Baba Jukwa, Social Media and Zimbabwe’s future
If there is one thing that is different to the 2008 Zimbabwean elections, it is that the 2013 election has a new ‘candidate’. His name is Baba Jukwa. The anonymous social media icon and commentator, portrayed as a cartoon of an old man and coined ‘the Julian Assange of Zimbabwe’, has attracted the world’s attention.
The African Union and Security
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), but it is more fitting to reflect upon the progress of its successor, the African Union (AU).
African Integration: What do New National IDs in Lesotho and South Africa Mean?
National identity, a sense of belonging and the right to citizenship are fundamental human rights. In South Africa last week, in addition to celebrating the 95th birthday of Africa’s living legend, Nelson Mandela, the government also started rolling out ‘smart’ national identity documents (IDs).
South Africa’s nuclear plans
Two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conferences have recently taken place in quick succession. The first, an International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century held in St Petersburg Russia from 27 to 29 June 2013, saw the last minute withdrawal of both the Energy Minister and the CEO of Eskom.
SA-EU Summit 2013: Investment and Jobs in South Africa and SADC?
South Africa hosts the 6th South Africa (SA) – European Union (EU) Summit on 18 July 2013, symbolically, on former President Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday.
South Africa and the European Union: moving beyond asymmetry
Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, and the conclusion of the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) in 1999, the relationship between South Africa and the European Union has grown incrementally to reach the level of a strategic partnership in 2007.
Online briefing: Regional Integration
SAIIA and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) have been working on a joint project that examines the political economy of regional integration in Southern Africa.
Real decentralised bargaining needed in the platinum sector
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has submitted an application to the Labour Court to prevent its loss of official recognition at the Lonmin platinum mines. They dispute the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU)’s claim to representing 70% of low-skilled workers now. That NUM is desperately contesting Lonmin’s plans to recognise AMCU is a destructive function of the institution of centralised bargaining.
Obama inspires, but what are the implications for US-South Africa relations?
United States President Barack Obama’s speech was well-calibrated for an audience of university students, and harkened back not only to the words of Nelson Mandela at the time of his release from prison but also to those of Robert F Kennedy and a speech delivered on the same spot in a completely different South Africa, one in the throes of Apartheid, in 1966.
Pushing Illicit financial flows to the top of the global agenda
In 2012, Africa lost an estimated $43-$46 billion to illicit financial flows (IFF). Calculated over time, the size of this “shadow financial system” is staggering. For instance, between 1980 and 2009 the continent is estimated to have lost around US$1.3 trillion. This is according to a report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) released in May 2013.