Much of the commentary on the July riots, which cost over 300 lives and billions of rands in damage to the economy, has neglected the long history of violent protests in the country.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina.
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Madagascar seems to be heading towards a new political crisis, much more complex and probably more violent than the previous ones.
An unemployed man collects trash for resale in Diepsloot Johannesburg. Calls are growing for a basic income grant for poor South Africans.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Basic income must be embedded within a broader strategy of economic reform, aimed at increasing the social wage and improving working conditions.
Nigeria recently started commercial operation of a China-assisted railway linking the southwestern cities of Lagos and Ibadan.
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In his new book, Nigeria Democracy Without Development: How To Fix It, international political economist Omano Edigheji explains why democracy has not led to development in Nigeria.
A protest organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions in South Africa. The question is: on whose behalf does the union movement advocate?
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In this moment of crisis, South Africa urgently needs decisive action. But all too often South Africans of all political stripes seem trapped in stale discourses.
Marie Coetzee and her husband Fanie Coetzee live in the poverty stricken shanty town community of Munsieville, west of Johannesburg.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
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.
Hunger is not the cause of the current social upheaval. But, taken along with other deep-rooted structural inequalities, it provides additional fuel for socio-political conflagration.
Samora Machel, Mozambique’s founding president.
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Frelimo, which governs Mozambique, has squandered the enormous political capital it enjoyed at independence. It now remains in power through violence, intimidation, harassment, and threats.
Police enter a flooded mall that had been ransacked .
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An uncomfortable reality is that looting is perceived by the looters to be socially acceptable and is often encouraged and endorsed within social and community networks.
India is expected to overtake China this decade as the world’s most populous nation. That puts it at the heart of the global challenge to beat climate change.
Fuel storage tanks at South Africa’s Durban harbour. Blocking the transport of fuel will stop the transport of food.
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