Drawing on a powerful personal memory and a landmark Constitutional Court judgment, Pierre de Vos traces how apartheid’s spatial design still shapes Cape Town today – segregating its residents, policing who belongs, and trapping the city in a geography of inequality that the Constitution demands be undone.

Pierre de Vos reflects on what citizenship really costs after the disappearance of a well-dressed man wearing a yellow “I Am a Happy Train” T-shirt.

Constitutional amendments won’t fix political dysfunction in South Africa – and proposed changes like directly electing the president could make things worse, not better, writes Pierre de Vos.

As South Africa’s newly formed impeachment committee prepares to meet, deep political divisions over its unusual party composition and a legally credible court challenge by President Ramaphosa raise serious questions about whether the inquiry can — or should — proceed without delay, writes Pierre de Vos.

The Constitutional Court’s recent ruling that the South African Human Rights Commission cannot issue binding directives – unlike the Public Protector – has confused many who don’t understand that different Chapter 9 institutions have distinct constitutional powers tailored to their specific mandates, highlighting broader challenges around ordinary South Africans’ access to human rights remedies, writes Pierre de Vos.

President Ramaphosa’s refusal to dismiss scandal-plagued ministers like Sisisi Tolashe, Gwede Mantashe, and Gayton McKenzie – despite having unrestricted constitutional power to do so – reveals a pattern of weak leadership that prioritises party loyalty over accountability and makes a mockery of the ANC’s promised renewal, writes Pierre de Vos.

South Africa’s toxic political culture of protecting “good guys” from accountability while targeting “bad guys” is again on display as police commissioner Fannie Masemola faces criminal charges, exposing how factional loyalty trumps the rule of law and principles, writes Pierre de Vos.

Newly arrived US Ambassador Brent Bozell – who once called the ANC “terrorists” – recently sparked outrage by dismissing South African court independence while hypocritically demanding the country ban “hate speech” that would be constitutionally protected in America, writes Pierre de Vos.