Category: Africa
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A $20m wedding shows who’s really running Zimbabwe
A $17.5 million wedding gift from a sanctioned tycoon to his son has laid bare who really holds power in Zimbabwe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term has been extended to 2030 after parliament scrapped the presidential vote, a move critics say entrenches a small clique of politically connected businessmen who now bankroll the ruling Zanu-PF party.…
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The “Constitutional Coup” – less violent, equally dangerous: Corrigan
Zimbabwe is advancing a constitutional amendment that would scrap direct presidential elections and extend the president’s term from five to seven years, potentially keeping Emmerson Mnangagwa, 83, in office until 2030 rather than 2028. Analysts describe this as part of a wider African pattern of “constitutional coups”, where leaders such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame use…
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A silent resignation has fallen across Zimbabwe: Cathy Buckle
In her latest Letter From Zimbabwe, writer Cathy Buckle describes a country settling back into quiet endurance. Days before Heroes Day, workers hand painted roads and graded dirt tracks for visiting dignitaries. Activist Jacob Ngarivhume, who had called for a national stayaway, received a threatening parcel and later found a death threat spray painted on…
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China, not America, is the country African youth now admire most
The latest release of a biennial survey of nearly 5,000 young Africans has produced an uncomfortable number for Washington: 95% now view China’s influence on the continent positively, against 85% for the United States, with the UK, Germany, the EU and India all ranking higher than the Yanks. The finding comes from the Ichikowitz Family…
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Cathy Buckle: Zim’s icy July – mass deportations and a Constitutional coup
Cathy Buckle’s latest letter from Zimbabwe captures a nation on edge. As an unusual cold snap grips the country, President Mnangagwa has quietly signed sweeping Constitutional Amendments into law without a public referendum — scrapping direct presidential elections, extending terms to seven years, and centralizing power over the judiciary and electoral bodies. The changes have…
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Over 53,000 foreign nationals sent home as Musina processing centre eases migration crunch
A month after President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled a five-point migration plan, South Africa’s deportation drive has shifted from policy to large-scale execution. More than 53,000 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation or voluntary repatriation, with Malawians making up the vast majority. The speed of the Musina processing centre’s construction, and the heavy reliance on…
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Justice Malala: SA’s anti-migrant violence exposes Africa’s bigger failure
Political columnist Justice Malala calls South Africa’s recent anti-migrant attacks reprehensible and reputationally damaging, risking major investments like MTN and Shoprite across the continent. In this piece for Bloomberg Opinion, he argues outrage at South Africa can’t be the whole story. Malala points to Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa extending his rule past 2030 and Uganda’s Muhoozi Kainerugaba…
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Cathy Buckle – Zimbabweans’ exodus from SA: “We are no longer wanted here.”
A Zimbabwean writer’s letter describes a devastating reversal: South Africa, long a refuge from Mugabe-then-Mnangagwa-era repression, food shortages and joblessness, has turned hostile as protesters — echoing Operation Dudula-style anti-migrant campaigns — attack documented and undocumented African migrants alike. Over 29,000 Zimbabweans were deported or self-repatriated in May-June 2026 alone, cutting remittances that total roughly…
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Vigilantes, police and politicians: The unholy alliance turning SA’s anti-immigrant violence into a growth industry
South Africa’s xenophobia crisis is not a grassroots eruption of frustration — it is a politically co-produced enterprise involving vigilante groups, local police and elected officials, according to researchers behind the Xenowatch monitoring project. Since 2022, 406 verified incidents have been recorded, with 151 in 2025 alone. Rather than prosecute perpetrators, the state has rewarded…
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March and March’s June 30 ultimatum creates humanitarian disaster as Malawi runs out of bus money
Outside a Durban mosque, roughly 10,000 migrants — mostly Malawians — huddle in makeshift shelters as South Africa’s anti-foreigner movement, March and March, presses its June 30 deadline for all foreign nationals to leave. Malawi’s repatriation effort has stalled: its government ran out of bus money. South African Home Affairs is processing deportations at 60…
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Cathy Buckle: Zimbabwe buries democracy in plain sight
By Cathy Buckle Dear Family and Friends, Driving behind a commuter kombi (minibus) on a road littered with potholes and humps, the kombi kept cutting in front of me, stopping to pick up more passengers, overtaking me and then cutting me off again. The kombi’s back window was completely covered with a poster supporting Zimbabwe’s…
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Worst El Niño ever recorded may be coming — and Southern Africa in the crosshairs
Hundreds of years ago Peruvian fishermen noticed that, every few years, the anchovies in the equatorial Pacific ocean would vanish. Since the disappearances happened around Christmastime, they named the event after el niño Jesus—“the Christ child”. The Economist From The Economist, published under licence. The original article can be found on www.economist.com © 2025 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All…
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Anti-foreigner sentiment surges as South Africa braces for unrest
Key topics: Johannesburg migrant crackdown shuts downtown businesses Anti-immigrant protests fuel election-year tensions Government warns against xenophobia and vigilantism By Ntando Thukwana On a thoroughfare that usually throbs with music, shouted bargains and the bustle of downtown Johannesburg, the metal shutters on the shops are closed. Police patrol the Smal Street Mall, where an operation targeting…