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

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

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

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

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…
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