August 14, 2022
South Africa: South Africa Doesn't Need New Cities - It Needs to Focus On Fixing What It's Got
South Africa is a dominantly urban country, with almost 70% of the population living in cities and towns. But urban services and infrastructures are coming under increasing strain… Read more »
Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta's Economic Legacy - Big On Promises, but Weak On Delivery
Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, ascended to Kenya's presidency in March 2013. This followed a contested poll that they won with a slim majority of 50.3% of the votes… Read more »
August 13, 2022
Kenya: Why Youth Apathy in Elections Bodes Ill for Nation
Kenya saw a decline in the number of young people who registered to vote in the August 2022 elections. This group's share of the 12.1 million registered voters dropped by 5.27%… Read more »
August 12, 2022
Africa: Expanded Access to Solar Power in Africa Can Stimulate Economic Development - but There Are Risks
UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 aspires to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. But in Africa, around 600 million people continue… Read more »
August 11, 2022
South Africa: Marikana Massacre - South Africa Needs to Build a Society That's Decent and Doesn't Humiliate People
On 16 August mine workers, activists and no doubt a few politicians will gather on the now infamous rock outcrop near the former Lonmin Platinum mine in Marikana, North West… Read more »
Africa: Not Yet Uhuru - the African Union Has Had a Few Successes but Remains Weak
The African Union (AU) was born in the South African port city of Durban in 2002. Under its first chair,Thabo Mbeki, African leaders seemed determined to abandon the grandiose… Read more »
Ethiopia: Nowhere to Run - the Plight of Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has hosted large numbers of Eritrean refugees for years. Before the recent conflict, about 100,000 Eritrean refugees lived in camps in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region. Read more »
Africa: Why Doesn't Monkeypox Have a New Name Yet?
As monkeypox vaccination programs roll out and health authorities release information about how to reduce the spread of the virus, progress on another aspect of the outbreak is… Read more »
Africa: Mature Students in Universities Face 3 Kinds of Barriers - Here's How to Address Them
Since the onset of the pandemic, many colleges and universities have reported record numbers of applications from mature students - adults who return to school on a part- or… Read more »
Africa: Enduring Colonialism Has Made It Harder to End the Covid-19 Pandemic
Rich countries are hoarding vaccine doses while poor countries become breeding grounds for new COVID-19 variants. Read more »
Africa: Monkeypox Vaccines - What's Available and Why They Aren't a Silver Bullet
In July 2022 the World Health Organization declared the recent current monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency. Since the start of the year thousands of cases have been… Read more »
Tunisia: Former President Bourguiba Did a Lot for Tunisian Women. But Was He Their Emancipator?
Tunisia's National Women's Day is often associated with Habib Bourguiba, the country's first president, who pursued the policy of state feminism. Bourguiba ruled the country for 30… Read more »
South Africa: The Right to Food - Activism and Litigation Are Shifting the Dial in South Africa
Even before the pandemic and the recent global rise in food prices, millions of South Africans were hungry. In 2019, nearly 18% of households could not access enough nutritious… Read more »
Nigeria: How Burna Boy Set the World Alight With His Mixed Brew of Influences
Nigerian Afrobeats star Burna Boy burst onto the global stage in 2018 with a slew of irresistible hits on his third album, Outside, accompanied by mandatory fiendish good looks and… Read more »
August 10, 2022
Africa: Cigarette Advertising Aggressively Targets Kids in Low - and Middle-Income Countries, a New Study Finds
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »
Africa: When the IMF Comes to Town - Why They Visit and What to Watch Out For
In most rich countries the news that a mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is coming to visit is met with indifference. But, in most African countries the news can… Read more »
South Africa: Flipper Traces Reveal the Presence of Ancient Seals On South Africa's Coast
The world's largest and heaviest living carnivore is not a big cat, a bear or a wolf: it's the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina). Bulls of this species can be 5 metres long… Read more »
Africa: What's Wrong With the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The "Fourth Industrial Revolution" is a term coined in 2016 by German economist Klaus Schwab. It's used to describe the technology revolution that the world is going through. But… Read more »
Africa: Corporations Want to Profit From the World's Problems - They Can Solve Them Instead
There's a good chance that you would like to see COVID disappear for good. And you may also wish for an end to the war in Ukraine - or any other war for that matter. Read more »
South Africa: Higher Electricity Connection Fees? A Good, and Necessary, Next Step
There's been outrage from some quarters in South Africa about reports that the power utility Eskom and some municipalities intend to increase the connection fee for electricity… Read more »
Africa: Monkeypox Can Become Endemic - Here's How It Can Be Stopped in Its Tracks
Since May of this year, more than 26,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported worldwide - prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a public health emergency. Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Proposed Electricity Industry Reform - Lost in Translation?
South Africa's ruling party recently proposed establishing a second state-owned power company. The purpose is to offset the "grave strategic risk" of relying on Eskom, the… Read more »
Kenya: Election - Institutional Safeguards Are Still a Work in Progress
Kenya has held its seventh national election since the reintroduction of multiparty competition in the early 1990s. Elections in the country are never dull affairs. They are always… Read more »
August 09, 2022
Angola: How Not to Respond to Drought - Lessons From Angola
Three years after a severe drought in southwestern Angola, people in the area continue to suffer. Hunger remains pervasive and they are still losing livestock. Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: Sexual Exploitation By UN Peacekeepers - Fatherless Children Speak About the Pain of Being Abandoned
My father left my mother while she was pregnant - she gave birth when he had already left. People call me "daughter of a bitch". They disturb and hurt me so much. They say they… Read more »