President Robert Mugabe’s firing of his deputy, accusing him of disloyalty, surprised many people. One of Zimbabwe’s liberation heroes, Manangagwa a.k.a the Crocodile was assumed to be well-placed to succeed his 93-year-old boss. But a closer look at the Crocodile reveals a man with little strategic grasp of Zimbabwe’s political chessboard controlled by the grandmaster Robert and his wife Grace.
 

Burundi has become the first African nation to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which has prosecuted Africans almost exclusively. Western powers, NGOs and media accuse Burundi of human rights abuses within its own borders but say nothing about aggression by neighbouring Rwanda. Canadian lawyer David Paul Jacobs, an expert in international law, shares his thoughts.

Rwandan prisoner of conscience Victoire Ingabire has appealed at the African Court. But the court faces challenges. Despite criticising the International Criminal Court, African nations have shown only lukewarm support for their own court as an alternative. Only 30 of the 54 member states of the AU recognize the African Court. And of these just eight support the hearing of cases brought by citizens.

The World Bank, EU, OECD and IMF are institutional partners of the Global Poverty Project. Would the project’s Annual Global Citizen’s Festival in N.Y. tell Jay Z to sing his hit songs from behind the curtains because of his race and have a white performer lip-sync his hits on the festival stage? This is what the World Bank did to Dr. Yonas Biru to spare Europeans the indignities of seeing a black man in a position of power.

Self-determination is becoming a potent national quest born out of the need to be free. Given the growing number of groups who are sworn to achieve self-determination, it is likely an additional 10-15 new countries will declare independence by the year 2030.

Somaliland’s presidential elections next week offer the self-declared Horn of Africa nation an opportunity to re-examine its foreign policy. Until now, it has sought to engage all its neighbours – except Somalia. But the nation seems keen to take sides in conflicts in the Middle East. Somaliland needs to engage, but not to create opponents in, the international system.

By 1965, Soviet aid to emerging countries surpassed $9 billion. This allowed these countries to carry out somewhat independent developmental policies that wouldn't have been possible under capitalism. For the first time, they could trade on more equitable terms with the Soviet Union which was not subject to the boom-and-bust cycles of the capitalist system.

There is abundant research on the multiple forms of oppression that queer/LGBTIA+ people suffer from straight society. It’s time to acknowledge the oppression experienced within the movement itself.

Mechanisation and automation have been called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. But these are not inevitable or neutral economic realities. They are political weapons of oppression under capitalism. It is a war against the working classes to increase profits. It is no an accident that bosses choose to mechanise and automate in the context of the massive crisis of capitalism.

Business-oriented analysis of the middle class in Africa is superficial, preoccupied purely with number crunching in terms of income and expenditure. In contrast, new scholarly interest in the African middle class offers a deeper analysis of cultural factors and identities, consciousness, social positioning and relations to other groups as well as institutions and the state.

“We urge the Department of Higher Education and Training to work towards improving conditions of service for educators, believing that as long as conditions of service for educators are not improved, addressing quality, just and equal education will remain a dream.”

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir seems to have failed to hold together Africa’s newest nation. The citizens are under attack by rebel groups and undisciplined government soldiers. How long will this go on? When is the government of Salva Kiir going to create an environment of peace especially for the young people to realize their dreams?

The much sought after foreign direct investment is more about political control of the developing world than economics. Playing with fire is an apt description of the risk that the developing countries take in inviting foreign investments. This is not to say that FDI should be barred by Africa, but it is to underscore the point that policy-makers must be wary of the ghosts lurking behind its mask.