Africa

The South African Negrophobia: Sub-imperial Blowback, Scapegoating and a Major Threat to Continental Unity

In Perspective Since 2008, South Africa has witnessed repeated waves of xenophobic violence. In 2026, the citizen-led movement March and March intensified anti-migrant protests. Kennedy Manduna traces this crisis to deeper forces: sub-imperial blowback, far-right scapegoating, and the failure of African governments to address the root causes of migration.

By Kennedy Manduna

Authoritarianism, State Violence, and Vigilantism: Security Challenges Posed by Illegal Miners in South Africa

Theory & Research Illegal miners, colloquially known as the zama zamas — over 75 percent of whom are undocumented migrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Mozambique — risk their lives foraging for leftover minerals, notably gold, in some of the world’s deepest mineshafts

By Kennedy Manduna

Thucydides’ Trap and the Renewal of Africa-Russia Relations in the Face of Global Geopolitical Shockwaves

In Perspective This paper attempts to decipher and make sense of renewed and seemingly strengthened Africa-Russia relations at a time when the world’s geopolitics, geoeconomics, and geostrategic imperatives are undergoing unprecedented tectonic and structural ruptures, shifts, and breaks

By Kennedy Manduna and Alexander Tushkin

Confronting Corporate-Driven Food Systems in the Time of COVID-19: Contradictions and Potential in South Africa’s Civil Society

In Perspective While governments across southern Africa have imposed State of Emergency-type COVID-19 regulations, a number of ‘people’s coalitions’ have emerged in several countries.

By Boaventura Monjane