federalismlatest news & developments
An ANC volunteer gets ready to erect posters of party president, Cyril Ramaphosa, in Johannesburg, prior to South Africa’s May 29 elections. (Delwyn Verasamy, Mail & Guardian)

South Africa needs a ‘no-alition’ confidence-and-supply arrangement for government stability

The loss of an outright majority for the ANC should not be considered a panacea which promises to alleviate all our political and economic woes

  • Des Erasmus
5 min read
A general view of the flags of the member states of the African Union during the second day of the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP)

Federalism is a fundamental principle of African governance and self-determination

The charge that a federated state is somehow injurious to Africans is divorced from the history of African people having organised their states along federal lines, prior to contact with Europeans

  • Des Erasmus
5 min read
“Didn’t the world support the boycott of apartheid South Africa?” (Photo by Jonathan C. Katzenellenbogen/Getty Images)

Federalism is not Apartheid

While the South African Constitution enshrines federal principles, the ANC has repeatedly ignored this

  • Des Erasmus
4 min read