THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Dec

05

2025

Tanzania in crisis: When democracy dies in darkness

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE story of Jenifer "Niffer" Jovin should haunt all Africans. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she built a business selling beauty products, contributing to Tanzania's economy and pursuing her dreams in the country she calls home. Her crime? Dancing to a protest song on social media - a few seconds of joy that landed her in the back of a police van, charged with treason alongside over 140 other Tanzanians. For more than two weeks, she languished in prison, facing the death penalty for a TikTok dance. This is Tanzania in 2025 - a nation where a viral social media challenge becomes…

Mar

23

2024

By JOHANN KIRSTEN and WANDILE SIHLOBO

This is how President Ramaphosa got to the 25% figure of progress in land reform in South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NEARLY three decades into democracy, land reform remains central to South Africa’s transformation policies and agricultural policy. We have over the years pointed out that the progress on land reform has been incorrectly reported. It’s been consistently understated. We have argued that, if the statistics are treated carefully, the progress has been much better than politicians and activists often claim. We were encouraged earlier this year when South African president Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged in his State of the Nation address that there had been better progress in land reform. The commonly cited argument is that land reform has been a…

Dec

04

2025

By JOHN JOSEPH CHIN

Guinea-Bissau’s military takeover highlights the nation’s sorry history of coups and a deepening crisis across the region

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ARMY generals in Guinea-Bissau seized power on Nov. 26, 2025 – the eve of a scheduled official declaration of the winner in the West African nation’s presidential election. Alleging a destabilisation plot by unnamed politicians and drug lords, the military suspended the electoral process and blocked the results of a contest that both the now former president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and the opposition candidate had claimed victory in. General Horta Inta-a, the head of the presidential guard, was subsequently sworn in as “transitional” leader and Ilídio Vieira Té, a close Embaló ally, was appointed prime minister. The timing of the…

Nov

28

2025

By JESPER BJARNESEN

Côte d’Ivoire’s democratic backslide: elections leave even less space for freedom

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IVORIANS went to the polls on 25 October 2025 to choose between incumbent president Alassane Ouattara – seeking a fourth five-year term – and one of four candidates who didn’t have the backing of the largest opposition parties. There was not much of a choice, as the three main opposition candidates were banned from standing. Ouattara claimed another first-round landslide victory with 89.77% of votes cast. As a researcher, I have followed political developments in Côte d'Ivoire over the past 15 years, and I’m currently involved in a project on boycott movements which uses Côte d’Ivoire as a country case.…

Nov

25

2025

By OWN CORRESPONDENT

The ping-pong war: Nigeria’s children caught in an endless cycle of abduction and rescue

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE soldiers left around midnight. The bandits arrived at 4 a.m. In those four hours of darkness, the fate of 25 schoolgirls at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, was sealed. Despite advanced intelligence. Despite two military checkpoints within seven kilometres. Despite an armoured personnel carrier stationed less than a kilometre away. Vice Principal Malam Hassan Yakubu Makuku died with his body between the gunmen and his students. It wasn't enough. That was Monday. By Friday, armed groups had returned to strike St Mary High School in neighbouring Niger State, seizing 315 students and teachers in what…

Nov

25

2025

By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

“Thank you to the people of South Africa for a historic G20 Presidency – the People’s G20”

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

OVER the past two days, our country hosted leaders from around the world for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg.This is the first time that the G20 has been hosted on African soil. Recognising the importance of this milestone, we have placed Africa’s growth and development at the heart of the G20’s agenda.The G20 matters for South Africa not only to cement our important role in international affairs, but also to support our own growth and create jobs for South Africans. We can only achieve these objectives in an environment of global stability, inclusive growth and a level playing field.Leading…

Nov

24

2025

By VUSI MAVIMBELA

Promise Khumalo: From shy recruit to revolutionary voice of freedom

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

I arrived at Viana Transit Camp in late 1979, immediately after my further training in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Viana, just outside Luanda, in Angola, served as a transit camp for all sorts of ANC and Umkhonto WeSizwe (MK) cadres. Some had just completed their training in the camps and were on their way abroad for advanced training, others, like me, had done their advanced courses abroad and were waiting for further assignments. There were also new recruits who had come from SA and were on their way to military training or other forms of training. As a…

Nov

22

2025

By KWASI KONADU

Ciara’s Beninese citizenship: marketing ploys can’t heal the past

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AFRICAN American singer Ciara received citizenship from the Republic of Benin in 2025 as a descendant of enslaved Africans. The images of her ceremony at Ouidah’s slave route memorial site, “Door of No Return”, were broadcast worldwide. Surrounded by drummers and dignitaries, she held a new Beninese passport aloft, a gesture hailed as both homecoming and healing. As a historian of Africa, the African diaspora and Ghana, I see Ciara’s citizenship as part of a broader, complex story about how African states are reengaging with their diasporas. These are the global communities of people whose ancestors were displaced through slavery,…

Nov

22

2025

By RICHARD G. COWDEN

South Africans are flourishing more than you might expect – here’s why

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH Africa is often portrayed in the media as a country struggling with inequality, corruption, crime, infrastructure collapse and public health challenges. But this isn’t the whole story. When South Africans are asked to describe their own lives, they often reveal signs that they are flourishing in vital ways. According to the Global Flourishing Study, many South Africans are, in fact, showing resolve by striving to move forward from the country’s difficult past and maintaining hope for a better future. Human flourishing is sometimes used to describe an ideal state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good,…

Nov

20

2025

By JOVIAL RANTAO

When light breaks through: Why South Africa’s anti-corruption fight gives us hope

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE revelations that emerged on July 6, 2025, when KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi exposed how criminals and drug cartels have allegedly infiltrated the highest levels of South Africa's law enforcement, reaching as far as deputy national commissioner, sent shockwaves through the nation. For many citizens, already weary from years of corruption scandals, these allegations might feel like the final straw - proof that the rot runs too deep, that the system is broken beyond repair. But there is another way to read this moment in our nation's history. And it is a reading that should fill every South…