THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

May

17

2024

What are the key issues for investors in South Africa’s 2024 election?

South Africans vote in a national election on May 29 and, for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago, polls suggest the ruling African National Congress party (ANC) is at risk of losing its parliamentary majority. Investors are paying close attention. WHY IS A MAJORITY IMPORTANT? If the ANC gets less than 50% support it would have to seek one or more coalition partners to govern Africa's most industrialised economy. The new parliament will choose South Africa's next president. The new government will set fiscal and economic policy for the coming five years, and investors want to see if the…

May

16

2024

By The African Mirror

Angola reflects the dangers of former liberation movements forgetting their roots

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE ANGOLA's Western-aligned foreign policy has gradually come under huge pressure from the country’s workforce, particularly the civil servants, or government employees. In March, and April, they took to the streets in protest over what they deem severe taxes and lower wages. The next nation-wide strike by the trade unions is scheduled to take place in the first week of June. The monotonous regularity with which workers are taking to the streets, often in spite of the “no-work no-pay rule”, reflects the extent to which the proletariat of the society has become displeased with the political elites. Angola is…

May

16

2024

By LEILA PATEL and YOLANDA SADIE

Over 26 million South Africans get a social grant. Fear of losing the payment used to be a reason to vote for the ANC, but no longer – study

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOCIAL grants to reduce poverty feature prominently in the campaign promises of political parties in South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial general elections, set for 29 May. The country’s social grants system is one of the largest in Africa in terms of number of beneficiaries. Research shows that this has helped reduce poverty. About 26 million to 28 million social grants have been paid every month to children, older persons, people with disabilities and the unemployed. The country’s population is 62 million. While some political parties propose expanding the grants system, others propose increasing the amounts. On the campaign trail,…

May

14

2024

By MICHAEL BRAUN

South African elections: research explores how disillusioned ANC supporters might use their vote

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE African National Congress (ANC) has been in power since South Africa became a democracy in 1994. The party has been electorally dominant since then, reaching a peak of 69.7% of national votes in 2004. However, support for the party has declined sharply since the 2014 national and provincial elections, reaching a low of 57.5% in 2019. Negative attitudes towards the ruling party have depressed its vote tallies, increased abstention, and widened potential support for opposition parties. Opinion polls have consistently shown that the ANC will not win the more than 50% of votes required to form a government by…

May

12

2024

By The African Mirror

A letter from two leading African authors to the president of Senegal

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

YOUR Excellency President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye Allow us to introduce ourselves to you before getting to the heart of whatwe have to say. We are Ngugi Wa Thiong’o from Kenya and BoubacarBoris Diop from Senegal. Both novelists and essayists, our best-knownbooks are respectively Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language inAfrican Literature. (1986) and Murambi, le livre des ossements (2000), about thegenocide perpetrated in 1994 against the Tutsis in Rwanda. But the mostimportant thing to emphasize with regard to the motivations behind thisopen letter is that we have not exclusively published works in English andFrench – the languages of…

May

10

2024

By MACKY SALL

The international financial system is deepening inequality

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MACKY Sall is the former President of Senegal (2012-2024) and Special Envoy for the Paris Pact for People and the Planet. When I reflect on my 12 years as president of Senegal, one lesson stands out: how stacked the international financial system is against developing countries like my own. No matter how sound our economic policies are, we are judged a risky bet. Our access to capital is both restricted and eye-wateringly expensive. Our fiscal and monetary policies are dictated, in effect, by far-away central banks. And when we try to protest, we discover that we have no voice. It…

May

10

2024

By TIMOTHY NJAGI NJERU

Kenya floods: as the costs add up pressure mounts on a country in economic crisis

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THERE were early warnings that Kenya’s long rain season – between March and May – was going to bring above-normal rainfall. The extreme intensity of the rain has resulted in devastating floods in many parts of the country. Forty of the country’s 47 counties have been affected. More than 230 people have died and about 40,000 households, so far, have been displaced. Poor maintenance of key infrastructure and drainage systems, and disregard of environmental regulations regarding the maintenance of land near rivers, contributed to the situation. The government has responded with measures to minimise destruction and safeguard lives. These include…

May

09

2024

By MASHUPYE HERBERT MASERUMULE

South Africa elections: Zuma’s MK Party has hit the campaign trail with provocative rhetoric and few clear policies

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FORMER South African president Jacob Zuma surprised many in December 2023 by declaring he’d canvass for a new rival to the African National Congress (ANC), the party he used to lead. The new uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) is on the ballot papers in the upcoming national election and provincial elections. Opinion polls suggest that the upstart will worsen the electoral woes of the ruling ANC in Zuma’s heartland, KwaZulu-Natal province. The ANC, which has governed the country since 1994, goes into the elections uncertain about securing the more than 50% majority needed to form a government. We asked political…

May

08

2024

By MICHAEL BRAUN

South African elections: research explores how disillusioned ANC supporters might use their vote

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE African National Congress (ANC) has been in power since South Africa became a democracy in 1994. The party has been electorally dominant since then, reaching a peak of 69.7% of national votes in 2004. However, support for the party has declined sharply since the 2014 national and provincial elections, reaching a low of 57.5% in 2019. Negative attitudes towards the ruling party have depressed its vote tallies, increased abstention, and widened potential support for opposition parties. Opinion polls have consistently shown that the ANC will not win the more than 50% of votes required to form a government by…

May

04

2024

By The African Mirror

NEW UNITED NATIONS REFORMS MUST FAVOUR THE GLOBAL SOUTH

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE THE rise of the Majority World, or global south, in world politics has triggered pertinent issues in relation to the archaic nature and form of the UN system. And, Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres summed it absolutely spot-on when he recently delivered a frank appraisal of the UN in this day and age. “We cannot solve 21st century problems with 20th century tools,” he said. The UN system has been grossly undermined by the stranglehold of the Western-led unipolar international world order. The UN Charter effected at the end of WW11 in 1945 sought to create a world that…