South Africa: Talking About Sex Isn't Always Easy for Teachers in South Africa. Here's What They Told Us

Young people in rural Limpopo, the South African province bordering Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, face high risks of HIV, unplanned pregnancy, and other societal challenges. Read more »

Lesotho: Lesotho's Historian 'Burns' Machobane Told the Country's Story - and Helped Build It After Colonialism

Last year Lesotho celebrated 200 years since the founding of the nation by Moeshoeshoe I. This year the small country in southern Africa will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Service Delivery Crisis - Why Protesters Are Using More Militant Tactics

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterised by frequent public protests. On average, between 2007 and 2013, there were over 11 protests daily. Research shows that protests almost… Read more »

Africa: Africa's City Planners Must Look to the Global South for Solutions - Johannesburg and São Paulo Offer Useful Insights

For decades, the dominant theories and models in urban studies have been built from the experience of a small set of mostly western cities. Other urban contexts, particularly those… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's New Climate Targets - Balancing Ambition With the Realities of Coal and Climate Finance

South Africa has scaled back its ambitions to cut down on the greenhouse emissions that come from burning fossil fuels and which cause global warming. Read more »

South Africa: Climate Disasters Are Escalating - 6 Ways South Africa's G20 Presidency Can Lead Urgent Action

South Africa currently holds the presidency of the G20 - the group of 19 of the world's largest economies and the African Union. It has set up a Disaster Risk Reduction Working… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Sewage Crisis - Official Reports Don't Include Millions of Litres of Leaking Wastewater

Wastewater is the water we flush down our toilets, send down the drain from our showers and sinks or discharge from factories. It's supposed to travel through intact pipes to be… Read more »

Namibia: Namibia Celebrates Independence Heroes, but Glosses Over a Painful History

Namibia celebrates 26 August as Heroes' Day. It recalls the first military encounter between the South African army and members of the South West Africa People's Organisation… Read more »

South Africa: Data That Is Stored and Not Used Has a Carbon Footprint. How Companies Can Manage Dark Data Better

In today's world, huge amounts of data are being created all the time, yet more than half of it is never used. It stays in silos, or isn't managed, or can't be accessed because… Read more »

South Africa: Plastic Microbeads - Great in Your Face Wash, Bad in Your Food - How South Africa's Ban Can Work Better

Imagine a perfectly round, plastic ball smaller than a pinhead. That's what a microbead is. They've been included in facial scrubs, toothpaste, household cleaners and other… Read more »

South Africa: Wheelchair Basketball - What Can Be Learned From a South African Athlete's Journey to France

Wheelchair basketball is one of the fastest-growing Para sports in the world. Over 100,000 athletes compete in national and international competitions and at the Paralympic Games… Read more »

South Africa: Grandparenting From a Distance - What's Lost When Families Are Separated, and How to Bridge the Gap

Becoming a grandparent is often envisioned as a deeply intimate, hands-on journey, holding a newborn, sharing first smiles, witnessing the first wobbly steps. It is traditionally… Read more »

Africa: Elite Schools in South Africa - How Quiet Gatekeeping Keeps Racial Patterns in Place

In South Africa, children's admission to a particular public school is decided by province. Each provincial education department manages its own digital admissions system. The… Read more »

South Africa: Most Air Cleaning Devices Have Not Been Tested On People - and Little Is Known About Their Potential Harms, New Study Finds

Portable air cleaners aimed at curbing indoor spread of infections are rarely tested for how well they protect people - and very few studies evaluate their potentially harmful… Read more »

South Africa: Young South Africans Don't Bother With Elections - Would Lowering the Voting Age Make a Difference?

South Africa is due to hold local government elections in 2026. In the last election in 2021, only 15% of the eligible voters aged 18 to 21 registered for the election. In view of… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa Has Chosen a Risky Approach to Global Politics - 3 Steps It Must Take to Succeed

South Africa finds itself in a dangerous historical moment. The world order is under threat from its own primary architect. The US wants to remain the premier global political… Read more »

South Africa: Kippie Moeketsi's Global Influence - What Made the South African Saxophonist So Great

One of the most influential artists in South Africa's rich history of jazz is Kippie Moeketsi. He was born on 27 July 2025 and passed away at only 57. Read more »

Africa: Investing That Protects People and the Planet Is Growing - New Study Maps the Progress in South Africa

Institutional investors who invest on behalf of others are increasingly considering environmental conservation and safe working conditions as investment criteria. Read more »

Africa: South Africa and China Set Up a Quantum Communication Link - How We Did It and Why It's Historic

A major breakthrough in quantum technology was achieved in October 2024: the first-ever quantum satellite communication link between China and South Africa. The connection spanned… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Earliest Newspapers Made Money From Slavery - Book Offers New Evidence

In a recently published book, Reconsidering the History of South African Journalism: The Ghost of the Slave Press (2025 Routledge), author and journalism professor Gawie Botma… Read more »

Namibia: Namibia's Forgotten Genocide - How Bushmen Were Hunted and Killed Under German Colonial Rule

The genocide of Namibia's Ovaherero and Nama people by German colonial forces (1904-1907) is widely documented. But much less is made of what came next - the genocide of the… Read more »

South Africa: South African Study Finds 4 Low-Income Communities Can't Cope With Global Warming - What Needs to Change

Climate change is not new: temperatures have been rising for decades as a result of global warming. In South Africa's city of Pietermaritzburg, four low-income urban communities… Read more »

South Africa: South African Learners Struggle With Reading Comprehension - Study Reveals a Gap Between Policy and Classroom Practice

South African learners consistently struggle with reading comprehension, performing poorly in both international and local assessments. A significant issue is that 81% of grade 4… Read more »

South Africa: Ubuntu Matters - Rural South Africans Believe Community Care Should Go Hand-in-Hand With Development

The failure of many development initiatives has led some scholars, especially those associated with the post-development and decolonial schools of thought, to call for alternatives… Read more »

South Africa: Communities Near South Africa's Kruger National Park Prefer Wildlife-Friendly Ways to Earn a Living Over Killing Animals

Kruger National Park is a flagship South African conservation area home to lions, elephants, rhinos, and leopards. Tourists from all over the world flock to the park to see… Read more »