CAR’s Previously Conjoined Twins Baptised by Pope Francis
Ervina and Prefina, whose skulls were fused together, underwent surgery in the Vatican City last month. Their mother Ermine Nzotto is from the Central African Republic (CAR). Soon after the operation, she told local media she was keen for the Pope to baptise her daughters because “he has always taken care of the children of […]
Squeezing Dos Santos Out of Angola’s SOEs
Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos will leave her job in the administration of telecoms operator Unitel amid ongoing tensions between board members. “After 20 years dedicated to the creation, development and success of Unitel, I chose to leave the position of member of the company’s board of directors,” dos Santos, who holds a 25% stake […]
Kenyan Non-profit Changes Gears to Yield Better Results for Farmers
Kenyan tech-enabled forestry company Komaza recently announced it has secured US$28 million in Series B funding. However, the company started out life as a non-profit, which chief executive officer (CEO) Tevis Howard says is harder work, and can mean teams lack the focus to achieve long-term large scale impact. Komaza transitioned into a for-profit entity […]
How One Man and his Cellphone in Canada Rescued a Group of Africans Stuck in China
Tertius Myburgh worked in aviation for decades in Southern Africa as a pilot and operations manager. He recently moved to Canada where he is running a charter company from his dining room. As the number of paying passengers who needed repatriation became clear, Myburgh used his Southern African links to lease a Boeing 767, plus […]
Mogadishu Foils Al Shabaab Prison Break
Officials in Somalia now say 19 people are known to have died during a shoot-out inside the capital Mogadishu’s main prison. Correctional Services Spokesman Abdiqani Mohamed Khalaf said on state TV that 15 prisoners were killed, and four wardens. Another eight people were injured, he said. There were conflicting reports of how the prisoners, all […]
A Coastal City in Benin Restores Monuments from the Slave Trade Era
It is part of a billion-dollar development project aimed at promoting tourism and confronting its role in the slave trade. Part of this past touches upon the Transatlantic Slave Trade of the 1600s that lasted around 300 years as Ouidah — the nation’s coastal town, was a main port from where many Africans were captured […]
Litigating the Right to Education in South Africa: An Overview of Some of the Most Important Cases of the Last Ten Years
The basic education system in South Africa is steeped in a history of systemic inequality that was institutionalised by the apartheid government. This created a clear divide between the good quality of education provided to white learners and the underfunded, abysmal education provided to black learners in the country. Twenty-six years after the first democratic […]
How to Achieve Successful Blue Growth in Africa
Africa has 38 coastal countries and six islands whose maritime industry is estimated to be worth US$1 trillion per year. This figure will increase as they develop their offshore hydrocarbon, energy, tourism, maritime transport, shipping and fishing sectors. These industries are collectively called the “blue economy”. They are recognised as central to Africa’s sustainable development. […]
Windhoek Hopes to Catch a Big Fish to Finance its Fight Against the Pandemic
Namibia plans to auction the right to catch horse mackerel and hake off its coast to foreign fishing vessels to urgently raise money to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The country’s fisheries ministry on Monday announced plans to sell 60% of its so-called Governmental Objective Fish Quota. Along with tourism, beef and mining, fishing is one […]
Scenario Planning Tool Shows the Effects of COVID-19 in the Sahel
Coronavirus is predicted to push more than 1 million people from their homes across the Sahel, creating havoc in an already highly fragile region, according to new forecasting software. Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria in West Africa are predicted to see displacement as a result of the increasing conflict, unemployment and human rights abuses […]
