7 December 2021 - For many people, especially those employed in cities, the pandemic lockdowns that started in March and April 2020 engendered feelings of isolation. They weren’t allowed to go to work, because face-to-face meetings and shoulder-to-shoulder work environments risked spreading the deadly coronavirus.
Media
Every week we reach hundreds of thousands of people through placing arguments in the media in support of the principles we stand for. No other advocacy group in the country does as much as we do to promote support for policies that defend your right, and that of your community, to make decisions about your own life free from counter-productive government interference.
5 December 2021 - I began my first column of the year with a brief extract from a book, Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now, which for me defines an essential mental hurdle on the path to thinking about political and social change. “We will never have a perfect world,” Pinker observes, “and it would be dangerous to seek one.”
4 December 2021 - Might Omicron be a "mouse" to the Delta variant "monster"? Let's consider some basic observations about the evolutionary postulates leading to the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Vaccination by force: Unscientific and unsound
2 December 2021 - On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government would “undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory.” This has been followed by calls from various other parties for vaccine mandates, including one proposal to withhold social grants from the unvaccinated, or to force jabs.
1 December 2021 - Among the notable and memorable events of the past year was the passing of former President FW De Klerk. It was one of those archetypal ‘opportunities’ to reflect on the state of the country. And there was no shortage of that!
The power of pressure: Firearm Control Amendment Bill held back
29 November 2021 - “Extensive public outcry” has led to the Firearm Control Amendment (FCA) Bill being held back, according to DA Shadow Minister of Police, Andrew Whitfield. The Bill aims to deny South Africans the right to register firearms for self-defence. The holding back of this Bill marks a triumph for the effectiveness of public pressure.
28 November 2021 - After its limited success in the recent municipal elections, the Democratic Alliance (DA) faces three main enemies. They are the communications media, the African National Congress (ANC) and other rival political parties, and the ANC all over again.
27 November 2021 - Earlier this month, Adriaan Basson wrote a column attacking the Democratic Alliance (and, in passing, ActionSA) for their refusal to consider coalitions with the African National Congress. This would force the ANC into an agreement with the Economic Freedom Fighters, he suggested, to the detriment of the country as a whole.
26 November 2021 - The events of the past weeks have demonstrated that a political realignment in South Africa is possible, even probable, and quite conceivably inevitable.
President Ramaphosa, veto the Employment Equity Amendment Bill!
23 November 2021 - President Ramaphosa is soon to receive the Employment Equity Amendment (EEA) Bill, approved by the National Assembly last week. While the Bill will pass to the National Council of Provinces for potential alterations, the President has a say, and can veto the Bill. Should Ramaphosa fail to exercise his veto, he will be allowing an unconstitutional derogation of basic rights.
22 November 2021 - F W de Klerk was first elected to Parliament in 1972. He was appointed to the first of his six cabinet portfolios in 1978. In 1982 he was chosen as leader of the National Party (NP) in the Transvaal, becoming national leader of his party in 1989.
21 November 2021 - You have only to contemplate for a moment the scale of the impact of dysfunctional education in SA to recognise how pathetically misdirected, as a transformative tool, are the newly expanded ministerial powers to set numerical targets for the “equitable representation” of people from “designated groups” across the economy.