By Peter Ellis, Mark Wass & Martin Michaelis We don’t know much about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but we are learning new things about it every day. The latest bit of the jigsaw puzzle comes from a small study conducted in China, which found SARS-CoV-2 RNA (the virus’s […]
Timothy Fish Hodgson Khanyo Farise Justice Mavedzenge The freedom to communicate and express opinions is necessary to effectively demand and enforce government obligations and accountability. In countries with high levels of poverty and inequality, contributed to by corruption and maladministration, it is especially critical for people to be able to […]
During apartheid in South Africa, policemen who wanted to control crowds often reached for the sjambok—a vicious, three-foot-long whip traditionally made of rhino hide. That symbol of brutality was banned in 1989. But it is back in use as police enforce a 21-day lockdown meant to slow the spread of […]
An obituary by Ibbo Mandaza Thandika Mkandawire, who passed away in Stockholm, Sweden, on 27 March 2020, after a protracted battle with cancer, was a renowned development economist, an institution builder and a Pan-Africanist of note. He leaves us having contributed to the development of a formidable community of African […]
By Blessing-Miles Tendi “When I was there, the Zimbabwean army was good. They were disciplined. There was no hint of the army being political. I wrote regular reports for the UK government and do not recall ever writing anything particularly negative about the Zimbabwean army. I do not understand how […]
By Blessing-Miles Tendi he day before he died, General Solomon Mujuru — also known as Rex Nhongo — ordered whisky from the bar at the Harare Sports Club. “He would stand up and cheer each time our guys hit four or six runs. He was very relaxed and joyful, just […]
By Olivier Marbot Dr Michel Yao, Emergency Operations Programme Manager at the WHO’s Regional Office in Africa, discusses Africa’s next step now that COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic. Now that COVID-19 has been declared a “pandemic,” Dr Michel Yao, Emergency Operations Programme Manager at the World Health Organization’s Regional […]
*So bad is the situation, the workers claimed, that some employees had died on-site while others suffered life-threatening injuries after being forced to work without safety clothing. *Twenty-four-year-old Brighton Shara lost four fingers from his left hand when he was forced to operate a pole machine without the requisite training. […]
It has been widely reported that children are less likely to get severely ill and die from the new coronavirus. A recent study of 44,672 people with confirmed covid-19 infection found that children under 10 years old made up less than 1 per cent of those cases and none of […]
In this article, economist and journalist Allison Schrager makes the case for capitalism, arguing that it is still the best way to handle risk and boost innovation and productivity. With increasingly ubiquitous iPhones, internet, central air conditioning, flat-screen TVs, and indoor plumbing, few in the developed world would want to […]