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.
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Articles on African politics
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As South Africa celebrates 22 years since the end of apartheid this month, a new survey by Afrobarometer suggests the country still has a long way to go in fulfilling the promises of freedom.
The relationship between advocacy organisations based in Western capitals and their marketed constituency of marginalised and disadvantaged African groups is tenuous. What then, is the goal?
Opposition parties have emerged at different stages of Zimbabwe’s post-independence history but none have seriously threatened ZANU-PF dominance.
If the governing ANC ignores the calls for Zuma’s resignation,it may undermine South Africa’s leadership on the continent. It creates the idea that he can undermine the constitution with impunity.
It is normal for resistance movements to adopt rough survival strategies and techniques while fighting an oppressive regime. Unfortunately that culture takes root and is permanently nurtured.
African elections and referendums are still a heady mixture of the graceful and the shameless.
Lobbying political actors to achieve particular outcomes is an acceptable practice in a democracy. But state capture, as is allegedly happening in South Africa, denotes holding the state to ransom.
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.
Ironically, the only feasible way of removing President Zuma lies outside the prescribed formal structures of the constitutional processes – at the head office of the governing ANC.
If South Africans are to make the radical changes they must to become truly great, the new generation will have to find a way of understanding the country’s past in its profound complexity.
The Constitutional Court judgment in the opposition’s case against President Jacob Zuma represents the exercise of judicial authority and expertise at the highest level by international standards.
Angola’s Dos Santos is buying time. His promise to step down is an attempt to diffuse growing political tensions, as repression continues. He might relinquish his position, but not his power.
South Africa’s governing ANC has to respond to public outcry about state capture or run the risk of electoral losses.
Lula led an unprecedented shift in the country’s foreign policy towards the global South. He also helped elevate Brazil to the status of a global player. But, six years on, disillusionment reigns.
Seasoned social rights activist Mark Heywood argues that the constitution provides South Africans with more rights and entitlements than they may be aware of.
The heavy-handed tactics used by Uganda’s authorities during the 2016 elections have raised questions about a return to an oppressive past.
Uganda’s president has ruled for three decades – and the opposition is getting stagnant too.
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan would need President Zuma’s undivided support to drive bold economic reforms. But, signs suggest that he does not have such support and is undermined by the president.
South Africa’s finance minister means well, especially in his bid to cut public sector expenditure. But his success requires strong leadership and strategic alignment across the entire public sector.
Top contributors
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Professor of World Politics, SOAS, University of London
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Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria
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Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology
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Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
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Professor of Democracy, University of Birmingham
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Professor in Political Science, University of South Africa
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Honorary Professor of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand
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Steinberg Postdoctoral Fellow in International Migration Law, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, Faculty of Law, McGill University
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Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), University of South Africa
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Professor and Head of Department of Political and Conflict Studies, Nelson Mandela University
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Visiting Professor and Professor Emeritus, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer in Media and Communications, University of Malawi
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Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Director of the Leaders of Africa Institute and Research Affiliate with Davidson College, Davidson College
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Yarik Turianskyi is Manager of the Governance and African Peer Review Mechanism Programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs and guest lecturer in African Governance and Eastern European Politics, University of Pretoria
