The biggest news from South Africa today is Thabo Mbeki's interview with the ANC, which naturally aroused controversy among many who believed the interview and the timing to be an inappropriate allocation of public resource. In his talk Mbeki tried to sound a note of party unity, arguing that whatever happens in Polokwane will not […]
Gee, I hate when I’m wrong. I was rooting for Kazakhstan and OSCE chairmanship, but I didn't think they’d get the chance after Rakhat-gate blew into the stratosphere. But they have it, which, as I said, and against most of the reactions, I think is a good thing. As noted in a great backgrounder by […]
The countdown to the ANC's conference at Polokwane is well underway and it appears that the meeting will be the most momentous in South Africa since the CODESA meetings to negotiate the transition from Apartheid to democratic rule. The two key players in the political drama that is unfolding are Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki. […]
Gazprom agreed on November 27th to hike its price for Turkmenistan's gas: from USD 100 per cubic meter (cum) to USD 130 starting January of 2008. In July of 2008, Gazprom will start paying USD 150 per cum, through December, when the price will undoubtedly change again. This is a long overdue for Turkmenistan, and […]
Two reviews recently appeared of Mark Gevisser's mammoth new biography, Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred. Both make clear that Gevisser has produced an essential book that not only provides the deepest understanding of its subject to date, but that also serves to place Mbeki in the context of the country's history and that history within […]
Last week, Time published a story by Laura Blue based upon the findings of Spain's DARA on the Humanitarian Response Index, a new tool for discovering efficiency in international aid. Time's headline was “U.S. ranked low in HRI” , which gets that American competitiveness going. On the other hand, it's probably more important to see what […]
As COSATU and the SACP seem on the verge of seeing their plans achieve fruition through the rise to ANC party presidency of Jacob Zuma, which many are beginning to see as inevitable, it might be worth asking a few questions, as Muzibuko Jara does in the Mail & Guardian: This is an opportune time […]
Yesterday, RFE/RL posted a great article on “Securing an Outcome” which explains a lot about how elections can be skewed and “unfree” by Western democratic standards. Most of them are reminiscent of Tammany Hall New York: the use of patronage to buy votes/ensure loyalty, stuffing ballot boxes, absentee votes, registering dead people as live voters, […]
Is the process for choosing the ANC leadership fatally flawed? There are those who believe that the nominating procedure needs to undergo a significant change, bringing the process closer to that in the United States. Malusi Gigaba, South Africa's Deputy Home Affairs Minister and a member of the NEC argues that such a change is unnecessary […]
It really does appear that Jacob Zuma not only leads the pack in the ANC succession battle, but he also appears to be consolidating his hold on what he clearly believes to be the pending nomination. Part of the perceived change in momentum is the result of the ANC Women's League's National Executive Committee to […]
Respected Africa expert Martin Meredith has been on quite a roll lately. His book The Fate of Africa: A History of 50 Years of Independence represents one of the most highly regarded and extensive treatments of the continent and its difficult recent past. He recently reissued his indictment of Robert Mugabe, Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert […]
UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has designated 2008 as the Year of Water Sanitation, a worthy effort which dovetails into public health and climate change issues–and which Central Asian states could use to their benefit. According to the UN, investing $10 billion a year could halve the proportion of people without basic toilet facilities by 2015. This […]
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