KABELO KHUMALO: Embedded analysts must come clean
Controversy around the Mashaba ‘biography’ raises questions about political analysts who help shape public opinion and influence how voters view parties and politicians
In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Marcus Junius Brutus partakes in the 44 BC betrayal and assassination of the Roman dictator. A staunch Caesar supporter, Brutus convinced himself that Caesar had to die for the hegemony of Rome. The standard was set — friends could turn on one another in defence of the public good.
More than 400 years after the Bard’s play was first performed, SA has witnessed its own version of Brutus’s treachery. Little was known about Brutus Malada until the Sunday Times ran a story about how businessman-turned-politician Herman Mashaba and Prince Mashele duped the public over a Mashaba biography penned by Mashele, a celebrated political analyst...
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