THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Apr

10

2026

The Lion of Bamako: Tribute to Hameye Mahaman Cissé – Editor, activist, continental conscience

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THERE are journalists who cover history. And then there are journalists who become it. Hameye Mahaman Cissé - Mahamane Hamèye Cissé in his native Mali - belongs, without contest, to that rarer and more precious second category. A founding force of the independent press in West Africa, a warrior for media freedom across the continent, a training mentor who shaped dozens of the region's finest reporters, and a selfless soul who gave more to African journalism than African journalism will ever be able to fully repay: Hameye was, in the fullest sense of that worn phrase, a hero. To those…

Apr

10

2026

By JOVIAL RANTAO

The weight she carries: Tolashe, the presidency and the price of loyalty

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN South African politics, survival is rarely about innocence. It is about weight. Political weight - the kind that bends institutional levers, softens presidential spines, and protects the powerful from the consequences ordinary citizens face every day. By that brutal measure, Social Development Minister Nokuzola Sisisi Tolashe has, until now, been very heavy indeed. She is President of the ANC Women's League, a formation that carries both historic prestige and contemporary factional muscle. She is a Cabinet minister in a Government of National Unity that Cyril Ramaphosa assembled with painstaking care. She is, in the language of movement politics, connected.…

Apr

08

2026

By VUSI MAVIMBELA

Solomon Mahlangu: Apartheid’s gallows could not silence the voice of June 1976

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE man who collected me from the offices of the Mozambican intelligence service asked me to get into a 4x4 Landrover, and he drove to a house where we collected three other men. From the way the four of us greeted one another, we were obviously all South Africans. It was also evident that we had all left the country in the past few weeks or months. We all carried small bags stuffed with limited clothing. At that point, nobody volunteered a name. Our driver made sure that he had enough fuel by filling two spare plastic containers, and we…

Apr

07

2026

By MATHATHA TSEDU

Tribute to Sammy Tloubatla (74), Azapo’s founding secretary general Sammy Tloubatla, who turned his wedding into an anti-apartheid protest

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BLACK weddings in South Africa are an interesting phenomenon. You will normally have what is called a white wedding, suits for men, and the white dress for women. Then there will be what is called a traditional wedding, either before the white or after, the sequence doesn’t seem to matter. In the traditional wedding both the men and women wear what is regarded as traditional clothing in that area or that clan or community. But even in the white wedding, after the priest, vows and pictures are done, there is a change of clothing to more relaxed attire, mostly traditional…

Apr

07

2026

By DAVID B. MOORE

Zimbabwe’s push to extend the president’s rule could deepen elite divisions and weaken democracy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ZIMBABWE’S ruling party, Zanu-PF, wants to amend the constitution through a bill in parliament. It won’t be that simple, however. Under the constitution, voters must approve such changes through a referendum. The new bill’s most significant proposals include extending presidential and parliamentary terms by two years. This would allow Zimbabwe’s 83-year-old president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to remain in power until 2030, ending the hopes of vice-president Constantino Chiwenga reaching the presidency in 2028. Chiwenga, as the head of the armed forces, was the main organiser of the 2017 coup that brought the exiled Mnangagwa to power. The proposals could also pave…

Apr

07

2026

By ADMIRE THONJE

Pentecostal churches are a place of everyday care, not just bizarre spectacle: southern African study

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A growing brand of new Pentecostal churches in southern Africa is known to emphasise the prosperity gospel, deliverance, miracles and healing. Miracles, including people apparently rising from the dead, are just one of the contentious issues swirling around these churches. Pastors have been the subject of sensational media headlines for spraying congregants with insecticide or making them eat grass, selfies taken in heaven, or claims of fraud and rape. In response to these kinds of abuses, the South African government even established an independent cultural commission, which created a special committee “to deal with issues in the religious sector”. The…

Apr

03

2026

By JOVIAL RANTAO

THE GENERAL, THE TWEET AND THE PUNCHING BAG: Muhoozi’s X meltdown lays bare the soul of Uganda’s succession crisis

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT was, as they say in the scrolling, unforgiving theatre of social media, quite the post. Not a policy statement. Not a military briefing. Not even a poorly worded threat dressed up as banter. It was, in fact, all three - wrapped in one breathtaking, 280-character confession of the soul of Uganda's ruling family. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba - Commander of the Uganda People's Defence Force, four-star general, serial tweeter, aspiring president-in-waiting, and, crucially, son of the man who has run Uganda since 1986 - logged onto X on a recent Tuesday and, with the casual confidence of a man who…

Apr

03

2026

By DANNY BRADLOW

Iran war: what African countries can do to get through the crisis and emerge in a better place

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BY Easter 2026, it was still not clear when – or how – the war initiated by Israel and the US against Iran would end. But what was already clear was that it would harm Africa in a number of ways. Firstly, it would adversely affect the global supply and prices of oil and gas, fertilisers and food. Secondly, local currencies would be affected. More than a month after the war had started, a number of African currencies had begun to lose value against the US dollar. Thirdly, interest rates stopped falling, and further rate increases were highly likely. Fourth,…

Apr

02

2026

By MOSOTHO MOEPYA

“Protect our nation’s legacy: fix flaws, ensure democracy delivers for all South Africans”

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

OVER the past three decades, millions of South Africans have exercised their democratic right to vote - often with hope and always with dignity. Yet we must also acknowledge, with humility and honesty, that many of our people have expressed disappointment with the dividends of democracy. For too many, lived realities have not improved as they had hoped. Just a few days ago, we released the Human Sciences Research Council's findings on voter participation. These findings invite sober reflection on the nation and on the state of our electoral democracy.In essence, the findings indicate that, three decades into democracy, public…

Apr

01

2026

By JOVIAL RANTAO

Inside the Presidency’s quiet anti-corruption machine

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FAR from the glare of courtroom cameras and the political theatre that has come to define South Africa's anti-corruption conversation, a different kind of battle is being waged inside the Presidency. It is unglamorous, iterative, and largely invisible to the public - but those closest to it insist it is working. Jonathan Timm, a senior official in the South African Presidency's anti-corruption coordination function, laid out the architecture of this effort at an Institute for Security Studies seminar in Johannesburg, describing a set of interlocking mechanisms that together constitute what may be the most coherent systemic anti-corruption framework the country…