THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Oct

23

2024

South Africa’s unity government won’t dent poverty and inequality if it follows the same old policies – sociologist

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A recent poll by the Social Research Foundation, a think thank, found that 60% of South Africans thought the government of national unity was working well. It also reported that support for the unity government’s anchor political parties, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA), had risen since 29 May 2024 when elections were held. The poll results came out at the same time as the business press was reporting increased collaboration between business and government, fostered by the unity government. Corporations have reportedly pledged up to R250 million (about US$14.3 million to assist the state in…

Oct

22

2024

By JACK THOMPSON

A fool’s mission: Trying to track the impact of EU migration funding in Senegal

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Jack Thompson LAST year, I set out to investigate the on-the-ground impact of the tens of millions of euros the EU has spent trying to address the root causes of migration in Senegal. The funding for these efforts came from the EU Trust Fund for Africa – a five-billion-euro pot of money launched in 2015. That year, over one million refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe – the vast majority of them Syrians escaping their country’s metastasising civil war. The basic idea of the EUTF was…

Oct

19

2024

By NTSIKI MASHIMBYE

In memory of Comrade Tito Mboweni

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DURING the 1980s, while I served as the Luanda District Commissar of the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, one of my many responsibilities was overseeing the political instruction and well-being of our trainees and soldiers. In Luanda, we had several sites, including the Viana Transit Camp and the Moses Kotane Self Reliance Centre, which housed hundreds of combatants. In addition, we had various residences for the Regional Command and some underground locations used for training cadres who had specific covert missions to be carried out either inside South Africa or in the frontline states of the SADC. On one…

Oct

18

2024

By JACOB LEWIS

Elite corruption has the power to ignite mass protests in Nigeria – why police corruption doesn’t

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NIGERIANS took to the streets in August 2024 to voice their frustration at a series of government policies. These policies had been ostensibly designed to make Nigeria more attractive for outside investment. The removal of fuel subsidies and the removal of the economic peg between the Nigerian naira and the US dollar have sent the Nigerian economy into a tailspin. Many Nigerians rely on government subsidies to make ends meet. The economic policy changes have resulted in a big rise in inflation, adding to the challenges for ordinary Nigerians. As economic conditions have worsened, the prominence of government corruption has…

Oct

17

2024

By ABBEY MAKOE

Eswatini will be wiser to review its diplomatic relations with Taiwan

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

“PENNY-WISE pound-foolish,” that in my humble opinion appears to be the fundamental base – misguided and unfortunate as it is – of the Eswatini foreign policy toward China. How can, in this day and era, the small kingdom of Eswatini be the only country in the whole of the African continent that refuses to recognize UN resolution 2758 on the One-China Principle? On October 25, 1971, the UN unanimously recognized the People’s Republic of China “as the only legitimate representative of China to the UN”. Since then, the One-China Principle has been the position held steadfastly by the People’s Republic…

Oct

16

2024

By ANTHONY BALCOMB

Ray McCauley, the bodybuilder turned pastor who introduced the prosperity gospel to a new South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NEWS of the passing of South African pastor Ray McCauley on 8 October was met by a flood of tributes from across the spectrum of society, from President Cyril Ramaphosa to everyday worshippers at the Rhema Bible Church. McCauley established the influential church in 1985. It has since attracted a vast and racially mixed profile of worshippers, even during apartheid, an era of white minority rule. https://www.youtube.com/embed/a0QCgz-TwAM McCauley would become a prominent public figure and his church a space where upwardly mobile South Africans congregated as Pentecostalism spread in the country and, along with it, the prosperity gospel. As a…

Oct

16

2024

By GABRIELLE LYNCH

Kenya’s presidents have a long history of falling out with their deputies – Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment would be no surprise

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE process of removing Kenya’s deputy president Rigathi Gachagua is part of a long history, dating back to independence, of fallouts between the president and his deputy. The difference this time around is the process. Historically, presidents have fired their deputies. But the adoption of a new constitution in 2010, saw the introduction of a process for impeachment – for both the president and the deputy – that’s run by the legislature. This is the first time it’s been used. On 8 October 2024, members of Kenya’s national assembly voted to impeach Gachagua on grounds that included corruption, insubordination and…

Oct

15

2024

By ROY HAVEMANN

Tito Mboweni: South African Minister and Reserve Bank governor who drove significant economic reforms

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

TITO Mboweni, former South African Reserve Bank Governor, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Labour was arguably one of the country’s most consequential economic policymakers and drove several significant economic reforms. Mboweni passed away on 12 October 2024 after a short illness. Born on 16 March 1959, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Economic and Political Science from the National University of Lesotho in 1985. He had attended the University of the North between 1979 and 1980 but left South Africa to go into exile in his second year of studies. In 1987, he obtained a Master of Arts…

Oct

13

2024

By The African Mirror

Africa can assert its interests in shifting geopolitics

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE organising philosophy of the Mapungubwe Institute revolves around two fundamental questions: how do nations succeed, and how do civilisations sustain themselves? The evolution of human society contains some answers to these questions. But if history were the only guide to future possibilities, we would not be assembled here. Our responsibility is to develop a systematic understanding of factors that influence the choices being made today and the determinants of future action. It is to examine, in a transdisciplinary manner, the circumstances that propel humanity to higher levels of social and technological progress. And it is also to appreciate the…

Oct

13

2024

By DR MMAKI JANTJIES

Africa must build its own AI-driven future, not dependence

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIS week, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm awarded the pioneers of machine learning a Nobel prize in physics. Geoffrey Hinton, fondly known as the ‘godfather of AI’, and John Hopfield were honoured for “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks”.The win, which fortuitously coincided with this week’s AI-themed Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), reinforces the global importance of AI as vital for the 21st century. It is encouraging that within this context, Africa is emerging as a key player in AI adoption.In South Africa, data shows more than 60%…