South Africa

The implosion of the country’s leading opposition party is bad news for competitive politics and democratic institutions—and its impact will be felt across Africa.

Forty years ago, a U.S. satellite detected the telltale signs of a nuclear explosion. An analysis of the evidence today points to a clandestine nuclear test, a Carter administration cover-up, and only one country that was willing and able to carry it out: Israel.

The ANC government must acknowledge that xenophobic violence is a hate crime and a betrayal of the African allies that aided it during the darkest days of apartheid.

Africa has the world’s youngest population and its oldest leaders. If the next generation wants change, young Africans must abandon dreams of private-sector success and enter the political arena.

Beijing’s infrastructure projects may grab headlines, but its efforts to shape the media are more dangerous.

The African National Congress won again in South Africa, but a new generation identifies the party more with corruption than liberation and is seeking solutions through protests and lawsuits rather than at the ballot box.

U.S. relations with Iran continued to unravel as South Africa went to the polls.

Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged a new dawn as president, but the secretary-general of his own party has built a web of corruption that thrives on darkness.

Voting for the ANC in the hope that its leader can clean house is a leap of faith. Those who looted South Africa’s government won’t give up so easily.

From Khartoum to Warsaw, demonstrators are demanding basic equality while the Trump administration wages a war on women’s rights.

Both sides should heed the lessons of negotiated transitions in Chile and South Africa to forge a peaceful path to democracy.

The State Department endorsed Felix Tshisekedi’s unlikely presidency, taking some U.S. officials by surprise.

After decades of dictatorship, Gambia has launched a truth commission. But in a country where some victims were also perpetrators, delivering justice to all won’t be easy.

South Africa and Angola have influence. They must use it to ensure that the Congolese government respects the will of voters.

Why South Africa’s formerly segregated townships are still central to its imagination.

Five Reads: The best Foreign Policy long-form stories in 2018.