Editor's note

In parts of South Africa taps are running dry, the days are getting hotter and the onset of the summer rains is delayed. Although it’s easy for politicians to blame water shortages on the weather, Mike Muller argues the real crisis is the level of ignorance about how water is made available and what needs to be done to ensure supply.

South Africa faces challenges with hunger and food security. Many people don’t realise that they have a right to food and that governments are obliged to make sure people have access to healthy, nutritious food. In today’s episode of Pasha, Brittany Kesselman discusses how people in Brazil and India stood up for this right and the lessons people in South Africa can take from their experience.

Nontobeko Mtshali

Education Editor

Top Story

cropped water.

South Africa’s real water crisis: not understanding what’s needed

Mike Muller, University of the Witwatersrand

The real crisis with water supply is that South Africa doesn't know what it doesn't know.

Politics + Society

How Masisi outsmarted Khama to take the reins in Botswana

Barry Morton, Indiana University

The Khamas have dominated Botswana's politics since the 1870s, but they are now a discredited, spent force.

Why the UN’s financial crisis will hurt Africans more than anyone else

Gary Wilson, Liverpool John Moores University

The world body spends more than US$6 billion a year on peacekeeping operations, most of which are in Africa

Education

Why PhDs are good – for individuals, and for a country

Brenda Wingfield, University of Pretoria

If South Africa focuses on getting more PhDs, universities will also increase other graduates in the pipeline.

South Africa takes steps to assure the quality of its doctorates

Sioux McKenna, Rhodes University

All institutions that offer doctoral-level qualifications are about to undergo a national review in response to the concerns about quality.

Podcasts

Pasha 43: How South Africa can deliver on the right to food

Ozayr Patel, The Conversation

To break the cycle of poverty and malnutrition, the government needs to ensure that children have access to sufficient healthy food.

Pasha 42: Cities in Africa need to be made safer

Ozayr Patel, The Conversation

The more people come to a city, the bigger demand for buildings. These buildings need to be safe.

From our international editions

Four visions for the future of public transport

Marcus Enoch, Loughborough University

A whole range of social and technological changes could revolutionise how we travel in the coming decades.

I teach and play gospel music and I think Kanye’s Jesus is King is a remarkable gospel album

Andrew Legg, University of Tasmania

Jesus is King has polarised discussion. But this genuinely contemporary album will challenge the traditional concept of African American gospel while influencing it shape for years to come.

En français

Les générations actuelles doivent-elles réparer les effets injustes de l’esclavage colonial ?

Magali Bessone, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

L’esclavage, ses conséquences forment des injustices historiques injustices historiques que tous condamnent moralement. Mais la condamnation morale peut-elle s’assortir d’une réponse politique ?

Lutte contre le terrorisme en Afrique : des armées mieux équipées contrôlent et répriment les populations

Moda Dieng, Université Saint-Paul / Saint Paul University

Plutôt que de favoriser le professionnalisme des armées, l’assistance internationale tend à augmenter la capacité des forces de sécurité à s’engager dans la répression et l’escalade de la violence.

 
 
 
 

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