NEWS - The African Mirror

Sep

30

2020

Pandemic spurs Africa’s mobile telcos to ramp up banking bid

NEWS

NQOBILE DLUDLA, EMMA RUMNEY and MEDIA COULIBALY WHEN COVID-19 hit Ivory Coast, Bonaventure Kra, who works at an import-export business, began to worry. Handling hard cash all day was a risk. Queuing in crowded bank branches exposed him to infection. Then, in the midst of the pandemic, French telecommunications giant Orange launched an entirely digital bank - its first full banking venture in Africa. "Going back to cash would be like travelling back in time," Kra said in the country's commercial capital, Abidjan. "I intend to use it permanently." Africa's mobile phone operators are ramping up plans to bring banking…

Sep

30

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe plans to send dead elephants’ brain tissue to U.S. for toxin tests

NEWS

ZIMBABWE plans to send brain tissue samples from dead elephants to the United States to test for toxic micro-organisms blamed for hundreds of elephant deaths in neighbouring Botswana, the parks authority said. Thirty-four elephants have died in western Zimbabwe since August 24, Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director general Fulton Mangwanya told a parliamentary committee in a statement on Monday. Botswana blamed toxins produced by cyanobacteria for the deaths of 330 elephants this year. Sometimes called blue-green algae, cyanobacteria are microscopic organisms that are common in water and can produce toxins that damage the liver or nervous system of animals…

Sep

30

2020

By The African Mirror

Jailed ex-South African crime intelligence boss pleads innocence

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER MOMENTS after he lost his freedom and made his way to spend his first night as a prisoner, former South African Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli proclaimed his innocence and began the battle for his freedom. Mdluli, (62) who together with his co-accused and former cop Mthunzi Mthembeni, were convicted of kidnap and assault, declared after Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng sentenced them to an effective five years in prison, that he will approach the Supreme Court of Appeals. He said he would also apply for bail, pending the appeal. Mduli, who was convicted of the kidnap and assault…

Sep

30

2020

By The African Mirror

Over 50 women accuse aid workers of sex abuse in Congo Ebola crisis

NEWS

ROBERT FLUMMERFELT and NELLIE PEYTON MORE than 50 women have accused Ebola aid workers from the World Health Organization and leading NGOs of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an investigation by The New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed. In interviews, 51 women - many of whose accounts were backed up by aid agency drivers and local NGO workers - recounted multiple incidents of abuse, mainly by men who said they were international workers, during the 2018 to 2020 Ebola crisis. The majority of the women said numerous men had either propositioned them, forced…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s ex-crime intelligence boss jailed

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH Africa’s former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli is heading for jail after he was sentenced to an effective five years in prison for kidnap and assault. Mdluli, 62, for years considered to be powerful and untouchable, will serve time for the kidnap and assault of Oupa Ramokgibe, a man who was married to his ex-girlfriend. High Court judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng sentenced Mdluli and his co-accused Mthembeni Mthunzi for the 1999 crime. He found that time served in jail was appropriate for law enforcement officers who had abused the power and authority entrusted on them. Ramokgibe, who…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria says Mali transition govt yet to satisfy regional demands

NEWS

WEST African states are not ready to lift sanctions on Mali because the leaders of an August 18 coup have not yet satisfied all the demands for a handover of power to a fully civilian government, according to Nigeria's president. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it would lift sanctions, which have caused imports to the landlocked country to slump 30%, once a civilian prime minister was named, as was the case on Sunday, among other demands. President Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel appointed president of the transition, named veteran diplomat Moctar Ouane as interim prime minister. But…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Several hundred arrests amid protest calls in Egypt – rights group

NEWS

Egyptian authorities have detained at least 382 people since September 20 amid reports of small, scattered demonstrations against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a rights group has said. The interior ministry could not be reached for comment. The arrests come after security measures were tightened around the first anniversary of rare demonstrations in Cairo and other cities, triggered by appeals in September last year from an exiled former contractor and actor, Mohamed Ali. Ali, who had posted videos online lambasting the authorities, called for more protests this month. Videos posted on social media since September 20 appeared to show several very…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe accuses opposition of gun-smuggling plot

NEWS

MACDONALD DZIRUTWE ZIMBABWE’S state security minister has alleged a plot by "rogue elements" in the opposition working with Western governments to smuggle in guns and foment chaos, signalling another possible crackdown. Without providing evidence, Owen Ncube told reporters the plot was part of a wider plan to oust President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government illegally. Similar accusations have been made against the opposition in the past since the time of former President Robert Mugabe, usually as a precursor to a crackdown. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) treasurer David Coltart said the allegations were false. "We are committed…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Illegal money flows from Africa near $90 billion, U.N. study says

NEWS

EMMA FARGE AFRICA is losing nearly $89 billion a year in illicit financial flows such as tax evasion and theft, amounting to more than it receives in development aid, a U.N. study has shown. The estimate, in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) 248-page report, is its most comprehensive to date for Africa. It shows an increasing trend over time and is higher than most previous estimates. The report calls Africa a "net creditor to the world," echoing economists' observations that the aid-reliant continent is actually a net exporter of capital because of these trends. UNCTAD Secretary-General…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Music is not a crime’: U.N. experts urge Nigeria to lift singer’s death sentence

NEWS

U.N. rights experts have asked Nigeria to release a 22-year-old singer who was condemned to death over an allegedly blasphemous song, and said the sentence broke international law. Yahaya Aminu Sharif was sentenced last month by a sharia court in Kano, the commercial hub of Nigeria's mostly Muslim north after he performed the song and shared it on WhatsApp. "Music is not a crime," read a joint statement from the group of U.N. rapporteurs. "Application of the death penalty for artistic expression or for sharing a song on the internet is a flagrant violation of international human rights law, as…