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Mail & Guardian
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Great gift: Africa, a continent of contradiction, where conflict and innovation, fragility and possibility, poverty
and resilience live side by side.

Africa has a gift the world still needs

The demographic case is equally striking. More than 60% of Africans are under 25. By 2050, one in three people aged 15 to 24 anywhere on Earth will be African. A continent this…

A US marine observes nearby vessels from the amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26), during a strait transit at the Strait of Hormuz. (Cpl. Adam Dublinske/Released)

Editorial: The high cost of war

The war in the Middle East isn’t coming to our doorstep- it is already here. You will feel it at the pumps, in the supermarket aisles and in your beer mug. The ripple effect of…

Voices under Siege: Standing with Kashmir

Just as apartheid could not be normalised by time or silence, neither can the systematic denial of human rights in Kashmir

Promise not kept: The UN Security Council resolved to ensure self-determination for Western Sahara but seem incapable to see it through to fruition. Photo: UN Photo/Kim Haughton

UNSC resolution a betrayal of Western Sahara

The International Court of Justice’s 1975 advisory opinion affirmed that no ties of sovereignty existed between Morocco and Western Sahara, yet 50 years later, the UN’s actions…

The United Nations Security Council in session. Photo: Reuters

UN credibility crisis: The US veto shields Israel’s destruction of Gaza

The United Nations Security Council needs reform. The US has, since 1946, exercised its veto more than 80 times, many of those to block resolutions critical of Israel

The conflict between India and Pakistan goes back to Partition in 1947. Conflict has flared up regularly in Kashmir since then including in 2019 (above) and now in 2025. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Kashmir’s ‘Black Day’ a reminder that the freedom struggle continues

The people of Kashmir and Palestine have suffered oppression for many decades, both starting with the British and then by India and Israel, respectively

International relations minister Ronald Lamola during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Lotte Palace Hotel on September 26, 2024 in New York. (Photo by Bryan R. SMITH / POOL / AFP)

GNU is key to securing global goodwill and investment, says Lamola

South Africa cannot squander the positive sentiment the governing coalition has garnered around the world, the minister said

President Cyril Ramaphosa.(@PresidencyZA/X)

Africa stakes its place

Cyril Ramaphosa’s trip abroad this week included arguing for Africa to be given a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council

Representation: Sierra Leone, which assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council in August, has called for permanent representation for Africa at the Security Council. President Julius Maada Bio has underscored the need to ensure Africa rightfully holds its place in the council. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Beyond Africa’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council

What Africa could gain from the Summit of the Future to nurture good governance on the continent.

People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli air raids. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)

War on Gaza shows the bias of the ‘international community’

Over the past few weeks we have witnessed a disturbing trend of a collective blind eye being turned to history

UN Security Council

Africa must have permanent representation on UN Security Council

The British high commissioner to South Africa reflects on the value of the United Nations for the UK and South Africa to achieve shared objectives

More than 2,000 people – 55 from South Africa – have converged in Egypt in a show of international solidarity. Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images

South Africa willing to facilitate peace in Israel-Hamas war

Pretoria does not believe its disparate views on the conflict will affect relations with the US

Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrives in South Africa ahead of the Brics summit.

Brazil’s Lula calls for end to Ukraine war

President criticises UN Security Council over handling of other conflicts and says Brazil is ready to help secure an immediate ceasefire and long-term peace

President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Washington DC this week on a mission few would envy: to rescue a bilateral relationship that has descended into open hostility.
 Photo: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Ramaphosa’s Russia-Ukraine peace initiative to kick off in June

Envoys from six African states will shuttle between Kyiv and Moscow to try to secure a ceasefire and peace talks

The Mojapelo panel has completed its investigation into the Lady R controversy and is drafting a report to President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Facebook/ Lorraine Goddard Bradbury)

Russia denies weapons were loaded onto the Lady R

The Russian embassy says the claims are part of a campaign to move South Africa from its non-aligned position on the war in Ukraine

How the Global South can escape the dollar’s stranglehold

There are opportunities for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and and developing countries

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa (L), Britain’s King Charles III, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor and Britain’s Camilla, Queen Consort during a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on November 22, 2022 in London, England. This is the first state visit hosted by the UK with King Charles III as monarch, and the first state visit here by a South African leader since 2010. (Victoria Jones – Pool / Getty Images)

Ramaphosa calls for reform of UN Security Council during United Kingdom visit

Cyril Ramaphosa is on a state visit to the UK, the first to be hosted by King Charles III after the death of Queen Elisabeth II in September.

A mans walks past a burning barricade during a protest against Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry calling for his resignation, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 2022. (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Haiti in turmoil – and the US must shoulder the blame

As the situation in Haiti escalates we need to look beyond US-backed narratives to better understand a complex situation

An estimated 40 000 beneficiaries of the Government Employment Pensions Fund (GEPF) received sharply reduced income for October due to tax deductions as high as 60% in some cases.

Sars taxes state pensioners heavily

Poor internal communication between the tax agency and the Government Employment Pensions Fund has left 40 000 pensioners with less income

Remove nuclear sword of Damocles

Even small countries can add their voices to the international attempt to enforce a ban on these devastating weapons that hold the globe captive