South Africa: Gauteng's 'Coloured' Community Feels Unsafe - Who They Are and Why They're Discouraged

The "Coloured" community in Gauteng, South Africa's economic heartland, continues to face barriers to full economic and social inclusion. Despite progress in post-apartheid South… Read more »

South Africa: Southern Right Whales Are Having Fewer Calves - What This Says About Ocean Health

Most people are lucky to simply get a glimpse of some fragment of a whale. A subtle puff of mist over the horizon, the curve of a dark smooth back sliding beneath the surface, or… Read more »

South Africa: We Tested If a Specialised Magnetic Powder Could Remove Microplastics From Drinking Water - the Answer Is Yes

Microplastics are the crumbs of our plastic world, tiny pieces that come from bigger items breaking apart or from products like synthetic clothing and packaging. They're now… Read more »

South Africa: Male Circumcision Is Made Easier By a Clever South African Invention - We Trained Healthcare Workers to Use It

Voluntary medical male circumcision is one of the most important ways to reduce new HIV infections. The foreskin contains receptors that the HIV virus can attach to, and removing… Read more »

South Africa: South Africans Who Blow the Whistle Face Retaliation and Murder - Their Stories Over Five Decades

South Africa's long history of wrongdoing spans from Willem Adriaan van der Stel's days of running a corrupt trading monopoly to present-day South Africa. Van der Stel was the… Read more »

South Africa: South Africans Are Going Off the Service Grid - What Happens When Citizens Replace the State?

South Africa's constitution promises all citizens access to adequate housing and basic services - water, security, sanitation and electricity. In practice, people from rich to poor… Read more »

South Africa: World's First Known Butt-Drag Fossil Trace Was Left By a Rock Hyrax in South Africa 126,000 Years Ago

Rock hyraxes, known in southern Africa more often as "dassies", are furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails. They spend much of their time sunning… Read more »

Namibia: Windhoek's Old Location Was a Place of Pain, but Also Joy - New Book

All that's left of a famous settlement called the Old Location in Windhoek, Namibia, is a graveyard and a monument to remember the residents who were killed while protesting their… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Edson Sithole - New Book Uncovers the Work of a Thinker, Lawyer and Zimbabwean Freedom Fighter Who 'Disappeared'

Edson Sithole was born in what was then Southern Rhodesia in 1935. He was the first black person in southern Africa to obtain a Doctor of Laws degree. He was the second black… Read more »

South Africa: Nature's Not Perfect - Fig Wasps Try to Balance Sex Ratios for Survival but They Can Get It Wrong

Television nature programmes and scientific papers tend to celebrate the perfection of evolved traits. But the father of evolution through natural selection, Charles Darwin, warned… Read more »

South Africa: South African Students Still Don't Feel Safe On Campus - How Protection Can Be Stepped Up

Students at South African universities have to deal with a disturbing reality. They face the threat of violent crime, in particular gender-based violence. They also battle with… Read more »

South Africa: Museum in a Box - On the Road With South Africa's Heritage

Museums are usually in cities. So, where transport is poor and it's expensive to travel, many people can't visit them. We decided to experiment with a way of getting around the… Read more »

South Africa: Will the G20 Listen to Its Own Advisors? 4 Urgent Steps On Climate Change

The world's 20 most powerful economies, the G20 - currently led by South Africa - face mounting pressure to slash greenhouse gas emissions and help nations adapt to climate change.… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Noviolet Bulawayo Wins the Best of 25 Years of the Caine Prize. Why She Deserves It

Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has been honoured as Africa's best short story writer after winning the Best of Caine Award. The special recognition marks 25 years of the… Read more »

South Africa: Helen Zille - Will Competence, Courage and a Dose of Arrogance Be Enough to Get Her Elected As Johannesburg's Mayor?

Love her or loathe her, it is hard to deny that Helen Zille is one of the most remarkable politicians South Africa's democracy has yet seen. Remarkable because she has served in so… Read more »

Africa: South Africa's Rooibos Tea - Can It Improve Digestion?

Rooibos tea, a caffeine-free drink made from the leaves of a shrub indigenous to South Africa, is part of the country's heritage. Read more »

South Africa: Traditional Food Systems Nourish Communities and Protect the Environment - Lessons From South Africa's Amadiba

The global food system contributes to multiple planetary crises - and is vulnerable to them. Climate change, other ecological degradation and socio-economic inequality are all… Read more »

South Africa: Deepfakes and South African Law - Remedies On Paper, Gaps in Practice

Deepfakes are forgeries of people's faces, voices and likeness generated through artificial intelligence (AI). They create a serious digital deception. Deepfakes undermine… Read more »

South Africa: South African Men May Now Take Their Wife's Surname - Why Traditional Leaders Are Upset

A unanimous Constitutional Court ruling has sparked fierce controversy by affirming the right of South African men to adopt their wives' surnames if they wish to. Read more »

South Africa: Pneumonia Vaccines for Adults Are Now Recommended Starting At Age 50 - a Geriatrician Explains the Change

Autumn brings a chill in the air - and the start of another season of respiratory illnesses, which can be especially hard for older adults. Read more »

Africa: Travel As Activism - 6 Stories of Black Women Who Refused to 'Stay Put' in Apartheid South Africa

For black people living in South Africa during apartheid, simply moving around the country was a fraught activity, let alone crossing its borders. This was especially the case for… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwean Artist Portia Zvavahera Turns Her Prayers Into Paintings

At the Boston waterfront sits the Institute of Contemporary Art, an architectural marvel that gleams against the harbour in a wealthy neighbourhood. My Uber driver, an African… Read more »

South Africa: One in Three South Africans Have Never Heard of AI - What This Means for Policy

Artificial intelligence or AI uses computers to perform tasks that would normally have needed human intelligence. Today AI is being put to use in many aspects of everyday life,… Read more »

South Africa: Reviving South Africa's Grasslands - Eastern Cape Villagers Explain the Challenges They Face

South Africa's Eastern Cape province has several million hectares of open land in rural areas, not privately owned but held in trust by the state on behalf of communities. The… Read more »

South Africa: African Cities Aren't Doing Enough to Adapt to Climate Change - Lessons From Durban and Harare

When record-breaking rains swept through the coastal city of Durban in South Africa in April 2022, the resulting floods destroyed roads, bridges and homes. Durban's low-lying, poor… Read more »