SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS - The African Mirror

Feb

28

2024

By ROULA INGLESI-LOTZ and MENDITA A. UGEMBE

Mozambique’s unstable and expensive power supply is devastating small businesses – study examines what’s gone wrong

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

INSIDE a small bakery in Maputo, the morning’s batch of 150 loaves of bread has just gone into the oven. But there’s a problem: the electricity has gone out without warning for the third time that week. Yet again, the batch of bread is ruined. The owners of the bakery have just lost all the flour and yeast they used to prepare the bread, and they won’t be able to sell the failed loaves either. This is just one example of the daily reality for medium and small business owners in Mozambique. We set out to research what happens to…

Feb

27

2024

By The African Mirror

What are Sabaki languages? How people formed ethnic groups along the coast of East Africa

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

A new book called Ethnicity, Identity and Conceptualizing Community in Indian Ocean East Africa tracks the history of the coastal communities of East Africa and how the Sabaki family of Bantu languages was formed, shaped in part by the sea and the arrival of visitors from other shores and within the continent. We asked historian Daren Ray to tell us more about his book for International Mother Language Day. DAREN RAY, Assistant Professor of History, Brigham Young University Which languages fall into the Sabaki family? Sabaki languages are a grouping of Bantu languages spoken near the east African coast. The…

Feb

23

2024

By DANNY BRADLOW

Africa’s debt crisis needs a bold new approach: expert outlines a way forward

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

IT hasn’t been easy for African states to finance their developmental and environmental policy objectives over the past few years. Recent events suggest that the situation may be improving. For the first time in two years, three African states have been able to access international financial markets, albeit at high-interest rates. Kenya, for example, is now paying over 10% compared to about 7% in 2014. Many African countries continue to face challenging sovereign debt situations. DANNY BRADLOW, Professor/Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria Total external debts as a share of Africa’s export earnings increased from…

Feb

21

2024

By MAREW ABEBE SALEMOT

Ethiopia’s peace pacts with the Oromo Liberation Front have failed: here’s what was missing

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

TWO attempts have been made over the past six years to broker peace between the Ethiopian government and the armed rebel group Oromo Liberation Front. The armed group was formed half a century ago to carve out an independent state for Oromia, the country’s largest regional state. MAREW ABEBE SALEMOT, Lecturer of Federalism, Debark University Both attempts at brokering peace – in 2018 and again in 2023 – ended in failure and a return to violence. Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region. The Oromo Liberation Front has sought autonomy for the region since the group emerged in 1973.…

Feb

16

2024

By ALESSANDRO ARDUINO

Wagner Group is now Africa Corps. What this means for Russia’s operations on the continent

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

In August 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died after his private jet crashed about an hour after taking off in Moscow. He had been Russia’s pointsman in Africa since the Wagner Group began operating on the continent in 2017. The group is known for deploying paramilitary forces, running disinformation campaigns and propping up influential political leaders. It has had a destabilising effect. Prigozhin’s death – and his aborted mutiny against Russian military commanders two months earlier – has led to a shift in Wagner Group’s activities. ALESSANDRO ARDUINO, Affiliate Lecturer, King's College London What does this mean for Africa?…

Feb

13

2024

By The African Mirror

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…