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There’s a joke that Zimbabwean comedians are known to make: “You have freedom of expression – but not freedom after expression.” Comedians in the country often have to deal with personal and physical attacks for being too critical of the government. Ask the popular stand-up comic Gonyeti, who was abducted and tortured in 2019 for speaking her mind. Politics scholar Amanda Källstig unpacks the findings of a new study on women comedians in the country, who have found that the mic makes them able to speak out about sexism and oppression, despite the challenges they face.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa became president of the country’s governing party, the African National Congress, in 2017 at a tumultuous moment in the party’s 110-year history. He narrowly won enough votes for the top job after a fractious campaign, taking over a party that had become synonymous with factionalism, deadly battles for positions and rampant corruption under his predecessor Jacob Zuma. Ramaphosa was elected party leader on a clean governance ticket, committing himself to putting the party on a path of probity. It’s not been easy, and he’s come in for fierce criticism for doing too little too late against those frustrating his efforts. But recent events suggest his fortunes are changing for the better. Mashupye Maserumule argues that Ramaphosa appears – finally – to have stood down his adversaries, and put down his stamp of authority.
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Charl Blignaut
Arts, Culture and Society Editor
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Zimbabwean stand-up comedian Munya Guramatunhu.
Courtesy Tirivashe/Munyaradzi Guramatunhu
Amanda Källstig, University of Manchester
Despite the challenges of being a female comedian, the women who do choose to perform feel emboldened to speak out in ways that can resist sexism.
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Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa as well as of the ruling party, the African National Congress.
Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mashupye Herbert Maserumule, Tshwane University of Technology
Ramaphosa is set to go down in the annals of history as an ANC president who presided over a tumultuous epoch in the party's evolution.
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Health + Medicine
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Gilles van Cutsem, University of Cape Town
Cryptococcal ceningitis is one of the main causes of death of people with HIV. The tests and medicines to diagnose and treat it exist but remain inaccessible to most. A global strategy is needed.
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Burtram C. Fielding, University of the Western Cape; Dewald Schoeman, University of the Western Cape
Deficient leptin levels caused by malnutrition might protect against severe COVID-19 and related death. This could be another reason for the lower than expected COVID-19 deaths in Africa.
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Business + Economy
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Michael E Odijie, UCL
EU trade partnership is more important to some African countries than regional or continental trade.
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Mills Soko, University of the Witwatersrand
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From our international editions
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Ken Chitwood, Concordia College New York
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