THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Egypt’s Sisi: Authoritarian leader with penchant for bridges

EGYPTIAN President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been criticised as a despot for crushing opposition lingering from a brief period of democracy while winning praise from supporters for boosting security and driving an army-led infrastructure binge. The former general began a third term on Tuesday after sweeping a December 10 election overshadowed by the war in neighbouring Gaza and a faltering economy, a decade after he toppled Egypt's first democratically-elected president. Activists say tens of thousands of people were jailed in the ensuing crackdown before Sisi turned his attention to state- and army-run mega-projects and development schemes. The flagship project is a $58 billion New Administrative Capital rising…

Apr

2024

By EILEEN CULLOTY

Deepfakes are still new, but 2024 could be the year they have an impact on elections

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DISINFORMATION caught many people off guard during the 2016 Brexit referendum and the US presidential election. Since then, a mini-industry has developed to analyse and counter it. Yet despite that, we have entered 2024 – a year of more than 40 elections worldwide – more fearful than ever about disinformation. In many ways, the problem is more challenging than it was in 2016. Advances in technology since then are one reason for that, in particular the development that has taken place with synthetic media, otherwise known as deepfakes. It is increasingly difficult to know whether media has been fabricated by…

Mar

2024

By MOUHAMED ABDALLAH LY and PAPE CHÉRIF BERTRAND BASSÈNE

Bassirou Diomaye Faye: from prison runner-up to president of Senegal

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BASSIROU Diomaye Faye was elected as Senegal’s fifth president on 25 March 2024. Incumbent president Macky Sall and his candidate, former prime minister Amadou Ba, were both quick to congratulate the opposition candidate on his victory when the results came out. This has been a major – and fast – turn of events for Faye (commonly called “Diomaye”), who was in prison just 10 days before the election. Faye was backed by the popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was deprived of his electoral rights for five years due to a prior conviction. Sonko received a six-month suspended prison sentence…

Mar

2024

By DOUGLAS YATES

Senegal: Macky Sall’s reputation is dented, but the former president did a lot at home and abroad

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MACKY Sall’s legacy as Senegal’s president since 2012 became more complex in his last year in office. The year was so filled with transgressions that they appeared to have tarnished his reputation indelibly. For some months he gave the impression to his adversaries and critics that he had third-term ambitions – not uncommon in contemporary west African politics. A public outcry followed his decision on 3 February 2024 to postpone the polls that had originally been scheduled for three weeks later. Then his deputies in the national assembly voted unanimously to postpone the elections and prolong Sall’s term in office…

Mar

2024

By BATE FELIX and PORTIA CROWE

From prison to palace: Faye’s road to Senegal’s presidency

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

JUST a few months ago, the man set to be Senegal's next president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, was sitting in a prison cell, a relatively unknown figure outside his opposition party Pastef. Everything changed for him when the party's firebrand leader, Ousmane Sonko, who was also detained, was charged with insurrection in July and barred from running in elections to succeed President Macky Sall. That cleared the way for Faye to emerge from the shadow of his former boss and eventually from prison, take over the race and on Monday - the day of his 44th birthday - emerge as the victor after his opponent conceded…

Mar

2024

By AL CHUKWUMA OKOLI

Hundreds of Nigerian children are being kidnapped – the government must change its security strategy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SCHOOL abductions have been a trend in Nigeria. The latest took place in Kaduna and Sokoto states, both in the northwest region, when over 300 children were abducted at different times in March 2024. Previous prominent cases have included the Chibok, Dapchi and Kankara abductions, which insurgents claimed to have perpetrated. As a security scholar and analyst who has researched and written extensively on aspects of Nigeria’s security challenges, including kidnapping and allied crimes, I see school abductions as a symptom of government neglect of territorial and human security. Territorial security refers to keeping the country’s geographical spaces (land, borders,…

Mar

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…

Mar

2024

By DIRK KOTZE

South Africa’s election management body has done a good job for 30 years: here’s why

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MORE than in previous elections, South Africa’s Electoral Commission (IEC) will be tested to the hilt in this year’s national and provincial elections on 29 May. For the first time in 30 years, the electoral majority of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is in jeopardy. This makes the upcoming poll the most consequential one since 1994 when the country commenced with its democratisation. The electoral commission’s tasks are to enforce the rules of the electoral game and the parties’ ethical conduct. It must also be the dispute resolution champion and ensure that the election is free and fair. These…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

2024 Senegal election crisis points to deeper issues with Macky Sall and his preferred successor

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE botched attempt by Senegalese president Macky Sall to postpone the presidential election has stirred unnecessary tension in an already strained electoral process. The move reflected deeper governance problems in the country. Sall’s decree, subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Council, was the latest in a range of government interventions that exceeded the scope of the executive authority. These have included the disqualification of key opposition candidates, the manipulation of judicial procedures, and the arbitrary detention of dissenting figures. Sall’s 12-year tenure has been marked by contradictions. His administration boosted investment in transport and urban infrastructure. Notably, he worked on the…

Mar

2024

By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

South Africa will work harder, sparing neither strength nor courage, to fulfil the basic human rights of her people

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE adoption of our Constitution with its Bill of Rights by the Constitutional Assembly on the 8th of May 1996 was a great moment in our struggle to achieve a free and equal society. As I said at the time, it marked the day our country and our people came of age. I referred to our constitution as the birth certificate of our nation. On that occasion, we proclaimed to the world that we are a society committed to democracy, to the rule of law and to the protection of human rights. The Constitution came to be as a result…