THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Nov

12

2025

Mining interests and missed deadlines: Why Congolese see little hope in M23 peace talks

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT has been several months since the signing of a US-brokered peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and a separate ceasefire and declaration of principles agreed in Doha between Kinshasa and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Yet neither track has altered the battlefield situation – even as Donald Trump says the war has been “settled” – and Congolese civil society remains sceptical of deals they view as externally imposed and part of a long-term pattern of exploitation. “It is almost impossible to judge the sincerity of these negotiations," said Reagan Miviri of Ebuteli, a Congolese research group.…

Nov

12

2025

By BRENDON J. CANNON

Africa’s drone wars are growing – but they rarely deliver victory

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN the last decade, armed drones have become one of the most visible symbols of modern warfare. Once the preserve of advanced militaries, armed drones are now widely available on the global arms market. Countries such as Turkey, China and Iran are producing lower-cost models and exporting them. In Sudan’s ongoing war, which began in 2023, drones have been used by the two major warring parties to gain ground – but have caused massive civilian casualties in the process. A drone is essentially a remotely piloted aircraft that can observe, track and sometimes strike targets with missiles or bombs. The…

Nov

12

2025

By JACKSON OKATA

Beyond the hype: Can AI really fix Africa’s humanitarian crises?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AT a remote health clinic on the outskirts of Lodwar town in northern Kenya, aid workers are testing an unlikely new ally in the fight against hunger: artificial intelligence. A laptop whirs under the equatorial sun, running a model that scans health records and satellite images of drought-parched land. The goal is radical for a region accustomed to crisis response to forecast malnutrition before children start wasting away, and to rush in help early. In the past, warnings came only when famine was already at the doorstep. Now an algorithm offers a six-month head start. Across Africa, humanitarian organisations are…

Nov

08

2025

By EZENWA E. OLUMBA

Nigeria’s violent conflicts are about more than just religion – despite what Trump says

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE US President, Donald Trump, is threatening military action in Nigeria over what he sees as the persecution of Christians there. He has accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to prevent radical Islamists from committing “mass slaughter” against Christians in the West African nation. In a video posted on social media on November 5, Trump said, “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands and thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible.” He warned that, if US forces were to attack, it would be “fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack…

Nov

08

2025

By TEKLEHAYMANOT G. WELDEMICHEL and BIRHAN MEZGBO

Starvation as a weapon of war: how Ethiopia created a famine in Tigray

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FAMINE – the extreme scarcity of food – devastated Ethiopia’s Tigray region during and after a two-year war that began in November 2020. Yet, the famine’s impact is one of the least documented crises of recent years. Despite the enormous scale of suffering and the far-reaching consequences of the 2020-2022 war, there hasn’t been enough attention paid to all aspects of the disaster, or to aid to enable the region to recover. The famine dimension of the conflict – how starvation was used as a weapon of war and continues to shape the region today – has largely failed to…

Nov

08

2025

By GAVIN GEORGE

Sex for money: South African study reveals the harm that ‘blessers’ can do to young women

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A “blesser” is typically an older, relatively wealthier man who provides a younger woman with money, gifts, school fees or lifestyle access in exchange for a relationship that includes sex. Similar arrangements exist around the world, often called “sugar-daddy” relationships, but the South African version is closely tied to extreme inequality, youth unemployment, and a culture in which conspicuous consumption carries strong social currency. As a result, “blesser” has become a mainstream, even aspirational term among some young women, particularly in urban settings. South Africa ranks as the most unequal country in the world, characterised by high unemployment rates and…

Nov

07

2025

By DR RUDZANI NEMUTUDI

A tribute to Mmboniseni Enos Nethengwe of Thengwe La Vhatavhatsindi

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MMBONISENI ENOS NETHENGWE, a masterful Science and Mathematics teacher ever to have emerged from Thengwe village in Limpopo, finally bowed out from this physical world on November 1. This adherent of the Black Consciousness philosophy waged a fierce and protracted battle against a congenital diabetic condition that resulted in a stroke that paralysed him. The sheer length and considerable period he battled the condition has left even the most loquacious amongst us utterly speechless. Even in his final days, spent at a Tshwane hospital, when he had lost his speech, he refused to be silenced and carried a board and…

Nov

07

2025

By EISA DAFALLAH

From exile, I watched El Fasher fall – and my family fight to survive

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

I write this from Kampala, some 2,000 kilometres from my home in the Sudanese city of El Fasher, which has just fallen to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after an 18-month siege. From exile, I try to piece together what happened through messages, photos, and the broken voices of those who escaped. On Sunday, 26 October, I woke up at 5 am to the sound of rain drumming against my window. The sky was heavy with clouds. After dawn prayer, I opened WhatsApp, scrolling through the family group chats the way I do every morning – checking for updates from…

Nov

06

2025

By JOVIAL RANTAO

Tanzania’s descent: How a sham election shattered democratic hopes

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE inauguration said everything. Not in a stadium where jubilant crowds would gather to celebrate a popularly elected leader, but in an army venue - sterile, controlled, militarised. President Samia Suluhu Hassan took her oath of office on Monday before a carefully curated audience; the 98% vote share she claimed was as hollow as the ceremony itself. This was not the celebration of democracy. This was its funeral. What followed Tanzania's election was not the peaceful transfer of power, but something far darker: a systematic crackdown that has transformed East Africa's second-most populous nation into a pressure cooker of fear,…

Nov

03

2025

By JOVIAL RANTAO

When criminals choose presidents: The Madlanga Commission and South Africa’s democracy crisis

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE testimony unfolding before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry represents far more than another corruption scandal in South Africa's troubled post-apartheid history. What is emerging from the walls of that Pretoria hearing room is evidence of something far more sinister: a democratic state potentially captured not by business interests or political factions, but by criminal syndicates and drug cartels who have allegedly used their ill-got wealth to install politicians at the highest levels of government. When businessman Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala sat down for a recorded interview following his arrest in May, he did more than implicate individual officials in corruption.…