There can be little doubt that the past year has been the most trying in Thabo Mbeki's oft-tumultuous presidency. Tonight he gave his State of the Union address before parliament. He certainly had plenty of fodder from which to work: The electricity crisis, crime, poverty, the daunting prospect of hosting the 2010 World Cup, and […]
Take your pick on Kenya: Grim pessimism or cautious optimism? By my nature I try to steer clear of Afro-pessimism, so I’ll side with the latter, well aware that the former always has a case to make in contemporary Africa.
Robert Mugabe is going to face a surprise challenge in the upcoming election that he called recently (to great outcry from the opposition and observers of the country's politics). Simba Makoni, a former finance minister whom Mugabe forced out of office in 2002, appears to have the support of many dissidents within ZANU-PF as well […]
The Chronicle Review of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a lengthy feature on Chinua Achebe and his now fifty-year-old classic Things Fall Apart.
Is there hope for an abatement of political violence in Kenya's ongoing crisis? Despite more deaths in clashes between protesters and police, allegations of banditry, and fears of ethnic cleansing, guarded optimism may be in order as international appeals coupled with Kofi Annan’a active intervention appears to have led to an agreement between President Mwai […]
In a game in which both Bafana Bafana and their Senegalese opponents needed a win (plus some help) to advance in the African Nations Cup, the two teams fought to a 1-1 draw, thus knocking one another out of the tournament. South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has his work cut out for him if […]
According to Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Zimbabwe's inflation hit a record 26 470,8% in November 2007. These sorts of numbers defy commentary. They defy understanding.
Let's forget, if at all possible, the power outages, political debates, Robert Mugabe's destabilizing jackassery, and all of the other mundane grimness that afflicts South African public life these days. For the world of sport provides two of the saddest stories of all. The first is the fact that Bafana Bafana appears set to bow […]
For a couple of weeks it looked as if Kenyans has stepped back from the brink and that the worst was over. But such an assessment appears premature. Violence has escalated in recent days. On Tuesday a mob dragged Melitus Mugabe Were from his car and shot him dead. Were was a new member of […]
It almost certainly comes as a shock to absolutely no one that Robert Mugabe has acted in bad faith and announced unilaterally (even as he has been in the midst of negotiations with the factions of the Movement for Democratic Change) that elections will be held on March 2. Now the MDC is scrambling to […]
This weekend's New York Times travel section featured Cape Town in it's “36 Hours In . . .” feature. I’ve no idea why anyone traveling to Cape Town would spend so little time there. One can quibble with some of writer Michael Wines’ choices. And his perplexing analogy at the beginning of the piece. (“Cape […]
The Cape Argus on January 23, 2008, republished my latest Foreign Policy Association think piece under the title “Signs of a Magnificent Catastrophe.” (Pdf file) The piece appears smack-dab in the middle of the page. You can also track down a copy of Wednesday's editions as well.
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