Theo Neethling, Professor and Head: Political Studies and Governance in the Humanities Faculty, University of the Free State South Africa’s police minister, Fikile Mbalula, has stirred controversy by calling for the involvement of the country’s military in fighting crime. Although there might be short term gains from deploying the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) […]
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SPY TAPES JUDGMENT: NPA Now Legally Obliged to Prosecute President Zuma (but don’t hold your breath)
President Zuma’s office raising questions about the KPMG report used as evidence against him. Written by same person who did SARS report https://t.co/LBfxRznchU — Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) October 13, 2017 by Pierre de Vos, Constitutionally Speaking 13 October 2017 The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday dismissed the appeal of President Jacob Zuma and the […]
SABC8 Implores Parliament to Act on Broadcasters Governance Crisis
OPEN LETTER 10 October 2017 At the start, we the SABC8, want to affirm the good work done in 2016 by parliament’s portfolio committee on communications, the ad hoc committee on the SABC and the interim board of the SABC. However, it is with deep regret we write to you to register our alarm and […]
Shale gas in South Africa: game-changer or damp squib?
Robert Scholes, Professor Bob Scholes is a Systems Ecologist at the Global Change Institute (GCI), University of the Witwatersrand Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, has in the past few decades made available the gas in previously ‘tight’ shale geologies. This has shaken up the energy sector worldwide by contributing to relatively […]
Trump’s Africa policy is still incoherent, but key signals are emerging
John J Stremlau, 2017 Bradlow Fellow at SA Institute of International Affairs,Visiting Professor of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand Africa’s leaders, along with everyone else interested in US-Africa relations, have waited eight months for US President Donald Trump’s administration to explain its Africa policy. We aren’t there yet. But in recent weeks Trump has […]
South Africa’s National Development Plan can be resuscitated: here’s how
Steven Friedman, Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg Something is surely wrong when many influential people endorse or reject a document none of them have read. The document is South Africa’s National Development Plan, which was adopted by Parliament five years ago and is the product of a National Planning Commission which was led […]
How proper land reform and rural development can help reduce poverty
Leslie J. Bank, Deputy Director in Economic Development and Professor of Social Anthropology, Human Sciences Research Council and Tim GB Hart, Senior Research Project Manager and Rural Sociologist, Economic Performance and Development, Human Sciences Research Council South Africa will need to review its land reform policy, with an eye to boosting productive land use among […]
Economic inequality lies behind growing calls for secession in Nigeria
Omolade Adunbi, Associate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan The rise of ethnic and religious nationalism in Nigeria in the last decade has led to such high levels of tension that it’s prompted people to ask if it will survive as a country. Or if Nigeria is on the brink of another […]
Whose keeping an eye on South Africa’s spies? Nobody, and that’s the problem
Laurie Nathan, Professor, International Mediation, University of Pretoria Once again South Africa’s intelligence services are embroiled in controversy, apparently involved in dirty tricks and criminal activity. New evidence of this has come to light against the backdrop of the presidential succession race in the governing African National Congress (ANC). One of the contenders, deputy president […]
South Africa’s ruling ANC faces dreadful choices as voters grow more sceptical
Susan Booysen, Professor in the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand South Africa’s governing African National Congress is caught between the mythological monsters Scylla and Charybdis as it heads towards its crucial 54th national elective conference in December. In choosing its new leader the party’s factions could push its leadership succession battle to […]
