Scientists find further evidence that climate change could make fungi more dangerous

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Identification and phenotypic characterization of two independent cases of human infection

 with a previously undescribed fungal pathogen, R. fluvialis, based on the CHIF-NET

 surveillance program. 

Credit: Nature Microbiology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01720-y

A team of medical researchers and infectious disease specialists affiliated with multiple institutions in China, working with a pair of colleagues, one from Singapore, the other from Canada, has found evidence bolstering theories that suggest as the planet warms, fungi could become more dangerous to humans.

In their paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology, the group describes their study of a type of fungi that has evolved to infect humans.

For most of modern history, fungal infections in humans were not considered much of a threat. Besides yeast infections in women, ringworms and nail infections, fungal infections have been few and far between. That has been changing slightly in recent years as doctors have been reporting increases in rare types of fungal infections.

Prior research has suggested the reason fungi have not been more of a threat until now is that they prefer cooler temperatures than are found in and on the bodies of mammals. But that may be changing, as the researchers involved in this new study have found.

Infectious disease experts have been predicting a rise in different types of human fungi infections as the planet warms. They suggest as the environments in which fungi live grow warmer, they will adapt, eventually reaching a point where they will find the human body a reasonable place to live.

The team working in China looked for fungal infections in 96 hospitals in that country over the years 2009 to 2019. They found thousands of fungal strains, one of which had not been documented infecting humans before, and they found it in two unrelated cases. They also found that it was resistant to two of the most common types of therapies used to treat fungal infections.

Intrigued by their findings, they injected blood infected with the same type of fungus collected from the natural environment into lab mice with weak immune systems and found two things; the first was that it thrived, the second was that it mutated into a more aggressive form of itself.

They then exposed the fungal pathogen to temperatures as high as 37°C (human body temperature) in a lab dish, and found that doing so led it to develop resistance to multiple antifungal agents.

More information: Jingjing Huang et al, Pan-drug resistance and hypervirulence in a human fungal pathogen are enabled by mutagenesis induced by mammalian body temperature, Nature Microbiology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01720-y

Journal information: Nature Microbiology 

© 2024 Science X Network'The Last of Us': Fungal infections really can kill, and they're getting more dangerous

 

Exploring the relationship between civilians and military organizations through an experiment in Japan

by Waseda University

The study found that the impact on public confidence in the military varies based on

 the direction of the incompliance (military's arbitrary action or inaction), actors 

executing the control (the prime minister and legislature), and party identity. 

Credit: Sou Shinomoto from the Waseda Institute of Political Economy

In democracies where civilian control is followed, the power to make crucial decisions, like those of national security, is mainly exercised by elected officials, allowing the citizens who elect them to influence such decisions indirectly. This role can give people a sense of participation in matters of national importance, potentially associated with their political trust.

The military, in such cases, advises and helps these elected leaders in serving the nation, rather than assuming leadership itself. A balance between civilians and military organizations is, therefore, crucial for any democracy to thrive, and it is pointed out that civilian control is a requisite of democracy.

Existing studies of civil–military relations have indicated that the military's compliance with civilian control is a determining factor in public confidence in the military. However, this claim has not been thoroughly developed theoretically and lacks empirical evidence.

Additionally, a majority of relevant studies have focused on the U.S., leaving the relationship between public confidence in the military and civilian control in other political environments particularly poorly understood.

Against this backdrop, Sou Shinomoto, a Junior Researcher at the Waseda Institute of Political Economy, Waseda University, Japan, conducted an empirical study now published in the Journal of Peace Research on May 16, 2024.

It investigates the causal relationship between the military's compliance with civilian control and public confidence in the military. Moreover, the study examined whether and how the impact of deviation from civilian control on public trust differs in various settings: the directions of incompliance, the actors involved in control, and the respondents' attributes.

Shinomoto emphasizes, "The relationship between civilians and military organizations is intricate and politically important, which has garnered significant attention. However, discussions on this topic are frequently based on impressionistic arguments rather than careful analysis of objective, verifiable data. This gap in the literature motivated my research."

To this end, an online survey experiment was conducted among Japanese participants in November 2022. The study chose Japan as a research field since it is an established democracy with a considerable armed force.

Participants were initially asked to provide their demographic and socioeconomic information, followed by questions regarding their political attitudes. Next, they were presented with a hypothetical scenario of an armed conflict between the U.S. and Iran, where a Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) unit was dispatched by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Prime Minister to provide logistical support to U.S. forces.

In the treatment condition scenarios, the commanding officer considered the mission unwise and chose to act contrary to civilian control, either through arbitrary action or inaction.

After reading the fictional scenario, participants rated their confidence in the JSDF. Subsequently, they were presented with additional information about how the Diet (Japan's national legislature) was involved in controlling the JSDF regarding the mission.

Upon reading the extra text, participants again indicated their confidence in the JSDF. The data obtained from the experiment were statistically analyzed.

Notably, participants significantly lost confidence in the JSDF when it violated civilian control, particularly when the commander chose to engage in battle without authorization. However, there was only a slight decline in confidence when the commander arbitrarily suspended the mission.

Surprisingly, the information about the Diet's involvement did not significantly affect participants' confidence assessments. This indifference could imply that the people in Japan possibly do not place much weight on the potential positive implications derived from the legislature's involvement. Alternatively, they may not trust the Diet itself enough to expect such benefits from its involvement.

Moreover, there was no significant difference in post-treatment participants' trust in the JSDF based on their political ideology, suggesting that ideology may not be sufficiently strong to serve as a social identity that generates in-group bias, at least in Japan.

Furthermore, compared to LDP supporters, non-LDP supporters lost less confidence in the JSDF when the commander of the dispatched unit arbitrarily suspended the mission. Conversely, regardless of their party support, participants almost homogeneously and considerably lost trust in the JSDF when the commander arbitrarily decided to engage in battle.

Yet, the findings still indicate a slight partisan bias, highlighting concerns about its impact on public trust and possible broader ramifications.

Overall, these findings suggest that public confidence in the military is highly context-dependent. Elaborating further, Shinomoto says, "Even in Japan, which is a (supposed) established democracy, people don't always firmly advocate for civilian control and, in turn, democracy.

"This raises concerns about democracy's stability in modern society. Additionally, this study offers insights into international security dynamics and facilitates further understanding of how people in Japan, with its rapid development of defense capabilities, view the military's control and evaluate this organization."

More information: Sou Shinomoto, Does the military lose public confidence without compliance with civilian control? Experimental evidence from Japan, Journal of Peace Research (2024). DOI: 10.1177/00223433241231849

Provided by Waseda University Few brains from deceased military personnel have evidence of CTE

World leaders launch programme to boost vaccine production in Africa

Initiative announced in Paris will incentivise and offset start-up costs for vaccine manufacturing in the continent.



Published On 20 Jun 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron has joined several African leaders to kick off a planned $1.1bn project to accelerate vaccine production in Africa, after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed inequalities in access to inoculation.

The launch of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator at an event in Paris on Thursday will provide financial incentives to boost local vaccine manufacturing in the continent.

African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat welcomed the initiative, saying that it “could become a catalyst for promoting the pharmaceutical industry in Africa and fostering collaboration between member states”.

Africa imports “99 percent of its vaccines at an exorbitant cost”, he said.

Macron said the programme “will be an essential step towards a genuine African vaccine market”.

The European Union said the bloc and its member states will contribute $800m to the vaccine manufacturing scheme. It said the programme will offset start-up costs and ensure demand for vaccines made in Africa.

“Importantly, it will also support the sustainable growth of Africa’s manufacturing base and contribute to the African Union’s ambition to produce most vaccines required by African countries on the continent,” the EU said in a statement.

Many African leaders and advocacy groups say Africa was unfairly locked out of access to COVID-19 treatment tools, vaccines and testing equipment — which many richer countries bought up in huge quantities — after the pandemic was declared in 2020.

Helen Rees, Executive Director of Wits RHI at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the COVID pandemic revealed the lack of equity in access to vaccines.

“By the time we got really good access to vaccines here [in Africa], many countries had already experienced COVID outbreaks, many people had immunity from natural infection. The impact of the vaccines was much less here simply because we got them too late,” she told Al Jazeera.

“COVID started a dialogue about access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics – everything you need to control outbreaks and to stop vaccine-preventable diseases. And that dialogue is centred around equity and how we increase access in the African region.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) and advocacy groups want to help Africa better prepare for the next pandemic, which many health experts say is inevitable.

“There is no doubt that the delays in reaching low-income countries and communities with vaccines cost lives,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday. “We cannot allow the same thing to happen next time. And there will be a next time.”

When the coronavirus pandemic began, South Africa was the only country in the continent with any ability to produce vaccines, officials say, and Africa produced a tiny fraction of all vaccines worldwide.

WHO failed in its efforts to help countries agree to a “pandemic treaty” – to improve preparedness and response to pandemics – before its annual meeting last month.

The project was shelved largely due to disagreements over sharing information about pathogens that cause epidemics and the high-tech tools used to fight them.

Negotiators will resume work on the treaty in hopes of clinching a deal by the next WHO annual meeting in 2025.

Thursday’s event in Paris, which was attended by leaders Botswana, Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, also aimed to give a funding boost to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that helps get needed vaccines to developing countries around the world.

Gavi is seeking $9bn to bolster its vaccination programmes in poorer countries from 2026 to 2030.

Gavi Chief Executive Sania Nishtar said the group aims to move more quickly and offer more vaccines, including expanding a malaria vaccine roll-out, which began in Cameroon this year.

The global vaccine alliance wants to reach “the highest number of children, covering them against the widest number of diseases … in the shortest possible time”, Nishtar told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday ahead of the meeting.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Jewish Opposition to Zionism Is More Than a Century-Old

American Jews have never been entirely unified in their support for Israel or visions of what role Israel and Palestine should play in their lives.

BY MARJORIE N. FELD

JUNE 20, 2024

THE CONVERSATION

The genocide of Europe’s Jewish population in the Holocaust fundamentally altered American Jews’ perspectives on Zionism.

Since October 2023, American Jews have been engaged in an intense, fractious debate over Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

Media reports say that American Jews are experiencing “the great rupture,” widening “rifts,” and stand at a “moral, political crossroads.”

While most American Jews remain broadly supportive of Israel, others have protested vigorously against U.S. support for Israel and are demanding a cease-fire in the Gaza war. They carry signs saying “Not in Our Name.”

Their slogan highlights the fact that American foreign aid to Israel has long relied on the support of American Jews. Unqualified U.S. support for Israel was built, in part, on the promise that Israel kept American Jews — and all Jews — safe, especially after the Holocaust.

But American Jews have never been entirely unified in their support for Israel or in their visions of what role Israel and Palestine should play in American Jewish life.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s 1961 death notice for William Zukerman, editor since 1948 of The Jewish Newsletter, a publication that captured some of the voices of Jewish dissent from Zionism — including his own. JTA Archive


No Consensus

My new book, “The Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism,” analyzes a century of debates among American Jews over Zionism and Israel.

My account begins in 1885, when elite Reform Jews, with a goal of full integration in Jim Crow America, composed the Pittsburgh Platform, which rejected Jewish nationalism out of fear that it would make them targets of antisemitic accusations of dual loyalty.

Two years later, Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl founded the modern Zionist movement, relying on European powers for support for a modern Jewish state.

The genocide of Europe’s Jewish population in the Holocaust fundamentally altered American Jews’ perspectives on Zionism.

Many believed that only a Jewish national homeland in what was then Palestine could prevent another genocide. Others insisted that the lessons of the Holocaust meant that Jews must not contribute to making refugees of another group of people: the Palestinians who were then living on the land.

There were other issues that contributed to a new understanding of Zionism in the 1950s and 1960s within American Jewish communities. Among them: the Nakba, which was the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 founding of Israel; Israel’s treatment of immigrant Jews from the Arab and Muslim world known as Mizrahi Jews; and the rise in Israel’s militarism.

Across the 20th century, mainstream Jewish leaders manufactured an American Jewish so-called consensus on Zionism and Israel, in part by silencing American Jewish critics of Zionism.

From the late 1940s through 1961, journalist William Zukerman edited The Jewish Newsletter, a publication that captured some of the voices of Jewish dissent from Zionism, including his own. He reported on Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinians and documented how American Jewish funds fueled Israel’s military campaigns instead of supporting vibrant American Jewish communities.

Because Zukerman dared to publish this criticism, he faced campaigns of steep resistance, eventually losing funding and support from Jewish communal organizations.

Anxious that Zukerman’s dissent would cause “increasing trouble” for American support for Israel, Israeli diplomats wrote to American Jewish leaders, and together they convinced some Jewish journalists to exclude Zukerman’s writings from their publications.
Liberation Movements, American Jews, and Zionism

Into the 1960s, as mainstream Jewish leaders emphasized the urgency of Jewish unity on Israel and Zionism and showed growing intolerance for dissent, anti-colonialist activists gained momentum across the world. From 1948 through 1966, Israel held all Palestinians citizens under martial law, limiting their movement and access to opportunities and resources. Across the 1950s, Israel excluded Palestinian workers from the Histadrut, the state’s largest labor union federation.

Activists allied with the cause of Palestinian rights noted Israel’s alliance with colonial power France during the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 to 1962 and criticized Israel as an occupier after the 1967 war. They spoke, too, of Israel’s growing alliance with apartheid South Africa in the 1970s.

Black and Arab leaders in the U.S. taught within, and learned from, these anti-colonial movements. Civil rights and anti-war activists offered new perspectives to debates over Israel and Zionism.

Raised in a liberal Zionist family, student Marty Blatt was learning to fight for justice. Blatt was born in 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. His grandfather had died in a Nazi prison camp. In 1970, he joined the anti-war movement at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

“The Vietnam War was a horrible injustice,” Blatt said. From the movement and from members of the Israeli left, he learned that “Israel/Palestine was another great injustice.”

With no access to the history of Palestinians in school, at home or at the synogogue, young American Jews like Blatt who joined the civil rights and anti-war movements learned these lessons for the first time. When they then criticized Israel and American Zionism, they, too, met with hostility from the mainstream Jewish world.

Blatt sought to teach his fellow students at Tufts with a course in 1973 titled Zionism Reconsidered. In it, he taught the history of Zionism, Palestinian resistance, and Israel’s Cold War alliance with the United States. He taught students that anti-Zionism was not antisemitism.

On March 13, 1973, in the midst of the semester, members of the Jewish Defense League, a far-right, anti-Arab, Jewish nationalist group founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, disrupted Blatt’s class. They called it an “anti-Jewish outrage” and passed out a flyer that read, “Not since Germany in the days of Hitler has any university dared to offer a course presenting a one-sided view of any national movement.”

Boston-area Jewish leaders urged community members to write to Tufts leadership to shut down Blatt’s class. These letters used apocalyptic language to describe the damage wrought by his course, likening it to the destruction of the Jewish people. During this controversy, Blatt picked up the phone one day to hear someone who clearly knew his family history in the Holocaust tell him: “Your parents should not have been saved.”

An article about Blatt and his course in Boston’s Jewish Advocate was headlined “Tufts Anti-Zionist Course Seen as Abuse of Academic Freedom.” Though Tufts stood behind Blatt’s right to teach the class for another term, which it still touts on the university website, angry responses to the class appeared in community forums for years.

Divided on Campus and Beyond

In the current moment, college campuses have been riven with debates over the boundaries between student safety and free speech and whether criticism of Israel constitutes antisemitism.

Young Jews dismayed by the unconditional Zionist agenda of the Jewish campus organization Hillel and who founded Open Hillel in 2013 are now active in Gaza protests as “Judaism on Our Own Terms.” They might be surprised to learn that in late 1972, even before his course began, Blatt and others founded the Tufts Hillel Non-Zionist Caucus. Hillel subsequently expelled them from the organization.

For over a century, some American Jews have modeled the idea that unqualified support for Israel and Zionism was “not in our name.” They prioritized justice as a Jewish value and were motivated not by self-hatred or antisemitism but by abiding commitments to human rights and to Jewish safety and community.

Today’s activists protesting over the devastation in Gaza are testing the threshold of dissent and the limits of free speech and academic freedom. They embrace what they view as more just visions of Israel and Palestine and more inclusive visions of an American Jewish community, one with space for dissent and earnest conversations about Israel and Zionism, and one in which Jews stand in solidarity with groups working for justice in Palestine, Israel and around the world.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Rumors About St. Martin’s Island Amid Myanmar Conflict – OpEd

 

Locations of Bangladesh (green) and Myanmar (Burma). Credit: Wikipedia Commons

 June 20, 2024  

By Dr. Rashid Askari

As Myanmar’s ongoing conflict turns up on the doorstep of Bangladesh’s St. Martin Island, vested interests are spreading rumour and propaganda that the island is going to be occupied by Myanmar. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, the rumour mongers are trying to take advantage of the escalation of the current situation prevailing in the island where the sound of fierce gunfire between the Myanmar military junta and the resistance group(s) is being heard every now and then. Two people were killed and many injured as mortar shells were fired on the Bangladeshi territory. 264 members of Myanmar’s border and security forces have managed to escape to Bangladesh. The people of bordering areas are in a state of panic. Such times are convenient for spreading rumour and spewing out lies by the propaganda machine. 

However, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has urged the public not to be hoodwinked into believing such rumours circulated on social media. ISPR argues that since the island is situated in close proximity to the Myanmar coast (only eight kilometers away), the quarters with vested interests are spreading rumours in order to give a confused account of the events surrounding the situation. It has also stated that the Myanmar military junta is conducting operations against the Arakan Army (AA) rebel group in Rakhine State situated on the western coast which has led to “unintended” firing incidents on Bangladeshi boats in the Naf River and adjacent areas.

Myanmar’s naval forces are targeting Arakan Army positions from their territorial waters and warships are operating in the vicinity of Saint Martin’s Island near the border. This has resulted in an untoward incident that took place on June 5, 2024. A Bangladeshi boat carrying election equipment and officials was fired upon from Myanmar’s territory as it returned from the island. Although none was shot, it is a thing to be widely condemned. The situation was worsened on June 8, 2024 when the crackle of gunfire stopped a cargo vessel traveling from Teknaf to Saint Martin’s. Again, on June 11, 2024 an armed group from the coast of Myanmar fired upon a speed boat in the Naf River bound for St. Martin’s Island. As a result, the local administration postponed travel on this route. About 10,000 inhabitants of the   island are having to suffer from a great scarcity of food and other daily necessities. Moreover, Myanmar naval warships are now visible from Saint Martin’s. This chain of events has detached the island from the mainland and aggravated the sufferings of the islanders. And sufferings of the local people coupled with the potential threat of invasion has led to mounting tension along the border and the country as well. 

However, the Bangladesh government has expressed deep concern over the incident of firing on the Bangladeshi boat and made a formal protest on June 12, 2024 against Myanmar military junta’s reckless warfare that impacts greatly on Bangladesh’s border security. In addition, Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard are keeping a round-the-clock vigil at the place.  

The rumour or propaganda that the St. Martin’s Island may be under the occupation of Myanmar or the government may lease it out is completely unfounded. However, why such rumours are fueled and propaganda is spread is quite obvious. Let’s look back on some facts. It was on October 6, 2018, the then Government of Myanmar doctored the country’s 2015-2018 map showing St. Martin as part of their territory and posted it on their websites. Consequently, on October 6, 2018, the Myanmar Ambassador to Dhaka Mr. Lwin Oo was called for by the Government of Bangladesh and handed over a strongly worder letter of protest. The Myanmar envoy admitted to their mistakes in showing the St. Martin’s Island as part of their country’s territory. And after constructive dialogue between the two countries, the Myanmar government removed it. However, that administration has been ousted by the current military junta. However, Myanmar’s deliberate falsification of their country’s map adding to it another country’s part of territory and sharing it on Government approved websites during their dilly dallying with the Rohingya repatriation process smacks of an “ulterior motive”. 

However, such unrealistic plans will go up in smoke. Myanmar must have no claim on the Saint Martin’s Island on any account. As a matter of fact, Bangladesh’s only coral island, St. Martin’s Island had never been a part of Myanmar, not any time from time immemorial. So far as history is concerned, approximately 5,000 years ago, the place was a part of the mainland Teknaf. But it eventually sank beneath the ocean. Subsequently, the southern region of modern-day Saint Martin’s Island emerged about 450 years ago. The northern portion and the remainder of the island surfaced after a century. As many as 250 years ago in the 18th Century, Arab merchants explored the island. During their trade with Southeast Asia, they would take breaks on the island. They had named it ‘Jazira’ that was subsequently dubbed ‘Narikel Jinjira’ by local people which means ‘Coconut Island’. It is also known as ‘Daruchini Dwip’(Cinnamon Island). 

In the year 1900, a British land survey team included Saint Martin’s Island as part of British-India, and named it after a Christian priest Saint Martin. It may also have been named after the then Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Mr. Martin. In 1937, when Myanmar was separated from India, it was still a part of British-India. After the partition of the British India in 1947, St. Martin’s Island was on the Pakistani side which finally became a part of independent Bangladesh after the Liberation War of 1971. In 1974, Bangladesh and Burma reached a settlement that St. Martin’s Island is part of the territory of Bangladesh. Once again, when Bangladesh won the maritime boundary dispute against Myanmar in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in March 2012, it was clearly stated that St. martin Island belongs to Bangladesh. Under no circumstances should Myanmar lay any claim to the island, and the publication of this map is a deliberate attempt to damage bilateral ties and regional peace. There has been no dispute over the ownership of St. Martin as such till date. The only debate regarding the delimitation of the maritime boundary that prevailed between Bangladesh and Myanmar for long was already settled in the ITLOS.

The St. Martin’s Island, by virtue of its strategic location, has become a focal point of global geopolitical interest. Its proximity to Matarbari Deepsea Port under construction will multiply its geopolitical importance. The US and China may have a sneaking interest in using this small island in the largest Bay in the world. The US, as part of its Indo Pacific Strategy (IPS), seeks to make its presence felt in the Bay of Bengal. It wants Bangladesh to be included in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), commonly known as the Quad, which is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States established in order to counter China, and help the US to achieve its IPS objectives in the Bay of Bengal region.  Likewise, China may want to extend to Saint Martin’s considering the significance of maritime routes through the Bay of Bengal for its booming trade and military strategy to counter IPS. 

The most important thing for Bangladesh is that the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has a firm grip on the situation and she won’t budge an inch on the issue of St. Martin’s. She has assured the nation that she would go to the stake for safeguarding her country against any foreign intervention. She has categorically stated that her government will never compromise with anybody on the country’s sovereignty and resources.  She has categorically stated that no national assets, including Saint Martin’s, would be leased out to nobody on earth.

The Government of Bangladesh should resolve the tension along the Myanmar border peacefully through dialogue, avoiding conflict, to suit to the principles of its foreign policy and Bangabandhu’s ideals.  And the people of Bangladesh should turn a deaf ear to such baseless rumours. Bangladesh is committed to extending the hand of friendship towards all and bearing no malice towards anybody, but remains poised to retaliate against any external attacks on its sovereignty.

Subsequent to the strong protest on the part of Bangladesh, Myanmar was bound to remove the information that showed St. Martin as part of its own territory. The Parliamentary Committee of Bangladesh dealing with foreign affairs has asked the ministry to take steps to monitor if such information was published on any other website. After their visible acts of bad faith in the entire Rohingya humanitarian crisis, the mere explanation of ‘unintentional mistake’ is not credible. The government of Bangladesh has to cautiously face and overcome all the diplomatic acts of Myanmar.

Dr. Rashid Askari is a distinguished academic, bilingual author and the former vice chancellor of Islamic University Bangladesh.

 

South Africa Reshapes Its Democracy, Shows Readiness For Economic Transformation – Analysis

 June 20, 2024  

By Professor Maurice Okoli

South Africa’s historic election results in late May 2024 were another credible testament which, by simple guiding definition, explicitly illustrated democracy as the aggregate will of the people. It was held as stipulated by its constitution. The diverse political expressions were presented through political parties, the the African National Congress (ANC) and its largest rivals the Democratic Alliance (DA), the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), and uMkhonto weSizwe Party. Minority parties had their chance to participate, which made it fair and free an electoral progress in South Africa.

This is unlike what happened in Nigeria the so-called giant of Africa, where an election process was mired with ballot box snatching, rigging, violence, and irregularities thereby totally undermining the will of the people.

Despite heightened criticisms, South Africa has illuminated an exemplary template of good governance. In most significant practice, adherence of good governance is one fundamental principle that African leaders have to uphold, as a guiding principle combined with transparency and accountability, to shy away from the shame of being accused over functional political irresponsibility.

Worth reiterating that the political initiative taken by the African National Congress, headed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, to form a coalition has set the rhythmical parameters for the evolutionary processes, without much resistance to the obvious glaring weaknesses and shortfalls of the past administration. The creation of the new executive government emboldened the concept of “unity in diversity” and would have to float a common understanding towards ratifying and removing the existing complexities and contradictions within the framework of aspirations stipulated in the constitution. In another context, it has some relevance for the current shifting geopolitical situation and emerging multipolar architecture. 

With its chequered history behind it, South Africa needs comprehensive result-oriented development initiatives, and this can only come through striking compromise and consequently be adopted by the coalition government. The political stalwarts such as the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), now grossly involved in treading the tricky balanced act approved by the parliament on June 14, 2024, raised unswerving hopes for South Africa, the southern African nation of approximately 62 million.

It was a breakthrough to merge political forces marking the ‘great beginning’ of a new chapter, as Economic Freedom Fighters, uMkhonto weSizwe, and other parties have remained antagonistic, and have been termed as the game-losers of the century, marking a significant shift in South African political history after 30 years of ANC dominance. It has some implications, though.

The preceding political agitations culminating in the coalition agreement marked the most significant political change since Nelson Mandela led the ANC to victory in 1994, ending apartheid. “Today is a historic day for our country,” DA leader John Steenhuisen stated, highlighting a new chapter focused on the nation’s interests and future. Similarly acknowledging all these without the least doubts, Ramaphosa described the success as “a remarkable change” and “It will once again be a privilege and pleasure to serve this great nation … (as) president,” said the 71-year-old Ramaphosa, emphasizing a new era of hope and cautious inclusivity. (1)

Tackling Existing Tasks

The newly created executive government would necessarily have to determine the scope of transformation, and the contours for a broader strategic economic resuscitation to uplift South Africa back to its status as Africa’s economic power and an influencer on the global stage, starting from the regional bloc, Southern African Development Community (SADC) and to continental organization, the African Union (AU).

As President Cyril Ramaphosa secured the second term, the preliminary pathway must lead towards tackling the existing pertinent issues that were raised during the election campaign and resulted in a fall of supporters (42%), below the simple majority, for the ANC. 

Several reports monitored for this article, the ANC’s decline primarily stemmed from persistent issues such as high poverty, inequality, crime, rolling power cuts, and internal corruption. The DA’s entry into national government signifies a watershed moment for South Africa, as the party advocates for scrapping some of the ANC’s Black empowerment programs, aiming for good governance and a strong economy to benefit all citizens.

Perhaps, South Africa’s newly instituted government has to acknowledge the undeniably challenging future tasks that would require adopting suitable strategies for implementing a set of result-expected policy directions. Across the board, however, experts and investors have already welcomed the coalition, expecting policy continuity and accelerated reforms. It is worth mentioning here that the coalition agreement also outlines priorities, inextricably linked to comprehensive sustainable development, such as economic growth, job creation, land reform, infrastructure development, and fiscal sustainability.

South Africa is the fourth-most populous country in Africa, 80 % of the population are blacks, located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. But the most paramount feature is that South Africa has a mixed economy. South Africa’s economy is the most industrialized and technologically advanced in Africa respectively, and has the second largest economy in Africa, after Nigeria. According to research reports, South Africa has a private wealth of $651 billion making its population the richest in Africa followed by Egypt with $307 billion and Nigeria with $228 billion. (2) Despite these, South Africa is still burdened by a relatively high rate of poverty and unemployment and is ranked in the top ten countries in the world.

Unlike most of the world’s industrialized countries, Energy power outrages have bugged down industrial production and domestic utilization. Electricity deficits in an increasing headache across Africa, and majority of the African countries lacked access to this vital component. African Development Bank and African Import-Export Bank reports said half the total Africa’s population has no daily access to electricity. The impact is considered simply as immeasurable, though surmountable. South Africa is currently the only country on the African continent that possesses a nuclear power plant. The primary electricity generator is Eskom, the utility is the largest producer of electricity in Africa and also needs capital repairs as the equipment is obsolete and experiences frequent breakdowns, consequently limiting power supply.

Due to severe mismanagement and corruption at Eskom, the company is R392bn ($22bn) in debt and is unable to meet the demands of the South African power grid. Due to this, Eskom implemented load-shedding, which is periodically switching off electricity to specific power grids in specific time frames. In South Africa, load shedding is done to prevent a failure of the entire system when the demand for electricity strains the capacity of Eskom’s power-generating system. Load shedding is characterized by periods of widespread national-level rolling blackouts.

Dr Kelvin Kemm, a nuclear physicist and former chairman of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA), and current Chairman of Stratek Global, a nuclear project management company based in Pretoria, suggested in a report that the ultimate pathway forward, possibly the “energy mix” can effectively fill certain functions in electricity provision, but “much financial arm-twisting has taken place, in the forms of supposedly soft loans and other inducements to save mankind from the sins of the Industrial Revolution and modern day industrialists.” (4)

Under former President Jacob Zuma, the power crisis in South Africa steadily worsened, as the authorities tried to make up their minds on which direction to follow, according to Kemm. In reality, Zuma pushed for more nuclear power. However, this initiative was vehemently opposed by anti-nuclear green groups who are significantly funded by the countries exporting their green solutions. Zuma-era project to build an additional 9600 MW of nuclear power was torpedoed by the anti-nuclear greens. Then President Cyril Ramaphosa deposed President Jacob Zuma. A hallmark of the tenure of President Ramaphosa has been dithering and uncertainty. The country hoped for a show of strong leadership under President Ramaphosa, but that did not materialize. Thankfully, South Africa is now advancing the nuclear agenda not only by announcing the planned building of a new large nuclear power station but also by supporting the introduction of Small Modular Reactors.

Combined with the energy question discussed above, South Africa is widely infected by corruption. It scored 41 points out of 100 on the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index. Notwithstanding that, more examples of corruptible governments are abounding in Africa. Critics noted that African leaders are fond of making unilateral decisions, bartering natural resources without cabinet approval and parliamentary discussions. And according to critics, Africans consistently blame their poor performance on external factors. Corruption is a global phenomenon, but that socioeconomic cancer should be tackled seriously in South Africa. 

Senior Writer Kate Whiting indicated, in her report on Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, that Corruption is hindering Africa’s economic, political, and social development… More than this, it affects the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.” The report attributed the deterioration of the rule of law and democratic institutions, as well as a rapidly shrinking space for civil society and independent media to corruption in Africa. 

Over the years from the apartheid era until today, there has been tremendous growth in multifaceted crimes across South Africa. Reasons could not be far-fetched, as, blacks are unemployed. The entire economy creates highly limited employment places, and again due to porous official policies. From April 2017 to March 2018, on average 57 murders were committed each day in South Africa. More than 526,000 South Africans were murdered from 1994 to 2019. As of February 2023, South Africa unbelievably has the sixth-highest crime rate in the world.

In an article headlined “Coalition Government: A Test For South Africa’s Democracy” published in June 2024, (5) Samir Bhattacharya, a research associate at Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi, India, pointed to the possible impact on its future foreign policy and aspects of its implications. Moving forward, the next administration would need to give the country’s foreign policy issues serious attention, chief among them being the delicate balancing act between the West, China, and Russia. At a deeper level, the incoming administration must develop a realistic foreign policy agenda that inspires confidence among investors, both local and foreign. Due to its close ties to all of the superpowers and the BRICS countries, South Africa’s non-alignment approach to international affairs is unlikely to alter in the current environment.

However, there arises a firm need to keep in mind that South Africa still finds strength in its democratic system, which remains a cornerstone of stability and inclusivity. Due to its participation in numerous international issues and membership in groups such as the G20 and BRICS, South Africa is a significant global player. It has lately surpassed Nigeria to become the largest economy on the African continent. South Africa’s latest developments are closely watched not only in the continent but also globally. 

Logical Glimpse into the Future

South Africa boasts of an excellent reputation on the global stage. It is also a member of the Southern African Development Community and the African Union.  It is a founding member of the AU’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development. After apartheid ended, South Africa was readmitted to the Commonwealth of Nations. Chronicling history, Johannesburg hosted the latest XVI BRICS summit, and continues to play a pivotal role in the BRICS association. China supported by Russia, in 2011, South Africa was enrolled into the informal association BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).  Jacob Zuma asserted that BRICS member countries would also work with each other through the UN, G20, and the India, Brazil South Africa (IBSA) forum. 

According to local African and foreign critics, despite its widened bilateral relations with many foreign countries, and yet South Africa suffers from high youth unemployment, grappling with energy supply deficits, and many other economic obstacles discussed earlier in this article. Ramaphosa consistently attributes weak economic performance to external factors. In his speeches after the second inauguration on June 19, 2024, Ramaphosa unswervingly promised to embark on a swift and vigorous economic resuscitation of South Africa, and within the new geopolitical reality. Nonetheless, the past was seemingly a difficult time. Ramaphosa has to ‘walk the talk’ as illustrated by well-coined linguistic phrases to win the hearts of the working-class, entrepreneurs, and middle-class population. The logic behind his re-election and re-appointment signalizes a complete turning point and a new chapter, at first with steadfastness, cooperating and collaborating in a close-knitted manner with the broad coalition and stakeholders in readiness to adopt radical measures in dealing with the existing economic deficiencies, striving further to improve the economic status of South Africa. The new chapter brings in its fold the necessity to make contentious steps toward achieving visible economic progress and ensuring ultimate economic sovereignty, creating an inspiring bright future for the generations as stipulated within the constitution of South Africa.

References

1. Official speeches by DA leader John Steenhuisen and ANC Cyril Ramaphosa, made available at the websites (June 2024).

2. “World Bank: South Africa” (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2023. 

3. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, April 2023 report.

4. Ramaphosa’s Administration and the Electricity Challenges in South Africa. Dr Kelvin Kemm (May 2024) interview published by Eurasia Review. 

5. Samir Bhattacharya, Coalition Government: A Test For South Africa’s Democracy (June 2024), interview published by Global Research.

South Africa's Parliament. Photo Credit: SA News

Professor Maurice Okoli is a fellow at the Institute for African Studies and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. He is also a fellow at the North-Eastern Federal University of Russia. He is an expert at the Roscongress Foundation and the Valdai Discussion Club. As an academic researcher and economist with keen interest in current geopolitical changes and the emerging world order, Maurice Okoli frequently contributes articles for publication in reputable media portals on different aspects of the interconnection between developing and developed countries, particularly in Asia, Africa and Europe. With comments and suggestions, he can be reached via email: markolconsult@gmail.com