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African journalism. JULY 2 2022 | ISSUE 91
The Continent
with
Death,
darkness
and despair
The cost of South Africa’s
power collapse
Photo: Guillem
Sartorio/AFP
The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 2
Inside:
■ Ethiopia: US Supreme
Court justices should have
learnt from Addis before
their abortion ruling (p7)
■ Morocco: The massacre
of migrants and its tragic
historical echoes (p9)
■ Canada: Why Trudeau’s
government has been mute
on atrocities in Tigray (p16)
■ Inclusive cities: A cafe in
Nairobi puts neurodivergent
people front and centre (p17)
■ Zimbabwe: Did anyone
Cover: Africa’s most industrialised hear the nurses’ cry for
economy is in the dark. Literally. better wages? (p19)
In the middle of winter, the
electricity supply to South African
neighbourhoods is being switched Get the latest edition of
off for hours, sometimes days, the The Continent, plus every
climax of a crisis 15 years in the back issue (all 90 of them)
making. It was made inevitable by on thecontinent.org. To
theft and corruption that ran all subscribe (for free!), save
the way into the presidential office. The Continent’s number to
The future continues to look dark, your phone (+27 73 805 6068)
cold and deadly (p10). and send us a message on
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The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 3
CULTURE
BET on Tems
Nigerian singer Tems won the best
international act award at this year’s
Black Entertainment Television
Awards, an American awards show
that celebrates black culture. Tems,
who dedicated the award to Africa and
Nigeria, is the first Nigerian and African
woman to win the award. She beat out
her countryman Fireboy DML, the
DRC’s Fally Ipupa and South Africa’s
Major League DJs as well as artists from
Brazil and Europe. She also accepted
the award for best collaboration for the
Photo: Twitter/temsbaby
remix of Wizkid’s Essence, which also
features Justin Bieber.
CAMEROON DRC
Germany to return Patrice Lumumba
stolen artefacts at rest – at last
Germany’s Prussian Cultural Heritage The DRC’s first post colonial prime
Foundation will return a sacred minister, Patrice Lumumba, was finally
Cameroon statue known as Ngonnso buried on Thursday, in the capital
to the north-west region of the country. Kinshasa. The ceremony coincided
It was taken from Cameroon by a with his country’s 62nd anniversary
colonial officer and given to Berlin’s of independence from Belgium. The
Ethnological Museum in 1903. The country’s current president, Felix
foundation will return an additional Tshisekedi, wished Lumumba eternal
23 works to Namibia and others peace. He said: “May the land of our
to Tanzania. Mbinglo Gilles Yumo ancestors be sweet and mild to you.”
Nyuydzewira, a prince of the Nso The buried remains were but one gold-
community whom Ngonnso was taken tipped tooth that was pried out of
from, said that the return “after more Lumumba’s mouth in 1961 by a Belgian
than 120 years” will help his people soldier, who dissolved the rest of his
come closer to their ancestral links. body in acid.
The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 4
Photo: Twitter/MaropengSA.
SOUTH AFRICA years old. That is a million years older
than they were initially thought to be. The
The oldest ancestors area where they were found, outside the
modern city of Johannesburg, can keep
Researchers tested fossilised remains its label as the Cradle of Humankind. The
from South African caves, including label was previously contested because
those of ancient cave woman Mrs Ples, the fossils were thought too recent for that
and found them to be at least 3.4-million species to have evolved into humankind.
ZIMBABWE LIBYA
Runaway inflation Migrant deaths
slams the economy on land and sea
On Monday Zimbabwe’s central bank Libyan rescuers found 20 bodies of
said it was raising its interest rate to people who are believed to have died
200% — making it the highest in the of thirst after their vehicle broke down
entire world. “Rising inflation has in the desert. Thought to have died
depressed demand and consumer two weeks earlier, the people likely
confidence and if left unchecked will were migrants from Chad, heading for
wipe out the significant economic gains the Mediterranean crossing to Europe.
made over the past two years,” said Separately, a rubber dinghy carrying 30
central bank governor John Mangudya. migrants sank in the Mediterranean off
In just two months, Zimbabwe’s annual the coast of Libya. Some of the people
inflation has doubled, reaching 191% in on the boat were rescued but five
June. In April, the rate was raised from women and eight children were not,
60% to 80%. and are presumed dead.
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The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 6
SUDAN-ETHIOPIA
Violence in disputed
border area
After the killing of seven of their
soldiers, the Sudanese army shelled
areas near its disputed border with
Ethiopia and captured the border
area of Jabal Kala al-Laban. Fearing
a further escalation of violence, the
African Union issued a statement
urging the two countries to negotiate
their disputes and refrain from further
Photo: Twitter/V_and_A
attacks. Sudan says it has filed a formal
complaint about the killings to the
United Nations Security Council.
Ethiopia denies responsibility, blaming
the killings on a local fighter group.
INTERNATIONAL
G7 answers China’s FASHION
trillions with billions London finds the fits
To counter China’s multi-trillion London’s Victoria and Albert Museum
dollar Belt and Road initiative that will host an exhibition called “‘Africa
supports mega infrastructure projects, Fashion” beginning on Saturday. Billed
the western Group of Seven plans as the United Kingdom’s most extensive
to raise $600-billion for their own exhibition of African fashion ever, it
Partnership for Global Infrastructure is part of the museum’s effort to carry
and Investment. The US is on the more works from African designers
hook for $200-billion and the EU and African diaspora designers.
for $300-billion. They plan to fund Curator Christine Checinska said it was
a $2-billion solar farm in Angola, a “actually vital to have this exhibition
vaccine facility in Senegal, an undersea right now because we see it is the
cable from Singapore to France via African creatives that are shifting the
Egypt and the Horn of Africa, and a landscape of global fashion. That’s how
$320-million hospital in Cote d’Ivoire. important their impact is right now.”
The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 News 7
Ethiopia
US Supreme injury,” said Abebe Shibru, the country
director of MSI Ethiopia, which provides
abortion services. “In an average week,
Court missed around two or three women died”.
As a result, about 31% of the country’s
a lesson from maternal deaths were due to abortion
related complications, a 2014 systematic
Addis Ababa review of studies from that period found.
Today, estimates for how much
In 2005, Ethiopia abortion still contributes to maternal
liberalised its abortion mortality in Ethiopia vary but all show
a significant decline. One 2016 study by
law – a change that helped Columbia University and the Ethiopian
to halve the number of health ministry found that “less than
pregnancy-related deaths 1 percent of all maternal deaths were
attributable to complications from
Lydia Namubiru abortion”. A 2019 study by independent
Ethiopian scientists put it at 19.6%.
T he latest data from Ethiopia shows
that 412 people die from pregnancy-
related complications, per 100,000
Earlier this month, the United States
Supreme Court took that country in the
opposite direction. It overturned Roe v
live births. That is fewer than half of Wade, the ruling that protected American
the 871 recorded in the country’s 2000 women’s access to legal abortions.
demographic and health survey. Banchiamlack Dessalegn, an
In the intervening years, Ethiopia Ethiopian-American who works for MSI
changed the law that outlawed abortion, Reproductive Choices, said she watched
introducing exceptions in the case of in disbelief.
rape, incest and foetal anomalies. It then “I am so proud of the steps the
permitted legal abortion services to government in Ethiopia has taken to
operate more freely. expand access to abortion over the
Before that 2005 change, “the methods last two decades; action that has saved
women used to try and terminate an countless lives,” she said.
unwanted pregnancy were desperate, She believes the decision of the US
causing uterine perforation and organ Supreme Court will do the opposite. ■
The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 8
Morocco
Photo: Daniel
Beloumou
Olomo/AFP
T he 2022 TotalEnergies Women’s
Africa Cup of Nations – or Wafcon,
as we’re apparently still calling it – kicks
South Africa, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and
Zambia. The tournament has taken place
since 1991.
off this weekend in Morocco. The African The most successful team in this
tournament functions as a double selector competition is Nigeria’s Super Falcons,
– crowning the queens of the continent who are favourites again. They have been
and also deciding which teams will crowned champions an astonishing 11
represent Africa on the world stage. times. To put this in perspective: the
The teams that finish in the top four tournament has only been played 13
slots will automatically secure themselves times. The other winner was Equatorial
a spot in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Guinea in 2012.
Cup, which will be held in Australia and This time around, however, Nigeria are
New Zealand. The 12 teams battling it out expected to face stiff competition from
are: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon
Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa’s Banyana Banyana. ■
The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 9
Spain
trying to reach Spanish territory where
Storming they could claim asylum.
The times may be different, but the
Europe’s walls response was the same.
“Video and photographs show bodies
The massacre in Melilla strewn on the ground in pools of blood,
last week has tragic Moroccan security forces kicking and
historical echoes beating people, and Spanish Guardia
Civil launching tear-gas at men clinging
I n the far north of Morocco, a massive,
menacing chain-link fence rises from
the ground. This is one of just two land
to fences,” said Human Rights Watch’s
Judith Sunderland.
At least 23 people were killed, but local
borders between Africa and Europe. On NGOs believe the death toll was even
one side is the Moroccan province of higher. Many of the dead were Sudanese,
Oriental; on the other is a tiny city called fleeing a brutal regime led by generals
Melilla, which has been ruled by Spain in Khartoum. The European Union – of
since Castilian pirates occupied it in 1497. which Spain is a prominent member –
There have been several attempts to has put hundreds of millions of euros into
remove Spain from the territory. the coffers of the Sudanese government
The town was besieged in the 1680s over the past decade, in a cynical effort to
and 1690s by the Alouite sultan Ismail Ibn prevent further migration.
Sharif, who seized the outer fortifications
but failed to conquer the fort at the heart The EU has put hundreds
of the city. of millions of euros into the
In 1893, some 6,000 warriors from the coffers of the Sudanese
Rif tribes of northern Morocco launched
a full-frontal assault. They were repelled
government over the past
by Spanish soldiers, who used semi- decade, in a cynical effort to
automatic pistols for the first time, leaving prevent further migration.
piles of dead bodies at the foot of the city
walls. That is a continuation of the union’s
Last Friday, there was a modern work to keep Africans in Africa.
iteration of these grim scenes as around Su d a n’s g ov e r n m e nt k n ow s
2,000 people – mostly young, mostly men this, threatening Europe with mass
– stormed Melilla’s walls again. They were immigration if it falls. ■
The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 10 SOUTH AFRICA Another winter of darkness and discontent Africa’s most industrialised economy has been in an electricity crisis for 15 years. Gross negligence, theft and corruption rising to the very top of the state have only made it worse. This week, South Africa’s lights were turned off once again. Photo: Luba Lesolle/Gallo
The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 11
Sipho Kings figurehead of this capture: a useful and
dangerous puppet for those who would
L ast weekend, 22 people – mostly
minors – died in a tavern in South
Africa’s Eastern Cape province. At first
support his lifestyle along with their
interests.
In the energy sector, this has meant
alcohol and a stampede were blamed. that now, on any given day, less than half
Now, toxic fumes from a petrol generator of the country’s supply is working.
are being linked to the deaths. South Africans who can afford it have
Despite having the continent’s invested in generators. In a country with
biggest power-generating capacity, with at least 40% unemployment and stagnant
a vast fleet of coal-fired power plants, economic growth, this is a very small pool
the country this week was once again of people. And without the electricity to
subjected to rolling blackouts. power the economy, that pool cannot
The monopoly power utility, Eskom, grow to include more South Africans.
calls this “load shedding”. It has been Under the various stages of load-
doing this since 2007, at which time shedding, entire neighbourhoods are
a panicked government signed off on turned off in rotation. This week the
the construction of two of the world’s power utility, Eskom, shifted the country
biggest power plants. Fired and fuelled to “Stage 6”, a level only seen once before.
by polluting coal, these received funding
from organisations such as the African Theft and mismanagement,
Development Bank and the World Bank – coupled with constant
despite serious concerns about their effect
struggles over who is in
on the climate crisis.
Like the apartheid government before charge as ANC power wanes,
it, senior members of the ruling African mean little investment in
National Congress (ANC) understood operations and maintenance.
that big power projects provide an
excellent opportunity for theft, fraud and At this level, it means three separate
corruption in general. What followed has slots each day without electricity, for up
been documented in exhaustive detail to four hours at a time – in theory. In
by journalists. In the past two years, it practice it means far more hours and even
has also been detailed in minutiae by a days, as substations shortcircuit or fail to
commission set up to investigate what come online after their scheduled slot.
South Africans call “state capture” – The economic toll has been
when corruption instead of public good profound. Even South Africa’s biggest
determines government decisions. municipalities, like Johannesburg,
The final report into state capture are effectively bankrupt. Theft and
was handed over last week. It identified mismanagement, coupled with constant
former president Jacob Zuma as the struggles over who is in charge as ANCThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 12
Heartless darkness:
Thanks to state
capture, millions of
South Africans are
unable to stay warm
in freezing winters.
power wanes, mean little investment in coal from hundreds of kilometres away.
operations and maintenance is taking When they work.
place. Local energy infrastructure – the But their boilers were built too small,
substations that supply communities so they can’t burn coal and turn that into
and the pumps that move water – crave steam and then electricity properly. The
stability. When they’re switched on and ANC itself owned part of the company
off, they break. Some explode. This week set up to make those. Myriad other
angry communities attacked the people problems mean that these boilers are
sent out to fix breaks. being haphazardly rebuilt.
South Africa once led the world in its
A manufactured crisis renewable energy programme.
This could have been avoided. Eskom The dozen older coal plants that form
is about $25-billion in debt because it the core of the country’s power grid were
has spent so much on new generating built in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. These
capacity that has failed to live up to its are so inefficient that South Africa uses
promise or potential. Together, the far more energy to create a unit of gross
two new coal plants signed off on in domestic product than any other country
2007, Medupi and Kusile, ought to be in the G20 of biggest economies. They
generating as much as Nigeria’s entire are slated to close down in this decade
grid. These behemoths rise 200m into and the next.
the sky above the bushveld, sucking in That provided an opportunity toThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 13
Smoke & mirrors:
Corrupt elements
forced South
Africa to abandon
its ambitious
renewable energy
programme.
Photo: Delwyn
Verasamy/M&G
rethink the entire system, just as the price Against all odds, things were looking up.
of wind and solar was plummeting into
actual affordability. State capture
In 2013, the national energy planners And then President Zuma throttled
came up with a blueprint that would the programme. From 2015, no new
change South Africa from the world’s 13th contracts were signed. Wind turbine and
largest polluter to a renewable energy solar panel factories closed. Jobs were
powerhouse. This would save thousands lost. His government then forced through
of lives each year from pollution, create a plan to build new nuclear power plants.
a local industry providing jobs in areas Media reports made it clear that a secret
of the country without industrialisation, $60-billion deal had been done with
and stimulate the economy. Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom,
But the ambitious programme – which to make and run the plants. Zuma was
has since been copied by most other said to have made many clandestine trips
countries embarking on a renewable to Sochi and elsewhere in that country,
build – was too transparent: the state said although both he and Russia denied the
how much energy of each type it wanted, claims.
companies bid, winners were chosen by Various South African ministers were
the lowest price, and how much they shuffled in and out of key positions,
could produce locally. They then got a 20- depending on their support of corrupt
year contract to supply power to Eskom. plans. Some of these have testified at theThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 14
just-concluded commission into state Darkness
capture. They sketched out how one set When Cyril Ramaphosa replaced Zuma
of well-connected brothers in particular as president in 2017, he promised change.
– Atul and Rajesh Gupta – acted as Powering the country’s economy was
puppeteers, dictating the actions of the meant to be part of this. Five years later,
president. Their interests included coal however, little has changed. The giant
mines, which were awarded lucrative plants at Kusile and Medupi are still
contracts to supply substandard coal to unable work at their intended capacity.
the power utility. New renewable projects are only now
Some of the load-shedding in the past starting to be approved. The old coal fleet,
15 years has been due to coal of such poor meanwhile, is creaking and cracking, with
quality that it looks like slush, especially entire units breaking without notice.
if it gets wet – winter rainfall is a feature As usual, it is the impoverished
of the country’s coal belt. majority that bears the brunt.
The family deny culpability but the Rich homeowners have generators.
brothers have been arrested in the United Gated communities are moving
Arab Emirates and are being extradited themselves off the grid. And big industrial
back to South Africa to face criminal users are building their own renewable
charges. power.
Junk status:
A lot of municipal
energy infrastructure
is already well past
its sell-by date. Photo:
Delwyn Verasamy/M>he Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 15
Consequently, that means Eskom has
fewer paying customers, and so has even SA’s energy breakdown
less hope of servicing its debt, let alone A well-run power utility has 15%
of investing in more capacity or even more supply than the maximum
in maintaining its current theoretical demand to allow for maintenance
capacity. And because its staggering downtime. South Africa’s grid,
debt is backed by the government, South however, needs more electricity
Africa’s credit rating has fallen to junk than is available. Eskom, the
status. state power utility, has 42,000
megawatts of capacity across its
It already has little in the fleet. Renewable energy feeds in a
few thousand megawatts more, but
way of a working business
far less than was initally planned.
model, with tens of billions of
On any given day, at least
dollars in bailouts from the 15,000MW of coal generation
country’s treasury. is undergoing maintenance. A
further 600MW from the Cahora
This week the energy minister, Gwede Bassa hydroelectric scheme in
Mantashe, said it was “unfair” to blame Mozambique is also unavailable
him, or the government, for the power after pylons fell down. This
crisis. However, Mantashe appears to week another 6,000MW of coal
have gone out of his way to block attempts generation shut down, with Eskom
to build new renewables. Journalists have blaming workers who had embarked
tied his family to profits from the coal on “illegal” wage strikes.
industry and linked him to profiteering An emergency backup exists in
from a deal to supply emergency the form of eight massive oil and gas
electricity from “powerships”, which generators. At one point even these
would anchor in harbours and supply generators switched off last year as
very expensive electricity. they waited for fuel. The price spike
Despite this, he remains in his position after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
because he is a key ally to the president in means Eskom may spend nearly a
party factional battles. billion dollars on diesel this year.
Later this year, the ANC will decide Average peak demand is
if it is keeping Ramaphosa or choose 33,000MW but at present the
one of those vying to replace him. That grid can only provide 27,000MW.
leader will contest the 2024 elections in Without meddling, this demand
part with funds raised from the party’s could have been met, at far lower
allegedly corrupt networks. cost, with a mix of clean energy
South Africa’s power system might sources.
survive until then. ■The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Analysis 16
Canada’s gilt- When Trudeau or the Canadian
government has spoken out, Tigray
edged excuse has not actually been mentioned, while
the overall message is supportive of
for ignoring the Ethiopian government. Unlike the
United States, Canada has not placed any
economic sanctions on the Ethiopian
atrocities in government. This may have something
to do with Canada’s economic interests
Tigray in the region.
One journalist, Fitsum Areguy, wrote
Trudeau’s boy scout last year that the current mineral deposits
image belied Canada’s in Tigray could be worth $4-billion.
greed for gold Currently the largest exploration licence
areas in Tigray are held by Canadian
James Jeffrey mining companies, including East Africa
Metals and Parallel Mining.
C anada’s silence on the horrors of
Ethiopia’s 18-month war has led to
accusations that gold deposits and other
Unlike the United States,
precious minerals in the northern Tigray
Canada has not placed any
region at the centre of conflict are behind economic sanctions on the
why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Ethiopian government.
Trudeau has not spoken out.
One report by researchers at the According to a leaked government-
University of Ghent in Belgium estimates funded report criticising the Canadian
that 500,000 people have died through the government’s silence on human rights
conflict. Atrocities have been committed abuses in Tigray, Canada’s developmental
by all sides involved: extrajudicial assistance to Ethiopia has failed to follow
killings, massacres in churches, rape its proclaimed standards for gender
used as a psychological weapon of war, equity, environmental protection and
deliberately starving Tigrayans through responsible business practices. Local
a humanitarian blockade, while millions women have not been consulted and
have been displaced from their homes. Tigrayan communities risk being
But Trudeau has said nothing about displaced by new roads, rail beds and
this, despite his pledge that Canada stands power lines serving the mining sector. ■
for “democracy, peace, and security at
home and around the world”. James Jeffrey is a freelance journalist.The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Feature 17
A safe and
fun public
space for the
neurodiverse
in Nairobi
A mother with a
neurodiverse child
started a cafe that is Neuro-hero: Diana Ayoo named her
cafe after her neurodiverse daughter.
gently undoing the social
isolation of other families provide employment to neurodiverse
with children like hers adults. “I always thought about parents
with special-needs children. We struggle
Vivianne Wandera to take them to school, therapy and pay
ten times more than other parents so we
A t 73 Westlands road in Nairobi lies
a restaurant whose owner set out
to make visible what is often hidden
can’t try to make them independent. But
after all these, there are no employment
opportunities for them,” Ayoo explains.
in Kenyan and many other cultures: Four of the cafe’s six waiters are
neurodiversity. Diana Ayoo named the neurodiverse.
cafe, Ayira’s Neuro-Soul, after her five- Nairobi families have embraced the
year-old daughter, who is neurodiverse. venue as something even more special
By the entrance is a shelf of books than she expected: a safe place to bring
about neurodiversity and neurological their neurodiverse relatives to wine, dine
conditions, such as attention deficit and enjoy a public space. Ayoo has found
hyperactivity disorder, autism, dyslexia, this warm reception “overwhelming” –
dyspraxia, dyscalculia and Tourette’s in a good way – and she hopes “it can
syndrome. One each table is a book on the become a movement of some sort.”
subject, and a leaflet explaining that your According to Kenya’s 2019 census,
waiter may have a neurological disability. about 900,000 citizens lived with some
When Ayoo opened the cafe last form of disability. But neurological
December, her primary goal was to disability is often obscured, even in thisThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 18
Welcoming: Kenyans have embraced the cafe as a safe space for their families.
data, because it is not always accompanied children being hurt by the people trusted
by the physical disabilities that the census to care for them,” Mochabo says.
questions probe for. Nonetheless, the data But ultimately, these disabilities and
showed that over 200,000 Kenyans were the people who live with them have
living with a cognitive disability, and to be seen not just in fun spaces like
nearly 100,000 struggled with self-care. Neuro-Soul cafe, but also in the dry
Beyond the limitations they place on and serious policy spaces where public
people living with them, these disabilities investment in people is decided. Mochabo
can be isolating for their family members, points out that, currently, social support
says Sylvia Moraa Mochabo, who founded programmes are “bundled up as women,
Andy Speaks 4 Special Needs, after children and disability” but in practice
dealing with discrimination regarding this is exclusionary. “When you go to
her own neurodiverse son. “We get calls the counties you will find that the funds
from parents who are overwhelmed and for women and children are being used
just need someone to talk to. Creating safe appropriately, but when it comes to
spaces where members of this community disability they just don’t care.”
can meet and talk, share and give each Mochabo adds that even when
other support is important.” disability support is implemented, it falls
In isolation and without community short. “Everyone just thinks of physical
support and affirmation, caregivers even disability but intellectual disability is like
risk becoming an added danger to people an automated disqualification from any
living with disabilities. “We have seen benefit.” ■The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 19
Zimbabwe
Government-employed
doctors and nurses want to
be paid in dollars
A five-day strike by medical staff froze the country’s
ailing hospitals, but though the government was forced
to pay attention, it’s refusing to pay it in US currency.
Jeffrey Moyo in Harare hospitals earn the equivalent of about
$322 a month. Because they are paid with
F ew moments paint the picture of
present day Zimbabwe quite like one
that happened at Parirenyatwa hospital,
Zimbabwean dollars, and the country has
failed to control runaway inflation, their
pay buys less each month. In 2018, prior
the biggest government hospital in the to the second collapse of the Zimbabwean
capital Harare, on the second day of a dollar, the doctors’ pay was worth $540 a
countrywide strike by nurses and doctors. month, for example.
On the hospital grounds, patients lay Recently, when the Zimbabwean
stranded in flower beds, on pavements and government offered the health workers
along passageways as nurses and doctors a 100% increase in pay, they rejected it
marched outside demanding improved arguing that it did not mean anything
wages. Then, one of the hospital’s top against inflation, which stood at 131.7%
management staff attempted to drive past in May and now hovers around 192%.
the chanting nurses and doctors in a posh They want to be paid with a more stable
Land Rover. All hell broke loose. “My currency: the US dollar. The government
money, my money, I want my money!” ignored the demand. On June 20, the
screamed the nurses and doctors as they nurse and doctors put their tools down.
blocked the government provided luxury The Continent visited some of the
vehicle. country’s hospitals to observe the
In Zimbabwe, government nurses earn situation.
about 20,000 Zimbabwean dollars – or On June 20, the first day of the strike,
52 United States dollars – each month. at Sally Mugabe hospital, Zimbabwe’s
Doctors employed in government second-largest hospital, patients crowdedThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 20
The buck starts
here: Doctors
and nurses in
Zimbabwe are
campaigning to be
paid in US dollars.
the waiting area, some critically ill, waiting them,” said Irene at Parirenyatwa hospital.
for help that would not come. A 67-year- The Continent reported in May that
old male patient with hypertension lay many sick Zimbabweans were turning
on a stretcher bed, unconscious. Next to to herbalists because the government
him lying in the middle of the hospital hospital gives them diagnoses (when
passageway, coughing and spitting doctors are not on strike) but no
restlessly, was a 32-year-old female HIV medication.
patient. Her mother and caretaker said For five days, June 20-25, nurses and
that the patient had stopped taking their doctors marched and were confined,
antiretrovirals for a while, “after visiting barricaded and beaten by armed police,
prophets who told her she no longer but in the end they called off their
needed the pills”. Now she was willing to industrial action without getting any
restart the hospital treatment but had not concessions from the government, except
been attended to for over 24 hours. being invited to a meeting with the Health
Outside the hospital stood nurses and Services Board.
doctors waving placards that read, “we Dr Tapiwanashe Kusotera, leader of
want the USD.” But they want more than Health Apex, a health sector union, said
just the dollar, as one nurse who only even that was an achievement because
identified themself as Irene said at another no such meeting has taken place in over
hospital. a year. The union also said it would call
“We also demand drugs in hospitals. another industry action if the government
We don’t even have paracetamol for our does not offer them any meaningful pay
patients and we are expected to help rise in the 14 days after June 25. ■The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Data 21
Do Africans want
free trade?
T he African Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA) aims to increase
cross-border trade, investment,
technology transfers, and income levels
across the continent, lifting millions of
Africans out of poverty.
But do Africans want free trade?
Findings from Afrobarometer surveys Average
across 34 countries in 2019/2021 show
a deeply divided continent. About half
(51%) of respondents say their country
must open its borders to imports in order
to develop, but almost as many (46%)
favour limiting international trade for the
sake of protecting domestic producers.
Support for free trade is highest in
Uganda (70%), Zimbabwe (69%), and
Niger (66%). But equally large majorities
support protectionism in Senegal (71%)
and Tunisia (70%). In the economic
powerhouse of South Africa, only 37%
favour free trade.
Africans are somewhat supportive of
Open trade for Neither/Don’t
open borders for people seeking to trade development Know/Refused
or work in other countries: 59% endorse
free cross-border movement; 38% are Protect domestic
producers
opposed. But 66% say that, in practice,
it’s difficult to cross borders; only 22% find Open trade vs. protection of domestic
it easy. To prove itself to ordinary citizens, producers | 34 African countries |
the AfCFTA clearly has work left to do. 2019/2021
Source: Afrobarometer, a non-partisan African research network that conducts
nationally representative surveys on democracy, governance, and quality of life.
Face-to-face interviews with 1,200-2,400 people in each country yield results with a
margin of error of +/- two to three percentage points.The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Feature 22
Photo: Kola
Sulaimon/AFP
Searching for Nigeria’s
missing soldiers
The Nigerian army does not like to admit it when its
soldiers are killed in action. Instead, a growing number
of soldiers are declared ‘missing in action’, with
families kept waiting indefinitely to learn their true fate.
Socrates Mbamalu The ambush was one of the deadliest
ever on Nigerian troops, with estimates
T wo years ago, on 22 March 2020,
Lieutenant Ojeaga Unuigbe’s artillery
unit was travelling in a military convoy
of the death toll ranging from 50 to 75.
According to reports in local media,
Lieutenant Unuigbe’s entire artillery unit
near Gonori village, in Yobe State in was wiped out. But the army has refused to
northern Nigeria. Suddenly, the convoy disclose casualty figures – or even identify
was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, the dead.
allegedly fired by Boko Haram militants. Lieutenant Unuigbe’s family have not
The munitions carried by the artillery unit heard from him since.
exploded, as did a fuel tanker that was part A week after the ambush, the
of the convoy. lieutenant’s older brother, Ohi Unuigbe,The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 23
set out to find him. He travelled from officers, the chief of defence staff and the
Abuja, where he works as a lawyer, to chief of army staff. He received the same
Yobe State. This is a front-line state in the response from both. “Lt Ojeaga Unuigbe’s
Nigerian Army’s years-long war against current status is still MIA while efforts
Boko Haram, and he had to navigate are being made to rescue the missing
through a bewildering series of security personnel.”
checkpoints to get to the base where his In the decade-long battle with
brother was stationed. insurgent groups like Boko Haram and
At each checkpoint, he had to explain the Islamic State for West Africa Province,
his mission: he was searching for his this has been the army’s official line when
brother, he said. He needed to know if he its soldiers disappear.
was dead or alive. The army told him that if Lieutenant
Ohi Unuigbe’s visit to Yobe State yielded Unuigbe was not found after one year,
no further information. “I got there and they would put together a board of
what I saw was hopeless. I couldn’t even inquiry to investigate the circumstances
get to talk with the commanding officer,” of his disappearance. This is as per the
he told The Continent. He managed to guidelines in the revised Nigerian Army
speak to some soldiers, who said that they Administrative Policies and Procedures
had searched for their colleagues who handbook, a restricted document seen by
were missing in action (MIA) but had not The Continent.
found any of them. He was told that the It has now been more than two years
insurgents often kidnapped soldiers and since the Gonori ambush, and no such
held them as prisoners of war. board has been established. The last time
Back in Abuja, Ohi Unuigbe wrote any board of inquiry met to investigate
letters to the army’s highest-ranking any disappeared soldiers was in 2016,
Grief: Families of
a soldier killed
in battle mourn
at his funeral in
Abuja. Photo: Kola
Sulaimon / AFPThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 24
according to military sources. Brigadier-General Onyema Nwa-
Without a board of inquiry to establish chukwu, the current Nigerian army
the circumstances of Lieutenant Unuigbe’s spokesperson, said that a strict procedure
disappearance and presume him dead, a is always followed when soldiers die.
presumption of death certificate cannot “There is a procedure for reaching out
be prepared. Without the certificate, his to the families of our troops who paid the
family is unable to claim compensation supreme price,” he said. “We don’t just run
or life insurance, and his will cannot be to the media to go and announce it. We are
executed. Nor can they go ahead with any talking about the front line; information
funeral rites. has to go from the front line first to the
headquarters of the theatre of operations,
A culture of silence then from the theatre of operations, it goes
The Nigerian Army is notoriously to the unit because a soldier has a unit. So
reluctant to disclose accurate casualty it is a process that we must follow, and then
figures. It is quick to talk up its victories from there when it gets to the unit, then
on the battlefield, but tends to keep quiet the unit is the one that writes to the next
about defeats. So as the war drags on and of kin, not just anybody. We are guided by
on, more and more soldiers have “gone these procedures.”
MIA”, leaving families in limbo, searching Nwachukwu said that he was not aware
for closure and unable to bury their dead. of any boards of inquiry into missing
In 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported soldiers currently underway, but that “it
on the existence of a secret graveyard in could take a year to decide if the person
Maiduguri, in Borno State, where the who is missing in action was actually killed
bodies of as many as 1,000 dead soldiers in action”.
were allegedly dumped in unmarked None of this is any comfort to the
mass graves by the military. Many of these family of Lieutenant Unuigbe, who still
soldiers had been designated as “MIA”. have no official confirmation of what
An army spokesperson later denied these happened to him.
allegations. Ohi Unuigbe remembers the last time
But a high-ranking officer said that he saw his brother alive. It was in a park in
it was standard practice for the army Abuja, just before he left for the front line.
to keep quiet on deaths of soldiers, in He was instructed not to wear his uniform,
order to protect morale and maintain for security purposes. “He went with a
the confidence of the civilian population. Ghana-Must-Go bag, so they don’t know
His identity is being withheld as he is not he is military personnel,” Ohi said, his
authorised to speak to the media. “The voice cracking as he relives trauma of the
army has a responsibility to condole the past two years – the sleepless nights, the
families, but instead, it has been burying constant wandering about what happened
soldiers without telling families,” said the to his brother. “It is extremely painful that
source. my brother would die for this country.” ■The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Analysis 25
A resurgent But a template had been created.
In Colombia, similar policies were
pink tide in followed by right-wing leaders. This week,
these were rejected with the first-ever
South America victory for a left-wing and progressive
candidate. Gustavo Petro promises
change, and a tax on the 4,000 wealthiest
Decades of right-wing ruin families. His incoming vice-president,
have given way to a wave environmental activist Francia Márquez,
of left-leaning leadership will be the first black woman in that role.
She has spoken about representing the so-
Sipho Kings called “nobodies” – people whose skin is
too dark, who came from Africa or were
S outh America’s “pink tide” – a series
of victories in the 2000s by left-wing
parties – gave way to right-wing wins in
in South America when whites came with
violence, or who aren’t heterosexual.
They have promised to cut back on
the 2010s. Countries like Brazil snapped fossil fuels, and build a cleaner economy
back to leaders who promised much for where wealth is distributed more fairly.
everyone with slogans, but delivered for In Ecuador, protests spearheaded
elites. This has been changing. by the Confederation of Indigenous
In March, a left-wing government took Nationalities ended this week, after nearly
power in Chile, headed by 35-year-old three weeks of violence. The government
Gabriel Boric. He defeated a billionaire. promised to curb its model of mining and
Victory came with the promise of extracting wealth in ecologically sensitive
overturning an economic model built up areas, and in communities.
during the two decades of dictatorship In South America, the seeds of change
under Augusto Pinochet – a model are being sewn. And revolutions have a
trialled in Chile in the 1970s by what were way of crossing oceans. ■
then thoroughly Western institutions like
the World Bank.
The lens of Cold War politics meant
that any policies that care about people
were seen as an enemy to the United States,
and its allies. Chile dutifully stripped away
state and social services, while giving tax
breaks to the wealthy, all wrapped in the
lie that trickle-down economics would Hope: New Colombian leaders Gustavo
mean everyone benefited. It did not work. Petro and Francia Márquez. Photo: AFPThe Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Review 26
production values, amateurish acting
and a moralistic plot crafted to ultimately
shame women thriving outside the
control of the patriarchal net.
Glamour Girls (2022) may boast
updated technical equipment, crisp
pictures, big stars (Nse Ikpe-Etim,
Joselyn Dumas) and the obvious backing
of Netflix but it is almost impossible to
argue that this version is an improvement
on the original.
Existing in the space between a reboot
and a liberal reimagination, the Bunmi
Ajakaiye flick suffers from a desperate
Rebooty call lack of directorial control or imagination.
Somewhere within the incoherence is a
kicks filmcraft potentially exciting tale about the link
between sex for pay and modern women
to the kerb reclaiming their agency. Only nobody
seems to be sure what story they are telling
Wilfred Okiche or how to go about making a proper film.
Instead, Glamour Girls is cast in the
T he original Glamour Girls, released in
1994 to an unsuspecting audience, was
a shock to the Nollywood film ecosystem.
image of its executive producer, Charles
Okpaleke, who also manages a thriving
nightlife business in Abuja. All of the
Its parade of women protagonists behaved trappings that the film embraces so
just as badly as the men, savoured their wholeheartedly – the fast cars, exotic
independence, took their pleasures and locations, club scenes, pretty women, great
had no use for shame. An instantly iconic gowns, ostentatious lifestyles – are more
bathtub scene launched a new template suited to big budget music videos than
for the depiction of sexuality and tasteful any disciplined narrative. But even music
nudity on screen that has remained nearly videos are usually in service of something
unmatched in Nigerian film history. else. Music promotion, publicity, artistic
This notoriety has been useful for the vanity, even pure commercialism.
film’s legacy as it has largely overshadowed Glamour Girls muddles its presentation
the fact that it isn’t a particularly good so thoroughly and mixes up its messaging
film. As early Nollywood films go, such that it is unclear why the film was
Glamour Girls suffers from primordial greenlit in the first place. ■The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 27
THE QUIZ
1_What is Africa’s most independence on the 30th
forested country? of June in which year?
2_ On what day is Patrice 8_The Seychelles
Lumumba thought to celebrate independence
have been assassinated? on 29 June. Which
3_Which five animals empire did they gain
appear on the South independence from?
African currency notes? 9_What is the largest city
0-3 4_When grouped
together, what is that
in Guinea? [Hint: it is also
the capital city.]
“I think I need to
collective of animals 10_Which Nigerian
start reading more
called? singer won the BET
newspapers.” 5_Which British rapper Award for Best
has been recognised as International Act last
the chief or Amuludun of week? [Hint: she was
Odo-Aje in Nigeria? on the 2020 hit record
4-7 6_The legend of Essence.]
“I can’t wait to serpentine river god
explore more of Nyaminyami says he was
separated from his wife
this continent.”
with the construction of HOW DID I DO?
which dam? WhatsApp ‘ANSWERS’ to
7_The Democratic +27 73 805 6068 and we’ll
8-10 Republic of Congo gained send the answers to you!
“Even the skeptics
among us wrap Would you like to send us some quiz questions
knowledge in or even curate your own quiz? Let us know at
heritage” TheContinent@mg. co.zaThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 28
Brace for turbulence
Continental
Drift
Samira Sawlani
After a month of catching feelings in
Nairobi we at Drift are back to catching
flights. Amid airport queues, wasting Going Ngonnso: It wasn’t looted okay?
money at duty free, waking up on flights It was ‘strategically commandeered’.
covered in snack crumbs and regret, we
have been thinking about what it must be had not been removed from the Kingdom
like to fly with our favourite leaders. of Nso through garden-variety looting. It
Do any of them try to sneak on a can had been taken by colonial officer Kurt
of tear gas to hug as they sleep? Does von Pavel and his soldiers, they said, to
President Museveni’s hat feature as part intimidate the Nso. Which is a different
of his “airport look”? Will we even fit on kind of looting altogether, apparently?
a flight with President Biya of Cameroon It’s still a guy from Europe taking
considering the size of his wife Chantal’s what he wants by force. But sure, let’s
designer wardrobe? call a spade a shovel. Huge credit goes
Alas these are questions we are likely to individuals and civil society groups in
to never know the answer to, considering Cameroon who have been campaigning
many of them jet around in private for its return. The German museum group
planes – while we squeeze ourselves into also announced that 23 other artefacts
economy after failing to flirt our way into stolen during the colonial period,
an upgrade. which they had temporarily sent back
At least the revered Ngonnso statue to Namibia in May would now remain
will be skipping the queues for its long there, and items stolen during the Maji
overdue return to Cameroon, after being Maji rebellion would return to Tanzania.
held in Germany’s Ethnological Museum What’s that we hear? Everyone from the
since 1903. British museum getting on a plane before
According to a statement from the we can ask them some uncomfortable
Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, which questions about when they’re going to do
oversees museums in Berlin, the figurine the same?The Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 29 Chicken or beef emerging of rising xenophobia in the If you’re a parent and find travelling DRC against Rwandan nationals. with children challenging as they run Meanwhile, the UN envoy to the DRC up and down the plane then you may Bintou Keita, told the security council want to travel with the Keeping Up With that ongoing activities by M23 and other The Coupdashions cast from Mali. This armed groups pose a threat to hard-won week the United Nations voted to extend progress in security in the country. At Minusma, its peacekeeping operation in the same session, renowned Congolese the country, for 12 months. In response human rights activist Julienne Lusenge the post-post-coup government said left us speechless as he told the horrific it rejected the mandate that allows story of a woman who was abducted by peacekeepers to investigation human two rebel groups on separate occasions, rights abuses, and would neither be co- repeatedly raped and forced to cook and operating nor fastening its seatbelts. eat human flesh. Furthermore, it added that it wouldn’t be able to guarantee freedom of movement Flights of desperation for Minusma’s inquiries, no matter how We at Drift are very much aware of our much they insisted that they had booked privilege of being able to move through a window seat. the world with relative ease. There are Could be worse. They could have been many for whom this is not so easy, and sat next to Sudan and Ethiopia, whose for whom travel ends in dehumanisation, passive-aggressive fight over the shared incarceration and even death. elbow-rest is on the verge of boiling Thirty seven people were killed over into an inflight incident. Sudan has last week when up to 2,000 would-be accused Ethiopia of executing seven of its asylum-seekers tried to enter Spain’s soldiers, a claim the latter denies, insisting North African enclave of Melilla. Footage they died in clashes between the Sudanese shows Moroccan security forces violently army and local militia. Ethiopia “rejects attacking the crowds, while Human Rights the misrepresentation of these facts by Watch says Spanish authorities teargassed the Sudanese Army” and says the incident men who were clinging to fences. was concocted to undermine the deep- Investigations have been called for, rooted relations between the people of but to what end? Will they lead to better Sudan and Ethiopia. governance and economic, physical, The last thing we need is more tensions food and water security, so people don’t between neighbouring countries, feel the need to leave? Will they stop the something which we are already seeing dehumanisation of refugees and migrants? between the Democratic Republic of Will they temper policies towards those Congo and Rwanda. As Kinshasa accuses that try to cross those borders? Kigali of backing the M23 rebel group, Or will we again be left with no choice a claim Rwanda denies, reports are but to brace for even more turbulence? ■
The Continent
issue 91. july 2 2022 Analysis 30
Rising costs urgent measures such as reducing fuel
allocation to government employees,
fuel political cutting down on overseas government
travel, and reducing waste in order to
subsidise fuel and so ease the burden on
instability in ordinary people.
It was against this combustible
Sierra Leone backdrop that members of parliament
learned from the minister of finance on
Ibrahim Barrie 24 June that government expenditure
for 2022 has surged beyond 13.2-trillion
T he rising cost of fuel is making life
unbearable for the people of Sierra
Leone. It currently stands at $1.70,
leones (25% of the country’s GDP) due
to recurrent and capital costs.
Rising government expenditure has
up from $0.46 in 2018 when the new placed tighter economic constraints on
government was elected. This represents the government than might normally
an increase of approximately 367%. have been the case, undermining its
The price of everything that relies ability to respond to growing public
on fuel – from transport companies to anger.
food – has also gone up as a result. The In the midst of the fuel crisis, the
volatility of the petroleum sector further Bank of Sierra Leone is pushing ahead
exacerbates what is already a dangerous with plans to remove three zeros
situation. (LE,000) from the leone on 1 July, in a
Sierra Leone needs to import redenomination scheme that is taking
1.3-million litres of fuel a day, but only place in a context of considerable citizen
has storage for around 40% of what is distrust.
required, which makes it particularly If the government does not manage
vulnerable to short-term fluctuations in these processes effectively, economic
shipping costs and global prices. So how instability is likely to morph into political
will the government respond? instability. ■
It attributes the current rise in fuel
due to the Russia-Ukraine war and
Ibrahim Barrie teaches Public Policy and
the after effects of Covid-19. However, Research at the University of Makeni and
some civil society groups and political is the Course Coordinator
opponents have accused the government for the MA. Sustainable
of mismanagement and corruption. Development Programme.
This analysis was produced
Partly as a result, Sierra Leoneans are in collaboration with
now calling for the president to take Democracy in AfricaThe Continent | issue 91. july 2 2022 31
The Big
Vroom to manoeuvre: Belgian driver Thierry
Neuville steers his Hyundai i20 N with Belgian
co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe during the Super
Picture
Special Stage of Safari Rally Kenya 2022, the
sixth round of the Fédération Internationale
de l’Automobile World Rally Championship in
Nairobi. The race takes place on gravel and
starts at Kasarani in Nairobi and ends at Hell’s
Photo: Tony Karumba/AFP Gate National Park in Naivasha.
The Continent is published by the Adamela Trust, a not-for-profit organisation founded by Mail & Guardian journalists that is
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