South African Leader Protests Corporate Influence

NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN | GIN) – South Africans are rising up against the outsized influence of corporate entities and wealthy individuals allegedly doling out contracts and jobs within the African National Congress (ANC).

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, at a recent event, rebutted the charge, declaring the ANC was not for sale and anyone who wanted to capture the state should “go next door”.

Speaking to about 1,500 professionals and academics at the ANC event in Sandton on March 23, Ramaphosa declared: “Those who want to capture the ANC and influence it to advance personal or corporate interests, you have come to the wrong address. Try next door. We will not be captured.”

South African Anti-Mining Activist Leaves a Proud Legacy

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Sikhosiphi ‘Bazooka’ Rhadebe will be remembered as a man of principle who chaired the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) and fought to hold back titanium mining in South Africa’s Xolobeni coastal dunes.

“Our beloved Bazooka made the ultimate sacrifice defending our ancestral land of Amadiba,” the ACC said in a published statement. Rhadebe, who said his name had appeared on hit list, was gunned down on March 22 by two men who approached him dressed as police.

The ACC had successfully blocked efforts by Minerals Commodities Ltd of Australia and its South African subsidiary to get a mining license after the company failed to obtain an environmental impact survey or a social impact plan.

More ‘Tech Hubs’ Expected to Rise in Africa

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Tech hubs and incubators in Africa are expected to number close to 300 by year-end, and in some surprising locations.

In 2015, Disrupt Africa, which describes itself as a one-stop-shop for news, information and commentary pertaining to the continent’s tech startup – and investment – ecosystem, reported on a new hub and entrepreneurship development centre in Somalia, the first such project to launch there.

The Gambia also saw its first tech hub open, when Jokkolabs expanded to the country launching a space in the capital Banjul.

Also in 2015, Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu threw open the doors for applications to the US$100 million Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP), while Paris-based incubator NUMA expanded its operations to Africa, launching in Casablanca, Morocco.

China’s Release of Mekong Waters Reflects an Environmental Crisis

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the fifth in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

SINGAPORE (IDN | Lotus News Features) – China would like to project the release of Mekong River waters from its dams in March to “assist” drought-stricken farmers and fisheries further downstream, especially in Vietnam, as a magnanimous gesture from a friendly neighbour. But that action is in fact the reflection of a greater environmental and political crisis that is brewing in the region.

China announced middle of March that in response to a Vietnamese request, it will discharge from March 15 to April 10 water from the Jinghong hydropower station on the Mekong River in Yunnan province to the lower reaches of the Mekong River to alleviate drought in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Philanthropy with a Pan-African Perspective

NEW YORK (INPS | GIN) – Bill Gates, Bono, the Ford Foundation and the World Bank, among others, are well-known supporters of development projects in Africa. But that’s hardly the full list.

A report on international giving by the Foundation Center found that approximately $255 million to Africa came from U.S. foundations in 2010. Compare that to the $40 billion that Africans in the diaspora sent home in remittances in the same year. This has since grown to $60 billion annually and now exceeds funding from private foundations and bilateral and multilateral aid agencies.

‘Super Sunday’ Polls in Africa

NEW YORK (INPS | GIN) – Voters trooped to the polls in six countries across Africa on March 20, electing presidents and in Senegal approving a constitution with shorter presidential terms.

Among the surprises, the hand-picked successor to the outgoing president of Benin was defeated by a self-made entrepreneur Patrice Talon – “the king of cotton” – who ran as an “authentic Beninese” candidate. During the campaign he repeatedly attacked his opponent’s dual French nationality and the fact that he was living in France until being appointed prime minister by the outgoing former president.

Lionel Zinsou, with light skin, was also attacked as a “yovo” or “white man” during the campaign. He congratulated his opponent even before the official release of voting results was announced.

Fierce Muslim Opposition to Make Liberia a Christian State

NEW YORK | MONROVIA (INPS | GIN) – An upcoming referendum to make Liberia a Christian state is meeting fierce opposition from the country’s Muslims and some Christians.

At a three-day retreat held by the National Imam Council of Liberia, a resolution was drafted that included a threat to boycott the referendum if the issue of the Christian state is not removed.

“The National Imam Council of Liberia is amazed beyond words that some of our compatriots are calling for the declaration of Liberia as a Christian nation,” an official of the Imam Council said.

Campaign to Save Senegal’s Local Language Begins with a Book

DAKAR (INPS | GIN) – Waly Fay of Senegal had an obsession. He was determined not to let one of Senegal’s local languages become a footnote of linguistic history.

Not only was Serer the third most spoken language in Senegal but it was the language of the country’s first president. Although Léopold Sédar Senghor, a president and a poet, wrote most of his couplets in French, he never lost his “Serer-ness,” he told Fay with whom he corresponded over the course of his life.

Now, three decades since he began translating Senghor’s French language poems into Serer, Way’s book has been released.

Fay, a poet and academic, presented the book of presidential poems at a three-day party in the Serer-speaking region of Fadial.

Mauritania Ratifies Pact to End Modern-Day Slavery

GENEVA | NEW YORK (INPS | GIN) – Mauritania has ratified the 2014 protocol to the Forced Labour Convention (1930), reinforcing thus the global movement against forced labour in all its forms, including human trafficking.

Mauritania follows Niger, Norway and the United Kingdom, as one of the first states to formally commit to implement the Protocol. The Protocol, adopted in 2014 by an overwhelming majority by the International Labour Conference, supplements Convention (No. 29) 1930, requiring States to take effective measures for prevention, protection of victims and ensuring their access to justice and compensation.

European Parliament Adopts a Historic Resolution on Eritrea

By Klara Smits and Florence Tornincasa

STRASBOURG (IDN) – The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on Eritrea, which sends a strong signal to the European Commission, the EU Council, member states and the Eritrean government that human rights violations in the country need to be addressed.

The resolution approved on March 10 clearly identifies that Eritrean refugees are fleeing serious human rights violations and an indefinite national service which constitutes slavery.

The resolution also addresses the systematic extortion of refugees, a concern expressed earlier in resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.

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