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Eyewitness News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
The people must ceaselessly challenge the lawlessness of the SA government
Malaika Mahlatsi 30 May 2025 | 13:08 Nandipha Magudumana appeared at the the Bloemfontein High Court on 5 June 2024. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News The people must ceaselessly challenge the lawlessness of the SA government A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa delivered a judgment in the Magudumana v Director of Public Prosecutions, Free State and Others. The case sought to decide whether Magudumana's extradition from Tanzania (which she contends was, in fact, an abduction by the South African Police Service (SAPS) on the instruction of the South African State) was lawful. The majority judgment found that it was. But Judge Makgoka, in his minority judgment that has been lauded by international law experts, disagrees with his colleagues, arguing that the arrest of Magudumana was unlawfully disguised as an extradition when it did not, in fact, follow proper extradition processes. The judgment is extensive, delving into the complexities of international law. But it is on page 43 of its conclusion that Judge Makgoka makes a profound reflection, one that goes beyond the case in question and to the very issue at the core of the moral crisis of the South African state – its perennial lawlessness. Speaking to this lawlessness, Judge Makgoka quotes the words of Judge Louis Dembitz Brandeis in the Olmstead et al v United States judgment, where the then Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States made this profound input: 'In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously…Government is the potent, omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy'. Judge Brandeis had spent many years challenging the erosion of morality on the part of the American state, specifically about its problematic relationship with the banking industry. For Brandeis, this relationship was one of the roots of corruption within the state, particularly because of the stranglehold that the industry and its lobby had over politicians. Nowhere was this relationship more evident than in the influence of the leading financier and investment banker of America's Progressive Era, J.P Morgan, who directly and indirectly directed American economic policy, particularly during and following the Panic of 1907. I found myself reflecting on Judge Brandeis' argument on the danger of a lawless government in the context of the recent (now withdrawn) appointment of board chairs of the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) and the consolidated general report on local government audit outcomes by the Auditor-General (AG). A few weeks ago, the Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, announced the board chairs of SETAs that comprised largely of African National Congress (ANC) leaders and former leaders. Following public uproar, the minister withdrew the appointments and indicated that the process would be redone. But while she claims that the withdrawal is indicative of her regard for the voices of the people, her actions border dangerously on lawlessness, or at the very least, very serious unethical conduct. That the minister presided over the appointment process and signed off on it as the Executive Authority, and then failed to account and explain her actions, choosing to restart the process, is a dereliction of duty. In South African labour law, dereliction of duty, which refers to an employee's intentional or conscious failure to perform their duties, is a serious offence, potentially leading to dismissal. The AG's report paints a debilitating picture of the state of municipal finances in the country. Only 41 of the country's 257 municipalities received clean audits. In cases of those that received unqualified audits with findings, which amount to 99, the issue of financial mismanagement is at the centre. Of particular interest for me is the City of Johannesburg, the nerve-centre of the national and regional economy, and a city that I call home. That the metro is in a state of collapse is no longer a question. It scores highest in all areas of poor performance - having the highest unauthorised expenditure at an alarming R2.8 billion, the highest water losses at R2.9 billion and the highest electricity losses at R4.9 billion. The metro also has high levels of fruitless and wasteful expenditure, with the amount standing at over R350 million in the last three years. The AG's report also noted poor governance not only in the municipality and its entities. But of significance is the criminality that the AG flagged. According to the report, nearly R1 billion in contracts in the City of Johannesburg were awarded to companies with close ties to employees of the municipality, including councillors, who failed to declare conflicts of interest in the 2023/2024 financial year. This is in direct violation of the law. The Public Administration Management Act (PAMA) 11 of 2014, specifically Section 8 (2), and Regulation 13 (c) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016, prohibit State employees from conducting business with the State or being a director of a company doing so. What this indicates is that there is a flagrant disregard for the law in the City of Johannesburg and other municipalities across the country. These are two of many instances in which the political leadership of South Africa has been very casual about being party to or presiding over complete lawlessness and immorality. It has become so embedded in our society that it does not shock anyone anymore. It is just another news item – another point of discussion on social media before something else grabs our attention. But this should not be the case. The people of South Africa should be ceaseless in challenging the lawlessness of our government whenever it rears its ugly head. Forcing the minister to withdraw her appointments was a step in the right direction. We should do more of this. As Brandeis so correctly asserted, the government should never engage in acts of lawlessness because this breeds contempt for the law and invites every man and woman to become a law unto him/herself. This breeding of anarchy is the foundation on which the erosion of the state is built. Malaika, an award-winning and bestselling author, is a geographer and researcher at the Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation. She is a PhD in Geography candidate at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Science and Liberty: Social Physics From Comte to Samuelson
Commentary In his 1933 lecture at the London School of Economics titled 'The Trend of Economic Thinking,' Frederich Hayek identified a shift in economic thought toward planning and interventionism. He argued that the German Historical School and the institutionalists were major contributors to this trend. However, what actually laid the foundation for planning and interventionism in the following years was the formalism of neoclassical theory itself. Hayek and his mentor Ludwig von Mises in the 1910s and 1920s were part of the neoclassical tradition, and the idea that 'formalism' itself initiated this shift in economic thinking is what Boettke calls, 'Where Hayek went wrong.' Hayek was being left behind by his profession. Once among the most referenced economists in England, by the postwar era, some economists questioned whether his work even qualified as economics. The best example of this was when he submitted his Nobel lecture to 'Economica,' and they asked him to revise it. What caused this departure from the market to the plan? The major intellectual forces of the time: scientism and statism, which always seem to co-exist. The followers of scientism—those who hold a dogmatic belief in the validity and certainty of their theories—tend to believe that the only obstacle to solving social ills is a problem of execution. Since they believe they already have all the answers, the temptation toward statism becomes irresistible. The Man of Good Will Paul Samuelson, in his famous 1948 textbook ' This dream is what Robert Nelson calls the 'secular religion of scientific management' in his 2001 book ' The Scientific Management of Society In this historical context, it seemed regressive for post-World War II America not to embrace the idea of scientific management of society. If the entire world was moving in that direction, and the numbers from the Soviet Union appeared to demonstrate success in postwar reconstruction, then the only question was: when should the United States begin the process of saying goodbye to the invisible hand of the market and welcome the man of good will, who will help us solve our societal problems? The dream was to manipulate the market mechanism to achieve desired social outcomes, as envisioned by the 'planner,' presumed to act in society's best interest. When reading the texts of the Progressive Era, one finds a passion for discovery in the writings of its thinkers. A belief that they were uncovering something entirely new. A confidence that makes one exclaim: 'Why has no one thought of this before!' These thinkers shunned the past and embraced science as the path forward. And while the reformers of the New Liberalism in the late 19th century shared a similar enthusiasm—though perhaps to a lesser extent—the Progressive Era was especially marked by its confidence in the power of scientific solutions.. Social Physics and Its Unintended Consequences What's interesting about Comte is that his starting point was similar to Hayek's: the idea that society possesses a spontaneous order, not directed by a rational plan but emerging from countless individual plans. This is evident in his works like 'Social Statics, or Related Stories 5/4/2025 4/23/2025 As the 'Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy' describes Comte's view: 'The moral question, 'What should I do?' is no longer asked in the first person, and is transformed into an engineering problem: 'What should be done to make men more ethical?'' The question that social scientists must answer thus becomes an engineering problem. In this literature, as emphasized by Comte, the dogma of liberty is seen as an obstacle to reorganization. Comte's vision of reorganization is tied to his theory of the three stages of history. The first is the Theological Stage, in which society and politics are primarily influenced by religion. The second is the Metaphysical and Abstract Stage, which one might argue is closest to Adam Smith's grand plan of liberty. The third is the Scientific or Positive Stage, in which society is no longer directed by religion or liberty, but by science. This is the trajectory of history in Comte's view, and any resistance to it is reactionary—an impediment to the development of civilization. As Comte famously put it, 'The goal of every science is foresight.' He regarded the Positive Stage as 'the highest accomplishment of the human mind.' This idea, described by Frank Knight as 'salvation by science,' is a recurring theme in the history of social thought. As shown in this article, the belief in scientific management of society stretches from Comte to Samuelson. It assumes that scientists have either found or will soon find the solutions to our social ills. The only remaining obstacles are those 'reactionary' classical liberals who resist the execution of these plans and seek to limit state power. Even if the theorists of a positive science of human society try to remain apolitical, their assumptions inevitably lead to statism. They assume that we already possess all the knowledge and solutions to our problems, and yet those problems persist—therefore, the market must be inadequate, and we need the visible hand of the state. The unintended consequence of this thinking is captured well by Hayek: 'Once one understands this, it also becomes clear why methodological and political differences so frequently go together: those who believe that it is in the power of science to predict particular individual events, or the position of individuals, naturally also want to use that power to produce the particular results they desire.' Then, What Is the Role of Economists? In light of this, one may reasonably ask: What is the role of the social scientist? And more specifically, what is the role of the economist? This question has been answered in different ways by various thinkers, including Samuelson, as discussed earlier. One compelling answer comes from James Buchanan in his book 'What Should Economists Do?' The role of economists is not social engineering but aiding in the process of social understanding. Economists have this role because of the subject matter they study: the inevitable ignorance of mankind and the fundamentally different nature of solutions to social problems—solutions that involve trade-offs, not final answers. And when society faces trade-offs, it is better for individuals to be autonomous contractors—free to choose and free to preserve their liberty—rather than servants of a state, whether that state is theological or scientific. From the Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
5 things to know about Trump, Pope views on wealth, values and why MAGA worries
The American president and the American pope both have their eyes fixed on the late 19th century, but they seem to be drawing very different, if not clashing, lessons. President Donald Trump has recently waxed nostalgically about the period from 1870 to 1913 in defending his imposition of across-the-board tariffs. Cardinal Robert Prevost, in choosing the papal name Pope Leo XIV, follows in the footsteps of Leo XIII who set forth the concept of Catholic social teaching in 1891. While theologians point out the two views are not necessarily contradictory, some in the MAGA-verse were ringing alarms louder than the tolling bells in St. Peter's Square after white smoke heralded the selection of a new pontiff on Thursday. Firebrand Lara Loomer denounced Prevost as "pro-open borders" and Catholics for Catholics President John Yep said he viewed Prevost's election with "great concern." Here are five things to know. Trump speaks of the era as one in which America was at its "richest." Certainly a clique of industrialists and others profited mightily from the country's industrial boom at the time. This was the so-called Gilded Age in U.S. history, in which Manhattan's richest families, such as the Vanderbilts, Astors and Morgans, built palatial estates in Newport, Rhode Island. But for the vast majority of America, life was a very different experience. Many moved to urban centers in search of work and found jobs in factories where the hours were long and the wages minimal. Labor unrest ensued, sometimes turning violent. Immigrants and others working in factories lived in squalor. "It was not uniformly a period of strong growth. The analogies to the 1890s are extremely weak," said Edward Alden at the Council on Foreign Relations in an April interview. "If you're learning lessons from that era, they are going to be the wrong ones for sure." The Progressive Era of American politics ushered in safety protocols, a 40-hour week, anti-child-labor laws and many other workplace reforms. In calling for broad duties on imports, Trump has extolled the nearly 50 years that spanned the last centuries of the past millennium. "You know, years ago, 1870 to 1913, we didn't have an income tax. What we had is tariffs," Trump said in one speech. "And the tariff system made so much money. It was when we were the richest — from 1870 to 1913. … It was when we were the richest." The president has often alluded to wealth, telling Americans he will make them more affluent than ever. He has said he will usher a "golden era" and even redecorated the Oval Office with gold trimmings. 'You see the new and improved Oval Office,' Trump said to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during their May 6 meeting. 'As it becomes more and more beautiful with love — you know we handle it with great love — and 24-karat gold, that always helps too.' As pope, Leo XIV has not mentioned the era nor drawn lessons from it, but has alluded to faith and wealth. In his first homily as pontiff on May 9, Leo XIV cited from the Gospel of Matthew a conversation between Jesus and the disciples in Caesarea Philippi, a place the pontiff said was marked by "luxurious palaces" but "also a place of cruel power plays and the scene of betrayals and infidelity." There, Jesus was a "completely insignificant person," the pope noted, and once this 'world' saw him as a source of irritation, it opted to "eliminate Him." Others there saw Jesus, Leo XIV said, as a courageous "upright man," similar to other great prophets, but at the moment of "danger," they turned away and abandoned him in disappointment. "What is striking about these two attitudes is their relevance today," the pope concluded. "Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power or pleasure." Sister Maryanne Stevens said the choice of Leo has several messages. Stevens noted Leo I, also called Leo the Great, worked for peace and kept Attila the Hun from entering Italy. The most recent Leo, the 13th, was the founder of modern Catholic social teachings. Leo XIII's encyclical "Rerum Novarem" critiqued the excesses of socialism and capitalism. During his 25-year papacy, from 1878 to 1903, the pontiff exhorted people to "come together guided by values" and preached "solidarity between the classes," said Stevens, a theologian and the retired president of the College in St. Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. According to her, Leo XIII spoke out against "exploitation" of workers by capitalist industrialists but did not agree the "state should take over everything," either. Rather, she said the pontiff recognized the dignity of the human person and called on the broader community to safeguard the rights of people, particular those most vulnerable. She said Leo XIII wrote there is dignity to every human person and extolled the dignity of work. Stevens said the pontiff pressed capitalists to provide safe environments and healthy environments and create just wages. "There was a tremendous amount, at the time, of social inequality and exploitation of people and they were problems that had to be faced by both the Church and the state," she said. "That was one of his basic points." Stevens cautioned against commentary suggesting Leo XIV chose the name in order to send a message to the president. "I'm not prepared to suggest that Leo chose that name so as to respond to Trump," she said. Trump's supporters point out the president won election in 2024 by waging a campaign for blue-collar and other workers forgotten and left behind by U.S. free trade and neglectful manufacturing policies in the past 40 years. He vowed, during the campaign, to end taxation of tips and overtime for wage employment. But once in office, the Trump administration has sought to slash federal spending, including numerous safety net programs for the poorest Americans and the elderly. The White House has also delivered on Trump's harsh rhetoric toward immigrants with equally harsh deportations. Some in the MAGA-verse were decidedly unhappy over Prevost's immigration tweets, some of which rebuked Trump and Vice President JD Vance's views. Loomer, a failed congressional candidate in Palm Beach County, wrote on X that the new pontiff "supports illegal aliens and open borders." Yep said in an interview with Charlie Kirk of the far-right youth group Turning Point USA that he harbored "great concern" because Leo XIV had "an ambiguous scorecard on same sex blessings." In a statement to The Palm Beach Post, Yep reiterated his belief there is "justifiable apprehension" for what the new papacy will bring due to prior postings on social media. But Yep also said other "praiseworthy actions" by Prevost, such as his emphasis on the "defense of babies in the womb," offer hope. "We pray that he will work well with the Trump Administration as well as ending immediately the Francis era Secret Accord between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party signed in 2018," Yep wrote. "Catholics above all should be praying for this man as undertakes a tremendous responsibility as head of 1.4 billion people." Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@ Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump, Leo XIV cast gaze on Gilded Age but draw different lessons
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
We can't take WI's clean drinking water for granted. Pipes and finances weak.
For more than 30 years, the United Nations has observed March 22 as World Water Day to underscore the importance of fresh water across the globe. It's an important international day of observance that, frankly, doesn't make much of a splash here in the United States. That's in part because we are blessed with some of the safest drinking water in the world thanks to an advanced regulatory system that, by and large, keeps our water clean, safe, and the envy of much of the world. Water management is even more impressive in Wisconsin. There are more than 570 water utilities in a state with fewer than 6 million residents. As a point of comparison, the country's largest municipal water utility – New York City's Department of Environmental Protection — serves nearly 9 million residents. Wisconsin utilities track and publish more data than anywhere else in the country. That's partly a legacy of Wisconsin's Progressive Era institutions, and perhaps an artifact of our state's roots in German culture and its famous love of bureaucracy. Opinion: On Wisconsin's glacial lakes, wake-enhanced boating damaging and dangerous Thanks to Wisconsin's rich water utility data, I am now able to release a first-of-its-kind set of water utility report cards (this site will go live at noon Saturday) that provide clear, accessible information to the public about water quality, infrastructure integrity, operational efficiency and financial strength for 570 water utilities in the state regulated by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. This project differs from water utility transparency and reporting efforts in states such as Louisiana and New Jersey insofar as our report cards provide independent performance assessments, unaligned with any regulatory agency or interest group. More importantly, our project focuses on excellence along with accountability: we aim to communicate performance in a way that recognizes strong performance, facilitates accountability, and provides signals of quality to policymakers and the public. The report cards include grades for multiple subjects—water quality (health), finance, infrastructure and operations, and communications — with each grade based on multiple performance indicators developed and gathered over the last few years. For the project, my research team and I used extensive data from the PSC, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and original data collected by the team. It has been a long, arduous project as we developed a novel scoring system, refined it over several iterations, consulted with countless water sector professionals, and refined it yet again. Milwaukee Water Works is Wisconsin's largest water utility, serving nearly 900,000 people in 16 communities in Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Waukesha Counties. As an example of the report cards we've created through the Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence project, Milwaukee Water Works scored an excellent 91 (A) in water quality (health) and 94 (A) for communications. This is a remarkable comeback story for a utility that gained national notoriety for a cryptosporidium outbreak 32 years ago. Milwaukee Water Works continues to face important challenges, including an ongoing effort to replace the city's estimated 65,000 lead service lines, but these strong marks are encouraging. Performance on the other two subjects was more worrisome, as Milwaukee scored just 67 (D) for finance and 64 (D) for infrastructure and operations. Opinion: We welcome tariffs on Canadian and Mexican beef and cattle. Here's why. One of the biggest takeaways from this project is the overall excellence of water quality in Wisconsin. Detected contaminant levels were minimal across the state, resulting in more than 90% of utilities earning an A in this category. It is worth noting that there is no grade inflation at work here. In fact, scoring an A in this category requires keeping contaminant levels far below what is required by law through the Safe Drinking Water Act. While some Wisconsin communities certainly face serious water quality challenges, statewide performance is impressive and a major validation for Wisconsin's water utilities, which clearly prioritize water quality even beyond regulatory standards. This is something we should all take great pride in as Wisconsinites. However, good governance and effective public administration can have an ironic downside: our water systems have been so good for so long that we can sometimes take safe tap water for granted. Water is literally essential, but water infrastructure is literally buried. These critical systems only become visible when they break down in high-profile ways. Such failures can have dire consequences for residents, disproportionately impact marginalized communities, and are symptoms of larger structural vulnerabilities. They also undercut public trust. While Wisconsin's water quality is excellent overall, the report cards also offer reason for concern. Financial strength is critical to a utility's sustainability, and affordability is critical to its public health mission. Troublingly, roughly half of our state's utilities scored a C or worse in finance, including Milwaukee Water Works (67). Financial resilience is an ongoing challenge for water utilities in Wisconsin, where many communities' populations are stagnant or shrinking. Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of our report is the fact that just 6% percent of Wisconsin utilities earned A grades for infrastructure & operations, while 22% — including Milwaukee — received marks in the D-F range. The reasons are complex, but the short answer here is that many of our systems have high rates of water loss and we have far too many main breaks. Midwestern winters are tough on aging infrastructure. Opinion: Backlash to Musk isn't imagined. When they slash Medicaid it will be worse. This is what concerns me as a scholar (and evangelist) of American water governance. Our successes with water quality are laudable, but too many of our state's water utilities struggle with finances and infrastructure; eventually that will affect water quality, too. In many ways, we are at an inflection point with public drinking water in Wisconsin as our infrastructure ages. Past generations built these magnificent systems, but we can no longer rest on their laurels. Sustaining the everyday miracle of tap water will require care and attention. My hope is that the Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Project becomes an important part of our conversations around these critical systems. With these report cards, we aim to make the invisible visible so that Wisconsin's drinking water remains excellent for generations to come. Manuel P. Teodoro is a professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison and a member of the Water & Health Advisory Council. His Caldwell Prize-winning book, 'The Profits of Distrust: Citizen Consumers, Drinking Water and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government,' explores the relationship between public drinking water and confidence in government. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: We take drinking water for granted. Marks are good, for now. | Opinion
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Early Trump actions, Project 2025 ‘have a lot in common,' former chief says
The former leader of Project 2025 says the initial actions from the Trump administration aligns pretty closely with the conservative Heritage Foundation's vision for the president's return to the White House. Paul Dans, who led the project until he resigned as leader in July amid backlash to many of the proposals, told Politico in an interview published Sunday that he's very pleased with President Trump's agenda so far. 'I'm saying that directionally, they have a lot in common, but so do great minds,' Dans said. 'We had hoped, those of us who worked putting together Project 2025, that the next conservative president would seize the day, but Trump is seizing every minute of every hour.' Project 2025 was a key point of attack for Democrats on Trump throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, with liberals tying him to the project as many former Trump staffers were involved in crafting it. Trump repeatedly denied any involvement in the project and said he didn't know much about it. The project comprised conservative organizations and Trump allies and featured a 900-page outline on a wide range of policies for the potential second Trump administration. An analysis from Time magazine found almost two-thirds of the initial executive orders that Trump issued in his first days back in office at least somewhat mirrored proposals from Project 2025, and reports have noted similarities in scaling back the federal workforce, going after diversity, equity and inclusion programs and moving to ban gender-affirming care for minors, all of which Trump discussed on the campaign trail. Dans told Politico that Trump told the truth when he said he wasn't involved in the project, as it was completed independent of him and for the conservative movement to say what they believe in. He said the agenda of Project 2025 goes back beyond Trump, to the foundation of the Progressive Era ushered in by former Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. 'The entire artifice of the federal government had been built over the last 100 years in essentially a very anti-democratic manner,' he said. Dans said Project 2025 was caught in a 'maelstrom of misinformation' as the left decided to go 'all in' on attacking it, leading to his resignation. But when asked if the Trump administration was falling short or diverging from his original vision for the project, Dans said 'It's actually way beyond my wildest dreams.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
