THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Jun

14

2025

Khartoum before the war: the public spaces that held the city together

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHAT makes a public space truly public? In Khartoum, before the current conflict engulfed Sudan, the answer was not always a park, a plaza or a promenade. The city’s streets, tea stalls (sitat al-shai), protest sites and even burial spaces served as dynamic arenas of everyday life, political expression and informal resilience. In a recently published article, I studied 64 public spaces across pre-war Greater Khartoum, revealing a landscape far richer – and more contested – than standard urban classifications suggest. Specifically, I uncovered four classifications: formal, informal, privately owned and hybrid spaces – each alive with negotiation and everyday…

Jun

14

2025

By Mpho Rantao

When the Bubble of Whiteness Becomes the Room

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

HAVE you ever heard of the term 'white fragility'? It was coined by Dr. Robin DiAngelo in a 2011 academic paper and later expanded into a bestselling book called White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. It refers to the defensive responses white people often exhibit when confronted with conversations about race, racism, and inequality. These reactions of denial, avoidance, minimisation, serve to maintain comfort and avoid the discomfort of acknowledging racial injustice. In curated spaces—be they art institutions, award shows, or national policy—this fragility is often disguised as “neutrality” or "universalism". Tyler, The Creator…

Jun

13

2025

By JAN POSPISIL

Is Sudan’s war the reason for South Sudan’s economic crisis? What’s really going on with oil revenue

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE civil war in Sudan between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023, has had an impact on its neighbours. One of the most keenly affected countries is South Sudan, which became an independent state in 2011 and went on to endure its own civil war. This ended in 2018 with a tenuous peace agreement. The impact of the Sudanese war on South Sudan, however, isn’t a straightforward spillover catastrophe. The picture is more nuanced, and this is most clearly seen in South Sudan’s oil economy. Jan Pospisil, who has studied the dynamics in…

Jun

12

2025

By SCOTT FIRSING

5 benefits Africa’s new space agency can deliver

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE African Space Agency was officially inaugurated in Cairo’s Space City in April 2025. The event marked a milestone in a process that had been in the works since the early 2000s. Drawing inspiration from the European Space Agency, it unites African Union (AU) member states to harness space technology for development. This is in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063, aimed at advancing Africa into a prosperous future. The agency’s goal is to: Coordinate and implement Africa’s space ambitions by promoting collaboration among the AU’s 55 member states Harness space technologies for sustainable development, climate resilience and socio-economic growth…

Jun

11

2025

By PHILIP HARRISON; GRAEME GOTZ; LORENA NUNEZ CARRASCO and RASHID SEEDAT

Johannesburg’s problems can be solved – but it’s a long journey to fix South Africa’s economic powerhouse

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa met senior leaders of Johannesburg and Gauteng, the province it’s located in, in March 2025 to discuss ways to arrest the steep decline in South Africa’s largest city. Ramaphosa announced a two-year-long presidential intervention to tackle some of the city’s most pressing issues. It is to be led by the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group with eight cross-governmental and multi-stakeholder workstreams. Johannesburg was established 130 years ago, where the world’s largest-ever gold deposits were discovered. It grew rapidly in the early 20th century and became the country’s economic heartland and largest population centre. Like all South…

Jun

09

2025

By ANETTE HOFFMANN

African prisoners made sound recordings in German camps in WW1: this is what they had to say

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DURING the First World War (1914-1918), thousands of African men enlisted to fight for France and Britain were captured and held as prisoners in Germany. Their stories and songs were recorded and archived by German linguists, who often didn’t understand a thing they were saying. Now, a recent book called Knowing by Ear listens to these recordings alongside written sources, photographs and artworks to reveal the lives and political views of these colonised Africans from present-day Senegal, Somalia, Togo and Congo. Anette Hoffmann is a historian whose research and curatorial work engages with historical sound archives. We asked her about…

Jun

08

2025

By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

“Farisani was a courageous revolutionary who inspired a generation to reclaim their pride and stand up for their rights”

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DEAN Tshenuwani Farisani’s life bears witness to the mission of Christ espoused in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 4. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed.” We have lost an extraordinary man who led an extraordinary life. He was born in 1948, a year that was a turning point in South Africa’s history. This was the year the National Party swept to power and ushered…

Jun

07

2025

By SIONA O'CONNELL

Rashid Lombard: the photographer who documented both resistance and celebration in South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE click of a camera shutter and the improvisation of a jazz saxophone may seem worlds apart. Yet, in the hands of South African photojournalist and cultural organiser Rashid Lombard, they became inseparable instruments of resistance and celebration. Born in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in 1951, Lombard began his journey as a photographer during one of the most turbulent periods in South African history. He documented pivotal moments in the country’s journey towards democracy, including the release of former president Nelson Mandela in 1990 and South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. I am an African Studies scholar working at…

Jun

06

2025

By CHARLES CANTALUPO

3 things Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o taught me: language matters, stories are universal, Africa can thrive

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CELEBRATED Kenyan writer and decolonial scholar Ngugi wa Thiong'o passed away on 28 May at the age of 87. Many tributes and obituaries have appeared across the world, but we wanted to know more about Thiong'o, the man and his thought processes. So we asked Charles Cantalupo, a leading scholar of his work, to tell us more. Who was Ngugi wa Thiong'o – and who was he to you? When I heard that Ngugi had died, one of my first thoughts was about how far he had come in his life. No African writer has as many major, lasting creative…

Jun

05

2025

By DEV K (ROSHAN) BOOJIHAWON and SAMUEL ADOMAKO

Chagos Islands: how Mauritius can turn a diplomatic triumph into real economic growth

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE decades-long Chagos Islands dispute has finally entered a new chapter. The UK officially agreed to return the sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius. The Indian Ocean islands are strategically situated near key shipping lanes and regional power hubs. Mauritius was granted independence from British colonial rule in 1968. But not the Chagos Islands, which had been part of Mauritius but became a new colonial territory. The residents of the largest island in the archipelago, Diego Garcia, were forced off the land. This was used as a base to support US military operations. Now Mauritius has regained control over the…