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Hope: Zimbabweans standing in line to cast their vote, hoping for change. Photo: ZEC
ANGOLA

Freedom in South Africa is incomplete until all SADC nations achieve genuine democracy

If we are to honour our freedom, we must also stand in sympathy with our neighbours, whose struggles remind us that democracy is never guaranteed. Their pain must be felt as our…

  • Paledi Alfred Sathekge
8 min read
Crisis: Malawian President Peter Mutharika’s veto exposes a legislature willing to override judicial authority in order to retain control over billions of Malawi kwacha in public development funds. Photo: State House Malawi
AFRICA

Malawi’s constitutional standoff

President vetoes attempt by lawmakers to amend the constitution to retain control

  • Collins Mtika
7 min read
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the January 8 Statement at Moruleng Stadium, North West.
ANC

Ramaphosa to ANC members: campaigning for 2026 elections is mandatory

He said the party would be run strictly, with zero tolerance for corruption, ill-discipline and factionalism

  • Lunga Mzangwe
3 min read
Dissatisfaction with the failure to deliver adequate services often results in protests, with Johannesburg being the country’s protest capital. Photo: File
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

The state must listen and talk to the people

There’s a disconnect between how the state interacts with citizens and how citizens engage with the state, which hampers governance

  • Mmabatho Mongae
6 min read
By fostering a sense of ownership and encouraging continuous, diverse forms of participation, we can provoke a new way of thinking about democratic engagement. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ACCOUNTABILITY IN POLITICS

Participation beyond the ballot box is essential for democracy in South Africa

Despite consultations, public hearings, and government gazettes, efforts to foster meaningful engagement beyond elections remain inadequate

  • Patrick Kulati
7 min read
Recently-appointed Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille says she took on the role to “clean up” the department, in the wake of the recent R1 billion Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship scandal.
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

We need a governance revolution

South Africans should not have to rely on heroes like Patricia de Lille to save us, we need functioning and fit for purpose institutions

  • Ron Derby
6 min read
The world’s largest cocoa producer, Ivory Coast has emerged from a period of civil and political unrest in 2010-11 in which 3 000 people died to recorded annual economic growth rates of nearly 10 percent. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP)
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

Africa governance gains hampered by security, job fears — study

The annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance also pointed to a deteriorating business climate and poor job creation

  • Agency
3 min read
‘People are the real wealth of nations’
DEMOCRACY

‘People are the real wealth of nations’

UNDP director for democratic governance <strong>Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi</strong> speaks to the <em>M&G</em> about democracy in Africa.

  • Vuvu Vena
9 min read