The huge hype ahead of the vote of no confidence in President Zuma made the result anti-climactic. However, the fact that the motion was defeated by only a 21 vote margin is unprecedented.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma celebrates with his supporters after surviving a no-confidence motion in parliament.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
The political death of President Jacob Zuma is proving to be a protracted affair. Though he lives to fight another day, the ANC faces the prospect of losing its majority at the polls next year.
Women singing at a South African ANC Women’s League meeting.Three senior women in ANC are contesting the presidency of the party.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
All three female contenders for the presidency of the ANC and South Africa have strong liberation struggle credentials and have also contributed to democracy. But, are they up to the job?
The Gupta email leaks have exposed the involvement of some big private corporations. in the unfolding corruption scandal thus challenging the private sector to do some introspection.
Land reform remains a divisive subject 23 years after democracy in South Africa.
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After South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994, the previously oppressed and dispossessed black majority hoped for constitutional restitution of their land. This has largely failed.
SACP’s Blade Nzimande, left, with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.
GCIS
After tiptoeing around the idea of contesting state power South Africa’s Communist Party is looking to strengthen its position now that the ANC is no longer the dominant force it used to be.
To honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela, South Africa could do with its citizens becoming more active in driving development - particularly efforts to tackle poverty an inequality.
South African President Jacob Zuma closing the governing ANC’s policy conference.
EPA/Stringer
The possibility that South Africa’s ruling ANC could lose power in 2019 runs like a tragic thread through its policy conference documents. It agrees that its actions have repelled many supporters.
Documents released ahead of the policy conference of South Africa’s embattled governing ANC show it hasn’t the guts or internal balance of forces, for self-correction and renewal.
Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago. The role of South Africa’s central bank is at the centre of a heated debate.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
South Africa’s democracy is in trouble. But the challenge is less about who should control state institutions, and more about how they can be refashioned to deliver to the poor.
Demonstrators march against corruption in South Africa.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Reforming South Africa’s state owned enterprises should start with greater accountability and financial responsibility.
Leaked information is the life blood of investigative journalists. But there are a few golden rules they should follow when reporting on it.
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When given leaked information journalists should check the information, consider alternative explanations, consider the political context and allow the people implicated a proper chance to respond.
A protester calling for President Jacob Zuma’s removal.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
The misfortunes experienced by Brian Molefe, the CEO of South Africa’s power utility Eskom, shows that the battle for the country’s public purse is not a one way bet.
A woman votes in Zambia. Beyond multi-party systems and regular elections, many countries resemble very little of true democracies.
GovernmentZA/Flickr
Democracy is in a parlous state in many countries in southern Africa. Autocrats hold onto power, while electorates have little to choose from at the polls.
Brian Molefe’s return as CEO at South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has caused controversy.
Alon Skuy/The Times
The drama caused by the return of Brain Molefe into South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, signals a failure of accountability and corporate governance within the public sector.
The populism politics adopted by South Africa’s ruling party, African National Congress, mask a strategy to deflect attention from the party’s policy failures and to hide its many scandals.
Celebrations outside the Western Cape High Court after it ruled against the South African government’s proposed nuclear deal.
Nic Bothma/EPA
The Cape High Court ruling which declared South Africa’s nuclear energy plan as illegal may have put paid President Jacob Zuma’s ambitions of clinching the deal while he is still in office.