SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS - The African Mirror

Apr

08

2025

By KAREN PARRY; ANDRÉ F. VAN ROOYEN and HENNING BJORNLUND

We studied smallholder farming in three African countries for 10 years: why profitable irrigation is key

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE world has to feed a growing population with the same area of land and less water. Irrigation is key to managing this problem. A 10-year project called Transforming Irrigation in Southern Africa focused on capacity constraints on schemes in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe and how to solve them. This led to a new project which uses small-scale irrigation schemes as learning sites for circular food systems. Here, the researchers involved in the projects share some findings. What are the barriers to smallholder irrigation schemes? First is a lack of coherence between national policies and local realities. The objectives of…

Apr

05

2025

By CLAUDE RAISARO

Uganda’s speedy motorbike taxis will slow down for cash – if incentives are cleverly designed

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

EVERY day, 10 people die on the roads of Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Road accidents cost Uganda US$1.2 billion annually, which is about 5% of its GDP. The cost typically arises from healthcare spending. Families face crippling medical bills and businesses lose workers. Motorbike taxis, which are popular in Uganda, are a leading cause of accidents. They are responsible for 64% of all recorded accidents – mostly as a result of speeding. Why do so many motorbike taxi drivers in Uganda speed? The common wisdom suggests that they do it for financial reasons. Higher speed translates to more trips, and more…

Apr

03

2025

By OLUWOLE OJEWALE

Nigeria’s illegal gold trade – elites and bandits are working together

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ILLEGAL mining activities in Nigeria are devastating the country’s economy, as well as fuelling violence. Strategic minerals mined in the country’s northwest region include granite, gypsum, kaolin, laterite, limestone, phosphate, potash, silica sand and gold. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has estimated that the legal mining sector contributed N814.59 billion (US$527 million) in 15 years. Earnings were highest in 2021. Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, asserted in late 2024 that powerful individuals engaged in illegal mining were sponsoring banditry in the country. Recently, Edo North senator Adams Oshiomhole also alleged that retired military officers coordinated illegal mining…

Apr

02

2025

By JONATHAN BELOFF

Rwanda and Belgium are at odds over the DRC: what’s led to the latest low point

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

RWANDA’S foreign affairs ministry suspended all diplomatic relations with Belgium in March 2025. Soon afterwards, Belgium expelled Rwandan diplomats. This came weeks after Belgium had suspended foreign aid to Rwanda. At the root of this diplomatic fallout is the resurgence of the rebel group, March 23 Movement (M23), which has made recent military gains in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Prior to Rwanda suspending diplomatic relations, President Paul Kagame accused Belgium of continually undermining Rwanda. This deterioration in Rwanda-Belgium relations illustrates decades of the Kagame regime’s lack of trust in Brussels since the 1994 genocide. Jonathan Beloff, who has…

Mar

31

2025

By HAMZA BENATTIA

Discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement in Morocco rewrites history

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

A new archaeological discovery at Kach Kouch in Morocco challenges the long-held belief that the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was an empty land before the arrival of the Phoenicians from the Middle East in around 800 BCE. It reveals a much richer and more complex history than previously thought. Everything found at the site indicates that during the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago, stable agricultural settlements already existed on the African coast of the Mediterranean. This was at the same time as societies such as the Mycenaean flourished in the eastern Mediterranean. Our discovery, led by a team of…

Mar

28

2025

By STIG JARLE HANSEN

Islamic State in Somalia: the terrorist group’s origins, rise and recent battlefield defeats

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE Islamic State in Somalia is an affiliate of the transnational jihadist group Islamic State, known in short as ISIS. Based in the semi-autonomous northern Somalia territory of Puntland, the terrorist group was the target of the first foreign combat operation of the Trump administration in February 2025. Previously, the group has been linked to planned terror attacks on the Vatican and on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm. Stig Jarle Hansen, a researcher and author of several books on jihadism in Africa, examines its origins, rise and recent battlefield defeats in the mountains of Puntland. 1. The rise of the…

Mar

27

2025

By AL CHUKWUMA OKOLI

Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State under emergency: sending in the army isn’t the answer

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu recently declared a state of emergency in Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State, in the country’s South-South region. Prior to this decision, governance in Rivers State was practically paralysed as a result of a power struggle between the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Rivers is at the heart of Nigeria’s once restive oil-producing Niger Delta region and the emergency rule declaration was pronounced following reports of explosions rocking oil pipelines. Security scholar Al Chukwuma Okoli unpacks the implications of this development for security in the oil region…

Mar

22

2025

By FRANS VILJOEN

South Africa hasn’t given individuals access to the African Court – this needs to be fixed

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

US President Donald Trump’s second term has brought South Africa’s domestic human rights record into stark international prominence. Based on misinformation, Trump’s anti-South African campaign seems designed to weaken South Africa’s image as an international torchbearer for human rights. At the heart of the issue lies American resentment about South Africa’s submission in December 2023 to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of a case alleging that Israel has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention. South Africa has won accolades for its principled and courageous submission of the ICJ case. Nevertheless, its role in advancing human rights on the African continent…

Mar

21

2025

By TRACY-LYNN FIELD

South Africa’s unsafe water supplies: licensing service providers won’t solve the issue

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

IN many cities and towns across South Africa, water shortages and supply disruptions have become more frequent. Most recent figures show that 33% of all urban water users and 65% of rural users face regular water cut-offs. Nearly half of urban residents now boil or treat their water before drinking it. South Africa’s water law says everyone has the right to access sufficient water. But 12% of rural people have no access to improved water sources. The most recent Blue Drop report into the state of South Africa’s water supply systems revealed that 46% were unable to guarantee that their…

Mar

19

2025

By OMANO EDIGHEJI

Rescuing Nigeria: how to break the cycle of decline and bring progress

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

NIGERIA has abundant human and natural resources but remains mired in underdevelopment. There are high levels of poverty, corruption, unemployment and inequality. The country is currently witnessing a rise in ethnic militias and terrorism, adding to the threats posed by armed herdsmen’s deadly clashes with rural communities over land. The nation suffers from poor economic management and political leadership that has failed to promote structural transformation of the economy and politics. I am a political scientist with a research specialisation in the political economy of development. In my view, Nigeria’s social, economic and political crises stem from the absence of…