In principle, political debates should showcase an aspiring leader’s vision. It’s a lofty goal given their current format in Kenya.
The militarisation of the Zimbabwean government raises serious questions about who really wields political power - President Emmerson Mnangagwa or army leaders.
Mujahid Safodien/AFP via Getty Images
The extent of democracy capture varies markedly between countries. It’s much higher in states such as Zimbabwe, where the government has never changed hands.
South African president and leader of the ruling ANC Cyril Ramaphosa.
Michele Spatari/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The ANC did not create most of the patterns for which it is blamed. But it has done far too little to change them and often seems happy simply to live with them.
The governing ANC is losing its political hegemony.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
There is more support for democracy among African people than is often recognised. Yet this can be undermined by election rigging and is lower in countries like Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa.
People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) supporters at a campaign rally. The party has run the country since independence in 1975.
Photo by Osvaldo Silva / AFP) via Getty Images.
The trouble is that the ANC’s branch structure, designed initially as a means of grassroots democracy at work, is in a mess.
A group of protesters demanding better governance in Nigeria just as the country marked its 60th Independence Day anniversary on October 1, 2020.
Photo by Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Although it’s failed to deliver democracy to citizens, Nigeria is not the collapsed and disintegrated entity which a 2005 US National Intelligence Council analysis predicted it would become by 2020.
The late Kimi Makwetu was mortified by the extent of corruption.
The hand that taps ‘remove from this group’ is the hand that rules the world.
Young people are balancing several responsibilities - they’re school-goers, job seekers or employees, caregivers, friends and community members.
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Although cynical about today’s political leaders, the views of young South Africans are surprisingly similar to those of the mid-1990s.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, centre, takes part in a climate strike march in Montreal, Friday, Sept. 27, 2019.
Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS
The wars in Syria and Iraq are products of secretive decision-making by the executive. Their disastrous consequences are evidence of the need for war powers reform.
Qedani Mahlangu resigned as the local government minister for health in Gauteng following the deaths of 94 mentally ill patients.
South African Tourism
Mahlangu’s resignation over the deaths of mental patients sets her apart from her colleagues in government. But, it does not portend a new trend in political accountability for the governing ANC.