The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
HOUSING lower- and middle-class blacks, certain South African townships are seriously threatened by contamination caused by human wastes. With no sewage disposal system, the residents of these poor localities use buckets to excrete and once these are full to the brim, the waste is either dumped into streams or on …
An us7owned vanadi'u'm mine in Vametco in tfie North West province seems to be doing a repeat of the Bhopal gas tragedy. Inhabitants of the villages of Mothutlung which has a population of around 12,000, and Rankhotea which has a population of about 2,000, have called for an open debate …
While conservationists across the world are raising an alarm over depleting numbers of elephants, wildlife managers in South Africa's Kruger National Park are trying to check its jumbo population by culling. But under fire from animal rights activists, they have decided to reduce culling by half. "In order to maintain …
The country is facing one of the fallouts of the racist laws of the apartheid regime in the form of severe water shortage. The government is planning to reform obsolete water laws which gave exclusive rights to private landowners and industrialists with the result that today, the greater portion of …
Thousands of people fled their homes in panic as a fire at a chemical plant spewed out poisonous gas which spread over the Makassar community area near Cape Town. At least 100 people were hospitalised after inhaling corrosive sulphur dioxide, causing irritation in the eyes, nose and lungs. On the …
An incro number of privately-man aged wildlife reserves are emerging in South Africa Among the bigger names are Shamwari in the eastern Cape region and the four wildlife reserves run by the Johannesburg-based conservation Corporation. Adrian Gardiner, the mastermind behind Shamwari, set about his mission investing his own money and …
Local and tional pharmaceutipanies are making a for South Africa's nal heating systems. v in demand are the Vas and Nyangas, the iniam branches of healers P were once. regarded as cinoners of mumbo kbo- In the last few whs at least four pharma " companies have vis the offices …
Science must contribute substantially to the development of the society as a whole in the country: this is the new policy being promoted by the government's Foundation for Research Development (FRD), that has recently come up with the Reconstruction and Development Programme, a scheme which enjoys cross- party support, and …
Keeping the sharks off the swimmers along the Natal Coast in South Africa is the business of the Natal Shark Board (NSB). A combination of a museum and a research lab- oratory, the NSB, situated on the cliffs above the Umhlanga Rocks lighthouse on Indian Ocean just north of Durban, …
After overcoming the trials and tribulations engendered by apart heid, South Africa has turned its attention to an issue of equality that transcends race: empowering women to play an active role in the nation's political process. A proposal for intro-ducing reservation of seats for women in the country's legislatures is …
Phillip Tobias, head of the anthropology department at Witwatersrand University, with his discovery: primate bones dating from 3.5 million years ago, marking a crucial transition stage in foot structure between apes and humans. Prehensile feet enabled the pre-human Australopithecus to climb trees efficiently as well as walk on its 2 …
They may have rid themselves of the shackles of the oppressive apartheid regime, but freedom apparently still manages to elude the Blacks of South Africa. They have, in fact, been invaded and held captive by a dead lier foe: the AIDS virus. According to a recent study conducted by the …
The South African government is minting money - by selling ostriches. It is now reported to be the biggest ostrich goods producer in the world; and business is booming. The country exports almost every part of this huge non-flying bixd - feathers, meat, skin and eggs. Sales of ostrich meat, …
Home to a staggeringly abundant variety of flora and fauna, South Africa -- having emerged out of the shadow of apartheid -- is witnessing a resurgence of its tourism industry; the country has more than 870 bird species and 290 species of mammals. This, of course, has led it to …
SOUTH Africa can break new ground in the world of science if only its scientists and researchers show the government the right way. In an impassioned speech made at a conference held at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Bernie Faranoff, the official in charge of South Africa's Reconstruction and …
A South African firm has come out with a rugged and affordable solar cooker that could improve the lot of women in underdeveloped areas and reduce deforestation and air pollution (Solar Today, Vol 9, No 1). The Sunstove, as it is called, costs US $25 apiece and can be used …
The scientist community in South Africa has heaved a giant sigh of relief. the National Accelerator Centre (NAC), the country's largest research facility and the highest energy cyclotron in the southern hemisphere, located near Cape Town, has been spared the axe, at least for the time being. Researchers have been …
Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility n South Africa is proving to a major asset for its government. While the Nelson Vandela administration is izruggling to keep its electorat promise of "providing a better life for all" in other ifeas, the power sector aic,rsears to have exceeded ectations. In an announcement …
ALL White student bodies in the state schools of South Africa are now liberally punctuated with Blacks. Starting January 11-17, these institutions opened their gates to Black children in their vicinity. A bitter controversy had marred the first "registration days" in model-c schools around Johannesburg, set up by the erstwhile …
ENVIRONMENTALISTS opposing the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decision permitting South Africa to trade in live white rhinos did not have to wait long to see their worst fears come true. Hardly a month after the proposal was passed at the November 1994 CITES convention held in …
