DISPATCHES
US ambassador warns of ‘escalatory measures’, testing Pretoria's bet that trade ties and a British G20 presidency will outlast Trump-era hostility
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has rejected the latest barrage of diplomatic threats after United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on South Africans involved in...
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Vol 67 No 19 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Business leaders want the president's liberalisation drive locked into law before politics – and a shrinking economy – overtake it
Business Leadership South Africa's Busi Mavuso used a Bloomberg news interview in Johannesburg to press President Cyril Ramaphosa to legislate his energy and logistics reforms rather than rely...
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Vol 67 No 18 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The municipal elections may end ANC hegemony without producing a new dominant party, leaving power to be contested among a wide field of rivals
The 4 November municipal elections may confirm the end of African National Congress dominance without producing a new hegemon (AC Vol 67 No 11). South Africa’s governing centre...
Vol 67 No 17 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Special Forces accused of murder expose a security system in disarray – and an Islamic State network running from Mogadishu to Midrand
The South African National Defence Force’s Special Forces command is facing its gravest public challenge since apartheid: not a battlefield reverse, but allegations that serving soldiers abducted an...
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Vol 67 No 17 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
A September deadline for a new wholesale electricity market sidelines the chairman of the power utility and faces push back from the unions and foes of the President
President Cyril Ramaphosa's endorsement of the Eskom Restructuring Task Team's first-phase report has settled, at least for now, a months-long tussle over who controls South Africa's electricity future....
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With a stream of national associations withdrawing their support for him, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino is increasingly reliant on support from the...
Vol 67 No 16 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Technocratic appointments aim to reassure markets, but unresolved court challenges and a fresh damages claim complicate the Public Investment Corporation’s reset
After two weeks of simmering tensions, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is trying to resolve the crisis at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) – Africa’s largest manager of state...
The final act in the Anglo American restructuring drama has opened with a proposed sale of its diamond mining affiliate De Beers for US$1 billion to the...
Vol 67 No 15 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
As Hill-Lewis consolidates control of the biggest opposition party, questions over trust and influence complicate his bid to widen its appeal
Ahead of a critical test in the local elections on 26 November, the opposition Democratic Alliance has handed its opponents an unexpected gift. Instead of campaigning against the...
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A wave of anti-migrant violence has prompted Ghana, Nigeria and others to repatriate citizens and reassess engagement with Pretoria
South Africa is reaping the diplomatic damage caused by the anti-migrant protests that have swept the country in recent weeks after Ghana postponed a planned state visit by...
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Vol 67 No 14 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Marches against immigration show how trust in the ANC’s ability to govern has eroded, five years after the deadly 2021 riots
When thousands of South Africans marched peacefully on 30 June demanding tighter immigration controls, the biggest story was not the demonstrations – it was the absence of violence....
‘We must separate facts from fake news as we deal with the protest in South Africa,’ International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola told delegates at a Commonwealth ministerial meeting...
Vol 67 No 12 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Growing public anger over enforcement failures is raising doubts about whether the government can still assert its authority
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government faces a challenge that reaches far beyond immigration. The rise of anti-immigration movements across South Africa is exposing deeper doubts about the country’s ability...
Evacuations of Ghanaians fleeing xenophobic attacks have strained Accra-Pretoria ties, exposing divisions between historic Pan-African partners
The Ghana government’s repatriation of over 950 Ghanaian citizens from South Africa has yielded a surge in support locally for President John Mahama’s government even as it signals...
Vol 67 No 11 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The party is discovering that its patronage culture is disqualifying most of those best placed to lead it as Ramaphosa struggles to shape the unfolding contest
Cyril Ramaphosa has spent much of his presidency surviving political crises without ever fully restoring his authority. The Phala Phala scandal did not remove him from office, as...
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Vol 67 No 11 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Dissolving the provincial leadership boosts Fikile Mbalula’s control, but it stores up electoral trouble in one of the ANC’s key provinces
The African National Congress leadership has suspended the Eastern Cape provincial executive committee and replaced it with a 40-member provincial task team led by Premier Oscar Mabuyane, a...
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Two western media companies are launching duelling documentaries on the liberation leader and his family
A seven-part documentary series produced by Netflix, the United States-based film and television streaming service, The Trials of Winnie Mandela, which examines the complex legacy of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela,...
Vol 67 No 8 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Geordin Hill-Lewis's election as Democratic Alliance leader at its biggest-ever congress gives the party a credible shot at winning the country's top cities
The second largest party in South Africa’s governing coalition, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has renewed its leadership at the biggest national conference in its history and set its...
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Washington claims great success with its asylum offer to white South Africans as its new ambassador to Pretoria dials back the rhetoric
Almost 4,500 white South Africans have been given refugee status in the United States since last October, according to the US Department of State's Bureau of Population. In...
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A new €200 million concessional climate loan, and more than €270m in German and EU funding for projects focused on green hydrogen and battery value chains, were the...
Fink Haysom, the anti-apartheid lawyer who helped end Sudan's north-south war and spent his final years trying to mediate in South Sudan serial crises, has died
The death of Nicholas ‘Fink’ Haysom in New York on 17 March strips the United Nations of its most tenacious voice for accountability in South Sudan and is...
Vol 67 No 6 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Eighty days in, the commission of inquiry has exposed corruption, destroyed careers and trapped Ramaphosa between legal process and political survival
On 18 March, the Madlanga Commission entered its 80th day of hearings in Pretoria, with Gauteng Organised Crime Unit Sergeant Fannie Nkosi — formerly known as ‘Witness F’...
Vol 67 No 5 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The proposed Budget steadies public finances and gives taxpayers some relief, but sluggish growth and the jobs crisis still cast a shadow
South Africa has reached the peak of its debt mountain this fiscal year, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Parliament in Cape Town in his 25 February Budget speech....
Vol 67 No 5 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The Budget, which will become law only after parliamentary revision, further Treasury scrutiny, public comment and presidential assent, seeks to boost health and education spending. The cessation of...
Vol 67 No 5 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The veteran chief has cleared the way for her protégé to become the next party leader while she prepares to run for mayor of Johannesburg
Having been the most vocal critic of Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen, who in February announced his plans to vacate the leadership, Helen Zille looks set to entrench...
Vol 67 No 5 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Top ANC officials have rebuked lobbyists who want the mining billionaire and sports funder to run for the party leadership
South African mining billionaire Patrice Motsepe is emerging as a reluctant challenger for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) at the party’s elective conference at the...
MAGA Republicans want open confrontation with Pretoria, but many US companies are rebuilding ties
The arrival of United States President Donald Trump’s new ambassador, Leo Brent Bozell III, a veteran critic of the African National Congress, in South Africa sets up bilateral...
DISPATCHES
Vol 67 No 4 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
The party’s ‘grand dame’ Helen Zille, was thought to be behind the exit as she launches her campaign to become mayor of Johannesburg
Outgoing Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen hopes that by agreeing to stand down in April he will keep his cabinet seat as Agriculture Minister in the Government of...
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Senior commanders ignored the President’s instruction to restrict Iran’s role in China’s naval exercise off Cape Town
The confrontation over Pretoria’s security ties with Tehran – specifically its participation in South African-hosted naval exercises – underlines the erosion of civilian control over the military and...
The baton as Africa’s leading carmaker has passed to Morocco, which produced over a million vehicles last year, overtaking South Africa. South Africa made 554,613 vehicles between January...
The president controls the ANC, but the champions of impunity are strong and key state institutions remain in jeopardy
The Government of National Unity is set to steer the country through key equity and economic reforms in the year to come amid severe economic challenges and political...
