03 February 2022
Patriarchy/South Africa: In her new book, “Female Fear Factory”, Pumla Dineo Gqola “broadens the scope of (the) socially made female to include all sexual minorities whose bodies are also safe to violate.” Analysing how females are made as a category that can be violated and whose safety will forever be illusory, she pinpoints violence against women, girls and all the other ‘others’ as “a sophisticated ecosystem kept alive by socially manufactured fear. Approaching these matters as individual encounters serves to obscure sexual violence as a public issue.”
https://theconversation.com/book-review-rewriting-the-script-on-patriarchal-violence-in-south-africa-174812
Cervical cancer: It is “a disease of inequity of access to healthcare”. It is “almost entirely preventable”. Pap smear (which detects human papillomavirus/HPV) at 3-5 yearly intervals for all women over 25-30 dramatically decreases cervical cancer incidence and death. But such testing is prohibitively expensive for low- and middle-income countries.
https://theconversation.com/cervical-cancer-is-a-disease-of-inequity-heres-how-to-save-60-million-lives-176041
African Union: In the twenty years of its existence, despite being a “club of old men that is inaccessible to ordinary Africans”, despite of being financially weak and despite of implementation deficits, “the African Union has developed considerable agency (-) capacity to shape the agenda and decisions in Africa and on global affairs.” According to the article’s author, the African Union is “at the heart of agenda-setting, decision-making, rule creation, policy development and strategic leadership for the African continent.”
https://theconversation.com/the-african-union-at-20-a-lot-has-been-achieved-despite-many-flaws-175932
South Africa: Looking at former whites-only neighbourhoods in Johannesburg, the article’s author concludes that racial desegregation (for residence but also occupation/income) is much more substantial than is commonly accepted. This was due to “the upward occupational mobility of black (African, Coloured and Indian (…)) residents into higher paid jobs”, i.e. the growth of the black high-income middle class.
https://theconversation.com/how-black-upward-mobility-fast-tracked-racial-desegregation-in-johannesburg-175177
South Africa/ANC: As can be seen in Zimbabwe and in South Africa, it is necessary to get liberation movements to leave the political stage once they have fulfilled their historic task. Zimbabwe clearly shows South Africa where not to go. An excellent analysis of why and how the transition from liberation movement to governing party does not work.
https://theconversation.com/south-africa-is-in-a-state-of-drift-the-danger-is-that-the-anc-turns-the-way-of-zimbabwes-zanu-pf-176068
Sudan: In the country’s north, protesters, mostly farmers, originally closed the road connecting Sudan to Egypt because of increases in the cost of electricity. The government gave in. But the protests then “morphed into a wider rejection of the coup and opposition to the military and its regional allies, which include Egypt.” The highway closure by means of several barricades has now lasted nine days and long lorry queues have developed.
BBC Africa Live 03 February 2022. 8:16
Kenya: The country is on high alert after a series of terror attacks and warnings of impending attacks by UK, US and French embassies. 14 people were killed in attacks this week, in the latest, on Tuesday, an improvised explosive device killed four, on Monday, a roadside bomb had killed minibus travellers.
BBC Africa Live 03 February 2022. 9:19
Burkina Faso: The Millennium Challenge Corporation has on Monday decided to pause 450m USD in assistance because of the putsch while it is committed to democratic governance and upholding the rule of law. The agency’s decision comes before any such official US decision.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/burkina-faso-ouagadougou-state-department-biden-french-b2005561.html
Burkina Faso/Ecowas: No sanctions for the time being – Ecowas calls for a short transition back to civilian rule and for the release of Roch Kaboré.
BBC Africa Live 03 February 2022. 17:26
Malawi: The country’s president was elected with hopes high that there would be substantial change. But he seems to lack clout and has not achieved much. He had “promised to clean up government, restore fiscal discipline and reform the civil service”. Corruption and nepotism have by no means ended and poverty abounds. It would be a pity, the article’s author states, if Chakwera “were to go the way of another well-intentioned reformer, Joyce Banda, whose administration unravelled under the pressure of badly managed corruption.”
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/chakweras-political-capital-in-malawi-is-eroding
Nigeria: A ship that can hold up to 2 million barrels of oil (but which probably only held 50,000) has exploded off the Niger delta coast. It is not known what happened to the 10 crew members nor how much oil was spilt.
BBC Africa Live 03 February 2022. 15:06
Malaria/bed nets for babies: A scientific study conducted over 20 years in rural Tanzania on 6,700 children has confirmed that bed nets for small children help them survive to adulthood. The theory that protecting them early in life makes them more vulnerable later on is thus rubbish.
BBC Africa Live 03 February 2022. 14:35
02 February 2022
“Someone who is fond of performing duties for others will be used to hold everyone’s donkey at a market”BBC Africa Live 02 February 2022. Proverb of the day. An Oromo proverb from Ethiopia sent by Umar Abrahim
Congo-Kinshasa: Around 60 are reported killed and 40 injured in an attack on a camp of refugees in Ituri province. The attackers are thought to be members of the Codeco militia who are mainly drawn from Lendu farmers who have “been at loggerheads with the province’s Hema cattle herders”. Five other camps in Ituri had been attacked since November 2021, killing close to 70. More people have fled their homes – adding to the estimated 1.7 million internally displaced in the province over the past several years.
BBC Africa Live 02 February 2022. 13:06
Mali: Bamako has had to default on bond repayments because of the sanctions imposed by Ecowas and the West African central bank. Mali has enough reserves to repay but cannot access them because of the sanctions.
BBC Africa Live 02 February 2022. 12:14
Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), “– hailed for its independence despite being a state-linked institution –“ has accused Oromia state’s government forces to have perpetrated the “Karayu massacre” when 14 civilians including some elders were taken from their homes to a forest nearby and shot, most likely in retaliation for a rebel attack on the police.
BBC Africa Live 02 February 2022. 11:18
South Africa: Part two of the Zondo report on corruption under Jaocb Zuma has been handed over to the President today – it deals with “corruption in public logistics company Transnet and the state arms firm Denel”. The third and final part of the report is due by end February.
BBC Africa Live 02 February 2022. 5:32
Zambia: A 24-year-old charged with “defaming” the President faces a maximum of 3 years in jail if found guilty. Hichilema is being criticised for allowing the case to proceed – during his campaign, he had promised to abolish archaic laws should he become president.
BBC Africa Live 02 February 2022. 17:57