I am not customarily in the business of giving advice to pirates. They have their interests, I have mine, and rarely the twain doth meet. Nonetheless, I would strongly discourage the Somali pirates from extending their trade to passenger liners. Low-intensity attacks on merchant ships are one thing. Menacing — or to use a variation […]
Well, well, well — just when I posit that we have seen relatively few differences between COPE and the ANC here comes a potential whopper. Philip Dexter, a “senior member” (whatever that can possibly mean for a party that has not fully launched yet) of COPE has put forward a position on Zimbabwe and Robert […]
So the questions remains, and likely will linger at least until South Africa's 2009 elections: just how potent a political force will the Congress of the People (COPE) prove to be? And how different from the ANC is the new party, really? After all, the transformations in South African politics boil down to personality clashes […]
Robert Mugabe's thugocracy can surely endure run-of-the-mill catastrophes like the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) shutting down Harare's water supplies to try to strangle the country's cholera epidemic and the concomitant riots that have resulted. But for some time the wild card of Mugabe's ability to endure has been the loyalty of the police, military, […]
In The Mail & Guardian, columnist Adriaan Basson asks the following: Did the African National Congress jump the gun by recalling former president Thabo Mbeki on the strength of an untested, contentious high court judgement? It is a good question, and Basson strongly implies that the answer is yes. Let me be even more blunt: […]
Free State provincial ANC leader Ace Magashule recently made the case that Jacob Zuma is suffering like Jesus Christ.: “Jesus was persecuted. He was called names and betrayed. It's the same kind of suffering Mr Zuma has had to bear recently, but he's still standing strong. He's not giving up,” Magashule, the ANC leader in […]
The actual costs of Thabo Mbeki's AIDS denialism are probably incalculable. Nonetheless, a recent Harvard University study gives at least some indication of the consequences of the very real damage he did on this issue. According to the study, access to retrovirals and other drugs likely would have prevented the premature deaths of 365,000 people. […]
There is a new wave of politeness and contrition surrounding South African politics these days, as everyone seems to be apologizing to someone. The Congress of the People has apologized for intemperate remarks from some of its members about Jacob Zuma. Months after the fact ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has said he is […]
The United States treasury has taken the step of blacklisting four allies of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Their assets are likely to be seized where possible and it will now be verboten to conduct business with the four men. Imposing this pariah status is welcome for what it is worth, but realistically it is not […]
Few things in life are certain. The sun will rise, the sun will set, and journalists will look at an African crisis and almost inevitably chalk it up primarily to tribal rivalries — and usually they depict those rivalries as “ancient” (and thus somehow immutable). This lazy shorthand almost always obscures more than it elucidates and helps to […]
There was an apparent coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau over the weekend. This IRIN report shows how the coup attempt “has underscored the country's chronic political volatility.”
Amidst the constant thrum of tumult in Zimbabwe — the criticism from foreign dignitaries locked out of the country, the outbreak of cholera throughout much of the country, a surge in anthrax that has killed both people and livestock, and the general humanitarian crisis caused by mismanagement, malfeasance, and avarice on the party of the […]
With all of the verbiage flowing and the spin doctors in full effect in South African politics today, it is hard to separate what is true from what is self serving, what is accurate from what is accusation. To wit, consider the following questions (with answers that I humbly submit for your consideration): Is South […]
Zimbabwe denied entry into the country this weekend to a group of respected international figures, including former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former United States President Jimmy Carter, and human rights advocate (and wife of Nelson Mandela) Graca Machel. Called “The Elders,” the group did meet with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan […]
Is piracy in the Gulf of Aden helping to create the (im?)perfect storm leading to one of Barack Obama's first serious crises upon taking office? It sure seems that way. Shipping firms, which are suffering some of the worst losses at the hands of the Somali brigands, are demanding action. India's navy is stepping up […]