Original essays on political economy, historical memory, governance reform, and the social contract. Published here first. Extracts distributed on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.
The 2026 Ibrahim Index of African Governance was published on 31 October. Dr Malusi Gigaba and Solomon Atah explain how it is built, what a number can and cannot say, and what a country should do with its number.
On the 150th anniversary of Sol Plaatje’s birth, Dr Malusi Gigaba follows the interpreter who kept the pen, from the Mafikeng courtroom to a newspaper, a phonetic reader and a gramophone recording, and asks what the word “first” is worth.
Joaquim Chissano turned eighty-seven on 22 October. Dr Malusi Gigaba follows the peace he made in Mozambique, from Rome to the ballot box to the handover, and asks what a peace asks of those who inherit it.
When the Nobel Committee named Navi Pillay this month, Dr Malusi Gigaba went back to its own words on Luthuli and Tutu to ask what it thought it was honouring: not a victory, but a discipline.
On the International Day of the Girl Child, Dr Malusi Gigaba reads what the world wrote down for girls and for teachers, sets it beside South Africa’s published figures, and asks who is standing in the room.
Lesotho’s independence turned sixty on 4 October. Dr Malusi Gigaba reads the founding documents of six African states to ask who held the pen when independence came, and what independence is for.
On her 115th birthday, Dr Malusi Gigaba on the life of Lilian Ngoyi — seamstress, trade unionist, and the first woman on the ANC’s National Executive Committee — and why we named a street after her but never told her story.