DEVELOPING countries that have been successful since World War II, particularly those in East Asia , have done so by empowering the widest number of people at the same time, not just an elite.   l The writer is co-editor with (Leslie Dikeni) of The Poverty of Ideas. 

AS SOUTH Africans we must be vigilant that elements of our democratic state, especially the state security apparatus, do not return to the strong-arm tactics, dirty tricks and law-unto-themselves behaviour of the apartheid era.  

Of course, in every democracy, there are some levels of patronage, be it class, political or ethnic, in public appointments. 

UNLESS the structure of the tripartite alliance between the ANC, Cosatu and SACP is modernised, with new rules to govern the way it works, bitter disputes over policy will remain a constant feature under the Jacob Zuma presidency, as it was under his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. 

THE fierce battle to oust former president Thabo Mbeki and his allies at the ANC’s seminal December 2007 national conference in Polokwane brought together into an alliance two broad, but diametrically opposed, groups. 

TO SURVIVE the devastating impact of the global financial crisis, African countries must learn a simple lesson they appear not to have heeded since the end of colonialisation and apartheid: do not listen to the advice of global institutions and leading Western nations.  

SOUTH Africa urgently needs to cobble together a new social pact between all its communities, parties and civil groups, which should set new goals for how to make the democracy better, reduce poverty and boost economic development.