THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Feb

04

2021

Presidents who subvert democracies they vowed to protect can hit a brick wall: ask Jacob Zuma

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT can be tough when you are a former president in a democracy you have attempted to subvert, especially when that democracy comes back to bite you. Former South African president Jacob Zuma is finding this out the hard way. ROGER SOUTHALL, Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand Zuma is holed up in his expansive homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, since being ousted from the presidency in February 2018. His leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) ended with the election of his nemesis, Cyril Ramaphosa, in December 2017. Since then, Zuma (78) has spent his retirement engaged in…

Feb

09

2021

By The African Mirror

What it will take to produce vaccines in Nigeria: money’s just the first step

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

The Nigerian government recently released N10 billion (about US$26 million) in support of the local production of COVID-19 vaccines. Wale Fatade, from The Conversation Africa, asked Daniel Oladimeji Oluwayelu, a professor of virology, for his views on this and how the country can get full benefits from the money. DANIEL OLADIMEJI OLUWAYELU, Professor of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Ibadan How do you see the federal government’s decision to give N10 billion to support local production of COVID-19 vaccines? I think the allocation of the funds to initiate local vaccine production is a step in the right direction, but I doubt…

Feb

06

2021

By The African Mirror

The many faces of Sibongile Khumalo

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

GWEN ANSELL MUCH will be written about the music career of Sibongile Khumalo and many will elide her achievements into the single, limited category of “singer”. Singer she was, no doubt, and a magnificent one, with a voice that melded honey, smoke and crystalline waters into a cascade of captivating sound. She resisted, throughout her career, the genre envelopes into which critics tried to stuff her. She did not set out to be an “opera singer” or a “jazz singer” and did not appreciate media coverage that tried to confine her within one of those boxes and assess her work…

Aug

06

2021

By The African Mirror

How communists have shaped South Africa’s history over 100 years

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

UNTIL recently, just living to a 100 was an achievement worth celebrating for itself. In England new centenarians receive a special card from their queen. Perhaps the same convention is maintained in South Africa and its Communist Party’s 300 000 or so members can expect a birthday message from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on their centenary. Or maybe not. TOM LODGE, Emeritus Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Limerick In any case, they have more to celebrate than their party’s extreme old age, though under often tough conditions survival itself is an achievement. Next to the 109-year…

Aug

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Keep the politics out of scientific pursuit for COVID-19 origin

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE LEADING political elites in South Africa have joined a chorus of global scientists by expressing public support for the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to keep politics out of the Covid-19 origin-tracing studies. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) in a joint study with the Chinese health authorities launched a 34-member team of experts from around the world to investigate the actual origins of SARS-Cov-2. The study followed repeated unsubstantiated claims in some sections of the Western media that the Covid-19 virus first emerged through a leak in a Wuhan laboratory in China. In March this year, the joint…

Feb

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Child victim, soldier, war criminal: unpacking Dominic Ongwen’s journey

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DOMINIC Ongwen, a former Ugandan child soldier, has been convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Three judges found him guilty of 61 of 70 charges. These ranged from the war crime of the forced conscription of child soldiers to the crime against humanity of forced pregnancy. KJELL ANDERSON, Assistant professor and Director of the Master of Human Rights program, University of Manitoba The presiding judge, Bertram Schmitt, read aloud the names of dozens of his victims in a stark reminder of the human consequences of Ongwen’s acts. Ongwen was impassive as the verdict was read out, only…

Aug

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Germany is returning Nigeria’s looted Benin Bronzes: why it’s not nearly enough

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AFTER years of pressure, Germany recently announced that an agreement had been reached to return hundreds of priceless artefacts and artworks that had been looted from Nigeria in colonial times and were on display in German museums. Commonly called the Benin Bronzes, these beautiful and technically remarkable artworks have come to symbolise the broader restitution debate. Why has it taken so long, will other countries follow Germany and what happens next? We asked a leading expert on colonial German history and a prominent voice in the debate around the artefacts, Dr Jürgen Zimmerer, to tell us. JÜRGEN ZIMMERER, Professor, University…

Aug

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa can prevent Ethiopia from going down Rwanda’s path: here’s how

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHEN Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2019, I congratulated him in a public US and Africa dialogue forum. I thought he deserved the prize, given what he had done. In particular, he showed a calm and responsible interest in listening to all community grievances to avoid outbursts of war. EDWARD KISSI, Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida Today, under Abiy’s watch, Ethiopia has descended into a political and humanitarian crisis that threatens the very survival of the federal state. There are reports of ethnic groups in various regions…

Feb

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Zuma’s abuse of South Africa’s spy agency underscores need for strong civilian oversight

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IF people who work for the government tell us our safety depends on us not knowing what they do, we might suspect that they wanted to cover up wrong-doing. Unless, it seems, they work for state security agencies. STEVEN FRIEDMAN, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg South Africa’s media are awash with shock at “bombshell” revelations about the country’s security services at the hearings of a commission of inquiry into “state capture”. Testimony shows that the State Security Agency, which is meant to provide the government with intelligence on domestic and foreign threats, was used to fight factional battles…

Feb

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Simeon Nyachae: the larger-than-life civil servant who made his mark on Kenya

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SIMEON Nyachae, who passed away in early February at the age of 88, was among the men who shaped Kenya and made it one of Africa’s leading economies. For Kenya’s first 40 years of independence, he was highly visible in government and helped to craft an economy oriented to the private sector that also was favourable to both large and small-scale agriculture. DAVID K. LEONARD, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley Nyachae held senior leadership positions under all three of Kenya’s first presidents – Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki – from 1963 to 2007.…