Author: Helmut Mahongo
African Youth Embracing Their Native Languages in the Creative Industry
By: Helmut Mahongo Masoyinbo, meaning “Do not speak English” in Yoruba, is the title of a television game show in Nigeria’s commercial centre of Lagos. The game show is centred on one main rule: if you speak English, you…
Illegal Industrial Scale Drug Lab Suspects Appear in Court
By: Helmut Mahongo The 13 suspects of a multimillion-rand industrial-scale methamphetamine laboratory that operated in the northwest of Johannesburg appeared in court yesterday. The suspects were arrested in May after residents reported strong chemical odours coming from an isolated…
Capital Punishment for Intentional Forest Fires in Algeria
By: Helmut Mahongo President Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria has issued a directive instructing the justice minister to submit an amendment to the penal code by September 15, introducing capital punishment for anyone convicted of intentionally setting fire to forested…
Sudan’s Meroë Pyramids Threatened By Ongoing Civil War
By: Helmut Mahongo The ongoing civil war in Sudan is threatening the Meroë pyramids, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The conflict that broke out in 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support…
SADC Industrial Week Recap: Regional Ambition Needs Political Commitment and Implementation
By: Helmut Mahongo The Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently held its 9th Industrialisation Week in Durban, South Africa, from the 27th to the 31st of July. The event was convened under the theme: “Resilient, Sustainable and…
Resources Matter, so Does Deployment Knowhow – ECA
By: Helmut Mahogo General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, called for domestic resource mobilisation as the foundation of Africa’s economic transformation. Gatete said this as he addressed the 49th Ordinary Session of the…
ECOWAS To Launch a Single Currency By 2027
By: Helmut Mahongo The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has reaffirmed plans to launch a single currency dubbed the ECO by next year. The union announced this after its 69th ECOWAS summit of Heads of State…
SADC Calls for Increased Investment in Energy Infrastructure …Africa trails with only 50% electrification rate
By: Helmut Mahongo The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration, Makombo N’Tumba, called for increased investment in energy infrastructure. N’Tumba said this in her introductory remarks at the recently held 44th Joint Meeting…
Continental Regulator to Collaborate on Substandard and Falsified Medical Products
By: Helmut Mahongo The African Medicines Agency (AMA) and Medicines for Africa (MFA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on combating the rise in the use of substandard and falsified medical products. The MoU, which was signed in…
The European Union Bans the Purchase of Sudanese Gold
By: Helmut Mahongo The European Union will no longer buy Sudanese gold, according to a press release published on Monday this week. The decision to ban the purchase, import or transfer of gold originating from Sudan is…