THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Feb

13

2024

By SISANDA NKOALA, CHRISTINA CHAN-MEETOO, MARISSA J. MOORMAN, MODESTUS FOSU and STANLEY TSARWE

100 years of radio in Africa: from propaganda to people’s power

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RADIO is thriving across Africa. Exact figures are difficult to come by because audience research differs across countries. However, studies estimate radio listenership to be between 60% and 80% of the continent’s 1.4 billion population. In contrast to many Western countries, where there has been a shift towards streaming and podcasts, traditional radio continues to be widely embraced in Africa. Because of poor literacy levels and uneven access to the internet and technological infrastructure, old-fashioned radio remains a reliable and inclusive medium. This year’s celebration of the 100-plus years of radio offers us an opportunity, as African media scholars, to…

Feb

12

2024

By KEITH GOTTSCHALK

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa aims for upbeat tone in annual address, but fails to impress a jaundiced electorate

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIS year’s State of the Nation Address – delivered annually in February by South Africa’s president – was bound to be stuffed with electioneering messages and slogans. The country goes to the polls any time between May and August and there was no doubt that Cyril Ramaphosa would use the occasion to burnish the governing African National Congress’s reputation. KEITH GOTTSCHALK, Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape That’s indeed what he did. The upcoming elections are the most significant since the country became a democracy in 1994. Numerous opinion polls suggest the ANC will fall below 50% of the…

Feb

10

2024

By DOUGLAS YATES

Macky Sall throws Senegal’s democratic credentials into doubt

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SENEGAL’S President Macky Sall announced in early February that presidential elections, originally scheduled for 25 February, would be postponed indefinitely. The announcement has raised fears of popular protests, violent repression, a once democratic president transforming into an authoritarian ruler – and possibly even another coup d’état in West Africa. DOUGLAS YATES, Professor of Political Science, American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) There has been a flurry of coups in the region since 2020 – Mali in August that year followed by a second in 2021. Guinea also saw a coup that year and Burkina Faso a year later. In July…

Feb

08

2024

By ABBEY MAKOE

Hong Kong has every right to implement the “long overdue” Article 23

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THERE was a time, a time not too long ago, when Hong Kong was regarded as the outpost of the West on China’s door-step. And then, a little over 26 years ago, the stranglehold of the colonial masters – Great Britain – over Hong Kong came to an eventual end when the territory was handed over back to its rightful owners, the Peoples Republic of China. Under Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous rule, the Western interests gradually dissipated. Reports of the so-called “Hong Kong’s fall from grace” have become a constant in the Western mainstream media. At the heart of the negative…

Feb

08

2024

By ALAN HIRSCH

South Africa needs to manage migrants better. That requires cleaning up the Department of Home Affairs

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

LEGAL grievances against the South African Department of Home Affairs, including contempt of court cases, are depressingly common. Too frequently the minister has to apologise to a court, or to ask for more time, on behalf of the department. Most of the court cases involve the operations of the department regarding visas and permits for foreign visitors, immigrants and prospective refugees. Just a few months ago Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said, in legal papers: I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere apology to the Chief Justice, all judges of the high court and Constitutional Court,…

Feb

06

2024

By HENNING MELBER

Hage Geingob: Namibian president who played a modernising role

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

HAGE Gottfried Geingob served as the third president of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from 1990 to 2002 and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Geingob was born on 3 August 1941. He joined the ranks of the national liberation movement South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo during its formation in 1960. As the official statement declared: The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a liberation struggle icon, the chief architect of our constitution and the pillar of the Namibian house. As…

Feb

04

2024

By The African Mirror

Paulin J. Hountondji: A Tribute to one of Africa’s Greatest Modern Thinkers

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHEN renowned Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu passed on in early 2022, Benin’s Paulin J. Hountondji was left alone to adopt the mantle of “Africa’s greatest living philosopher”. With one possible exception – Congolese philosopher and historian of ideas, V.Y. Mudimbe. Now Hountondji himself has passed on at the age of 82. SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town The celebrated Beninese philosopher, politician and academic’s long and gallant campaign to establish and disseminate an African philosophical voice is noteworthy. His first book was African Philosophy: Myth and Reality published in 1976. It introduced…

Jan

31

2024

By SARAH MILLER and DAVID KITENGE

Kenya’s bold new Shirika refugee plan is model for future

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

KENYA is once again at the forefront of refugee policy momentum. Over the last year, much anticipation has built over when and how Kenya’s new Refugee Act of 2022 might be implemented. The law has the potential to increase refugee access to the labour market, freedom of movement, and financial inclusion – all positive steps for Kenya’s refugee and host community populations. With more than 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya and amidst a region in turmoil, this is no small feat. Earlier this year, the Kenyan government and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) unveiled a new plan to turn some of the world’s…

Jan

31

2024

By The African Mirror

Nelson Mandela’s personal items under the hammer in New York? Why it outraged some, and what’s at stake

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AN identity document, a pair of reading glasses, a hearing aid and a pair of worn shoes. These are just some of Nelson Mandela’s personal items that were due to go on auction on 22 February 2024. A month before the auction was due, the New York-based Guernsey’s auction house put a notice on its website that it was suspending the sales. No explanation was given. DUANE JETHRO, Lecturer Department of African Studies and Linguistics, University of Cape Town The initial news of the auction caused outrage. South African government officials, commentators on South African social media, and even members…

Jan

30

2024

By The African Mirror

UN genocide ruling won’t change Israel’s behaviour: three reasons why

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the latter’s military operation in Gaza, which South Africa calls acts of genocide. The excessive bombing campaign and wilful destruction of property, life and limb is hardly in dispute. Israel calls it legitimate acts of self-defence, following Hamas’s murderous incursion from Gaza on Israeli terrain on 7 October 2023. Hamas, shorthand for the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military organisation founded in 1987. It has governed the Gaza Strip of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories since 2007. ANTHONI VAN NIEUWKERK, Professor of International and…