Botswana has decriminalised homosexuality. The country’s High Court overturned a colonial-era law which punished homosexual conduct by up to seven years in prison. The decriminalisation now places Botswana among a minority list of African countries where homosexuality is not punishable by law.
Southern Africa has yet to recover from Cyclone Idai, which devastated Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, leaving over 1 000 people dead. Now another tropical cyclone, dubbed “Kenneth”, is predicted to hit Mozambique and Tanzania in the coming week. Despite the tumultuous turn that the climate has taken, the vast majority of the people agitating for action are the continent’s young.
It was possible to avert some of the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai. If African leaders did their job and were held to account, there would be no need to create hashtags for prayers when disasters strike the continent.
Cyclone Idai, which has been described by the UN as probably the worst such disaster ever in the southern hemisphere, has affected 2 million people in the three countries. The African Union has joined the ranks of bodies contributing to the relief effort, but has it given enough?
China’s massive investment on the continent continues with the opening of Africa’s longest suspension bridge in Maputo, Mozambique. Among other improvements, the 3km-long bridge will reduce travel time between Maputo and KwaZulu-Natal from six hours to 90 minutes. But it comes at a cost to locals.
Southern Africa’s liberation movements have been losing popularity and confronting a crisis of legitimacy.
Mozambique locals are probably the only people unsurprised by the discovery of a hidden rainforest inside Mount Lico that has remained hidden and protected by the volcano’s high walls. This is the second undisturbed rainforest that scientists have recently found in Mozambique thanks to Google Earth.
A guerrilla movement in Mozambique could upend the government’s plans for stability and prosperity.
The Evora Africa festival hosted at the historic Palace of the Dukes of Cadaval in Portugal aimed to celebrate the ever-expanding wealth of Africa’s cultural heritage and uncover the many faces of a contemporary Africa, the continent of the future, where sacred rituals of the past merge with urban art of a vibrant, modern and changing world.
The football world cup offers a useful chance to consider the apparent division between North and sub-Saharan Africa.
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