Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
David Smith

Creator

David Smith

David Smith is the Guardian's Washington DC bureau chief. From 2010 to 2015 Smith was the Africa correspondent for The Guardian for which he was based in Johannesburg, South Africa

The South Africans defending the capital were overwhelmed by the Seleka rebels, who had access to a variety of deadly weaponry.
BATTLE OF BANGUI

Mysteries behind Battle of Bangui

A new book offers unprecedented insight into South Africa’s strange relationship with the Central African Republic

  • David Smith
6 min read
AHMED KATHRADA

De Klerk’s paradoxical presence

Although leaders of the reconciliation era accept South Africa’s last white president, younger politicians are not as forgiving

  • David Smith
5 min read
Patron saint: Randlord Sir Lionel Phillips and Lady Florence had their portraits painted by Giovanni Boldini. A smaller version of Portrait of Lady Phillips is in the South African National Gallery
GAY RIGHTS

Moz lifts gay laws but queer fight goes on

Activists describe Mozambique as a tolerant society but say LGBT people still face a long struggle for full equality.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
3 min read
Achilles heel: Nigeria’s Ogenyi Onazi was injured in a tackle made by France’s Blaise Matuidi at the Brazil World Cup.
LIONS

South Africa sends lions to repopulate Rwanda reserves

Seven big cats have been donated to Rwanda, restoring the predator to the East African country after a 15-year absence.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
3 min read
Dubious victory: Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir reportedly took 94.5% of all votes cast in the April elections. The opposition parties boycotted the ?elections.
OMAR AL BASHIR

Bashir set to tighten grip on Sudan

The country’s leader has claimed victory in polls censured by opposition parties and the West.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
4 min read
Nigerian soldiers.
BOKO HARAM

SA mercenaries are ‘giving Boko Haram a hiding’

The vexed leftovers of the apartheid military are reportedly turning the tide in Nigeria.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
8 min read
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma.
ROBERT MUGABE

Chirpy Mugabe plays to the gallery and lays into Blair

Robert Mugabe, on a rare state visit to South Africa this week, spoke off the cuff in a monologue that varied from pointed to rambling to witty.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
3 min read
Long Walk to Freedom is still popular.
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

Long Walk to Freedom sequel to hit bookshops next year

Pan Macmillan announces it has acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to the book which is likely to tackle Mandela’s divorce from his second wife Winnie.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
6 min read

‘Death was in front of us, we fled’

Seleka and anti-balaka forces are ripping CAR apart, leaving crisis and tragedy in their wake.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
8 min read
Deadly force: Police opened fire to disperse about 30 000 demonstrators
DRC VIOLENCE

DRC protests brew anger and grief

Violence erupted in Kinshasa as Joseph Kabila allegedly angles for an illicit third term.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
8 min read
The Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania.
DUBAI

Dubai royals hunt out Maasai land

Plans to turn ancestral Maasai land into a reserve for a Dubai royal family appears to be going ahead.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
2 min read
GUY SCOTT

President Scott, but for only 90 days

Guy Scott will take charge for three months until an election is held to choose a permanent successor.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
3 min read
Hugh Masekela performing at Les bouffes du Nord theatre
HUGH MASEKELA

Hugh Masekela: ‘I don’t think I have the power to forgive’

The South African jazz trumpeter talks to David Smith about the legacy of apartheid, Nelson Mandela and squandering $50-million.

  • David Smith
  • The Guardian
5 min read