May 30, 2022
South Africa: What It Will Take for Ailing Power Utility to Keep Going
The chief operating officer of South Africa's electricity utility, Eskom, warned in May that the government should urgently start building new generating capacity. He was referring… Read more »
May 29, 2022
South Africa: Marine Life in a South African Bay Is Full of Chemical Pollutants
The adage "out of sight, out of mind" has long summed up humans' attitude to dumping personal and industrial waste. In a 1974 Scientific American article, the… Read more »
May 27, 2022
South Africa: Spirit of Ntu - South African Piano Maestro Nduduzo Makhathini On His 10th Album
Nduduzo Makhathini is a prolific South African pianist, improviser, healer, educator, scholar and storyteller. He possesses a gift that enables him to articulate a distinct and… Read more »
May 25, 2022
South Africa: Foreign Companies Exiting Russia Echo Pressure Campaign Against South Africa's Racist Apartheid System
McDonald's provided many Russians with their first taste of capitalism three decades ago. Now, the global fast-food giant is exiting the country. Starbucks is also on its way out. Read more »
May 24, 2022
Southern Africa: Urban Planners Face Huge Corruption Pressures - Some Answers
Corruption is commonly defined as the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. Read more »
South Africa: We Tested Plants Used for Contraception. Here's What We Found
In sub-Saharan Africa, 91 per 1,000 pregnancies are unwanted. This is around three times the rates of unintended pregnancies recorded in Europe and North America. Read more »
May 23, 2022
South Africa: How a Desire to Help Led Me to Track Covid Numbers and Make Sense of Them Through Graphs
As COVID took hold in South Africa, daily case numbers grew. But the numbers people were seeing online or on news channels did not tell the full story of the pandemic. Ridhwaan… Read more »
May 22, 2022
Angola: Ruling Party Faces United Opposition in Upcoming Poll. But It's Pushing Back
The election of Angolan President João Lourenço in 2017 raised hopes of a shift from the authoritarian and corrupt era of his predecessor. This was thanks to the new,… Read more »
South Africa: Covid Is No Gamble - Physics-Inspired Simulations Predict Waves in Four Countries
As a physicist, I am trained to look for patterns in data. For example, the motion of the tiniest particles may seem random, but it contains patterns and symmetries. Read more »
May 20, 2022
South Africa: What to Expect for Covid in South Africa
In light of the approaching winter months combined with the recent lifting of the national disaster act, South Africans have anxiously been watching an increase in COVID… Read more »
May 16, 2022
Africa: Ethnic Poverty - Dividing and Excluding People Keeps Them Poor
Sub-Saharan African countries are the most ethnically diverse in the world. Within each African country there are more ethnic groups than there are in most of the world's… Read more »
Africa: Xenophobia Does Not Tell the Full Story of Migration in South Africa
The dominant story of migration in South Africa is that of xenophobia. The subject is regularly in the news with the focus on both incendiary political rhetoric and acts of… Read more »
South Africa: Land Reform - What the Real Debate Should Be About
Land reform in South Africa is an emotive and politically fraught subject. That's because land was at the heart of the dispossession of Africans by colonial settlers. Successful… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Covid School Closures Hit Girls Hard - but They Showed Resilience Too
South Africa's school dropout rate was high even before the COVID pandemic. Research shows that around 60% of young people effectively drop out of school, with no school-leaving… Read more »
May 18, 2022
South Africa: Nation Has Entered a New Phase of the Covid Pandemic - What That Means
Confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been increasing in South Africa in recent weeks. This has been largely driven by two offspring - known as the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages - of the… Read more »
May 17, 2022
South Africa: Inflation Should Be Viewed As Public Enemy Number 1 - Here's Why
Inflation is a process of sustained increases in the general price level over a period of time, typically 12 months. Read more »
May 18, 2022
Zambia: Herbicides Threaten Edible Weeds in Zambia - That May Be Bad News for Local Food Security
The use of herbicides - substances that control unwanted plants - is on the rise across Africa. This trend has been referred to by some researchers as the "herbicide revolution".… Read more »
May 13, 2022
South Africa: Was Nation's Corruption Commission Worth Four Years of Work?
South Africa's judicial commission into state capture, known as the Zondo Commission, recently handed over the fourth part of its voluminous and scathing findings to President… Read more »
May 12, 2022
South Africa: Black Farmers Need Support - How It Could Be Done
Most countries in both the rich and the developing world have some sort of programme to help early career farmers (mostly, but not exclusively young people) to get established in a… Read more »
South Africa: What School Textbooks in South Africa Say About the Cold War - and Why It Matters
South Africa's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't that surprising in light of its treatment of the Cold War in the school history curriculum and textbooks. In these it's… Read more »
Africa: Jazz - South Africa's Shane Cooper and His Band Mabuta Make Borders Irrelevant
South African jazz seems to be having another international moment. Recently, for example, the Blue Note jazz label launched a new imprint, Blue Note Africa dedicated to the… Read more »
May 11, 2022
South Africa: How South Africa Is Integrating Covid Into Routine Care for Mothers and Babies
COVID-19 has had a direct impact on maternal mortality. Read more »
Southern Africa: Soverign Debt Distress - Biggest Problems, and Ways Forward
The COVID pandemic has had a profoundly negative impact on Africa's sovereign debt situation. Currently, 22 countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress.… Read more »
July 15, 2021
South Africa: Fossil Tracks and Trunk Marks Reveal Signs of Ancient Elephants On South Africa's Coast
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, South Africa's Cape south coast looked very different. Some of the species that roamed this area are now extinct; others evolved over the… Read more »
June 12, 2019
Botswana: Court Ruling Is a Ray of Hope for LGBT People Across Africa
Botswana's High Court has ruled that private consensual sex between adults of the same sex is no longer criminal. The decision gives hope to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender… Read more »