Just some quick headlines from today: The Springboks defeated Australia today in a nailbiter, 22-19, in the first leg of this year's Tri-Nations. The Wallabies led 16-10 at the half and put up a more spirited front than most experts anticipated. Author Ronald Suresh Roberts has published his long-awaited bography of Thabo Mbeki. The Star has […]
Zimbabwe's lower house of Parliament on Wednesday passed the Interception of Communications Bill, which would allow the government to monitor phones, the internet, and the mail in the interests of “public security.” Opposition leaders, such as those from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), have mouthed platitudes about protecting the country from terrorist threats (as […]
Dwight Garner reports in his blog on books for The New York Times, “Paper Cuts,” that Chinua Achebe has been honored with the Man Booker Prize. The recognition is long overdue.
Could Zimbabwe be on the verge of collapse, possibly within the next six months? That is what a recent report indicates. With collapse or its threat might come a State of Emergency. Of courses states of emergency are as often politically derived as they are reflections of actual emergency. One envisions Robert Mugabe invoking emergency […]
A few headlines that have caught my attention as I enjoy the first days of my honeymoon in the Pacific Northwest: Massive strikes, organized by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), continue in South Africa. They have been largely peaceful, but as the strikes enter their third week there have been some incidents of […]
A United Nations Official has concluded that Africans will only pay attention to climate change when it can be couched in human consequences: “Most people are unable to relate to the projections of increase in temperature or the impact of climate change on the economy, but if the climate change forecasts are linked to possible […]
For the next few weeks I’ll be on the road celebrating my impending (Saturday . . . tick … tock … tick … tock) nuptials and so while I’ll be blogging as I can, it might be both light and a bit less analytical than usual. In other words, more links, less of my opinions. […]
In yet another angle on the Zimbabwe crisis and the relationship between Zim and South Africa, The Mail & Guardian reports that skilled and semi-skilled construction workers are flooding from Zimbabwe to work on jobs building facilities for the 2010 World Cup. The deluge seems less problematic for South Africa, as despite its own unemployment […]
Madonna and Brangelina have been in the news for their adoptions of African babies. But ordinary folks (well, ordinary white folks with quite a bit of resources) are also adopting African children in increasing numbers. Ethiopia has become a popular source of these children, which is raising some concerns in that country. There is a […]
It has been a good weekend for South African sport. The Springboks took on England and after a slow first half — they actually trailed 17-19 at the break — came on strong in the second and pounded England again, 55-22. Bryan Habana and Pierre Spies, both stars for the Northern Bulls, scored two tries on […]
I was, to be honest, prepared to be defensive about a recent Mail & Guardian article titled “Can 'someone in a Hotel Room’ Report on All of Africa.” After all, I think it is perfectly possible for someone to engage in commentary if they have the background and intelligence and understanding even if they are […]
Morgenie Pillay, the Andrew Mellon lecturer in the department of politics and international studies at one of my old stomping grounds, Rhodes University, and a visiting doctoral research scholar at the London School of Economics asks (and tries to answer) an important question in The Mail & Guardian: “Why are there so few up-and-coming new […]
Liberia's former President, Charles Taylor, one of Africa's most ruthless thugs (a bold claim, to be sure) will go on trial at a UN-backed Special Court at the Haguie next week. He will face war crimes charges stemming back to his years as Liberia's Big Man. A couple of colorful quotations reveal the loathing that […]
The United States has announced that it will increase sanctions on Khartoum as part of President Bush's much ballyhooed “Plan B” to deal with the human rights catastrophe that is Darfur. Smith College's Eric Reeves, one of the most perspicacious Sudan observers, argues that sanctions will prove useless and that they represent “nothing more than […]
A Zimbabwe's inflation rate, which long ago reached the status of being the worst in the world, doubles and trebles, the country's humanitarian crisis worsens. Thabo Mbeki continues to try to facilitate dialogue between Robert Mugabe's thugocracy and the opposition, most notably the Movement for Democratic Change, as per his mandate from SADC, but the […]