Mpho Phalatse was toppled as mayor of Johannesburg following a no-confidence vote in September. A high court reinstated her.
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Dos Santos was a withdrawn president. His silence produced an aura of power and the cult of personality that surrounded him.
Candidates are always willing to outspend each other to boost their visibility during the campaigns amid fierce competition for the elective posts.
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Ending violence against foreigners can only happen by first recognising – and addressing – the hazards of South Africa’s crumbling system of indirect rule.
The office responsible for surveillance uses equipment that’s outdated and ineffective.
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The judge responsible for authorising the covert monitoring of communications has found that claims by journalists that they were being spied on were credible.
Joao Lourenco, the President of Angola.
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The optimism Angolan president João Lourenço’s election generated four years ago has dwindled as electoral promise after another have failed to materialise.
The militarisation of the Zimbabwean government raises serious questions about who really wields political power - President Emmerson Mnangagwa or army leaders.
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The extent of democracy capture varies markedly between countries. It’s much higher in states such as Zimbabwe, where the government has never changed hands.
Former Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Athol Trollip, from the DA, third from left, and his deputy Mongameli Bobani, from the UDM, extreme right, help clean up a street in 2017.
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South Africa’s political parties would do well to learn from Ireland, where the three largest political parties negotiated a coalition treaty that stipulated mechanisms for conflict resolution.
Trucks and business were looted and burnt during recent riots in South Africa.
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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.
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.
Enthusiastic ANC supportets celebrate a recent election victory.
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The trouble is that the ANC’s branch structure, designed initially as a means of grassroots democracy at work, is in a mess.
African National Congress treasurer Paul Mashatile wants more money for political parties from the government.
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Since parties always need money, forcing them to depend on private funders means throwing them into the hands of donors who will demand favours for their cash.
Former South African government minister Nomvula Mokonyane, a leading member of the ruling ANC, at the commission probing grand corruption.
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The election of Port Elizabeth’s first black mayor in 1995 signalled that the democratic change that had started in 1994 was irreversible. But problems lay ahead.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to fix South Africa are being undermined from within his own party, the ANC.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Ramaphosa’s detractors are unlikely to succeed in their rumoured bid. And, their failure will not be because they’ve suddenly become weak within the administration.
The town of Makhanda, formerly Grahamstown, and surrounds have suffered serious neglect by the local municipality.
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Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State