South Africa

Your faithful scribe is almost but not quite back home and thus to something resembling normalcy. Full-scale blogging should resume next week. In the meantime, here are some Africa-related links:

In Zimbabwe the Interception of Communications Bill only awaits Robert Mugabe’s signature. My guess is he’s thrilled to do so, helping seal Zimbabwe’s totalitarian status. Meanwhile MacDonald Dzirutwe avers in the Mail & Guardian that Mugabe’s newest get-tough economic policies are likely to represent only a short-term palliative with deleterious long-range effects.

It is now Congo-Brazzaville’s opportunity to hold elections that raise all sorts of questions about probity, organizational skills, effectiveness, and the like.

In the category of “this comes as news to whom, exactly?” we must place a refugees International report that asserts that Sudan’s rape laws are making the human rights catastrophe in Darfur worse. I do not aim my sarcasm at Refugees International, but rather at a crisis that is so far gone that such obvious accounts still qualify as being significantly newsworthy.

In Accra we might soon find out if we are closer to seeing the emergence of a United States of Africa. Just five years after its inception as a new and better organization of African states, the African Union (AU) debates tightening their confederation even more.  

 In South Africa:

Petrol prices continue to pose problems, with recent price drops in some areas accompanied by price hikes in others. 

As the ANC meets to debate future directions, the party’s succession battle accelerates, with a question that has been a subtext for some time now rising to the fore – does the party leader of necessity have to be the political standard bearer? Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki has not so subtly hinted to the South African Communist Party (SACP) that it might be time for the comrades to steer their own separate course. I have argued for years that the only serious challenge to the ANC will come from the left, not the right, from black politicians, not disenchanted whites. Apparently Mbeki is willing to accelerate the process.

The mass action strikes are finally over. A South African cabinet minister and a prominent labour leader weigh in on their meaning.

Finally, the Springboks have had their luggage pilfered.  Is this another angle for the South African crime epidemic? Not exactly. The thefts appear to have occurred in Australia, where the South African ruggers are preparing for the next part of their Tri-Nations away leg.  

First South African workers become embroiled in a general strike the end of which is not in sight. Now it appears that Nigerian workers are set to embark on their own general strike. The Nigerian strikes will be the result of rising fuel costs, an increase in Value Added Taxes, and the sale of government-owned oil refineries to cronies of Olusegun Obasanjo in the former President’s final days in office. The government has made some compromises, but not enough to placate the Nigeria Labour Congress.  

Here is a quick roundup of news stories this morning:

For three different perspectives on the general strike in South Africa see this story in the Mail & Guardian,  this from Green Left, and this from The Sowetan. (Hat tip to Peter Limb at H-SAfrica.)  See also this story from All Africa. And for concerns about the effect the strike will have on tourism, see here.

On the latest from Zimbabwe see this account of the ruling party’s meeting with the Movement for Democratic Change. Color me skeptical. This Michael Gerson piece in The Washington Post helps explain why. As does this.

The ANC leadership succession race is heating up. For some analysis see here.

Foreign Policy has released its annual Failed State Index, and sadly, though not unexpectedly, it is pregnant with African countries. The Mail & Guardian has more here. Not surprisingly, Sudan tops the list. And plucky little Guinea-Bissau is making its own mark by staking its claim as Africa’s cocaine capital.

Just some quick headlines from today:

The Springboks defeated Australia today in a nailbiter, 22-19, in the first leg of this year’s Tri-Nations. The Wallabies led 16-10 at the half and put up a more spirited front than most experts anticipated.

Author Ronald Suresh Roberts has published his long-awaited bography of Thabo Mbeki. The Star has an article that might or might not be an excerpt from the book — it is hard to tell — revealing Mbeki as  a man of the people, including the poor whites and Cherlize Theron. It is difficult to get a grip on the gravity of the book from this example, but it certainly has aroused controversy in some circles.

The nationwide strikes are at a “make or break” point as COSATU and the government prepare to lock horns on Sunday in hopesof breaking the impasse.

June 16 marks Youth Day in South Africa, and commemorates the anniversary of the start of the Soweto Uprising. It also has, according to the Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), mobilized and inspired Zimbabwe’s young people, though so far whatever impetus those events have inspired have yet to yield fruit. The Mail & Guardian, meanwhile, uses June 16 to celebrate 100 young South Africans. The M&G recommends you take them to lunch.

Happy Youth Day. Honor the spirit of Soweto and remember what the events of that South African winter represent for the cause of freedom and human dignity.

A few headlines that have caught my attention as I enjoy the first days of my honeymoon in the Pacific Northwest:

Massive strikes, organized by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), continue in South Africa. They have been largely peaceful, but as the strikes enter their third week there have been some incidents of violence and threats, though the army has been called out to ensure public safety. The central issue is pay for public-sector employees, and as the sides grow entrenched the threat of a “total shutdown” become more real. The trade union movement was central to the anti-apartheid movement and COSATU sees itself as the vanguard of left politics in South Africa. Given that the strike effectively pits COSATU against its tripartite ally the ANC it will be interesting to see what effect this has on the alliance and on the future of South African politics.

The cost of living in Zimbabwe continues to skyrocket. This comes amidst concerns that the Democratic Republic of Congo had shut off power supplies to the beleaguered people of Robert Mugabe’s thugocracy.

At NPR Correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton discusses some of the latest issues facing Africans, including a bombing in Nairobi and the latest G8 summit. In a similarly Pan-African vein, the Mail & Guardian reports that African leaders hope to end the “theater of violence” that racks the continent.