Two pioneering studies which expose in new detail how multinational corporations avoid paying tax in a developing nation are likely to intensify pressure on the largest firms operating in Africa to pay their fair share of taxes to the countries in which they earn their profits.
Read on: https://allafrica.com/stories/201901160689.html
An account of how former U.S. President George H W Bush moved to recognise an important leader of the struggle against apartheid. (Written upon Bush’s death.)
“I have been pleased today to welcome to the White House Mrs. Albertina Sisulu, of Soweto, South Africa… She personifies the struggle for human rights and human dignity, and her presence here is an inspiration to us all.”
In these words, former President George H.W. Bush – who died in Houston, Texas late on Friday – signalled to South Africans in the first months of his …
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Ahead of the election of a new leader of South Africa’s governing African National Congress in December 2017, the readers of allAfrica.com, the website I have helped edit and run since 2006, knew the one contestant in the race, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as the former chair of the African Union Commission.
But they didn’t know the other, Cyril Ramaphosa, nearly as well. Having followed his rise first as a union then a party leader, I felt the story of a person I had observed as a canny political operator was one worth …
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President Jacob Zuma faces a vote of no confidence tabled in Parliament by his own party within days if he does not resign his office.
Read on: https://allafrica.com/stories/201802130907.html
by John Allen
A reflection on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s first visit to South Africa
Somehow I managed to miss Bruce Springsteen when others in my generation were listening to him.
I knew who he was, vaguely. But I guess journalism in the wake of first the Soweto uprising, then the states of emergency after the Vaal uprising of 1984, gave us all the excitement we needed. So I wasn’t among the South Africans who poured across the border into Zimbabwe in 1988 to hear him compare “the systematic apartheid …
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The world was treated to a display at the official memorial service for Nelson Mandela of how South Africa was freed from apartheid and became a democracy: a feisty, even bloody-minded citizenry determined to have its say, backed by massive international support.
Add to that a resilience of spirit which enables them to turn a time of mourning into one of joyous celebration of the life being remembered.
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Working with a rabble-rouser
From Times Online
October 10, 2007
John Allen spent 13 years following in the wake of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as the author of his biography, he explains what motivated the rabble-rouser and what kept him going through the dark days of apartheid
by Joanna Sugden
He’s been called an “angry, evil and embittered little bishop” by Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe which must be a badge of honour.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who turned 76 on Sunday, can claim so many titles, Nobel Peace Laureate, anti-apartheid activist, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but in his authorised …
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“In my view, Desmond Tutu is the best advert for Christianity that walks on this earth.”
— Bono
“For decades (Tutu) has been a moral titan, a voice of principle, an unrelenting champion of justice, and a dedicated peacemaker…an outspoken voice for freedom and justice in countries across the globe; a staunch defender of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons”
— President Barack Obama
“No matter the topic, Tutu speaks throughout in the voice of the Christian prophet, decrying cruelty and meanness, defending the poor and the powerless, delighting in the beauty of …
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An interview with John Allen on “Rabble-Rouser,” as edited by the Sunday Times, Johannesburg, and published on May 20, 2007, ahead of the announcement of the newspaper’s Alan Paton Award for Non-fiction.
Read a PDF of the interview.
“Rabble-Rouser” was one of five South African non-fiction works shortlisted for South Africa’s annual Alan Paton Award for Non-Fiction.
The award, announced on June 16, 2007, was given to Ivan Vladislavic, for his book, “Portrait With Keys.” Bloomberg news reported on the award in a report from Cape Town, Afrikaans Epic, Suburban Memoir Win Africa’s Richest Book Prize .
At the awards ceremony, “Rabble-Rouser” was pronounced “The definitive study of the life of one of South Africa’s great heroes,” and described as “A full, rich account of Tutu’s life.”
The shortlist was announced at a function …
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