In case you missed it, the Springboks gave England a sound thrashing on Friday, running away from the defending world champions by a humiliating 36-0 tally. Next up is a surprisingly game Tonga squad, which upset Samoa and has caused South African coach Jake White to rethink his approach to selection for Saturday's match. […]
Your faithful scribe is in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where I am participating in the US Army Combat Studies Institute's symposium on Warfare in the Age of Non-State Actors. I gave a presentation on policing in contested states using the South African security forces in the Apartheid era to explore implications for future policies across the […]
It appears that most of the Africa National Congress’ hierarchy is unwilling to grant Thabo Mbeki the option of a third term. This is categorically, unequivocally good news. Only bad things happen when African leaders try to manipulate their political syatems and constitutions to extend their time in power. the Big Man Syndrome derives from the belief […]
If's a busy news cycle right now in Southern Africa. here are a number of stories that caught my eye in today's chock-full Mail & Guardian and elsewhere: As the thirteith anniversary of the murder of Steven Bantu Biko at the hands of the security forces approaches different South Africans remember Biko's life and death differently. […]
Well, that probably seals the pending victory. Nelson Mandela stopped in France to wish the Springboks well on the eve of the opening of the Rugby World Cup. Mandela's embrace of the Springboks, historically the embodiment of Afrikaner Nationalism, proved one of the feel-good stories of transformation and reconciliation in 1995. Now the great man has […]
It seems that Nigerians are rather dissatisfied with their political system and their leaders. Nigeria in so many ways has the potential to be to West Africa what South Africa is to the southern part of the continent. But too many years of chaos and misrule have pretty much assured that Nigeria will be a […]
Mbuyiselo Botha, general secretary of the South African Men's Forum, argues in The Mail & Guardian that “President Thabo Mbeki stands at the centre of the struggle for the liberation and empowerment of women in South Africa.” Without diminishing Mbeki's administration much of the credit deserves to go to the South African Constitution which has […]
The Rugby World Cup kicks off in France later this week, with the hosts taking on Argentina in the tournament's inaugural game on Friday. The Springboks enter the tournament on something of a roll and are expected to contend for the title along with New Zealand, Australia, and local favorites, France. South Africa's Pool A, […]
NPR has a feature on how Zimbabwe represents inhospitable terrain for journalists. One journalist explores why: In Zimbabwe, practicing journalism is forbidden. Reporters caught working without government permission face beatings, long prison sentences, or worse. The job becomes especially perilous when the story about the local police force, focusing on police brutality So why do […]
The Foreign Policy Association has posted its Great Decisions series updates for fall 2007. Please avail yourself of these wonderful resources. (Here is the South Africa update.)
Over at The Mail & Guardian the University of the Witwatersrand's Achille Mbembe wonders what Thabo Mbeki, chief architect of the “African Renaissance,” is playing at with regard to his apparent endorsement of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's galling recent comments in West Africa. At least on the issue of Pan-Africanism, Mbeki has earned the benefit […]
Peter Kagwanja, research director and senior African fellow at South Africa's Human Science Research Council and president of the Africa Policy Institute argues that SADC's mediation of the crisis in Zimbabwe “must be given a chance to breathe.” But he also believes that Zimbabwe's salvation will only come through change: [P]olitical theatre aside, the SADC […]
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