Foreign Policy Blogs

My Optimism and Pessimism Meet

President Jacob Zuma hopes South Africa will build on the momentum gained from South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup. This might all come across as empty political rhetoric, the kind of thing we expect a politician and booster to say. But his assertion gains credence with the revelation that the country has “put aside more than R800-billion to invest in infrastructure” after the tournament. Zuma also has declared war on corruption in the government. On this one I’ll take a more wait-and-see approach.

 

Author

Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is a Professor of history and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is also Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. Derek writes about race and politics in the United States and Africa, sports, and terrorism. He is currently working on books on bus boycotts in the United States and South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s and on the 1981 South African Springbok rugby team's tour to the US. He is the author of three books, dozens of scholarly articles and reviews, and has published widely on current affairs in African, American, and European publications. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He writes about politics, sports, travel, pop culture, and just about anything else that comes to mind.

Areas of Focus:
Africa; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Apartheid

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