Last week’s local government elections in South Africa were marred by racial slurs, ethnocentric witch-hunting, mudslinging and outright physical elimination of political opponents. The country’s electoral commission remained indolent and incapable of taking bold steps to put an end to the blatant abuse of citizens’ right to choose their own leaders. Free and fair elections remain a big challenge in the rainbow nation.

The World Bank should not be applauded for its new PR driven recruitments and promotions. Instead it should be held accountable for mistreatment of over 1500 black staff. The systemic racism for over half a century calls for bold and immediate actions. Establishing a high level external commission is the first critical step.

Prime Holdings, a corrupt company discredited a decade ago, is inexplicably back in business handling huge government contracts. Meanwhile, Crystal Ventures, a company owned by President Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front, dominates the commercial scene. 

In the September 17, 2014 issue of the Chicago Suntimes, President Kim wrote a letter to the editor to counter Reverend Jesse Jackson’s article titled “Apartheid Avenue Two Blocks from the White House.” That letter has since been removed from newspaper’s website. We republish it here.

Nigeria’s problem, which has led to the current calls for restructuring of the country, is failure by the ruling classes to meet the basic needs of their people. There is no evidence that restructuring, whatever it means, would solve this basic problem. Official corruption, mass unemployment, ethno-religious conflicts, an economy that over-relies on oil, are Nigerian realities that cannot be addressed by restructuring.