AFP Africa

South African voters queued — many of them for hours — to cast their ballots on Wednesday in a landmark general election that leaves the ruling ANC fighting to protect its three-decade-long exclusive grip on power.More than 27 million voters are registered for the most uncertain poll since the African National Congress led the nation …

South Africa votes with long ANC dominance in the balanceWed, 29 May 2024 18:16:46 GMT Read More »

There is an urgent need for reforms to the “unjust” global financial system, which penalises African nations with high borrowing rates, leaders said at a major African economic gathering in Kenya this week.Such calls have been mounting as African countries battle sometimes crippling levels of debt to fund their development as well as frequently unstable …

Africa presses for reform of ‘unjust’ global financial systemWed, 29 May 2024 15:43:03 GMT Read More »

Pacing along the dark corridors of a rundown five-storey building in Johannesburg’s crime-ridden township of Alexandra, Duduzile Mthembu says she has been trying to persuade young residents to vote.Constructed in 1970 by the apartheid regime to house male workers coming from the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal to work in Johannesburg’s mines and industry, the red …

South Africa hostel residents lose faith in the voteWed, 29 May 2024 14:23:12 GMT Read More »

South Africa’s ruling ANC was fighting Wednesday to defy expectations that it could lose its three-decade-long exclusive grip on power, as voters turned out for a watershed general election. More than 27 million voters are registered for the most uncertain poll since the African National Congress (ANC) led the nation out of apartheid rule.With opposition challenges …

South Africa votes with long ANC dominance under threatWed, 29 May 2024 12:22:10 GMT Read More »

A northern Nigerian state governor on Wednesday banned protests and public rallies to prevent a power struggle between two rival royals over a traditional throne spilling into violence.Emirs in the mostly Muslim north, as well as Obas or kings and other traditional rulers in the predominantly Christian south, have no constitutional authority but they wield …

North Nigerian state bans protests over royal power struggleWed, 29 May 2024 12:20:02 GMT Read More »

In downtown Lome, food wholesaler Kofidjin Amouzou recently had to throw away around $500 worth of rotting fish because his freezer broke down during Togo’s devastating power cuts.The West African country has been battered by outages for weeks and the crisis worsened in early May to the point that some parts of the capital have …

Sweeping power cuts leave Togo’s traders facing ruinWed, 29 May 2024 06:30:07 GMT Read More »

Dressed in a sparkling white jacket and sunglasses, the groom grooves with his bride as Afrobeats blast from the towering speakers and relatives slowly join them on the Lagos wedding hall dance floor.Furtively, almost shyly, one relative slips a few 500 naira notes from her purse and scatters them on the floor. Others follow, but …

Crackdown curbs Nigeria’s festive ‘spraying’ cash cultureWed, 29 May 2024 05:56:38 GMT Read More »

South African voters turned out for a landmark general election on Wednesday, with the ruling ANC’s exclusive grip on power in doubt three decades after the advent of democracy.Some 27 million voters are registered for the most uncertain poll since the African National Congress (ANC) led the nation out of apartheid rule, with opposition challenges …

South Africans vote with ANC rule in balanceWed, 29 May 2024 05:56:00 GMT Read More »

Influential Ethiopian women’s rights activist Betelehem Akalework says she has been forced to move home twice in two years after enduring a barrage of online abuse, death threats and physical harassment.She and her colleagues use social media to campaign for gender equality online by challenging gender norms and attitudes towards women in Ethiopia, Africa’s second …

‘Normalised and invisible’: online abuse targets Ethiopian womenWed, 29 May 2024 03:24:05 GMT Read More »