SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS - The African Mirror

Feb

13

2024

Mungiki, Kenya’s violent youth gang, serves many purposes: how identity, politics and crime keep it alive

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

KENYA has scores of youth gangs known for their violence and links to the politically powerful. None is more infamous than the Mungiki movement, with a past membership estimated to be at least a million. Though banned, it’s constantly in the news as a tool or target of big political players. Bodil Folke Frederiksen, who has studied Mungiki as part of her field-based research on youth culture in Kenya, traces the origins, growth and persistence of the group. BODIL FOLKE FREDERIKSEN, Associate Professor Emerita, Roskilde University What gave rise to Mungiki? Mungiki emerged in the late 1980s in what was…

Feb

06

2024

By The African Mirror

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger want to leave Ecowas. A political scientist explains the fallout

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

MALI, Burkina Faso and Niger have sent Ecowas, west Africa’s main political union of 15 countries, a formal notice of their withdrawal from the bloc. The three countries are governed by military rulers who have overthrown democratically elected leaders since 2021. The Conversation Africa’s Godfred Akoto Boafo asked political scientist Olayinka Ajala about the implications of the withdrawal. OLAYINKA AJALA, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University Why are Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso withdrawing? The three countries have given three main reasons. First is what they call the “illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible sanctions” imposed on…

Feb

03

2024

By The African Mirror

South Africans are opting to go off-grid: how they’re being helped, and hindered, in their efforts

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ESKOM, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, struggles to generate and supply a stable flow of electricity to meet demand. In 2023, there were times when households and businesses had no power for up to 11 hours a day. Eskom has warned that load shedding will be worse in 2024. GERMARIÉ VILJOEN, Associate Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, North-West University, North-West University FELIX DUBE, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria The result is that many South Africans are choosing to end or reduce their dependence on the…

Feb

02

2024

By LIN TAYLOR and NITA BHALLA

UK’s Rwanda plan: Which other nations send asylum seekers abroad?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a setback to his plans to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda after parliament's upper house backed a largely symbolic motion to delay ratification of a treaty aimed at overcoming a legal block. Sunak's "Safety of Rwanda" bill seeks to override a decision by the UK Supreme Court, which ruled last month that the East African country was an unsafe place to send asylum seekers, and the UK Supreme Court ruled last year that the East African nation was not a safe country to send people. Britain then signed a treaty with Rwanda, which it said addressed those…

Feb

01

2024

By TINASHE MUSHAYANYAMA, ADRINO MAZENDA, MARGARET CHITIGA-MABUGU and MARY MANGAI

South Africa is failing people who aren’t poor, but aren’t middle class either

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

MANY South African households are trapped. They are neither poor nor middle class. As a demographic, they hover above the indigence threshold financially. But they are not yet securely in the middle class. This aspirant middle class – individuals whose income is above the indigent thresholds but too low to afford the middle-class lifestyle – is growing in metropolitan areas globally. This class is financially vulnerable, with a higher risk of falling back into poverty compared to the established middle class. We set out to understand the challenges faced by this aspirant middle class in South Africa and the key…

Jan

31

2024

By The African Mirror

What we know about the Italian development plan for Africa

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE Italian government unveiled at the Italy-Africa summit details of a long-awaited project aimed at boosting development in Africa, hoping it will help spark economic growth that will curb irregular immigration to Europe. Here are the main points of the "Mattei Plan" - named after the late Enrico Mattei, who founded state oil company Eni - as outlined by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. AREAS OF INTERVENTION The Italian plan will be developed along five main policy pillars: education and training; agriculture; health; water; and energy - which is the most significant for Rome. The aim is to make Italy an…

Jan

30

2024

By The African Mirror

Why are floods in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal so devastating? Urban planning expert explains

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE devastation caused by the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa demonstrates again that the country is not moving fast enough to adopt appropriate urban planning. It should integrate risk assessment and management in the design and development of cities. This is becoming more urgent as the frequency of floods increases. HOPE MAGIDIMISHA-CHIPUNGU, Full Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal Most South African cities were built a long time ago before climate change was predicted. KwaZulu-Natal experienced flooding in July 2016, May 2017, October 2017, March 2019, April 2019, November 2019, November 2020, April 2023, June 2023, and now in January 2024.…

Jan

27

2024

By The African Mirror

Ghana won Afcon four times, but the last time was 40 years ago. What went wrong with its football team?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) is the most important football tournament in Africa. It has been contested by the male national teams of countries on the continent since 1957. Egypt is the most successful country in the tournament’s history, with seven wins, the most recent in 2010. Previously, Ghana was the dominant force with four wins. In spite of producing world class players, the country has not won the tournament in four decades. ERNEST YEBOAH ACHEAMPONG, Senior Lecturer, Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sports (HPERS), University of Education, Winneba As the 2023 edition plays out in Côte…

Feb

22

2024

By DEREK YU

Jobs in South Africa: the labour market is recovering from COVID – but unskilled and less educated people are still being left behind

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

FOR more than three decades the South African economy has had very high rates of joblessness. The country’s economy has been unable to create enough jobs for its growing army of workers. This has partly been because of the stagnant economic growth rate of only 1.7% during the 2010s (it was even lower at 0.9% in 2015-2019). DEREK YU, Professor, Economics, University of the Western Cape Another factor that limited the economy’s capacity to create jobs at a rapid enough pace to absorb new job seekers and previously employed people was the impact of restrictions imposed during the coronavirus (COVID-19)…

Jan

25

2024

By The African Mirror

Education has a huge role to play in peace and development: 5 essential reads

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

NELSON Mandela was a famous advocate for the value of education. In 1990, the man who would become South Africa’s first democratic president four years later told a high school in Boston: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” NATASHA JOSEPH, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation The United Nations agrees. In 2018 its General Assembly adopted a resolution that proclaimed 24 January as the International Day of Education. It’s an annual opportunity to shine a spotlight on the role that education can and should play in promoting peace and development. This year the theme…