Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa as well as of the ruling party, the African National Congress.
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Ramaphosa is set to go down in the annals of history as an ANC president who presided over a tumultuous epoch in the party’s evolution.
Rob Davies, former South African trade and industry minister.
GCIS
Rob Davies is critical of economic policy, starting with the Mandela administration. He reserves particular criticism for its macroeconomic policy framework introduced in 1996.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa at the Zondo Commission into state capture.
GCIS
Unlike most politicians but typical of a negotiator, South Africa’s president has not put his plans on the table for public scrutiny.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s campaign against corruption is being undermined from within the governing ANC.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
Ramaphosa’s rise to power in 2018 offered South Africans hope that he would end corruption. Indeed, he made promises to do so. But he has met with resistance, especially within the ANC.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma at the State Capture Commission in July 2019.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Metaphors are not used for their own sake in politics, but as part of a strategy to persuade a particular audience to accept a point of view, and act accordingly
Former South African president Jacob Zuma addresses supporters after one of several court appearances on corruption charges.
EPA-EFE/Phil Makgoe/Pool
The former president is in a corner and largely isolated. His only option is to stir the pot so much that it gives him some kind of bargaining power.
Supporters of Ace Magashule, the secretary general of the ANC, protest outside the court where he appeared on corruption charges.
EFE-EPA/Conrad Bornman
Morals and laws are not binaries. They complement each other to enable harmonious coexistence.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma says he won’t comply with a Constitutional Court order to appear before a commission on corruption.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
Zuma shares ignominy with former US president Donald Trump who, like him, subverted democracy while in office.
Jackson Mthembu is the most prominent South African politician to succumb to COVID-19.
GCIS
Jackson Mthembu’s death drives home the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, chair of the state capture commission.
EFE-EPA?Gulshan Khan/AFP/ Getty Images
Justice Raymond Zondo found that the test for recusal had not been met.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule in court in Bloemfontein, on corruption charges.
EFE-EPA/Conrad Bornman
For every office holder who may lose a seat because they are prosecuted, another job opens up.
The late Kimi Makwetu was mortified by the extent of corruption.
Kimi Makwetu embodied the values of integrity, selflessness, humility and hard work. He steadfastly believed in the South African constitution.
Thuli Madonsela, professor of law and former Public Protector of South Africa.
EFE-EPA
The first of a series of fatal flaws in the idea is about where to draw the line.
Percy Qoboza, editor of The World, second from left, being arrested by apartheid police following the banning of the newspaper in 1977.
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Journalists need to hold firmly to the ethical standards that assure audiences their work is reliable and credible.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma at the Zondo Commission in July 2020.
EFE-EPA/Mike Hutchings
Claiming a right to determine reality by mere say-so is becoming increasingly commonplace, but we should never get used to it.
The Sunday Times, South Africa’s largest weekend newspaper, was used to spread disinformation.
Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images
Media self-criticism is not just important to improve journalism, it is a political, professional and moral imperative.
Former South African government minister Nomvula Mokonyane, a leading member of the ruling ANC, at the commission probing grand corruption.
Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Corruption has been a constant feature of South African political life for much of the past 350 years; solutions will also take time.
Political killings in the country are linked to the fierce competition for control of state resources within the governing ANC.
EPA-EFE/Jon Hrusha
Author shows how politicians intent on settling problems by physically eliminating opponents tap into a ready source of assassins from within the taxi industry.
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s freedom struggle icon and first black president, continues to be revered around the world.
Mandela left at the right time in 1999, when the country still seemed in a healthy state, after which he consolidated his international reputation.
The post-apartheid system of participatory democracy is generally considered to have failed.
EPA-EFE/Yeshiel Panchia
The challenge for the deepening of South Africa’s democracy is that the very existence of vanguardism prevents the realisation of empowered citizens.