Stuart Morrison

Johannesburg is the commercial and economic hub of South Africa, hosting the largest stock exchange on the African continent (JSE), generating 16% of South Africa’s GDP alone and houses the headquarters of at least 70% of South African corporations. From this view alone, the city can be regarded as one of the wealthiest in the region, and perhaps the entire continent. However, despite its massive wealth and importance, it is a city plagued by poor service delivery, deteriorating infrastructure, and constrained governance. Just recently, the 2026/27 city budget was approved, resulting in a decline in funds for essential utilities, highlighting…

“The world understands that we have a climate emergency; it’s time we recognise that we face an inequality emergency too. It isn’t just unfair; it’s a problem for our economy and our politics.” Professor Joseph Stiglitz (2025( Wealth inequality is not a new problem; scholars and policymakers have been grappling with it for decades. However, in recent years, wealth inequality has become much more extreme, affecting not only countries’ economies but also their politics. According to the 2026 World Inequality Report, roughly 56,000 multimillionaires have three times more wealth than that of half the world’s population. To put it in more relative terms, between 1995 and…

“When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled” is a common yet profound African proverb highlighting the widespread consequences of violence. Violence affects everything from people’s psyche to economic growth and democratisation. This has led scholars from various disciplines to explore how exactly violence affects people, not just from a mental health perspective, but also how it informs and shapes their worldview. Political scientists, for instance, have sought to understand how various forms of political violence impact perceptions around democratic processes and institutions. Scholars such as Inken von Borzyskowski and Ursula Daxecker have found that fear of election…

Africa is growing exponentially, particularly in its cities and urban areas. According to the African Union, approximately 60% of Africa’s population will live in urban areas by 2030. As such, urbanisation has become a key priority for African governments. They recognise that the growth and development of these cities will shape the future of not only individual African countries but the entire continent. However, as cities continue to grow, so do informal settlements. Informality has been a key feature of African cities since the colonial era when cities were often designed to segregate people. Thus, informality has always been understood…

The impact of disinformation legislation on freedom of speech In recent years, Africa’s digital landscape has rapidly evolved. Between 2017 and 2024, 300 million Africans came online and gained access to the internet and social media, according to an Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) report this year. With millions more Africans now connected to the digital world, the landscape of information dissemination on the continent has significantly altered; on one hand creating new avenues for communication, while on the other, it has exposed critical issues around the challenges posed by disinformation. Disinformation is understood as the deliberate dissemination of…

Youth in Botswana, under the age of 35, make up over 60% of the population. However, despite this, young people eligible to vote, especially between the ages of 18 and 25, had one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country’s 2019 general election. While this statistic highlights a growing trend of youth voter apathy across the African continent, it has created the perception that youth are apolitical and “disinterested” in politics. Political participation, however, goes beyond voting; and low voter turnout amongst youth does not, on its own, make one wholly apolitical. This raises an interesting question about…