The th!nc Foundation

This was developed into a fully-fledged Working Paper, published by the Thinc Foundation Ours has always been a struggle for the creation of a national democratic society. For this noble mission, we are proponents of the National Democratic Revolution that must usher in a national democratic society in all its dimensions. At its zenith, the National Democratic Revolution should be best represented by a society that complied with and practised its unquestionable objectives. It is a revolution of South Africa, in South Africa, by South Africans to create a society they have all agreed will best reflect them, as the Constitution instructs. The issue of establishing a National Democratic Society impacts the quality of democracy and the livelihoods of people, the lofty ideal of a unified democratic society, and the future of humanity based on social justice and fundamental human rights. Our society, its context, history, and aspirations are changing and subject to different perspectives...

At the pinnacle of having successfully transformed South African society to conform to Apartheid, the BJ Voster-led National Party government sought to start the cultural assimilation of 'its subjects' through the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. In pursuit of establishing a racial hierarchy which would have permeated society by concentrating economic and political power in the hands of a racial-cultural oligarchy with Afrikaners at its helm, the introduction of Afrikaans would have made South Africa's brand of colonialism a complete hegemonic endeavour. Artificial as this pursuit of Apartheid-inspired acculturation of South Africa, its institutionalisation through law made its enforcement as a legal program of the state more algorithmic and pathological can attract rebuttal by jurisprudence which undergird it.  Whilst Apartheid as a political order enjoyed the support of its significant taxpayers and monopoly capital, its social order dimension grew ...

The political ideas characteristic of shallow citizens, politicians, and analysts are those of gossip, prejudice, and shibboleths. On the other hand, political ideas characteristic of candidates to be a leader of society brigade member are facts, truth, impartiality, and being unconventional.  What broad pooling of ideas and trailblazing should be about is generating ideas that will affect our society and its politics. 'Ndhavuko ya mihleketo' is as important as these ideas’ effect on society. We should be in it for the sake of ideas; posterity is etched therein.    An acute divorce between the formal meaning and real meaning characterises the bulk of what we write and speak about politics. For instance, formally, we might be dealing with energy restructuring as a condition necessitated by managing South Africa's climate change obligations, and the real meaning might be moving from the state balance sheet energy generation-transmission-distribution assets onto private sect...

As South Africa is undergoing one of the external to its context pressures to its otherwise volatile currency, the rand, pundits and thinkers alike are pondering on how it extricates itself from its legal obligations in terms of its statutes. The influence of the rand on the economy runs deep. Its position in the global forex environment and its price determination prowess on the local economy make it the apex indicator of global markets’ perception of South Africa and its overall policy choices. The upcoming BRICS summit, and the attendance of President Putin, who has a warrant of arrest on his name by the International Criminal Court, has foregrounded itself as yet another test of South Africa's loyalty to its declared commitment to the rule of law.  Hypotheses are proffered on the various options available to policy and decision-makers. The impact of events on South Africa's economy features more prominently than the underlying causes of the crises pressuring monetary policy...

Suppose Andre de Ruyter's claims survive critical scrutiny and ultimately become facts, and collectively the body of his facts stands. In that case, they will, with or without our permission, constitute (scientific) knowledge, and scientists will continually build the (scientific) credibility of those facts through repeated citations in rigorously peer-reviewed knowledge pieces.  Credible or otherwise information does not make itself science nor correct itself; it is the scientists who work with it that correct each other about it. It is in that vortex of scientific interaction with information and its credibility that objectivity raises its legitimising role. Objectivity, and fortunately for (scientific) credibility, emerges through the exposure and interrogation of old assumptions.   Because scientists enforce procedures and practices that ensure objectivity as they make information and evidence that undergirds it, it should only sometimes follow that society should not...