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In a bid to secure another term, Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema is controlling the judiciary, tampering with legislation and limiting activities by the opposition ahead of next year’s elections. Photo: Supplied

Zambia’s 2026 election: How Hichilema is tilting the playing field against opponents

As President Hakainde Hichilema lays his groundwork for Zambia’s 2026 election, a disputed outcome appears almost inevitable

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba. (File photo)

Who is our opposition anyway?

South Africans have, in recent years, looked beyond the ANC in hope of finding new voices capable of holding the line on spending and corruption. Instead, what they have received…

A general election campaign poster for the Democratic Alliance party, center, sits between posters showing Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, and Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), on the road side in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday, April 18, 2019. The governing African National Congress has dominated national elections since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, with the DA securing about 22 percent of the vote in 2014. Polls suggest the ANC will keep its majority in the May 8 ballot. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images

How South Africa can prepare itself for coalition governance

Advanced democracies with coalition governments and strong committees understand the necessity of developing rules and institutions to mitigate executive unaccountability

DA leader John Steenhuisen. Photo: Getty Images

DA releases rules of engagement for its elective conference

Candidates vying for top positions in the DA will undergo rigorous vetting including audits of their financial records

Big brother’s watching: A woman walks past surveillance cameras in Akto, in China’s Xinjiang region. China is accused of genocide against the Uyghur people in the region. But the fear of surveillance is trumped by anger at being surveilled, according to the author. Photo: Greg Baker/AFP

How state surveillance can strengthen citizen dissent

Authoritarian regimes use spying to deter protest. But this can encourage people to stand up for what they believe in

Chapter 2.19: Coalitions and oppositions

Journalists Emsie Ferreira and Lizeka Tandwa chat to Mmusi Maimane, Paul Berkowitz and Narend Singh about the state of the opposition

Supporters of main opposition candidate, Cellou Dalein Diallo stand on a van at a campaign rally in Conakry on October 14, 2020. – The president of Guinea, Alpha Conde is bidding for a third term in office with the Presidential elections to be held on October the 18th, defying critics who say he forced through a new constitution this year enabling him to sidestep two-term presidential limits. (Photo by JOHN WESSELS / AFP)

We should not ignore Guinea’s constitutional coup

Citizens have for a year protested against the president seeking a third term in office despite a two-term limit. Many have been killed — and 90 more people died in this week’s…

#ZimbabweanLives Matter: Activists display placards, which are then shared on social media, rendering
physical demonstrations — and their attendant dangers — unnecessary. (#SoloDemo/Twitter)

Campaigning together, but on their own

Social media is driving a new – largely anonymous – form of protest in Zimbabwe and Zambia

DA interim leader John Steenhuisen. (Delwyn Verasamy/ M&G)

DA’s policy proposals are counter-transformative

The DA is stuck in classical liberalism when there are new ways of thinking about capitalism and the role of the state – and its denial of race as a concept is disingenuous

Hornet’s nest: Protesters run for cover as they clash with police in September 2018 in Manzini. (Photo: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP)

How eSwatini silences opposition activists

Activists in the Kingdom of eSwatini are routinely arrested on vague and flimsy charges

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera. (Guerecia/AFP)

The secrets behind the success of Malawi’s opposition coalition

It took more than just a united front to unseat the governing party in the recent presidential elections in Malawi

Baring it all: Supporters of Ugandan human rights activist Stella Nyanzi are roughed up by police at court. (Sumy Sadurni/AFP)

Why Uganda needs a Stella Nyanzi in Parliament

Many Ugandans find Stella Nyanzi’s mode of protest, including vulgar insults and stripping to make a point, unsettling. But her challenge to the country’s patriarchy could bring…

Bobi Wine addresses supporters outside his recording studio on October 31, 2019 in Kampala, Uganda. (Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images)

Bobi Wine presents his presidential credentials

The Ugandan opposition leader believes he is best-placed to lead an opposition coalition

Policemen posted to prevent a campaign rally in Zanzibar in 2005.

Tanzania’s latest clampdown takes decades of repression to new lows

In Tanzania today, political space has shrunk to the point where protests are suppressed before they emerge

Better days: Joice Mujuru

After Mugabe, Zim opposition stumbles before vote

​With Zim holding elections this year, the opposition had been feeling cautiously optimistic— until its arch-enemy, Mugabe, was ousted from power

Protesters hurl bricks at Togolese security forces during a demonstration against President Faure Gnassingbé in Lomé.

Casualties mount in Togo protests

Opposition ire over the president’s extended term in office spilled over into the streets this week

Miners affected are eligible to get R10 000 to R500 000, depending on the nature and the severity of the disease.(Emile Hendricks)

DA: NPA has stalled on Zuma corruption-charges case for five years

DA leader Helen Zille says the party has filed for a review of the courts decision to drop corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma.

Nigeria: Abubakar, Buhari possible candidates against Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan bids for a second term as Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar lead race for the opposition ticket.