A seminar on knowledge sharing in South-South cooperation was held at the UN premises in Beijing on 15 May. ChinAfrica sat down with one of the speakers David Kaatrud, director of Programme – Humanitarian & Development Programme & Policy Department, World Food Programme (WFP), to hear his opinion on global food security situation and the role of South-South cooperation in addressing food security challenges. Edited excerpts of the interview follow.   ChinAfrica: What is the general situation we are facing today regarding food security in…

The ANC Integrity Commission (IC) released a statement condemning the media, opinion makers, and commentators for seeing it as “toothless.” This statement issued by the Chairperson of the Integrity Commission, George Mashamba, warrants a closer examination.  The statement citing its Terms of Reference reiterates that “it is the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson who are authorised and entrusted with full responsibility to engage the media and release any media statements on the work of the Commission.” It states, “Neither of them…

There are instances when it is a matter of semantics, and a waste of time, to argue about how a certain situation should be defined. One such instance is the useless debate about whether South Africa is a failed State, or whether it is on the verge of becoming a failed State. Recently that windbag, and perpetual blower of hot air, Fikile Mbalula, indulged in the same futile exercise. Of course, Mbalula had no other option, but to argue that…

China and Brazil have agreed to trade in the Chinese currency renminbi and Brazilian real before the visit of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to China. This shift away from the US dollar is regarded as pragmatic and rational in the face of the current global financial fiasco. Reports suggest that the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) may need to provide an alternative and support a rebalancing of the financial system. The current uncertain…

The white-owned media begrudgingly reported recently that; “the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s first state capture case to go to trial has been dismissed – with almost all the accused cleared of fraud and money laundering charges.”  So the state capture mantra coming out of the Zondo Commission at the cost of one billion rand was based on fiction? The truth is the commission has achieved its political end which was to assist in demonising and hounding the Guptas and demonise…

Professor Puleng LenKabula, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa (Unisa), reminds me of former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Lenkabula and Rousseff, for different reasons, epitomise the pain of being an outsider and the consequences of not being a candidate for the establishment in any race. The establishment is the dominant social group, the élite, who control a polity, an organisation, or an institution.  Brazil’s first female president, Rousseff, is a former guerilla fighter and member of the Workers…

The United States has enjoyed global economic and political dominance for decades, thanks in large part to the status of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. However, the growing U.S. debt burden, political polarization and partisanship in Washington, and the rise of other countries, bring into question the longevity of America’s preeminent global position. If current fiscal and political trends continue unabated, a weaker dollar and diminished geopolitical influence will be largely inevitable. In June, the U.S. Congress…

South African businessman Tshepo Kgadima was interviewed for Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) Online by David Cherry on July 28, 2018. Kgadima is an independent political and economic analyst based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a former investment banker and a company director with more than 20 years’ experience. He is also president and CEO of LontohCoal Limited, director of Elgacol Limited, and chairman of the Indian Ocean Rim Business Forum. EIR: The Tenth BRICS Summit, held in Johannesburg, South…

Brazil is a country that breathes football. Football is everywhere: on the playgrounds, on the beaches and in the rooms of small favelas. When a Brazilian boy is born, his parents already know that they will definitely send him to football. No country in the history of football has been as successful as Brazil. It has won five World Cups and remains the only team to have competed in every tournament. Over the years, Brazil have given the world more…

In an exclusive interview with TV BRICS, South Africa’s BRICS Sherpa talks about the group’s priorities for the upcoming event Anil Sooklal is a diplomat, historian and religious scholar. He is currently the South African Sherpa to BRICS. He has taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of South Africa. During this time he has published more than 20 articles in both local and international journals.  Sooklal has served as Deputy Director General of the Asia and Middle…