A couple of weeks back South African cricket legend Basil D’Oliviera passed away, presumably from complications due to the Parkinson’s disease from which he had suffered for many years. D’Oliviera is best known for his centrality in the crisis that bore his name, the “D’Oliviera Affair.” Unable to play cricket at the highest levels in […]
So the big news out of South Africa today is that Julius Malema, firebrand president of the ANC Youth League and general lightning rod for controversy has been suspended (or forced to “vacate his position”) for five years from the ANC. And for good measure the party also ousted the Youth League’s “arrogant” spokesman, Floyd […]
Posting has been light on my part because I have been in an almost constant state of travel of late. My apologies. And that travel continues tomorrow when I begin a trip that will ultimately take me to the Sport and the Global South conference to be held next Tuesday and Wednesday (November 15th and […]
Is South Africa’s Sports and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula using a traditionally marginalized cabinet position as a springboard to something larger within the ANC hierarchy? Nickolaus Bauer of the Mail & Guardian thinks so. There is no reason why the Sports Ministry or any other traditionally modest post cannot provide an opportunity to shine. Competence […]
Although the rugby world’s attention is understandably focused on the New Zealand-France match that will determine the world champion this weekend, Ecouter La Radio has a story (also available here in the original French) on an organization that is using rugby to help change the lives of poor children in Senegal. It is easy to […]
I’m still recovering from the 1-2 punch of the Boks being ousted from the IRB Rugby World Cup and Bafana Bafana getting pipped at the wire for a berth in the finals of the African Cup of Nations on a dubious tiebreaker. The frustrations derive from different sources, however. As an almost universal rule I […]
On Tuesday, October 11, 2011, Liberians will go to the polls to choose the country’s next president from a pool of 16 aspiring presidential candidates, which includes the incumbent Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The election comes a few days after President Johnson Sirleaf and another Liberian women’s activist Leymah Gbowee were awarded the Nobel Prize […]
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation has just released its 2011 Index of African Governance. I’d encourage you to follow the link and download to your heart’s content. For most of you the Summary will be more than sufficient. On the whole Ibrahim himself argues, “The findings of the 2011 Index present a complex yet hopeful picture […]
Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of South Africa’s ANC Youth League and lightning rod for controversy may find that his wave has crested too early. Recent polls indicate that his popularity is waning, particularly in the cities that provide so much of his support. This news should not come as a surprise. Of late when […]
The IRB Rugby World Cup is under way in New Zealand. The hosts come in as the favorites because, much like Brazil in football, the All Blacks pretty much are always the favorites, despite a history of underachievement in rugby’s signature event. The All Blacks have only emerged with one William Webb Ellis Cup, and […]
There is good news on that eternal South African bugaboo, crime. The country’s police minister, Minister Nathi Mthethwa, has announced that South Africa’s murder rate — perennially one of the worst in the world — fell by 6.5% in the period from March 2010 to April 2011. In that same time span the number of […]
Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s volatile and unpredictable President has moved from his insistence that his country would hold elections in 2011 and now says that Zimbabwe’s elections will be held no later than March 2012. For Mugabe the exact date of the elections matters much less, it seems, than his ability to dictate terms. For Mugabe […]
Do I see a little bit of an irony here? Let’s do a count: how many of the current AU member countries have inclusive governments? How many of the current AU member governments came to power through coups? Until now, the sad truth is that, all along, the AU (and its predecessor the OAU) did […]
ISN Insights has published my latest piece, “ANC: Historical Irony on the Horizon?”, in which I wonder whether or not Jacob Zuma might face a fate similar to that Thabo Mbeki confronted in 2007 and 2008.
Yes, you heard it right, the AU’s Peace and Security Council reportedly failed on Monday to agree on a common position on Libya. Instead the body has deferred the decision to a Friday meeting of the AU’s heads of states’ leadership meeting. Frankly, I am not surprised and do not expect the 15 heads of […]