THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Nov

03

2025

When criminals choose presidents: The Madlanga Commission and South Africa’s democracy crisis

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE testimony unfolding before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry represents far more than another corruption scandal in South Africa's troubled post-apartheid history. What is emerging from the walls of that Pretoria hearing room is evidence of something far more sinister: a democratic state potentially captured not by business interests or political factions, but by criminal syndicates and drug cartels who have allegedly used their ill-got wealth to install politicians at the highest levels of government. When businessman Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala sat down for a recorded interview following his arrest in May, he did more than implicate individual officials in corruption.…

Nov

01

2025

By OLUWOLE OJEWALE

Bamako under siege: why Mali’s army is struggling to break the jihadist blockade of the capital

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHEN the military overthrew the democratically elected government in Mali in 2020, coup leader General Assimi Goita promised to root out jihadists in the north of the country. Mali had been struggling to defeat them for nearly a decade. Multiple terrorist groups operate in Mali. An al Qaida-linked group known locally as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is the most lethal, considering the audacity and scale of its attacks. The group rejects the state’s authority, and seeks to impose its interpretation of Islam and sharia. Despite the military government’s pledge to enhance security, there has been a 38% rise in…

Nov

01

2025

By ANDREW VAN DER VLIES

South African writer Zoë Wicomb embraced humanity in all its complexity

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ZOË WICOMB’S first book, You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town (1987), is a tour through episodes in the life of a writer-character, Frieda Shenton. She’s not unlike but crucially not exactly like Wicomb (child of South Africa’s Namaqualand, graduate of what is now the University of the Western Cape, expatriated to Britain, both at an angle to and in love with her homeland). It ends with a self-reflexive reckoning with the costs of writing. Writing about what – or who – you know can be both an act of love and perceived as exploitation. The final chapter – or…

Oct

31

2025

By DAN PAGET

Tanzania’s Samia Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism: here’s how

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AS Tanzania’s national elections approach, a familiar humdrum of coverage has emerged. It goes like this. In its crackdowns, censorship and harassment of the opposition, Tanzania is becoming increasingly repressive. President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is seeking re-election in the October 2025 poll, increasingly resembles her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli. Before he died in office in 2021, he banned media, censored journalists, hamstrung the opposition and rigged elections. Hassan is reverting to his tactics to lengthen her advantage in the elections. Yet, I would go further. Hassan has become, in key ways, more autocratic than Magufuli. She has crossed autocratic…

Oct

30

2025

By DAVID E KIWUWA

Paul Biya’s life presidency in Cameroon enters a fragile final phase

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FOR the first time ever, the opposition parties in Cameroon have come “close” to unseating 92-year-old Paul Biya, who has run the country since 1982. The stiffest competition for Biya in the 2025 election came from 76-year-old Tchiroma Bakary, a former ally and government spokesperson, who contested on the platform of the Cameroon National Salvation Front. He won more than 35% of the vote – the second highest ever scored by an opposition candidate since Biya has been contesting. Though it was one of the best performances by opposition parties in Cameroon since 1992, the opposition suffered from its failure…

Oct

28

2025

By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

From bondage to Bandung: How centuries of kinship shape South Africa and Malaysia’s shared future

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

TO fully understand relations between South Africa and Malaysia, one must delve into the historical linkages between our two countries. We need to understand how these connections established a firm foundation for our relationship today, and how they can pave the way for a bright future through South-South diplomacy. The bonds that bind our two nations together are not only bonds of friendship—they are bonds of kinship that go back several hundred years. Today, we pay tribute to the rulers and peoples of the Malay-Indonesian archipelago, whose exiles, workers and scholars helped build the South African nation. The Cape Malay…

Oct

27

2025

By JONATHAN POWELL and SALAH BEN HAMMOU

Madagascar coup: why turning a blind eye to an unpopular president weakens regional bodies

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHAT began in late September as Madagascar’s student demonstrations over crippling electricity outages and water shortages quickly evolved into broader demands for political reform. It became a call to dismantle a system widely seen as corrupt and unaccountable, and for President Andry Rajoelina to resign. As demonstrations swelled across the country, the embattled president sought to restore order through curfews, the dismissal of his energy minister, and ultimately the dissolution of his government. To no avail. Eventually, the elite CAPSAT unit – the same corps that had propelled Rajoelina to power during the 2009 coup – overthrew him. Once CAPSAT…

Oct

24

2025

By ANTHONY DIALA

Black Coffee and Enhle ruling sends a clear message: customary and white weddings are equal in South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH AFRICAN actress and businesswoman Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa has won a victory in the Johannesburg High Court. It ruled that her customary marriage to music star Nkosinathi “Black Coffee” Maphumulo was valid, declaring their later civil marriage and antenuptial contract null and void. Mlotshwa is now legally entitled to half of the couple’s vast estate. A scholar of legal pluralism and specialist in customary law marriage, Anthony Diala, answers our questions. What is customary marriage and how does it fit into South African law? A customary marriage is a union between a man and one or more women, which is…

Oct

23

2025

By JOHN MUKUM MBAKU

Raila Odinga: the Kenyan statesman who championed competitive politics and accountability

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RAILA Amolo Odinga, who died on 15 October 2025, aged 80, ran five times for the Kenyan presidency but didn’t win. Yet he became a statesman of enormous influence, whose political and humanitarian achievements surpassed those of many African heads of state. He will be remembered as one of the most important figures in the struggle for multiparty democracy. In this, he was like his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga – who was the country’s first post-independence vice-president. Oginga was a patriot, a nationalist, and one of a small number of Kenyans who were instrumental in the struggle against colonialism. In…

Oct

23

2025

By FANNY VOÉLIN

Madagascar protests: how ousted president Andry Rajoelina’s urban agenda backfired

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE youth-led protests that eventually brought down Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina were sparked, in part, by his attempt to use large-scale urban infrastructure projects as a means of consolidating power. Rajoelina’s government placed urban mega-projects at the centre of its strategy to assert power and legitimacy. These projects enabled him to create and channel rents to key allies, while anchoring his rule in Malagasy history and territory. They were also meant to transform the spatial and political imaginaries of the state through monumental visions of modernity and development. By spatial and political imaginaries, I mean the contested ways leaders and…