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6 Reasons the US Needs to Keep the Focus on South Africa
It’s tempting to forget about South Africa, now that Nelson Mandela has found his final resting place. But the South Africa he transformed is still changing in interesting and surprising ways. The nation is already the economic powerhouse of the continent and has recently muscled its way onto the world stage. It will see watershed…
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Why They Booed at Nelson Mandela’s Memorial
The first sign that something was off at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service on Tuesday came when the crowd of 60,000 people started booing en masse—a low, bovine sound that shook the Soweto stadium and seemed terribly at odds with the patient, forgiving man who brought them here. They were not booing Mandela; they were booing…
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South Africans Worry Over 'Tata' Mandela
(The Root) — South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela‘s weekend hospitalization sent shock waves throughout the world. The country’s national and international figures alike wished the 94-year-old a speedy recovery with a fervent optimism that one might reserve for a much younger, healthier man. The anti-apartheid icon was admitted to a military hospital Saturday in…
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2 South Africans Making an Impact at Home
(The Root) — Growing up in Johannesburg’s impoverished Alexandra township, Florence Ngobeni-Allen, who is now an HIV/AIDS educator and counselor, has long understood the concept of philanthropy. For her it was summed up by “ubuntu,” an elegant Xhosa word that translates roughly to “I am because you are.” That ideal is personified in the Nomthunzi…
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Obama's Win: Why Some Africans Cared
(The Root) — In the last few weeks before the U.S. presidential election, it seemed as if every time I opened my mouth, a South African stranger initiated a version of the same conversation: “Do you really think,” a woman said to me as I browsed through vintage couture at her Johannesburg shop, “that that…
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South Africa's Vision of a New World Order
(The Root) — South African President Jacob Zuma began his remarks to the press corps this week with an ode to two men. The first, predictably, was former President Nelson Mandela, a 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon and Nobel Peace laureate who is seen as the father of modern South Africa. The second man he named, however,…
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Africa Wants Entry to UN Halls of Power
(The Root) — South African President Jacob Zuma made a rousing speech last week at the United Nations, invoking Nelson Mandela and praising the virtues of inclusion, democracy and equal representation. He argued for Africa to be admitted to the United Nations’ most powerful body, the U.N. Security Council. In an argument that not so…
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S. African Miner Protest Shows Deep Conflicts
(The Root) — When South African police attacked black platinum miners on strike last week — shooting dead 34 and injuring 78 — the nation was suddenly reminded how some things haven’t changed since the end of apartheid two decades ago. Headlines thundered “war“ and “massacre,” describing the violence that occurred when some 3,000 angry…
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Rarely a Gold Medal for African Nations
(The Root) — “The Star-Spangled Banner” has already played more than three dozen times at the Olympics as American athletes have taken gold medals. Britain’s “God Save the Queen” has had its own hit run at the London Games, with more than two dozen podium renditions. But for more than half of the African nations,…
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Indie Runner Carries South Sudan's Hopes
(The Root) — Marathoner Guor Marial has said that he used to hate running. That’s because, he says, growing up in Southern Sudan, he used to run for his life. During the country’s decadeslong civil war between the Northern government and Southern rebels, Marial, 28, saw many family members die at the hands of federal…
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