Category: South africa

Halfway through our conversation, Nomsa Mazwai, known by her stage name Nomisupasta, is laughing joyfully recalling her own cheeky and pointed song lyrics.  She’s talking about What You Like, a song that takes aim at political theatre, public performance and the strange expectations we continue to place on democracy  and she realises just how much…

A new year isn’t just a reset on the calendar, it’s an opportunity to reset how we care for ourselves.  As life continues to demand more of our time, energy and attention, wellness can no longer be treated as an afterthought.  Taking wellness seriously means choosing consistency over extremes and understanding that how we nourish…

Morogoro, a quiet provincial town at the foothills of Tanzania’s Uluguru Mountains, occupies an outsized place in South Africa’s liberation memory.  It was here, far from home and under the harsh conditions of exile, that the African National Congress — banned and battered by apartheid repression — forged the political architecture of what became the…

The Mail & Guardian Digital Edition – 9 January 2025 This content is restricted to subscribers only. Join the M&G Community Our commitment at the Mail & Guardian is to ensure every reader enjoys the finest experience. Join the M&G community and support us in delivering in-depth news to you consistently. Subscribe Subscription enables: –…

In the early hours of Saturday, 3 January 2026, the international order did not just bend; it broke. Images of a blindfolded Nicolás Maduro, whisked away from Caracas to a federal detention centre in Brooklyn, signal something far more consequential than a mere arrest.  The spectacle of a sovereign leader answering to a local magistrate…

“Every ruling power tells stories to justify its rule.” — Noam Chomsky Venezuela’s geopolitical significance has long been tied to its vast oil reserves. In recent years, Venezuelan crude has increasingly been sold to China, the world’s largest oil importer and notably outside the US dollar system, with transactions reportedly conducted in alternative currencies. China…

The ANC, celebrating 114 years in existence this week, deployed its national officials to the North West, a service delivery hotspot, in a charm offensive meant to launch the party’s road to the 2026 local government elections. It’s now or never/do-or-die for Africa’s oldest liberation movement, which celebrates its birthday this weekend amid calls for…

The Mail and Guardian has been conducting and publishing the Cabinet Report Cards, popularly known as the Cabinet Scores, since 1994 during the first Government of National Unity (GNU) under Nelson Mandela.   Over time, the reports have improved and are one of the ways South Africans measure the performance and quality of their Cabinet. The…

Europe’s collective response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been hailed as one of the most decisive demonstrations of post-Cold War unity in defence of international law.  The United Kingdom, the European Union and individual states like Denmark classified Moscow’s February 2022 offensive as an illegal, unprovoked assault on sovereignty, reinforcing Article 2(4) of…

In the Tragedy of King Lear, through the character Gloucester, William Shakespeare wrote: “So distribution should undo excess and each man have enough.”  Written over four centuries ago, these words resonate with haunting clarity today. Inequality has long been a marker for humankind. It has been a persistent shadow across eras and epochs. While we…

Welcome to the only South Africanised weekly cryptic crossword. Clue of the week: 26 Tramps husband – old buggered Opel suddenly started (5) This content is restricted to subscribers only. Join the M&G Community Our commitment at the Mail & Guardian is to ensure every reader enjoys the finest experience. Join the M&G community and…

The capture and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, a sitting President of a sovereign state of Venezuela by the United States (US) special forces is not just regrettable but a serious break of international law and norms.  President Donald Trump and his administration have long been setting the stage for this capture. The US actions…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems need to be powered.  They require compute resources, comprising hardware and infrastructure components – primarily Central Processing Units (CPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Neural Processing Units (NPUs), memory, storage and networking – that provide the processing power, data handling and parallel-computation capabilities required to train, run and…

On the eve of America’s imperial invasion of the Philippines in 1899, the British poet and defender of empire Rudyard Kipling urged the United States to: Take up the White Man’s burden– The savage wars of peace– Fill full the mouth of famine And bid the sickness cease; Over the next decade, Kipling’s injunction became…

A useful parallel can be drawn in contemporary international relations between 1935, when former Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The comparison suggests that the war in Ukraine has broader systemic implications and that a direct confrontation between Russia and the West is more…

The South African Communist Party (SACP) will pay a heavy price and risks eliminating itself if it contests the 2026 local government elections outside its alliance with the ANC. This is according to national chairperson Gwede Mantashe who warned this week. Last year, the SACP resolved to contest the upcoming local government elections independently of…

United States President Donald Trump’s pursuit of the control of Venezuela’s oil reserves — the largest in the world — are at the core of Washington’s onslaught against Caracas, the Latin American country’s ambassador to South Africa Carlos Feo Acevedo said this week. The US’s invasion of Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro…

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has publicly defied efforts by the ANC to reverse its decision to contest the 2026 local government elections independently, with the deepening rupture within the tripartite alliance that was laid bare at this week’s commemoration of Joe Slovo’s death. SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila used the platform of the…

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of advocate Andy Mothibi as the new head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has drawn mixed reactions, with opposition parties criticising his powers to unilaterally appoint the incoming head. In an unprecedented move, Ramaphosa bypassed six shortlisted candidates who were interviewed for the position of national director of public prosecutions…

Major potholes, raw sewage flowing through the streets, uncollected rubbish, youth loitering, families cooking meals over open fires and the stench of waste and sewerage confront you as you enter the townships governed by the Ditsobotla Local Municipality. On Wednesday, Deputy President Paul Mashatile visited the area as part of the ANC’s 114 anniversary celebrations…

South Africa enters 2026 with its relationship with the United States  under strain, not because of a single diplomatic rupture, but rather a widening divergence in how the two countries approach power, process and legitimacy in an increasingly volatile international environment. Relations between Pretoria and Washington were frosty by the end of 2025, following a…

Africa’s political and economic outlook in 2026 is defined less by crisis than by contradiction. Fewer elections are scheduled than in 2025, yet democratic choice continues to narrow where voters do go to the polls.  Economic growth is set to accelerate in pockets, even as debt, unemployment and inequality tighten their grip. The continent’s global…

Late last year, Malawi’s Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha made an announcement in Parliament that risks unravelling years of economic strategy.  “Visa-free access to Malawi is being revoked with immediate effect and a visa application fee will apply on a reciprocity basis,” he told legislators. With that statement, travellers from 79 countries, including the United States,…

You will readily note that this week we focus our attention on Venezuela. This is no accident. We believe the world’s eyes should be on Caracas, especially the violations of international law wrought by  US President Donald Trump’s disdain for peace.  The gung-ho US action to seize the elected president of a sovereign country flies…

Every year on 8 January, the African National Congress pauses for collective self-reflection and recommitment to its historic mission. January 8 is the ideological heartbeat of our movement, the day on which the ANC reaffirms its covenant with the people, reasserts its historic mission, and renews its mandate to lead society in the struggle for…

Audi’s first SUV was the Q7 which launched around 2006 and I remember it being quite a popular vehicle on the road when I was growing up.  Fast forward 20 years, and Audi has expanded its SUV lineup dramatically, but the Q7 and SQ7 are still the only models that are still seven-seater family SUVs. …

South Africa’s long-term economic competitiveness depends on how effectively it embraces digital transformation. Across the globe, industries are rapidly integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation into their operations, with technology changing how people work, how decisions are made, and how businesses compete. For South Africa, the challenge is not only technological adoption, but workforce readiness….

No political party in South Africa has done more good work than the ANC, its leader Cyril Ramaphosa claimed on Thursday, the 114 anniversary of the organisation’s formation. “There is no political party that when we look at, we feel … will be able to do the work that the ANC has done. I say…