Just some quick updates on stories I have reported in recent days: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has heard the voices of conscience in his country and across the globe and he has announced the cancellation of the Aussie cricket team's tour of Zimbabwe that was scheduled for September. Australia's governing body for the sport, […]
In a historic first, two South African teams will face off in the finals of Super 14 rugby. Almost inarguably the best cross-national interprovincial club competition in the rugby world, the Super 14 consists of teams from South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. In today's semi-final matches the Coastal Sharks of Durban pummeled the Auckland […]
There was a long span of time when the issue of the South African role in sport was arguably the single most contentious debate in the global sporting community and it was a discussion that came to transcend the voundaries of athletic competition to become a global concern. Sport reflected politics, sports intensified politics, sport […]
Sometimes it seems that the United Nations goes out of the way to prove its own fecklessness. The latest example? A government- (read: Robert Mugabe) chosen representative from Zimbabwe is about to be named the chair of the UN's 53-member Commission on Sustainable Development. Of course the UN is not acting alone — in the […]
Just as an FYI: For access to the BBC's weekly program “South Africa Direct,” with links and other information, go here.
On Tuesday Bill Clinton announced that his foundation has brokered a deal with Indian pharmaceutical companies to provide generic AIDS drugs in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Afria will obviously provide a huge market for these drugs. There are perhaps a few of lessons to learn here. The first is that it is unlikely that these Indian companies, […]
The United States is moving forward with plans to establish an Africa Command that will enable the United States to respond quickly to address strategic situations that artise on the continent, which is increasingly visible in American and global policy. The establishment of the new command, which will deal with issues such as terrorism, humanitarian […]
Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has easily dispatched of two rivals and will take the helm of the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa's biggest opposition party. The DA emerged after the disintegration of the National Party and its various and tepid successors. As a consequence the DA drew some of its membership from Nats who […]
Foreign investors, tourists, and FIFA (which organizes the World Cup) are three constituencies that South Africans fear will turn their backs on their country if crime and fears of crime (not the same thing) continue to dominate stories that emanate from South Africa. Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula is aware of the very real […]
Although it is hardly news that fears of crime in South Africa are “partly based on reality,” it is still worth pointing out that “Partly” implies that much of the fear of crime in South Africa is also overstated, at least to some degree. That is probably of little solace to those who have been […]
My first FPA “Great decisions Analysis,” a piece titled “South Africa's Regional Superpower Dilemma,” is now up and has also been linked on the FPA home page.
Well, at least we know that Robert Mugabe is nothing if not predictable. The sun will rise, the sun will set, and Mugabe's security state minions will crush dissent. In a Washington Post story based on a report by Human Rights Watch, the Washington Post reports that “Zimbabwean authorities have arrested, abducted and tortured hundreds […]
The Nordic African Studies community has always produced some of the most thoughtful, insightful and important work on Africa. Foremost amongst these organizations is the Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (The Nordic African Institute), which is based in Uppsala, Sweden. The Institute pulls together serious research and scholarship, policy discussion, and other work. The Institute produces a high […]
IRIN reports that there is yet another impediment to effective AIDS treatment in South Africa. Apparently rape survivors tend to get left out in prevention and treatment programs. In a normal society this might pass as a loose end left untied. but in a country beset by both AIDS and abominably high rape figures it goes […]
Given it's role as the largest anti-apartheid liberation organization, its central role in the transition to democracy, and its virtually insuperable status in the country's politics today it should come as no suprise that the African National Congress is far and away the most scrutinized (and criticized) political party in South Africa. From issues of politics […]