Eight presidential candidates on stage during Kenya’s first presidential debate in 2013.
Joan Pereruan/AFP via Getty Images
In principle, political debates should showcase an aspiring leader’s vision. It’s a lofty goal given their current format in Kenya.
The militarisation of the Zimbabwean government raises serious questions about who really wields political power - President Emmerson Mnangagwa or army leaders.
Mujahid Safodien/AFP via Getty Images
The extent of democracy capture varies markedly between countries. It’s much higher in states such as Zimbabwe, where the government has never changed hands.
South African president and leader of the ruling ANC Cyril Ramaphosa.
Michele Spatari/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The ANC did not create most of the patterns for which it is blamed. But it has done far too little to change them and often seems happy simply to live with them.
The governing ANC is losing its political hegemony.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
Exactly when the ANC’s reign will end rides on what the party does or does not do between now and its elective conference in 2022.
King Mswati III of eSwatini, Africa’s last absolute monarch, is facing growing demands for democracy and rule of law.
EPA-EFE/Yeshiel Panchia
There is more support for democracy among African people than is often recognised. Yet this can be undermined by election rigging and is lower in countries like Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa.
People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) supporters at a campaign rally. The party has run the country since independence in 1975.
Photo by Osvaldo Silva / AFP) via Getty Images.
Angola needs a mixed electoral system. This would promote accountability through the direct election of representatives from constituencies.
Enthusiastic ANC supportets celebrate a recent election victory.
EFE-EPA/Yeshiel Panchia
The trouble is that the ANC’s branch structure, designed initially as a means of grassroots democracy at work, is in a mess.
A group of protesters demanding better governance in Nigeria just as the country marked its 60th Independence Day anniversary on October 1, 2020.
Photo by Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Although it’s failed to deliver democracy to citizens, Nigeria is not the collapsed and disintegrated entity which a 2005 US National Intelligence Council analysis predicted it would become by 2020.
The late Kimi Makwetu was mortified by the extent of corruption.
Kimi Makwetu embodied the values of integrity, selflessness, humility and hard work. He steadfastly believed in the South African constitution.
Shutterstock
The hand that taps ‘remove from this group’ is the hand that rules the world.
Young people are balancing several responsibilities - they’re school-goers, job seekers or employees, caregivers, friends and community members.
Shutterstock
Although cynical about today’s political leaders, the views of young South Africans are surprisingly similar to those of the mid-1990s.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, centre, takes part in a climate strike march in Montreal, Friday, Sept. 27, 2019.
Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has inspired the cross-country climate marches, but accountability lies with governments and corporations.
South Africans go to the polls on 8 May, 2019.
EPA/Nic Bothma
The current crisis in British politics is significant for countries like South Africa where a change in electoral systems is needed.
The Vaal River in Gauteng, South Africa’s richest province, is polluted.
EPA/Jon Hrusa
South Africa’s local governments lack a clear separation of legislative and executive powers.
South African Police shot and killed striking mineworkers in Marikana, in 2012.
EPA/Kevin Sutherland
Some prosecutions followed soon after President Cyril Ramaphosa promised accountability for the Marikana massacre.
ANC members show their support for party leader and president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Brenton Geech/EPA-EFE
The problem with South Africa’s governing ANC, is that to many of its members, politics is not about public service but about resources.
The Pan African Parliament in session in Midrand, South Africa.
EPA/Jon Hrusa
Reports of profligacy by the leaders of the Pan African Parliament could further diminish its legitimacy, which is already being questioned .
RAAF warplanes fly over Syria in Australia’s first airstrikes in that country in September 2015.
AAP/ADF
The wars in Syria and Iraq are products of secretive decision-making by the executive. Their disastrous consequences are evidence of the need for war powers reform.
Qedani Mahlangu resigned as the local government minister for health in Gauteng following the deaths of 94 mentally ill patients.
South African Tourism
Mahlangu’s resignation over the deaths of mental patients sets her apart from her colleagues in government. But, it does not portend a new trend in political accountability for the governing ANC.