South Africa

For once, local government elections could change national politics. The municipal polls next month will be a critical test for President Jacob Zuma and the African National Congre...

The inner circle, allies inside government, and chief personal enemies

South Africa formally enters the informal club of BRIC nations – Brazil, Russian, India and China – in April in Beijing. On 24 to 26 March, ten key policy analysts from each countr...

Job creation and social services would be government’s top political measures, said Finance Minister Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan in his budget speech on 24 February. He warned t...

President Jacob Zuma’s critics again claim he is in thrall to the Durban-based Gupta family. If the African National Congress does badly in the coming local elections, party c...

As next year’s centenary of the African National Congress approaches, a row is raging over how to portray Presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma in the ANC’s offi...

President Jacob Zuma’s third State of the Nation address to Parliament, on 10 February, was more like a bid for a second term at the elections in 2012. He repeated his New Year ple...

Beijing appears to call the shots in relations with South Africa. While the Dalai Lama awaited a visa to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday party on 7th October, So...

In September, South African mining entrepreneur Patrice Motsepe began talks with his co-chair on the South Africa-India Chief Executive Officers Forum, Ratan Naval Tata, the Chairm...

A raid on telecoms company ZTE has called attention to illegal immigration and the rough competition between Chinese companies in South Africa. The Department of Home Affairs,...