The possibility of the ANC government cracking down on the media and the concerns over the implications of the Protection of Information Bill (2010) and the possible establishment of a “media tribunal” (the tribunal and the act are not the same thing) continue to vex observers both in in and outside of South Africa. See […]
Zambia may be Africa’s largest producer of copper, but the impact of this red metal on the country‘s economy still remains a mixed blessing. In the Mail and Guardian article posited on the Zambian Watch website at http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2010/08/23/zambia-on-red-metal-alert/, it is argued that Zambia’s heavy reliance on copper is exactly what’s wrong with Zambia’s economy. To […]
Public sympathy for the increasingly nasty ongoing public sector strike is starting to lose the sympathy and support of the general populace if it has not done so already. Even in labor-friendly South Africa, where the union movement was a central component of the anti-Apartheid struggle and are a central component of the governing coalition, […]
Interesting. Usually the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) stand united as the left flank of the ANC’s Tripartite alliance, usually at an uncomfortable distance from the ANC itself. President Jacob Zuma is following the ANC script by condemning the ongoing public sector strikes that are disrupting the […]
Foreign Policy magazine has published its 2010 Global Cities Index. The methodology is difficult to discern, but the editors claim: the index aims to measure how much sway a city has over what happens beyond its own borders — its influence on and integration with global markets, culture, and innovation. To create this year’s rankings, […]
Lost in the nightmare that has been Robert Mugabe’s “land reform” is the fact that while Zimbabwe’s reform has been a nightmare because it was geared toward rewarding or placating the so-called “war veterans” who have made up so much of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF support (and an even greater percentage of its thuggery), land reform in […]
According to an IRIN report: South Africa is unlikely to deploy soldiers in support of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), as it did “not believe” in the political direction being followed to resolve the conflict, and there was no exit strategy, an analyst said. Because it is by just about any measure the […]
Like him or not, this week’s person of the week in the SADC region goes to Robert Mugabe. On August 17, 2010 during the closing ceremony of the 30th Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Namibia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe received a standing ovation, a gathering that included Africa’s present and former heads of […]
Earlier, I posted some comments and reactions that I received on my facebook wall regrading the Mugabe article. Here are more comments regarding other articles as well. And, oh…I am also on twitter. http://twitter.com/NdumbaKamwanyah 1. Democracy without Independent Voters Article: • You are doing a good job with these analysis, we are getting educated from […]
Countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa are among the world’s most vulnerable to “shocks to food supplies.” “‘Of 50 nations most at risk, 36 are located in Africa,’ according to Fiona Place, an environmental analyst at British-based consultancy Maplecroft, which compiled the 163-nation food security risk index.”
Eusebius McKaiser, a political analyst and an associate at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Wits Centre for Ethics, has the best assessment I have seen yet of the pending Democratic Alliance-Independent Democrat merger.
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You can’t have it both ways, right? One of the downsize of publicizing articles on facebook account is that people have the tendency to respond there instead of here. Facebook is increasingly becoming a valuable tool for citizenry engagement. Despite the reality that computers are out of reach for many people, mobile phones are making […]
The potential showdown between the media (and advocates of media freedom) and the South African government (which at least in this case means the ANC) continues to resonate and worry observers of the country’s political scene. It seems to me that the government would want to err on the side of avoiding being lumped in […]
Oh, Southern African Development Community (SADC) you little scamps! Robert Mugabe’s government (and for all intents and purposes it is still Mugabe’s government) got crushed in a regional court that ruled against government “land reform” and in favor of white farmers. Mugabe blatantly ignored the court. There is little gray area here — both the […]