Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Robert Shivambu

Creator

Robert Shivambu

Robert Shivambu is a journalist and international relations scholar. He holds two postgraduate degrees in Journalism and International Relations from the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of the Witwatersrand respectively. He has covered Africa as a journalist for eNCA and talk radio Power98.7.

Dire situation: A busy street in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo. The country has seen a sharp rise in Aids cases and deaths. ©UNAIDS 2024.

Low-income countries such as Madagascar lack funds to fight Aids

The pandemic is still claiming lives in the Indian Ocean country due to lack of HIV prevention and treatment services

Considering the high cost of data in the country, the South African government should build up this vital public entity rather than sell it to the highest bidder, whose interest is profit not service

Why the sale of state-owned Telkom will be a blow to the poor

Considering the high cost of data in the country, the South African government should build up this vital public entity rather than sell it to the highest bidder, whose interest…

A healthcare worker holds an injection syringe of the phase 3 vaccine trial, developed against the novel coronavirus pandemic by the US Pfizer and German BioNTech company, at the Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital in Ankara, Turkey on October 27, 2020. (Photo by Dogukan Keskinkilic/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Covid-19 vaccine will not be a magic bullet for the ailing healthcare system

The pandemic is happening in the context of a healthcare system we have allowed to decay

Although he had been in power for just over a year when the country went to the polls, owing to the early recall of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma (R), in February 2018, the election of the ANC was a stamp of approval for Cyril Ramaphosa (L) to lead South Africa through a sound domestic and foreign policy.

After disastrous Zuma years, Ramaphosa must provide foreign policy clarity

For a country that is guided by ubuntu, South Africa has a record of embarrassing international blunders

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an “extraordinary coronavirus budget” on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Immediate priorities for Ramaphosa and the sixth Parliament

South Africa faces a host of problems that the new administration must attend to with urgency

Design a railway system to prevent carnage on the N1

The state should use funds to build an alternative transport system that is safe and reliable

Displaced: Nassire Omar had to rebuild his shop after flooding forced villagers to move. (Amnesty International)

‘They’ve taken our sand and left nothing’

Sand mining by a Chinese company destroyed a lagoon and wetland and flooded out a village

Children playing on the streets of the abandoned village of Nagonha. A devastating flood in February 2015 destroyed most houses and people left fearing new flooding. (Amnesty International)

‘They have taken our beautiful sand from us and left nothing’

Mozambican villagers demand compensation for the destruction of their village caused by the activities of a Chinese mining company

Africa does not lack ideals; it has proclaimed them often and well. What it now requires is discipline, execution and political courage on a continental scale. The most fitting tribute to the founders will not be remembrance. It will be readiness.

SA’s new foreign policy agenda must embrace human rights

The team charged with reviewing South Africa’s foreign policy must keep in mind the principles of dignity and human rights