The Corona virus rages through the world and affects us all. Almost everywhere, people are in a state of readiness and doing everything in their power to protect themselves and their loved ones. The lack of vaccines and medication is cause for great uncertainty. Economies falter. A state of job insecurity and food scarcity—an ever existing daily reality for millions—is now also prevalent in a once prosperous world. Health facilities are buckling under great pressure. Public life is paralysed, often...
The Corona virus rages through the world and affects us all. Almost everywhere, people are in a state of readiness and doing everything in their power to...
‘We are not poor in knowledge (...) It's vital that we pool our intellectual resources’, Patrick Kadima writes in the South African City Press . Calling the coronacrisis a 'test of Africa's solidarity and resilience', a 'safe and healthy and integrated continent can only be realised if African countries (...) build public healthcare systems as a priority'. Tanzania: 'Let's gather and pray' If it comes to this, Tanzania's response to the corona crisis is not very promising. In an article on New...
‘We are not poor in knowledge (...) It's vital that we pool our intellectual resources’, Patrick Kadima writes in the South African City Press . Calling...
It’s ridiculous I know, but I have been reduced to hoping that the lady I met at an agrovet in Nyahururu town last week is right after all, that above all other peoples of the world, God loves Kenyans the most. She made this extraordinary statement when I hesitated to shake hands with her, citing coronavirus fears and pointing to the critical situation prevailing in Italy, which had gone into lockdown in an attempt to contain the pandemic. 'We shall be ok, God will make sure of that because he...
It’s ridiculous I know, but I have been reduced to hoping that the lady I met at an agrovet in Nyahururu town last week is right after all, that above...
Joshua Matshidiso, 68, had both legs amputated due to an infection in 2010. On Monday 30 March, he joined other social grant beneficiaries who rose before sunrise to collect their grants at a nearby retailer pay point in Dunoon, near Milnerton in Cape Town. The SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) had made provision to enable grant beneficiaries to access their funds during the nationwide lockdown to disrupt the spread of Covid-19. Matshidiso arrived at the Dunoon cash payout point at 9am and by...
Joshua Matshidiso, 68, had both legs amputated due to an infection in 2010. On Monday 30 March, he joined other social grant beneficiaries who rose...
On the 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, I woke up long before dawn and drove almost 200km to deliver supplements, medicine and groceries to my ageing mother. The novel coronavirus was on everybody’s mind, believers and sceptics alike. As we kept abreast of the news, sifting out the fake from the real, my siblings and I grew increasingly concerned about Mama’s vulnerability, at 77, to the menacing virus. On this drive, I carried a mask because nobody wants to be the woman who...
On the 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, I woke up long before dawn and drove almost 200km to deliver supplements, medicine and groceries to...
1. In a blog for Africa is a Country , South African author and opinion maker Sisonke Msimang questions the idea that the current corona crisis can bring opportunities for a better and fairer world. Msimang, who delivered the first ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture in 2019, recalls that black people, as well as women and queer people, do not feel vulnerable for the first time as a group, like many people who grew up in privileged and prosperous countries. 'Those of us who fall outside the bubbles of...
1. In a blog for Africa is a Country , South African author and opinion maker Sisonke Msimang questions the idea that the current corona crisis can bring...
Our friends of Nairobi based The Elephant bring the latest factual updates about the Coronavirus in African countries.
Our friends of Nairobi based The Elephant bring the latest factual updates about the Coronavirus in African countries.
To know whether homosexuality is a matter for the courts, you’d have to look beyond the law itself, to the customs and beliefs of a people. The law will fall or rise to that. And if the people believe homosexuality is a chargeable offence, a parade in the court is likely a charade. The case has been pre-judged, and the sentencing will confirm that. It’s an interesting way to use the law, as a rubber stamp for something the majority already believes, rather than a place for examining the grounds,...
To know whether homosexuality is a matter for the courts, you’d have to look beyond the law itself, to the customs and beliefs of a people. The law will...
In this amazing short video, a Zimbabwean sexworker recalls the frightening expierences with a police officer who pretended to care for her. Sexworkers and their organisations are often overlooked. Moral stigma and religious rightwing pressure groups targeting African governments create huge stumbling blocks for campaigns creating awareness around HIV/AIDS. The Hands Off programme brings together a number of sexworkers’ organisations in their efforts to empower and support local communities....
In this amazing short video, a Zimbabwean sexworker recalls the frightening expierences with a police officer who pretended to care for her. Sexworkers...
What the f...k! US religious right-wingers campaign to stop inclusive sex education in South Africa.
They are talking ‘violations of traditional values’, ‘dangers to children’ and ‘nothing less than soft-porn’. The US religious right is up in arms against the Comprehensive Sex Education material, produced by the South African Department of Basic Education. The purpose of this educational material is ‘to ensure that we help learners build an understanding of concepts, content, values and attitudes related to sexuality, sexual behaviour change as well as leading safe and healthy lives’. Read this...
They are talking ‘violations of traditional values’, ‘dangers to children’ and ‘nothing less than soft-porn’. The US religious right is up in arms...
Reflecting on white joy, black celebration, and the meaning of the Springbok win at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. News24 is one of South Africa’s largest media outlets and Adriaan Basson is its editor. Because of its size and reach, News24 is an important site for shaping public opinion in South Africa. As a result, when Basson shares his opinion, many people listen. My sense of Basson is that he is a good man with good intentions and he wears these intentions on his sleeve when he writes about the...
Reflecting on white joy, black celebration, and the meaning of the Springbok win at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. News24 is one of South Africa’s largest...
Sorrowing over the treatment of migrants, the Cameroonian philosopher calls for Africa to adopt a pro-migration stance, phase out colonial borders and become ‘a vast space of circulation’. In his Ruth First Memorial Lecture* at the Johannesburg Wits Theatre on 3 October 2019, Achille Mbembe reflects on the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa. We must name our times in a way that leaves us with a small window of hope, the hope that not all is lost. Indeed seasons, just like tides, come and go,...
Sorrowing over the treatment of migrants, the Cameroonian philosopher calls for Africa to adopt a pro-migration stance, phase out colonial borders and...
The brutal rape and killing of Capetonian student Uyinene Mrwetyane has given rise to the movement #AmINext. The Capetonian student was murdered on August 24. Her tragic death has once more exposed South Africa as a country where hate crime against women and sexual minorities represents no less than a national crisis. Thousands of South Africans went to the streets countrywide. After a deafening initial silence the government announced new policy instruments to speed up prosecution of suspects. But...
The brutal rape and killing of Capetonian student Uyinene Mrwetyane has given rise to the movement #AmINext. The Capetonian student was murdered on...
In the future, when history is written about Robert Mugabe, it will not be about a black man raised by a single mother, who defied all odds in racially segregated Southern Rhodesia to pursue an education at the highest levels. Neither will it be a history of an articulate black African teacher-turned-politician who spent around a decade in prison for challenging white colonial racism and working for the betterment of black Zimbabweans. It will be for the four decades that Robert Mugabe was at the...
In the future, when history is written about Robert Mugabe, it will not be about a black man raised by a single mother, who defied all odds in racially...
Associates of US President Donald Trump have been hired by the Cameroon government to boost the disastrous human rights image of the country. This was revealed by the Foreign Policy platform a couple of weeks ago. PR agency Clout Public Affairs (CPA) will collect US$ 55,000 every month for several years. Its mission: ‘to promote a favourable image’ for the country that suffers under the kleptocratic rule of the one of the continent’s longest serving autocrats Paul Biya. CPA is instructed to target...
Associates of US President Donald Trump have been hired by the Cameroon government to boost the disastrous human rights image of the country. This was...
At AEF Live!, the annual come together of the consultancy firm and sponsor of the lecture on June 13, 2019 in Utrecht, Asante and Helberg reflected on the event. As a starting point for the chat, moderated by Sandra Rottenberg, both choose a quote from Sisonke Msimang’s speech which was entitled: ‘Rescuing Mandela from Sainthood.’ Asante’s choice here . Helberg’s choice here . Why do white people so often only feel empathy with white people, Asante wondered in response to Msimang's words. Why was...
At AEF Live!, the annual come together of the consultancy firm and sponsor of the lecture on June 13, 2019 in Utrecht, Asante and Helberg reflected on...
How a pastor accused of sexual abuse reminded me of Aunty Dupe, the boarding house mistress. Backstory: Busola Dakolo is an alumnus of my secondary school. That was where she was when she first knew Biodun Fatoyinbo. At the time, Busola was a school fellowship leader. Like Busola, I had been a student fellowship leader in the same school. Back in Busola’s home town, Fatoyinbo was a fellowship leader. Nowadays he is the senior pastor of a popular, youth-oriented church, the Commonwealth Of Zion...
How a pastor accused of sexual abuse reminded me of Aunty Dupe, the boarding house mistress. Backstory: Busola Dakolo is an alumnus of my secondary...
Attending the opening of the South African parliament in June, several of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters enjoyed thirty-seven bottles of Veuve Cliquot and Moët et Chandon champagne, Meerlust Rubicon wine, Glenfiddich whiskey and Tanqueray gin in a luxury villa in Cape Town. The last time I visited South Africa was in the late eighties of the last century. It was bad, but uncomplicated, then. Whites were rich and blacks were poor. Whites were in charge and blacks had to keep their mouths...
Attending the opening of the South African parliament in June, several of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters enjoyed thirty-seven bottles of Veuve...
There are no simple explanations, Dr Rahmane told a journalist meeting at the Leiden Africa Studies Centre. But he did give his audience some clues. Where does Salafi radicalism in the Sahel come from? Where does it stand today? Where is it heading? So, as you can see, these really are overview interrogations, not deep research questions. But while it might be somewhat easy to respond to the two first ones, the last one is obviously a bit more complicated to grapple with. And also, prefacing those...
There are no simple explanations, Dr Rahmane told a journalist meeting at the Leiden Africa Studies Centre. But he did give his audience some clues....
"Quote me anywhere!" the Hon. Minister for Labour & Productivity Chris Ngige shrieked with his guttural laryngitis effect. Even if he had accomplished nothing in all his years in politics, he could at least claim to have demolished Nigeria's chronic shortage of Human Resources for Health by word of mouth. To wit, if our medical schools could magically react to Ngige's political coprolalia by turning out 285 345 new doctors overnight, we would have only just begun to have enough. In truth, at least...
"Quote me anywhere!" the Hon. Minister for Labour & Productivity Chris Ngige shrieked with his guttural laryngitis effect. Even if he had accomplished...
Here was an African leader taking a strong stand against corruption and promoting true no-nonsense policies. He put a stop to fancy parties and other unnecessary expenditure. Tanzanian president, nicknamed ‘The Bulldozer’, was warmly welcomed by the international media as well as by many Tanzanians and others on the continent longing for good governance and a better life. Wherever bad governance showed its ugly face #WhatWouldMagafuliDo? went viral. Last week the president stated that ‘men should...
Here was an African leader taking a strong stand against corruption and promoting true no-nonsense policies. He put a stop to fancy parties and other...
