The FW de Klerk Foundation has released correspondence between the former president and current president Thabo Mbeki in which the former expresses her concerns about the encroachment on the independence of the country's judiciary. Mbeki provided assurances to de Klerk that the government is committed to judicial independence and to upholding the constitution. I have […]
Angolans went to the polls last week and overwhelmingly re-elected the ruling party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), the longtime opposition party has conceded, a far cry from the 1992 elections after which Unita took up arms rather than accept defeat at […]
The Movement for Democratic Change is calling upon regional leaders in southern Africa to apply pressure on Robert Mugabe to continue working toward a settlement of Zimbabwe's political stalemate. It seems clear that Mugabe must have hoped for just this sort of impasse when he agreed to sit down at the negotiating table to begin […]
Yesterday's Washington Post explores how Africa's growing (but still largely overlooked) middle class is playing a greater role on the continent.
In September voters in Angola, Rwanda and Swaziland will go to the polls for a national election. In November Zambia and Cote d’Ivoire will follow suit, (though the situation in the Ivory Coast is up in the air), and Ghanaians will do the same in December. While the spate of elections might seem as cause […]
The corruption charges against Jacob Zuma either have legal merit or they do not. If the charges are baseless, they should be dropped. If there is a legal foundation to move forward, the process should play out. This seeming truism comes to mind in light of the Friday protests by eThekwini ANC members who marched on […]
Springbok fans can step off the ledge. At least for today. The Tri Nations has been undoubtedly disappointing this year, especially given the promise going in and the win at the House of Pain in July. But today the green and gold crushed the Wallabies 53-8 at Coca Cola Park in Johannesburg. Jongi Nokwe scored […]
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has been cleared to release its report, "On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya's Post-2007 Election." In this account a number of members of government and other public officials, including cabinet ministers, are fingered for their role in fomenting violence. Given that there […]
Robert Mugabe does indeed intend to move forward with the formation of a new government over the protests of the Movement for Democratic Change, which wants to see the stalled negotiations resume. Junior information minister Bright Matonga announced “Nothing is going to stop us from forming a new government.” The MDC believes Mugabe is acting […]
During the 1970s plane hijackings became a somewhat regularly recurrent phenomenon. In a post-9/11 world, however, such instances have become rare to the point of anachronism. Tuesday's hijacking of a Khartoum-bound plane from the town of Nyala in southern Darfur thus provided a bizarre twist to events in that troubled area. Hijackers attempted to divert […]
Robert Mugabe's latest gambit in Zimbabwe is to prepare to form a new government with or without the support of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The wily tyrant continues to insist that he is interested in continuing the power-sharing discussions, but in reality he was never interested in either discussion or sharing power. […]
When I read that Robert Mugabe had begun to appoint provincial governors and other political appointees I chalked it up as business as usual for Mugabe. With negotiations still ongoing, and at something of an impasse, he simply decided to establish facts on the ground and thus to act as if those facts reflect ongoing […]
The rather tepid performances of South Africa's Olympians appears to have sent the country's sporting fandom and chattering classes into another of its periodic crises of confidence (with finger pointing!). South Africa's fans and media are the stage parents of the sporting world. They build excessively high expectations for their teams, and then they […]
Amos Wako, Kenya's Attorney-General, has told the country's Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence that politicians who fomented violence should not be let off the hook. He believes that politicians who encouraged violence should not be allowed to serve in office, nor should they be granted amnesty for their deeds. Wako's words are encouraging inasmuch […]
South African History Online has a feature on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the United Democratic Front (UDF). With the African National Congress, Pan-Africanist Congress, and other organizations banned the UDF filled an essential void and fueled the anti-Apartheid opposition in the tumultuous 1980s. Largely locally focused, the UDF confronted apartheid as much […]