08 April 2022
South Africa/Zulu: One hundred years ago, the first book-length history of black people written in isiZulu was published: Magema Fuze’s “Abantu Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakona” (The Black People and Whence They Came). “(I)t contained local histories of chiefdoms and kingdoms – from the Zulu to the Ngcobo – as well as theories about the Egyptian/Nubian origins of all black Africans.” The article recounts Magema Fuze’s life. Shortly after the publication of the book, in September 1922, Fuze died – he was about 78 years old.
https://theconversation.com/the-100-year-old-story-of-south-africas-first-history-book-in-the-isizulu-language-178924
Africa does not favour Russia’s HRC suspension: Only 10 of 54 African countries – Chad, Comoros, Congo-Kinshasa, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sierra Leone – backed the suspension of Russia from the UN’s Human Rights Council in Thursday’s vote, 24 abstained and 9 voted against. The remaining 11 had no vote recorded. Awareness of the “the glaring double standards of the international community” (to cite South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor) has certainly played a big role in this.
BBC Africa Live 08 April 2022. 11:22
https://twitter.com/UN_News_Centre/status/1512095779535609862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1512095779535609862%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Flive%2Fworld-africa-60803122
Kenya: The article describes the coalition of forces that Raila Odinga has gathered around himself for the upcoming presidential elections. Maybe, fifth time ’round, he’ll be lucky. Contrary to its subtitle, the article does not explain why the election outcome matters for the country.
https://theconversation.com/odinga-is-running-his-fifth-presidential-race-why-the-outcome-means-so-much-for-kenya-180605
Ghana/Chinese migrants: Based on his fieldwork in Ghana 2016-19, the article tries to explain the mechanisms underpinning emigration from China to Ghana. They are estimated to be around 30,000, and they are “involved predominantly in trade, infrastructure and mining”. The main factor driving Chinese migration to Ghana is social “repositioning” or “reshuffling”. Those, who find their possibilities of moving up the social ladder blocked in China are the most likely to migrate.
https://theconversation.com/what-drives-chinese-migrants-to-ghana-its-not-just-an-economic-decision-177580
07 avril 2022
Sudan: A 19-year-old is the latest and – since the coup d’état in October – 94th victim of security forces during protests. On Wednesday, “(p)olice also stormed a hospital in the capital, Khartoum, and fired tear gas inside the wards”.
BBC Africa Live 07 April 2022. 8:21
Nigeria/Women’s rights: In a ruling hailed by rights campaigners, “(a) Nigerian court has ordered the government to enforce the country's gender policy which stipulates that 35% of appointments in public offices be reserved for women.”
BBC Africa Live 07 April 2022. 6:23
Water security: The UN has just published its first assessment of water security in Africa. The results are not good, only Egypt, Botswana, Mauritius, Gabon, and Tunisia reach a level of water security that is slightly above the global average. In the UN’s definition, 10 indicators determine water security: drinking water access, sanitation access, access to hygiene facilities, per capita water availability, water use efficiency, water storage infrastructure, wastewater treatment, water governance, disaster risk and water dependency on neighbouring nations & water resources variability.
https://theconversation.com/worrying-insights-from-uns-first-ever-assessment-of-water-security-in-africa-179577
South Africa: The country’s no-fee policy for schools is not enough – budget allocations are mostly far from adequate and the poorer schools have few opportunities to raise extra funding. So they perform less well and become less and less attractive.
https://theconversation.com/south-africas-no-fee-school-system-cant-undo-inequality-178559
Sudan: 13 politicians and others who, before the October 2021 putsch, had been “accused of plotting to disrupt the transition to civilian rule” have been acquitted. All 13 are linked to Omar al-Bashir, one of them was the head of his National Congress Party (NCP).
BBC Africa Live 07 April 2022. 17:15