SPECIAL FEATURES - The African Mirror

Jun

11

2024

Hydropower damages river systems in Africa: how more solar and wind power can solve this problem

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ACROSS the African continent, more than 300 new hydropower projects are planned to meet the growing demand for electricity. Some of these will require big dams, which can have major negative environmental impacts. Another looming problem with hydropower is that the water cycle is affected by climate change. Water availability will be reduced and become more variable in some locations in the next decades. We are a team of environmental and energy systems researchers. Energy systems is the study of how energy can be produced to meet the demands of the different sectors of society. Environmental systems modelling is used…

Jun

07

2024

By CARIN RUNCIMAN and MARCEL PARET

South African voters shifted support in 2024 but that’s nothing new – surveys after previous elections showed party loyalty was fluid

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

TO the casual observer, the outcome of South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial elections, which herald a new era of national coalition governance, may appear to represent new electoral trends. But that is not the case. While the shift in voting patterns is certainly the largest the country has seen since democratic elections began, voter fluidity – people shifting their votes from one election to the next – has been a growing trend among the South African electorate since at least 2016. The 2024 general election is a watershed moment in South Africa’s democracy. For the first time in 30…

Jun

04

2024

By Jovial Rantao

Ford South Africa celebrates millionth Ranger produced at Silverton Manufacturing Plant

MOTORING NEWS

A million of anything is a huge number. Now imagine one million Ford Rangers being lined up bumper-to-bumper, starting at Ford South Africa’s Silverton Manufacturing Plant in Pretoria and heading due north through Africa. Ford’s segment-defining pick-ups, or bakkies in South African vernacular, would reach all the way to Egypt’s southern border – some 5 300km away. That provides a rather mind-boggling visual representation of Ford’s latest milestone in the local production of the Ford Ranger over the past 24 years, as the Silverton plant celebrates the one-millionth unit having recently come off its modern assembly line. The Ranger’s legacy in…

Jun

01

2024

By ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN

South Africa election: What happens after ANC loses majority?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

FOR the first time in South Africa's democratic era, the African National Congress (ANC) will have to seek a coalition partner to govern with after it was on course to fall well short of a majority in the national election. Here are scenarios of what could happen next in South Africa and which parties the ANC might partner with: WILL RAMAPHOSA GET OUSTED? With results in from over 60% of polling stations, the ANC had just under 42% of votes, by far its worst result since democratic elections began after the end of apartheid in 1994 and leaving it short of a…

May

30

2024

By GODFRIED ASANTE

Ghana’s anti-LGBTIQ+ bill is being challenged in the Supreme Court. Why the decision to broadcast it live matters

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, LGBTQIA+

GHANA’S Supreme Court is live televising its proceedings on the country’s controversial anti-LGBTQI+ bill. This was on the request of Ghana’s attorney general, who cited public interest and transparency. The country’s parliament passed the bill in February 2024 amid global furore and local outcry. The bill criminalises not only LGBTQI+ relationships but also those who support queer rights. After it was passed, two citizens filed a case before the country’s highest court, to restrain the president of Ghana from making the bill law. They have asked the court to rule that the bill contravenes aspects of Ghana’s constitution and should…

May

28

2024

By BRADLEY HILLER

Horn of Africa droughts: how a network of groundwater bores could help – study

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE Horn of Africa recently suffered its worst drought in almost half a century, and its sixth failed rainfall season in a row. Fifty million people were directly affected and 100 million more were indirectly affected. About 20 million people risked acute food insecurity and potential famine, 4.4 million required humanitarian aid, and refugees fleeing drought and floods numbered in the hundreds of thousands. To help solve these problems, the governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan and Uganda, and three United Nations agencies, launched the Groundwater Access Facility on 7 May. It aims to develop a plan to extract…

May

26

2024

By Mpho Rantao

Jaguar expresses GEN4 commitment in Formula E

MOTORSPORT, MOTORING NEWS

JAGUAR TCS Racing has confirmed a long-term commitment to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship by signing to participate in the GEN4 era, set to commence in 2026 and running through seasons 13-16. Jaguar is one of Formula E’s most successful teams, boasting many race wins including with its current drivers in the 2023/24 season, New Zealanders Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy. Cassidy is currently the leader of the 2023/24 drivers standings in the FE championship series. Jaguar TCS Team principal James Barclay (left), Nick Cassidy, race winner Mitch Evans (centre), and DS Penske's Stoffel Vandoorne (right) at the…

May

23

2024

By The African Mirror

How does South Africa’s 2024 election work?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

SOUTH Africans vote in national and provincial elections on May 29 that polls suggest could loosen the African National Congress' 30-year grip on power. After the vote, the new National Assembly will choose the country's next president from among its members. Below are facts about the election and the voting process. HOW DOES SOUTH AFRICA'S ELECTORAL SYSTEM WORK? South African voters will go to the polls to elect a 400-member National Assembly, as they have done every five years since the end of apartheid in 1994. The lawmakers will then elect the country's next president. Each political party will be allocated a number of…

May

20

2024

By LOUISE DU TOIT, BREWSTERS CAIPHAS SOYAPI and LOUIS KOTZÉ

South African communities vs Shell: high court victories show that cultural beliefs and practices count in climate cases

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

WHEN the Shell Petroleum Company announced in 2021 that it wanted to explore fossil fuels off South Africa’s pristine Wild Coast, Indigenous communities in the area immediately fought back through the country’s courts. In two separate cases, the communities successfully challenged Shell. They won both cases, winning an interim interdict to put Shell’s exploration on hold and having the company’s exploration right set aside. Shell is appealing the second ruling on several, largely procedural, grounds; that process got underway in the Supreme Court of Appeal on 17 May this year. If the Supreme Court of Appeal upholds the High Court’s…

May

21

2024

By KERSTIN BREE CARLSON

Rwanda’s role in eastern DRC conflict: why international law is failing to end the fighting

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE power of international law lies in its potential to offer alternatives to force and violence. The ideal is that states submit their grievances to a court rather than duke them out on a battlefield, or carry them out against civilians. As concerns armed violence, there are two international courts that countries can engage in. The first is the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is the world’s oldest international court, with jurisprudential roots that reach back to the 19th century. The ICJ applies international law, the law of treaties, to states. It operates based on state consent – when…