Ubuntu Times

The New Frontline: Youth Uprisings Across Africa Spark A Fight For Democracy And Dignity

Robert Kibet

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October 19, 2024

The New Frontline: Youth Uprisings Across Africa Spark A Fight For Democracy And Dignity

Across the African continent, an unprecedented wave of youth-led uprisings is shaking the pillars of political regimes that have held power for decades. In Kenya, Uganda, Mali, Burkina Faso, and beyond, young people are rising against systemic corruption, unemployment, and political exclusion.

The youth—armed with mobile phones, social media platforms, and a hunger for change—are rejecting the status quo, demanding accountability, justice, and an active role in shaping the future of their nations.

In Kenya, a vibrant and youthful nation where nearly 75 percent of the population is under 35, young people have found their voices louder than ever. They flooded the streets, their chants echoing across Nairobi’s sprawling skyline, through the dusty roads of Kisumu, and along the coastal corridors of Mombasa. Armed with placards and burning passion, they marched against the suffocating economic reality and political ineptitude that have stalled their future.

This year’s protests are not the first, but they are perhaps the most poignant. Large-scale demonstrations have gripped the nation, pushing thousands of youth into the streets in a spontaneous combustion of frustration. At the heart of their anger lies a cascade of grievances—soaring unemployment, rising cost of living, and the government’s unfulfilled promises. The protests are a physical manifestation of the pent-up disillusionment many young Kenyans have carried for years.

In one such demonstration, the air was thick with the smell of burning tires and the acrid sting of tear gas. As riot police formed imposing lines, their shields gleaming in the harsh sunlight, protestors responded with chants demanding justice. They carried banners that read, “Reject Finance Bill,” as they called for the complete resignation of political leaders they see as corrupt and indifferent to their plight.

Among them is 23-year-old Agnes Wanjiru, a bright-eyed student leader at the University of Nairobi. “We are tired of being ignored,” she says, her voice rising above the crowd. “We are told to be patient, but for how long? We have degrees, but there are no jobs. We cannot keep waiting for things to change—we have to make the change ourselves.” Agnes, like so many of her peers, sees the protests as a final stand, a last opportunity to salvage a future that seems to be slipping through their fingers.

Police camouflage and protective gear officers detain a protester and lift him into a truck during a protest in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Credit: Robert Kibet / Ubuntu Times

The response from the government has been swift and brutal. In an attempt to quell the unrest, security forces were deployed to various hot spots, using tear gas, rubber bullets, and mass arrests to suppress the protests. But the heavy-handed tactics only served to inflame the movement, emboldening the youth to continue fighting for a democracy they feel is slipping away.

Kenya’s youth have grown up in a country where economic opportunities remain scarce. Despite being better educated than any previous generation, they find themselves locked out of the very system that promised prosperity. Corruption, which syphons off billions meant for infrastructure, healthcare, and education, has eroded their faith in government institutions. It is a betrayal that cuts deep.

“We watch as politicians drive around in luxury cars, build mansions, and send their children to study abroad, while we can’t even afford a meal,” says Brian Kamau, a 27-year-old recent graduate who has yet to find a job. “This is not the Kenya we deserve. We want leaders who care about the people, not their own pockets.”

The anger has been brewing for years. Once leaders take office, they quickly forget the political promises made to the youth during elections. Leaders promise jobs, economic reforms, and opportunities to young people during elections, but these promises fade into oblivion once the votes tally. This cycle of broken promises has left many feeling disenfranchised and voiceless.

“We’ve waited long enough,” Kamau continues. “The government has failed us. If we don’t fight for our future now, then we will be condemned to live in this misery forever.”

A Growing Movement: Lessons from Uganda and Beyond

Kenya’s youth-led movement is not happening in isolation. It is part of a broader continental pattern where young people are rising against authoritarianism and ineptitude. Just across the border in Uganda, a similar story is unfolding.

In a seemingly innocuous act, Edward Aweba, a young Ugandan activist who poked fun at Uganda’s long-standing president, Yoweri Museveni, on social media, was recently arrested. This incident serves as another example of the government’s ongoing crackdown on youth dissent.

His arrest, like that of many other young voices in the country, has sparked widespread outrage, especially among Uganda’s youth, who are increasingly becoming vocal against President Yoweri Museveni’s long-standing regime.

While details surrounding Aweba’s arrest remain scarce, early reports suggest he was detained for his outspoken criticism of the government, potentially linked to his involvement in organizing or participating in protests. The youth in Uganda, emboldened by rising frustrations over economic hardships, limited freedoms, and a lack of political representation, have become a formidable force against the authoritarian grip of Museveni’s administration.

This arrest adds to a growing list of young Ugandans facing state repression for challenging the status quo, fueling the #FreeAweba movement online. The youth are increasingly using social media to spotlight injustices and build solidarity across borders. In a nation where freedom of speech is constantly under siege, the arrest of activists like Edward Aweba reflects the regime’s fear of the power the youth wield.

Uganda, like many other African nations, is witnessing a generational struggle between entrenched leaders and a younger population yearning for change, dignity, and a brighter future.

Like their Kenyan counterparts, Uganda’s youth are calling for more than just political change. They want dignity. They are rejecting the idea that they must quietly endure the hardships inflicted upon them by a government that seems more interested in maintaining power than improving lives.

From Mali to Burkina Faso: The Military Solution

While Kenya and Uganda’s youth are rising in the streets, West Africa is witnessing a different kind of uprising. In Mali and Burkina Faso, frustrations with civilian governments that failed to address security challenges or curb corruption have led to military coups, driven by young soldiers and their supporters.

In Mali, the military ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in 2020, with many young Malians cheering on the takeover. They believed the military would bring stability where civilian leadership had failed. A similar situation unfolded in Burkina Faso, where young soldiers overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.

Yet, even as these coups raise hope for some, they also ignite fear. “We wanted change, but now we’re not sure what kind of change we will get,” says Fatoumata, a 26-year-old activist in Ouagadougou. “We don’t want military rule to become the norm. Democracy is what we fought for.”

A Pan-African Call for a New Future

The youth-led uprisings across Africa—whether in Kenya, Uganda, or West Africa—are part of a larger movement. With over 60 percent of the continent’s population under 25, young people are now the most significant force of change. They are no longer waiting for power to be handed to them. They are taking it.

From Nairobi to Bamako, the demands are the same: economic justice, political representation, and an end to corruption. But perhaps most importantly, these movements are about reclaiming dignity. Young Africans are rejecting the paternalistic systems that treat them as passive subjects rather than active citizens.

They are building solidarity across borders, using social media to connect and share tactics. The #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, which aimed to dismantle a corrupt police unit, inspired youth movements across the continent. Similarly, the student-led #FeesMustFall protests in South Africa have served as a rallying cry for those demanding educational reforms elsewhere.

The youth uprisings in Kenya and across Africa mark a critical turning point in the continent’s history. Governments, long accustomed to ruling without accountability, are now facing an unstoppable force. Whether through protests, social media campaigns, or outright revolutions, young Africans are declaring that their time is now.

The path forward is uncertain, but one thing is clear: Africa’s youth will no longer be silenced. They are reshaping their countries, their governments, and the future of the continent. And as they march forward, fists raised and voices booming, they are reminding the world that Africa’s greatest asset is not its minerals or its land—but its youth.

Africa’s Coup Governments: When Elections Become An Exhausted Idea Confirming Democratic Fatigue

Gibson Nyikadzino

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February 1, 2024

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Africa’s Coup Governments: When Elections Become An Exhausted Idea Confirming Democratic Fatigue

The trending successful military coups in West Africa today indicate the continuation of political processes and leadership by another method. Their executions have been systematic; citizens protest against the ruling elites’ failure to ensure economic, political, social and security provisions, then the military moves in.

West Africa is regarded as one of the most unstable subregions on the African continent. Between 1991 and 2011, some of the most brutal civil conflicts in the continent’s history wrecked West Africa. Another contributor to instability in West Africa has been the continuing role of the military and the phenomenon of military regimes. Of the fifteen ECOWAS states, only Senegal has not witnessed a military coup.

The first military coup in Africa was staged on the night of January 13, 1963, when Togo’s President Sylvanus Olympio was shot dead by rebels. The scourge of military coups has further infected other parts of Africa. Moreover, military coups are contagious. A successful coup significantly increases the probability of military coups in that country or its neighbors.

The reactions, actions, and inactions of African public intellectuals, activists, academics, and other opinion leaders to these coup developments have not given enough ground for consensus on whether military coups are the needed form of governance in Africa. However, the agreed-upon common position is that democratic gains in Africa are slowly diminishing.

In April 2019, the government of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir was deposed in a military coup that was backed by some of its civilian allies. The civilian-military alliance overthrew the interim structures and effectively ended al-Bashir’s rule, and General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan became the head of the transition that incorporated civilians.

Since then, statistics have been going southward. Since August 2020, Africa has experienced eight military coups. These have been in Mali, which witnessed two coups in nine months; Guinea in September 2021; Sudan in October 2021; Burkina Faso had two coups in eight months—in January and September 2022; Niger in July 2023; and Gabon in August.

Such political developments have brought historic turning points. State weakness has played a key role in these incidences. In other jurisdictions, they have occurred in part due to the government’s failure to prevent the development of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups throughout the Sahel.

Besides the coups being ‘people-driven’, what is striking is that the most complicating scenario that restricts efforts by African countries or the West to reverse these takeovers is that it is young men who rally in support of military coups and their leaders. With such support, coup makers have resisted regional and continental norms against unconstitutional changes in government and, in Niger, have shunned engagements.

The cases of military coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Guinea provide key insights on the changing nature of relations between citizens and military men.

Are Africa’s elections an exhausted idea?

Africa is going through “democratic fatigue and coloniality rupture” that is requiring an alternative to the Western liberal lens of looking at issues, says Dr. Alexander Rusero, a scholar on decolonial thought leader and lecturer at the Africa University in Zimbabwe.

Dr. Rusero argues that events in West Africa’s coup belt are indicative of the need to recognise the role of military men in Africa, as democracy through elections is now an exhausted idea.

“Democracy expressed through elections is now an exhausted idea, as there are certain alternative modes of installing governments, and the military heading that government is just but one of those modes. What we are witnessing is also what we can call the coloniality rupture. There is a rupture of the colonial grip by France over erstwhile colonies. So there are certain circumstances where the military becomes the last resort because there are certain powerful men who preside over states but fail to deliver public goods.

“There is therefore a recession to the extended influence of France in these establishments to the extent that all military men are calling the French government off whenever they assume military power to say, France, you no longer have any business in the affairs of our country; please leave. This talks to the coloniality rupture. Coloniality which has been sustained over the years is slowly depleting and depreciating,” argues Dr. Rusero.

The ECOWAS bloc and the African Union (AU) have been at the forefront of condemning military and unconstitutional power changes in the coup belt but have been silent when elected officials use the military to suppress dissent, civic society organizations, and political opponents using the armed forces.

Dr. Rusero further emphasized that “power consolidation in Africa is through the military, which remains the extension of a political appendage of power. As long as the military is the appendage of political power, the military man also wants to be in that seat because they know the dividends that come with that seat.

“It is hypocritical for the African Union to insist that it does not recognize these unconstitutionally placed governments, yet they hardly say anything whenever there are certain internal dynamics that result in repression, precisely by the incumbent using military force. So as long as the peer review mechanism does not call states to order whenever democracy is in recession, there will be no cure to the coups in Africa.”

Second social contract, covenant

The academic contributions by Western political philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau see a social contract as the legitimate consent that those elected officials leading government policy require from those they govern.

However, a contradiction now exists where non-elected officials are given the mandate and consent to govern by the people. There is evidence of an urgent need to renegotiate and redefine models of a social contract throughout a continent where vast sections of the population feel estranged from real citizenship when led by elected officials.

Pro-coup Nigeriens — Nigeriens supporting the July military takeover led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani are seen holding Russian and Chinese flags as they gather in Niamey on August 20. Credit: AFP via Getty Images

To endear themselves with the people, the coup leaders in Mali (Col. Assimi Goïta), Guinea (Col. Mamady Doumbouya), Burkina Faso (Capt. Ibrahim Traoré), and Niger (Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani) promised to institute enough fundamental change to lay new social, economic, and political foundations for their societies. In other words, the military leaders are seen as promising social justice.

Thus, there has emerged an implicit agreement, a new social contract, between the people and their military men and armed forces. Under the new social contract, the citizens and the armed forces have committed to recalibrate the foundations of the state, fight corruption, and expunge French influence and neo-colonialism in Africa’s Sahel region.

Pan-Africanism, neo-colonialism, Russian flags

A new Pan-African spirit is being reincarnated in young African opinion leaders and modern activists who share the values of the first generation of the continent’s liberators. 42-year-old French-Beninese Pan-African ideologue and anti-Western activist Kémi Séba has been the leading voice of reason to endorse the military leadership in Niger, at a time when it has not been fashionable to do so.

Pan-African Activist, Kémi Séba — Kémi Séba, one of the leaders of the Pan-Africanist movement, advocates for the collaboration and integration of African states against Western imperialism. In Niger, he urged pro-coup protestors to stop raising Chinese and Russian flags. Credit: Acotonou

In September, he addressed thousands of pro-coup supporters in Niamey, Niger, rallying people to support the military leadership borne out of the July coup.

“We support General (Abdourahamane) Tchiani (as the head of the regime), we support the military who have taken their responsibilities,” he said after meeting General Tchiani. He observed that the military had listened to the people and “decided to stop the mechanism of neo-colonialism,” hammering that France and the West will not stop the ongoing revolutionary process.

“The Nigerien authorities are counting on us to continue this work of deconstruction of Françafrique and the propagation of Pan-Africanism. We will not disappoint them,” claimed Seba.

On his official X handle (formerly Twitter), he reiterated: “No Pan-Africanist can count on the flawed laws of the institutions of Françafrique to destroy the latter. Only a radical rupture, characterized by the mobilization of the people, allied to the army, and to a powerful geopolitical partner opposed to Western imperialism, will be able to do so.”

He urged positive alliances with geopolitical partners and advised Nigeriens against waving Russian flags.

“Every African leader who collaborates with French neocolonialism is politically on borrowed time. We have started work in the Sahel, and we are going to finish it. Military bases, CFA Franc, cooperation agreements, incestuous relationship between corrupt African and French elites—we are your terminal; know this well,” warned Seba.

From Seba’s advocacy, it is desirable to see Africans free from neo-colonialism, but it is also important to realize that the end of neo-colonialism is likely impossible as West African governments and their economies are not only stimulated by foreign aid but also require it for their own survivability. Unity in breaking this bondage is what Africans require.

Western thought, wrong prescriptions

Experiences in the coup belt resemble the demystification of the Western liberal lens that the military man must not be anywhere close to the political menu. This is fast becoming a myth, as the military man is in essence at the center of the scheme of things in as much as the political dynamics and the political balance of forces in a country are concerned.

The success of military coups in Africa indicates one variation. It is now clear that elections alone are not able to deliver an equitable system of governance. Elections, modeled on the Western liberal system, have alone been unable to correct and address post-colonial challenges in Africa.

Without partaking in any democratic contestation, coup leaders in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger made military interventions responding to the deteriorating security situations and poor economic and social governance of their elected officials. Also, citizens need to be politically conscious, as political leaders create false expectations in their bid to win power. They know they cannot deliver on election promises. Part of this explains their rejection and the embrace of the military.

Decolonizing democracy and development

Prof. Last Moyo, a scholar at the British University in China, doubts the sincerity of the coup plotters and urges citizens to be cautious when they try to embrace them. He describes the military leaders as “opportunistic elements being used to depose governments” and desires that Africa develop its own version of democracy that is not supported by the structures of neocolonialism as they are today.

“The problem is that Africa’s politics is in service to the modern commercial empire that is non-territorial but is still there; that is neocolonialism. Africa’s institutions are not delivering. That is why it is easy for Western countries to interfere in Africa because our politics are not serving the people’s interests. There is a need to reconstitute politics in Africa and answer the fundamental question of who our politics should serve.

“The tragedy that Africa has is that these coups are not necessarily the panacea to African problems. Once they (coup leaders) are given the mandate, unfortunately, they begin to degenerate into the corruption they were condemning. So these cases in West Africa need some time to be understood,” submitted Prof. Moyo.

As the military coups are also partly showing, neoliberal models of democracy and development being implemented in Africa only pander to the interests of Western corporations and global capital. They are not people-driven and oriented in their implementation.

Political Instability, Intra-state Conflicts, And Threats To AfCFTA Agreement’s ‘Made In Africa’ Aspirations

Gibson Nyikadzino

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December 15, 2023

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Political Instability, Intra-state Conflicts, And Threats To AfCFTA Agreement’s ‘Made In Africa’ Aspirations

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is arguably the African Union’s (AU) biggest project since the launch of the continent’s Agenda 2063 in January 2015. Launched in March 2018, the AfCFTA agreement connects 55 African economies and is the largest free trade area in the world in terms of country membership.

When the AfCFTA agreement was initially proposed at an AU summit in 2012, it had two goals: to build a Pan-African agenda in trade and cooperation, and secondly, to lift a large percentage of people out of poverty by instituting structural economic changes and cooperative legislation.

AfCFTA is understood to be a groundbreaking opportunity to both create an industrial revolution within and across Africa and opt out of the types of deals like the United State’s Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) that keep the continent at the bottom of global production, trade, and investments.

But little of this has yet been achieved. The rising number of conflicts, military coups, terrorism, ethnic violence, warlordism, and the presence of mercenaries on the continent is dimming the hopes of the trade renaissance expected to have “Made in Africa” goods dominate world markets.

Hindrances to these aspirations were manifest in 2022. Libya, South Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), northern Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Cameroon’s north-west and south-west regions were six African conflict hotbeds that year, against expectations that the continent would silence guns by 2020. In other circumstances, democratic backsliding continues, with insurgencies, insecurity, and weak governance leading to military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Niger, and Gabon, further restricting the prospects of sustainable trade practices and the successful implementation of the AfCFTA. Alongside dire humanitarian costs, the absence of peace in Africa is disrupting economic activities.

According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, in 2022, the number of Africans who were forcibly displaced by conflict stood at over 40 million people. An additional 3.2 million Africans have been displaced due to conflict over the past year. This is impacting Africa’s intra-trade potential.

Though it aims to provide broader and deeper economic integration across the continent as well as attract investment, boost trade, provide better jobs, reduce poverty, and increase shared prosperity, in 2022, intra-continental trade share in Africa stood at only 12 percent, compared to 47 percent in North America, 53 percent in Asia, and 69 percent in Europe. This makes Africa the only bloc with the least trade among its 55 members.

What others are doing

The EU is considered to be the most advanced model of regional economic integration. In facilitating smooth trade, the bloc identified three categories where barriers needed to be resolved: physical, technical, and fiscal.

In terms of physical barriers, the bloc acknowledges that border posts entail additional costs that pass on unnecessary delays. In the end, the countries streamlined their procedures to abolish border controls within the EU.

For other concerns about technical and fiscal barriers, what is certain for the EU bloc is that the headway made is far more comprehensive and satisfactory to member states. This explains why the EU is very actively pursuing its goal of gradual irreversible progress on a worldwide scale on how it engages other partners in trade initiatives like the EU, Chile, and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). This has helped the group adopt positions in favor of having binding multilateral rules in relation to the facilitation of trade.

Defining trade in African terms

Dr. Levious Chiukira, an expert on trade and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, thinks Africans need to redefine what they term trade and highlight at what level and capacity trade should be considered as such by African businesses and entrepreneurs. He fears Africa might be defining trade on the basis of blue-chip companies that might benefit alone from the AfCFTA, as it appears to be a platform to anchor white monopoly capital while substituting home industries or backyard start-ups, which contribute more to Africa’s economy.

“We need a new discourse that redefines what we call African trade. We have allowed trade to be defined by some blue-chip companies. African trade has to be redefined because the bigger elements of our trade lie in what has been labelled informal trade, yet that is what constitutes small and medium enterprises (SMEs), cross-border trade, and backyard industries. We need to break the hegemonic definition of cross-border trade as if African trade is illegal. By calling our people informal traders, they are being illegalised and their trade is not being recognised,” said Dr. Chiukira.

Working on upgrading the border management systems — Zimbabwe’s revenue collection authority has invested in modern border equipment to plug loopholes necessitated by the evasion of formal tax collection systems in the movement of goods. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

The World Bank (WB) estimates that small businesses represent 90% of all businesses and that Sub-Saharan Africa alone has 44 million SMEs. While acknowledging their importance, the WB confirms that small businesses, especially those in Africa, are poorly understood due to a lack of or fragmentation of data.

Dr. Chiukira sees infant industries or SMEs promotion in the framework of AfCFTA as only developing not on the basis of free trade policy but of understanding the needs of what facilitates African trade.

“Sustainable African trade has to be done in the precept of understanding what facilitates trade. We have failed to address the needs of the African people, and we have failed to understand the challenges of trading within Africa. Conflicts are hampering trade. In the end, human capital will not be functional as conflicts might trigger movement of refugees,” added Dr. Chiukira.

Deepening regional integration and cooperation

Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are central to the AfCFTA agreement’s implementation. However, in every REC, there are one or two cases of internal or intra-state conflicts. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mozambique and the DR Congo are facing upheavals; in the East African Community (EAC), Kenya and Somalia are fighting Al-Shabaab terrorists; in the Economic Community of West African States and the Sahel, military coups, terrorism, and internal conflicts are key characteristics.

The AU and RECs have a common goal of achieving regional integration. However, little progress has been made, and one of the challenges and criticisms of the institutions’ efforts towards achieving the African integration agenda is poor coordination. Achievement or failure to achieve regional integration for the AfCFTA agenda is highly dependent on these supranational bodies.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's President — Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa (left) shares a moment with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) after launching a joint Border Management Authority (BMA) at Beitbridge Border Post in October to prevent the illegal movement of goods, a key principle for AfCFTA. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Mr. John Bosco Kalisa, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the East Africa Business Council in Tanzania, believes that promoting deeper integration through regional economic communities is a starting point to ensure the success of the AfCFTA.

The failure to silence guns is a concern.

“Every region is grappling with conflicts; these conflicts are hindering the ability of individuals and firms to produce goods and services that are required to stimulate economic growth and prosperity that are aspired to under the AfCFTA. Our leaders need to make concerted efforts to silence the guns, as espoused by the AU, the agenda of an Africa we want.

“Our African economies have been for so long depending on global supply chains, especially on essential food stuff such as rice, wheat, barley, fertilisers and others. The current Russia-Ukraine conflict which we are not party to creates negative spillover effects. This serves as a wake-up call for policymakers to design appropriate policies to build resilience within their systems and RECs,” argues Mr. Kalisa.

So near yet so far

Indications enunciated in the Agenda 2063 and AfCFTA policy documents make Africa appear as if it is progressing. To be so close and yet so far implies that in the AfCFTA agenda, policy documents, plans, and coordination may reflect as if the continent is nearing its goals, but realistically, Africa is far apart in attitudes, emotions, understanding, or meaning of the goals it wants.

“We talk of the AfCFTA, but countries that experience unconstitutional changes of government through coups or other means are automatically suspended from participating in the AU bodies, including the AfCFTA. For instance, the AU and ECOWAS closed their airspace and borders to Niger after the July military coup. Conflict resolution and prevention are essential for creating a conducive environment for trade integration and development in Africa.

“The effects of conflict can have lasting consequences on the skills, capabilities, and opportunities of the current and future generations of Africans,” says Mr. Tanatsiwa Dambuza, an intra-African trade knowledge management expert for Development Dispatch and co-founder of the Zimbabwe Institute of African Integration.

The AfCFTA project is showing signs of difficulties for the AU, and soon, without good political commitment by leaders, it will be realised soon that a miss is as good as a mile.

Russia-Africa Relations: Africa’s Entanglement With Politics Of Patronage Without Liberation

Gibson Nyikadzino

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October 20, 2023

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Russia-Africa Relations: Africa’s Entanglement With Politics Of Patronage Without Liberation

There are intense political and intellectual debates unfolding in Africa. Since February 24 last year, when war broke out in Europe following Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the presence of Russia in Africa has been politically extensive through mercenaries from the disbanded Wagner Group (WG) under the pretext of fighting neo-colonialism. Africans have questioned the developments even so, without getting a satisfactory consensus guided by a framework of the continent’s interests.

While abhorred, the occurrence of unconstitutional government changes through military putschs in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso in the past two years and recently in Niger and Gabon has birthed a new fascination towards Russia among the young and old supporting the military leaders in their countries. Russia has embraced these military governments, mainly in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, providing them with diplomatic backing and security assistance.

The backing of the military governments in Africa by Russia is changing the nature of relations between the two parties and has affected Africa’s relations with its former colonizers. To some, it is a partnership of unequals, a coalition with imbalances, and a patron-client relationship advancing the interests of the dominant party. To others, Africa is moving from one global giant to another to influence the operations of politics at a global level. This remains true with Africa’s relations with the United States, the European Union (EU), or China, where most outcomes are tilted in favor of partners other than Africa.

African leaders attending the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. — Part of the African leaders who attended the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia this year expressed their solidarity with Russia in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

The advancements of Russian interests in Africa are not following the traditional carrot-and-stick policy of the West, but soft power enticements channeled through scientific and technological transfers, knowledge, and expert skills to be acquired through Russian language at schools to be set in Africa. This was agreed at the Russia-Africa Summit held from July 27 to 28 this year in St. Petersburg, Russia. Some African leaders who agreed to this were charismatic Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traore, Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, and Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, among others. This was confirmed by the current African Union’s (AU) chairperson, President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros.

Director of Research, Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Maryland, Dr. Joseph Siegle, has noted that “none of Russia’s objectives are about making Africa more prosperous or stable. Rather, the continent is primarily a theater to advance Russia’s geostrategic interests.”

In light of this, public intellectuals and academics remain divided.

Coloniality and Colonization 3.0

The agreement on a cooperation action plan by Russia and Africa for the establishment of institutions in Africa that will use Russian as a medium of instruction has been interpreted as an attempt to colonize the being of Africans, take away their power, and replace their knowledge.

International relations analyst and principal researcher at the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), Mr. Bekezela Gumbo, says Africa needs to assess Russia’s actions and measure them on the yardsticks of “being, power, and knowledge.”

Engaging to exchange and share ideas — Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa participated in a business conference at the Russia-Africa Summit in July. African leaders called for more collaboration and cooperation in the fields of scientific research and development, technology transfer, and innovation. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Mr. Gumbo sees Russia as a country keen on enjoying what Africa’s former colonizers enjoyed, but without using brute force.

“When you look at educational institutions, you see that the coloniality of knowledge comes from education systems. When the Russian language is used as a medium of instruction, it means Russian ethics and standards of education will be used.

“This will reproduce Africans that are better placed to serve Russia’s interests. The Russia-Africa Summit was not neo-colonization but was colonization 3.0, where instead of using brutal force, anticipated force is used to effect colonization 3.0, where Russia is now in charge as a new colonizer who uses covert and not brutal force,” says Mr. Gumbo.

The situation presents Africa as a desperate player who needs Russia to protect her from the former colonial system.

Heads of State at the Russi-Africa Summit — President Mnangagwa was welcomed by his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, before the bilateral meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia. Besides donating a helicopter, Russia also donated a consignment of 50,000 tons of maize to Zimbabwe to help ensure food security at national and household levels. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Mr. Gumbo added that “this is not different from what happened during the colonial era. It is either you join Russia or you face the wrath of your former master or colonizer. The impression being built is that without Russian support, you might not be safe, despite being an all-weather friend. They may sponsor a coup and work with the young generation fascinated by pro-Russian ideology.

“Essential pillars of coloniality are in what Russia wants in Africa, that is power. Russia is now wanting to get to power by accessing the mind and being of the African man.”

Assessments by Mr. Gumbo have been reinforced by Dr. Felistas Zimano, who is convinced that what Russia is doing in Africa equates to “100 percent neo-colonialism.”

“This is 100 percent neo-colonialism. The interest that Russia has in pushing its language to Africa is the issue that should make Africa mostly worried. This defeats any stride towards the unification of Africa.

“A people’s glue is in its culture; a people’s culture is retained in its language. Once that is eroded, then there will not be any Africa to talk about. If anything, this reinforces the notion that all they see of Africa are mere pawns,” she said.

Missing the Point

Senior politics and international studies lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Dr. Prolific Mataruse, believes there is a protracted effort to smear Russia as having imperial designs in Africa. He emphasizes that by engaging with Russia and other countries like China and learning their languages, Africa is subverting the colonial businesses and thought.

Dr. Mataruse concluded by adding that “in all fairness, talking about Russia having imperial designs is missing the point. The whole point of African relationships with Russia, China, Turkey, India, and other countries and learning their languages is an issue of promoting a multiverse approach away from the monoverse dominance of Anglicized language. Learning other languages besides English is subverting colonial systems of business and thought.”

Namibia Lithium Battle

Vitalio Angula

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October 20, 2023

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On June 27, 2023, a judge of the High Court of Namibia, Ramon Maasdorp, ruled that the Southern African country’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, did not have the authority to revoke a twenty-year lithium mining license the ministry had issued to Chinese-owned lithium prospecting, exploration, mining, and processing company Xinfeng Investment.

The company drew international attention when the country’s local daily, the Namibian Newspaper, published an expose revealing underhanded dealings between government officials and the Chinese mining outfit.

The report detailed corruption at the ministry of mines in regard to how the company acquired the mining license, misrepresentation regarding how it conducted its business, and a community push-back against environmental damage and displacement of small-scale miners in the mountainous Erongo region, an area renowned for its rich mineral endowment that includes tin, tantalum, fluorite, and the new kid on the block, lithium.

Lithium as a critical component in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles and solar panels to facilitate the green (clean) energy transition has aroused international interest with Namibia sitting on millions of tons of lithium ore, according to a study conducted by the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in collaboration with the German Cooperation (GIZ) and Geological Service of Namibia within Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. GIZ is one of Namibia’s most notable development partners.

At an estimated 9.3 million tons, Chile is said to have the largest lithium deposits in the world. Australia is the globe’s largest supplier.

On the African continent, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Mali, Namibia, and Zimbabwe hold the largest lithium deposits, according to the British Geological Survey Report of 2020/2021, with mines producing millions in tons of the mineral output in all five countries.

China is the world’s largest importer of lithium ore, and the Asian giant controls over half of the world’s lithium processing and refining capacity.

Although the country has lithium deposits of its own, it does not have the required deposits to fulfill its industrial needs. This makes countries like Namibia essential to meeting local demand.

Open pit mine in the Dâures constituency of central Namibia. — Open pit mine in the Dâures constituency of the Erongo Region of Namibia. Credit: Andreas Simon, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Towards the end of 2022, a major political storm erupted in Namibia. Namibian authorities stopped tipper trucks carrying lithium ore that were traveling towards the harbor town of Walvis Bay because they lacked the necessary export or transport permits.

Increased attention to the company’s dealings led to allegations of bribery regarding the way the company acquired mining rights in the first place. A local businessman laid charges of fraud against his business partners, whom he accused of fraudulently stealing his mining claims by forging signatures while he was recuperating from injuries sustained in a car accident. He said his claims were subsequently sold to Xinfeng for USD 2.77 million.

The Minister of Mines and Energy then instituted investigations and found Xinfeng guilty of fraud and misrepresentation in the way it acquired the mining license. He (the minister) subsequently revoked the company’s license, which prompted Xinfeng to approach the High Court to have the license reinstated on an urgent basis.

In his ruling, the judge found that “the first respondent proved prima facie that the applicant committed fraud in the process of applying for the mining license.”
But he also found that “the first respondent did not have the power to revoke the mining license without the express or implied authority to do so under the governing legislation but was required to approach a court for appropriate relief.”

In summary, although the Chinese outfit did break the law and the minister proved it, under Namibian law, the minister does not have the power to revoke a mining license, but he has the power to issue it, a victory for the Chinese.

Environmental Concerns

Among those opposed to Xinfeng’s lithium interests in Namibia are the inhabitants of the local community of Uis, a settlement with an estimated population of 3600 inhabitants. Here, locals eke out a living through the trade in semi-precious stones, which are found in abundance in the area. With chisels and hammers, they pound away in the glaring sun to make a living for themselves and their families.

A kilogram of rocks is sold to polishers for as little as USD 2, sometimes even less.
The tourmaline, topaz, and quartz crystals are handcrafted and sold as jewelry, with pieces selling for as much as USD 41 for a necklace or a ring.

These small-scale miners have since been displaced to make way for Xinfeng.
The heavy machinery, which includes tipper trucks and huge excavators, has incensed community activists like Jimmy Areseb, who accuses the company of disregarding local beneficiation and policies adopted by the state to ensure that local communities benefit from the exploitation of mineral resources in their constituencies.

“There was no consultation that took place with the indigenous inhabitants of this area before these Chinese people were given the green light to start their mining operations; these people do not have the necessary environmental clearance to mine in such an ecologically sensitive area. The area in which Xinfeng is mining lithium is a conservancy, and the community used to benefit from trophy hunting concessions. The area also used to be a breeding ground for hyenas, rhinos, and springbok, and when their activities began, the animals moved away because of the lithium extraction methods such as blasting,” Areseb lamented.

CAG 29 which is the 29th Colloquium of African Geology was hosted in Namibia this year. — Geoscientists paid a visit to Andrada Mine on September 23, 2023, the former Uis Tin Mine, at Uis in the Erongo region of central Namibia. Credit: Andreas Simon, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Mines and Energy

Michelle Maletsky and her husband Harold are generational inhabitants of the Uis settlement. They say their parents and grandparents all made a living from the mineral endowment of the area as small-scale miners, and they had just been awarded a mining claim in the Uis area to upscale their activities when they got a shock on December 16, 2022.

They said that on December 16, 2022, when they went to the site where their mining claims were, they were not allowed to enter the site. The road had been barricaded with an entrance, and the security personnel at the gate told them they were not allowed to enter.

“My husband and I, we registered at Mines and Energy, we paid, we did everything like Mines and Energy told us, and then one day, when we checked on the system (online) of the Ministry of Mines, our claims were taken off. Then we went to the site to put up our boards (that show ownership of the mining claims), but the Chinese were fighting us; they told us no, we cannot enter the area because they bought the area for a lot of money and nobody is allowed to go in there,” Maletsky said.

Meletsky says her family has lost their means of making a living as a result of the displacement, and she and other similar miners with mining claims in the area are looking at different avenues to regain their lost claims, but this is proving to be difficult.

Conclusion

The rush for lithium has taken the dynamic of accusations of corruption, bribery, and underhanded dealings by Namibian government officials, but it has also brought hope for its green energy proponents, who believe that electric batteries will assist in reducing the globe’s carbon footprint.

Namibia, Zimbabwe, the DRC, Ghana, and Mali—can they supply the globe’s appetite for lithium? The answer is yes.

But at what cost?

Operation Dudula

Vitalio Angula

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September 28, 2023

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There is no direct translation for the word Dudula in the English language, but the president of the organization that started off as a ‘clean-up campaign’ to directly confront the scourge of crime and drugs by ‘illegal immigrants’ in South Africa says it means ‘push-out’ or ‘more force’.

Zandile Dabula is the President of Dudula, a movement that came into the mainstream of South African politics for its unorthodox stance against ‘illegal immigrants’ in South Africa.

During the 2021 July uprisings, Dudula was led by Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini, a 37-year-old activist who has since distanced himself from the group.

Speaking to Ubuntu Times, President of Operation Dudula, Zandile Dabula, said the civic organization resolved at a consultative conference held on May 17, 2022, to transform itself into a political party and contest the country’s presidential and national assembly elections slated for next year.

She accuses the mainstream media of portraying the party in a negative light following a story by the BBC that has garnered thousands of views since it aired on September 19, 2023.

“We know mainstream media is biased; they do not cover everything we do. We placed South African citizens back into RDP houses; we have placed South Africans in jobs. We have our in-house media; we have people in Africa who want to have operation Dudula’s,” Dabula informed Ubuntu Times.

Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was a South African socio-economic framework implemented by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to deal with the country’s most pressing challenges just after the 1994 elections.

The program built houses for citizens (referred to as RDP houses) in the low-income strata; however, these citizens are said to have sold the houses to foreigners (at give-away prices), and Dudula is helping to get them back. However, the group is known more for its “anti-foreigners stance” and “vigilante” antics. Dabula says those who label the party as anti-foreigner vigilantes are not looking at the party’s activities in their entirety.

Zandile Dabula, President of Operation Dudula in South Africa. — Zandile Dabula is the President of Operation Dudula, which is a grassroots movement that morphed into a political party when it became prominent with its anti-immigration rhetoric and citizen arrests. Credit: Zandile Dabula

“South Africa is a welcoming country, but I need to have a passport or a visa to enter, and because our home affairs ministry officials are bribed at the borders, anybody can come in, and this has led to all sorts of crimes which we’re not used to seeing before,” she told Ubuntu Times.

“Nigerians specialize in drugs and body parts; Zimbabweans are robbers and steal jobs. They will kill you! Malawians, they are human traffickers, and they are also being trafficked, being used as slaves by the Pakistanis. They also kill; to be honest, we always see them coming without documents,” Dabula said.

Nhlanhla ‘Lux’ Dlamini came to prominence in the international media landscape as a leader of Operation Dudula during a period of looting and violence that was sparked by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma on a contempt of court conviction. These protests were similar in veracity and magnitude to the George Floyd protests in the United States of America a year earlier.

“When South Africa went through the July unrest, I was the leading commander that stopped the looting when the police failed. I was engaged to say, you must come, and we protected the malls,” Dlamini explained.

Unbeknownst to many, Dlamini has been the President of the Soweto Parliament for the past ten years and has dedicated his early adulthood to civic engagement in the township, which has an estimated population of 1.8 million inhabitants.

The Soweto Parliament is a community leadership structure that seeks to address issues affecting Soweto residents, such as unemployment, crime, and lack of access to basic services such as electricity.

Dlamini told Ubuntu Times that he has distanced himself from the activities of Operation Dudula due to ideological differences and the organization’s way of doing things. He said he has dissociated himself from Operation Dudula because the movement had deviated from its objective of addressing the issue of undocumented workers who were competing for economic spaces with South Africans in areas deemed not to be needing skills, such as the restaurant business.

“The law states that only foreigners with special skills should be absorbed in the economy where we need them, and the low-entry jobs on the lower part of the economy that do not require special skills should be reserved for the citizens that need jobs… We are talking about the country with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, and so we were addressing that, and I was happy to associate myself with that cause, but when it started to be out of control…, I had to leave,” Dlamini explained.

“When they (Dudula) publicly came out and said all foreigners, I said nonsense. I can never fight all foreigners; I am fighting the foreigners who are undermining the laws of the country. I had to leave them when they began fighting all foreigners,” Dlamini elaborated.

On the issue of the role South Africa can play on the continent to address the issues that push migrants from their home countries to South Africa Ndlamini said the problems of South Africa’s neighbors are the problems of South Africa and urged the South African government to play a greater role in addressing peace and security on the continent.

“The problem is that governments might be on a certain level of communication, but the average person in the country does not understand or comprehend that level of communication.” The former leader of Operation Dudula before it transformed into a political party noted to Ubuntu Times that governments should be able to communicate and work together with other countries to follow the laws of migration to South Africa.

Regarding the negative stereotypes Zandile Dabula, the President of Operation Dudula, attributed to nationals from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, Ndlamini said he does not agree with such stereotypes because crime cannot be generalized.

“Crime is crime; you must deal with crime. Once you start generalizing crime and making it a nationality, that means you do not understand policing and you do not understand crime because most Nigerians don’t sell drugs; you’ve got a minority of Nigerians that sell drugs,” Ndlamini warned.

“We fight when white people say black people are thieves. We want to fight! We want to fight, but when black people in South Africa say Africans are WHAT! WHAT! Then it’s not a problem. We can’t be two-faced; we must be fair all the time. We can’t say Nigerians sell drugs because not all Nigerians sell drugs. That is why I cannot agree with Zandi, Dudula, or anyone when they say that Mozambiquens do this and Zimbabweans do that. Criminal do 1, 2, 3, you can’t say entire nationals like that, you can’t,” Dlamini vehemently cautioned.

South Africa is Africa’s second-largest economy, with an estimated GDP of US$399 billion, based on a 2023 World Bank report.

According to the 2022 South Africa Department of Statistics census report, the country has an estimated population of 55.7 million people.

However, the country also has a significant number of illegal migrants, which then places the number of immigrants higher, and this is a concern for activists and politicians like Dabula and Dlamini.

Zandile Dabula, the President of Operation Dudula, with members of the police during one of their many operations in Johannesburg, South Africa. — Operation Dudula movement has registered as a political party and will be contesting the 2024 South African elections. Credit: Zandile Dabula

A South African journalist who chose to be anonymous informed Ubuntu Times that many people migrate to South Africa looking for the ‘dream’ but the reality is that resources are few and migrants are sometimes forced into a life of crime in order to be able to fend for themselves.

“Everybody is fighting for space, a slice of the pie. If the economy can grow and the pie can become larger, there will be more for everyone to share,” the journalist stated to Ubuntu Times.

The journalist further informed Ubuntu that some of the solutions to South Africa’s problem of illegal immigrants include tighter border control and South Africa playing a greater role on the continent in exercising its power to facilitate peace and security on the continent.

“South Africa’s policy is peace through negotiation, and like our President Cyril Ramaphosa said, the billions spent on wars can be used on development, but I also think South Africa has to focus more inwards when it comes to making lives better for South Africans,” the journalist emphasized.

Although they differ ideologically, Zandile Dabula and Nhlanla ‘Lux’ Dlamini seem to hold similar views on mainstream media, which they accuse of being biased and misrepresenting Operation Dudula in a negative light to fit the narrative they are trying to sell to their audiences.

“We know mainstream media is biased, and they do not cover everything we do,” Dabula lamented. Dlamini mentioned that the media does not uphold the ethics it should and has intentionally distorted his image in public by portraying him as a xenophobic vigilante when that is not who he is.

“I am well-traveled and have worked with Africans from all over the continent. I once asked a journalist what the word vigilante means, and they could not explain the meaning of the word, but that same time, the journalist was referring to me as a vigilante.

“Everything I did during my time with Operation Dudula has been within the confines of the law. The South African constitution allows citizens’ arrest, and that is what we were doing: arresting people for crimes and bringing them to the police so they can be dealt with. I am no longer with Operation Dudula, so I cannot speak on their behalf, but I do not agree with some of the things they are currently doing,” Nhlanla Dlamini concluded.

IMF And World Bank: The ‘Bad Samaritans’ And Neoliberals Cheating Africa Into A Cycle Of Pernicious Debt

UbuntuTimes

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September 9, 2023

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IMF And World Bank: The ‘Bad Samaritans’ And Neoliberals Cheating Africa Into A Cycle Of Pernicious Debt

The Western liberal consensus has long been intervening and interfering in Africa. The first form of intervention was through the slave trade from the 16th century, a mechanism that was used to reverse the trajectory of African history, followed by colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries which led to the robbery of the continent’s resources and the displacement of its political and socio-economic organization.

However, for the years towards the end of the twentieth century, these two forms of intervention have been resurrected and today re-appear in the form of debt. The rhetoric of Africa being independent remains a mirage when the is encircled with the debt traps, an enticing formula that capitalism uses to lure Africans through its institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

The IMF and WB are instruments used by the United States to engage in a modern form of slavery by offering giant loans, especially to Global South nations. On the surface, this appears generous, yet the loans are intentionally too big; failure to repay means the entrapped country begins to abide by the political interests of the United States.

While Africa decries slavery, the U.S. through the IMF and WB, pulling the mechanics of a global empire, enslaves more people today than what the Romans and all other colonial powers did.

From the onset, the Bretton Woods financial institutions were created to capture, first, the post-World War II Europe under the pretext of rebuilding and reconstruction. Secondly, the period of decolonization in Africa from the 1960s, gave way for an independent Africa to support the U.S. in its gesture towards liberation movements that opposed mainly British rule in Africa. African countries were later inclined to support the United States’ financial plans through the IMF and WB, endearing themselves to an all-pervasive culture of aid dependency to which there is little or no real debate on the exit strategy from this debt web and quagmire.

In his magnum corpus, Confessions of An Economic Hitman, U.S. writer John Perkins summed it all saying when dealing with the United States and financial institutions of the neo-liberal consensus, “nations need to avoid debt at all costs if they want to remain free.”

The Sad Case Of Zimbabwe

In 2000, Zimbabwe embarked on a revolutionary agrarian reform exercise meant to address colonial imbalances, thus repudiating the International Law of Colonialism or the Doctrine of Discovery that European colonizers used to displace indigenous Zimbabweans from their territory on September 12, 1890.

For repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery which gave whites rights to access all land and property belonging to blacks without compensation, in 2001 Zimbabwe was sanctioned by the United States, and the European Union (EU) in 2002. The U.S., using the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), directed the IMF and WB to block any loan meant for Zimbabwe, and that the African country repay the debt it owes its creditors.

The debt now stands at US$17.4 billion! The latest US$3.5 billion debt was assumed in July 2020, meant to compensate the white farmers who lost land during the 2000 agrarian reform, in particular for the developments they put on the agricultural land they had.

In search of avoiding the pariah state tag, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has consistently approached the IMF and WB since 2018 as part of his administration’s re-engagement policy with the West with a debt clearance proposal of at least US$8 billion, in the meantime.

Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa appointed the African Development Bank (AfDB) president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and former Mozambique’s President Joachim Chissano as conveners of meetings with the IMF and WB.

Repentance Under Tough, Unforgiving Conditions

The debt debate about Zimbabwe has provoked reactions from African academics, intellectuals and interventions from politicians. Zimbabwe is expressing a willingness to settle the debt, but under tough conditions imposed by the IMF and WB. There are points of convergence, and similarly of divergence, on what has to be done.

“It is always important to talk about debt. You cannot turn a blind eye to it because it is a pertinent matter. More importantly, talking about debt means Zimbabwe will have clarity from its creditors on their expectations. Zimbabwe has been given conditions by the IMF, WB, and the Western countries, and they are tough and we as history informs, the Zimbabwean government cannot meet them,” Gift Mugano, a professor of economics at Durban University of Technology in South Africa told Ubuntu Times.

The conditions include that Zimbabwe liberalize its financial markets, institute currency reforms and electoral reforms, respect human rights, hold free, fair and credible elections on August 23 to entrench democracy, stop the harassment of political opponents, and implement the December 2018 Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry into the August 2018 post-election violence in which soldiers shot and killed six people.

“The Zimbabwean government is doing the opposite, meaning the holding of free and fair elections is not on the right footing. Reforms relating to financial markets liberation and the privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are going to fail because the government wants to embark on command economics.

“These IMF and WB conditions are just a reprint and duplication of the ZIDERA sanctions as the U.S. government confirmed. Zimbabwe is being reminded that it has to repent, yet the conditions are tough,” notes Prof. Mugano.

On the issue of political rights, Zimbabwe is deemed to be faltering as the deputy chairperson of the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, Job Sikhala, has been in pre-trial detention since June last year for inciting violence, while leader of the Transform Zimbabwe party, Jacob Ngarivhume, was sentenced to four years imprisonment in April for inciting violence on social media. Several other opposition members face various charges.

Suicide Is Not Martyrdom

Despite having tough conditions to re-engage with Western financial institutions, Zimbabwe’s pathway to compensate former white farmers in the region of US$3.5 billion is seen as “suicide”.

Some analysts accuse President Mnangagwa of pandering to the interests and agenda of Western neoliberals, unlike his predecessor (the late) President Robert Mugabe who was uncompromisingly strong on Pan-African and nationalist values.

“Where will Zimbabwe get the US$3.5 billion dollars? On that issue, the country committed suicide. In essence, it is now Zimbabwe saying ‘we are sorry for taking back our land’.

“Practically Zimbabwe will not win and the IMF, WB, and the West will even not do much. Other multilateral institutions will be given sanctions if they lend Zimbabwe money without America’s approval,” Prof. Mugano said.

Development economist Dr. Prosper Chitambara thinks the issue of compensation is unavoidable.

“I do not see a way out. Compensation is necessary to bring closure. Zimbabwe cannot avoid it, or run away from it,” Dr. Chitambara said.

What Needs To Be Done?

Many scenarios are up for consideration on how to deal with and address debts African countries owe to creditors, and some radical approaches have been thought of.

Speaking about debt, Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara, at a meeting of the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in May 1987 before his assassination five months later suggested that “We should even stop paying the debts and in any event, we deserve the reparations for slavery, colonization and if we (Africans) take a joint decision that we are not going to pay the debt, what will they do to us?”

Kenya’s Pan-African scholar and public intellectual Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba describes Sankara’s approach as a “positive methodical madness.”

In an interview conducted on May 2023 ahead of the 60th-anniversary celebrations on the founding of the OAU and its transition to African Union (AU) in 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, blamed the IMF and WB for being “economic enslavers whose agenda is to ensure Africa is in a perpetual state of debt because they want to ensure they control our economics, politics and us.”

“When the IMF and WB were created in the United States in New Hampshire in 1944, none of the African countries participated and it was the British and American economists who participated specifically to rebuild Europe, and Africa was only grafted into these organizations,” Prof. Lumumba said.

The Kenyan erudite said the AfDB was going to be an engine fit to determine Africa’s economic freedom, but remains African “only in name” as foreign countries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “have seized, captured and paralyzed the AfDB.”

“The AfDB is only African in name. Even on sanctions deployed in Zimbabwe, it cannot help because we do not have Pan-African institutions. One of the things I hope Africa could do is to rethink how as a continent we finance ourselves. The AU is now financed up to 70 percent by foreigners. As long as we are dependent on the IMF and the WB, our economies are simply going to be shadow economies of the Americans, Europeans, Chinese, and Russians. The time is now to wean ourselves from the breasts of the IMF and WB,” Prof. Lumumba added.

According to Dr. Chitambara, Zimbabwe will only deal with its debt after posting good growth results from investments in critical sectors.

He said: “Countries that have been able to deal with debt have been able to do so at the basis of a growth trajectory. To achieve that Zimbabwe needs to address things to do with infrastructure, energy, transport networks, and all critical enablers to unlock the potential of the economy.

“Zimbabwe can also leverage the rent from natural resources, meaning the government should impose revenue rents and that is a viable alternative to collect money that can be used towards debt pay-offs.”

Beware Of The Bad Samaritans

For long, Zimbabwe and other African countries have been kept in a pernicious cycle of poverty as a result of loans that were extended by the IMF and WB in the name of helping in economic transformation.

However, the conditions tied to these loans and unfortunately accepted by African countries, demand that Global South states reevaluate their positions on what they receive from Western financial institutions.

The best way to deal with the IMF and the WB is never to deal with them!

Oil Money Heralds Trouble For Uganda’s Indigenous Bagungu Tribe, Environment

Diana Taremwa Karakire

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August 28, 2022

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Oil Money Heralds Trouble For Uganda’s Indigenous Bagungu Tribe, Environment

BULIISA, Uganda — Baboons wander through shrub-lands that line the sides of newly built roads straddling Uganda’s wildlife reserves close to the shores of oil-rich Lake Albert. Across the border in Congo, magnificent lush green hilly countrysides stand out. If you’re lucky you can catch a glimpse of elephants too. Wildlife is abundant here, but such scenes might be no more in a few years, as oil companies embark on multi-billion projects to pump as much as 6 billion barrels of crude oil from Uganda’s biodiversity-rich Albertine Rift Graben.

Baboons crossing the newly built Hoima-Buliisa road in Buliisa District — Baboons crossing the newly built Hoima-Buliisa road that straddles Bugungu wildlife reserve close to the shores of oil-rich Lake Albert. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

This territory has also been occupied for generations by the indigenous Bagungu people, who tilled the land to cultivate millet and sorghum and gather medicinal herbs and fish on Lake Albert. The Bagungu have over the years used traditional techniques to conserve the lands. From restricting access to sacred areas to designating wildlife sanctuaries, owing in part to a traditional belief that nature and its resources are guarded by spirits.

But planned development of hundreds of oil wells that dot the shores of lake Albert poses new threats to the pristine environment and has come at the expense of indigenous people’s rights. The Bagungu have been uprooted from ancestral grounds and their once revered cultural sites destroyed—including shrines and grazing lands.

Alex Wakitinti a chief custodian removes his shoes at Wandeko sacred natural site in Kasenyi village Buliisa district — Alex Wakitinti the chief custodian removes his shoes at Wandeko sacred natural site in Kasenyi village Buliisa district. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

“We have lost our grazing lands. Our people wish oil had not been discovered in this area,” Alex Wakitinti the chief custodian of sacred sites of the Bagungu, says, pointing at a newly built highway. “We no longer have access to medicinal herbs and sacred trees where we worshiped.”

French oil giant TotalEnergies operates the Tilenga oil project in the remote districts of Buliisa, Hoima, Kikuube, and Nwoya near the ecologically fragile Murchison Falls National Park and the Nile Delta in western Uganda. The project consists of six oil fields and is expected to have 400 wells drilled in 31 locations. It will also house an industrial area, support camps, a central processing facility, and feeder pipelines. The project necessitates the acquisition of 2,901 acres of land across the districts, as well as additional land within the national park.

A map showing the TotalEnergies Tilenga project located near Lake Albert, Western Uganda. Credit: Petroleum Authority Uganda

According to Petroleum Authority Uganda, the process of acquiring land for the Tilenga project is still underway and has displaced 5,523 families. Residents and local officials, however, say that this process has been marred by inadequate and delayed compensation and resettlement.

Three years ago, TotalEnergies, approached Kaliisa Munange, a peasant farmer in kasenyi village, in Buliisa district, near the shores of lake Albert with a proposal. They would take over his 6-acre piece of land for project developments, in exchange for a bigger chunk of land, complete with a house, in a nearby village. With the promise of a better life, Mr. Munange consented to a relocation that he thought would be life-changing.

“When I arrived, I was so disappointed all the promises were empty, yet the company had already taken over my property,” he said, frowning his forehead with anger. “It was very far, there wasn’t a nearby school that my children would attend and the hospital is ten kilometers away. I decided to take them to court but up to now there is no decision.”

A notice board for Tilenga project-related information updates in Kasenyi Village, Buliisa district — A notice board for Tilenga project-related information updates in Kasenyi Village. Locals say these haven’t been effective due to the language barrier. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

Kaliisa’s is not the only case. His plight is shared by thousands of peasants in this lakeside village, which will soon house one of the largest oil processing facilities in Africa. Many have been waiting for compensation for several years since they were ordered not to plant any perennial crops and erect permanent structures on their land.

Fishing on Wanseko landing site on the shores of Lake Albert in Buliisa district — Fishermen at Wanseko landing site on the shores of Lake Albert in Buliisa district. Most fishing sites have been cordoned off due to oil developments. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

locals are nostalgic of the good old days when they had a source of livelihood tilling their land and fishing freely from L. Albert. When the land was communally used for grazing, worship, herbal medicines, and building materials.

“Community involvement and participation in the land acquisition process and environment impact assessment processes has been limited,” says Wakitinti “Our people were not involved in the identification of cultural sites and a number of medicinal herbs and trees were not assessed for compensation.”

Total executives deny the allegations insisting that the company is addressing the complaints of the affected people and has even been providing them with supplies, such as food.

A tamarind tree, one of the sacred trees central to Bagungu worship system, Kasenyi village,Buliisa district — The tamarind tree which is one of the sacred trees central to Bagungu worship system, Kasenyi Village, Buliisa district. Custodians say that a number of these trees were not assessed during the social and environmental impact assessments for Tilenga oil project. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

Pauline Macronald, head of the environment biodiversity at TotalEnergies Uganda says that the project is taking measures to ensure the socioeconomic stability of project-affected persons.

“TotalEnergies is committed to developing the Tilenga project while observing human rights standards and International Finance Corporation performance standards,” she said, adding that the company has been in close contact with project-affected people to minimize the projects’ impact on locals.

The constitution of Uganda safeguards property rights and land ownership. It affirms that everyone has a right to possess property and offers strict protection against unfair property deprivation. This states that everyone whose private property or land must be acquired for a public project should get prompt, fair, and reasonable compensation.

The International Finance Corporation Performance Standard 7 aims to guarantee that corporate operations minimize adverse effects and promote respect for indigenous peoples’ cultures, rights, and dignity. A fundamental criterion is the free, prior, and informed permission of indigenous peoples, as well as informed consultation and engagement with them throughout the project development process. The Bagungu, however, contend that these rights and standards have been violated by oil project developers.

“The land acquisition processes for oil projects have been shrouded in secrecy, no transparency. The processes have not been participatory and consultative in nature and any project resistance has resulted in costly formal court proceedings to the indigenes,” says Enoch Bigirwa, the former chairperson of the Bagungu Community Association.

The Bagungu Community Association BACA is a local group championing the rights of Bagungu amidst oil developments in their territory. It exists for the sociology-cultural and economic development of Bagungu. BACA is part of the environmental groups that filed a lawsuit against TotalEnergies in France over human rights violations and environmental harm in its Uganda oil project.

Who are the Bagungu

The Bagungu are an indigenous tribe native to Uganda and totaling around 83,986 according to the 2014 population census. They are mainly found in Buliisa, Hoima, and Masindi districts of western Uganda-Albertaine Graben. They belong to the historical Bunyoro Kingdom led by an Omukama, their King.

A map showing the location of the Bangungu people of Uganda. Credit: Bugungu Heritage and Information Centre

They are agricultural and fishing folk. Bagungu are the guardians and custodians of Lake Albert, a large freshwater lake that is the the source of Albert Nile, a branch of the River Nile that flows through Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, and DR Congo.

Oil Developments in Uganda

In 2006, oil and gas reserves were discovered in Uganda’s Albertine Graben.TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC recently reached a final investment decision to inject $10 billion to kick start oil developments in partnership with the government of Uganda through Uganda National Oil Company which will subsequently lead to production in 2023. Output is expected to peak at 220,000 barrels a day of crude, Uganda consumes around 15,000 barrels a day of crude. Part of the crude oil will be refined to supply the local market while the remainder will be exported through a 1,443km buried East African Crude Oil Pipeline EACOP from Uganda to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania for export to the international market.

Uganda envisions the development of the oil and gas industry will accelerate economic growth, and job creation, improve the general prosperity of Ugandans and catapult the country into middle-income status. Petroleum Authority of Uganda estimates that about 200,000 people will be employed in the oil and gas sector.

However, climate campaigners have been opposing oil developments in the country citing environmental issues, climate change, and community rights violations. As a result, financiers of fossil fuel projects like banks, insurers, and other financial players have been urged to refrain from providing financial support for oil projects.

“Biodiversity is seriously threatened by Total’s oil operations. Government should encourage green economic investments in clean energy. These are inclusive and have the greatest multiplier effects on employment,” said Diana Nabiruma, the communications officer, at Africa Institute for Energy Governance.

This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network’s Indigenous Story Grants

Aiding Poverty By Smuggling A Rare Black Stone For 30 Pieces Of Silver

UbuntuTimes

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August 26, 2022

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Aiding Poverty By Smuggling A Rare Black Stone For 30 Pieces Of Silver

For Claudious Murungweni (not his real name), a 35-year-old bus conductor plying the Zimbabwe-South Africa cross-border route, the corruption and smuggling of a low base mineral has turned around his economic fortunes.

From a paltry equivalent of US$90 dollars as a monthly salary, Murungweni now has a new avenue that is financing his livelihood running into thousands of US dollars.

Since October 2021 when the government relaxed the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that enabled cross-border buses to carry passengers, Murungweni says he has been approached by “good guys with great deals.”

“I carry raw granite stone slabs cut from the main blocks. These black granite slabs are movable by bus so for that job we get ZAR25 000 rand (US$1 600). First transaction is just a fifty percent deposit that I use to pay (bribe) the police and revenue collection officials at the Beitbridge border post.

“When we get to South Africa that is when I am paid the balance,” says Murungweni.

For the trip, Murungweni shares the money with the bus driver, and also bribes Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials at the Beitbridge border post and their South African counterparts.

Zimbabwe is a country richly endowed with useful diverse mineral resources. Despite this vast mineral resource base, more attention has been placed on highly valued minerals like gold and diamonds when people talk of smuggling.

The illicit financial flow in the mining sector according to the government through Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe costs the state US$100 million each month in lost revenues, a total of US$1.2 billion annually.

The issue of illicit financial flows affecting Zimbabwe’s struggling economy has moved from highly precious minerals like gold to low minerals like the granite stone, now known as “the black gold.”

From where the granite stone is mined by the Chinese, in Mutoko, a rural area about 140 kilometers east of the capital Harare, villagers have little to show off the mineral mined in their area, except bearing the brunt of environmental damage.

Granite mining damages the environment — The mining of Granite in Mutoko has left a trail of environmental degradation. Mining companies have not come up with initiatives to protect the environment. Credit: Ubuntu Times

A 2019 investigation conducted by ZELA on the financial and social impact of black granite mining in Mutoko revealed that less than ten percent of Zimbabwe’s granite is cut and polished locally with the bulk of it being exported in its raw form as “granite merely cut into blocks.”

Because issues of smuggling are not treated with precision in courts, a close associate to the country’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Ms. Henrietta Rushwaya, was in October 2020 intercepted at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International airport with six kilogrammes of gold worth an estimated US$366,000 in her handbag en-route to the United Arab Emirates.

She was arrested, spent days in prison and later released from custody in January 2021 on ZWL$100 000 bond. However, her case is now collapsing after anti-corruption advocates hinted that the way her case is progressing has been engineered to collapse because of her close links to the Mnangagwa family.

“If I get arrested I will just know I am a small fish, and those heavily involved in smuggling are walking scot-free. That means our system has broken down and people can just do all they can to earn a living. I do not even ask where the granite stone is going,” adds Murungweni.

According to Shamiso Mtisi, the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association (ZELA), from where the black granite is mined “environmental damage and lack of community benefits for the people of Mutoko” are key characteristics.

“We hear there are issues of the smuggling of the black granite stone from Zimbabwe specifically because of its fineness and being a great quality mineral. Unfortunately, there is a failure to have it benefit the communities from where it is mined.

“What is procedural is to have granite exported through formal procedures by going to the Minerals Marketing Cooperation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), but the money that these mining companies pay as a mining levy is inadequate. Those levies deny the communities opportunities for development,” said Mtisi.

Export cumulative figures by the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (Zimstat) revealed that in 2020 Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Italy, Switzerland, China, Greece and Spain are among the top export destinations of unbeneficiated granite.

The Black Gold, the new name for Granite stone — A heavy machine seen atop the huge Granite boulders mined in Mutoko. Credit: Ubuntu Times

Mutoko is not an exception regarding general environmental, economic and social challenges resulting from the mining of black granite.

To curb smuggling syndicates and plug illicit financial flows, the Zimra border controls say the upgrading of the Beitbridge Border post into a “world class” center is one that will help break the stranglehold of smuggling syndicates.

Zimra head of corporate communications Francis Chimanda says the authority is working to improve security to reduce instances of smuggling by improving the bus terminal that will see all travellers.

“The new bus terminal (at the border) will provide facilities where all buses will have their goods offloaded and checked before authority to proceed will be granted by revenue officers through scanning of gate passes to activate the opening of boom gates.

“This will go a long way in ensuring that the buses are checked and authority to proceed is granted. The upgrade will also generally improve security and reduce instances of smuggling at the Beitbridge border post as the new measure for traffic control and movement have improved the checks and balances,” Chimanda says.

Chimanda also pointed out that Zimra officials have embarked on random searches of buses to break the smuggling syndicates but they have not intercepted any with black granite stone.

“Currently random searches are being done on exit buses and to date, no interceptions have been made on granite being smuggled. Having said that any instances of possible smuggling will be thoroughly investigated” Chimanda adds.

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) spokesperson Dosman Mangisi says as long as government and policymakers in Zimbabwe do not come up with a Minerals and Metals Beneficiation policy, the country’s minerals will continue to be smuggled out.

He says the value of beneficiation should be explained to the communities where the minerals are being mined in order to empower locals.

“Basically we are lagging behind as a country because Zimbabwe has no legal and policy instruments that enable value addition of our minerals. We have no metal beneficiation laws.

“Our principals should come with beneficiation policy frameworks that govern this. The ones we have speak of mining on a touch-here-touch-there basis,” Mangisi says.

For example, sample surveys conducted by the ZMF since 2016 have concluded that Zimbabwe is sitting on US$30 billion worth of iron ore but the country is currently importing 70 percent of its iron requirements.

“For this country to unlock value, granite beneficiation should be done at community level through a formulated Minerals and Metals Beneficiation policy. These minerals should therefore be classified so that we know their uses and value.

“As long as we do not have beneficiation policies we will never know the value of what we have,” adds Mangisi.

He also urged the government to start beneficiation awareness campaigns at community level so that locals know what value their minerals have.

Aquaponics Farming Helps Ugandan Women Regain Lost Livelihoods From The Pandemic

Diana Taremwa Karakire

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January 26, 2022

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Aquaponics Farming Helps Ugandan Women Regain Lost Livelihoods From The Pandemic

KAMPALA, Uganda — On a hill above Kampala’s city suburb of Ntinda, new farmer Peace Mukulungu looks over her aquaponics farming project she says is slowly allowing her to recover from pandemic-related disruption. It is a manifestation of how new charity-backed interventions are allowing COVID-19 victims to restore livelihoods.

“Who knew I would become a fish farmer after all these years as a secretary!” she exclaims with a wide grin on her face.

The Aquaponics farming project is an initiative of Water Governance Institute WGI a local non-government organization that is supported by funding from USAID. It was rolled out in Kampala in 2018. Working with Kampala City Council, WGI has been promoting Aquaponics farming as a recovery initiative targeting women in Kampala that lost their livelihoods as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. The intervention is aimed at promoting food security, improved livelihoods as well as boosting household incomes.

The 50-year-old Mukulungu is a single mother who over the years relied on her job in a secretarial bureau in the city to support her five children. When the pandemic hit and Uganda started to lock down to slow the spread of the highly contagious virus, the business closed. Within weeks, she was home and jobless.

Today Mukulungu is a beneficiary of the aquaponics farming project, from which she has been able to replace lost income from the secretarial bureau. Her system was stocked with 115 catfish fingerlings and vegetables including spinach and lettuce. These initial inputs were offered by WGI including fish feeds for 6 months.

Mukulungu earns Uganda shillings 350,000 (USD 100) per month from her fish farming, nearly double what she used to earn at the secretarial bureau.

“Who knew I could become a fish farmer without owning land and a pond,” she keeps wondering. “This is more convenient because I don’t even have to pay transport fare.”

Deborah Gita harvests Kale leaves from her Aquaponics system that consists of a fish tank and a grow bed. She is already reaping benefits from her system — Deborah Gita an aquaponics project beneficiary harvests Kale leaves from her aquaponics system that consists of a fish tank and a grow bed. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

Similar stories of lost livelihoods across Uganda are commonplace. From teachers to market workers many women who had over the years supported their families have been left struggling as Uganda implemented one of the strictest lockdowns to stem COVID-19.

According to the World Bank, the COVID-19 shock caused a sharp contraction of the economy to its slowest pace in three decades. Household incomes fell when firms closed and jobs were lost, particularly in the urban informal and formal sectors. Gross domestic product contracted by 1.1 percent in the year 2020.

The impacts have been worse especially for women working in both the formal and informal sectors. A recent report by Akina Mama wa Afrika – a local charity – indicates that the economic impact has resulted in reduced incomes and opportunities to earn a livelihood for over 70% of women employed in the informal sector which is less secure in terms of social protection. The report further states that in the absence of mitigation in the form of gender-informed strategies, women are likely to face heightened tensions, financial uncertainties, food insecurity, and vulnerability to poverty.

Aisha Nalwoga the fisheries officer at WGI describes Aquaponics as a smart agricultural innovation that combines both fish rearing and growing horticultural crops in a closed-loop water-recycling system. The system comprises a water tank in which fish is reared and grow-beds. The grow-beds contain a sand-gravel-aggregate layered medium where crops are grown. Water is introduced, manually or automatically into the fish tank from where it is drawn out as fish-waste-water and irrigated onto crops in grow-beds.

“The system has a capacity of 1200 catfish and 160 horticultural plants in the grow-beds. The horticultural crops may include tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, green pepper among others,” says Nalwoga. It allows for the year-round production of protein and vegetables. WGI working with Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute, Kabanyolo came up with this innovation.

The system is movable and can be set up anywhere requiring a small piece of land. It may be automated with water pumps using grid or solar energy, depending on farmers’ preferences, affordability, and access to the energy options.

Deborah Gita poses next to her aquaponics farming system where she just harvested kale and beans. Aquaponics farming project beneficiaries are already reaping from their systems — Deborah Gita poses next to her aquaponics farming system where she has just harvested kale and beans. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

As COVID-19 ravaged the informal sector, the clientele for the project grew from less than 50 people to over 100 across Kampala’s five divisions. The project has established 8 demonstration sites in Kampala city, plus Kamuli, Hoima, and Adjumani districts, supporting more than 400 beneficiaries across the country, a critical intervention as the country struggles to recover from the pandemic.

“People are embracing the innovation and adopting it especially because these systems take up less space and can be located anywhere in the backyards or rooftops and the fish is protected from vermin unlike in ponds,” says Nalwoga.

The rapid urbanization, limited space, and a growing population in Kampala make aquaponics farming a better alternative to fish farming in earthen ponds that require bigger land and space.

For women most of who culturally in Uganda don’t own land under customary law and tenure land ownership, and are dogged by insecure land rights, Aquaponics farming is a ray of hope.

Other beneficiaries are like 55-year-old Deborah Gita, who used to run a garment shop, dealing in used beddings in the sprawling downtown market of St. Balikudembe. When the pandemic hit, the market, one of the country’s most congested was among the first to be closed down. Out of the job, the single mother faced a daunting challenge to support her five children. She was approached by KCCA and the village councilor to become an aquaponics adoptee. After days of training, she was assisted to set up a system at her home.

“My system was stocked with 400 catfish fingerlings and vegetables including kale and beans,” says Gita. “I am now able to feed my family with a balanced diet and at the same time earn some money from the produce.”

Now earning some 1,500 shillings ($4) per kilogram of Kale vegetable, Gita, who once struggled to feed her children earns enough money to afford necessities including food, pay for electricity, and her water bills. She is looking forward to the harvest of fish.

From her garment stall, she used to earn a profit of around Uganda shillings 500,000. Since she started on aquaponics, she has managed to get at least 400,000 each month from the sale of vegetables alone. When her fish gets of age, she hopes to more than double this.

An automated Aquaponics farming system consisting of a fish tank and grow beds where vegetables are grown. — Peace Mukulungu’s automated Aquaponics farming system consisting of 114 catfish and grow beds with spinach vegetables. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire / Ubuntu Times

However, it has not been entirely smooth sailing for the project. Low skills to manage aquaponics systems, limited access to inputs such as water, fish feeds, and expensive electricity are some of the challenges before people like Gita. Securing a dependable and affordable source of good quality fish feeds and fish fingerlings on the Ugandan market has also not been easy for most beneficiaries. This has led to system management lapses leading to fish deaths and crop failure in some cases. Nonetheless, project officers have come up with training manuals as well as system management manuals translated into local languages.

Beneficiaries are also required to keep books on how they manage the systems in terms of how much water is used daily. Weekly calls are also made to beneficiaries to check on their progress. Through community awareness-raising meetings and radio talk shows, WGI has been promoting aquaponics farming among farmers, households, and youth in targeted districts. “We see aquaponics being an opportunity for employment for the many unemployed youths in the country,” says Nalwoga.

For its part, the government of Uganda has put in place measures to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on the masses. Experts say that the majority of these interventions target the formal sector and leave out the informal sector where many workers live hand to mouth, mostly women.

It has also been noted that these strategies and interventions are not alive to the gendered impacts of the pandemic and fail to fulfill aspirations of sustainable development goal 5 on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls yet this is crucial to accelerating recovery from the pandemic.

“Aquaponics is a viable and smart agricultural innovation however beneficiaries need to be thoroughly trained so that they understand how a system works, as the only way they will sustainably reap benefits from the systems,” says Victoria Tibenda Namulawa head of Aquaculture at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation.

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Gender Justice Reporting Initiative.

Towards The Progressive Acquisition Of Consciousness

Gibson Nyikadzino

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December 12, 2021

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Towards The Progressive Acquisition Of Consciousness

Africans and other blacks abroad need to develop a historical consciousness that enables them to revisit their forefathers’ history to validate the true journey of the black race. Slavery, colonialism, Christianity and the colonial education systems have created dominant narratives by the west that have registered successes in whitewashing African and black history.

This erasure continues to systematically act towards whitewashing the history of Africa through European hagiography. As a result, Africa has become a victim of European historiography that exclusively acknowledges its own cultural and historical contributions, dismissing the successes of Africa and the black race along the way.

Before slavery, African progress in the fields of nationalising African knowledge systems was remarkable. More so, through slavery Africans who were forcibly removed from their birthplaces to the United States through slavery, also succeeded in various spheres. Unfortunately, their contributions remain unnoticed despite their importance.

Some blacks taken from Africa participated in the United States war of independence against British oppression. Others also contributed through architectural designs which are today still visible in America. Through information suppression by the white establishment, the heroic adventures and contributions of blacks remain in the periphery. The first person whose blood was spilt in the revolution which freed America from British oppression was a black man named Crispus Attucks. Another black man, Benjamin Banneker, was amongst the team that designed the capital of the United States, Washington DC.

In 1721, the United States went through a perilous phase when it faced a smallpox outbreak. A black slave named Onesimus, who had been bought in 1706 by one influential Boston minister Cotton Mather, shared significant knowledge with his master on how to treat smallpox. According to black tradition, before being enslaved in the United States, Onesimus, whose name means Useful, and his people had knowledge on treating smallpox through variolation. The treatment of smallpox in the United States was not a white man’s discovery, but a knowledge system that was passed by a black slave.

From Onesimus, Mather learnt that in Africa, blacks took pus from the wounds of an infected individual and inserted it into a cut made on a healthy person. This process, while adjudged not to be entirely effective, caused a mild reaction that gave people a degree of smallpox immunity for the healthy individual.

Because of mistrust in African remedies, Mather shared information he acquired from Onesimus with a white physician named Zabdiel Boylston. Recorded history informs one that Boylston tried the technique on several people, including his own son, and was pleased to ‘discover’ that Onesimus’ procedure was a largely successful one.

Through the misrepresentations of white supremacy, Mather and Boylston were hailed as heroes and the African, Onesimus, was nowhere close to securing a place in this important milestone in medicine. And despite his life-saving contribution to the smallpox outbreak, he was still not a free man.

Countless blacks have been unjustly stripped of their rightful recognition as vital contributors to science and medicine, among other disciplines. These also include Lewis Howard Latimer, the black man who invented the carbon filament board that made the light bulb give its glow, continuously. Today credit on who invented the light bulb has been given to Thomas Edison.

While nothing can undo the damage done by such cruel omissions from defining moments in history, Africans need to work hard and do their part to acknowledge these innumerable contributions to humanity by continuing to share these important historical discoveries… Unfortunately, blacks are not told and taught this in school; instead, end up praising the white man.

These past lessons by Africans, slaves and descendants of slaves are never told because they humiliate the white man. To get into the future, the past has to be studied to get new perspectives, unlike the white man’s narrative that continues to brainwash black people by developing false narratives that even other races continue to believe.

Western Philosophy ‘Unimaginative, Even Xenophobic’

In his book Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto, Bryan Van Norden, a Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS College in Singapore writes that the way the west projects African history is “narrow-minded, unimaginative, and even xenophobic.”

There have been ‘discoveries’ through exploratory excursions and military conquests done by white ‘explorers’ through the displacement of Africans in their territories. Statues have been erected in honour of these white ‘explorers’ and places renamed in their honour.

History shows that Africa, originally called Alkebulan, was named after a Roman general Scipio Africanus who had defeated Ethiopians. More so, one of the world’s seven wonders in Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls, was ‘discovered’ by Scottish ‘explorer’ David Livingstone in 1855. Livingstone named the place Victoria Falls in honour of the British Monarchy’s Queen Victoria.

Livingstone named the falls after the queen, but the Kalolo-Lozi people in Zimbabwe had their own name for it, Mosi-oa-Tunya, “the smoke that thunders.”

Western ideology and narratives have morphed into a false white knight in shining armour, itching to swoop in and enforce their model of “progressive” Eurocentric history over black successes.

Van Norden: “The west has written Africa out of the history of philosophy and black success, presenting all of Western philosophy as a linear progression from the ancient Greeks.”

Professor of Sociology at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Claude Mararike said the black race needs to record, research, teach and distribute literature that praises black successes under the “patriotic history” platform.

“We need to teach patriotic history, which is the interpretation of history in our context as blacks and Africans. There has to be more funding into research, publication and circulation of such information. The media (personnel) should be able to dig more into the archives because some history has been distorted,” says Prof. Mararike.

The academic also blamed religion, both Christianity and Islam for enabling colonialism and oppression of the black man through slavery and colonialism.

“The revolutionary patriotic history of Africa also has to be understood from the context of Christianity and Islam as the two religions that have also done a lot of distortions to African history.

“Missionaries are the greatest culprits and the church has been distorting African history and culture. So writing about that is not opening old wounds, but that is the correct interpretation of history and Africa should know these things,” added Prof. Mararike.

Undermining Western Intellectual Foundations

The African Union (AU) and its governments ought to invest in knowledge that shakes the western foundations.

Strides by Africans and blacks from all over are written, the continuous recording of their successes are there. There is evidence that shows that black movements like the #BlackLivesMatter are giant testimonies to undermine racially skewed Western interpretation of history.

History has been white-washed so severely that often, African philosophers who generate ideas about Ubuntu, colonial independence and sovereignty are only regarded as public intellectuals. In the textbooks of Europeans, these African heroes are not incorporated.

The white race seeks to amass all the historical glory, incentives and talents for itself while consciously and voluntarily disadvantaging strong black constituencies.

This is a key matter of national and intellectual independence in which “woke” black students need to raise in order to undermine the intellectual foundations of the West and expose them for their desire for “multicultural inclusion”.

As the West gets away with murder on white-washing history, this continues to reinforce false assumptions that black history is substandard to other cultures in general, but to the dominant white culture in particular.

It is not ahistorical to remind people that Christianity was evil colonial machinery that was used to evangelize Africa.

“Areas of concern are schools and universities. It is unfortunate that in some African countries, they do not want African history to be taught. In the United States, Britain and South Africa, they do not want to teach African patriotic history,” Prof. Mararike continued.

It is time for African governments and the AU to put more funds to promote the Afro-centric movement. This, in the long run, will effect change from the enlightened grassroots.

As Taxes Soar Amid COVID-19, Kenyans Groan

Dominic Kirui

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September 28, 2021

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As Taxes Soar Amid COVID-19, Kenyans Groan

The taxes imposed by the government have only made this worse, as businesses pass down costs to their customers so that they can stay afloat. Among those taxed include telecommunication costs, internet use, and fuel. Fuel prices have also affected liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used by many for cooking in their households.

Jane Thiga runs a greengrocery in Roysambu area in Nairobi and says that it has become expensive for her to place orders for fresh farm produce through phone calls. As such, she has to hike the prices of supplies by a small margin so it can cover these costs and also those of transport as fuel prices have also caused a hike in fares.

As she cleans up her tomatoes that she has picked up from the market in the morning and readies them for sale throughout the day and most especially in the evening as those who went to the city for work return home, Thiga, however, says that most of her customers are now complaining as they buy, while others have reduced the amount of food they are buying into their households.

Thiga cleans tomatoes — Jane Thiga cleaning tomatoes at her stall in Roysambu, Nairobi. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times

”Many are saying that the cost of living has gone up and they have to adjust accordingly. Some have even moved their families back upcountry to cut down on costs while some lost jobs during the pandemic and decided to return to their rural homes altogether,” she says.

Mobile phone loans were not left out as well by the government as they were also taxed. This also affected Thiga’s business because as she says, she normally takes a mobile loan to support her business.

“In most cases, customers take foodstuff on credit, and to maintain them, I normally take a quick mobile loan to bridge it,” she says.

In the Finance Bill 2021 that took effect on July 1st, the government imposed a 20% excise duty on data and calls, making it more expensive. The Bill also proposed a hike in fuel prices, affecting LPG gas prices in the country.

Samuel Juma is a gas vendor in Roysambu, and says that since the price of cooking gas went up, customers either buying or refilling cylinders have declined, with most of them resorting to using other forms of energy such as charcoal or paraffin stoves.

”There is nothing we can do. Most people have resorted to using other forms of charcoal, while others decide to eat in restaurants rather than refill their gas cylinders and use it to cook at home,” Juma says.

A stand with gas cylinders — A gas cylinder stand where residents go to buy or refill their LPG gas cylinders in Roysambu, Nairobi. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times

But, he says, those who heard about the hike in prices earlier are coming to buy, and that is what has kept them in business so far.

“Compared to last year when we were refilling a 6kg gas for Ksh850, the highest now goes for Ksh1300, noting an increase of Ksh450. This is too much, given also that every other item in the market is increasing, making life more difficult for the common citizens in this country,” Juma says.

Man arranges gas cylinders — Samuel Juma arranges gas cylinders at his stand in Roysambu, Nairobi. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times

Not to be left out was also the price of fuel that has been on a steady increase this year in Kenya, hitting the historical highest mark in decades.

At the moment, petrol sells at Ksh127.1 in Nairobi and could go to Ksh130 in other parts of the country, depending on the cost of transportation.

William Kimani, a car owner who lives in Kiambu, in the city outskirts says that he has had to use a matatu (public service vehicle) to work on several occasions this year because he couldn’t raise money to buy fuel for his private car.

“There is a time last year when I bought fuel for Ksh83, with the government telling us that it was a relaxation of tax to cushion us from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. But look right now, the effects of the same pandemic are now biting but the same government is on a tax Christmas. They are celebrating our agony,” Kimani says.

In April, Kenyans trolled the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loaning Kenya without a payback plan, while the East African nation’s Chinese loan and debt continued to burgeon.

Kimani says that he is aware that the government is hiking taxes in an attempt to raise money to pay back the loans.

“This government has been too greedy, never quenching its thirst for loans from almost all corners of the world, and now see how we are struggling. What will our future generations look like if we cannot put food on our children’s table nor pay their school fees?” he asks.

A petrol station — A Total petrol station at Thome, on the Northern Bypass Road in Nairobi. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times

Kimani also continues to say that the problem would not be in borrowing, but rather in how the money borrowed is managed.

“We wouldn’t have a problem with the borrowing. Borrowing is good, but only if the same money is managed well to give value to the public. But now, the problem in Kenya is that corruption is taking away all this money. The other day you heard reports saying that we are losing 2 billion Shillings to corruption daily. And yet our president doesn’t know what to do with it. In fact, the other day he asked what we want him to do. We are doomed,” Kimani concludes.

Growing Military Footprint In Civilian Affairs Threatening Ghana’s Democracy

Delali Adogla-Bessa

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September 8, 2021

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Growing Military Footprint In Civilian Affairs Threatening Ghana’s Democracy

Cletus Awuni was on his normal rounds on the afternoon of July 1 when the alarming news came his way.

Some soldiers were on the rampage in Wa, the capital of Ghana’s Upper West Region.

They were beating up some residents of the town and putting others in positions of duress after a phone belonging to one of the soldiers had been stolen.

Cletus, the Public Relations of Officer of the region’s Coordinating Council set out to investigate the brutalities and perhaps put a stop to it.

But in a blink, he too became a victim.

“In the course trying to find out why they were brutalizing people, I got myself also assaulted,” he recalled to Ubuntu Times.

When he got to the scene, Cletus had tried to capture the incident on video.

He was in a car with his phone up ready to film the human rights abuses when some of the soldiers turned their attention to him.

“About eight of them pounced on our vehicle and opened the door and tried to pull me out and they beat me up,” he said.

The conduct of the soldiers was a surprise to Cletus.

He said this was the first time he had heard of such an occurrence in his part of the country, which is known to be relatively quiet.

“The relationship between the citizens of the region and military has been very peaceful. In fact, no one has even noticed the presence of the military in the region.”

However, when the rest of Ghana heard the news and saw images of the actions of the soldiers, this was the latest instance of a worrying trend.

The country was already on edge after a more lethal instance of human rights abuses by the military.

The Wa incident followed soldiers opening fire on some protestors two days earlier in Ejura, a town in Ghana’s Ashanti Region.

The protestors were angry over the death of an activist in the area, who is believed to have been murdered because of his criticism of the Akufo-Addo administration.

Six people sustained gunshot wounds, two of whom died having been shot in the back. One of the wounded, a 16-year-old boy, lost a leg.

The subsequent outrage prompted the formation of a commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances that led to the military deployment to a purely civilian matter.

Escalation Of A Worrying Trend

Soldiers in Ghana can be seen responding to distress calls in schools, manning checkpoints, and fighting crime like police officers, among others.

A security consultant, Col. Festus Aboagye, has been one of the voices in the desert long decrying the growing footprint of Ghana’s military in civilian affairs.

“Why bring ourselves to a point where every issue should have the military in front line deployment? It is not appropriate,” he said to Ubuntu Times earlier in the year, when soldiers were again in the news for the wrong reason.

In the case of Ejura, testimony from the commission of inquiry has revealed that there were multiple breaches of protocols and drills meaning the military intervention was unlawful.

This is in addition to clear evidence the soldiers “were not equipped or did not intend to engage in any crowd control,” observed Col. Aboagye.

These incidents remain a major threat to Ghana’s democracy as we know it, he reiterated.

“The democracy that we have is very fragile; just a veneer. It is just on the surface.”

This damaging footprint of the military in civilian affairs has gotten significantly larger in the last 12 months.

Soldiers storm Ghana's Parliament — No one has answered for the deployment of soldiers into Ghana’s Parliament. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times

Soldiers deployed to opposition strongholds ahead of the 2020 election were accused of being tools of voter suppression.

They were also used to police the election itself and an attempt to disperse an agitating crowd with live bullets at a polling station led to the death of two persons.

To cap off a turbulent election cycle, in one of the most shocking scenes since Ghana returned to civilian rule, Ghanaians were left with open mouths at the sight of soldiers streaming into Ghana’s Parliament to confront brawling legislators.

Cry For Accountability

When soldiers are engaged in human rights abuses, there is generally no accountability to the public.

For instance, no attempt has been made to find and sanction the security personnel who opened fire on the crowd at the polling center leading to the two deaths.

“Up till date, not a single person has been held to account or is standing prosecution for their roles in those murders,” Mensah Thompson, the Executive Secretary of Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability, stressed to Ubuntu Times.

For him, it is a reminder that there are never any significant outcomes in terms of accountability of security agencies when they abuse power.

Even with the inquiry into the recent actions of the military in Ejura, Thompson feels there is no cause for excitement.

“What we want to see is a more robust attitude towards military brutality,” he said. “The government has been lax and this emboldening military men to engage in more brutalities.”

The lack of robustness has been reflected in the posturing of the committee probing the actions of the military in Ejura.

The committee at times appears unfocused and for people scrutinizing its work, like Col. Aboagye, the committee does not seem well prepared.

“I doubt whether the committee will establish substantive findings,” he added.

The committee has at times appeared more interested in the accounts from victim’s families and some media personnel who had limited knowledge of the events on the ground.

But the military personnel seem to have been treated with kid gloves, having questionable statements go unchallenged.

One of the officers in charge claimed the dead protesters could have been killed by friendly fire from fellow protesters but have presented no evidence to that effect.

This is in contrast to damning footage from the media showing soldiers aiming and firing on fleeing protesters.

Whilst commanding officers were invited to testify before the committee, soldiers who discharged their weapons were not even called to answer for their actions, to Col. Aboagye’s dismay.

“The people who were on the ground, the soldiers, all of them should have been called [especially] the ones who fired,” remarked the consultant.

Growing Partisan Shadow Over The Military

As alarming as the conduct of military personnel has been, fears are that it is only a symptom of the bigger problem; the flooding of security agencies with political party footsoldiers and militia.

In 2019, a law was passed to criminalize the erstwhile practice of political parties forming units sometimes described as militia or vigilante groups.

The governing New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Congress were the main culprits of what was viewed as a major threat to Ghana’s peace.

At their worst, vigilante groups were seen storming a courtroom to free prisoners or beating up police at the seat of the Presidency.

But since the law was passed, Thompson fears the security services have replaced the vigilante groups.

“Unfortunately, the government did not disband its militia but rather found a way to absorb them into the security agencies,” he noted.

The governing party has a monopoly in this regard since it controls recruitment into security agencies.

This is seen as one of the reasons accountability has been hard to come by, and why the families of victims in Ejura may not see justice.

Beyond Ejura, the list of victims of human rights abuses at the hands of security agencies is likely to grow longer and Thompson warns that partisan strings controlling Ghana’s security agencies must be cut.

“If we want to maintain the peace and order in this country, it is important that we depoliticize our security agencies.”

Karamoja Mining Rush Threatens Livelihoods of Indigenous People

Diana Taremwa Karakire

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August 23, 2021

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Karamoja Mining Rush Threatens Livelihoods of Indigenous People

Billions of investments into mining projects have breathed new life in Uganda’s once-neglected Karamoja region, creating thousands of jobs in mineral-rich heartlands near the Kenyan border but the investment rush has also brought new problems, fueling environmental degradation, rights violations, and land grabbing, threatening livelihoods of millions of indigenous Karamojong people.

Ugandan authorities are investigating the latest deadly clash in the impoverished gold mining sub-county of Rupa Moroto district which happened in late April, that left a 28-year old local defense personnel dead and forced several hundred locals to flee their homes after armed assailants staged a daytime raid and stole gold ores, worth millions of Ugandan shillings. Days earlier, dozens of policemen from Uganda’s mineral protection police who had been deployed to secure the lucrative gold mining village abandoned their positions, due to rising attacks, blamed on assailants, who usually cross from Kenya’s Turkana region.

In a region long inhabited traditionally by cattle-herders, the rush to get the region’s precious minerals gold, limestone, and marble, is uprooting people, damaging key water sources, and stirring social unrest. Locals talk of being displaced from their ancestral farmlands by land grabbers while others are now suffering from many diseases, including skin infections and diarrhea, blamed on consuming water from contaminated water bodies, as some miners use hazardous chemicals including mercury to extract gold.

Impact On The Environment

“We have been invaded by foreigners who don’t care about our livelihoods,” said Anne Napeyo, a 30-year old mother in Rupa. “Many of our people are getting wounds on their skin because the water here is contaminated”

Thousands in Karamoja have taken jobs in the mines while others have become “artisanal diggers” digging their own holes and tunnels, risking cave-ins and other dangers in pursuit of buried treasure, local leaders say. In addition to hazards such as contaminated water bodies, mining activities are leaving behind gaping pits, which now dot vast areas as artisan miners leave these behind in search of new grounds. Small children sometimes drown in these pits, while local farmers have lost livestock.

Sacred grounds known as ‘Akiriket’ are also being destroyed. According to the Karamoja traditional setting, every community is socially organized to have its own Akiriket from where the assemble for social events from initiations to naming happens. Community leaders say the minerals are turning into a curse.

“We want development but it can’t be at the expense of our peoples’ lives and livelihoods,” said Margerate Lomonyang coordinator of Karamoja Women Cultural Group and Karamoja representative on the multi-stakeholder group for the Extractives Industries Transparency initiative EITI. “Investors are taking advantage of desperate people who are trying to make a living in the mines”

Land Grabbing

A total of 17,083 square kilometers of land area in Karamoja is licensed for mineral exploration and extraction activities, according to official data. In 2018, Chinese mining company Sunbelt was given 3.3 square kilometers of land to set up a $13 million marble mining factory in Rupa sub-county. A year later, the company expanded its operations to cover additional 4.1 square kilometers, ostensibly after a deal with local leaders. Hundreds of families have since been pushed out of their ancestral homes, local officials say. Locals accuse Rupa Community development trust, a community trustee group created three years ago, of conniving with investors to steal their land.

“The community leaders came to us with compensation documents saying they were going to help us demand compensation when investors come,” one local known as Lokol, said “They tricked us to sign them without paying anything, now we have nowhere to go.”

While Sunbelt insists that company representatives went through the right channels to acquire the land, including signing a memorandum of understanding with the local leaders, authorities are investigating the transaction, according to the energy and minerals ministry.

“Sunbelt violated the community members’ rights to fair and adequate compensation in the land acquisition process. They didn’t involve the community members who are the real custodians of the land,” said Lomonyang.

Another company DAO Marble Africa Limited, which operates a mining license to mine marble has been accused by Human Rights Watch for rights violations, including allegations that the company connived and paid off a few local chiefs without compensating the local residents.

Land ownership in Karamoja is under customary tenure and communally owned and managed. This means that land is held in trust by one generation for another with the elders as ‘stewards’. This very unclear land ownership model makes fair compensation a difficult issue as few elders negotiate with the companies for the temporary acquisition of land.

Local Miners Association To The Rescue

Karamoja Miners Association unites miners in the region and was formed to sensitize local mining communities about their rights, help locals demand accountability from their leaders, and seek fair compensation from mining companies.

A Woman makes a submission during a meeting organized by Resource Rights Africa and karamoja Miners Association to educate miners about their labor rights — Women engage in mining activities in Karamoja. Poor working conditions and environmental degradation pose health risks for them. Credit: Resource Rights Africa

“We organize miners in groups so that they have a formidable voice and can negotiate for better wages and working conditions from mining companies,” says Simon Nagiro the chairperson of the association. “We have also embarked on interpreting into local languages miners’ rights as enshrined under the mining laws.”

Regions’ Mineral Potential

Karamoja is endowed with a vast array of metallic and industrial minerals that have the potential to be developed commercially. A 2011 survey found that the region contains over 50 minerals including gold, limestone, uranium, marble, graphite, gypsum, iron, wolfram, nickel, copper, cobalt, lithium, and tin. With 61% of Karamoja’s 1.2 million people living in poverty, the region’s mineral potential holds the promise of economic development.

Karamoja Mining At A Glance

A total of 17,083 square kilometers of land area in Karamoja is licensed for mineral exploration and extraction activities.
The region is endowed with over 50 different minerals, including marble, limestone, gold, silver, copper, and iron.
26 companies currently have exploratory or mining rights in the region.
The sector comprises both large-scale and artisanal and small-scale miners.

The Constitution of Uganda 1995, vests all mineral resources in the hands of government but article 244 provides that minerals shall be exploited taking into account the interests of landowners and local governments and further states that land will not be deprived of a person without prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation. Under articles 39 and 41, every Ugandan has a right to a clean and healthy environment and as such can bring an action for any pollution or improper disposal of wastes.

The Mining Act, 2003 is the principal law that governs mining in Uganda. Under Section 4 of the act, a person may acquire the right to search for and mine any mineral by acquiring a license issued by the commissioner. Section 15 provides for payment of compensation to owners of private land for damage done to the surface of the land or to any crops, trees, buildings, or for livestock injured or killed by the negligence of the holder of the license or an agent. Section 43 provides that a mining license shall not be granted unless the proposed mining program takes into proper account environmental impact assessment and safety factors.

Section 110 further makes it mandatory for every license holder to submit a costed environmental restoration plan which requires approval by the National Environment Management Authority. The Act however does not clearly address the regulation of mining activities by different government agencies and how they can follow up with the investors regarding royalties. This is worsened by the limited role local government plays in the regulation of mining activities due to resource constraints.

Rights Of Indigenous Groups In Uganda

According to Minority rights group international, Karamojong pastoralists, are some of the most marginalized minorities in Uganda, isolated economically and politically. Commonly stereotyped by their compatriots as violent and backward, other Ugandans refer to them as warriors. The African Commission’s International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs also recognizes the Karamojong people as indigenous minority groups in Uganda. However, Uganda does not officially recognize Indigenous minority groups. This lack of formal recognition by the state further disenfranchises Karamojong.

Uganda is a signatory to various international instruments that reiterate the rights of indigenous people. These include; the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People 2007, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, the country is still lagging behind in terms of protecting the rights of indigenous people.

An artisan gold miner mines for gold in Rupa sub-county — A Karamojong woman digs a hole as she mines for gold in Rupa-sub-county. Such holes dot the area and have become death traps for both children and livestock. Credit: Diana Taremwa Karakire

“We are empowering communities by educating them about their land and property rights so that they are able to hold mining companies accountable,” says Abaho Herbert a program officer at Resource Rights Africa a local charity organization operating in the region. “We also work with local leaders to put in place by-laws that enable fair wages for miners to avoid being exploited by the mining companies”

Since Belgium-based Africa gold refinery set up a $20 million gold plant in Uganda, the country has become a magnet for gold mining activities, notably in Karamoja. Gold exports fetch $1 billion every year and have overtaken coffee as Uganda’s leading export commodity.

For many local leaders, this rush is the reason for increased insecurity, displacement of locals, and inter-communal clashes. Gold miners are routinely attacked by assailants looking for the highly sought-after metal, bringing back memories of the insecurity that plagued the region at the height of cattle rustling in the 1990s and 2000s. Illegal miners continue to flock to the 7 districts of Karamoja, driving up displacements, clashes over land ownership and shared water bodies.

Food insecurity is also a challenge in the region and reliance on natural resources has rendered livelihoods sensitive to climate change, already a reality manifested inform of recurring droughts, flash floods, and prolonged dry spells.

In June 2021, Uganda’s cabinet approved a draft mining law (Mining and minerals Bill 2019) that imposes steep penalties for violations in the sector, including fines of 1 billion shillings ($278,164.12) and prison terms of up to seven years for those found guilty of environmental degradation, illegal mining among other violations.

The new law will replace the old mining legislation that has been in place since 2003, when the region hadn’t discovered vast minerals, according to Vicent Kedi the commissioner licensing at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

“The new law will solve issues of non-compliance by mining companies to social and environmental safeguards, ” he says. “We are working with local leaders in the region to continuously monitor mining company operations.

This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network’s Indigenous Story Grants

Child Prostitution Rampant In Zimbabwe’s Slums

Jeffrey Moyo

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August 22, 2021

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Child Prostitution Rampant In Zimbabwe’s Slums

Harare — Donning mini-skirts, popular for being dress codes for the oldest profession here, girls as young as 12, file past the railway tracks towards Harare-Chinhoyi highway, where one after the other, they are picked by motorists to unknown destinations.

Behind the girls, lies a slum settlement that stretches closer to Westgate, a medium-density residential area in Harare, where the girls brag, they have had a constant customer base for their sex services.

In fact, some of the girls claimed, posh vehicles every day in the evenings, often at sunset, drive up to their settlement to fetch them.

So, to quench the pleasures of the men frequenting their settlement, the girls are every day picked and later after business, dropped, to them a sign of thriving business even as they look underaged to be in the oldest profession.

“We have no choice. You can see the conditions we live under – poverty defines our daily living here and if we don’t sell sex, we can’t have food. As for me, I have no parents and I live with my little nine-year-old sister whom I have to feed because our parents died some three years ago,” 15-year-old Pegina Muzhandi, told Ubuntu Times.

Pegina made no secret about what killed her parents, saying they both died of AIDS, a disease she said neither spared her nor her little sister as they both acquired HIV at birth.

She (Pegina) said condom use is a rarity each time she engages her clients.

“More often, my clients who are much older than me – some men in their forties, just prefer not to use condom protection when they sleep with me. There is nothing I can do about it because at the end of the day what I need is money,” said Pegina.

In the slums where Pegina and her sister live with many other girls of her age, there are apparently scores of other grown women also in the business of sex trade – many in fact like 43-year-old Marian Chihoko who openly said sex workers of her age were facing competition from very young girls.

“Underage girls have put us out of business here because they are often preferred by almost every client who comes here because they look young and more attractive than some of us, but also because these young girls charge very little for their services,” Chihoko told Ubuntu Times.

Zimbabwe teen sex workers — Unidentified two teenage sex workers ready themselves for potential clients by the street in the dark corners of Epworth, a poor township 25 kilometers east of Harare, where poverty has pushed many underage girls into sex work. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / Ubuntu Times

At Caledonia informal settlement, approximately 30 kilometers east of Harare, child sex workers are not a strange phenomenon.

Here, much-grown women like 63-year-old Memory Mhere, admitted that she was making brisky business hiring out desperate young girls to much-grown sex predators.

“The girls here now know I have a wider customer base and so they (girls) come to me asking me to connect them to the rich men who want sex services and I do that and payment is given to me and then I pay a smaller percentage to the girls,” Mhere told Ubuntu Times.

So, a pimp guru in her own right, Mhere admitted to making a killing trading out underage girls for sex – 50 to 65 dollars on a good day.

She however vehemently denied that she was responsible for fanning underage prostitution in her locality, saying in fact the girls approach her on their own.

“I don’t move around calling the young girls to come and sell their bodies. It’s them who come here knowing I am well connected to well-to-do men who frequent this area searching for young girls to sleep with,” said Mhere.

For development experts like Hebert Ruhaka based in the capital Harare, slums across Zimbabwe’s towns and cities have become fertile grounds for child prostitution.

“Poverty is rampant in slums and more often than not, girls there have no access to life’s basics and in order to get the basics, the girls have had to join the oldest profession whether they are in school or at home,” Ruhaka told Ubuntu Times.

According to Ruhaka, who is a holder of a degree in development studies from Zimbabwe’s Midlands State University, ‘slum settlements across the country here are infested with underage sex workers, who are as young as 13 years of age.’

Sadly, Ruhaka said, more often than not, elderly women hire very young girls to engage in sex with grown men, something seasoned pimps like Mhere did not dispute.

“The elderly women who lure young girls into sex work get paid by their clients who sleep with the poor underage girls more often without condom protection, with the girls rewarded with very little money by their pimps. At times they are not paid at all or if lucky they are instead rewarded with food handouts,” said Ruhaka.

According to many experts like Ruhaka, many underage sex workers in this Southern African country have dropped out of school, as their poverty-stricken families cannot pay school fees for them, with many of the girls like 15-year-old Pegina apparently orphaned.

In 2019, about 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s children in primary school were sent home for failing to pay fees, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee.

“We are seeing a spike in social vices like child prostitution and domestic violence,” says Father Martin Nyadewo of St. Peter’s Parish in Mbare, a high-density southern suburb of Harare. “Young girls are increasingly taking to the streets to sell their bodies to be able to feed themselves and their families.” Nyadewo’s remarks appeared in a July 2020 article in America, the Jesuit review magazine.

Aid To Africa: A Deceptive Neo-Colonial Tool Enforcing Mental Slavery Without Restraint

Gibson Nyikadzino

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June 17, 2021

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Aid To Africa: A Deceptive Neo-Colonial Tool Enforcing Mental Slavery Without Restraint

“The root of the disease was political. The treatment could only be political. Of course, we encourage aid that aids us in doing away with aid. But in general, welfare and aid policies have only ended up disorganizing us, subjugating us and robbing us of a sense of responsibility for our own economic, political and cultural affairs. We chose to risk new paths to achieve greater well-being.” These were the remarkable words from Burkina Faso’s iconic leader Thomas Sankara.

The issue of aid in Africa, which Sankara was vehemently against, is topical and today used in determining how alliances are built and strengthened between the continent and its former colonizers. From the western world, Africa should get military, humanitarian, emergency and charitable aid to promote growth and security among other issues. In these times of the Coronavirus pandemic, giving alms to Africa has gone a gear up through a new phenomenon called “medical aid.” Global players have also joined the race to aid and rescue Africa. After the 2018 Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China pledged aid worth US$15 billion to Africa between 2019 and 2021.

Aid is a new form of colonialism. it is friendly but vicious. It is the new face the west and other global players are using to subjugate Africa because of its friendliness. Nearly four years after Ghana’s independence and realizing colonial defeat, then United States of America (USA) president John Fitzgerald Kennedy announced a new plan to address Africa’s ‘needs’.

“AID represents a very essential commitment. As important as any work that is being done by anyone for this country,” said President Kennedy in 1961 at the launch of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiative.

Emergency rescue — Food donations by non-governmental organizations create a dependency syndrome that will see citizens expecting more handouts even when they have the land to grow crops for self-sustenance. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

According to a 2019 report by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of wealthy donor nations, the value of international development aid in the world reached a new peak of US$152.8 billion, a slight increase over 2018. Africa has received more and this is not mere generosity.

Giving A Crumb After Taking A Loaf

The amount of aid which the west or east call important for African countries is not commensurate with what the global powers are exploiting and shipping out. Resource exploitation and plunder, slave labor and under-pricing of Africa’s resources have become key characteristics of what multi-national corporations are looting, and later return the crumbs in the form of aid.

Africa’s resources were plundered by the Europeans many years before they agreed to formally colonize Africa at the Berlin Conference in 1885. Slave trade stole the continent’s human resources. According to historians, over 12.5 million Africans were shipped out of the continent due to the slave trade. While it is a complex exercise to calculate the monetary value of what was stolen in Africa, but a decade before the American civil war, in New Orleans, a healthy African male slave was auctioned for $1,200. A girl aged nine or ten was auctioned for $1,400 considering her ability to bear more children for resale.

The value of the resources even after independence continues to bring slave wages in Africa. In Ethiopia, one of Africa’s biggest exporters of coffee, farmers are made to sell the coffee at US$4 per kilogram while large coffee companies sell the same at US$200 per kilogram on the international market. The same goes for cocoa in Ivory Coast. As a result, multi-national corporations continue making profits that run into millions while ‘independent’ Africa remains poor. Africa is strategic to global powers because of their reliance on its natural resources and economic opportunities.

The imposition of colonialism on Africa altered the course of the continent’s history. Its impact is felt entirely. The settler regimes had a poor and worse record for poverty reduction, considering the mineral resources of South Africa and then Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe).

With a continued pouring of aid in Africa in the name of “transforming lives” failing to meet the continent’s demands, economist and author of Dead Aid says the issue of aid in Africa is “one of the greatest myths of our time.”

“The state of postwar development policy in Africa today is one of the greatest myths of our time. That billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth is false. In fact, recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse – much worse,” wrote Dambisa Moyo.

Road To Hell Paved With Good Intentions

Humanitarian or emergency aid through drugs and food, charitable aid through scholarships and non-governmental organization (NGO) work, and other interventions have not been sufficient to transform African societies. In the longer term, these are not going to help Africa develop. Public goods such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure are in many instances being financed in most instances through donor funds. What donors are providing are goods that African governments should provide their citizens.

In 2010, in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakariya, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said the role of aid is to support the socio-economic transformation of people and help people achieve things they want and ultimately wean off aid.

Europe's Top Diplomat — Ambassador Olkkonen says the wealth Zimbabwe has is enough to transform the country’s socio-economic condition and in the long term wean it off dependence on aid. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

European Union (EU) head of delegation to Zimbabwe Ambassador Timo Olkkonen acknowledges that Zimbabwe has wealth of resources and that in “the longer term we should move away from dependence on aid.” “Zimbabwe is a wealthy country in terms of natural resources and touristic and agricultural potential. In the longer term, we should move away from dependence on aid. Concurrently with providing development cooperation we are building our trade relations with Zimbabwe based on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) we have. We are in the midst of negotiating an expansion of that agreement to cover other areas than trade in goods,” Ambassador Olkkonen says.

According to a 2019 CSO Sustainability Index for Sub-Saharan Africa prepared by USAID, the US government pledged to give NGO’s financial aid to “empower and transform livelihoods of citizens in all sectors.” Despite reports of mismanagement of donor finances, Ambassador Olkkonnen said his bloc has mechanisms in place “to avoid any un-procedurally benefitting from our funding” adding that “the thousands of beneficiaries of EU support all over Zimbabwe will disagree” that EU aid is “just plain wasteful”.

Decolonize The Mind And Return To Freedom

Africa’s modern leaders have abandoned the self-sustenance philosophies of leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, and Thomas Sankara. Zimbabwe’s media scholar and academic Dr. Lyton Ncube said aid will never develop the continent, but will only avail short-term benefits.

“That issue is a complex one and we need to understand the political economy of aid from the Washington Consensus and taking it from either the eastern or western blocs. When we look at the role of aid in transforming lives of Africans, perhaps the benefit is short-term sustainability and not for the long term. The main problem is those who fund have their own interests, goals, and ambitions. I would refer you to some of the revolutionaries when you look at the philosophies of Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, and Kwame Nkrumah they managed to embark on what I would call the return to freedom,” said Dr. Ncube.

According to Dr. Ncube, the issue of aid resembles the problem of coloniality in Africa and urged governments to take the lead from Zimbabwe when it embarked on the land redistribution exercise in 2000 that benefitted over 300,000 households. Before 2000, only 4,500 former white commercial Zimbabwean farmers owned an estimated seventy percent of the country’s prime land.

Dr. Ncube adds: “To have long-term development we need to own the means of production and be masters of our destiny by value-adding our products. Zimbabwe’s land reform program is a starting point to self-sufficiency. Are you telling me those donors have no people who need help from their countries? Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o says the problem that we suffer from is the problem of the mind. We need to cleanse our minds from the colonial system.”

President Kenyatta Launches Port Of Lamu Amid Uproar From Environmentalists In Coastal Kenya

Dominic Kirui

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June 11, 2021

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President Kenyatta Launches Port Of Lamu Amid Uproar From Environmentalists In Coastal Kenya

Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta on the 3rd week of May inaugurated the Lamu Port that seeks to link the Indian Ocean to the ambitious regional project, the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor, otherwise known as the LAPSSET Corridor Project.

President Kenyatta presided over the operationalization of the first of the 32 berths port, terming it a critical pillar of the LAPSSET project, which is a transport corridor linking the three east African countries.

“As a critical pillar of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor project, this Port will connect South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Eventually, it will connect northern Kenya to the Middle Belt of Africa; which runs from Dakar, Senegal in the west to Lamu in the east,” President Kenyatta said.

But, the event raised more concern by lobby groups in Lamu, as well as scientists on the president’s commitment to environmental protection, as they claim that these projects are destroying the environment and costing the local residents their sources of livelihood.

The LAPSSET project is the second to be set up in Lamu, after the coal-fired power plant that the government wanted to set up in Kwasasi, a few miles from the new Lamu Port. The coal plant project was halted by the Environment Court in June 2019, on the basis that the stakeholders did not carry out an environmental impact assessment. A consortium of like-minded organizations fighting for environmental justice under the umbrella name, Save Lamu, had filed the case at the court.

President opens Port of Lamu — Swaleh Elbusaidy, a community environmental lawyer shows where the coal-fired power plant was to be set up in Kwasasi, Lamu. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times

The project also involves the construction of three major cities within the country, an oil pipeline, a standard gauge railway, and major airports.

Likewise, the same organization had filed a case at the High Court of Kenya in January 2012, and a determination was made in 2018 by the same court.

In the April 2018 ruling, the High Court found rampant environmental violations in the project and awarded Sh1.76 billion to Lamu fishermen affected by the project. The ruling remains frozen without implementation, while an appeal by the Kenya Ports Authority and other responders has not been heard by the Court of Appeal since 2018.

Despite this ruling, Lamu Port construction continued for four years unabated. Thousands of fishermen have had their livelihoods affected by four years of dredging and land reclamation. Port construction has profoundly damaged the ecosystem, in particular killing corals and diminishing marine nurseries in a richly biodiverse area.

“Already three years have passed since the court awarded us this compensation, which has been owed to us since 2014 when the port project began,” said Somo M. Somo, Chairman of the Lamu County Beach Management Unit.

“Lamu fishermen leadership attended several stakeholder meetings over these years. We made concessions to find an agreeable resolution. Just two weeks ago, we sat in meetings for a week, while observing Ramadan, to reach an agreed-upon plan, yet they have decided to launch the Lamu Port despite the promise they made last week about the fishermen’s compensation matter,” said Mohamed Athman, Save Lamu Chairman.

“In moving forward with this launch, the government and the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) have failed to keep their word. Rather than resolve this vital fishermen’s compensation matter as promised, instead, they have decided to celebrate and launch Lamu Port,” Athman said.

Many would argue that the development project would be a great opportunity for growth and development for the region, but as Human Rights Watch spoke to a human rights defender working in Lamu, she pointed out that this should not be the case at the expense of people’s livelihood.

“When LAPSSET began, it was touted as a boon for the people of Lamu, a source of hope for many who had lived in poverty for generations. The project was to employ many, open up the region for trade and growth. However, in its early years, the project has left many without land or compensation. Fishermen are losing out on their livelihood since the fishing area is now restricted, and their little boats cannot be used further out into the ocean for deep-sea fishing,” said Salome Nduta, a senior program officer at Kenya’s National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders.

Direct compensation for harm incurred is just one remedy amongst a litany of environmental violations in the planning and construction of Lamu Port, a major component of the Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Project.

The port has been constructed by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), associated with the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), for USD $500 million, according to Save Lamu.

However, the organization also blames the regulatory agency, National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), saying that it has failed in its role to monitor compliance and enforce the violations occasioned by the project proponents.

In a statement, Save Lamu raised concerns and put out their demands to the presidency and all the stakeholders involved.

“We condemn this decision by President Kenyatta and officials to launch Lamu Port while ignoring the project’s serious issues that were affirmed by the High Court in 2018; we call on the Kenya Ports Authority and Treasury to swiftly compensate the fishermen, and to stop shirking their responsibilities and making false promises; we call on the Court of Appeal to hear and resolve the appeal that was filed by Kenya Ports Authority and fellow respondents in 2018 — and stop ignoring a pivotal court ruling; and finally, we call on President Kenyatta to take immediate action to ensure the Lamu fishermen are compensated and resolve the serious and escalating environmental issues with Lamu Port,” the statement concluded.

An ‘Illegal’ Economy Fortified With Blessings Of Ruling Elite

Gibson Nyikadzino

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May 12, 2021

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An ‘Illegal’ Economy Fortified With Blessings Of Ruling Elite

On April 18, Zimbabwe celebrated its 41^st independence anniversary from British colonial rule amid a presidential promise that the country’s mining sector will contribute US$12 billion dollars in revenue by 2023.

The country’s over sixty mineral resources ranging from diamonds, platinum and gold remain under-explored. According to the country’s minister of Mines and Mining Development Mr. Winston Chitando, “Zimbabwe does not know the estimated value of its mineral wealth.”

Despite the huge wealth in mineral deposits, the lives of many Zimbabweans have not improved. In his independence speech, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa reiterated his government’s plan to have the mining sector contribute hugely to the economy and improve the lives of citizens. By 2030, Zimbabwe seeks to achieve an upper-middle-income economic status.

“The mining industry is projected to rebound by eleven percent this year. Guided by the strategy to achieve a US$12 billion industry by 2023, programs that include increased exploration, expansion of existing mining projects, resuscitation of closed mines, opening of new mines, mineral beneficiation and value addition are being prioritized,” said President Mnangagwa in his independence speech.

Zimbabwe's leader since November 2017 — Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa addresses the nation in his Independence Day speech revealing that the country’s mining sector will be a US$12 billion dollar industry by 2023 despite Zimbabwe losing over one billion dollars through gold smuggling and illegal trade of the mineral. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Zimbabwe’s goldfields and other mineral fields are today a contested terrain where even the elite and state institutions including the country’s Defence Forces are scrambling for a slice of the cake. In 2008, Mr. Farai Maguwu, the director of Center for Natural Resource Governance was arrested for bringing to attention the abuses committed by Zimbabwe’s security forces in the Marange diamond fields.

The gold sector has not been spared. According to a 2020 report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) gold buyers linked to President Mnangagwa buy the precious mineral on a premium, deterring the gold panners from selling the gold to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the sole authorized gold buyer.

Resources Plunder By An Intemperate, Predatory Elite

After his dismissal then as Vice President in November 2017, Mnangagwa was accused of amassing wealth by grabbing mines belonging to small-scale miners. “Mnangagwa also grabbed many mines which belong to small-scale miners. He was abusing his authority as the Vice President to grab whatever he wants. We say Mnangagwa must be arrested because he is corrupt, he must face the music,” said then party official Mr. Dickson Mafios at a rally.

In 2018 former Higher Education Minister in Zimbabwe Prof. Jonathan Moyo also revealed that President Mnangagwa’s activities and those of his close circle are despicable that even the United Nations (UN) had to publish a report about their activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) second civil war.

“The person who led the plunder of resources in the DRC leading to the United Nations (UN) investigating and coming with a report that is still there is Emmerson Mnangagwa along with the military cabal of General Chiwenga and SB Moyo. The person who brought the Chinese to plunder Chiadzwa Diamond Fields up to a point to which we had at the very least from 2007 to 2014 some US$12 to US$15 billion in diamond revenue that remain unaccounted for that went into the pockets of individuals is Mnangagwa,” Prof. Moyo said.

The report titled Plundering of DR Congo Natural Resources: Final Report of the Panel of Experts (S/2002/1146) was published in October 2002.

Chief beneficiary — President Mnangagwa’s name has been implicated in a scandal of six kilograms of gold that were recovered by the police destined for Dubai, allegedly involving his wife Auxillia, son Collins and close relative Ms. Henrietta Rushwaya. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Today President Mnangagwa and his family’s name continue to ring in illegal gold deals. Illegal gold mining or artisanal small-scale mining in Zimbabwe has been a launchpad for many illicit financial flows and gold smuggling out of the country. Home Affairs minister Mr. Kazembe Kazembe in February this year admitted that smuggling and illegal gold deals are costing the country between US$1.2 billion to US$1.5 billion dollars annually.

In October last year, Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) president Ms. Henrietta Rushwaya, a “close Mnangagwa relative” implicated Mnangagwa’s wife Auxillia and their son Collins after she was arrested at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport attempting to smuggle six kilograms of gold worth over US$360,000 to Dubai.

The First Lady distanced herself from Ms. Rushwaya’s arrest. “I have no dealings nor involvement with Ms. Rushwaya of any illegal kind,” she said. The gold sector in Zimbabwe has become a vital cog in foreign currency earning with many entrants using President Mnangagwa’s name to make inroads.

A US$12 Billion Election Campaign Promise For 2023?

Mr. Maguwu doubts the sincerity of the Mnangagwa administration in reaching the US$12 billion mining sector contribution to the economy by 2023. He further notes “Zimbabwe has far surpassed that mark.” Late Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe in 2015 claimed the country had not received much from its diamond industry and lost about US$15 billion in the sector.

“We have not received much from the diamond industry at all. Not much by the way of earnings. I don’t think we have exceeded US$2 billion or so and yet we think that well over US$15 billion dollars have been earned in that area,” President Mugabe claimed then.

Zimbabwe is scheduled for general elections in 2023 and according to Mr. Maguwu, the government initiative in the mining sector is a campaign tool similar to the 2013 elections.

In 2010, Zimbabwe had an Employee and Community Share Ownership Scheme (ECSOS) in which foreign-owned companies were expected to cede some of their investments towards employee and community empowerment. After the 2013 elections, the scheme has been dumped.

“To me, it sounds like a political statement targeting the 2023 election, similar to the 2010 community share ownership scheme that was going to empower communities, and it led to the 2013 elections. After that election the whole thing died a natural death, now they are talking about a US$12 billion dollar economy by 2023, which is another election year. There is no feasibility study as to what is wrong with our mining sector. You cannot fix what you do not know. So there is no research carried out to say what is wrong and how do we correct it.”

“This government is silent on mining corruption. They are not talking about it and that is where the money is. It is not about making big statements and making promises to the nation,” Mr. Maguwu said.

Meeting target — Mines Minister Mr. Chitando dismissed critics for insinuating the US$12 billion dollar mining industry sector target by 2023 is a political campaign strategy. In his admission, he said Zimbabwe does not know the cumulative value of its mineral wealth. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Minister Chitando dismissed Mr. Maguwu’s assertion. He says the expected US$12 billion dollar contribution by the mining sector will be revenue streamed into the national fiscas.

“The US$12 billion dollars is the revenue that will be coming to the fiscas from the mining sector. There are projects happening now in the platinum sector, we have three new projects taking place. We have expansion projects taking place and all projects are taking place in reality. The fact that we took a five-year window is because that is the target we are working on,” explained Minister Chitando.

Uphold Rule Of Law To Plug Leakages, Illegality

Mr. Wellington Takavarasha, the chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF), an organization owned by President Mnangagwa’s close relative Ms. Rushwaya, highlighted that artisanal small-scale miners contribution to the US$12 billion contribution is dwindling as some miners are being arrested.

Between 2017 and 2020, artisanal small-scale miners contributed a total of sixty tonnes of gold to the sanctioned government buyer, Fidelity Printers and Refiners. Because of arrests of the artisanal small-scale miners, gold output has declined from 60 percent to 47 percent. In 2019, small-scale miners contributed 17 tonnes as opposed to 9.8 tonnes in 2020.

“This year’s first quarter, our output has declined but we have the potential to contribute to the US$12 billion target. Our strategies include having our ventures formalized, mechanized, and have government resuscitate the mining industry loan fund,” said Mr. Takavarasha.

ZMF estimates that a tonne of gold is traded illicitly outside the formal market, which is fuelled by more than 1.3 million unregistered artisanal small-scale miners against its membership of 40,000.

Zimbabwe’s Gold Trade Act prohibits people without licenses to trade in the precious material. “Illegal mining is a livelihood activity that needs to be formalized. As it is, government is not benefiting but the middlemen and police are benefiting,” added Mr. Takavarasha.

Illegal gold dealings and smuggling is no new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. Successive ministers have raised the issue but their principals have turned a blind eye to their calls. Economist Mr. Nyasha Muchichwa says for government to stop the leakages, it needs to “uphold the rule of law and offer a competitive price to stop arbitrage.”

Government sanctioned buyer Fidelity Printers and Refiners is currently buying gold at US$45 per gram while on the illegal market it is US$54 per gram.

“The fact that we can quantify the money we are losing means we know that it is happening and when it has happened. The law should take its course and to those caught on the wrong side to be used as an example on what not to do.”

“When paying for those mining or selling gold, let us pay competitive rates so there is no arbitrage. As long as we have different prices this is when you find people making other means to get more money from the mineral they are holding. We need to address the price, laws that govern the selling, and the issue of our porous borders,” said Mr. Muchichwa.

US Military Presence In Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Making SADC Volatile

Gibson Nyikadzino

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April 14, 2021

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US Military Presence In Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Making SADC Volatile

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) might have been defeated, but its ideas and followers did not disappear. It has since reappeared in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado Province, transformed as the Islamic State’s Central African Province (ISCAP). In August last year, the group attacked and ran over Mocimboa da Praia, a port town lying on the Indian Ocean coast, declaring it its capital and raising the ISCAP profile to the world.

The situation at present is threatening a major military and humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which has so far internally displaced at least 700,000 people. By June, the number is projected to be around one million.

Raouf Mazou, UNHCR’s assistant commission for operations recently said: “If one looks at the speed at which we are seeing the number of internally displaced persons rise, we know that the window of opportunity that we have is closing.”

Fleeing conflict — People fleeing the violence in several districts in Cabo Delgado are seen here homeless as they arrive in Pemba, the provincial capital. Credit: IOM / Matteo Theubet

The roots of the insurgency in Mozambique on October 5, 2017 can be traced to Kenya’s city of Mombasa and spreading along the coast in Tanzania to Mozambique. Where a combination of resources and conflict pan, the United States has presented itself as a counterterrorism partner. Over 2,000 US forces are active in over 40 counter-terrorism training missions in Africa.

Mozambique, a member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), on March 15 confirmed the presence of US Commandos in the country for the next two months. A statement by the US embassy in Mozambique revealed that the arrangement is a government to government arrangement in which “US Special Forces will train Mozambican marines for two months to support Mozambique’s efforts to prevent the spread of terrorism and violent extremism.”

This marks the entry of the US-Africa Command in a region that has enjoyed relative peace. On the other hand, Mozambique’s former colonizer, Portugal, confirmed it will send “a staff of approximately 60 instructors to Mozambique to train marines and commandos.”

Is Mozambique Choosing A Wrong Ally?

The SADC bloc has a counter-terrorism strategy that underscores the desire to mete out terrorism and violent extremism under the collective belief that “a threat to one country threatens the peace and stability” of other countries.

University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturer in the Department of Politics and Administrative Studies Dr. Lawrence Mhandara says the decision by the Mozambican government to invite US forces “indicate a vote of no confidence” on the regional bloc.

“The lack of action on the Mozambique issue by SADC demonstrates a lack of collective capacity in the region. Though SADC has a counter-terrorism strategy, it lacks dynamism in dealing with collective security threats. For instance, Angola and Zimbabwe lack counter-terrorism capabilities,” notes Dr. Mhandara.

The SADC protocol to assistance from other nations is based on the “invitation by the country that needs help” so that other countries intervene. In the case of Mozambique, the country only sent an invite in August last year after it had approached individual countries, which did not yield results. The choice of the US by the Mozambican government, according to Dr. Mhandara, “could be based on the USA’s combat experience” on several conflicts fighting terrorism.

US forces have notably been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and now in Syria in the name of “fighting” terrorism.

“The obvious implication of this action by the government of Mozambique is that it envinces a vote of no confidence in the collective will and capability in SADC. There could be some incentives for the USA in this arrangement, but it is damaging to SADC,” added Dr. Mhandara.

Resource Protection At The Heart Of Foreign Intervention

The involvement of the US in Mozambique is part and parcel of the political-economy of war. It cannot be refuted that there are incentives for the US in this conflict. In Afghanistan and Iraq, American companies have benefitted from defense contracts through conflicts.

There are double standards coming through over the past ten years, oil companies have discovered the largest gas reserves that push several multi-billion dollar projects that have the potential to turn Mozambique into the next energy giant. As of 2019, statistics indicate Mozambique holds 100 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves, and ranked 14th in the world. In 2011, economic projections from the World Bank pointed that in the next ten years, the biggest investments were going to Cabo Delgado.

In the Cabo Delgado region, Montepuez ruby mine is said to account for 80 percent of global gas output. Besides Montepuez, a myriad of private gas companies have also emerged and protecting their interests by hiring private security companies to protect their interests. When ISCAP ran over Mocimboa da Praia last year, the Mozambican government and French oil company Total announced a strengthened agreement to protect gas installations including the Rovuma LNG gas project led by Italy’s Eni and the USA’s ExxonMobil.

The US and Portuguese troops coming to Mozambique are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) keen to “stop terrorism and extremism.” Simultaneously, they are protecting the economic interests of French’s Total, Italy’s Eni, and USA’s ExxonMobil, exploring gas in Mozambique. France and Italy are also NATO members.

“After this conflict, aims could be economic for the US government and after the mission, certain benefits will accrue to the USA,” further notes Dr. Mhandara.

Mozambique’s President Fillipe Nyusi has also been accused by his critics of pushing the neo-liberal agenda that prioritizes business over ideological principles as enunciated in the SADC framework to solving conflict, ending poverty and ensuring economic development. According to the World Bank, half of rural people in Mozambique live below the poverty line, a figure barely reduced since 2003.

ISCAP Using Religion To Tap Into An Illegal, Neglected Economy

Cabo Delgado has corridors that can improve trade between Tanzania and Mozambique, and the province is said to have an illegal economy used for heroin smuggling from Asia worth an estimated US$100 million which ISCAP is tapping into.

Makeshift shelter — Hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced by the ongoing conflict in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado Province. The UNHCR expects the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to be around one million in June. Credit: UNHCR / Martim Gray Pereira

The conflict in Cabo Delgado also has a religious twist. The region is one of the country’s poorest and mostly resident to Muslims. It has the lowest literacy rate, too. The Muslims in Cabo Delgado have over the years felt neglected as the natural gas in their province has not generated any benefits in their communities. ISCAP is using this to promote its anti-State agenda.

US Unwanted Yet Welcome In SADC Region

SADC Executive Secretary Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax is of the view that the region is “collectively committed” to supporting its member States, including Mozambique, in dealing with matters of insecurity that threaten the stability of the region at large. She confirmed the region has a robust policy, institutional and implementation framework to deal with issue of insecurity, including violent extremism and terrorism in Mozambique, without explaining why Mozambique invited the USA and by-passing SADC.

“Terrorism is a global challenge, as such, solutions to the insurgency require collaborative efforts among member states, regional communities and international partners. SADC has taken a multi-sectoral approach in ensuring that such challenges are addressed comprehensively and sustainably at national and regional levels. This is done through a number of policies, strategies and programs,” she said.

SADC committed — SADC Executive Secretary Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax says the region is committed to supporting Mozambique in fighting insurgents and all efforts being undertaken collectively are done considering regional and bilateral cooperations with Mozambique. Credit: The Herald / Zimbabwe

There are some issues the SADC region is not addressing, the spill-over of the conflict to Mozambique’s neighbouring countries. Because of the spatial proximity, conflict and threats of terrorism are likely to be huge in Malawi and Tanzania as neighboring countries.

SADC has long and winding borders that are not policed and monitored, hence for a long time have been porous and conducive to move contraband. The threat of refugees moving from Cabo Delgado into Tanzania and Malawi is great and this can be an opportunity by the ISCAP to export the terror operatives in other countries embedded as refugees.

Regarding possible outcomes to the conflict, Dr. Mhandara argues there is a possible spill-over of the conflict that is set to welcome US military presence in SADC.

“Because of the conflict going on in Cabo Delgado, the immediate issue is that the military presence of the USA will be immediately welcome though unwanted. The USA will then influence and capture the region through counter-terrorism and counter-insurgence experience and in the long term there will be presence of the USA in the region,” added Dr. Mhandara.

According to SADC, there is provision of a Standby Force for the Mozambique conflict if member states pledge support. This has however not happened except for the “collective solidarity” rhetoric by the regional leaders. The response by the region remains a feeble and futile adventure that should be quickly addressed to ensure regional stability.

Vaccine Diplomacy: Exposing Africa’s Untapped Human Resources

Gibson Nyikadzino

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April 4, 2021

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Vaccine Diplomacy: Exposing Africa’s Untapped Human Resources

The receipt of Coronavirus vaccine donations by African countries from China increasingly expands the Asian giant’s Road and Belt Initiative (RBI) in the continent at a time the world is in turmoil. As the Coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of slowing, China’s influence is growing more scientific, sophisticated, and technological. With China’s influence in Africa growing, the dangling of the Coronavirus vaccine has reconstructed the sovereignty of African states that no longer demand transfer of scientific technology but giving in to advances from China.

China’s RBI concept, also known as One Road, is an idea it uses to strengthen its connectivity with the world and expand its geographic influence in Europe, Asia, and Africa through increased cultural ties. Zimbabwe has already received two consignments of a total 400,000 vaccines from China. Equatorial Guinea and Senegal were also among the first countries to administer China’s Sinopharm or Verocell vaccine, and the list continues to grow.

“The fact that we are the only country in Africa that has to date received the second batch of the vaccine doses from China, attests to the strong, comprehensive and strategic nature of our partnership,” said Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangangwa last Tuesday while receiving the second batch of 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines. Besides the donations, Zimbabwe has also purchased 200,000 vaccines from China’s Sinopharm.

China’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun confirmed that in his country’s 14th five-year development plan, technological innovation is the torchbearer of his country’s global cooperation while dismissing the term “vaccine diplomacy” as a term by the West to discredit China.

“Western politicians and media discredit China’s vaccine assistance as “vaccine diplomacy”. Such a term shows their poor morality and intelligence or sour grapes. China’s aid has never been attached political strings. This is the most essential difference between China and the West in their aid to Africa because both China and Africa believe in national independence and liberty; both believe in sovereignty, equality, and fairness; both believe in solidarity and mutual support,” he said.

But Africa’s lack of thorough investments in scientific knowledge in the medical sector continues to reveal the continent’s shortsightedness and expose the strengths of China’s RBI, which is becoming farsighted and strategic in the post-pandemic cooperation.

Last March Madagascar became the first African country to produce a herbal tonic, COVID Organics, as a preventive and curing method to combat Coronavirus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that the tonic be clinically trialed. In another development, Tanzania last year stopped publicizing its COVID-19 cases as President John Magufuli, who was announced dead on March 17, declared his country was Coronavirus-free “thanks to God.”

The Coronavirus vaccine donations have given China power to becoming a kingmaker for new political alliances at the expense of Africa’s inability to develop and lead in science. The donations further create an imbalance that has overlooked Africa’s potential in fighting the Coronavirus using locally developed and scientifically certified vaccines. While Chinese vaccine donations continue to come, their formulas are patented in their countries, rendering Africa’s investments in scientific research weak.

On March 12, an inaugural quadrilateral summit by the United States of America (USA), India, Australia, and Japan pledged to checkmate China’s growing global influence and also in the way it is fighting Coronavirus. Africa has not been refuting advances by China, but embracing it as a way to salvation and redemption from the Coronavirus pandemic. In 2013 and 2014 the USA and China established partnerships to help Africa fight Ebola in Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Liberia. Today, the cooperation no longer exist as China continues to buy alliances in Africa through the vaccines.

In the case of Zimbabwe, besides receiving vaccines from China, in January the country also received a donation of twenty ventilators from the USA. In a statement, the embassy said “the ventilators, produced in the United States, reflect cutting-edge technology customized to Zimbabwe’s needs and requirements.”

These donations are not simply acts of kindness, but a lack of preparedness on the continental leaders in responding scientifically and technologically to Africa’s problems. The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed Africa and Zimbabwe’s slow pace in stimulating and up-scaling scientific investment and research.

Frontline workers vaccinated — An essential service or frontline worker receiving a first Sinopharm vaccine jab at Wilkins Hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is among the first African countries to administer the Sinopharm vaccine against COVID-19. Credit: Gibson Nyikadzino / Ubuntu Times

Zimbabwe’s Acting Foreign Affairs minister, who is also the minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Amon Murwirwa says the much spoken “vaccine diplomacy phenomenon is a conspiracy theory” that is “problematic” in understanding China’s relationship with Zimbabwe.

Between Zimbabwe and China, there currently is no “active program going on” in terms of scientific research exchange.

“China and Zimbabwe are strategic partners. In terms of scientific research between the two, it is not transferred but exchanged. I am not saying there is an active program (on scientific exchange) going on, but there is active cooperation.

“After the COVID-19 pandemic, Zimbabwe is going to emerge from this crisis with improved capabilities,” said Murwira.

A government-commissioned report last month showed Zimbabwe has a 95 percent skills deficit in the medical and scientific sector hampering the provision of effective services. Qualified personnel leaving the country for better incentives, more opportunities, and good infrastructure in other countries are among issues triggering the skills deficit.

The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) recently identified institutions in its sixteen member countries that it can capacitate to develop Coronavirus vaccines. In Zimbabwe, only the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) and Sable Chemicals were identified.

Tinashe Mutema, the director of Communications and International Relations at HIT said his organization is not “interested in developing COVID-19 vaccines” because it has “no capacity in that regard.”

“We never indicated interest in vaccines but we have an interest in ventilators. If you speak of vaccines that is something remote to us,” he said.

China is making inroads in Africa at a time the West is too busy to attend to Africa as it is combating the virus in their backyard. On the medical front, post-COVID-19 China has strategically positioned itself on the dual basis that they give Africa vaccines for free on the premise that Africa buys from the Asian giant and turn a blind eye to its scientific research.

Academic and writer on China-Africa relations Alexander Rusero notes that what China is doing forms part of its One Road initiative and is harvesting the “dividends of COVID-19 using vaccine diplomacy.”

“There is nothing for Africa in this setting. I would not want to call these developments alliances but the current COVID-19 arrangement is one strategically positioning China as dominant in terms of investments in Africa.

“So these are some of the dividends of COVID-19 and vaccine diplomacy that the Chinese modeled because it came at a time when Chinese investments in Africa were being questioned. The remodeled global political and social order post-COVID-19 is one where power is not restricted to the traditional attractiveness but on who helped us in time of need. It is leverage for China and there is nothing for Africa but China and its entire national interests,” said Rusero.

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