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        <title>Polity.org.za | Latest Opinions</title>
        <description><![CDATA[Polity offers engaging and in-depth views from South African opinion makers. Regular columnists and guest writers offer analysis of current local and global events.]]></description>
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            <title>Central Africa’s shifting alliances between armies and armed groups</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/central-africas-shifting-alliances-between-armies-and-armed-groups-2026-07-17</link>
            <description><![CDATA[State security forces, militias and vigilante groups increasingly overlap, making insecurity more profitable and conflict harder to resolve. Across Central Africa, it is becoming harder to distinguish between those tasked with providing security and those driving crime and conflict. The inability of governments to guarantee security encourages alliances among militias, community-based forces and national armies, complicating conflict management.]]></description>
            <author>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </author>
            <category>Institute for Security Studies</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:55:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725901</a_id>
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        <editor>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </editor>
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            <title>US immigration regime undoes FIFA World Cup’s promise of universality</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/us-immigration-regime-undoes-fifa-world-cups-promise-of-universality-2026-07-17</link>
            <description><![CDATA[By blocking many Africans from participating and attending, the US has made a mockery of FIFA’s apparent commitment to universal access. The 2026 FIFA World Cup final this Sunday between Spain and Argentina is the culmination of what should have been the biggest celebration of diversity in football history.]]></description>
            <author>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </author>
            <category>Institute for Security Studies</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:52:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725900</a_id>
        <updated>1784282122</updated>
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        <editor>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </editor>
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            <title>Think electricity</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/think-electricity-2026-07-17</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Global statistics continue to reaffirm the role of electricity as the future dominant energy carrier. More and more energy services are being electrified, including through electric vehicles, while new sources of large-scale demand, such as data centres, are emerging at pace. The International Energy Agency has already proclaimed this the ‘Age of Electricity’, as electricity demand outpaces overall energy demand. It is forecasting that global electricity demand will increase at a yearly rate of 3.6% from 2026 to 2030; at least 2.5 times faster than overall energy demand.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ENERGY POLICY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>724750</a_id>
        <updated>1784013628</updated>
        <published>1784239200</published>
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        <editor>Terence Creamer</editor>
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            <title>Why we should count our chickens</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/why-we-should-count-our-chickens-2026-07-16</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa has 168 million chickens. What does their location tell us about food security and the resilience of this key agricultural sub-sector? 1. A sector built on scale]]></description>
            <author>Econ3x3  </author>
            <category>Econ3x3</category>
            <pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:16:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725791</a_id>
        <updated>1784194423</updated>
        <published>1784193360</published>
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        <editor>Econ3x3  </editor>
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            <title>J’activists: the hybrid nature of conflict journalism in Sudan’s ‘silent war’</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/jactivists-the-hybrid-nature-of-conflict-journalism-in-sudans-silent-war-2026-07-15</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Sudan’s ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, increasingly viewed as a proxy war driven by competing geopolitical interests, has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. It also highlights a hybrid form of war reporting of what some, lamenting the dearth of international media coverage, see as a ‘silent conflict’. This reporting is being framed as a pragmatic, perhaps controversial, response to what researchers have called traditional media’s persistent ‘neglect’ of the fighting.]]></description>
            <author>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </author>
            <category>Institute for Security Studies</category>
            <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:21:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725737</a_id>
        <updated>1784125501</updated>
        <published>1784125260</published>
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        <editor>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </editor>
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            <title>Ghana’s Tarkwa negotiations are testing Africa’s new mining bargain</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/ghanas-tarkwa-negotiations-are-testing-africas-new-mining-bargain-2026-07-14</link>
            <description><![CDATA[For decades, the bargain between states and mining companies was relatively predictable. Governments provided regulatory certainty, companies invested capital and extracted minerals, and the state captured value primarily through taxes, royalties and employment. Today, that bargain is being renegotiated. As geopolitical fragmentation reshapes global supply chains and critical minerals become strategic assets, African governments are instead asking: if the world places greater strategic value on our resources, why should we settle for yesterday’s terms?]]></description>
            <author>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </author>
            <category>Institute for Security Studies</category>
            <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:20:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725622</a_id>
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        <editor>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </editor>
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            <title>What will it take for South Africa to outsmart Mandrax traffickers?</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/what-will-it-take-for-south-africa-to-outsmart-mandrax-traffickers-2026-07-14</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The May seizure of over 700 kg of methaqualone, or Mandrax, was one of the largest at a South African border post in recent years. Acting on intelligence, customs and police officials at the Beitbridge border with Zimbabwe discovered the illicit substance hidden behind steel panels in a truck travelling from Malawi. Two foreign nationals were arrested. In 2020, an even bigger Mandrax seizure – 3.9 tonnes – was made in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal (see table), showing criminal syndicates’ capacity for domestic storage on an industrial scale.]]></description>
            <author>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </author>
            <category>Institute for Security Studies</category>
            <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:53:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725612</a_id>
        <updated>1784026454</updated>
        <published>1784019180</published>
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        <editor>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </editor>
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            <title>Delayed containment of Ebola could cost DRC and Uganda billions</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/delayed-containment-of-ebola-could-cost-drc-and-uganda-billions-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda presents an urgent public health and development challenge for the Great Lakes region. Although smaller so far than the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, history shows how quickly localised outbreaks can escalate when containment is delayed, and health systems are strained. The immediate policy priority is containment. Failure to control transmission would not only increase mortality but also impose high economic costs through reduced productivity, heightened fiscal burdens and disruptions to trade, investment and development. ]]></description>
            <author>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </author>
            <category>Institute for Security Studies</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:25:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725464</a_id>
        <updated>1783685839</updated>
        <published>1783682700</published>
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        <editor>ISS, Institute for Security Studies     </editor>
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            <title>The refuse crisis in Johannesburg is not a labour dispute, it is the price residents pay for ...</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/the-refuse-crisis-in-johannesburg-is-not-a-labour-dispute-it-is-the-price-residents-pay-for-years-of-financial-mismanagement-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Johannesburg's refuse collection crisis is no longer an inconvenience. It has become a public health emergency and another reminder that residents are paying the price for years of political incompetence. As Pickitup faces the prospect of an unprotected strike amid ongoing labour disputes, staff shortages and operational instability, thousands of households have been left wondering when or if their refuse will be collected. ]]></description>
            <author>Thabi  Shomolekae</author>
            <category>Other Opinions</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 11:36:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725452</a_id>
        <updated>1783676715</updated>
        <published>1783676160</published>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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            <title>Measured ambition</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/measured-ambition-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa’s planned R1-trillion infrastructure programme is undoubtedly a chance to revive the struggling construction sector and to stimulate industrialisation. After more than a decade of weak demand and ongoing deindustrialisation, however, realising this potential will require a combination of ambition and pragmatism, together with a relentless focus on execution.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: INDUSTRIAL POLICY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>724445</a_id>
        <updated>1783409188</updated>
        <published>1783634400</published>
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        <editor>Terence Creamer</editor>
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