November 24, 2022
South Africa: Time for South Africa to Improve Its Intelligence Sharing Channels With the U.S.
The announcement in October 2022 by the US embassy in South Africa of a possible terror attack caused a lot of confusion, concern and, in some cases, anger in the country. The… Read more »
November 21, 2022
Africa: Intellectual Property Waiver for Covid Vaccines Should Be Expanded to Include Treatments and Tests
Global inequities in access to COVID vaccines have turned out to be a "catastrophic moral failure", just as the World Health Organization warned they would in January 2021. Yet it… Read more »
Tanzania: Pregnant Students May Stay in School Says New Ruling By African Child Rights Experts
The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Children recently made what experts call a landmark ruling. The committee is a regional quasi-judicial organ of the… Read more »
November 20, 2022
Nigeria: Treatment of Wastewater in Oil Fields Is Failing, Raising the Risk of Health Hazards #AfricaClimateCrisis
People need both clean, safe water and sustainable energy. That means both resources must be properly managed. But when it comes to the oil and gas industries, there's a problem. Read more »
November 15, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria Has Too Many Prison Inmates Awaiting Trial. Technology Could Achieve Swifter Justice
Nigeria's prison population is more than 76,000, housed in 240 correctional centres. About 70% of these inmates are still awaiting trial. They have been arrested and charged, but… Read more »
November 14, 2022
Africa: Worker Organisations Can Survive the Digital Age. Here's How
There is a widespread view that labour has become irrelevant as a force for change. The argument goes that the proliferation of digital labour platforms - and the rise in job… Read more »
November 11, 2022
Kenya: Presidential Term Limits Will Be Hard to Scrap - Here's What It Would Take
A member of parliament in Kenyan president William Ruto's governing coalition created a firestorm by suggesting that there was a plan to remove presidential term limits in the… Read more »
November 09, 2022
South Africa: Crime Is Lower When Cities Are Greener - Evidence From South Africa Supports the Link
South Africa's population is urbanising at a rapid pace. The sheer rate of change poses challenges to planning for sustainable and liveable cities. Read more »
November 01, 2022
Ghana: Ghana's Illegal Mining Continues Because the Rules and Reality Are Disconnected
Artisanal and small-scale mining - a low-tech, indigenous mining subsector - is taking on increasing economic importance in many developing countries. Over 150 million people… Read more »
October 31, 2022
Kenya: Police Killings Point to Systemic Rot and a Failed Justice System
Barely a month into office, President William Ruto of Kenya ordered the disbandment of a special police unit placed at the centre of a widening investigation into a wave of… Read more »
October 26, 2022
South Africa: Legal Sex Work in South Africa Won't Create New Problems, Just Help Solve Old Ones
South Africa's post apartheid government has been toying with the idea of decriminalising sex work for almost two decades. But it has hesitated to act with the necessary courage to… Read more »
October 24, 2022
South Africa: Artificial Intelligence Is Used for Predictive Policing in the U.S. and UK - South Africa Should Embrace It, Too
In the 2002 movie Minority Report (based on a short story by Philip K Dick), director Steven Spielberg imagined a future in which three psychics can "see" murders before they… Read more »
South Africa: Parliament Fails to Hold the Executive to Account - History Shows What Can Happen
In South Africa's apartheid era from 1948 to 1994, the executive arm of government dominated over parliament. In any system, this allows a small group of politicians to dominate… Read more »
October 19, 2022
South Africa: Killings of Johannesburg Sex Workers Show Why the Trade Must be Decriminalised
The decomposed bodies of six women, four of whom were identified as sex workers, were recently discovered at a panel beating factory in Johannesburg. A 20-year-old man has been… Read more »
October 13, 2022
Africa: 'Restitution' of Looted African Art Just Continues Colonial Policies - Much More Is At Stake
The violence of the past is far from over. But it is disguised in many ways, made invisible and normalised. What started with the Spanish, Portuguese or the Ottoman empires… Read more »
October 11, 2022
Africa: DNA Is Often Used in Solving Crimes. but How Does DNA Profiling Actually Work?
DNA profiling is frequently in the news. Public interest is sparked when DNA is used to identify a suspect or human remains, or resolves a cold case that seems all but forgotten. Read more »
Somalia: What Drives Al-Shabaab - Foreign Forces Out, Sharia Law in and Overthrow the Government
In response to external - and at times internal - pressure, Al-Shabaab's insurgency in Somalia has evolved over time. So have its motivations and goals. Read more »
October 09, 2022
South Africa: What Is Cultural Appropriation and Why Is It So Harmful?
Die Antwoord is a South African band that uses hip-hop music to create a style it calls "zef". Since it first appeared in 2009, Die Antwoord has been criticised for cultural… Read more »
October 08, 2022
Uganda: Fuel Smugglers - Are the Opec Boys (Anti-)heroes of the Marginalised?
Smuggling in the Ugandan border region of West Nile has a long and chequered history. It straddles the fine line between legitimacy and legality. Governance and conflict researcher… Read more »
September 30, 2022
Kenya: Kenya and the ICC - Law Expert Answers 4 Questions Following Death of a Key Lawyer
Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru, one of the people accused of interfering with witnesses in the case involving President William Ruto before the International Criminal Court (ICC), was… Read more »
September 28, 2022
South Africa: Child Custody in South Africa - What to Do When Co-Parenting Goes Wrong
The COVID-19 lockdowns severed many families, where they found themselves having a limited period to decide who would live where and with whom. In other instances, it cemented the… Read more »
Nigeria: 'Gutter Water', 'Monkey Tail' and Smoked Faeces - New Drug Dangers
New, unconventional drugs are becoming popular in Nigeria, designed by dealers and users to replicate the effects of illegal substances like cannabis, cocaine, and ecstasy. They… Read more »
September 23, 2022
Africa: How Money and Technology Are Militarising the Fight Against the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Thousands of animals and plants are bought and sold each year globally as food, medicine, clothing and furniture - even in the form of musical instruments. Wildlife, it seems, is… Read more »
September 25, 2022
South Africa: 5 Xenophobic Myths About Immigrants in South Africa Debunked By Researchers
In South Africa, immigrants are often scapegoated as the root of socio-economic problems. In the post-apartheid landscape, Black African immigrants, mainly, from other African… Read more »
September 22, 2022
South Africa: South Africa Has a New Traditional Courts Bill. but It Doesn't Protect Indigenous Practices
After 14 years of highly controversial amendments, South Africa's parliament has finally approved the Traditional Courts Bill. The Bill now awaits the signature of the President to… Read more »