In the last 15 years, the BRICS group has made good on its founding mandate of shaping a new global development pattern. The longevity and the increasing appeal of the BRICS group, as evidenced by many countries’ desire to join the group, have surprised many who dismissed it as a marriage of convenience, which would soon crumble under the weight of political, cultural, and historical differences when it was established. The BRICS countries’ rapidly expanding global economic and geopolitical influence…

John Steenhuisen, the DA Leader, was three months old when the apartheid police massacred Hector Pieterson and other youths on June 16, 1976. His fellow DA leader, Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille, was 25 and working as a journalist at the Rand Daily Mail. Their fellow traveller Kallie Kriel, the Afriforum CEO and face of white Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa, was six years and three months old.  The trio are the faces of white South Africans who accuse EFF…

The media upheaval emerged in the aftermath of Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Initiative, sounding the alarm on the looming food crisis, especially in vulnerable regions like Africa. But, was Africa merely a public relations (PR) pawn in the West’s strategy to corner Russia and sustain the initiative? Russia’s exit from the Black Sea Initiative, intended to facilitate grain and fertilizer exports to impoverished nations, sparked widespread criticism. The programme’s execution and impact were flawed, with Africa – a…

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) — In the wake of World War II, the United States joined many Western countries and built the Bretton Woods system, laying the foundation for the current international monetarysystem and the global supremacy of the U.S. dollar. Almost 80 years later, the greenback is still the world’s dominant currency. Yet the United States, perhaps unintentionally, is accelerating the de-dollarization process because of its kick-the-can-down-the-roadstyle of addressing the destructive cyclical debt crisis, and the almost out-of-control impulse…

BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) — The talk of de-risking from China has been gaining ubiquity among Western politicians and business communities recently, while the de-coupling approach seems to be put away, at least in rhetoric. Don’t get fooled. The nature of the new De-word is in fact to re-define risk and decouple from China in selective fields like high-tech and other key areas where those Western powers want to maintain their global dominance. For those who carefully craft and embrace…

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) — In the just-ended Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Japan, a symbolic show of solidarity couldn’t paper over cracks in the group. Selfish Uncle Sam has made it increasingly difficult for the bloc to forge a unified will as more countries realize that the world’s sole superpower is maneuvering to remould the group into a geopolitical tool forconfrontation and conquest. The mutual respect between the United States and its allies, if there is any, has…

The imminent collapse of South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is on the lips of every political commentator, agitator and aggregator, including those who were not born when the late anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela vacated the Union Buildings on June 14, 1999. To some, especially those with ambitions to be sworn in once the Independent Electoral Commission confirms the final tally of the 2024 elections, it has been written in the stars that President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa…

The upcoming BRICS Summit in Johannesburg next month is important for South Africa, the African continent and the global south. The gathering of the world’s major developing countries is expected to discuss a common currency and admit or agree on criteria to admit new members.  Countries which have either applied or lined up to join the global South economic alliance include regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Pakistan, Mexico, Algeria and Senegal. Formed…

For much of the past 20 years, the Chinese economic engagement with Africa could be summarised in two words: investment and trade. During this period, China’s trade figures with African nations have been remarkable. For instance, in 2022, China-Africa trade surged to a record high of $282 billion, highlighting how China’s business cooperation with the continent of Africa continues to rise.   Statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China show that in the first four months of 2023, rising…

   BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) via video conference here on Tuesday. The following is the full text of the address: Staying True to Our Founding Mission and Advancing Unity and Coordination to Realize Greater Development Statement by H.E. Xi Jinping President of the People’s Republic of China At the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of…