A specially commissioned report into the “state capture” perpetrated under the former South African president Jacob Zuma via logistics firm Transnet reveals the depths of malfeasance in the country during his tenure. The 646-page report has implicated over 1,400 individuals in cronyism and corruption that cumulatively caused public losses of…
It was not a good year for improvements on corruption anywhere in the world, according to the 2021 annual report released by Transparency International on Tuesday. Overall, the Corruption Perceptions Index report shows that 86% of the world’s nations are either losing control in the fight against corruption or remain…
President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana was set to speak as the virtual Summit for Democracy, hosted by the United States, kicked off on Thursday. Akufo Addo and Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, the mayor of Freetown in Sierra Leone, planned remarks for a discussion on “Bolstering Democratic Resilience: Building Back Better Together…
More than US$73 million has gone missing from the coffers in South Sudan in just the last two years, according to a new Commission on Human Rights report. That money was diverted by the country’s ruling elites, the United Nations rights agency said, and is a fraction of the total…
Former South African president Jacob Zuma has turned himself into police, according to a statement issued by the Jacob Zuma Foundation late Wednesday. “Please be advised that President Zuma has decided to comply with the incarceration order,” the foundation said, referring to the 15-month sentence handed down last week and…
The clock is ticking on former South African president Jacob Zuma, who was given five days to report to police after he was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Tuesday for contempt of court. But he’s filing an appeal of the Constitutional Court decision, and supporters say it’s unlikely…
The long-time president of Djibouti, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, has launched his re-election campaign in the run-up to national elections on 9 April. With the exception of Zakaria Ismael Jafar, an “anti-system” independent candidate, Guelleh is set to run for his fifth term unopposed. His challengers in the 2016 election have…
Note: This article was updated on March 26, 2021 to include comments from Apollinaire Compaoré. Two troubling recent investigations from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have shone a fresh spotlight on the tobacco industry’s continued complicity in tobacco smuggling in Africa. The first highlighted how Philip Morris…
South Africa must prioritize both the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s economic recovery, especially with an eye toward climate change and the energy sector, the president said during the annual State of the Nation address. President Cyril Ramaphosa compared his nation to the fynbos, a South African…
Senior government officials in South Sudan have embezzled US$36 million from the country’s coffers with the aid of international institutions and multinational banks, says Yasmin Sooka, the head of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights for the nation. “It is worth noting this is just what we were able to…
Zimbabwe’s crackdown on anticorruption protesters has captured the attention of human rights campaigners at home and abroad, many of them using the #zimbabweanlivesmatter hashtag on Twitter to share their concerns. Among them is President Lazarus Chakwera of neighboring Malawi, who was sworn in at the end of June following new…
Young adults focused primarily on South Africa are worried about the continent’s future, but remain optimistic about their own opportunities and their own communities. That’ s according to the recently released Pan-African Youth Survey, which asked 4,200 young adults ages 18-24 how they viewed both the African future and its…
Germany has been involved in development projects in Liberia since at least 2005, providing millions in funds and expertise to the country in areas ranging from infrastructure to health. This, however, will now come to an end. Berlin recently announced earlier this week it would withdraw support for the country…
I am a London-based researcher specialized in security issues and environmental protection. He is currently writing a book about the role lobbying plays in keeping African leaders in power.
With its publication of the “Luanda Leaks,” the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) effectively dispelled decades’ worth of myth-building surrounding Isabel dos Santos, daughter of Angola’s longtime president José Eduardo dos Santos. The investigative series explains how the younger Dos Santos – the former head of Angola’s state oil…
Sub-Saharan Africa again was the world’s lowest-ranking region in the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index, released Wednesday by the Transparency International (TI) organization based in Berlin, Germany. The report painted “a bleak picture of inaction against corruption,” the NGO said, with some countries – Liberia, Madagascar and Malawi among them –…