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Africa’s fast-growing cities are failing

Over the next 16 years, all of the world’s 10 fastest growing cities are going to be in Africa. If this growth is a process of people voting with their feet, as last year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Romer once put it, these cities are winning. Yet urbanisation in many developing

French minister denies calling her cat ‘Brexit’

Despite reports to the contrary, French Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau has not named her cat “Brexit”, her office said on Tuesday. Reports began circulating on Sunday after the Journal du Dimanche newspaper reported that the 54-year-old had written about her pet on her private Facebook page. “I’ve ended up calling my cat Brexit,” the paper

BRICS bank to pour $780m down Eskom’s black hole

The New Development Bank plans to lend as much as $780 million to Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. for infrastructure projects this year as the ailing South African power utility battles to keep power supply steady. Eskom, which on Wednesday entered a seventh day of controlled power cuts, is contending with operational and financial challenges, threatening

Faith in Humanity Restored, 2018 Edition

In his 2005 HBO stand-up comedy special, world-famous philosopher and social critic (posing as a stand-up comedian) George Carlin has enumerated quite a few things humanity should be ashamed of, like war, genocide, consumerism, and several others. If you look at the mainstream media, all you see is bad news: an earthquake here, famine there,

Another R139bn stolen at Eskom? – probe underway

The Special Investigating Unit is probing 11 contractors for stealing a staggering R139bn during the building of Eskom’s Medupi, Kusile and Ingula power plants. And insiders say the total cost of Eskom looting could reach about R500bn, dating back to 2005. SIU spokesperson Nazreen Pandor said the unit was probing the theft of R170bn from

Unable to pay for wheat, Zimbabwe running out of bread

Zimbabwe could run out of bread in a week after flour stocks dwindled due to the country’s failure to pay for imported wheat, according to a confidential letter written to bakers by the country’s grain millers’ group on Monday. The southern African nation is in the grip of a severe shortage of U.S. dollars that

Ilana Mercer: Conservative’ media’s latest blonde ambition

In 2018, Lara Logan left her perch as foreign correspondent for CBS’ “highest-rated, most profitable and best-known program, ’60 Minutes.’” She is currently doing the rounds, assuaging “conservative” media’s appetite for celebrity. The latter have a Uriah-Heep-like propensity to fawn over swamp-based, defecting, big-name media celebs. It’s as though Logan is job hunting, on a

Johannesburg airport robbers arrested

The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Khehla John Sitole, has welcomed the arrest on 21 February of suspects believed to have been involved in cases of robbery of people being followed from the O. R. Tambo International Airport and praised members for their sterling work. This morning, members from the National

Corrupt Angola has $80 billion of debt, some ‘hidden’

LUANDA, Angola. As Mozambique cracks the whip on officials and cronies allegedly involved in the multibillion-dollar debt scandal, string indications of deals between Angola and global companies involved in the scandal is increasingly bringing to question the credibility of President Joao Lourenco’s already-debatable drive against corruption and presents Angola as risky for foreign investors. The direct

Rita Kufandarerwa: The sad extinction of the South African white Afrikaner

The drums of Land expropriation in South Africa are beating louder. Recently, we saw the ANC and the EFF kissing and making things right because on the land issue, they are not at loggerheads. Jacob Zuma went as far as proposing that the constitution of the republic be amended to allow for the expropriation of

Why South Africa has blackouts and ‘load shedding’

Rolling blackouts last year had South Africans firing up candles, flashlights and generators after crisis-plagued Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which provides most of the country’s electricity, failed to meet demand. The power crunch has since eased thanks to fewer unplanned plant breakdowns and the use of diesel-powered generators to augment supply. But Eskom’s problems run

How Apple’s FaceTime could be used for eavesdropping

Apple Inc said on Monday it will issue a software patch later this week for a bug that lets iPhone users hear audio from users who have not yet accepted a video call. The bug, which Reuters was able to replicate, allows an iPhone user placing a call using Apple’s FaceTime video-calling feature to hear

Letter: Zimbabweans are not freeloaders

Zimbabweans don’t want to be here. South Africans don’t get that. We have voted and voted against the ruling party (and Mugabe) and each time we had the opportunity to be rid of those murderers guess who came to their rescue? Mbeki, ANC, Zuma, SADC. While I am not wholesale blaming SA for Zim’s problems

USA finally wakes up to Chinese near-control of Africa

The United States lashed out Thursday at “predatory” Chinese and Russian policy in Africa and unveiled a new strategy for using economic muscle to counter its rivals’ grips on the continent. An increasingly assertive Beijing and Moscow “pose a significant threat to US national security interests” in resource-rich Africa, White House national security advisor John