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Robert Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe for 30 years until he was deposed in 2017, has died. He was 95 years old and had been battling ill health for some time. His death has elicited mixed reactions: some have paid tribute to Mugabe the pan-Africanist and liberation hero, while others consider him a "monster" who failed his people. Roger Southall and David Moore reflect on Mugabe's complex, contested legacy.
Tapiwa Chagonda examines Zimbabwe's current social, economic and political crisis and mulls possible solutions. Elsewhere, Nick Westcott explores how the legacy of another post-colonial African independence hero, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere, is being twisted by the country's current leader and his sustained attacks on free speech.
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Robert Mugabe during his swearing-in ceremony in Harare, 2008. The former Zimbabwean president has died aged 95.
EPA-EFE
Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
Where should we place Mugabe among the pantheon of African nationalists who led their countries to independence?
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Robert Mugabe, former President of Zimbabwe, addressing media in Harare, in July 2018.
EPA-EFE/Yeshiel Panchia
David B. Moore, University of Johannesburg
Robert Mugabe's years of playing one group off against the other to favour himself finally wore too thin in 2017.
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Politics + Society
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Tapiwa Chagonda, University of Johannesburg
It's time for a new approach as it becomes increasingly clear that protests won't topple the Zanu-PF government.
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Nick Westcott, SOAS, University of London
While sometimes intolerant of criticism, Nyerere tended to respond with argument rather than force.
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Science + Technology
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Suzanne Davis, University of Michigan; Geoff Emberling, University of Michigan
Visitors to these sites had one particular religious ritual that may strike some as strange: they carved graffiti in important and sacred places.
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Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University; Martin Lockley, University of Colorado Denver
These trackways preserve an incredibly brief moment in time. More importantly, they tell us about ancient climates, and how turtle breeding ranges have changed over the millenia
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Debra Meyer, University of Johannesburg
Developments in mitochondrial DNA sequencing are returning South Africa's slavery heritage to view.
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Hester Hanegraef, Natural History Museum
The hominin known as Lucy may not be the direct ancestor of humans.
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Environment + Energy
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Alison Stowell, Lancaster University
Sites like Agbogbloshie provides a valuable service. They offer opportunities for job creation, profit and cleaning up environments littered with waste.
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Zoe Cormack, University of Oxford
Our research shows how a large scale renewable energy project can be plagued by many of the same troubling impacts on local communities as oil and extractive industries.
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Podcasts
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Ozayr Patel, The Conversation
Over the past two decades digitisation has steadily transformed African farming.
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Ozayr Patel, The Conversation
It’s not enough to simply promote healthy eating and exercise without considering South Africa's very real environmental and structural constraints.
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