Police arrested at least 70 people in South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg, Sept. 2, after protesters looted mostly foreign-owned shops and set fire to cars and buildings in the second outbreak of urban rioting in a week.
South Africa
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
What’s behind the shifts in South Africa’s latest election?
Though the ruling African National Congress party (ANC) has won the South African elections, it has done so with a dwindling support of the popular vote.
Posted inFaith, News
As cyclone slams Africa, churches and aid agencies coordinate response
Two boys at a Catholic boarding school in Zimbabwe are among the more than 300 people killed in the aftermath of a cyclone that slammed into Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in mid-March.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
South Africa is seeing a spike in protests. Will the government finally address economic inequality?
While a new black middle class has emerged, while the politically connected got rich, some even becoming billionaires, the vast majority of South Africans remain poor.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
A new president may not mean a totally fresh start for South Africa
New president Cyril Ramaphosa has brought hope to South Africa, but he still comes from the party responsible for the disastrous reign of Jacob Zuma.
Posted inFaith, News
Are the rich to blame for South Africa’s drought?
“It is you rich people who have finished the water, and now you want us to share the consequences.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
What Jacob Zuma’s resignation means for the future of South Africa
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference welcomed the resignation as “long overdue.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Did South Africa’s A.N.C. elect a reform leader?
Although Mr. Ramaphosa is a relatively acceptable leader of the A.N.C. in the eyes of some opposition parties, his economic stance will put him in tension with the populist left Economic Freedom Fighters and many trade unions.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Racism remains a common scourge in South Africa and the United States
Despite the fall of apartheid in 1994 and the reconciliatory tone set by the country’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, the demon of racism is very much alive here.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
The crisis over mental health care in South Africa continues
Apartheid-era mental health care facilities were not great. But at least they weren’t lethal.