Theo Neethling – The Conversation

Profile Articles Activity * __ Poor governance and incompetence plague South Africa’s public administration, particularly at the local level. * __ The African private sector must play a more

active role in advocating for the continent’s interests in discussions with China, the world’s second largest economy. * __ South Africa's defence force has been in decline for some

time as its budget has shrunk while its duties have changed. * __ In parts of Nigeria and Mozambique, the central governments and state institutions are either absent or unable to address

the dire socio-economic conditions and related instability. * __ South Africa's foreign policy is supposed to be guided by the principle of ubuntu (humanness), so a visit to an

aggressor is hard to explain. * __ The evidence shows that political risk in South Africa has increased markedly in certain areas over the past two decades. * __ The conflict has put a

temporary lid on plans that have been in the making for more than a decade since rich liquefied natural gas reserves were discovered in the Rovuma Basin. * __ The Horn of Africa is the

epicentre of foreign military activity. Foreign troops have been deployed to support peace initiatives, subdue terror groups and support foreign security initiatives. * __ Should South

Africa's military get involved, it would be venturing into a highly violent and complex landscape, requiring a counter-terrorism type of operations. * __ At the Sochi summit, African

states embraced Russia's newly established relations. * Thanks - valid point. Theo * __ Russia's President Vladimir Putin has new aspirations in Africa in pursuit of his

country's assertiveness in the global arena. * __ Conflict patterns in Africa have changed rapidly in recent years posing a challenge to peace and security. * __ The military is not

tactically trained for community protection and crime fighting and South Africa should not deploy soldiers in urban communities. * __ China's presence in Africa continues to grow with

its first military base in Djibouti. It wants to be a friend to Africa positioning itself as a global power while looking after its own interests. More