THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Mar

25

2025

South Africa has a problem with people in the public service lying about their qualifications: what needs to change

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE persistent challenge of falsified or misrepresented qualifications in South Africa exposes serious shortcomings in recruitment and appointment processes. Although the scale of the problem is difficult to quantify, it’s considered to be reaching “pandemic” levels. It is worse in the public sector. The problem became so serious that the government introduced the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act in 2019, making it a criminal offence to misrepresent qualifications. It is punishable by up to five years in prison. Yet the scourge continues, despite severe personal and professional consequences for some. The alarmingly high number of individuals pretending to be qualified…

Mar

22

2025

By THABO MBEKI

Farewell to a man of integrity.

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ON 14 March 2025, many of us gathered at one of the Johannesburg cemeteries to bury a South African whom many speakers hailed as a person of integrity, who dedicated his life to the betterment of his fellow human beings. This was the businessman, Khomotso Jacob Bobby Makwetla, who, among other engagements, was a distinguished member of the well-known National African Federated Chamber of Commerce, NAFCOC. The homily at the funeral service preceding the burial was delivered by a patriot and liberation fighter, now Rev Molefe Tsele, who based himself on two verses in Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy. These…

Mar

21

2025

By DR THEOGENE RUDASINGWA

General Kagame’s last gamble: War, deception, and the unravelling of a regime in freefall

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

GENERAL Kagame, the Rwandan autocrat who has ruled with an iron fist for nearly three decades, is once again banking on war, deception, and sheer ruthlessness to prolong his grip on power. Faced with mounting international isolation, economic pressure, and an unravelling facade of legitimacy, he has abandoned any pretence of diplomacy, withdrawing from the much-hyped peace talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a last-ditch effort to consolidate military control over eastern Congo. This move is not an aberration but a pattern—one that has defined Kagame’s reign from the days of the Arusha Peace Talks in the…

Mar

21

2025

By ASSEFA LEAKE GEBRU

Ethiopia’s war may have ended, but the Tigray crisis hasn’t

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FOR over 20 years, Ethiopia was led by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, a coalition of four ethnic-based political parties representing Tigray, Amhara, Oromo, and Southern nations, nationalities and peoples. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front was the most influential party within the coalition. However, in 2018, when the Prosperity Party came into power, the front lost its important role in government. On 4 November 2020, the federal government launched an attack on Tigray, terming it a military offensive against political aggression from the Tigrayan front. This sparked a war that lasted two years and caused severe damage to people…

Mar

20

2025

By JAN POSPISIL

Violence in South Sudan is rising again: what’s different this time, and how to avoid civil war

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A rise in political tensions in South Sudan and an escalation of violence in the Upper Nile State have raised fears of a return to civil war in the world’s youngest nation. In early March 2025, neighbouring Uganda sent troops to South Sudan at the request of the government, and was involved in aerial bombardments. South Sudan’s opposition groups took issue with the Ugandan intervention and stopped taking part in discussions to create a joint military system in the country. These developments risk unravelling the 2018 power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir, First Vice-President Riek Machar and other opposition leaders.…

Mar

18

2025

By ERNEST HARSCH

Ghana’s poor are the ones who suffer most from corruption: history offers some ideas about fighting back

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT didn’t take long for the new government of John Mahama in Ghana to find a dramatic way to highlight its commitment to combating corruption. On 12 February 2025, his special prosecutor declared the previous finance minister a “wanted fugitive” for going abroad to evade questioning for suspected financial irregularities, before later agreeing to schedule a return. In that one move, the government of Mahama’s National Democratic Congress sounded a couple of familiar notes from past campaigns. First, the widespread graft so many Ghanaians bemoaned was largely the fault of the other party, in this case, the New Patriotic Party,…

Mar

17

2025

By The African Mirror

South Africa, European Union sets off on a joint path to growth, prosperity

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA LAST week, we had the privilege of hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa at the 8th Summit of South Africa and the European Union in Cape Town. As a bloc, the European Union (EU) is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners and the source of much investment in our country. Our economic ties with European countries go back to colonial times. Since the advent of democracy 30 years ago, we have steadily been growing the volume and value of trade. This summit will be remembered as a watershed moment…

Mar

15

2025

By ABBEY MAKOE

SA’s relocation of Taiwan’s office out of the capital in line with international law

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

EARLIER this month, on March 5 to be specific, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) officially updated its website, renaming the "Taipei Liaison Office" to the "Taipei Commercial Office". The significance of this move in light of bilateral relations between Pretoria and Beijing cannot be overemphasized. Taiwan, an autonomous part of China, cannot enjoy undue diplomatic standing in South Africa or anywhere in the global community. This is because Taiwan is an integral part of China, and not a "country". When the founding father of democratic SA, Nelson Mandela, came to acknowledge this factor, he instituted the…

Mar

12

2025

By DENNIS WALDER

Athol Fugard: the great South African playwright who captured what it means to be human

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

I was shocked to learn that the famous South African writer Athol Fugard had passed away. I had known his age to be 92 but somehow I never expected him to die. He was always a survivor. When I think about Fugard, the first thing that comes to mind is the first time I interviewed him in Port Elizabeth (today’s Gqeberha) in South Africa. It was for the first of three books I’ve written on his plays. I had just seen his play Boesman and Lena in London. It absolutely knocked me out with its emotional power. Boesman and Lena…

Mar

09

2025

By MAY DARWICH

Egypt on edge: finding a delicate balance between Gaza and Trump

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

US President Donald Trump famously called Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi his “favourite dictator” in 2019, but their relationship has been complex. Trump’s return to the White House for a second term has sent ripples of concern through Cairo. In January 2025, Trump proposed a resolution to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza: forcibly relocating Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Trump simultaneously threatened to withdraw US aid if these countries didn’t comply with the proposal. Sisi’s Egypt will need to navigate Trump’s ambition without sacrificing the regime’s own survival. May Darwich, who has studied Arab states’ foreign policies and alliances…