History Matters

Côte d’Ivoire: No War, but No Security AfricaFocus Bulletin Jun 10, 2011 (110610) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor’s Note “Between May 13 and 25, Human Rights Watch interviewed 132 victims and witnesses to violence by both sides during the battle for Abidjan and in the weeks after Gbagbo’s arrest. Killings, torture, and inhumane treatment [...]

by  Blade Nzimande – Jeremy Cronin 17 May 2011 – Tomorrow’s local government election Tomorrow, South Africans will be going to the polls for the third, non-racial local government election in our country’s history. Much is at stake. As the SACP we are confident that once more the ANC, supported by its Alliance partners, will [...]

ADOPTED BY THE FIRST NATIONAL CONFERENCE 20-23 January 2011 Post-apartheid capitalism is leaving a trail of hunger, poverty, anger and misery. The wealthy elite, the bosses and their hangers on refuse to concede a single inch to the urgent needs of the majority. They label even the most modest reforms as the thin edge of [...]

This article raises a few pertinent questions about reactions or lack thereof of the Tunisian population to Abu Ali’s authoritarian excesses. It implicitly suggests that while populations in the African continent have had a propensity to endure totalitarian regimes for extended periods, Maghreb Region, of which Tunisia is an integral part, has a rich history [...]

  13 October 2010  By James Muzondidya, Research Manager – Zimbabwe Institute  This essay is part of a new initiative by the Trust that aims to open up the intellectual debates on current politics in the country, and to provide more extended discussions around key issues of central concern to the Trust, such as the [...]

Its Time for True Transformative Justice in SA Suren Pillay Cape Times 2010-05-06 On a recent visit to a government agency- as a citizen, not a researcher- I began chatting with an affable front desk consultant. After some general conversation on the dire state of the world, she – of Afrikaner descent – confided to [...]

Solani Ngobeni, The Weekender August , 2009 Whites still dominate publishing in SA, but if they were to embrace Africa a powerful global player will emerge, writes SOLANI NGOBENI E-Mail article Print-Friendly IN A Strategic Report into Research Publishing in SA, published by the Academy of Science of SA (ASSAf), Prof Wieland Gevers posits that [...]

What to make of the war of words that has erupted between Jonathan Jansen and Jessie Duarte? Briefly, ANC spokesperson Duarte is demanding that recently installed University of the Free State Rector Jonathan Jansen apologise for calling Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga a “lazy and incompetent minister, if one takes into account her record as [...]

Comfort Ero and Piers Pigou.All Africa News 29 June 2009 Just ahead of this week’s African Union summit in Libya, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has advocated an old and discredited approach for dealing with African heads of state facing international justice, write Comfort Ero and Piers Pigou.When a leader of South Africa’s ruling African [...]