NAIROBI (Reuters) – Three Kenyan election officials resigned on Monday, increasing chaos at the electoral Commission following last year’s botched presidential vote that had to be rerun and was then boycotted by the opposition. The resignations leave only two commissioners and the chairman at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) which last week sent its chief executive on three… Read more »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a team of business and finance experts on Monday to hunt the globe for 100 billion rands ($8 billion) in investment to boost the ailing economy. The team of economic envoys includes two former finance ministers – Trevor Manuel and Pravin Gordhan, who now holds the state firms portfolio – as… Read more »
LUWERO, Uganda (Reuters) – In a small Ugandan town in February, Juma Nsereko took a panicked call from his wife: their five-year-old twin girls were missing and the mother suspected their neighbor, a jobless man, had kidnapped them. After a frantic three-day search the children were recovered unharmed and the neighbor, who had demanded a ransom of 13 million Ugandan… Read more »
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian police fired bullets and tear gas to disperse Shi’ite Muslim protesters marching for their leader’s freedom in the capital on Monday, and organizers said at least one demonstrator was killed and several were wounded by gunfire. Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) leader Ibrahim Zakzaky has been jailed since December 2015, when security forces killed hundreds of… Read more »
With the passing of the Electronic and Postal Communications Act that was written in 2017, the government of Tanzania has essentially been given the power to police anything posted on the internet. The laws included in the act include fining citizens $2,000 for not having a pin on their device as well as exorbitant fees to start a blog. Even… Read more »
The Tanzanian regulation known as the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations 2017, which will govern social media and blogging in that country, has been signed into law. According to reports, Tanzania has finally signed into law a controversial and slightly absurd new regulation to govern social media and blogging. The regulation, known as the Electronic and Postal Communications… Read more »
Durban, South Africa – Mthokozisi Mthembu cuts a lonely figure sitting on a park bench outside the Workshop in the Durban city centre. He hunches over his resume, studying details and occasionally looking up, his eyes adjusting to the glare of untypical overcast conditions above. Originally from Hammarsdale, some 50km out of the city, the 38-year-old has travelled to Durban, as he has… Read more »
Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as the new president of South Africa by ruling party politicians after the resignation of Jacob Zuma. The country’s 400-member parliament, dominated by the ruling African National Congress Party (ANC), elected Ramaphosa on Thursday to finish his predecessor’s term, which ends with elections in 2019.The ANC has finished first in every national vote since the end of white-minority rule… Read more »