Data and Analysis of Africa's Political Crisis
Political violence and protests in South Africa over the first few months of 2017 have steadily increased. May 2017 witnessed an upsurge in conflict events and protests with levels of violence and protests not seen since October 2016. Given the
Riots and protests continue to comprise the majority of events in South Africa. Last week saw some of the highest rates of demonstrations reported thus far in 2017 – well above the average number seen in other weeks (see Figure
2016 represents the second most active year in the ACLED dataset for South Africa. Although conflict and protest event levels have decreased overall since 2015, 2016 has borne witness to several crucial events and trends which have had serious ramifications
The number of conflict and protest events has steadily risen in South Africa due to student demonstrations in universities across South Africa concerning a rise in tuition fees. The recent spike in protest activity represents a repeat of the student
Since 2013, riots and protests have been the dominant political expression recorded in African countries in the ACLED dataset. Populations took to the streets to express their grievances at a higher rate than more violent organised activity conducted by rebel
Last month witnessed a slight decrease in conflict and protest events in South Africa. Nevertheless both April and March represent the most active months in terms of political unrest since October 2015 and the nationwide student protests against fees (see
Rates of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Africa have been increasing (United Nations, 2015). When selecting a location, investors place significant weight on stability – an optimal environment is where stability is high and risk is minimal (African Development
2015 has so far been the most active year for South Africa in the ACLED dataset, with over 1,400 individual political violence and protest events taking place since the beginning of January. This represents a 33% increase over 2014. In
Levels of political unrest in South Africa decreased slightly in October. However, South Africa witnessed the highest levels of political unrest in mid-October since the country was hit with a series of xenophobic riots in April 2015. This spike in
Riots and protests increased this month in South Africa with Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape having the highest incidence of demonstrations (see Figure 1). In spite of this general increase, service delivery protests remained low and accounted for only