THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Oct

12

2020

Leadership thought: Leadership comes in multiple forms

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NIVEN POSTMA AT precisely a time when we most need it, leadership is nowhere to be seen in the places we most look for it. So perhaps, we are simply looking in the wrong places. And perhaps we also need to relook how we define leadership. What do I mean by leadership? Margaret Wheatley, said it best: “Leadership is about facing the reality of an imploding world, committing to self-sacrifice and the service of others anyway and restoring hope – islands of sanity and possibility in the huge sea of dissolution and despair that we are all awash on.” And…

Oct

12

2020

By The African Mirror

“We must resist any attempts to use crime on farms to mobilise communities along racial lines”

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CYRYL RAMAPHOSA JUST over a week ago, Brendin Horner, a young farm manager in the Free State, was murdered in an appalling act of cruelty. His killing should anger and upset every one of us. No matter who we are, no matter what community we live in, no matter our race, creed or language, we should be as deeply affected by the death of Brendin Horner as we are by the many other South Africans who die violent deaths each year. Just as we mourn the loss of his life, we also mourn the deaths of Mogamad Cloete, Tawqeer…

Oct

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Why the UN must set up an independent body to tackle sexual abuse

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ANDERS KOMPASS SIX years ago, I became a UN whistleblower, intervening to stop the sexual abuse of children by soldiers in Central African Republic. The revelation led to an independent investigation into how the UN had handled the affair and, in 2015, to a damning report that identified severe structural and systemic weaknesses within the UN system. At the end of it, in 2016, I resigned from the United Nations, making a final call for structural change in the ethical standards of the organisation. Since then, I have looked from a distance as Sweden’s ambassador in Central America, still hoping…

Nov

12

2020

By The African Mirror

Strong leadership fought COVID-19 in Africa: the next step is to harness research

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AFRICAN countries are still reeling from the effect of measures, such as lockdowns, taken to contain the spread of COVID-19. Though painful, they were a vital part of the successful public health response mounted by many African leaders. MONIQUE WASUNNA, Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative Africa Regional Office and Researcher, Kenya Medical Research Institute The quick responses by most African countries meant that they were able to avoid the large-scale loss of life seen elsewhere. The 1.8 million infections and 44,000 deaths recorded on the continent by mid-November are a great loss. They are, nevertheless, far from the catastrophic…

Nov

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Why South Africans need to give political parties more money

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

STEVEN FRIEDMAN, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg IF South Africans fear that funding political parties is a waste of money, they may care to think about the costs of not funding them. But, if they want value for their cash, the way parties get money needs to change. Party funding is back on the agenda in South Africa after the treasurer of the governing African National Congress (ANC), Paul Mashatile, said taxpayers needed to give parties more money. Finance minister Tito Mboweni says he is willing to listen to the argument. Almost inevitably, parts of the media known…

Nov

10

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia’s troubled history provides clues to why an all-out civil war is possible

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ETHIOPIA'S government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, is carrying out a military offensive in Tigray, Ethiopia’s most northern state. A six month state of emergency has been declared in the region. Dozens of casualties have been reported amid fears that nine million people are at risk of being displaced. FRANCESCA BALDWIN, PhD Research Student, University of Reading HEIKE I SCHMIDT, Associate Professor in Modern African History, University of Reading The offensive follows accusations by Ahmed’s government that forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the ruling party in Tigray, attacked a military base. There have since been reports of…

Nov

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Trumpism will outlast Trump, who defied the odds, grew the base

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

JOSEPH TANFANI and TIM REID AS he closed his campaign with a series of boisterous rallies, President Donald Trump told his cheering crowds they would prove all the experts wrong again - just as they had when he improbably won the U.S. presidency in 2016. "A great red wave is coming," Trump said at an October 31 rally in Pennsylvania, predicting a surge of Republican support would carry him to re-election. "There's not a thing they can do about it." Trump lost the White House, according to media outlets that called the tight race on Saturday morning for his Democratic…

Nov

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Biden wins – experts on what it means for race relations, US foreign policy and the Supreme Court

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE American public has had its say and for the first time in a generation denied a sitting president a second term. BRIAN J PURNELL, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College MORGAN MARIETTA, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell NETA C. CRAWFORD, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Boston University President’s Trump’s tenure lasted just four years, but in that time he dragged policy on an array of key issues in a dramatic new direction. Joe Biden’s victory, confirmed by the Associated Press late morning on Nov. 7, presents an opportunity to reset…

Oct

19

2020

By The African Mirror

New threats to media freedom come from unexpected directions

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FRANZ KRÜGER, Adjunct Professor of Journalism and Director of the Wits Radio Academy, University of the Witwatersrand MEDIA Freedom Day in South Africa marks the anniversary of a brutal crackdown by the apartheid state on the media and the Black Consciousness Movement. The 1977 killing of Black Consciousness icon Steve Biko in police custody drew widespread rage and the state responded by closing newspapers, banning organisations and detaining journalists and activists. That was on October 19 of that year, which became known as Black Wednesday. Since then, South African journalists have used Black Wednesday to draw attention to the importance…

Oct

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Young Nigerians rise up to demand a different kind of freedom

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SAKIRU ADEBAYO, Postdoctoral fellow, University of the Witwatersrand TWO days after Nigeria celebrated its sixtieth year of independence, a video of a young man brazenly killed by a member of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad or SARS caught the attention of netizens. The Twitter user who posted the viral video claimed the man’s body had been left at the side of the road and his Lexus stolen. It sparked a wave of protests across most of Nigeria’s urban metropolises. Under the moniker #ENDSARS, the protests have garnered support from Nigerian celebrities, Nigerians in the diaspora and even international stars such…