VII-3. Ruling in Rough Seas: The Portraits of Political Leaders in South Africa

Conveners: Sifiso Ndlovu (University of South Africa, Pretoria); e-mail: ndlovsm@unisa.ac.za, Vladimir Shubin (Institute for African Studies, Moscow, Russia); e-mail: vlgs@yandex.ru

It is planned that the participants of the panel will consider issues related to the role of the leaders of independent countries and liberation movements in Southern Africa. It is expected that researchers from Russia, African and other countries will present the political portraits of heads of state bodies, political parties (both ruling and opposition), and of organizations that fought against colonialism and apartheid. Consideration of this topic is particularly important in the context of growing instability in a number of countries in the region, connected in particular with the issue of transfer of power to a new generation of politicians. The work of the panel can be regarded as a continuation of the discussion at the previous Conference of Africanists in the panel on sources of the history of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa.