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 …
Food retailers and manufacturers are increasingly committing to address agricultural sustainability issues in their supply chains. In place of using established eco-certifications, many companies define their own supply chain sustainability standards. Scholars remain divided on whether we should expect such company-led programs to affect change. We use a major food …
Flash floods claimed the lives of at least two people in KwaZulu-Natal and a severe hailstorm wreaked havoc in Johannesburg at the weekend. Two people drowned in flash floods when they were swept away while trying to cross the surging Mona River in Ndwedwe‚ north of Durban‚ on Saturday night. …
In Cape Town, the water crisis isn’t getting any better – and on New Year’s Day, the city of 4 million people will go to new Level 6 water restrictions. That means a 60 percent reduction in water use for agricultural operations, and a 45 percent reduction for urban businesses …
The risk of the El Niño-induced food insecurity in southern Africa in 2016; the recent risk of famine in northern Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and South Sudan; and the recent outbreak of the fall armyworm (FAW) in East and Southern Africa (ESA) all demonstrate that responses are still largely reactive than …
The report analyzes the changing tripartite constellations between South African black smallholders, the pre- and post-apartheid state, and the country’s large-scale agribusiness and irrigation industry. A recent mode of farming is the ‘joint venture’, in which smallholders hand over land and share in the net profits, while a strategic partner …
The Online Spatial Database 2.0 for SARVA directly supports and allows users free access to and visualisation of drivers, pressures, vulnerability, exposure and risks or hazards within a particular location, covering both spatial and non-spatial data sets. The facility is open, data is with few exceptions available under Creative Commons …
The South African government is looking into fracking to reduce the country’s huge reliance on coal for energy. Fracking involves pumping high-pressured fluids into rock formations to release reserves of oil and gas. Estimates for gas deposits in the main Karoo region of South Africa range widely. A few studies …
Sheep farmers around Williston, a rural town in South Africa’s drought-hit Northern Cape, face a tough choice: either truck in costly feed to keep their animals alive or slaughter much of their stock. After at least three years of dryness in the country’s largest province, many have chosen the second …
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress agreed to seek a change in the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation, provided it doesn’t affect the economy and food production.
Cape Town residents' high water usage over this past week has brought "Day Zero" closer, by more than three weeks. Day Zero is the day that almost all of the taps in the city will be turned off and people will have to queue for water at approximately 200 sites …
South Africa, the world’s seventh biggest wine producer, is expected to see the smallest harvest in more than a decade in 2018 after drought and lower plantings hit yields, industry experts said. The winelands are mostly in the coastal Western Cape province which was declared a disaster area in May …
In the 19 months since the Q(h)ubeka Trust was established, it has awarded approximately R102 million in compensation to qualifying ex-mineworkers suffering from Silica related illnesses. The Trust was founded in March 2016 on the back of the successful conclusion of a lengthy compensation battle by attorneys representing ex-mineworkers who …
A proposed by-law introduces the threat of imprisonment‚ cracks down on borehole use and rogue plumbers‚ makes swimming pool covers mandatory and compels section title schemes to blow the whistle on owners who use too much water. The measures were tabled on Tuesday as proposed amendments to the water by-law, …
Russia will be providing the first batch of the loan allocated for Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant next month in order to conduct designs and continue the studies, according to sources at the Ministry of Electricity. The sources said that El the Dabaa plant is in the implementation phase, requiring expenses …
Paris - South Africa’s Thabametsi project has been listed as one of the “Dirty Dozen projects”, twelve fossil fuel projects worldwide environmental groups say exemplify the massive volumes of public finances still flowing to fossil fuel projects, which are driving climate change. The list comes as world leaders and global …
JOHANNESBURG – An unprecedented discovery of a freshwater resource has been found in Beaufort West, Western Cape, the Department of Mineral Resources said on Tuesday. The town has been hard-hit by the massive drought gripping the province. According to the department, the resource was discovered by the Council for Geoscience …
Midvaal – The tornado that ripped through the Vaal Marina on Monday has left more than a thousand people homeless. It swept through the Vaal Dam on Monday evening, blowing off roof tops, uprooting trees and destroying fences and walls in its wake. At least 50 people were injured and …
Populations of cheetahs in southern Africa have declined as farming and other human activities push deeper into the free-roaming cats’ range, a new study co-led by Duke University doctoral student Varsha Vijay finds. Fewer than 3,600 adult cheetahs remain in the region, which covers an area larger than France. A …
The Competition Commission’s health-market inquiry has cast the spotlight on the role that private hospitals play in driving up healthcare costs, saying they are responsible for a significant portion of the above-inflation increases in expenditure reported by medical schemes. The inquiry was established to investigate the dynamics at play in …
Collectively the wind farms will power circa 240,000 South African households, positively impacting the country’s economy and its people, according to a company statement. The two Northern Cape wind farms have achieved this milestone on schedule, on budget and without a single lost-time incident. With a generation capacity of 140MW …
