General Service Unit officers, part of Kenya’s police service, stop a commercial vehicle at a checkpoint.
Tony Karumba//AFP via Getty Images
Police checkpoints liberally dot Kenya’s highways, but they’re not just about keeping road users safe.
Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa and leader of the governing party.
GCIS
The ANC has been using multiple tactics to fend off the looming calamity of not having Ramaphosa as its president, and that of the country, in the clear absence of a credible candidate to replace him.
Atul Gupta (pictured) and his brother Rajesh are the alleged masterminds behind state capture in South Africa.
Kevin Sutherland/Sunday Times via Getty Images
A judicial commission into state corruption found that the Gupta family influenced former President Jacob Zuma’s political decisions.
Anti-corruption protests are a regular feature in South Africa.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
South Africa could benefit from having a dedicated institution to oversee whistleblower protection.
Newly elected Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud waves after he was sworn-in, in the capital Mogadishu, on May 15, 2022.
Photo by Hasan Ali Elmi / AFP via Getty Images
The obstacles the new government must confront to earn the confidence of the people are challenging.
Eight presidential candidates on stage during Kenya’s first presidential debate in 2013.
Joan Pereruan/AFP via Getty Images
In principle, political debates should showcase an aspiring leader’s vision. It’s a lofty goal given their current format in Kenya.
Lula with activists of the Landless Movement, March 21, 2022. Though he is leading the incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro in the polls, Lula’s victory is not assured.
(LulaOfficial)
Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, enjoys a comfortable lead over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. But the Workers’ Party candidate faces many challenges.
East Park Mall in Lusaka, Zambia, was built for University of Zambia students.
Shutterstock
The majority of planners believe that land is captured with impunity by powerful interest groups in Zambia and South Africa.
Photo by AMPE ROGERIO/AFP via Getty Images
The MPLA is using all instruments at its disposal to hobble a new united opposition front ahead of the Angola election.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Labor has proposed a robust commission with strong powers, coupled with checks and balances to ensure it does not abuse its powers.
Tribalism often leads to diversion of funds meant for development in Africa.
Photo by John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images
Although there is strength in diversity, members of ethnic groups in power distributing resources to members of their ethnic group at the expense of national growth entrench poverty in Africa.
Through her photographs and activism, Letizia Battaglia sought to wrest Palermo from the grip of the Mafia.
Laura Lezza/Getty Images
Letizia Battaglia’s images of Mafia bloodshed made it impossible for people to turn a blind eye to the criminal outfit’s reign of terror.
Jason Edwards/AAP
Our experts rated the Coalition’s model as either very unsatisfactory or a fail. Most agreed Labor’s proposed model is much better, but said a lot more detail is needed.
Hakeem Odumosu, former Lagos State Police Commissioner, addressing journalists during a protest in Lagos.
Adeyinka Yusuf/Majority World/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
Public trust and confidence in the police is a concern in many parts of the world. How can Nigeria get it right?
Members of South Africa’s anti-migrant “Operation Dudula” group march in Jeppestown, Johannesburg.
Michele Spatari / AFP via Getty Images
Ending violence against foreigners can only happen by first recognising – and addressing – the hazards of South Africa’s crumbling system of indirect rule.
A culture of better service and use of minimal force are key to improving public confidence in the South African Police Service.
GCIS/Flickr
Perceptions that South African police treat people disrespectfully, lack impartiality or transparency, and are prone to brutality
undermine public confidence in them.
Smoke and fireballs rise during clashes between protesters and police in central Kyiv, Ukraine on Jan. 25, 2014. The “Heavenly Hundred” is what Ukrainians in Kyiv call those who died during months of anti-government protests in 2013-14.
(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
A need for enhanced presidential power, inherited from the early days of post-Communist transition, ruined any chances of compromise between Ukraine and Russia years ago.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Citizens Coalition for Change supporters attend an election campaign rally in Harare, in February. Zimbabwe, 20 February.
EPA-EFE/Aaron Ufumeli
Most citizens feel that it is pointless to vote because it won’t change anything.
Mpho Phalatse, mayor of Johannesburg.
Photo: City of Johannesburg
Parties must forego ideological rigidity and compromise for the common good, says Mpho Phalatse about making coalitions work.
Ukrainian wheat is vital to global food chains. But fighting near farmland like around Mykolayiv may prevent seeds from being planted.
Mykola Sosiukin/EyeEm via Getty Images
Ukraine was becoming increasingly linked with the global economy. Russia’s invasion puts its progress at risk.