THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Sep

08

2021

What it will take to end civil war in the Central African Republic

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN recent months, Central African politicians and journalists have shared images of the military posing in front of different town signs – seemingly as proof of the state regaining control over a country caught up in civil war for almost a decade. TIM GLAWION, Research Fellow, German Institute of Global and Area Studies The civil war commenced when rebel groups in the country’s northeast formed a coalition in 2012 to topple President François Bozizé. Their declared interest was the defence of a marginalised population’s demands for development. However, the more likely trigger for the rebellion was Bozizé’s attempt to take…

Jan

23

2021

By The African Mirror

South African minister’s COVID-19 death unites friends and rivals in tribute

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

KEITH GOTTSCHALK THE death of Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu, Minister in the Office of the President of South Africa, has been met with sorrow across the country. Tributes have come from across the political spectrum for the country’s first government minister to succumb to COVID-19. He was 62. Mthembu’s integrity, dedication to his job and sense of humour explain the response to his death. President Cyril Ramaphosa said: Minister Mthembu was an exemplary leader, an activist and life-long champion of freedom and democracy. He was a much-loved and greatly respected colleague and comrade, whose passing leaves our nation at a loss.…

Sep

06

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Unattainable power’: the frustrations that drove Guinea’s coup leader

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DAVID LEWIS, EDWARD McALLISTER and SALIOU SAMB IN 2016, Mamady Doumbouya, a commander in the Guinean army, asked his superiors if he could have ammunition to train his troops in marksmanship. He never received it, he said, because they feared he would use the rounds to launch a coup. Five years on, Doumbouya did just that. On Sunday, after hours of gunfire in the capital Conakry, the 41-year-old appeared in an online video in army fatigues and wrap-around sunglasses to declare President Alpha Conde ousted and the government dissolved. "We call on our brothers in arms to unite in order…

Sep

07

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Being a public servant is a noble calling and the greatest of all professions’

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AYANDA DLODLO IT is indeed significant that the theme of this year’s Public Service Month in South Africa is: “The Year of Charlotte Maxeke – a resilient public service responsive to the coronavirus pandemic”. Honouring the life of Ma-Maxeke is particularly befitting during this time of socio-economic distress, and uncertainty since her life’s journey shows us the true meaning of resilience and what it means to selflessly commit to a life of service to the people. This year’s Integrated Public Service Month reminds us that as we join our efforts to combat corruption, build the capacity of the State, fight…

Sep

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Successes of African Human Rights Court undermined by resistance from states

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Human Rights Court) holds great promise in protecting human rights and ensuring justice on the continent. But it operates amid resistance by states and this threatens its effectiveness and very existence. LILIAN CHENWI, Professor of Law, University of the Witwatersrand The idea of a regional human rights court surfaced at the 1961 African Conference on the Rule of Law held in Lagos, Nigeria. African jurists at the conference called on African governments to create “a court of appropriate jurisdiction” that would be “available for all persons under the jurisdiction of the…

Sep

03

2021

By The African Mirror

My vision for the University of South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

PULENG LENKABULA AS the spectre of inauguration into the position of Principal & Vice-Chancellor looms large, with me standing at the precipice as the first female and black female Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in its147 year history/herstory, I am at once humbled and affirmed. It is an herstorical moment that recalls the words of Michelle Obama, famously recorded in her memoir titled BECOMING, where she laments that on the occasion of the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States, that “there is no handbook for incoming First Ladies…

Sep

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Diagnoses of doom mask denial about real problems facing South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

TO understand South Africa today, we need to recognise that people can focus endlessly on a country’s problems but still live in a state of denial. STEVEN FRIEDMAN, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg Hand-wringing about problems which are said to spell the doom of South Africa’s negotiated democracy is a well-established custom. It began only months after the first election in which all adults could vote in 1994. It has become louder over the past decade and dominates the national debate, which is the preserve of the minority who enjoy access to media. Right now, violence in the…

Feb

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Results from Novavax vaccine trials in the UK and South Africa differ: why, and does it matter?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

To fast track the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a broad range of candidate COVID-19 vaccines are being investigated. The results of clinical trials being run on some of them have started to be released. The Novavax vaccine trial is one of them. Phase 3 trial results from the UK and phase 2b results from South Africa were recently announced. Shabir Madhi was the lead researcher in the South African leg of the trial. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana asked him to provide context. SHABIR A. MADHI, Professor of Vaccinology and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytical…

Feb

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Jacob Zuma’s defiance – in his own words

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

JACOB ZUMA I have received an overwhelming number of messages of support from members of the African National Congress and the public at large following the recent extraordinary and unprecedented decision of the Constitutional Court where it effectively decided that I as an individual citizen, could no longer expect to have my basic constitutional rights protected and upheld by the country’s Constitution. With this groundswell of messages, I felt moved to publicly express solidarity with the sentiments and concerns raised with me about a clearly politicized segment of the judiciary that now heralds an imminent constitutional crisis in this country.…

Feb

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Neglected tropical diseases threaten a whole new generation, but it is not too late to avert disaster

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ANATOLE MANZI GROWING up in rural Rwanda, I thought that my constant abdominal pain was an inescapable condition of childhood. I was surrounded by my friends, all with distended stomachs, hair loss from malnutrition, chronic conjunctivitis, or worse. Without available treatments, parents would coach their children to endure the pain. Thirty years later, I visited my home village as a public health specialist overseeing health systems strengthening at Partners In Health, a leading global health organization. There, I met old friends suffering from blindness, and chronic physical and mental impairments. They were afflicted from advanced forms of the same Neglected…