South Africa’s newspaper wars by RW Johnson In the past few years South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been much criticised for its proposed legislation that threatens jail sentences for whistle-blowers who expose government corruption. Its plans to set up a new state radio station which will have the exclusive task of preaching government policy have also drawn criticism. But both of these initiatives pale in comparison to its attempt to steal an entire newspaper, Ilanga lase Natal (the Natal Sun), the Zulu tabloid newspaper which is South Africa’s oldest and biggest African-language paper. John Dube founded Ilanga in…
RW Johnson
“You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community,” said Susan Shabangu to a police forum in 2008 when she was South Africa’s deputy minister of safety and security. “I won’t tolerate any pathetic excuses for you not being able to deal with crime. You have been given guns, now use them. I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot.” Some blame this statement for the recent police shootings at the Marikana platinum mine on August 16th. Others go further and say the police are incompetent, corrupt and just…
Africa’s universities and the future by RW Johnson A close look at the 2012–13 list of the world’s 400 leading universities compiled by Britain’s Times Higher Education magazine reveals the enormous disparities not only between the developing world and developed world, but also between Africa and Asia. Africa has only four universities on this list while Asia has 57. Africa is outgunned massively, at 14:1 overall. More importantly, the entire continent has not a single top 100 entrant. The same contrast exists if you compare scientific output. In 2002 East Asia and the Pacific accounted for 25,391 scientific publications and…
“You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community,” said Susan Shabangu to a police forum in 2008 when she was South Africa’s deputy minister of safety and security. “I won’t tolerate any pathetic excuses for you not being able to deal with crime. You have been given guns, now use them. I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot.” Some blame this statement for the recent police shootings at the Marikana platinum mine on August 16th. Others go further and say the police are incompetent, corrupt and just…
Many South Africans find it remarkable that their country’s leaders managed a largely peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy between 1990 and 1994. Parties involved in the negotiations compromised to reach a settlement. However, now the party in power, the African National Congress (ANC), is speaking of undoing the terms of the compromise and of launching a “second transition”, a move that has defenders of South Africa’s constitutional democracy up in arms. RW Johnson interprets the ANC’s intentions and where they might lead. When FW de Klerk retired from politics in 1997 it seemed implausible that this former president of…
