THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

May

10

2024

Kenya floods: as the costs add up pressure mounts on a country in economic crisis

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THERE were early warnings that Kenya’s long rain season – between March and May – was going to bring above-normal rainfall. The extreme intensity of the rain has resulted in devastating floods in many parts of the country. Forty of the country’s 47 counties have been affected. More than 230 people have died and about 40,000 households, so far, have been displaced. Poor maintenance of key infrastructure and drainage systems, and disregard of environmental regulations regarding the maintenance of land near rivers, contributed to the situation. The government has responded with measures to minimise destruction and safeguard lives. These include…

May

09

2024

By MASHUPYE HERBERT MASERUMULE

South Africa elections: Zuma’s MK Party has hit the campaign trail with provocative rhetoric and few clear policies

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FORMER South African president Jacob Zuma surprised many in December 2023 by declaring he’d canvass for a new rival to the African National Congress (ANC), the party he used to lead. The new uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) is on the ballot papers in the upcoming national election and provincial elections. Opinion polls suggest that the upstart will worsen the electoral woes of the ruling ANC in Zuma’s heartland, KwaZulu-Natal province. The ANC, which has governed the country since 1994, goes into the elections uncertain about securing the more than 50% majority needed to form a government. We asked political…

May

08

2024

By MICHAEL BRAUN

South African elections: research explores how disillusioned ANC supporters might use their vote

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE African National Congress (ANC) has been in power since South Africa became a democracy in 1994. The party has been electorally dominant since then, reaching a peak of 69.7% of national votes in 2004. However, support for the party has declined sharply since the 2014 national and provincial elections, reaching a low of 57.5% in 2019. Negative attitudes towards the ruling party have depressed its vote tallies, increased abstention, and widened potential support for opposition parties. Opinion polls have consistently shown that the ANC will not win the more than 50% of votes required to form a government by…

May

04

2024

By The African Mirror

NEW UNITED NATIONS REFORMS MUST FAVOUR THE GLOBAL SOUTH

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE THE rise of the Majority World, or global south, in world politics has triggered pertinent issues in relation to the archaic nature and form of the UN system. And, Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres summed it absolutely spot-on when he recently delivered a frank appraisal of the UN in this day and age. “We cannot solve 21st century problems with 20th century tools,” he said. The UN system has been grossly undermined by the stranglehold of the Western-led unipolar international world order. The UN Charter effected at the end of WW11 in 1945 sought to create a world that…

May

01

2024

By THABO MBEKI

Observations by Thabo Mbeki to mark the 30th Anniversary of South Africa’s Democracy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

THIS year I celebrate 68 years of membership of the ANC, having joined the ANC Youth League as a 13½-year-old in 1956. You can therefore imagine what a difference it would make to me and others of my generation if the South Africa of today looked like the South Africa for which many sacrificed in many ways, including by losing their lives. The ANC held a victory party at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg as soon as the results of our very first democratic elections of 1994 were announced. I happened to serve as the Master of Ceremonies that joyful…

Apr

29

2024

By RICHARD CALLAND

South Africa’s constitution was set up as the bedrock of its democracy: it’s been challenged over last 30 years, but has held firm

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THERE was a moment during the state capture years of South African president Jacob Zuma’s term in office (2009 to 2018) when the veil finally slipped. There had been quiet rumblings against the country’s constitution for many years. But now a senior figure in the ruling African National Congress – its chief whip in the National Assembly, Mathole Motshekga – gave public expression to the notion that when judges overturned decisions of the government they were undermining democracy by thwarting the will of the majority. As I watched a 2014 parliamentary ad hoc committee debate the Public Protector’s report on…

Apr

27

2024

By STEVEN FRIEDMAN

Why it’s wrong to blame South Africa’s woes on Mandela’s compromises

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IF he were alive today, Nelson Mandela would probably be puzzled to find that it has become popular among South Africans frustrated with the pace of change to join former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in casting him as a villain. The charge against Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratically elected President on 10 May 1994, is that he let white South Africa off the hook by bargaining a deal which left the racial minority in charge of the economy and society. His reconciliation policy, it is claimed, made whites feel good but did little for blacks. How justified is…

Apr

26

2024

By NANCY J. JACOBS

South Africa’s first election was saved by a Kenyan: the fascinating story of Washington Okumu, the accidental mediator

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHAT'S sometimes forgotten about the 26-29 April 1994 vote that installed the African National Congress (ANC) government in South Africa is that, until the last minute, it looked like violence would consume the voting process. An 11th-hour agreement on 19 April brought the Zulu-majority Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) into the contest. Inkatha had been boycotting the process and challenging the ANC in violent street protests. The peaceful election brought enormous relief to the country and the world. A Kenyan, Washington Okumu, alternately described as a professor or a diplomat, was credited with the negotiation. But few observers knew who he…

Apr

26

2024

By OMAR SHAHABUDIN MCDOOM

Rwanda’s post-genocide model prioritises security over freedom and equality – a risk to future stability

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RWANDA, a small and landlocked central African country, has made remarkable socio-economic progress since the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 500,000 people died. But the country, as well as the rest of the world, remains divided over the achievements made and the direction taken over the past 30 years. Supporters of Rwanda’s trajectory believe in the aspiration of its president, Paul Kagame, for the country to become Africa’s Singapore. Critics, in contrast, see disturbing characteristics it has in common with North Korea. This stark divergence of views also besets the scholarly community. Some experts acclaim Rwanda as a developmental…

Apr

25

2024

By DUANE JETHRO

History for sale: what does South Africa’s struggle heritage mean after 30 years of democracy?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ONE of my favourite statues is the one of Nelson Mandela at the Sandton City shopping centre in Johannesburg. Larger than life, its oversized bronze shoes shimmer in the evening light, polished by the hands of many passersby who crowd around to take pictures with it. At the entrance of a square in the mall, it’s a jovial image of the former South African president in a lively jive: a decidedly odd juxtaposition of a liberation fighter at a site of luxury retail. One message it seems to convey is the celebration of the commercial riches brought about by post-apartheid…