SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS - The African Mirror

Jun

20

2024

Mandela’s protégé Ramaphosa on the cusp of securing his legacy

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa was spot-on when he said during his inauguration as democratic South Africa’s 5th president: “Today is no ordinary day.” That summed up the totality of the wide-ranging complex themes and sub-themes in the lead-up to his inauguration. It was a ceremony that could have easily eluded him. Having managed a mere 40% in the May 29 elections, President Ramaphosa has been typically humble and respectful of the electorate. Just as he said at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand when he delivered his speech of acceptance of the results - and the entire election process conducted by the…

Jun

17

2024

By RICO DEVARA CHAPMAN

Students on the frontline: South Africa and the US share a history of protest against white supremacy

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

EVERY year on 16 June, South Africa commemorates the revolt of black school children against the inferior “bantu education” system on that day in 1976. The horror of police shooting and killing unarmed children caused a global uproar. Historian Rico Devara Chapman’s research interests include a focus on the African diaspora’s historical and contemporary struggles for justice, particularly student activism in the United States and South Africa. We asked him about similarities between student revolts under the systems of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow in the United States. You draw parallels between Jim Crow and apartheid. Please explain.…

Jun

14

2024

By OLIVER KIPTOO KIRUI

Sudan food emergency: local researcher unpacks scale of the disaster and what action is needed

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE UN recently warned of the risk of famine in Sudan. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed civilians and devastated livelihoods on a massive scale. Around 18 million people are already acutely hungry, including 3.6 million children who are acutely malnourished. Oliver Kiptoo Kirui, who co-authored the Sudan National Household Survey – conducted in the midst of war – provides insights on the scale of the country’s food emergency. What’s the food security situation in Sudan? Acute food security is measured on a widely accepted 5-stage classification. It increases in severity from “minimal”…

Jun

11

2024

By The African Mirror

Hydropower damages river systems in Africa: how more solar and wind power can solve this problem

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ACROSS the African continent, more than 300 new hydropower projects are planned to meet the growing demand for electricity. Some of these will require big dams, which can have major negative environmental impacts. Another looming problem with hydropower is that the water cycle is affected by climate change. Water availability will be reduced and become more variable in some locations in the next decades. We are a team of environmental and energy systems researchers. Energy systems is the study of how energy can be produced to meet the demands of the different sectors of society. Environmental systems modelling is used…

Jun

07

2024

By CARIN RUNCIMAN and MARCEL PARET

South African voters shifted support in 2024 but that’s nothing new – surveys after previous elections showed party loyalty was fluid

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

TO the casual observer, the outcome of South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial elections, which herald a new era of national coalition governance, may appear to represent new electoral trends. But that is not the case. While the shift in voting patterns is certainly the largest the country has seen since democratic elections began, voter fluidity – people shifting their votes from one election to the next – has been a growing trend among the South African electorate since at least 2016. The 2024 general election is a watershed moment in South Africa’s democracy. For the first time in 30…

Jun

01

2024

By ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN

South Africa election: What happens after ANC loses majority?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

FOR the first time in South Africa's democratic era, the African National Congress (ANC) will have to seek a coalition partner to govern with after it was on course to fall well short of a majority in the national election. Here are scenarios of what could happen next in South Africa and which parties the ANC might partner with: WILL RAMAPHOSA GET OUSTED? With results in from over 60% of polling stations, the ANC had just under 42% of votes, by far its worst result since democratic elections began after the end of apartheid in 1994 and leaving it short of a…

May

30

2024

By GODFRIED ASANTE

Ghana’s anti-LGBTIQ+ bill is being challenged in the Supreme Court. Why the decision to broadcast it live matters

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, LGBTQIA+

GHANA’S Supreme Court is live televising its proceedings on the country’s controversial anti-LGBTQI+ bill. This was on the request of Ghana’s attorney general, who cited public interest and transparency. The country’s parliament passed the bill in February 2024 amid global furore and local outcry. The bill criminalises not only LGBTQI+ relationships but also those who support queer rights. After it was passed, two citizens filed a case before the country’s highest court, to restrain the president of Ghana from making the bill law. They have asked the court to rule that the bill contravenes aspects of Ghana’s constitution and should…

May

28

2024

By BRADLEY HILLER

Horn of Africa droughts: how a network of groundwater bores could help – study

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE Horn of Africa recently suffered its worst drought in almost half a century, and its sixth failed rainfall season in a row. Fifty million people were directly affected and 100 million more were indirectly affected. About 20 million people risked acute food insecurity and potential famine, 4.4 million required humanitarian aid, and refugees fleeing drought and floods numbered in the hundreds of thousands. To help solve these problems, the governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan and Uganda, and three United Nations agencies, launched the Groundwater Access Facility on 7 May. It aims to develop a plan to extract…

May

23

2024

By The African Mirror

How does South Africa’s 2024 election work?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

SOUTH Africans vote in national and provincial elections on May 29 that polls suggest could loosen the African National Congress' 30-year grip on power. After the vote, the new National Assembly will choose the country's next president from among its members. Below are facts about the election and the voting process. HOW DOES SOUTH AFRICA'S ELECTORAL SYSTEM WORK? South African voters will go to the polls to elect a 400-member National Assembly, as they have done every five years since the end of apartheid in 1994. The lawmakers will then elect the country's next president. Each political party will be allocated a number of…

May

20

2024

By LOUISE DU TOIT, BREWSTERS CAIPHAS SOYAPI and LOUIS KOTZÉ

South African communities vs Shell: high court victories show that cultural beliefs and practices count in climate cases

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

WHEN the Shell Petroleum Company announced in 2021 that it wanted to explore fossil fuels off South Africa’s pristine Wild Coast, Indigenous communities in the area immediately fought back through the country’s courts. In two separate cases, the communities successfully challenged Shell. They won both cases, winning an interim interdict to put Shell’s exploration on hold and having the company’s exploration right set aside. Shell is appealing the second ruling on several, largely procedural, grounds; that process got underway in the Supreme Court of Appeal on 17 May this year. If the Supreme Court of Appeal upholds the High Court’s…