The th!nc Foundation

This was published in  TimesLive  on 17 July 2025 The General Mkhwanazi press conference will be remembered as a pivotal moment when the silence surrounding the experiences of appointed officials at the hands of elected officials was broken. The relationship between elected and appointed officials is fundamental to making democracy work and ensuring nations remain competitive. Translating political objectives from governing parties into state programmes relies on capable officials committed to faithfully implementing the lawful policies of the current government.    Those appointed in the public service are undeniably the intellectual backbone of the state. Their tenure often outlasts that of elected officials , and they serve in the public sector out of a sense of vocation. They are expected to conduct themselves as career professionals, upholding their profession's norms, standards, and laws. The normative framework of public service places significant responsibi...

This was published in TimesLive on 19 July 2025 The ANC 's policy response to one of its most significant post-apartheid challenges, corruption and state capture , will be remembered as a rare commitment by a political party to restore its integrity with society. Establishing the integrity commission allows ANC members to undergo a process where they can explain themselves and assess the impact of their actions on the ANC, regardless of whether they are found guilty or not.  This process concerns the ANC's reputation rather than the individual member or leader involved. Once members enter the process, they understand its finality and the necessity of stepping down for adjudication authorities to decide. It is logical that, once in the process, a member cannot participate in any voter-facing activities. This includes addressing its rallies and public lectures. The ANC started its renewal process by adopting a member integrity management policy. It was an effort to restore its...

This was published in  TimesLive  on 09 July 2025 As Provincial Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi declared at a significant career press conference that "I will die for this badge", he sounded like a military operative making a heroic statement. The plain truth, after listening to the entire speech, is that he expressed a specific aspect of section 197 of the South African Constitution , which states that "within public administration there is a public service for the Republic, which must function... and loyally execute the lawful policies of the government of the day." The public service is a crucial part of our national public administration system, a relationship that the state organs, whether elected or appointed, must not take for granted. It is a relationship based on trust that society has placed in us to manage public power and enforce laws, including combating criminality. Upholding this trust is not just a duty, but a solemn responsibility.   Public trust i...

This was published in  TimesLive  on 02 July 2025 Unless you are familiar with how the GNU works, the ANC-DA staged tensions seem like a straightforward story. The two opponents, fighting for dominance over South Africa 's liberal spirit and facing a local government election to decide who will win, are about to lose significant support because the GNU has not made a real difference for ordinary people, the voters. Each adversary has become the chalice for the other and cannot be dislodged from the coalition without significant collateral damage. Both may be on a side of history whose correctness will depend on the extremes their collective memberships can reach.  To South Africans familiar with the extent of maverick politics each party can summon, the threats to leave the GNU and 'mabahambe' are, at best, temper tantrums, mitigated by fear of losing the advantages that come with holding executive power positions. The ANC aimed to stay in the GNU to maintain state pow...

 Dr FM Lucky Mathebula (Prof)* Humanity has constantly been interrupted by its advances to upend the status quo established as the basis of coexistence with the self and the natural environment. The need to overcome time and distance is central to humanity's pursuit of betterment. Speed to arrive, contact, complete, and produce has been responsible for most industrial revolutions. Twinning has been the urge to do at the least possible time without compromising the quality of the outcome. Necessity grew commensurate with the time it took to address it. The essence of being human is understood through time and experience.  With its precision in determining human endeavour's outputs, the advent of the digital revolution has unleashed a cognitive revolution, fast outpacing humans' capability to cope, notwithstanding its being a creature of human competence. As the convergence of disciplines and constellation of technologies come together as intelligence beyond organic human c...

When we completed our Secondary Teachers Diploma, together with two cohorts that followed us, at the Transvaal College of Education, and we later realised many other colleges, in 1986, we vowed to become force multipliers of the liberation struggle through the power of the chalk and chalkboard.   We left the college with a battle song ‘sesi bona nge sigci somoya, sesi bona nga madol’nkomo, Siyaya siyaya’. We left the college with a battle song' sesi bona nge sigci somoya, sesi bona nga madol'nkomo, Siyaya siyaya'. This song, a call to war with anyone, system, or force that sought to stop us from becoming a critical exponent and multiplier to the struggle for liberation, was a powerful symbol of our commitment. We understood the influence we were going to have on society. I was fortunate to find a teaching post in Mamelodi. Mamelodi was the bedrock of the ANC underground. At one point, it had a significantly larger number of MK operatives than several other townships. Sa...