Author: Devanta Davenport

Africa’s most industrialised nation is facing rolling electricity blackouts, high unemployment and interest rates, as well as growing social unrest due to soaring costs of living. Johannesburg, South Africa – Hundreds of members of the Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU), the country’s largest labour union, gathered at its head office in the commercial capital Johannesburg on Thursday to demand interest rate cuts, electricity reforms, and job additions. The union also mobilised workers across South Africa’s nine provinces and major urban centres, such as Cape Town, Durban, Kimberly, Mafikeng and Rustenburg, to present a common front nationwide. The protests came…

Tanzania has lifted the long-standing ban on night-time upcountry bus travel. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in parliament, who highlighted that the ban, initially imposed in the 1990s, was a response to the escalating number of road accidents and bus hijackings. The lifting of the ban comes after thorough consideration of input from various stakeholders in the transport sector, alongside marked improvements in infrastructure and security. Prime Minister Majaliwa emphasized the government’s commitment to promoting safer and more efficient travel options for citizens, noting that advancements in infrastructure and security measures have contributed to the reassessment…

An undersea tunnel could one day connect Europe’s high-speed rail network to north Africa under plans revived by the Spanish and Moroccan governments. Spain on Friday confirmed €‎2.3 million (£2 million) in funding for a design study on the Gibraltar strait fixed link – a planned railway tunnel linking the country with Morocco. It comes after the two governments said in April they wanted to re-launch the mothballed project, which has been on ice since 2009. The so-called “Europe-Africa Gibraltar strait fixed link” could resemble the Channel Tunnel between Dover and Calais and bridge the nine-mile continental divide. The plan was first seriously suggested…

Rockets hit a market in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, killing 18 people and leaving more than 100 wounded, doctors and residents say. The fighting between rival military forces comes as truce talks mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia collapsed. Wednesday’s violence around a market in Mayo in the south of Khartoum included artillery fire and aerial bombardment. It caused the most civilian casualties in a single incident in the capital since the war began in April. This brings the civilian death toll over seven weeks to at least 883, according to official counts – though the real number is likely…

The South African rand struck a new three-year low in early trade on Thursday, under renewed selling pressure from the worst power cuts on record that experts say could get worse in the coming months. Struggling state power utility Eskom is currently implementing scheduled blackouts lasting more than 10 hours a day for many households and businesses, with expectations for longer outages deeper into the southern hemisphere winter. Investor sentiment towards the rand has soured badly this week, pushing the currency to its lowest level against the dollar since May 2020 on Wednesday and lower still on Thursday. The rand…

JOHANNESBURG – It’s been a morning of contention in the Pretoria High Court where Senzo Meyiwa’s close friend is testifying in the trial of his murder. Mthokozisi Thwala is back on the witness stand on Wednesday where five men are standing trial for the 2014 murder. Meyiwa was shot at the Vosloorus home of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo. Tuesday’s proceedings were adjourned due to the absence of an interpreter. Lawyer for the third accused, Advocate Charles Mnisi, who is now leading cross-examination, has laboured on Thwala’s description that the first intruder used the Zulu and Sotho languages when he allegedly…

The deadly Marburg virus has reached Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, with a total of 21 casesconfirmed in the countries. The World Health Organisation is working with both countries to tackle the outbreaks by providing expert assistance and supplying vital materials. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have warned citizens against travelling to Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea over the outbreaks. Equatorial Guinea last month announced that the Ebola-like disease had spread from rural areas of the country to the commercial capital Bata. It has confirmed at least 13 cases to date, while in Tanzania, in the west of the continent, at least five people have died among eight cases. Cameroon detected two…

African heads of state and government have endorsed the outcomes of the recent Dakar 2 Summit on Food Sovereignty and Resilience, hosted in January by the African Development Bank Group and the government of Senegal, calling for global support for its immediate implementation. In a resolution read at the end of the 36th African Union summit on Sunday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, they described the Dakar 2 Food Summit as important and timely to address rising food prices, disruption in the global food supply, and worsening of food insecurity in Africa. In less than a month, the Dakar 2 Food summit…