I always wonder why despots and tyrants and authoritarians don’t realize that holding farce elections in which they win more than 90% of the popular vote actually serves to undermine their legitimacy. Granted, they don’t care — not caring what others think is sort of their thing, which explains why they are authoritarians to begin […]
Forgive the self-indulgence, but on Friday, April 23, 2010 I’ll be giving a talk at the Newberry Library’s Dr. William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture as part of the 2009-2010 Chicago Seminar on Sport and Culture. The title of my talk, part of a larger project on sports, race, and politics in […]
Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira, the burly Springbok and Sharks prop who is easily one of the most popular athletes in South Africa, is a Zimbabwean national. This has never raised anyone’s hackles in any meaningful way in the past. But suddenly South Africa’s Ministry for Sport, at the head of which sits Makhenkesi Stofile, has […]
It is easy to assert that the political negotiations in Zimbabwe have reached crunch time. But it might be more accurate to say that the negotiations that have been fraught from the outset are facing their last best chance of peaceful resolution. This assumes that both parties want peaceful resolution, or resolution at all, despite […]
Is the new trend of African nations selling or leasing agricultural land to foreign companies or countries a new form of colonialism (“agri-imperialism”) or a savvy form of investment and partnership? These are the questions raised in recent articles in the New York Times Magazine and Washington Post. The deeply unsatisfying answer from my vantage […]
On December 4 the run-up to the 2010 World Cup will begin in earnest as FIFA will conduct the draw for the tournament. South Africa is thus preparing for its long run in the public eye. Danny Jordaan, the CEO of South Africa’s World Cup hosting duties and thus the country’s uber-booster, insists that the […]
Sudan is delaying the country’s long awaited elections yet again. But this time the reasons seem legitimate: The National Elections Commission (NEC) announced a six day delay to the elections in order to allow more time for voters to register at least in part at the behest of opposition parties. Sudan state media issued an […]
So, it appears that China’s policies toward Africa might disproportionately benefit the powerful and the privileged? I, for one, stand flabbergasted.
The South African government has announced the formation of a new anti-corruption team. A cabinet statement announced, “The South African government takes strong exception to corrupt practices and regards the matter very seriously because of the potential damage that this could cause to the country’s reputation globally.” South Africa ranked a middling (which is to […]
Zimbabwe has started withdrawing troops from the country’s diamond fields at the behest of the countries behind the Kimberley Process. Now, to be fair, this is one Zim-related narrative that is not simply part of a larger “Mugabe = Bad” narrative. The troops were posted at the diamond fields in Marange in the eastern part […]
I am pleasantly shocked by the news that South Africa has already moved out of recession. According to Statistics SA, South Africa recorded modest positive growth in the third quarter.
In a disquieting assessment, an economist has concluded that South Africa could have the most expensive electric rates in the world if ESKOM’s price hikes go into effect. And given the rates of poverty and the status of the working classes and general economic precariousness in South Africa, this is alarming news that could fast […]
Any discussion of contemporary South Africa will come around to the issue of crime fairly quickly. And whenever issues of crime come up someone will raise the issue of “getting tough” on crime. (And this happens everywhere, not just in South Africa — it certainly does in the United States, for example.) But what does […]
Largely in response to the violence that engulfed much of the country in the wake of its hotly contested and vigorously disputed December, 2007 elections Kenya has drafted a new constitution and presented the draft to the public. (You can download a copy here. Hat tip.) Kenya’s Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Peter Ogego […]
The long-awaited Gautrain, which is to connect Johannesburg and Pretoria, will have one of its sections complete by next year’s World Cup. I am a supporter of light rail. And I am all for improving South Africa’s transportation networks, which range from the quite good to the quite abysmal. And a fast, efficient train between […]