Frans Minnaar Blog

Daar is ʼn Engelse spreekwoord wat sê: ‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Soms kan die Rooinekke baie slim wees. Hierdie is een van daardie gevalle, want hierdie spreekwoord is een van die geldigste wat ek nog ooit teëgekom het; dit het my betrokkenheid by, my belewenis van, die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis -in-wording my geleer. Het u al ooit gehoor van ʼn staatsvorm bekend as ʼn oligargie ? Demokrasie, totalitarisme, kommunisme, sosialisme, kapitalisme is bekende begrippe waarmee enige terloopse politieke waarnemer bekend is, maar oligargie is minder algemeen. Vroeër jare, in Victoriaanse tye en vroeër was dit veel meer algemeen beoefen (alhoewel ek nie weet of hulle dit op daardie tydstip noodwendig as sulks geterminologiseer het nie). Die begrip ‘oligargie’ staan egter sentraal tot hierdie Kommentaar, daarom ag ek dit die moeite werd om dit vlugtig te verduidelik en te definieer. ʼn Oligargie is ʼn staatsvorm waar ʼn klein groepie regerende elite die staatsgesag mon...

The United States of America is turning anti-Woke. That is the best things that could have happened. Gone are the days when we have to listen to the moralism of the Left telling us so-called truths, in all kind of fancy language, that were (and are) nothing more and nothing less than propaganda for reversed discrimination, or for mad, illogical assumptions about social construct, preached as scientific truths Note that there is a reason for me titling this post “America” is going anti-Woke. This reason is because I know that it is not applicable, and will not happens to the country where I am living, which is South Africa. But it still warms my heart to take note what is happening in what is still the largest economy and most powerful country in the world – and the leader of the West World. What is "Woke"? The term “Woke” was originally drafted by Black American communities in the 1900s. For them, at the time, it meant “ … that someone is informed, educated and conscious of s...

OK, I’m not actually an academic. For a considerable period in my life (more than 30 years, actually), I was involved with academics; both as a student, researcher, part-time lecturer, and as a facilitator of short learning programmes for working adults on behalf of academic institutions. For the sake of fairness, I must confess two things here, namely that I was a full-time member of academic staff only for six months in 2014, and, secondly, my experiences are more or less limited to the sciences of Economics and Management. O-yes, there's another consideration to keep in mind: My ideas are obviously shaped by my own career-specific exposures. The contents of this article must be read in that context. Be as it may, here it goes! The Mandate   Academic institutions normally define their mandate in terms of three core functions, namely teaching, research and community work. It is especially the first two that ultimately determine an academic’s standing, and therefore his or her prom...

On 06 September 2025, Floyd Shivambu has officially and formally announced the political movement called African Mayibuye Movement, preceded by the Mayibuye Consultation Process.   OK, so hands up from all who have every believed that the political party will NOT follow on the process? I don’t really know what the meaning was with the so-called “process”; perhaps it was meant as a kind of “marketing campaign”, perhaps it was an attempt to be different from the other left-wing splinter-groups that have spring up like mushrooms in South African politics. Perhaps it was a mixture of the two motivations. Actually, while listening to the rhetoric screaming through the microphone during the grandiose establishment event (or announcement) my first reaction was: Same old, same old; I’ve seen the same thing, and heard the same sentiments, just in different phrases, and pronounced by different people, numerous times before. You know, addressing the “comrades” (just like the ANC, and just tra...