Posted inGeneralMediaNews/PoliticsTech

New walls in cyberspace: Internet shutdowns and authoritarianism in Africa

Cutting off communication has become a favourite ploy of some of the continent’s Big Men. Ironically, this harms their standing in the long term Although the Berlin Wall was toppled 30 years ago, new walls have continued to crop up around the world — virtual ones that block or limit internet access to avert political […]

Posted inEqualityNews/Politics

Global freedom in retreat?

Following the collapse of communism, Francis Fukuyama famously asserted that humankind was on the threshold of “the end of history”. By this, he meant that humanity’s sociocultural evolution was poised to resolve itself in a general acceptance of the principles of Western liberal democracy as the basis of government. This he spelled out in his […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Egypt needs a Mandela

The tumultuous tides of human protesters on the streets, bridges and squares of Cairo and Istanbul, speak of frustration with the world as it is and a yearning for a better life. A clear and precise vision of that better life as articulated in the Freedom Charter by our visionary Nelson Mandela is what contributed […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Sharia law, nemesis of justice

While in transit at Abu Dhabi International Airport recently world-renowned Professor Cyril Karabus from Cape Town was arrested and jailed over a child’s death that occurred 12 years ago. Although his trail is due to take place on November 20 his lawyers have not had access to the medical files and there is good reason […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Syria a geopolitical minefield

Emerging from the widely hailed Arab Spring revolutions is a new threat to world stability and security. The very breadth of the scale of the uprising, stretching across the whole of North Africa and into the Middle East, has ramifications well beyond the region. Traditional world powers like Russia and the US have suffered a […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Inequality, a direct link to political instability

Addressing the challenges of inequality around the world, specifically in Africa, is becoming increasingly paramount. Degrees of inequality at all levels of society negatively impact on poverty-reduction strategies, result in inefficient resource allocations by governments and policymakers, wasted productive potential, exponential growth in dependency ratios within society as well as impaired institutional development. In Africa, […]