THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Oct

31

2024

BRICS+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity

BRICS NEWS, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE last two summits of Brics countries have raised questions about the coalition’s identity and purpose. This began to come into focus at the summit hosted by South Africa in 2023, and more acutely at the recent 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia. At both events, the alliance undertook to expand its membership. In 2023, the first five Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join. All bar Saudi Arabia have now done so. The 2024 summit pledged to admit 13 more, perhaps as associates…

Oct

29

2024

By MATHATHA TSEDU

Tribute to Vho Makhadzi Phophi Mphephu Ramabulana

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT was between 2 and 3 am on October 1, 1969, when that lightning struck. In its wake, a shrill scream shattered the pre-dawn. It was Mulati, the daughter of Vho Makhadzi Muofhe Mphephu, calling for Vhavenda Raedani Ramabulana, brother to Muofhe and her chief counsellor. It turned out the lightning had struck the hut in which both Mulati, her mother, and a daughter of her elder sister, were sleeping. And the force of that lightning strike had carried Muofhe through the roof of their hut, and her body deposited outside the hut, dead. The gaping hole in the thatch…

Oct

29

2024

By BRENDON J. CANNON

Somaliland elections: what’s at stake for independence, stability and shifting power dynamics in the Horn of Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOMALILAND is due to hold a presidential election on 13 November 2024. The results of the election will be important for two main reasons. First, what the leadership outcome will mean for Somaliland’s democratic credentials. Second, it will have implications for Somaliland’s push for recognition as an independent state. Thirty-three years ago, Somaliland declared its unilateral withdrawal from the Somali Union. It is an independent state in reality but unrecognised in law. Like other unrecognised states such as Taiwan, it doesn’t fly a flag at the United Nations in New York. It also suffers from a lack of access to…

Oct

26

2024

By MPHO MATHEBULA

Naked protests in South Africa: a psychologist explores the emotional power of this form of activism

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NAKED protests are a form of public demonstration where individuals, often women, use the symbolic power of their naked bodies to challenge injustices. These protests have become an increasingly visible form of resistance, particularly in response to state violence, economic exploitation, and the oppression of women by men. While naked protests might seem provocative or shocking, they have a long and storied history in Africa. They are not only a powerful statement but also a direct challenge to norms in society around decency, control and vulnerability. As a research psychologist, I was drawn to the study of naked body protests…

Oct

24

2024

By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

BRICS countries must undertake bold steps towards a mutual, shared and equitable prosperity

BRICS NEWS, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

OUR story is a story of solidarity, mutual respect and mutual benefit. BRICS is an inclusive formation that has the ability to change the trajectory of the Global South. To do this, we must realise the full potential of our economic partnership to ensure sustainable development for all. We must undertake bold steps towards a mutual, shared and equitable prosperity. Like most of the world, South Africa desires the smooth operation of supply chains, trade, tourism, and financial flows free from external influence in a multipolar world. Working together, BRICS has an important role in addressing the key challenges of…

Oct

23

2024

By ROGER SOUTHALL

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…