The event was jointly hosted by the Water Research Commission (WRC), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC); the University of Pretoria’s Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa; and the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being.

Prof Mazrui addressed some of the expectations of Barack Obama’s presidency. He said that Obama’s policy towards Africa has been less noteworthy than his moves towards the Muslim world, further commenting that “Obama may be cautious not to betray either racial nepotism or a manifest bias towards Africa”. Prof Mazrui also speculated whether Africa on its own would have been better off if Hillary Clinton had been elected President – as had occurred under Bill Clinton’s presidency when considerable friendship was demonstrated towards Africa, including the most extensive visit during 1998 by an incumbent US president to the African continent in history.

Prof Mazrui also touched on the subject of drone killings, concluding that Obama's existential assets of Africanity, Muslim ancestry and personal skills are potential assets in his policies towards the Muslim world and for his impact upon the Black world. He further commented how Obama's election to the highest office of the most powerful country in the world may have broken the glass ceiling in other white majority countries around the globe.

Prof Ali Mazrui, his wife, Pauline Uti Mazrui in the background and Abdul Bemath, writer of
'The Mazruiana Collection Revisited -  Ali A. Mazrui debating the African condition:
An annotated and select thematic bibliography 1962 - 2003'.

Click here for a copy of Prof Mazrui’s lecture, or here for an article on Prof Mazrui's presentation on the Obama’s presidency.