identifying as gay in Uganda.

I accompanied the tweeted image with the following words:

@Julius_S_Malema thanks for showing leadership today and not being worried about homophobic backlash even among some of your supporters online.

Shame on the ANC government for SILENCE.

Doing right isn't about calculating how many 'likes' you'll get.

#GayRightsAreHumanRights

***

A friend of mine called me and wondered why I would praise Malema, suggesting rhetorically that Malema and the EFF are weaponsing allyship and not being genuine. They added that they know I *must* know this, so were wondering what the thinking behind my tweet was.

My friend - love him to bits - asked an excellent and important and incisive question.

In this 10 minute audio, I share some of what I told him in my response to him.

Enjoy

I listened to John Steenhuisen's acceptance speech after he was re-elected as the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition in parliament. This is a very important leadership position given that the DA is the second largest party in the country.

I was shocked by the bizarre content at the heart of the speech. It was filled with relentless negativity and fear mongering, which bodes very poorly if this is a dress rehearsal for how the DA will approach the 2024 national elections. 

There were at least six massive own goals - more - but let's focus illustratively on six examples from Steenhuisen's victory speech that demonstrate my claim that the speech was deeply problematic on multiple levels.

Enjoy. Share the podcast in your own networks and circles. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button before you exit the podcast platform. 

Thanks for your support of, and interest in, my work.