South Africa’s decision to leave the ICC suggests that its foreign policy is caught in a dilemma between lofty ideas, an unsettled identity crisis, and shifting priorities in a complex world.
Cyril Ramaphosa is in pole position to become president of South Africa’s ruling ANC, 20 years after he lost the position by Thabo Mbeki. But, it won’t be easy. Neither will rebuilding the party.
The fallout at the meeting of South Africa’s governing ANC clearly exposed how the party’s factionalism has spilled over into government. This is likely to paralyse governance even further.
A revolt within the African National Congress against South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has reached new heights. He has survived, but the repercussions will be felt for some time to come.
Former South Africa’s President, Thab Mbeki, has made a remarkable intervention that condemns parliament’s failure to act against President Jacob Zuma. But he is eight years too late.
If the Donald Trumps of the world want to find out how the masters of manufacturing elections work, they had better visit Zimbabwe before their internecine struggles close them down
The use of the prosecuting authority and the police in ANC succession struggles has a long history. What’s different in the Zuma era is the symbiosis between elite police and the prosecution service.
The growing revolt against South Africa’s president, amid state capture allegations, is not an isolated event, but part of a much wider pan-African uprising led by the continent’s disaffected youth.
In this new world where its lost thousands of votes does South Africa’s ruling ANC know who it is, how to be in opposition, or how it might fight its way back to winning ways?
The main criticism leveled at the body that oversees the work of South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks, is that it lacks the power to initiate investigations, making it ineffective.
There were high hopes that the SABC would become a true public broadcaster after the end of apartheid when it was used ruthlessly as a propaganda machine. But those hopes have since been dashed.
The opposition Democratic Alliance is hopeful that the African National Congress will fail to win a majority in three metros. This will open the door for it to rule in coalition with smaller parties.
The Tripartite Alliance in South Africa has previously provided the governing African National Congress with diverse support, securing it victory at the polls. It is now riven with dissension.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki remains a puzzle to many of his compatriots. A new book, ‘The Thabo Mbeki I know’, will help to understand him better.
A central goal of Thabo Mbeki’s African Renaissance was the right of African people to determine their own future. But the country he governed struggled to embrace his pan-African vision.
Robin Kelley, University of California, Los Angeles
It took ages for one of African jazz’s hidden masterpieces to be reissued. Still today, four decades later, 1976’s ‘African Songbird’ tells volumes about the politics of the time.
Democracy resulted in a sea change in the governing ANC. In the past, only highly committed idealists joined the party. Today’s splits and factions are about patronage and clientelism.
Understanding what causes diseases is a life-and-death matter. It is a complicated issue that has generated a great deal of debate in the medical community.
Seasoned social rights activist Mark Heywood argues that the constitution provides South Africans with more rights and entitlements than they may be aware of.