The year 2016 marked the culmination of a decline of liberation politics in South Africa. But not only was South Africa on the spotlight, but the rest of the African continent has a share fare of the good and the bad. In South Africa Liberal politics of petty bourgeois class contestation over political power and control of economic resources assumed the centre stage. The fight over the control of the National Treasury; squabbles over “state capture”; and the serialised motions of no-confidence in President Jacob Zuma to resign as president are some of the hallmarks that manifest the consolidation of liberal democracy. In Africa South Sudan became number one in the list of countries that had a fair share of turbulence and uncertainty, then came political upheavals in the Gambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
To help us on looking at the year ahead:
• Izak Khomo, senior reporter at Channel Africa
• Charlie Khumalo, executive producer for Portuguese service
• Sophie Mokoema, acting political editor at SABC radio news
