In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser

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.

This week, former president Thabo Mbeki wrote an extraordinary 17-page letter to deputy president Paul Mashatile. In it, he essentially critiqued various shortcomings of the current ANC parliamentary caucus.

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I do several things: a) explain the essential point of the letter; b) explain the structure and logic of the letter in a bit more detail; and (most importantly perhaps) c) offer you political analysis of what is at play here, which may not be apparent if you merely focus on the Phala Phala and Eskom case studies that drive the overt argument in the 17-pager. 

Want to know what the heck I am getting at? Dig into this latest episode. And please do share it widely.

[Also, remember to rate the podcast and maybe even leave a comment before exiting. If you never wish to miss future episodes, then it is crucial that you SUBSCRIBE.]

Why do so many people obsess about what queer people do, and how we identify? The latest expression of hatred is in Uganda, where a bill has been passed that now even criminalises merely IDENTIFYING as gay. Yes, you've read correctly. 

Now it is up to the president - a long-time homophobe - to decide whether or not he sign it into effective law.

Everyone must oppose hatred wherever it rears its head. I analyse in detail in this episode why the entire international community ought to be outraged when human rights are trampled on. But I also look at specific aspects of this bill that are, in turn, vague, hate-filled, internally incoherent, and irrational. 

Of course, "the international community" is infamously inconsistent on this score.

Have a listen to my full set of remarks and analysis. AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE A) share this particular episode widely & B) rebuke yourself if you are unmoved by the plight of any group of people whose fundamental rights are trampled on.

Eve Fairbanks is an American journalist who has just written and published an amazing book, one that already won a significan  international literally award. It is called The Inheritors, and is situated in South Africa. 

She has been based here for more than ten years, and developed a fascinating interest in making sense of how a country with our traumatic past, tried to carve out ways of dealing with the past, and moving forward. She follows three characters for many years, and tells their stories in The Inheritors. 

The book has already resulted in a stunning range of many very different reviews, with readers furiously debating different aspects of the book. That's exactly what every author craves. 

Eve joined me on the podcast to talk about this major work. There are no spoilers. And the conversation covers areas I didn't get to in my own written review nor at the book launch I anchored for her, so there's somethin  here for everyone: those who read the book; those who haven't; those who attended the launch; those who didn't; those who read the reviews; those who haven't.

Listen. Enjoy. Share.

And buy and read the book yourself. 

Are you confused that Somizi and Mohale were never married? "How so?", you may have asked yourself.

Are you also confused as to why Somizi, rather than Mohale, is the one who wanted to sustain the claim that there WAS a valid marriage in place? After all, wouldn't Somizi, more than Mohale, be excited to know there was no valid marriage in place? If Mohale is the alleged gold digger, why wouldn't Somizi be happy to accept that they were not spouses?! Confused? 

Let me help you out. I do two things in this episode: a) answer these questions AND (far more importantly) b) I will persuade you why this is NOT a silly celebrity gossip story but a fascinating story with curious and important legal, cultural and even ethical dimensions. Everyone missed the substance- because Somizi being a celebrity resulted in the story not being seriously paused over. His celebrity status and larger than life personality got in the way of a story that an editor might otherwise have assigned to a senior legal reporter, for example. 

Let me help you out. Have a listen to this episode, and share it with your mates before you debate the issues I explain and frame for public engagement - no pun on 'public engagement'! 

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I ask and engage a bloody award question about Mr Ramaphosa's leadership weaknesses - should he even be the ANC's presidential candidate for 2024?

I engaged this controversial question in a TimesLIVE analysis piece (https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2023-03-06-eusebius-mckaiser-can-the-anc-risk-putting-ramaphosas-face-on-its-2024-elections-posters/) and I voice the argument here for those of you who enjoy audio journalism as much as you enjoy reading. 

And yes obviously part of the debate would be "But who is better, Eusebius?!" I'm afraid you MUST listen to the whole podcast- it is a short episode- to appreciate why the ANC has one helluva headache ahead of 2024 even if there is no obvious alternative candidate (which is debatable and complicated as an aside).

Enjoy. Listen. Reflect. Engage. And share the epsiode widely!

Dean Michael Weeder (St George's Cathedral, Cape Town) wrote a stunning and moving collection of poems and ruminations. 

You have to - HAVE TO - listen to some of the poems and ruminations being read in this episode of In The Ring. And get yourself a copy of his anthology. 

We talked, along the way, about jazz, social justice, aesthetics, celebrating the everyday, artistic technique and creativity, and so much more.

Spoil yourself and listen to Dean Michael who is a wonderfully reflective guest, easy on the ear, with plenty of incisive gems to chew on...

Enjoy.

Here's what I think of the interview outgoing UCT VC Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng did with JJ Tabane on eNCA.

EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T FOLLOW THE STORY, THIS PODCAST CONTAINS LOTS OF CONTENT ON CRISIS COMMUNICATION THAT IS OF GENERAL INTEREST TO EVERYONE. 

Have a listen.

I sometimes get asked in my keynote speeches on diversity, equity and inclusion whether interventions aimed at inclusion are dangerous because they can result in "unconscious exclusion." The fear is that victims of oppression may become today's oppressors.

In this small entry of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I slay some myths around this issue.

Have a listen

A sad person or bunch of 'em unsuccessfully attempted to run a disinformation campaign against me recently. 

In this episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I explain why these campaigns should not be oxygenated but, nevertheless, why they should not be taken lightly either. 

They are a threat to public discourse and to democracy by implication; that is quite apart from the potential to literally destroy lives.

What is their ultimate function? And how should we think through them? 

Have a listen. 

As always, PLEASE rate our podcast, leave a comment, and hit the subscribe button before you exit. 

Thank you for the love and support.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi joined me to discuss a very specific feature of racism. We drilled down into a tendency to assume that a singular act of failure on the part of a black person tells you about their entire skillet and capability. 

From here, we slowly examined the structural features of the workplace, with a racist undergird, that leads to "competency racism".


I predict many of you listening to this discussion with me and Tembeka may feel overwhelmed by a familiar and painful recognition of what you have experienced but never knew it to be a phenomenon in general.

We give you the language to empower yourself, and we offer insights to help us all collectively continue the fight against anti-black racism in the wake of white supremacist grips still in place everywhere. 

Although we used the legal profession as a sustained case study, the lessons are easily transferred elsewhere. 

Enjoy. And drop me a message, even if confidential, telling me what came up for you. 

I was joined by Vanita Daniels (director at Rise Up Against Gender-Based Violence) and Nduduzo Nyanda (techpreneur), who are regular listeners of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser. 

We decided to shoot (not literally) ... uhm to shoot the breeze on a bizarre recent story of a tigress on the loose in Johannesburg. 

How the story played out, including the public responses to the story, was most interesting. It revealed many of our class, racial, political, and other fissures.

In this episode, we frame some of these questions, tackle them, and invite you to do the same. 

Enjoy.

Nice Racism by Robin DiAngelo opens up a conversation with white progressives. It is a book that is stunning but which will also, and already has, upset many white progressives.

This episode is just my FIRST reaction to the book? 

Buy it. Read it. Sit with it.

We will engage a lot of material from it in the weeks ahead.

For now, enjoy my first, raw, unmediated reaction to it.

Excellent futurist and Africa analyst Koffi Kouakou (The Centre for Africa-Chinese Studies, University of Johannesburg) joined me for a fascinating debate about ANC voters. He had listened to my previous episode, episode 145- 'Ramaphosa told you why you shouldn't vote ANC' ( https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/episode-145-ramaphosa-told-you-why-you-shouldnt-vote-anc/id1561851417?i=1000593632513 ) and wanted to put the ANC voter on trial. 

Koffi agreed with my main analysis ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2023-01-10-eusebius-mckaiser-ramaphosa-told-you-why-you-shouldnt-vote-anc/ ) that the ANC's January 8th statement is an argument for not voting ANC. 

But he is puzzled by why so many ANC voters nevertheless still vote ANC despite this seemingly not being in their material interest?

This podcast episode is based on several days of back and forth engagement between us. We ended up having a WhatsApp dialectic about the dangers of psychological analysis when it comes to making sense of ANY voter; laying out a basis for carefully exploring, neverthless, important and puzzling questions about voting trends in SA in light of the main empirical data about the state of the nation, and we then actually allowed ourselves the freedom to ask and explore such questions as, "Are ANC voters suffering Stockholm Syndrome?" Or, "Is there is a puzzle of domination here that requires explanations from political theory to make sense of? Do ANC voters - irrationally? - consent to their own domination?" Etc.

You decide where you land in these debates. I hope you are stimulated. I am confident you will be. And I thank Koffi for giving permission for our engagement that started off privately to be curated into a podcast episode. 

It is a little nerdish at times, but that is why you, dear listener, are part of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser. We are complex. And not every aspect of our lives are reducible to cheap slogans or memes. Or an easy laugh. In this podcast, we flip between laughter and drilling down deep when necessary. 

Enjoy and re-listen to this episode a few times to get more out of it. If needs be. Also do share it with your friends. Kindly! 

Please rate us and leave a review! And SUBSCRIBE before you leave the podcast platform. 

Ciao 

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I share the main insights from my recent analysis piece ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2023-01-10-eusebius-mckaiser-ramaphosa-told-you-why-you-shouldnt-vote-anc/) which critically examined the ANC's January 8th statement. 

The ANC's annual January 8th statement is part of its birthday celebrations. The statement is traditionally read by the party's president. It is an indication of what the  party hopes to see happening within the government and the state in the forthcoming year. Given that the ANC is the actual governing party, it is an important early indication of policy intentions for the year  ahead. 

I was flabbergasted at how many of my media peers and the commentariat responded to the statement. Reporting has been quiet rather than searing and critical. 

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I wear my hat as a political analyst and review the coverage thus far of what happened at a resort in Free State recently. 

I argue and explain how certain frameworks chosen by reporters, sub-editors, and editors unwiittingly water down the seriousness of racism. 

I also offer arguments in support of the view that editorial choices are not value-neutral (just as writing and reporting are not value-neutral speech acts). 

What we write, and how we edit, and frame stories, can reveal our most deeply held political convictions, even when we genuinely imagine ourselves to simply be "knocing into shape" a first draft. 

It is, as always, up to listeners of the podcast to determine whether and how much you agree with me. Or not. 

Enjoy and subscribe to In The Ring With Eusebius on any podcast platform so that you never miss a future episode.

 [AND PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW OF THE PODCAST, FAM, BEFORE YOU END YOUR LISTENING EXPERIENCE!]

In this podcast lament, I meditate on how little focus there is this year on Reconciliation Day because of the elective conference of the  ANC. But there is a link: delays and organisational chaos at the conference speak to the state of the ANC and the state of the ANC-led state. The state has not enabled and delivered economic justice for South Africans.

I focus on the importance of centering economic justice and related material questions in public discourse about reconciliation. 

I also use archival materials to remember the deep physical and psychological scars that we have not yet overcome - we paper over them - despite the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 

This episode is, at times, difficult to listen to, but I hope most of you will agree that it is usefully difficult listening nevertheless.

In this edition of In The Ring, I am joined by Sunday Times investigative reporter Sabelo Skiti who wrote the story about the recent bullying scandal at Roedean including a fracas involving parents (https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2022-11-27-parents-of-roedean-bullies-in-ugly-school-fight/)

We explore a number of issues including: a) damning findings from an educational psychologist about institutional failure on the part of Roedean; b) corporate creep or corporatism on the part of the school board; c) the danger of political overreach in how schools are engaged when there are complaints; d) teachers who are invisble in this narrative; e) wealthy and politically connected parents who are entitled; f) centering the paramount interests of the children (or failing to do so).

Enjoy and share it widely

A section 89 independent panel had arrived at the conclusion that, on the face of it, President Cyril Ramaphosa has an impeachment case to answer. For a simple, 10-minute EXPLAINER of what they said - in case you missed it - check out the previous episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser (episode 140 - Is Ramaphosa a fatally wounded buffalo? Here's a quickie)

For a wider conversation about the issue and the implications for our democracy, beyond the narrow legal issues, check out my conversation with Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh on his platform SMWX on YouTube ( https://youtu.be/fXBZzb1zLOA) 

In this episode, I explain the legal strategy of Ramaphosa’s lawyers in taking the section 89 panel's recommendation on review. The President has an excellent legal team, and their strategy is good and interesting. 

My main aims are to explain why and how Ramaphosa’s legal strategy is not unanswerable, firstly, and why there are both political and legal complexities here, secondly, that result from design flaws when it comes to the impeachment process itself- an originating reality neither the President's lawyers nor the section 89 panel are responsible for. In other words, along the way, in this podcast, I describe the tension between squarely political and squarely legal questions. 

Enjoy.

The section 89 panel's findings that President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer on allegations of serious misconduct and serious violation of the constitution is the biggest crisis of his political career. It is also an inherent crisis for the ANC and a serious challenge to our democracy. 

I'll unravel it fully in the hours and days ahead. For now, here's a quickie to help you grasp the essence of it all.

Luke Lamprecht (   https://www.lukelamprecht.co.za ) is an excellent  and well-respected expert in child protection and child development. He has worked with and in countless schools, tackling the very issues we are exploring in this series. 

In this episode- the second in the series focusing on bullying at Roedean, he educates us all on the complexity of bullying. It is a difficult concept to get a clear definitional grip on, and he helps us to navigate our way through  these complexities. 

We focus on children who may have fallen foul of school codes of conduct, including anti-bullying policies, and ask how best to go about dealing with such children. 

In the details of the Roedean there appears, on the face of it, to be evidence of an adversarial, criminal law-like, approach that had been adopted, and Luke gives a comprehensive and compassionate but practical view of where and how it seems Roedean has done the children an injustice, institutionally speaking. 

In the recent edition of Sunday Times ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2022-11-27-parents-of-roedean-bullies-in-ugly-school-fight/ ), the paper reported on a horrible incident at a well-known independent school in Johannesburg, Roedean. It even allegedly involved fighting between parents that necessitated police being dispatched.

The backdrop to the fights are guilty bullying verdicts and punishment for these: the alleged bullies' families feel the school had not dealt with the issues properly nor fairly, while the parents of the alleged victim also feel aggrieved. 

What is fact and what is fiction? That is hard to tell as all the people involved are passionately asserting their individual truths, and evidence is slowly and partially emerging. I have seen some of it. And engaged many people privately. My own digging is ongoing. 

In a series of episodes here on In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I will help you navigate the story: we start off with setting the scene and isolating the main themes, as well as an interview with the provincial department of education. In subsequent episodes we deal with other apsects of the story.

Friday is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It marks the beginning of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. 

In this audio essay, based on an analysis piece I had written for and published on TimesLIVE, I explore why and how GBV is squarely a men's problem.

But, I am not merely putting us men on moral trial. That is not unimportant, but, of course, the ultimate goal should be to recover our humanity and to create spaces that are safer for everyone. 

So, what does that all mean practically and analytically?

I'm afraid you will have to click on the podcast link and listen to the audio essay to get a grip on the details of my thinking on these issues.

I hope they are useful conversation starters for you.

Thank you for continuing to support my audio journalism so generously. Please do share this episode widely, especially to all the boys, teenagers, and men in your life and within your networks.

Author and journalist Jacques Pauw joined me to discuss his new book, Our Poisoned Land. It is a sequel to his previous bestseller, The President's Keepers.

It was a wide-ranging but also focused conversation that could have been longer. I want you to read the book before we debate it further. This interview won't spoil your reading experience. It gives you a sense of what the book is about. 

Here is a non-exhaustive list of questions I explored with Pauw: Is the much discussed excerpt about the EFF a distraction from the main issues in the book or a fair reflection of his intentions as author? How does he respond to critics who think that unethical journalism, related to an incident at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, undermines his journalistic integrity and credibility? What are examples of the linkages between money, politics, and the subversion of the constitution? Why is PRASA such a big focus of the book? What are the implications of the empirical evidence of state capture specifically for the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa? Is the EFF a bona fide political party or a criminal enterprise? Etc.

Enjoy!

 

I will soon interview Jacques  Pauw about Our Poisoned Land, his sequel to The President's Keepers, one of the most commercially successful books in South Africa over the past ten years, quite apart from the phenomenal discursive impact it had.

Here's a reminder, from the archives, of the key themes in The President's Keepers. I had, back then, interviewed Jacques Pauw as that book was causing massive public debate. 

Enjoy

Many of you write to me privately, asking for informal advice on quitting alcohol or cutting back massively.

I've not consumed alcoholic beverages for more than three years now.

Along the way, I have learned many things. Whether you are an alcoholic, or simply curious about sobriety, or maybe just keen to drink much less, this episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, which is my story about accidentally quitting alcohol, will be of some use to you.

Enjoy, and all the best.

In this epsiode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser I explain my support for the decriminalisation of sex work.

[FROM THE ARCHIVES] I flighted a documentary about the work of an organisation in inner city Johannesburg aimed at changing the lives of boys and girls who have offended and who are at risk of offending by using boxing as a way to help them recover their own humanity and to fulfill their human potential.

What an incredible experience.

I shared with them my own journey too... this was a very emotional rollercoaster for my team. 

Listen and share this one widely too. 

I cannot even believe I typed that question because it should be regarded as totally absurd. Right? But sadly there are still people who walk around imagining that heteronormativity is intrinsic to being African. Bizarre. 

Well, about ten years ago I took part in what was a difficult but productive debate about this question hosted by Zeinab Badawi.

It featured politicians and various activists. I too was one of the panel members. 

I thought it would be useful to re-broadcast that debate so we continue the critical engagement about sex, gender and queer politics

I interviewed banker Lincoln Mali about his book, Blazing A Trail: Lessons For African Leadership. 

Mali has spent over two decades in banking and financial services working across the continent, from Nigeria to Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya and elsewhere, as a banking executive facing a myriad of leadership challenges entrusted to him by his mentors and bosses.

This comes after a stint in government, a more natural home for a student political activist who had studied law at Rhodes University. 

In this interview we introduce you to some of the main themes and inisghts of the book, and Mali the author. In one sense, his approach to business leadership is intuitively sensible, and yet it isn't orthodoxy in a world of work in which patriachal norms and hypermasculinity frames our ideas of 'good leadership', still.

Do buy and read a copy! In the meantime, enjoy this interview

#ForTheLoveOfBooks #ForTheLoveOfReading

Kukhokuhle Tswenga is a brilliant doctoral engineering student at Oxford University with a research interest in robotics. His life began in deep rural Eastern Cape, a poorly resourced community that did not stop his academic brilliance from manifesting , early on. He even, uhm, got 100% for both maths and science in matric, one of the top students in the country. 

In this beautiful podcast conversation, he allowed me to share parts of his amazing and inspirational story with you. It is so stunning on so many levels - intellectually, politically and otherwise - that I am gonna ask you to simply listen. Just like the story of Professor Musa Manzi went viral, so too will you be moved and inspired by Kuhle'.s

Share it widely. 

Dig in!

I interviewed Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon about his stunning book, The Blinded City- Ten Years In Inner-City Johannesburg, which tells countless and complex sets of stories about people who occupy buildings in inner-city Johannesburg.

Some call these bulldings "hijacked buildings" but Matthew explains why this term is problematic. He has spent over ten years getting to know the people living in these buildings, recording their stories, following lawfare between these communities, property developers and the City of Johannesburg.

What emerges is an incredible book that isn't just about an ongoing housing crisis, but a struggle for the right of people who live precariously to be treated with dignity, an inviolable right that they are inherently entitled to but all too often denied.

No one with a serious interest in making sense of the urban landscape, and our myriad political  fissures, can skip this conversation. Listen to it, and buy Matthew's book.

This is a story about Johannesburg, in the first instance, but one with global echoes and therefore of international interest also.

Enjoy

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I voice an essay I had written for TimesLIVE in which I critique the bullshit idea that race-based affirmative action policies are racist, and also slay the myth of meritocracy that make many white people falsely claim that their economic successes are due to hard work and fair play.

There is a cluster of explicit and hidden premises in these positions that are popular despite being spectacularly false and fallacious. 

Have a listen.

I decided to re-broadcast the incredible story of geophysicist professor Musa Manzi.

I don't wanna summarise it in this blurb. I interviewed him a couple of years ago and his amazing life story remains poignant. There is SO MUCH that is dreary in South Africa right now.

This story is a story you didn't know you needed to listen to - whether for the first time or again - RIGHT NOW. Literally. Stop what you're doing. Listen to it. And share it as a gift with others.

I am still in tears having listened to it now with the freedom of being a listener and not as broadcaster needing to keep it together and coherent. What an amazing story, my goodness.

Trust me. Go ahead and click.

In this latest edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I voice an essay I wrote this week that means a lot to me;  it is a meditation on the joy and value of reading. 

I hope you enjoy it. If you are a keen reader, I hope you will feel affirmed. And if you are not yet a keen reader, I hope you will feel motivated to give books a chance.

#ForTheLoveOfReading #ForTheLoveOfBooks

A man who is on the DownLow wrote me a message sharing his story. In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser I give my view on men who are married but who have same-sex desire, and who may even actually be having same-sex sex.

There is a helluva lot to say so this is the start of multiple conversations on the issue rather than one definitive take on it. 

Have a listen. And feel free to inbox me on social media to share your views and stories. 

We're in the middle of bisexuality awareness week.  There are lots of myths and stereotypes about bisexuality. These myths and stereotypes aren't only held and expressed by many straight people but even by gay men and women.

So. In this episod  of In The Ring, I went into my archives and am lifting to the surface a conversation with three black bisexual men about their lived experiences as bisexual men. 

There are many more stories to collect and record; many more issues to examine. I'm aware of that and will expand my treatment of the issues. But to kick us off, listen back to this 2018 conversation; listen closely to bisexual persons speaking their truth. 

Enjoy

Can one ever get enough of the incisive commentary of South African author, essayist and commentator Sisonke Msimang? I hosted her on this edition of In The Ring to explore aspects of the social and cultural impact of Queen Elizabeth II.

I started off by asking Sisonke whether she would like an opportunity to mourn the Queen. I wonder what you will make of her response? It was uhm #Awks

We explored a range of questions and issues, among them: the script of Empire, including "respectability and decorum" issues that Msimang explains as problematic in some of the responses to the death of the Queen; whether jocular responses, including the meme-ification of the monarchy, are acceptable or not; hypocritical tropes in how some Brits respond to their monarchy compared to the judgemental gaze of similar traditions elsewhere; whether or not the Queen is directly culpable for aspects of imperialism or 'merely' a beneficiary of unjust historical events; the place of monarchies in modern democracies; etc.

Enjoy! 

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser I share an audio version of my essay (https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-09-10-eusebius-mckaiser-the-ifp-wants-unconditional-love-so-its-protesting-against-a-lowly-newspaper-man/) that critiques a decision by an opposition party in South Africa, the IFP, to march to the offices of one of the weekly papers, City Press, because of the work of the editor, Mondli Makhanya. 

Listen to the narration of my essay

What is the place of intentions in our lives? If someone "meant well" should they get discount for harmful actions that flow from "good intentions"?

These questions matter in politics, allyship, law, ethics and even basic interpersonal relationships. 

In this episode I explain why intentions do matter BUT ... why it is disingenuous to always refer to your good intentions when called out about the impact of your words and actions.

Have a listen

Broadcaster Oliver Dickson asked me to think through the place of struggle songs, and iconography, in contemporary South Africa. 

We discussed it on SAfm, an SABC platform, where he is a broadcaster.

It was a rich and fascinating discussion, so much so that I thought that if you had missed it perhaps, then you may want to have a listen to it.

Enjoy.

Many of you - sadly - have written to me complaining about managers and bosses who are toxic, not empathetic and the proverbial 'boss from hell'. 

I asked brilliant executive coach Dawn Klatzko ( from www.theartofthesuit.com ) to provide a toolkit that can help you cope, and maybe even thrive in your workplace, despite your feelings about and experiences of your manager or boss. 

This podcast is crucial to better negotiating workplace politics and complexities.

You can also reach Dawn Klatzko privatel  by emailing her at artofthesuit@gmail.com for individual professional coaching. 

In this second podcast special, focusing on James Baldwin, historian Vashna Jagarnath and I dive into his brilliant essay collection, Notes of a Native Son.

In episode 113, which is worth listening to if you missed it, we introduced you to the life and times, and overall significance, of Baldwin.

In this episode we examine Baldwin the essayist. We decided, in particular, to focus on two of his most brilliant essays, Notes of a Native Son and Everybody's Protest Novel. 

Enjoy!

Do you also, wittingly or otherwise, change languages or accents or vocabulary between different spaces (for all sorts of reasons)? [Many of us do so at school, in lecture rooms or at work] 

In a country like ours, with so much diversity, and skewed cultural and economic power distributions, sometimes you have to code-switch in order to survive, to be accepted, to fit in, in order to THRIVE/EARN...

It can be funny, innocent, silly. It can also, at other times, be costly, and even toxic and oppressive. 

I discussed the concept of code-switching with brilliant South African creative, poet and actress Lebo Mashile, in what turned out to be an amazing Twitter spaces conversation. 

My favourite response was a person who had tweeted that she had never encountered the concept before but now that it had been explained to her, suddenly SO SO MUCH about her life is suddenly illuminated. That is the power of giving language and meaning- putting words- to what we experience habitually, unconsciously because ... we simply get on with it. Naming our experiences is very empowering. 

I dare you take a chance on this podcast episode, and learn about code-switching. I am certain that you will be as fascinated as the many folks who shared their stories on Twitter with us.

Enjoy ! And share the episode with others who may be empowered by it also. 

Based on an essay I recently wrote ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-08-02-eusebius-mckaiser-outrage-about-rape-must-be-accompanied-by-action-heres-what-we-might-do/?device=feature_phone  ) about rape culture, in response to the gang-rapes that had happened in Krugersdorp here in South Africa, I narrate the content of my essay. It focused on several aspects of our responses to incidents of rape when they are reported: a) an inappropriate grading of rape and murder, as if some rape stories are more "rage-worthy" than others - I explain why this is problematic ; b) the callous response of our minister of police, Bheki Cele, who implied that one woman was "lucky" to be raped by one man rather than by more than one man- I offer analysis of why this is problematic c) the proposal of chemical castration that has been raised by some in the ANC is a tempting "solution" to rape but won't work, and I explain in detail why it will not work.

I end the podcast with a reflection on the hard work required to deal with the deeper social structures and factors that sustain a culture that licences rape. 

 | ReplyForward

Brilliant historian Vashna Jagarnath is back!! We have decided to show James Baldwin lots of love in August, with three or four podcast episodes dedicated to the life & times of Baldwin. 

If you secretly don't know anything about Baldwin but have been too embarrassed to say so, we will bring you up to speed, and you'll know what the fuss is about. Hopefully it will inspire you to read him, and seek out audio and visual materials featuring him too. There is plenty of primary sources and even more secondary materials and scholarship ABOUT this genius. 

If you're already a Baldwin fanatic, you'll know that part of his excellence is that his work remains relevant across time and space, and therefore revisiting him is never a bad idea.

In this first episode we narrate his basic biography, locate him ideologically, and begin to introduce you to major themes in his work with more particular focus on racism.

Dig in & enjoy! 

Theuns du Toit was found guilty of violating various clauses of Stellenbosch University's disciplinary code for students and amended residence rules. The findings were deemed sufficiently serious to justify expulsion.

Is Theuns du Toit a drunk who lacked control of his bodily functions and urinated on a fellow student’s property? Or is he a white student who intentionally urinated on a black student’s property, motivated by racial superiority? The answers, yet to be settled with finality in various appeal forums, will either reduce Du Toit’s shame or mark him as a racist, haunting him for decades.

In this epsiode of In The Ring, I share my analysis based on an article I had written for TimesLIVE (https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-07-27-stellenbosch-university-vs-theuns-du-toit-lawfare-retards-antiracism-project/)

I know many of you will be shocked that I agree with SOMETHING said by former president Thabo Mbeki. But an ad hominem response to his speech at the memorial service held in honour of the late ANC leader Jessie Duarte would not be useful. 

In this episode of In The Ring, I tell you what Mbeki said about Ramaphosa, explain why I agree and tell you the irresistible conclusion that follows from all this.

Have a listen!

Ida B Wells was a brilliant anti-colonialist activist, journalist, writer, teacher and a leader within the human rights movement of her time. Born on 16 July 1862, she grew up during a time when the legal end of slavery did not translate into an anti-racist United States of America. Lynchings, for example, which is a dominant theme of her work, was one mechanism used by white supremacists to continue instilling fear within Black people, and to continue social and economic oppression through that economy of fear. 

In this episode of In The Ring, brilliant historian Vashna Jagarnath is back. She narrates the life and times of Ida B Wells, in a manner that is truly compelling, and which I know will inspire you to do more reading and research of your own, beyond this podcast.

It is a fitting follow-up on our recent podcast epsiode - episode 104 - with Vashna, which had focused on the story of Juneteenth ( https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/episode-104-slavery-the-cosmpolitan-history/id1561851417?i=1000567120352 ).

We have to fight the silencing of Black voices, and popularise the stories of Black thinkers and important- and ordinary - historical figures. This is part of our commitment to epistemic justice. 

It is in that spirit that I hope you enjoy every minute of this conversation which moves across time and space, drawing links constantly between the life and times of Ida B Wells, and contemporary struggles of our own, which can draw on and learn from those of yesteryear. 

Police minister Bheki Cele shouted at some guy called Ian Cameron (from an outfit called Action Society) at a community safety event in Gugulethu, Cape Town. 

It is one of the most horrendous acts of  public bullying from a politician I have seen. In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser I analyse the issues: what might have triggered the minister's response? Is there any explanation for his shouting? How should we (properly) characterise it? Are there factors that should make us soften our judgement of the minister? What, too, of Cameron? Ought he to have engaged the minister, in turn, differently to how he in fact did? Or not?

These are just some of the issues I explore.

PLEASE do not forget to subscribe to the podcast before you exit your podcast platform. 

Enjoy the content & kindly share the episode with friends, colleagues and family. 

A debate that's never been settled- and perhaps never will- is whether or not president Cyril Ramaphosa is liable for the deaths of 34 mineworkers in August 2012.

He was a director of Lonmin, the mining company the workers worked for. In a series of emails with other leaders of the company, Ramaphosa described the mineworkers strike action as "dastardly criminal" and he promised to convey that sentiment to the security cluster within government so that "concomitant action" could be taken.

A court found that there is no evidence in these Lonmin emails of Ramaphosa being liable for murderous action, either directly intentionally so or in terms of foreseeing the murder of the workers.

But, as News24 specialist legal reporter Karyn Maughan points out (https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/ramaphosa-has-case-to-answer-on-marikana-collusion-but-not-on-murder-of-miners-court-rules-20220705-2) this leaves open the question of whether, in terms of legal causation, the president may yet be liable for pressuring the police brass in a manner that resulted in the miners'deaths, setting the scene for them using excessive, lethal force. 

I invited Karyn to explain, explore and debate this particular complexity.

We also asked a crucial non-legal question- even if Mr Ramaphosa is legally not liable in any way for the Marikana massacre, does he bear any other kind of responsibility, morally or politically? After all, legal questions do not exhaust range of questions about responsibility. 

Enjoy

I asked you to send me any questions, without fear of being shamed or lashed, that you have about homosexuality/queer people/"the queer community" etc. There were too many! We'll do another round in future. For now, in this episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I offered answers or thoughts (where clear answers evaded me) in response to the following ten sets of questions/comments: 

Question 1

Where do you stand on the recent ruling that trans women can't participate in professional swimming?

Question 2

Hi Eusebius. I just wanted to ask, at what age did you confirm to yourself that you are gay? Did you feel as a child that you were different? What was the family's reaction to you 'coming out' as it were?

Question 3

From whom did you learn about the workings of non-hetero sex? (Where and when did you learn this, perhaps?) Do you think that the process of engaging with the physical aspects of your sexuality would have been easier had you had some kind of education in a formal schooling environment?

Question 4

How do you suggest that toxic masculinity is addressed within the 'community'?

Question 5

What do you think of the younger black and older white male relationships often where the younger is straight and has a female companion in the township or the village?

Question 6

Narcissist tendencies and homosexuality. Discuss. 

Question 7

Do you think bisexuality is real?

Question 8

Should I tell my child that I know they are gay?

Question 9

My friend has a crush on me and my wife is concerned but I don’t know how to address this with my friend. 

Question 10

Why are gay men obsessed with appearances?

Enjoy, and PLEASE share this episode widely as it may help someone who is open to learning and/or to re-examining views they have, to spend a bit more time on issues that might have seemed settled to them, but which they may now recognise as perhaps more complicated. 

IS BALENCIAGA'S 'DISTRESSED' R30 000 SNEAKER ART OR EXPENSIVE TRASH?

I hosted an energetic debate about a controversial limited-edition sneaker released by Balenciaga. The 'distressed' design, looking like very dirty, well-worn shoes that only persons under conditions of extreme poverty may be reluctantly compelled to wear, not having alternative choices, retails at some $ 1,850.

Mikhail Brown, who writes on the politics of fashion, framed a fascinating debate in Sunday Times recently (https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/fashion-and-beauty/2022-06-19-would-you-pay-r30k-for-dirty-broken-sneakers/ ) on whether these dirty broken sneakers could be considered art. He excavated the biography of the designer to make sense of what the motivations were behind this work.

In this episode of In The Ring, gender activist Vanita Daniels ( Director of Rise Up Against Gender Based Violence) joined Brown as fellow guests to discuss a myriad of issues.

Just some of the questions we explored included the following: Is the design ugly? Can a sneaker be a work of art? Is functional value an exclusionary criterion in determining what counts as art? Does a motif that draws on the experiences of the poor, or those of oppressed and vulnerable groups like homeless people and refugees, count as unethical appropriation of their stories? Is it wrong for a work of art to be priced exorbitantly when it draws on struggle narrative? Is fashion necessary political? Or, can I dress as I want without engaging issues of sustainability and ethics? 

Enjoy!

I LOVED LOVED LOOOOOVED reading Into Dark Water - A Police Memoir by Jeremy Vearey. It is so much more than a police memoir. It is a memoir about his life as a political activist, and how that life segues from there into the role of career cop after returning from Robben Island, and following a stint as a Nelson Mandela bodyguard. But Jeremy is an activist, teacher, poet, intellectual, and so this book does not simply chronicle policing experiences - that alone would have been fascinating - rather, the book locates his police work within the social and political milieu of Cape Town, the Western Cape and indeed, and necessarily so, South Africa as such.

I apologise, dear listener, that once or twice the sound quality meanders, because darn Eskom, our useless electricity supplier, cut off the power supply while I was working. But it should not spoil your enjoyment of the episode, overall. At any rate, PLEASE buy and read the book also. 

Enjoy! 

Historian Dr Vashna Jaganarth joined me to explain why Juneteenth matters. We inevitably hear her brilliant narration of many complex aspects to the historical (formal) end to slavery in 1865. Along the way, she talks about the gaps between legal declarations of freedom, and forms of enslavement that continue thereafter. Unsurprisingly, who can access legal justice becomes a matter of class politics. 

Vashna spends a lot of delicious time on food, and what the lives of enslaved peoples have gifted us, and hence why we have certain typical foods on the Juneteenth table. This begins a discussion about the importance of humanising slaves. They did not merely endure, suffer and survive slavery. They also had humanity within the enslaved conditions (itself a form of resistance) - dance, music, food, love, etcetera. Vashna explains why, historically, white supremacy wanted the full humanity for slaves to be suppresed in the descprtions of 'slaves'. This, in turn, means that when emancipatory politics sets out to achieve full justice for the oppressed, it is important to not perpetuate the brittle view of enslaved persons. Vashan explains in this episode what this means and requires. 

We ended the episode by discussing what the modern project of justice for slavery entails, beyond breaking bread. 

Enjoy! 

In this episode of In The Ring, I simply voice an article I had recently written - Pride Month - Mind the gaps in the rainbow - which reflects on aspects of our experiences as queer people within a heternormative and patriachal world. I acknowledge, reference and affirm the importance of legal rights victories. But, these legal victories do not always translate into changes in our social realities. 

Also, within "the queer community", there are many communities, and minorities within minorities, such that "the queer community" needs to be problematicsed. I do so by disentangling some of the issues within "the queer community" that are often obscured when we focus narrowly on the legal wins (important as these are). 

Lastly, this episode also critiques poor corporate allyship, explaining why and how we should guard against gimmicks during Pride Month on the part of companies weaponising our struggles for capitalist ends.  

 

The 2020 Booker Prize winner, Douglas Stuart, spoke to me about his sensational second novel, Young Mungo. Stuart became an international writing sensation after his debut novel, Shuggie Bain, won the Booker, and gained him countless readers and fans in the literary world. In this episode, we explored the story of Mungo in great detail.

As I summated in a review recently ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-05-19-book-review-the-quiet-violence-of-young-mungo/ ), "Young Mungo is set in Glasgow and tells the story of Mungo and his family. They are a working-class Protestant family, with plenty of trials and tribulations. His mom, Maureen, is an alcoholic. His brother, Hamish, several years older, is addicted to violence, and his sister Jodie, desperate to escape the horror of their circumstances, is forced to play mother to her younger brother Mungo because Maureen is never around."

Stuart started off reading from a scene in which a neighbour, Mrs Campbell, appears to defend her husband who had beaten her up, resisting the moral criticism of him from young Jodie. We discussed, in some detail, the complexities of this scene, and the issues they surface, including the brutalising effect that working on the ships and in the mines had on many men in working-class communities. Without excusing domestic violence, Young Mungo examines the class fissures in 1980s and 1990s Glasgow and Britain that led to some of the social ills that are illuminated throughout the novel including alcholism, religious bigotry, domestic violence, etcetera. 

The whole episode is riveting. Have a listen!

EFF MPs disrupted parliament on Thursday, trying to prevent President Cyril Ramaphosa from delivering the presidency budget speech. It all turned into chaos, and with EFF MPs being ejected. The delivery of the president's speech was delayed by over an hour.

I think the EFF made a strategic error. And that is putting it lightly. Listen to this latest edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser to understand the details of why I think the trick employed by EFF should be criticised. The trick did not work for the party nor for entrenching accountability. In the accompanying audio, I explain why I say so.

I was joined by two of your favourite guests of mine on this podcast, Lance Claasen (who is now full-time back in radio as GM of Rise FM) & Thabo Shole-Mashao (former journalist with massive news experience, and now working as a sought after strategist in public relations, media management and training, etc). We debated whether or not the claims by former spy boss Arthur Fraser that president Cyril Ramaphosa is implicated in criminality, should be taken seriously. Or, is this a story that should not get the kind of attention we are giving it (ourselves included in the media)? It was an energetic exchange of agreements and disagreements, but you can make up your own mind about these issues, hopefully finding the framing of them, useful if not interesting also. Enjoy! 

Here's a summary of what well-respected analyst and author Songezo Zibi's new book, Manifesto: A New Vision for South Africa, is about.

You want to buy it. Definitely. And, more importantly, you want to engage it actively, and debate the main contours of his manifesto  with your peers.

Have a listen to my comments in this podcast, explaining why I recommend this book, and doing so strongly. 

For those who want more, here is a link also to the written review published on TimesLIVE

https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2022-06-03-dear-professional-class-songezo-zibi-wants-to-talk-to-you/

I asked former finance minister Trevor Manuel to join me, to chat about a defamation case he has initiated against broadcaster JJ Tabane.

It .... was ... lit. The tone wasn't lit, but listen carefully to every word. I think there will be some explosive debate and discussion about what Manuel said to me in this interview. 

For once, I'm not gonna summarise the essence of his claims.

CLICK IMMEDIATELY & LISTEN! Do share it. [And remember to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode because subscribers get pinged when a new one drops.]

Enjoy

My goodness. Thando Pato has been through A LOT, and she has left it all on the pages of her 'sober lit' memoir, On The Rocks: Memoir of a High-Functioning Alcoholic. 

I invited her to come and share her multiple journeys, from her toxic relationship with alcohol, battling to accept she is an alcoholic because of the shame and self-shame attached to the word; to her diagnosis of breast cancer, quite apart from anxiety and depression, and an addiction to sugar, and so much more...

Many of us who project and perform success and functionality will see ourselves in parts of her story and her journey.

You really should buy the book but in the meantime enjoy - not that that is the right word - this candid, generous and authentic conversation she had with me.

Haji Mohamed Dawjee has written a fantastic second essay collection, Here's The Thing, as a follow-up on her well-received first collection, Sorry, Not Sorry.

I invited her to chat to me about her latest book. It spans many themes, from parenting to mental health, cancel culture and online mob attacks, complex relationships with our parents, suicidality, and much more.

I have written a review of the latest book  ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-04-25-book-review-heres-the-thing-living-is-bloody-hard-lets-be-honest/) and encourage you to buy, and read it.

Meanwhile, enjoy this podcast and make books and reading sexy!

The law only allows three exceptions to the use of symbols of hate such as the old SA flag. These exceptions include the usage of the symbol for purposes of bona fide artistic ends, academic endeavour or journalism. The gratuitous display of the old SA flag, for these reasons, has been declared as constituting hate speech.

AfriForum is hoping to persuade the supreme court of appeal that general free speech rights are impermissibly restricted by such a declaration. The Nelson Mandela Foundation as well the Human Rights Commission argued that AfriForum's view, in turn, took inadequate account of the rights of dignity and equality which constrain the free speech rights AfriForum are asserting. The SCA now has to adjudicate the matter. 

In this edition of In The Ring, advocate Ben Winks, who represented the NMF, joined me to discuss an aspect of the case that has been under the radar. What happens if a black person or a black-led and pro-black organisation used the old SA flag as part of their political speech rights such as, say, waving it publicly as a trenchant critique of the quality of the current ANC government? Would such usage also be deemed to be a celebration of white supremacy? Or ought we to distinguish such cases from the gratuitous display of the flag by right-wing organisations? How should the law handle this? Besides, such an instance would not be artistic, academic or journalistic? Should the law be expanded to include political usage of such symbols as another exemption from the hate speech laws? 

We did not arrive at clear conclusions but framed the inherent legal, political and ethical complexities these questions occasion.

We often bitch and moan about the state of our politics. Justifiably so. There are glaring weaknesses in all of our main political parties- from the governing African National Congress to the two biggest opposition parties, Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters.

Many smaller parties emerged in recent years, some doing well during the recent local government elections, but even they come with downsides such as populism and xenophobic sloganeering from their leaders. 

This raises an obvious and very urgent set of questions: what's the alternative to our main political parties? Can we change the political landscape as civil society? Are there alternative pathways to a more just South Africa beyond formal party politics? Can we and should we reduce the power of politicians?

I invited Mandla Isaacs to work through these issues with me. He is a political economist, public policy analyst and a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

Enjoy this latest episode of In The Ring and remember to subscribe to the podcast.

Afriforum is hiding behind free speech rights in order to justify their nostalgia for apartheid. In this episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser I explain why the legal debate is less important than the political and moral debates.

I explain why we should be concerned about anyone who desires to cling on to symbols of hate, symbols of trampling on black people's dignity. There are issues here that the law cannot settle. I frame these for public discussion. 

The legal issues are less clear cut. In my view, Afriforum will probably lose the legal case but I do explain why, notwithstanding the legal brilliance and oratorical prowess of Adv Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, I think the legal issues are more complicated to make sense of than the political and moral dimensions. 

I asked University of Cape Town's Jacques Rousseau (lecturer in critical thinking and ethics) to help me puzzle through the latest instantiation of the free speech debate. It's been sparked by the news that Elon Musk, who describes himself as a free speech absolutist (whatever that means), is buying Twitter. 

The difficulties are several: at a theoretical or principled level, what kinds of speech acts (if any) should be barred? And, related, how feasible is online policing of content anyway (assuming we can even make headway in defining what counts as 'harm', 'violence' etc.)

There are a myriad complexities here. Dig in. Share the podcast. And debate it with your family, friends and colleagues. 

For more of Jacques' work visit his blog which you can find at www.synapses.co.za

In this edition of In The Ring, I explain two ways in which you should NOT try to tackle racism, patriarchy and other forms of oppression in the workplace and elsewhere. There is a tendency to look for 'quick fixes', and I give examples of what these mistakes are. I outline, as an alternative, a different strategic pathway for companies to embark on, if they are genuinely committed to transforming the workplace - or any institution and any space - into a genuinely socially just environment that is safe for everyone, and conducive to productive behaviour, and entrenching norms such as fairness

Professor Sarojini Nadar (University of Western Cape) responded(https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-04-16-god-grief-and-good-friday-a-response-to-eusebius-mckaiser/?fbclid=IwAR0SioBDrOuKohEuxvKf2-i51Uvrtz2ow9V8X43wWBwzCero5zZ-1P8p3iI ) to an article in which I had argued that the God I was taught about in Catholiism does not exist ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2022-04-15-eusebius-mckaiser-i-was-taught-god-exists-that-is-a-lie-heres-why/ ). I argued that the characteristics of being all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing are incompatible with the existence of natural evils like devastating floods and earthquakes. Nadar did not reject all of my philosophical analysis, but expanded the conversation by explaining why she had abandoned, in her own personal journey and academic work, a conception of God that invokes notions of "might, masculinity and militarism." 

In this edition of In The Ring, Nadar expands on the conversation that had begun on TimesLIVE. She started off by sharing her personal journey from a Pentecostal upbringing to her discovery of black, femnist and queer works which engage her faith. Thereafter, I challenged Nadar on whether the very idea of a transcendental being is necessary in order for one to be committed to black radical thought, feminism and justice. We also discussed the strategic importance of engaging and working with religious communities in order to achieve social justice in society, regardless of what one thinks about the metaphysical claims of those who believe in a supernatural being.  

We also reflected on religion and humour, and whether it is ever wrong to have playful discussion about religious beliefs. We ended the episode by debating whether or not it is important for religious beliefs to be true or whether religious beliefs and practices can be defended wholly instrumentally by appealing to the (potential) benefits for individuals and society.  

Some people are upset by a recent article I wrote (  https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2022-04-15-eusebius-mckaiser-i-was-taught-god-exists-that-is-a-lie-heres-why/ ) in which I had argued that evil is imcompatible with God's alleged omnisience, omnipotence and omnibenevolence. Many of the responses to me were sheer bile, and one of them appealed to 'free will' as an explanation of why God cannot interfere in natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I do two things. First, I explain how the FORMAL LOGICAL nature of 'the problem of evil' is misunderstood by many critics (and, indeed, by some people sympathetic to the conclusion of my article). Second, I voice responses to some of the criticisms, including an explanation of the limitation of the 'free will'-defence. 

TRIGGER WARNING: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS STRONG AND SOMETIMES GRAPHIC LANGUAGE INCLUDING DESCRIPTIONS OF RACISM/COLOURISM, VIOLENCE AND SPECIFICALLY SEXUAL VIOLENCE 

In this episode of In The Ring, I hosted Ismail Lagardien, the author of Too White To Be Coloured, Too Coloured To Be White. Lagardien's book is painfully compelling as it mixes stories from a fascinating life he has lived, with incisive and challenging analyses about the social and political (un)realities of South Africa. I decided to focus closely, for now, on only some of the themes, including colourism, non-racialism and sexual violence. The conversation, while beautifully honest and authentic in my view, is nevertheless - at times - difficult listening. But I hope you find it worthwhile, and I most definitely recommend you buy and read his book. 

I have already told you on social media just how compelling Nikolaos Kirkinis' biography of former professional footballer Junior Khayne is. You can also check out my written review ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-03-27-book-review-the-junior-khanye-story-nimble-on-the-field-tripping-off-it/ ) of this book, Ghetto Ninja: The Junior Khanye Story. 

In this latest episode of In The Ring, you are in for an even greater treat; the author, Niko, is as compelling a guest interviewee as he is an author, and I have no doubt you will listen uninterrupted to this entire conversation with him, wishing I had kept him on for longer. Enjoy, and then go and buy the book!

Yesterday, former president Jacob Zuma suffered another legal setback when the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed his application for leave to appeal his lower court failure to delay his corruption trial further. What was Zuma hoping for? Why is he delaying getting his day in court on the main corruption charges? What, truly, is going on here? I was joined by excellent senior legal journalist Karyn Maughan (News24) to make sense of it all. Enjoy, and remember to subscribe to the podcast before you exit it, so that you do not miss any future episodes

I think Will Smith and Chris Rock should both be criticised for what happened at the Oscars. I argued for this viewpoint on TimesLIVE ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/ideas/2022-03-28-eusebius-mckaiser-heres-why-chris-rock-and-will-smith-deserve-neither-praise-nor-defence/ )

In this edition of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I summarise my argument but go further and also expand on responses to criticism while adding new points I did not raise in my analysis piece.

Enjoy

There can be no doubt, after the local government election results of last year, that the governing African National Congress is in deep political trouble. Many analysts take for granted that in 2024 there is a real possibility of the ANC getting less than 50% of the national vote, ushering in an era of coalition politics both nationally and provincially. This kind of prediction is premised on the assumption that the ANC cannot be saved from terminal electoral decline.

In this episode of In The Ring, which was first published on Eusebius on TimesLIVE (as you will hear in the audio content), well-known and experienced former journalists Thabo Shole-Mashao and Lance Claasen joined me to examine the possibility of the ANC yet recovering from its steady electoral decline of recent times.

We explored whether the political brand of the ANC is irredeemably and near fatally damaged by the effects of state capture on the reputation of the governing party. We also debated whether the leadership crisis of the ANC, both the ethical and technocratic dimensions, can be fixed before 2024 or whether that is now an impossible task.

Lastly, drawing on the public relations, communications and reputation management expertise of both my guests (in their post-journalism careers), this episode ended with a provocative question, "Assuming the ANC cannot fix its problems before 2024, what is the best strategy to convince voters to not abandon the party?" 

Please remember to SUBSCRIBE AND TO LEAVE A RATING about the podcast before exiting the platform. 

I have had the pressure and privilege, for more than ten years, of serving on many bursary and scholarship selection committees. I also, before that, had applied for many bursaries and scholarships myself - during high school and throughout university. Not everyone knows how to go about constructing an application that has decent odds of succeeding. In this episode of In The Ring, I draw on my many years of experience, and list and discuss 5 top tips for ANYONE applying for a bursary or a scholarship. 

There is a lot more than can be said and that can be discussed, but this podcast episode is, I hope, an important and useful, and PRACTICAL, start for many. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share it widely, especially among undergraduates- and high school learners - because the cruel reality is that, by the time you apply for many bursaries and scholarships, you may already be haunted by your earlier choices or missed chances. I would dearly love the advice in this episode to reach especially those, like my younger self, who did not have access to a family friend or member who had gone through these processes and who might have been able to dispense advice. Let's make SOME attempt to level the playing field by sharing this kind of advice, freely and widely, Please. 

I end off my short audio contributions for anti-racism week by explaining why the END GOAL should be to arrive in an anti-racist society and not a non-racial society.

While we shouldn't be distracted by language  debates - and rather focus on materially changing society - I do think it is useful to explain my general unhappiness with the term or concept of non-racialism and my preference for framing the justice project as squarely an anti-racist project

Have you considered one painful aspect of anti-black racism that we really do not like talking about - internalised oppression? In today's short audio contribution to anti-racism week I raise some examples of internalised oppression with a view to sparking an intra-black dialogue about the deep psychological violence of white supremacy, violence so enormous that even when whites aren't around we could display internalised oppression which is why we must be vigilant, and get a proper grip on the concept

Now former Democratic Alliance politician and leader Mbali Ntuli explained in detail her reasons for exiting both the party and the political stage. On Eusebius on TimesLIVE, which we also cross-post here on In The Ring, she painted a picture of a political culture that had taken root within the DA that is factionalist in nature, leading to the "weaponising" of party structures and processes, including disciplinary processes, for factional ends. While describing herself as being "emotional" about her shock announcement today, she intimated that plenty of thought and planning had gone into the decision. 

Another reason for her decision to quit the DA was a general feeling of despair that South Africa's party political system is not delivering justice and equity for communities across the country. This, she shared with me, made her re-examine whether she herself is sufficiently grounded still within communities, despite being part of representative political structures and systems. She was alluding to a crisis within politics generally, and felt that pivoting towards community-based work in the immediate future, as she intends to do, is important for re-connecting with ordinary South Africans across the country. While not undermining the work of legislative bodies, she argues that it is "easy" to do committee work, for example, and to be disconnected from communities. She intends, however, to return to politics in the future because it is "in the blood" but has NO plans of presently joining another political vehicle. 

Have a listen to our full conversation 

Continuing this week's daily nuggets in response to anti-racism week, today I speak directly to white allies in the fight for racial justice.

There are useful and not-so-useful ways of responding to the reality of anti-black racism. This short audio entry helps white allies to think more carefully about the demands of allyship

In today's short audio entry on racism - as part of anti-racism week - I read from Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper.

I then use the excerpt to medidate on the importance of paying attention to how racism often teams up with other kinds of oppression all of which need to be eliminated from the world if we are serious about arriving in a truly just place.

Between now and Human Rights Day on 21st March, we are focusing on anti-racism for the week. Each day this week, on In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I will address, in a short audio entry, one or two aspects of the fight against white supremacy, the fight against anti-black racism and for racial equality. 

In this first entry of the week, I raise and answer two questions: are all white people racist? Do all white people benefit from the global history of anti-black racism?

Listen to this very short podcast entry to understand why I answer the first question in the negative, and the other in the affirmative.  

Don't forget to subscribe to In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser before you leave our podcast platform!

I decided to hang out with Democratic Alliance leader and politician Mbali Ntuli. We challenged ourselves to not speak party politics, and what unfolded was a beautiful conversation about  the myriad quandaries of parenting (she is a mom to a little daughter and also currently pregnant), illness and mental health (she speaks openly about some severe existential challenges), the upsides and downsides of public life, and so much more.

Enjoy and remember to SUBSCRIBE to In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser before leaving.

I realised while digging into her archived ouput, that my friend Karima Brown, who died from covid-19 related complications exactly a year ago, was truly brilliant in many more ways than we grasp when someone is alive. 

She was an excellent journalist, broadcaster and political analyst. 

Her life's work deserves a rich and complete description of it, that can live permanently and be accessible to anyone. That is necessary to ensure that we do not commit epistemicide. The work and legacies of women generally and black women in particular are understated and often rendered invisible. 

This is a criminally short episode but a taste of a larger project. Enjoy this recollection of the work and impact of Karima Brown. 

May she continue to live in peace.

Despite being bored by the desperate hate speech case brought by Afriforum against Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, for the apparent singing of the allegedly hate speech-filled anti-apartheid chant, Kill the Boer, so many of you asked me for my opinion that I've reluctantly done so in this short episode. 

There are three lessons here for racists that Malema freely provided. I discuss them. Simply click and enjoy this latest episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser 

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast before leaving!

I was joined by brilliant novelist Sue Nyathi & also by exuberant Vanita Daniels, a funny and brilliant social justice activist (Rise Up Against Gender Based Violence) to talk about The Wife. 

We laughed our asses off while exploring the light and shade.

SPOILER ALERT- we will ruin your viewing if you've not seen it yet. But if you have, this episode is a TREAT.

And even if you won't watch it, there are issues of general interest- from comically bad acting to the ethics of portraying gratuitous acts of violence and much more - that any curious person would enjoy engaging. So you also do NOT need to have seen the series to find this episode of value.

Dig in!

Towards the end of the state of the nation address last week, president Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to be inspiring us all to be "resilient". Wittingly or unwittingly, however, he was emotionally blackmailing you. I wrote about that on TimesLIVE in an analysis piece you can read ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-02-13-eusebius-mckaiser-did-you-notice-ramaphosa-blackmailed-you-on-thursday/?fbclid=IwAR16GGjVO6n093cOkgqGQqiMKXld7zKyC7SwTUtHTzBKjurEBWgpLeokTTg) 

In this very short episode, however, I make the case for why my charge of blackmail is not an exaggeration, and explain how we ought to respond to being politically blackmailed by the president. 

In this latest episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I was joined by two excellent former journalists, Lance Claasen and Thabo Shole-Mashao, who now allegedly play in the murky worlds of public relations, communications and, who knows, reputational management (or uhm not)!

These combinations of skills and experiences made for a fascinating debate between the three of us about the political brand, and leadership strengths and weaknesses, of president Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Some of the questions (among many others) that we discussed included: why is Ramaphosa so indecisive? Is his presidency a failure? Can he yet rescue his own legacy? What explains his apparent tardiness in getting on with the business of government business? Or did we always have unrealistic expectations about his ability to overcome the inherent constraints that both the ANC and the state impose on any president ? And, what can he say in the State of the Nation Address this week to stop us all from falling into a deep coma? And by the way - has he in fact been doing better than some of us are claiming?!

Enjoy this latest episode, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, and to leave a rating and comment.