The shooting dead of striking miners by armed police at Marikana exposes hard truths about post-apartheid South Africa that the country's new elites have preferred to ignore, says Roger Southall.
South Africa's president has outgunned his young, ambitious rival and cleared the road to re-election. But the struggle between them casts an unforgiving light on aspects of the country's governance, says Roger Southall.
South Africa’s liberation from apartheid promised, as one of democracy’s essential supports, a climate of media freedom to ensure the accountability of those in power. But the country’s ruling ANC now proposes legislation that would endanger this freedom. The echoes of Zimbabwe are too close to ig
The South African president’s achievement on his anniversary in power is to leave his country rudderless and his party at war, says Roger Southall.
The triumph of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa's fourth democratic general election on 22 April 2009 is assured. Yet this will be the ruling party&
Harold Wilson, Britain's prime minister when Ian Smith's Rhodesia proclaimed its independence in 1965, once famously said that "a week is a long time in
The political future of South Africa is in the balance. The "recall" of Thabo Mbeki from the nation's presidency by the African National Congress (ANC) has
The international reaction to Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the presidential run-off election scheduled for 27 June 2008 may prove to be a key moment in the long-haul campaign
There is not much good news from Zimbabwe these days, but there is some growing hope from next door. The African National Congress (ANC) under President Thabo Mbeki has become
Kenya's political flaws highlight South Africa's strengths. The post-election political tragedy there both reflects some crucial limitations of Kenya's own governing order and offers
