South Africa: South Africa's Electricity Price Is Soaring. Why Protests Are Often the Only Way for People to Be Heard

Millions of unemployed South Africans, many of whom survive on a Social Relief of Distress Grant government grant of R370 (about US$21) per month, are not able to pay for… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Innovations Are Overlooked Because Global Measures Don't Fit - What Needs to Change

African governments and development agencies have embraced science, technology and innovation as levers for development over the past two decades. Science, technology and… Read more »

South Africa: Land Reform in South Africa - How One Community Set Up a Successful Game Reserve

In South Africa, most of the arable land was taken from African people by colonial settlers. Ever since apartheid ended in 1994, people who were dispossessed of their land have… Read more »

Africa: We Detected Deep Pulses Beneath Africa - What We Learned Could Help Us Understand Volcanic Activity

Earth's continents may look fixed on a globe, but they've been drifting, splitting and reforming over billions of years - and they still are. Our new study reveals fresh evidence… Read more »

Uganda: Uganda's Land Eviction Crisis - Do Populist State Measures Actually Fix Problems?

Populism is rife in various African countries. This political ideology responds to and takes advantage of a situation where a large section of people feels exploited, marginalised… Read more »

Nigeria: Young Nigerians Learn About Democracy At School - How It's Shaping Future Voters

Democratic consolidation is a continuing struggle, in Africa as elsewhere. The turn to democracy gained momentum in Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s but has petered out… Read more »

Ghana: Ghana's Security Strategy Has Kept Terror Attacks At Bay - What Other Countries Can Learn From Its Approach

Ghana stands out in west Africa as a nation that has not experienced terrorist attacks, even though it's geographically close to countries that have. In Burkina Faso, Mali and… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Police Serve the ANC Insiders, Not the People - Here's How It Happened

After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, there was significant optimism about police reform in the country. Impressive steps were taken to bring the South African… Read more »

Ghana: Ghana Has a Rare Treasure, a Crater Made When a Meteor Hit Earth - Why It Needs to Be Protected

Impact craters are formed when an object from space such as a meteoroid, asteroid or comet strikes the Earth at a very high velocity. This leaves an excavated circular hole on the… Read more »

Uganda: Idi Amin Made Himself Out to Be the 'Liberator' of an Oppressed Majority - a Demagogic Trick That Endures Today

Fifty years ago, Ugandan President Idi Amin wrote to the governments of the British Commonwealth with a bold suggestion: Allow him to take over as head of the organization,… Read more »

Nigeria: Boko Haram Conflict - Nigeria's Army Is Failing the Widows of Dead Soldiers

Nigerian soldiers' widows have been reported as lacking support from the army, and even experiencing sexual harassment while claiming their late husbands' benefits. Read more »

South Africa: Nelson Mandela Was a Hard Man Who Played a Hard Game. What If He Was in Ramaphosa's Shoes?

In 2023 South African author Jonny Steinberg published a book on former South African president Nelson Mandela and his tumultuous marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. To mark the… Read more »

East Africa: East African Countries and Open Borders - Great Strides, but Still a Long Way to Go

It's not uncommon to find a Ugandan taxi driver in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, just as one regularly meets Zimbabwean Uber drivers in South Africa. But there is a big difference. A… Read more »

Rwanda: 4 Things Every Peace Agreement Needs - and How the DRC-Rwanda Deal Measures Up

The governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda concluded a peace treaty in June 2025, aimed at ending a decades-long war in eastern DRC. The United… Read more »

Nigeria: Muhammadu Buhari - Nigeria's Military Leader Turned Democratic President Leaves a Mixed Legacy

Nigeria's former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who died in London on 13 July aged 82, was one of two former military heads of state who were later elected as civilian presidents.… Read more »

Ghana: University Graduates in Ghana Must Serve Society for a Year - Study Suggests It's Good for National Unity

Almost 70 years after independence was gained across the continent, many African countries continue to face the complex task of managing ethnic diversity and building national… Read more »

Zambia: Zambia Facing a Democratic Crossroads As It Enters a Fresh Constitutional Crisis

The election of Zambia's president, Hakainde Hichilema, in 2021 was widely interpreted as a victory for democracy. Zambia had suffered rising repression under former leader Edgar… Read more »

Nigeria: Nigeria's Maroko Eviction Remembered - a Brutal Legacy Lives On

Thirty-five years ago in mid-July, bulldozers demolished the homes, hopes and aspirations of over 300,000 people in the low income community of Maroko, in Lagos, Nigeria. This… Read more »

South Africa: Devil Worship, Muti and Murder - What's Behind the Growth of Occult Gangs in South Africa?

Gang-related crime in South Africa is widespread, but is under-reported outside hotspots such as the Cape Flats in Cape Town or Westbury in Johannesburg. In these areas gangs are… Read more »

South Africa: Tax Season in South Africa - the System Is Designed to Tackle Inequality - How It Falls Short

South Africa's personal income tax system is in the spotlight as the country's tax filing season gets under way. Personal income tax is an important way of redistributing income… Read more »

Mozambique: Samora Machel's Vision for Mozambique Didn't Survive - What Has Taken Its Place?

Samora Moisés Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique, was born in 1933 in Gaza province, in the south of the country. He died in an unexplained plane crash on… Read more »

Africa: War, Politics and Religion Shape Wildlife Evolution in Cities

People often consider evolution to be a process that occurs in nature in the background of human society. But evolution is not separate from human beings. In fact, human cultural… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Alcohol and Colonialism - the Curious Story of the Bulawayo Beer Gardens

Kontuthu Ziyathunqa - Smoke Rising - was what they used to call Bulawayo when the city was the industrial powerhouse of Zimbabwe. Now, many of its factories lie dormant or… Read more »

South Africa: Cape Town's Sewage Treatment Isn't Coping - Scientists Are Worried About What the City Is Telling the Public

Urban water bodies - rivers, lakes and oceans - are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don't… Read more »

South Africa: Child Labour Numbers Rise in Homes Where Adults Are Jobless - South African Study

Child labour is a big concern across the world. It is particularly acute in countries in the global south, where it is estimated that about 160 million children are engaged in… Read more »