The Wicked Conversation
Governance Performance Index – South Africa 2024
South Africa’s system of local government is presently undergoing its most widespread sequence of changes since the introduction of a new system shortly after our transition to democracy. Politically, the 2021 local government elections produced a record number of...
Expert analysis
Is the Southern African Development Community (SADC) afflicted by premature deindustrialisation?
This paper, by Dr Ross Harvey and Pranish Desai, quantitatively examines SADC's industrialisation trends, considering factors like South Africa's weak performance and the impact of oil and mineral rents. It takes as its starting point economist Dani Rodrik’s (2016)...
Navigating digital sovereignty in Africa: A review of key challenges and constraints
This paper, by Tyler Venske, explores the African perspective on the evolving global digital landscape, focusing on the concept of "digital sovereignty." It discusses how investments by the United States and China in digital infrastructure have benefited Africa but...
Max Price’s statues and storms
Professor David Benatar reviews Dr Max Price’s Price, Max. Statues and Storms: Leading Through Change (Tafelberg, 2023). The book recounts Max Price's experiences as vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT) during the turbulent "Fallist" years of 2015 to...
Towards the second decade of Agenda 2063: Embracing a resilient social contract with African citizens
Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want was adopted during the 24th Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, January 2013. The agenda advocates for stronger socio-economic and political integration among African countries and sets out...
SONA must reflect Ramaphosa’s ultimate duty
A somewhat perplexing disconnect lies at the heart of South African democracy today. On the one hand, the country continues to perform relatively well, particularly within the African context, on the global indices of democratic quality and political rights which are...
Video
Latest webinars
COP26: What should be at the top of Africa’s agenda?
In November, the United Kingdom will host the 26th annual United Nations (UN) global climate summit – called COP – or “Conference of the Parties” in Glasgow. COP26 (delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic) has a unique urgency and could prove to be one of the most important conferences of our time. Most experts agree that the…
The Africa Governance Papers
Podcasts
GGA’s Pranish Desai appears on The Citizen’s podcast
On 15 February 2023, GGA’s Pranish Desai appeared on the podcast The Citizen’s...
GGA’s Pranish Desai on coalition issues in municipal councils
On 14 February 2023, GGA's Pranish Desai spoke to SAfm's Songezo Mabece about...
GGA’s Pranish Desai on corruption in local government
On 12 January 2023, GGA's Pranish Desai spoke to Radio 702's Thabo...
News feed
Combatting fake news and disinformation is a civil duty
As electioneering ramps up ahead of the national election later this year, we can expect a marked increase in the proliferation of disinformation, misinformation, and fake news, aided by evolving artificial intelligence (AI) tools that make the discernment between...
South Africa 2024 Elections Tracker
Voter registration The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) conducted its inaugural Voter Registration Weekend campaign on November 19 and 20, 2023. During this campaign, 568,374 first-time registrars were successfully registered. Following the successful voter...
Turning the tide: COP28’s pivotal role in safer oceans
This weekend, on the 9th of December, delegates convened at the “Powering Ocean Breakthroughs with 100% Sustainable Ocean Management” event at the 28th UN Conference of Parties (CoP28) in Dubai, to decide on “path-defining” nature-climate investment plans and...
Why political accountability matters for a fair electoral system
Political accountability, which concerns the relationship that citizens maintain with their elected officials and vice versa, is one of the fundamental building blocks of a democratic system. One subject that is central to the discussion on political accountability in...