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Articles on African National Congress 2017

Displaying 21 - 40 of 47 articles

Delegates at the launch of the South African Federation of Trade Unions. The Star/Nokuthula Mbatha

South Africa has a new trade union federation. Can it break the mould?

South Africa’s newest trade union federation, Saftu, comes at a time of declining political influence by unions, compared to during the struggle against apartheid. They are also seen as elitist.
Demonstrators protest outside South Africa’s Parliament in Cape Town against President Jacob Zuma’s firing of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Reuters/Mike Hutchings

Zuma’s critics within the ANC are vocal. But will they act?

Are those ANC members critical of Zuma willing to stand up and be counted? Will Pravin Gordhan, popular hero of the hour, provide one further great service to the nation?
Julius Malema and his fellow opposition EFF MPs being bundled out of parliament for disrupting President Jacob Zuma’s speech. Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

Why opposition parties in southern Africa struggle to win power

Opposition parties in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to prove themselves worthy to skeptical voters who, unlike in Western competitive systems, don’t trust them over former liberation movements.
Security officials remove members of the Economic Freedom Fighters during South African President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address. Reuters/Sumaya Hisham

Zuma’s state of the nation address: nothing but farce and fisticuffs

The ANC should draw the lesson that South Africans are unlikely to tolerate the ongoing descent of their politics into the gutter without strident resistance - in the streets, if necessary.
Qedani Mahlangu resigned as the local government minister for health in Gauteng following the deaths of 94 mentally ill patients. South African Tourism

Top political executives in South Africa don’t resign: they only quit under duress

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.
South Africans queue to vote in the 2016 municipal elections. The governing ANC is accused of wanting to generate ‘fake news’ to influence voters. Reuters/Mike Hutchings

Fake news: the internet has turned an age-old problem into a new threat

The planting of messages and countering narratives in the media is not new. It’s part and parcel of contemporary politics especially during elections. The internet simply makes an old problem worse.
Rogan Ward/Reuters

The political theology of Jacob Zuma

The problem for Jacob Zuma’s political theology is that far too many members of South Africa’s ruling ANC have been experiencing a dramatic loss of faith in a party they see as no longer righteous.

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