The governing ANC is losing its political hegemony.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
Exactly when the ANC’s reign will end rides on what the party does or does not do between now and its elective conference in 2022.
GettyImages
The value of the rule of law is to challenge and constrain power. In this sense, the legacy of Habré’s trial and conviction is mixed.
Mozambican soldiers on patrol in Palma,
Cabo Delgado, following the terrorist attack in March.
EFE-EPA/Joas Relvas
The maritime situation in Mozambique must not be allowed to emulate the maritime threats found off Nigeria, Somalia, and the rebel-held territories in Libya.
King Letsie III of Lesotho. Frustration with politicians has led to a rise in popularity of the monarchy in recent times.
CChris Jackson via Getty Images
A monarch with absolute powers is just as dangerous as self-serving politicians in a democracy.
Supporters of the M5 opposition movement show their support for the military junta, calling for a new and inclusive Mali in Bamako in June.
EFE-EPA/Hadama Diakite
Whatever its flaws, it doesn’t mean the government action plan should be ignored or opposed. Rather, more needs to be done to achieve its goals.
President Mwai Kibaki holds up Kenya’s new constitution soon after promulgating it on August 27, 2010.
Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images
The purpose of a constitutional dismemberment is to unmake and remake the constitution.
Zambia’s new president Hakainde Hichilema.
Photo by Patrick Meinhardt / AFP via Getty Images
Zambia’s new president will have to balance austerity and the high expectations of the many unemployed young people and struggling people who voted for him.
In north Ethiopia, farmers commonly use an ox-drawn single-tined plough called mahrasha.
Photo by: Edwin Remsberg / VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Due to warfare, ploughing and planting was not timely in Tigray. This may lead to a second year with failed crops.
South African police prepare guns handed in during one of several amnesties for destruction.
EFE-EPA
If proposed amendments to the law are passed, it will no longer be possible to acquire a firearm licence for self-defence in the country. This has sparked heated debate.
President of Angola Joao Lourenco in Berlin, Germany in 2018. The powers of the president remain intact.
Photo by Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The Angolan political elite lost an extraordinary opportunity to improve significantly the country’s constitution.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of changes to his executive were met with mixed reactions.
GCIS
Cabinet reshuffles are always much less important events than the hype which surrounds them would suggest.
Might the 2021 Zambian elections usher in another period of economic growth?
Salim Dawood/AFP via Getty Images
Whoever wins the elections will face two key challenges: reviving the country’s democratic credentials and stimulating the economy.
Hakainde Hichilema (C), leader of the Zambia opposition party United Party for National Development.
EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA
Frustration is growing among opposition supporters who believe the last election was stolen.
A worker carries a water container at a newly installed internally displaced person camp in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, Ethiopia.
Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
Africa needs to embrace a new approach that focuses on what countries in an embattled region – as a ‘community’ of regional states – can do to intervene.
Tanzania opposition party leader Freeman Mbowe (centre) after being released from prison in Dar es Salaam in 2020.
Photo by Ericky Boniphace/AFP via Getty Images
Despite the relative political stability over the years, Tanzania needs a new constitution to address contemporary challenges and strengthen institutions.
South African Defence Force troops on patrol in Alexandra, Johannesburg, following recent violence and looting.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
The army may help create a more stable and secure environment in the short term, but this is unlikely to result in sustainable and lasting peace.
Trucks and business were looted and burnt during recent riots in South Africa.
EPA-EFE/Stringer
The violence wreaked its damage because South Africa’s journey to democracy remains incomplete. It sends a sharp message that the country must look its past far more squarely in the eye.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrives to cast his vote during the country’s parliamentary elections in Beshasha, Oromia, in June.
Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Instead of fanning the flames, the West needs to be even-handed in bringing the warring sides to the table.
The full benefits of a majoritarian democracy are undermined by a winner takes all approach.
Jonathan Ernst/Flickr
The disturbance in Ghana’s parliament during the election of a speaker has raised questions about its current democratic system.
Protestors burnt trucks on the main road between the city port Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa’s industrial heartland.
Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The glaring failure by authorities to secure an area notorious for attacks on trucks prompts questions about, at best, utter ineptitude, or at worst, complicity.