Vol 65 No 24 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Like his populist counterpart across the Atlantic, South Africa’s much prosecuted leader keeps bouncing back
Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party is shaping the landscape as it gears up for its first anniversary on 16 December, its ranks bolstered by several high-profile defectors...
Vol 65 No 19 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The new national organiser, who defected from the EFF, is expected to develop clearer policies for the struggling party
Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has wasted no time in getting its policy tsar to work, laying on motorcades around the provinces with local MK leaders, political...
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Vol 65 No 18 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The opposition is in turmoil after Malema’s deputy jumped ship to join the fledgling MK party
The defection of Floyd Shivambu to Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party has dealt a hammer blow to Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), particularly now that Shivambu has...
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Vol 65 No 17 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The former President has been expelled from the ANC - the party he once led - after campaigning for a rival party in the 2024 election
The African National Congress’s (ANC) move to pin the blame for its worst results in three decades on ex-President Jacob Zuma risks whitewashing the failures of President Cyril...
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Vol 65 No 16 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The coalition of opposition parties has lost some members to Ramaphosa’s Government of National Unity while another is embroiled in the VBS scandal
When the United Democratic Movement’s Bantu Holomisa and Economic Freedom Fighters’ Julius Malema called a press conference on the morning of 14 June at the Cape Town Convention...
Vol 65 No 15 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The key test for the Government of National Unity is whether it can mobilise the billions needed to revive growth and cut unemployment
The excitement in the markets over the launch of the Government of National Unity (GNU) has to be balanced against the enormity of the challenges confronting the leaders...
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The President has gone from rejecting the carbon border tax outright to negotiations to ease the effects of this new green tax
South Africa and other African states need to move away quickly from their high carbon emitting economic models, President Cyril Ramaphosa told a climate change conference in Pretoria...
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Vol 65 No 13 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
President Ramaphosa’s Government of National Unity has months rather than years to regenerate jobs and hope
South Africa’s transition into coalition country politics – its most important shift since the liberation election of 1994 – happened so fast that most of the players were...
Vol 65 No 13 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Cyril Ramaphosa will lead a Government of National Unity with the centre-right but excludes two populist parties with 25% of the vote
The Government of National Unity deal is a return to form for Cyril Ramaphosa who helped negotiate the first post-apartheid coalition government 30 years ago. The difference this...
Vol 65 No 12 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Shorn of a majority, Cyril Ramaphosa must choose between populists or pro-business centrists in a power-sharing deal
After its worst election in 30 years of power, the African National Congress (ANC) saw its vote share tumble to 40.2% and faces choices which will usher in...
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Vol 65 No 12 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The centre-right Democratic Alliance has controlled the province since 2009 but is facing pushback from smaller parties in its political base
Early reports of a high turnout across the country on 29 May have boosted the ruling African National Congress's hopes that it might retain its national parliamentary majority...
Vol 65 No 12 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
With $50 billion on the table, the biggest mining deal in history faces a wall of corporate and political obstacles
Given the stakes in jobs and economic growth, it's fitting that the deadline for the offer by Australia's BHP for Anglo American should fall on 29 May, election...
Vol 65 No 11 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Fearing a populist wave from the Malema and Zuma parties, the ANC is sending its veteran leaders to get out the vote for 29 May
So serious is the prospect of it losing badly in the 29 May election that the ruling African National Congress has leant on its former leaders, including those...
Vol 65 No 11 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The biggest threat to the ANC's electoral base comes from its two breakaway populist parties
For realists in the African National Congress the central question in the 29 May elections is how the party manages the end of its 30-year domination of national...
Vol 65 No 10 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Opinion surveys struggle to keep up with the changing shape of this intensely contested election
Activists and politicians across the spectrum agree on one point: opinion surveys in South Africa are often wide of the mark, undermined by poor methodology, and sometimes institutional...
Vol 65 No 9 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
With the ex-president as a figurehead, the uMkhonto we Sizwe party threatens the ruling party’s national prospects
The complex arithmetic between provincial and national votes means that former President Jacob Zuma's new party could wreck the ruling African National Congress's (ANC) chances of scraping a...
Vol 65 No 8 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
South African and African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa has proposed to the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) that it consider going into opposition if it fails to secure a majority in the elections in May, instead of forming coalitions, political sources told Africa Confidential.
South African and African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa has proposed to the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) that it consider going into opposition if it fails...
DISPATCHES
Vol 65 No 7 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Mapisa-Nqakula said she would take 'special leave' after investigators raided her home following claims of corruption and bribery
The beleaguered African National Congress (ANC) is weighing up its options amid a damaging corruption probe against National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula that could do more harm to...
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Vol 65 No 6 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Businesses and wealthy individuals are stepping up political donations and their influence on policy
Ahead of the most competitive election ever in South Africa on 29 May, local and foreign political donors are trying to influence the outcome within – and sometimes...
Vol 65 No 6 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The tussle over the vote schedule is part of a wider battle for the presidential succession
Fresh tensions have blown up within the ruling party after Deputy President Paul Mashatile appeared to pre-empt President Cyril Ramaphosa on the timing of the elections. The two...
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Vol 65 No 6 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
A Brenthurst Foundation survey has shown support for the governing party is slipping further
South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has had its worst opinion poll result (39%) since multi-party democracy was introduced following apartheid in 1994, after a survey of...
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Vol 65 No 5 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The ANC government is struggling to raise revenue and fund vote-winning social programmes ahead of elections in May
Sustained low growth is haunting the policy calculations of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who presented his budget to parliament on 21 February. He conceded that revised 2023 GDP...
Vol 65 No 4 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The multi-sided battle for votes in the province may decide the national election – and whether the ANC loses its parliamentary majority
More than 300 registered political parties are vying for votes believing this election will mark a turning point in the country's history and pave the way for coalition...
South Africa has boosted its own and the developing world's prestige by bringing its genocide case against Israel to The Hague
The ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel must take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza will increase pressure on the United States and the...
We hear that President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to bring forward the national and provincial elections to capitalise on the popularity of the country's case against Israel at the...
Ramaphosa is reaping political dividends by taking on the Netanyahu government at the Hague
Whether South Africa has made a plausible case to prove Israel has violated the genocide convention with its bombardment of Gaza is likely to be decided at the...
Backroom machinations have landed Morocco the coveted chair of the UN’s leading human rights body
Elections to the presidency of the 47-member UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) are normally a routine affair. But this year, Israel and Morocco's concerns that the issues of...
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The EU stays silent amid fears that South Africa's accusations against Israel will further damage relations between Africa and Europe
The legal tussle between Israel and South Africa over Pretoria's claims to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague that Israel is responsible for 'genocide' against...
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With forecasts that it will win under 50% of the vote in this year's elections, the ruling party prepares for a sea-change
The African National Congress (ANC) will be gravely weakened in this year's national and provincial elections with its share of the vote likely to fall below 50%, but...
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Vol 65 No 1 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Former President's vow not to vote for the ANC will damage the party in KwaZulu-Natal and may encourage other high-profile dissenters
President Cyril Ramaphosa's pre-election headaches intensified with the news that Jacob Zuma, the convicted former President, is promising to vote for a new political party named after the...
Vol 65 No 1 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Our correspondent has been given a sneak preview of the ruling party's campaign strategy. It is brutally populist and divisive but it might just work
Undeterred by the confident assessments in multiple opinion surveys that its share of the national vote will fall below 50% in next year's elections for the first time,...