“If I have my money, I have my assets, I have my farms, my houses, my cars, I have everything I need, I don’t need to be friendly with any white person” – Sandile Swana, former freedom fighter. In 1948, the National Party came into power in South Africa and introduced apartheid, a system that segregated society along racial lines. Black people were not allowed to share toilets, beaches, theatres and other public facilities with their white counterparts. In the decades that followed, the...

“It feels like a black man deserves the worst. The poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer. I don’t know how things will change” – Alexandra resident, Vusi Mbeye. On the 27th of April 1994, millions of South Africans voted in their country’s very first democratic election. During white minority rule, black people were not allowed to vote. Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress won that election and then introduced policies like Affirmative Action and Black Economic...

Togo's President Faure Gnassingbé's proposal to change the constitution has ignited a fierce debate in the country. Some say it's a power grab disguised as reform, while others insist it's a step towards a more democratic future. The reforms aim to switch Togo from a presidential to a parliamentary system, but critics worry it will only prolong the Gnassingbé family's rule. Helping to keep him in power until 2031 and potentially beyond. President Gnassingbé came to power in 2005 after the...

Earlier this month we marked the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chibok girls. It was one of the first mass kidnappings of children witnessed in Nigeria. In 2014, 276 girls were abducted from their school by militants from Chibok, a town in the country’s north east. Over the past 10 years, mass abductions and kidnappings have become a common occurrence in Nigeria. So what is the government doing to get a handle on security? In today’s Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja speaks to Mohammed...

“Development is all about leadership. You can get all the resources in the world, you can get all the best human capital… but if the leadership is not there you can’t make the best of the resources you have and eventually move your country forward.” Ibrahima Cheikh Diong is UN-Assistant Secretary General and Director General of the African Union specialized agency “the African Risk Capacity Group” or ARC, which works with governments to help them deal with climate related disasters. But in a...

You’ve gone to the grocery store and bought your week’s supplies… so can you imagine receiving your change in sweets, chocolates and other small items? That’s the situation in Zimbabwe where a shortage of US dollars – and a plummeting Zimbabwean dollar – has now led the government to introduce a new currency pegged to gold. The Zimbabwean dollar has already lost three quarters of its value this year. But will this latest move work any better than other attempts by the government to stabilise...

Earlier this month, the goalkeeper of Spanish third-tier team, Rayo Majadahonda, went into the stands to confront a fan who allegedly racially abused him. Cheikh Sarr, a black man originally from Senegal, said he heard an elderly man join others as they made monkey gestures. But what took many people by surprise was the Spanish football federation’s decision to slap the player with a two-match ban for the confrontation. It’s not the first time European football has been rocked by a racism...

Ghana and Ivory Coast, responsible for over 60% of the world's cocoa supply, are suffering from catastrophic harvests. Illegal gold mining, climate change and a devastating virus have formed a perfect storm. Over 590,000 hectares of cocoa plantations have been affected according to Ghana’s cocoa marketing board Cocobod. Meanwhile, shoppers who indulged in Easter treats in the United States found the cost of chocolate had increased by more than 10% on last year, according to data from...

Yesterday, Africa Daily heard from two Sudanese men about how a year of war has forever changed their lives. But the impact is also being felt beyond Sudan’s borders: South Sudan’s oil industry – its main income generator – has been heavily impacted because routes to the coast for export have been cut off. Chad and South Sudan are hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees each. And in border areas, armed groups have been growing more active and refugees report extortion, brutal attacks and...

On April 15th last year, fighting broke out between the leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a powerful paramilitary group know as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). As the conflict escalated millions fled for their lives. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, around 18 million people in Sudan are facing food insecurity – a situation likely to worsen because of failed harvests. In Darfur, now mostly in the hands of the RSF, whole cities have emptied out as...

This month marks ten years since the kidnapping of the Chibok girls in north eastern Nigeria when militants abducted nearly 300 girls. Most of the girls have either been freed or escaped but dozens remain unaccounted. In the years since, kidnapping for ransom - for profit- by criminal gangs has also become the norm, even in places like trains or in the capital Abuja, which used to be considered relatively safe. In today’s episode Alan Kasujja speaks to a woman who was kidnapped twice on her...

On the 14th of April 2014, 279 girls were abducted from their school in Chibok, in north eastern Nigeria. Since that fateful night some have escaped, many have been rescued but sadly others remain missing. As Nigeria and the community of Chibok mark 10 years since the kidnapping of the girls, the country has seen many more abductions. One estimate suggests more than 4,000 people have been abducted in Nigeria in the past 8 months. So today Alan Kasujja will be looking at how the girls,...

“The problem is that communities are always excluded when important decisions are taken. Companies impose decisions on communities” – Fana Sibanyoni, a resident of Embalenhle in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province In today’s episode, Mpho Lakaje sits down with Sharon Mbonani and Fana Sibanyoni, the residents of Embalenhle in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. They share their personal stories on how they are affected by air pollution. Their province is known for being home to some of...

Last week, Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a national disaster due to a prolonged drought crisis, saying the country needed $2 billion to address hunger. Zimbabwe, once a regional food producer, now grapples with high inflation and scarcity, intensified by climate change-induced droughts. This crisis affects not only food production but also electricity generation, leading to power cuts. And it’s not just Zimbabwe. Neighbouring countries are also struggling, with Zambia and...

Recently Africa Daily presenter Mpho Lakaje had a shock - he found he had been the victim of identity theft. The person or people behind the crime had opened accounts using his personal details and taken out six loans to a total value of $2,000. It has so far been impossible for the local police to make arrests because everything happened online. He's far from alone: the Southern African Fraud Prevention Services says reports of the crime increased by 356% in South Africa from 2022 to 2023...

This episode contains graphic description of violence. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ “I do not know when I will die maybe it’s today or tomorrow - but I felt if I died without forgiving him the burden would be on my children.” This weekend marks 30 years since the start of the Rwandan genocide. In 100 days, nearly 1 million people were killed based on their ethnicity. At 13 years old, Claudette was attacked with a spear and shot – but somehow survived. Most of her...

"It's hard to live in Africa. It's hard to pay your bills. Public transport is hard... And it's hard to run a business in Africa." Alan got a belated Christmas surprise this year – when he found out he’d been named as one of New African Magazine’s list of 100 most influential Africans. He’s in good company… Senegal’s Ousmane Sonko, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and Guinea’s coup leader and president, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, are also on the list. But the list isn’t just about politics:...

South Africa is one of the top wine producers in the world yet, nearly thirty years after the end of apartheid, the industry is still dominated by white-owned wineries. Black-owned brands account for less than 1% of wine sales per litre in South Africa, even though black South Africans make up over 80% of the population. But a determined group of black women wine-makers want to change this. They’ve been supported by a British company ‘On Cloud Wine’ and its owner, Emily Batchelor, who gave...

“Davy became our friend.” Tales of conflict between animals and people are all too common across Africa. People have been cast off their land to make way for wildlife parks for tourists. Animals have attacked humans, poachers kill for tusks and scales, and large animals like elephants trample on crops and destroy them. But today we’re travelling about 200 km west of Nairobi in Kenya to an area called Sachangwan, where a shy elephant managed to charm his way into the hearts of the local...

Approximately 26.3 million people in Africa have a form of visual impairment, and it’s estimated that 5.9 million are blind. Blindness in people can occur at birth or later in life, and many people across the continent who are blind face several daily challenges. Amidu Abubakar made history when he became Sierra Leone’s first ever blind law graduate. So what’s it like to study law as a blind person? What changes made it possible for Amidu to reach this dream of studying law? Umaru...

The Ras al-Hikma peninsula on the north coast of Egypt is going to become a new city. But it’s going to be built and managed by another country, the United Arab Emirates. In a deal signed earlier this year, Egypt gave the UAE the right to develop this 170 square kilometre area in return for $35 billion dollars. The Egyptian economy was in a critical position, and needed a quick cash injection to get it out of trouble, and the Ras al-Hikma deal was seen as the solution. But it is a very...

This month there have been six mass abductions in the north of Nigeria, many involving children. One school that was attacked by armed men was in the town of Kuriga in the North West. There, the parents of 137 children had to wait, helpless, for the next 16 days, not knowing where their children were, or how they were being treated by the kidnappers. The Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, took a tough line, saying there would be no ransom paid. But then, on Sunday, there was relief after it...

“Everybody wants to see you – everybody thinks this is an opportunity for employment…. a lot of people come into government believing they are there to enrich themselves.” It’s nearly three months since Joseph Boakai started work as Liberia’s new president. But in an interview with the Africa Daily podcast he tells Alan Kasujja that he’s still fielding enquiries from people wanting government jobs every working day from early in the morning. The 79-year-old, who was Vice President from 2006...

“Life here is difficult. You have to be a resilient person to survive. There’s no electricity. The roads are almost non-existent. In sunny days, the shack gets too hot. You can’t stay inside. When it’s cold, it gets very cold. When it’s raining, it gets flooded” – Lala Maria Sebetlele, a resident of a Johannesburg shanty town When Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress took over in 1994, it introduced the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). It’s a policy that aims to build...