The growing revolt against South Africa’s president, amid state capture allegations, is not an isolated event, but part of a much wider pan-African uprising led by the continent’s disaffected youth.
South African President Jacob Zuma. Granting him amnesty would send the wrong signal.
Peter Foley/EPA
For the moment President Zuma’s supporters control the governing ANC’s levers of power. But an unprecedented number of people in the ANC are turning against him. How long will the centre hold?
President Jacob Zuma Sleeping in Parliament during medium term budget presentation.
SowetanLive
The video which shows South African President Jacob Zuma sleeping in parliament during the 2016 mid term budget is symptomatic of a much larger problem of lack of respect for the public.
A defiant student sits in the middle of a road after a crowd was dispersed during a protest over fees to parliament on the occasion of finance minister Pravin Gordhan presenting his medium-term budget.
Nic Bothma/EPA
Ironically the campaign to withdraw from the ICC was mainly initiated by the very same governments and heads of state that had earlier referred cases to the ICC when it suited their own interests.
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan presenting the medium term budget. The country’s economy remains in the doldrums.
Nic Bothma/EPA
South Africa’s 2016 medium term budget was awaited with bated breath amid rising political tensions, increasingly violent student protests and the threat of a credit downgrade.
South Africa’s minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, is under attack.
Reuters
Closer examination of criminal charges brought against South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, suggest that they are weak in law and serve a political agenda.
South African President Jacob Zuma kneels as a pastor prays for him.
Reuters/Rogan Ward
Once again South Africa is facing the challenge of a compromised relationship between the state and the church. Is Nelson Mandela inadvertently responsible?
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma (right) and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa. The jury is out on whether Ramaphosa will break ranks.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
The stakes have not been higher since the heady days of the early 1990s when South Africa also looked over the brink. Now it is less about brink and more about who will blink
South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan before delivering his 2016 budget address to parliament in February. Will he deliver another?
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Recent political events suggest that South Africa is at a crossroad where it could either be tipped into a fully corrupted state or saved by multi-party plurality
Media freedom activists protest against the draconian Protection of Information Bill in Cape Town, South Africa.
Sumaya Hisham/Reuters
While some African countries have shown an improvement in press freedom and freedom of expression ratings, others, including South Africa, are seeing worrying trends and a drop in rankings.
Koeberg is South Africa’s only nuclear power station but that may change in the future.
Jim Sher/Flickr
There are fears that that the nuclear build in South Africa is being driven for the benefit of the politically connected rather than the national good.
South African President Nelson Mandela forged a powerful cabinet of national unity.
Reuters
South Africa’s ruling party has lost its moral and intellectual capacity to claim the mantle of leadership. The country’s economy won’t recover unless new political alignments emerge.
Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. He left the job after concerted political attacks.
Reuters/Shailesh Andrade
Attacks on the South African Reserve Bank and events in India that led to the exit of the governor of the country’s central bank are a warning that banks aren’t immune from political meddling.
A power utility is considered a key asset for a development state.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
The prevailing political fights over control of state-owned enterprises in South Africa has the potential to have a deep impact on the economy, and the quality and direction of the development state.
South Africa’s parastatals are in a dire state. Instead of being the mandated sites of development and profitability, they are costing the public purse billions and have been abused.
Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk played a critical role in the making of the 1994 political transition in South Africa.
Reuters