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For two decades, Kenya was paraded as East Africa’s improbable experiment in democratic resilience — a state that clawed its way back from the abyss of post-election violence, codified reform in a progressive constitution and cultivated a civic sphere that seemed to defy the region’s authoritarian gravity. That narrative now lies in ruins. The deportation…
Every person has the right to live a full life with dignity. Yet across Southern Africa, a region that has achieved some of the world’s most remarkable gains against HIV, punitive criminal laws are undermining that principle. Laws criminalising sex work, same-sex relationships, drug use, and HIV transmission are driving people away from the very…
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in traffic between the glass towers of Sandton and the trendy pavements of Rosebank, you’ve passed through Melrose. It’s an upmarket pocket of Jozi that feels like a deep breath of fresh air and it turns out, we have a Scotsman named Henry Brown Marshall to thank for that. …
When President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed residents at the Presidential Imbizo in Tsakane on 29 August 2024, he made a pointed observation: Ekurhuleni is the only metropolitan municipality in South Africa without its own university. That statement was more than a passing remark. It was an acknowledgement of a structural gap in one of the country’s…
The recent State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate exposed a profound level of political degeneracy and ideational bankruptcy within South Africa’s Parliament. It offered a revealing window into the disposition, priorities and intellectual outlook of the country’s three principal political formations: the African National Congress (ANC), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and the uMkhonto…
I love Cape Town but it is a city filled with contradictions. We sell mountain views and ocean sunsets to the world. We host global events and celebrate record tourism numbers. Yet we speak about housing shortages, affordability crises and the slow exodus of long-term tenants from once-accessible neighbourhoods. The City of Cape Town recently…
Can South Africa leverage its mineral wealth and manufacturing expertise to secure a meaningful position in Africa’s mobility revolution? The answer requires an honest assessment of our strengths, our limitations and the strategic role the country can realistically play. South Africa’s manufacturing strengths: A world-class foundation South Africa boasts the most advanced automotive industry in…
At a recent function, I sat next to a woman who had been deeply involved in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle. She spoke with quiet pride about her role in those years, but also with unmistakable disillusionment about what has unfolded in our country over the past three decades. Although she felt personally fulfilled, she was…
From the Great Blue Skies where he now resides, Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson would urge a troubled world — fractured by racism, poverty and political turmoil — to “continue the work, continue the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. and continue mobilising for change, change, change for human rights and social justice”. Africa has lost…
If you had said to most South Africans in 2019 that the Democratic Alliance would partner with the African National Congress in government in 2024 and that in the process it would deliver important and positive change to South Africans, most would have laughed at the prospect. If you had said that the DA, then…