https://www.scmp.com/rss/142114/feed Bobby Jordan is a senior reporter for The Sunday Times newspaper in South Africa. He lives in Cape Town. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com For a man who relied heavily on Chinese weaponry to stay in power, a Chinese-manufactured Type 89 armoured vehicle rolling into central Harare on November 15 must have been an ugly shock. It had come to depose him, not serve him, and Robert Gabriel Mugabe knew his game was finally up. Even bedecked with grinning soldiers and citizenry, the armoured vehicle was as much a symbol of oppression as liberation. It also triggered debate about the role China would have in Zimbabwe’s future, as well as... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2122492/what-mugabe-coup-says-about-chinas-plans-africa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2122492/what-mugabe-coup-says-about-chinas-plans-africa?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Dec 2017 10:31:22 +0000 It meant to hurt and it did. But lobbing insults about “white monopoly capitalism” has backfired horribly for South Africa’s notorious Gupta family, who are plumbing new depths in countrywide notoriety. It is hard to believe the family could amass such influence in the relatively short time since brothers Ajay and Atul first arrived, followed later by another brother, Rajesh, to seek business opportunities in Nelson Mandela’s post-Apartheid “rainbow nation”. A close business relationship with... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2102641/rainbow-nation-south-africa-erupts-after-indian-business-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2102641/rainbow-nation-south-africa-erupts-after-indian-business-family?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jul 2017 11:11:06 +0000 From the sunny balconies of middle-class suburbia to the dusty street township corners, South Africans have a new obsession – and it was made in India. They’re called the Guptas, immigrants from a down-at-heel town north of Delhi who have reached the apex of the country’s business world, and the centre of its politics. A Gupta TV channel, a Gupta newspaper, Gupta coal mines, Gupta-sponsored cricket stadiums – the family’s footprint extends far and wide. Zuma’s controversial friends the Guptas... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2010215/how-one-indian-family-killing-africas-oldest-political-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2010215/how-one-indian-family-killing-africas-oldest-political-party?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Aug 2016 07:49:13 +0000 'IT'S THE WAY they throw money at me sometimes - it cuts the spirit of my song,' says Paris Metro musician Bady Alhassane. 'Every 50th person throws a 50-centime piece, every 70th person throws a euro. Otherwise, it's just the tiny stuff. On a good day I'll get about Euro20 (HK$190), but I'm generally playing for between 12 and 14 hours. Sometimes, I play until my fingers ache. One day, a man came up while I was playing and just stood there listening for ages. When I finished, he clapped, gave... https://www.scmp.com/article/463460/paris-or-busk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/463460/paris-or-busk?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:00:00 +0000 IF DAVID READE were made of glass, he'd have bead eyes, chandelier hair and a heart filled with African sky crystals. The 43-year-old South African glass artist loves his continent. He says Africa is the joy and inspiration reflected in his translucent glass artwork that's exhibited in galleries from New York to Johannesburg. It will be on display for the first time in Hong Kong this week, at Bark Modern Art gallery and Gaffer Studio Glass. 'I've never felt more at home anywhere in the... https://www.scmp.com/article/459267/blown-away?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/459267/blown-away?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jun 2004 16:00:00 +0000