In last week’s instalment of this column, I took issue with African institutions’ not-so-golden silence while rogue governments on the continent ride rough-shod over their citizens. One of the... 

African institutions have often been accused of being long on talk and short on action. A case in point is the deafening rhetoric about good governance by the likes of the Southern African... 

Time flies indeed. It has already been a year since my editor invited me to contribute a weekly column in Engineering News, an opportunity that I grabbed with both hands. During the past 50-odd... 

First things first – M-Pesa stands for mobile pesa, with pesa Swahili for money (I have been busy building up my Swahili vocabulary ever since Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced a... 

Mozambique’s founding President, the late Samora Moises Machel, is famous for having coined and popularised the slogan Aluta Continua! (Portuguese for ‘the struggle continues’). He used it to rally... 

At the end of this month – or at least by the middle of December – scores of young men and women will be completing their undergraduate studies at South Africa’s 26 public universities and at the... 

Nineteenth-century British imperialist and entrepreneur Cecil John Rhodes had grand plans to construct a railway line from Cape Town, on the southern tip of the continent, to Cairo, in North... 

It’s mind-boggling. Donald Trump is a darling of more than half of Nigerians, the very people he derided as hut-dwellers not so long ago. This, of course, is if a new study conducted by the Pew... 

In rather melodramatic fashion, one journalist, writing in June this year, portrayed the rate at which the world is losing its forests thus: “Image looking down on huge swathe of lush forest – but... 

I have made no bones about my cynicism about Chinese generosity towards African countries, which has taken the form of top-dollar freebies, government and State-owned company loans and investment... 

Television footage of desperate Africans drowning in the Mediterranean Sea en route to Spain and other European destinations that hold out the promise of a better life has become all too frequent.... 

South Africa’s inaugural Jobs Summit was convened in Johannesburg last week to brainstorm on possible solutions to the country’s stubborn unemployment scourge. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)... 

Readers of this column who are not news junkies like yours truly may have missed the announcement, made last month: South African schools, both public and private, will be offering Swahili as an... 

The main opposition party across the Limpopo insists that “we wuz robbed” in the July 30 elections that returned Zanu-PF to power and gave Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been caretaker President since... 

I start with a mea culpa this week. In the September 7 edition, I waxed lyrical about the exploits of Sophia, the humanoid robot, at the SAPNow conference, which had been held in Johannesburg the... 

South Africans are a whinging lot – there is survey data from credible research entities to prove this – and one of biggest gripes is about living conditions in towns and cities, especially in the... 

Sophia the Saudi Arabian. Rings a bell? If it doesn’t, a clue: she was the subject of a recent instalment of this column and has the rare distinction of not having been born of flesh and blood. She... 

The mobile phone has undergone an almost dramatic transition in the past two decades from a status symbol affordable only by the well-to-do to a ubiquitous device that even those of very modest... 

Gold has been associated with our neck of the woods since its discovery on a farm just outside the present-day Joburg central business district back in 1886. Thanks to this association, it was not... 

It could be back to the future for Zimbabwe, where many had set great store by the general elections held on July 30, which returned the governing Zanu-PF and its Presidential candidate, Emmerson... 

Back in March, former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson became the umpteenth Western big gun to urge Africans to beware of Chinese generosity on the continent, which has taken the form of... 

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man – with a net worth of $12.4-billion – is redefining philanthropy in his native Nigeria. But the 61-year-old is doing this in a way that will make his bank... 

Two international university rankings published in the last couple of months had me thinking about a perception index released by consultancy firm Ipsos in January, which revealed that South... 

First, a disclaimer: I am of very sober habits and this week’s topic – the apparent desire by many on our continent to embrace the cannabis business – is not at all indicative of my recreational... 

Picture this scene: you are driving along a road in suburban Johannesburg and a stern-looking cop pulls you over, informing you, as you wind down your window, that you have exceeded the speed limit... 

The Beautiful Game is obviously the flavour of the month, what with the World Cup currently under way in Russia. So, apologies to those readers of this column who cannot tell the difference between... 

I have been to a few countries in Southern Africa but Namibia seems to always fall into the blind spot whenever I plan to travel beyond the borders of Mzansi. However, the good work being done in... 

Some associate professor was an in-studio guest on one of our television channels the other night. To mangle a famous quotation in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, he was on about why history... 

Dear Dr Danny Jordaan Congratulations on your recent election for another term at the pinnacle of South African football administration. If there had been any doubt that you are a darling of our... 

One man’s meat is another man’s poison indeed. While scores of South Africans have emigrated to countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK over the past two decades-plus – citing all... 

As you read this piece, I am probably putting together the next instalment or doing whatever else my job description demands I should be doing each weekday. But colleagues in countries such as... 

An extraordinary visitor graced the Creative Industry Summit, which was held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo last month. Like other attendees, she has a name and a nationality and is apparently... 

It is safe to say that many readers of this column now know that what used to be the Kingdom of Swaziland is now the Kingdom of eSwatini, which means ‘the place of the Swati people’. The name... 

Drones, or remotely piloted aerial vehicles, are becoming the rising star of electronic innovation. They are being used increasingly in a variety of applications, ranging from construction to... 

It must have been music to the ears of animal rights proponents and conservationists when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) reported in... 

Late last month, the top brass at South African Airways (SAA) was in the National Assembly, briefing Parliamentarians about the perennial ills at the national carrier. New CEO Vuyani Jarana, who,... 

It is refreshing to notice that the regional stock exchange in the French-speaking West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is not keeping the eight-country bloc’s shining light under a... 

Much as I tried, I just could not refrain from having yet another go in this column at US President Donald Trump – he who cannot see anything good that comes out of Africa. For him, Africa will... 

It took the threat of impeachment proceedings by his own party to get Jacob Zuma, decidedly the most inept – and venal – President South Africa has ever had, to vacate the Union Buildings on... 

I bet my bottom rand that many people on these shores are not as informed about Togo as they are about, say, Tibet – this despite the fact that South Africa and Togo are on the same continent.... 

Zimbabweans are becoming creative when it comes to raising funds to invest in their economy, and the stimulus seems to be the ouster of Robert Mugabe, the long-ruling dictator who ran into the... 

I have a little confession to make: I am an Afro-optimist. This means I am the diametrical opposite of Donald Trump, who, when he hears of Africans wanting to emigrate to the US, goes into a trance...