African President Research Articles

Leading through difficult times: The oral histories of Drs. Barbara Nichols, Beverly Malone, and Ernest Grant

The nursing profession, along with its respective professional organizations, has transcended through the vicissitudes of time. This includes, but is not limited to, the evolution of the profession and integration of African American nurses into nursing organizations and leadership roles. The three past African American presidents of the American Nurses Association were invited to participate in an oral history about their leadership and presidencies. The interviews were visual/audio-recorded, digitally taped, and transcribed. The oral histories centered on their journeys to becoming the president of the ANA, experiences being the president, leading beyond their presidency, and respective insights about their presidency.

Power of Implicature in Addressing Covid19 as a Global Pandemic

Since Covid19 is a contagious virus when infected, patients should follow the recommended instructions and precautions, the first was to stay isolated from the community as much as possible. (Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2020. Although social distancing has effectively resulted in slowing the virus’s spread, there are enormous challenges posed to societies to convince the public, especially in democratic countries, to stay-at-home at the essential outbreak (Engle et al. 2020; Fowler et al. 2020; Bilgin 2020; Abouk and Heydari 2020; Hale et al. 2020; Studdert and Hall 2020; Gostin and Hodge 2020). This study investigates the implied meanings in the speeches declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic and shedding light on associated ambiguity and implied meaning.
 To what extent was the hidden meaning in line with the strength and ambiguity of the Covid-19 epidemic? For the pragmatic analysis, which is qualitative and quantitative, the model is: flouting Grice’s maxims (1975) utilizing the off-record strategies of politeness by Brown and Levinson (1978, 1987), and the data understudy were two political speeches which were: The South African President Ramasopha and the Nigerian President Buhari’ speeches addressing Covid19 as a global pandemic. The results reveal the connection between implicature and many other factors that contribute to its existence and which are included in the context.

The Leadership Dilemma in South African Presidency: A Focus on the Post Nelson Mandela Messiah Leadership Discourse

The Leadership Dilemma in South African Presidency: A Focus on the Post Nelson Mandela Messiah Leadership Discourse

Uniquely called: African American community college presidents promoting equitable student success

AbstractBlack community college presidents are not exempt from racialized experiences as they promote equitable student success. This study explores the unique experiences of Black leaders who advocate for policies, practices, and procedures that promote equity and social justice at their institutions and in their communities. Together, applied critical leadership (ACL) and the principles of critical race theory (CRT) underpin the research study presented in this chapter and helped inform the interview protocol and identify strategies the presidents use to promote equitable change. In this chapter, five African American presidents share how they conceptualize equity‐driven leadership and how their racialized identities inform their approaches to improving equitable outcomes for all students, particularly students of color. Presidents shared strategies that any community college leader can use to demonstrate their commitment to social justice and advance the practice broadly.

Shannon D. Jones, MLS, MEd, AHIP, FMLA, Medical Library Association President, 2022-2023.

In this profile, Shannon D. Jones, MLS, MEd, AHIP, FMLA, Medical Library Association President, 2022-2023, MJ Tooey describes her as someone who "takes chances on people, valuing those others might not see as valuable". Jones embraces lifelong learning, and it shows up in her collegiate journey; she has been a student of leadership, a leader of institutions, especially within the Medical Library Association (MLA); and a leader in librarianship. She is a trailblazer, the second African American MLA president, and a champion of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Jones has been Director of Libraries & Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) for the past seven years and is also Director of Region 2 of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, National Library of Medicine.

The Leadership Dilemma In South African Presidency: A Focus on The Post Nelson Mandela Messiah Leadership Discourse

The Leadership Dilemma In South African Presidency: A Focus on The Post Nelson Mandela Messiah Leadership Discourse

Adoption of Social Media during Covid-19 Pandemic by African Presidents: A Cross-Sectional Study of Selected Facebook Accounts.

This paper examined the adoption of social media to disperse information at the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Content analysis was employed to identify and select relevant posts for presidents of five African countries (Egypt, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Nigeria) from February to July 2020, which were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. Results indicate that African leaders utilized Facebook mostly in April, posting majorly in text form about issues centered on diplomatic ties, information and orientation, and preventive measures. Followers were more inclined to share the posts than they react by emojis and comments based on Facebook account, post form, and post topic. The findings demonstratively uphold the significance of social media in leadership communication, highlighting ways by which frequent and dominant content can be directed in messages during a crisis.

Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property: Capitalism and Class Conflict in American History

Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property: Capitalism and Class Conflict in American History

President De Klerk and ethos

This article deals with State President De Klerk's historic opening address before Parliament on 2 February 1990. The focus is on the speak er's ethos as essentially conceptua Ilsed by Aristotle in his Rhetoric, and as it has evolved in modern public speaking in the oratory setting. The evaluation is an exercise in rhetorical criticism based on the artistic stan dard and neo-Aristotelian approach. Both verbal and non-verbal messages are considered. The author con. cludes that Mr De Klerk's display of ethos was credible insofar as he con veyed expertness (Intelligence), trust worthiness and good will during the speech. In fact, given the principles of (Western) democratic politics, no South African State President or Prime Minister has ever reached out with so much apparent good will to the vast majority of South Africans.

SENIOR POLITICAL PERSONALITIES’ IMPACTS ON PUBLIC SECTOR ETHICAL LEADERSHIP PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES

The concept of ethical leadership in the public sector is an intriguing and puzzling endeavor. It is assumed that political leaders, among other things, are first unable to distinguish between their personal and professional moral and ethical leadership dilemmas, and second, they are, either not acutely aware of, or ignorant of the effects that their personal ethical posture while in office has on the perceptions and practice of ethical behavior throughout the public sector and, thus, on the provision of the public goods and services. Leadership, who work for the government, in the public sector has a significant impact on their immediate reports and on the collective conscience of the country. Senior public sector executives naturally establish norms and values that go beyond current regulations and guide moral behavior inside and outside government. By evaluating the influences of the private and public personas of three previous South African state presidents, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, and Jacob Zuma, this essay discusses the theories on which leadership is based. The conceptual basis of the research includes material that was studied from a range of sources, including scholarly publications, popular media pronouncements, and policies. The results imply that a leader’s ethical standing, conduct materialize in people’s beliefs and actions, and impact the provision of services.

‘Tribal balancing’: exclusionary elite coalitions and Zambia’s 2021 elections

ABSTRACT Presidents have access to a range of resources unavailable to challengers, and often the most important are derived from control of the state. This allows incumbents to build more inclusive elite coalitions, distribute clientelist resources to their political base and co-opt opposition politicians. Cabinet and government appointments are some of the most visible, direct and identifiable indications of elite accommodation, and African presidents are more likely to build inclusive coalitions to ensure their survival. In Zambia, balanced regional representation – popularly known as “tribal balancing” – has held an important place in the public imagination. But between 2015 and 2021, rather than using incumbent advantage to build an ethnically inclusive alliance, President Lungu used cabinet appointments and senior government positions to shore up his base. This was bolstered by an exclusionary campaign that focused on the opposition leader’s ethnicity to push the PF’s base to vote against the opposition. This article uses an analysis of cabinet appointments and coverage of the election campaign to illustrate how Lungu sought to build an exclusionary coalition and exacerbate ethnic cleavages. This contributes to debates on when and why elites might use exclusionary strategies, and when they might fail to produce the desired outcome.

Ideological Positioning in Presidential Inaugural Addresses: A Comparative Critical Discourse Analysis of President Agyekum Kufour and President John Evans Ata Mills

Scholars have become interested in analysing the language used in the inaugural speeches of African presidents, likely because of the rise of multi-party democracy in a number of African countries. But there have not been many studies done on the ideological analysis of Presidential Inaugural Addresses (PIA), especially for African heads of state. Studies that have already been conducted did not focus on minor indications of ideological orientations and stances presented by these political figures in their political speeches. In this paper, we examined two Presidential Inaugural Addresses (PIAs) delivered by John Agyekum Kufuor and John Evans Atta Mills who were Presidents of the Republic of Ghana. The objective is to outline the covertly expressed ideological positions used in the selected PIAs and to ascertain possible areas of ideological divergence and convergence between the two opposing political leaders. We used a CDA approach to discourse analysis, which is predicated on Fairclough's assumption that discourse analysis aims to investigate the causal relationships between discursive practices and broader social and cultural structures, relations, and processes. More precisely, this study sought to uncover covert ideology that is 'hidden' inside the texts. The study discovered that Kufuor was more direct in his language, promoting his capitalist ideology, criticizing the previous administration, and also having the least self-criticism, whereas Mills was less direct, espoused an ideology of socialism, was less critical of others, and sounded more conciliatory.

‘The real history of the country’? Expropriation without Compensation and Competing Master Narratives about Land (Dis)Possession in South Africa

In 2018, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his government’s intention to pursue land expropriation without compensation. In a country where wealth and poverty still run largely along apartheid-era racial lines, this policy is widely associated with transferring white-owned agricultural property to landless and impoverished blacks. As with preceding land reform policy, expropriation without compensation is informed by a ‘master narrative’ of 20th-century black dispossession through rural land loss, urban forced removals and impoverishment. This article highlights how the recent revitalisation of the land debate has stimulated the more assertive articulation of competing historical narratives of land (dis)possession. We scrutinise such alternative master narratives emanating from two groups claiming to represent marginalised minorities whose identity and experience differ from that of black South Africans: Khoisan activists who mobilise discourses of indigeneity and prior occupancy, and the Afrikaner interest group AfriForum, which deploys discourses of expertise, rationality and impartiality to legitimise their representations of the past. Despite vast differences in the nature of these movements as well as the historical narratives they advance, they have shown instances of mutual support and apparent co-operation. We trace these to key intersections in their historical narratives and the opportunities these offer in the context of the ANC’s flagging electoral support. Understanding how master narratives compete is not only necessary to appraise South Africa’s current political juncture – it equally reveals how citizens who feel excluded and marginalised turn to history to carve out space, legitimacy and support for their agendas in this fraught environment.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Former President Nelson Mandela's Two State of the Nation Addresses (1994 and 1999)

This study examined how the former South African president, Nelson Mandela, used language to present his political ideologies and the persuasion techniques he used to convince his audience of the state's achievements and challenges when delivering two State of the Nation addresses (1994 and 1999). The study was qualitative in nature and followed a case study design. Two speeches presented by former President Mandela provided the data for the study. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results showed that former President Mandela used the restoration of human dignity for all South Africans, freedom of the individual, taking care of the poor, caring for vulnerable groups, overcoming fear, unity, and a better life for all as his ideologies.

Presidential Powers in Postcolonial Africa Deserve Historical Attention

AbstractAfrican presidential powers fascinate: they have not only been extensively studied by political scientists, but they have also inspired novelists and filmmakers as much as they continue to attract the attention of journalists. Historians, however, have for a long time been rather disinterested in the issue. And yet, a question remains: upon independence, why did almost all African states adopt a presidential system of rule? This article reflects on the methodology and new questions a historical approach entails for the study of presidential powers in African postcolonial states. This article argues for the need to trace the origins of presidential powers, to depart from narratives of colonial legacies and exaggerated archetypes of African presidents, and to open new avenues for the conceptualization of both the decolonization process and the formation of postcolonial states in Africa.

Presidential communication approaches and the impact on public health: a comparative analysis of three South African presidents’ communication on AIDS and COVID-19

The HIV response in the African continent over past decades demonstrates the potency that the words and actions of political leaders have in either expediting or impeding the implementation and adoption of preventive measures at the individual and community levels. The article explores the health communication approaches employed by two South African past presidents (Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma) in responding to the HIV epidemic, and contrasts these with the communicative approach of President Cyril Ramaphosa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Approached from this understanding, this article provides a comparative analysis of the communication approaches of these three presidencies across the two pandemics, and considers the variously trusted sources of top-down, government-driven and bottom-up, community-informed approaches to health communication. Critical lessons that emerged in South Africa during the HIV epidemic regarding the need to include communities in communicating about risks and behaviour change have not been adopted into the COVID-19 response. Political leaders are not best placed to communicate about these issues, and, in the context of pandemics, there is a clear need to reconsider top-down communication approaches that are designed without the participation of communities and ignore the interconnected nature of health and other social determinants of health.

A pandemic of inequality: reflections on AIDS and COVID-19 in the southern African context

In 2020, COVID-19 started spreading from Wuhan in China to the USA, the UK and Europe and then to the rest of the world. In Africa, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Egypt on 14 February, while South Africa’s first case was identified on 5 March. On 11 March, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. At the time, it was said that COVID-19 would become the great equaliser because the virus made no distinction between first and third world countries, between the rich and the poor, and nor was it influenced by gender, sexual orientation or race. When someone contracted SARS-CoV-2, no guarantee could be given that the patient would survive, regardless of who they were or their status in the community. This stood in contrast to the early experience of AIDS before antiretrovirals existed and when HIV was spreading like wildfire in sub-Saharan Africa and other countries with low or lower-middle-income status. It seemed as if these countries were doubly cursed — by poverty and the AIDS pandemic that was causing as many as 6 000 mortalities per day in sub-Saharan Africa. This led to the South African president at the time, Thabo Mbeki, to assert that poverty was an even greater problem than HIV and AIDS. It did not take long to see that COVID-19 was not the anticipated equaliser. As lockdowns were enforced within most countries across the globe and resulting in economic slumps, differences between rich and poorer countries and their respective citizens were thrown into sharp relief once again. This article reports how both AIDS and COVID-19 adversely affected women, the impoverished and those without access to sustainable souces of food and medicine.

The Covid-19 Pandemic and Cartooning the South African President

The article examines some of the historical, political, and institutional forces shaping newspaper cartoons in post-apartheid South Africa. It argues that cartoons in South Africa have served and serve a very different function from that described in influential accounts of cartoons in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe by Achille Mbembe, Lyombe Eko, Wendy Willems, and others. To demonstrate these key differences, the article examines how South African cartoonists covered the first stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mbembe’s influential account of postcolonial uses of cartoon humour suggests a strongly ambivalent consequence of the portrayal of the “Autocrat” in power, as both attacking him and reinforcing his all-encompassing role. South African cartoonists, however, produced a far more nuanced view of the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, during the crisis. Many cartoons showed the limits on his power and portrayed him as a moderating force caught between opposing forces and factions. The article analyses the causes for and consequences of this very different portrayal of the South African president.

Propaganda as expressed through nouns1

Previous studies have often used a critical discourse approach to analyse propaganda texts. Although the social function of language in propaganda texts is well recognised and researched, the systematic aspect of the language used to fulfil this function seems less well understood. To draw more general conclusions about the way in which nouns are used to express propaganda, systemic functional linguistics was used to analyse texts identified as propaganda. This study is a qualitative study, although a quantitative presentation of the data is also provided. The texts used in the study thematically pertains to former South African president, Jacob Zuma, and are a combination of texts thematically focusing on two controversial South African cases, namely Nkandla and state capture. During Zuma's term, he was implied in both of these cases. The events enjoyed large-scale media attention and many texts were generated, some of which were pro-Zuma and some of which were against Zuma. Some of the salient findings include: the propaganda text group contains more subjective nouns than the non-propaganda text group. This high number of evaluative terms can be understood with the interpersonal metafunction in mind. For propagandists to attain their aims, they have to invite the receiver of the communication to join their perspective. These nouns are often used in collocations and can be used to create a specific discourse in a society. It is well known that nouns are used for different propaganda techniques, especially for dysphemism, but they can also be used for a specific type of dysphemism, namely self-dysphemism.

The Language of Liberation and Perpetual Eternity

The incarceration of the former South African President Jacob Zuma on charges of contempt of court sparked mass looting, destruction, and damage to a staggering economy attempting to navigate through Covid-19-related repercussions. Early estimates reveal that the initial damage report bill is a R50 billion knock on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The level of orchestration behind the attacks alludes to state-sponsored violence, given Mr Zuma’s loyal sympathisers within the intelligence community and in the African National Congress. This research postulates that Mr Zuma’s political rhetoric served as the main inciting factor behind the destruction. Indeed, comparative analysis shows how many post-independence/liberation leaders have invoked a language of debt by virtue of their role as independence/liberation heroes to justify dismal governance records. What are the key features of this language of debt?