2024 has been a bumper year for elections, with people in a number of heavyweight democracies going to the polls: Indonesia, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, the USA, Mexico, Pakistan, and the world’s largest democracy, India. Southern African has also had a larger than usual number of elections, with South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, the […]
It is certainly not surprising that the different parties in the Government of National Unity have failed to reach consensus on some major policy positions. The coalition is only a few months old, and some of the areas of disagreement are deep-seated and almost defining of the parties concerned. Democracy Digest 13 Problems with Policy […]
South Africa’s putative Government of National Unity consists of rather more parties (ten) than are usually found in a coalition, and it aspires not just to govern but to recapture the shared purpose that animated the nation in the immediate post-democracy period, getting us back on track after a period of misgovernance and loss of direction. But for […]
Last Friday’s ruling by the International Court of Justice, in the case of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel, stirred up a predictably wide range of responses and opinions, often diametrically opposite, as well as some rather strained interpretations. Democracy Digest 11 – The South AfricaIsrael Case at the ICJ by Mike Pothier
Last week seven political parties met in Johannesburg to forge a pre-election agreement aimed at winning sufficient votes in next year’s national and provincial elections to unseat the governing ANC. The initiative was led by the DA, the country’s second biggest party, and was earlier termed ‘the Moonshot Pact’. Interestingly, the meeting was chaired not by a DA […]
According to the World Health Organisation, “cholera transmission is closely linked to inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities. Typical at-risk areas include peri-urban slums, and camps for internally displaced persons or refugees, where minimum requirements of clean water and sanitation are not been met.”1 Democracy Digest 9 – Cholera – A Symptom of Poor Governance […]
Despite the customary shambolic start, with registrations and opening speeches running many hours behind schedule, the ANC’s 55th National Conference completed its main task – the election of a national leadership core – surprisingly smoothly and without obvious rancour. Democracy Digest 8 – The ANCs National Conference by Mike Pothier 2
Despite the customary shambolic start, with registrations and opening speeches running many hours behind schedule, the ANC’s 55th National Conference completed its main task – the election of a national leadership core – surprisingly smoothly and without obvious rancour. Democracy Digest 8 – The ANCs National Conference by Mike Pothier 2
In June 2020, in the case of New Nation Movement NPC & others v President of the Republic of South Africa & others [2020] ZACC 11, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 was unconstitutional to the extent that it allowed for citizens to be elected to the National Assembly and […]
According to the government, South Africa’s abstention in the UN General Assembly’s vote to call for an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was motivated by principle. The Deputy-Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Candith Mashego-Dlamini, told Parliament that “South Africa “stands by its principled position of peaceful resolution of conflict.” All parties to […]
