By Justice Malala For us South Africans, and for many across the globe, it is impossible to watch Oscar Pistorius run without a stir of emotion, without wanting to break down and cry and shout with joy. Pistorius is no ordinary hero: he is that rare thing, a man with an almost-impossible narrative. It is […]
Guardian Africa Network
The Guardian's Africa blog and network showcases strong, sometimes conflicting opinions from inside and outside the continent in collaboration with a network made up of a dozen independent sites. Our partners include solo bloggers and group blogs from established institutions such as the Mail & Guardian's Thought Leader. Add to this mix the Guardian's own correspondents and exclusive pieces from regional experts, and we hope you will be informed, engaged, provoked, annoyed and moved.
Posted inLifestyle
Enough with the skin whitening
By Afua Hirsch It is a familiar formula for persuading women to buy a new beauty product: plaster billboards of a beautiful model in the capital city, accompanied by a catchy slogan written in the language of the ordinary woman. But when new adverts for skin cream Khess Petch – a skin-lightening cream whose name […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The politics of political hate speech
By David Smith Freedom of expression is an absolute. Unless, of course, the politics of South African president Jacob Zuma‘s re-election are in play. On Wednesday the governing African National Congress (ANC) promised to stop singing the anti-apartheid ditty Dubula iBhunu (Shoot the Boer) to avoid hurting the feelings of white farmers and inflaming racial […]
Posted inNews/Politics
10 African leaders turning to twitter
By David Smith Nana Akufo-Addo (@nadaa2012) Leader of the New Patriotic party and presidential candidate in Ghana. 1 640 tweets 35 following 6 132 followers The opposition leader is hoping social media can propel him to victory in forthcoming elections. One of numerous recent tweets declared: “In #48days, we will go to the polls to decide between […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘They shipped you there, so come back to us’
By Afua Hirsch From an African perspective, going to the Caribbean can be a disarming experience. On many of the islands, the people look distinctively west African, their national dishes are barely changed versions of African food (compare Nevis’s “cook-up” to Ghana’s “waakye” and I challenge you to spot the difference), and their Creole dialects […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Kgalema (anyone but Zuma) Motlanthe
By David Smith There are two gestures now essential to understanding South African politics. One is a rolling hand motion as practised by football fans when calling for a player to be substituted. The player they want yanked off is the president, Jacob Zuma. The other is the cupping of a hand at a downward […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tsvangirai: Zimbabwe still needs Mugabe
By Leo Cendrowicz Morgan Tsvangirai is a man under pressure. Ahead of next year’s elections the Zimbabwean prime minister is trying to deliver a new constitution, revive a troubled economy and manage a difficult relationship with the country’s president, Robert Mugabe. Yet one of Tsvangirai’s main concerns right now is keeping his love life from […]
Posted inLifestyle
Size matters in Africa
By Afua Hirsch You didn’t have to have tickets to Ghana fashion and design week (GFDW) to get a sense that something was afoot at Accra’s most showy venue, the Mövenpick hotel. In the lobby on the morning the event was meant to start (Ghana being Ghana, the 11am launch happened closer to 3pm), I […]
Posted inLifestyle
Black dolls, it’s a black pride thing
By Afua Hirsch We’ve come a long way since the golliwog, right? These days there are black dolls in every toy shop. Tesco might be known for selling black dolls for the wrong reason – pricing black versions £1 cheaper than almost identical white dolls – but the fact that they sell black dolls is […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Homosexuality is African
By Eusebius McKaiser As a gay African, with a background in analytic philosophy, the most annoying opposition to my sexual orientation is the claim that my lifestyle is un-African. It is annoying because historic and anthropological claims about the origins of behaviour seldom offer principled reasons why a lifestyle should never be allowed. Colonialists are […]
Posted inNews/Politics
African aid: no more ‘poverty porn’
By Magatte Wade Last Saturday I spoke at the Harvard Women in Business Conference, an annual event that I love. I wore a bright blue dress in a sea of sober black suits and talked to them about the importance of being authentic in order to be happy. These young women, many of them ready […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Africa: fresh voices, new perspectives
By David Smith The dark continent. The hopeless continent. A scar on the conscience of the world. The cradle of humankind. African renaissance, Africa rising. Amazing Africa. I am an African. Scramble for Africa. Out of Africa. Ex Africa semper aliquid novi. There have been countless attempts to define the world’s second biggest and second […]