South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor addresses the media outside the ICJ at The Hague.
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The country will see more foreign policy continuity if the ANC partners with smaller parties that share its world view.
Donald Trump speaks to the media after his conviction on 34 felony charges on May 30, 2024.
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Both sweeping immunity and overzealous prosecutions of former leaders can undermine democracy. But such prosecutions pose different risks for older democracies like the US than in younger ones.
The new MK Party’s slogan #Mayibuye and its green, gold and black colours share the ruling ANC’s own branding.
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Former president Jacob Zuma’s MK Party borrows the slogan “mayibuye” from the liberation party to make a point about the ruling African National Congress.
South Africans in the UK and other foreign countries voted ahead of the polls opening at home.
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The growing loss of support for the governing ANC raises the possibility of South Africa having its first national coalition government since 1994.
Twee Toring Church in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
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Political secularism in South Africa is shaping into a tense contest between the relative ambitions of state and religious actors.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma.
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Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe is now the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal and the fourth biggest nationally.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, left, canvasses for votes in Johannesburg.
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The 2024 elections may be the tipping point that enables opposition parties to portray themselves as viable contenders in forming a national coalition government.
The question of whether the constitution should continue to be supreme has become a public as well as a political issue.
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The constitution and the principle of constitutionalism will continue to be politically contested territory. So far it’s held in South Africa.
Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma: two very different styles of governing.
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The second episode of What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa?, a three-part podcast series on The Conversation Weekly. Featuring interviews with Mashupye Maserumule and Michael Sachs.
Public confidence in the Constitutional Court is key to its legitimacy.
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The court covered itself in glory in the first 15 years, but its performance has been patchy since then, coinciding with Jacob Zuma’s presidency.
Nelson Mandela takes the oath as South Africa’s president in Pretoria on 10 May 1994.
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A lot of good has happened since apartheid ended in 1994. Sadly, 30 years on, the country is in a political and economic crisis. Many are questioning the choices of the past three decades.
A memorial to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny laid in Saint Petersburg on February 16, 2024.
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Donald Trump says he’s being politically persecuted, like Russian democracy martyr Alexei Navalny, who died while in a Russian prison on Feb. 16. A scholar says there’s no comparison between the men.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma is campaigning for a new opposition party opposition.
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Jacob Zuma claims that his new political home, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Party, is the authentic ANC, not the one led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
South African legislators need to be vigilant against possible abuses of surveillance.
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The bill seeks greater intelligence powers but neglects oversight.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the Cairo Summit for Peace in October 2023.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s messages, and tone of delivery, suggest an assertive leader representing the interests of the global south.
Aziz Pahad in Tehran in 2004. He was South Africa’s deputy foreign minister at the time.
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South Africa will miss having a “diplomat-scholar” of his calibre to turn to for sage advice.
Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been impeached and fired as South Africa’s public protector.
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Awarding punitive costs against legal practitioners would make them think twice about facilitating delaying tactics and malicious lawsuits.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma in court over corruption charges in 2018.
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If an offender is lawfully released on medical parole, but their health improves or even if they are cured, they cannot be forced to return to prison.
Essop Pahad was a confidant of former president Thabo Mbeki.
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When Essop Pahad was given a job, he did it efficiently. He surprised even his critics with his diligence.
Paul Mashatile, the deputy president of South Africa.
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Mashatile could be the new broom that sweeps clean. Ramaphosa’s apparent confidence in him suggests that he has some latitude to do so.