THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Apr

13

2021

Foreign aid can help stem the decline of democracy, if used in the right way

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RACHEL M GISSELQUIST and MIGUEL NIÑO-ZARAZÚA DEMOCRACY is having a hard time. In India, once the world’s largest democracy, the pandemic has hastened the country’s slide toward authoritarianism. In the US, the Trump administration’s attacks on democratic norms reached new lows when the former president, backed by the Republican party, refused to accept his loss in the November 2020 elections. In fact studies show democratic norms are in decline worldwide. Freedom House recently argued that democracy has been declining since 2005, while the latest report from the Varieties of Democracy Institute reveals that 68% the world’s population now live in…

Jul

05

2021

By The African Mirror

The Communist Party claims to have brought prosperity and equality to China. Here’s the real impact of its rule

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in full swing to prepare for the 100th anniversary of its founding this week, with an intense publicity push to crow about its achievements. CHONGYI FENG, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney However, the CCP has little to celebrate in terms of what it has done for China. Its chief achievement has been how it has managed to survive and stay in power for so long. So, what exactly does the CCP lay claim to, and where does the truth lie? 1. Chinese sovereignty The top claim on the list is…

Jul

03

2021

By The African Mirror

The voice of the people rises in eSwatini

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CEBELIHLE MBUYISA THE eSwatini government reacted with force to protests against the dictatorship in the country. It imposed a curfew and blocked the internet in response to pro-democracy demonstrations sparked by the death of Thabani Nkomonye, allegedly at the hands of the police. The government closed schools immediately and banned gatherings, using Covid-19 as a convenient excuse for its attempt to quash the most significant resistance the country has faced during King Mswati III’s rule. Nkomonye, a 25-year-old law student at the University of eSwatini, died under mysterious circumstances on the weekend of 7 May. His family went to the…

Apr

21

2021

By The African Mirror

OBITUARY-Idriss Deby, Chad’s president and West’s ally against Islamists

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AARON ROSS IN 30 years as Chad's president, Idriss Deby emerged as one of Africa's wiliest political survivors, holding on to power through rebellions that reached as far as his palace gates and establishing himself as a key military ally of Western powers. But it was in an apparent moment of triumph, just hours after he was declared the winner of an April 11 election, that the 68-year-old former army officer met his end, killed in battle fighting rebels in the desert north. Deby had ruled for three decades by centralising power around his family and Zaghawa ethnic group. Key…

Apr

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Significant archives are under threat in Cape Town’s fire. Why they matter so much

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A wildfire on the slopes of South Africa’s Table Mountain has wreaked havoc at the University of Cape Town (UCT) campus. Among the sites of historical significance that have been damaged is the Jagger Library. The library houses rare and specialist collections, such as the important African Studies collections. The Conversation Africa’s Nontobeko Mtshali asked UCT academic Shannon Morreira to share her insights on what the loss means for the historical records held by the university. SHANNON MORREIRA, Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town Why is the African Studies Book Collection so significant? When news broke that the Jagger Library…

Jul

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Our little ones must go to school

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MOSIBUDI MANGENA ALTHOUGH one has always been aware of the parlous state of our education as a result of Covid-19, it was still alarming to listen to a Stellenbosch University academic saying on TV the other day that it will take no less than ten years for learning to recover in South Africa. For almost a year now, our learners, from the kindergarten right up to university, have not had normal learning. Those in advantaged homes, have had better opportunities than their poorer counterparts through the use of technology. But even with them that is not an optimal way for…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Anti-apartheid veteran Zuma casts long shadow over South Africa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ALEXANDER WINNING WHEN Jacob Zuma finally caved to pressure to quit as South African president in 2018, he ranted to the state broadcaster for an hour about the ill-treatment he had received at the hands of the party he had served since his teenage years. Zuma, besieged by sleaze and graft scandals throughout his years in power from 2009 to 2018, said it was "unfair" the African National Congress (ANC) had told him to resign, mainly because his comrades had not followed proper party procedure. To South Africans who suffered economic stagnation and national embarrassment under Zuma, it was yet…

Apr

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Why I’m committing $500 million to entrepreneurship in Somaliland

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ISMAIL AHMED THE power of remittances, the funds migrants send ‘back home’ to family and friends, is at the centre of my story. It’s also the story of how Somaliland, my homeland - has overcome challenges to forge its own, entrepreneurial path; a path that challenges traditional models of aid, setting an example for other developing countries. Long before I founded WorldRemit in 2010, which is now one of the world’s largest cross-border payments companies, I saw how remittances have the power to change people’s lives. Members of my family – like many others across Somaliland – went to work…

Jun

29

2021

By The African Mirror

The ANC needs a genuine renewal and refocuses in order to achieve the socio-economic transformation of society

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THABO MBEKI AN outstanding African patriot and freedom fighter, our irreplaceable and beloved leader, Xhamela, Walter Sisulu, passed away on May 5, 2003 aged 91 years. Twelve days later, on 17 May, I was honoured to deliver the Funeral Oration as we were about to lay to rest his mortal remains at the end of a solemn and dignified Official Funeral. I began that Oration in these words: “Our country, and nature herself, have been in mourning since that fateful day, the 5th of May, when Walter Sisulu ceased to breathe. “While he lived, there were many in our country…

Apr

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Access Malawi – Mozambique-Malawi Route Diagnostic

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

GREG MILLS, RICHARD HARPER and MIKE DU TOIT ‘YOU go to the police station,’ menaced Sergeant Silvestre, turning to point behind his back at a lime green building, explaining that the crime was ‘not wearing a mask in the car’. We were stopped in a queue of trucks and cars negotiating speedbumps, army, police, paramilitary, immigration agents and sellers of nuts, cooldrinks and much else at the bridge that spans the great Save River in Mozambique’s Inhambane Province, just north of the popular tourist destination of Vilanculos. We saw no tourists at all on the road to Malawi from Maputo,…