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 …
For the first time, genetically-modified grain has been grown commercially in South Africa and will be sold in the market mixed with other grains, a leading seed-seller said. "Up to 50,000 hectares of genetically-modified maize has been planted this season and will be sold in the commercial market,' he said. …
The courts in South Africa sounded a stern warning to poachers when three men were each sentenced to 29 years in jail for killing four rhinos. According to Johan Jooste of the Endangered Species Protection Unit ( espu ), the poachers, killed the animals in a farm in Thabazimbi province. …
The Endangered Species Protection Unit ( espu ) of South Africa ( sa ) has come under fire for accepting us $460, 000 from an overseas animal welfare organisation to conduct a "secret' investigation whose outcome could go against country's stance in international conservation politics. The espu , an arm …
Locusts might become endangered following the recent approval of the world's first bioinsecticide against the insects. Named Green Muscle, the fungal pesticide spray, made by South Africa (SA)-based Biological Control Products has been cleared for sale in the country. The spray contains spores of Metarhizium anisopliae, a fungus that invades …
Rising water levels in dams in the northern parts of South Africa have sparked fears of floods after heavy rainfall in the area. With the weather bureau forecasting further rains during the rest of the present season, precautions are being taken to avoid calamities. Already, some sluice gates at the …
Five South African victims of asbestos poisoning have been told by the House of Lords that they can sue their former employer in the English Courts. The ruling means that the uk -based multinational Cape, which produces asbestos and exports it to Europe and the us , can be tried …
Too many elephants in Africa have generated a considerable debate and controversy among the various countries of the continent. It has also encouraged poachers and circus owners to capture elephants to make a quick-buck. Recently, 30 baby white elephants were captured from the Tuli private reserve in Botswana and bought …
Cellphones are not just a public nuisance - they are also used by lookouts to warn criminals when the police are near. Now Deropa of Boksburg, South Africa, is patenting a transmitter that jams cellphones. All cellphones continually transmit and receive coded signals, with which they communicate with the network …
Dented by the Congo rebellion, renewed fighting in Angola, failed privatisation plans in Zambia and slumping metal prices, mining investors are singing the blues. Long-term prospects are not so dim in these three mineralrich countries but the short-to-medium term outlook is bleak, say analysts. The central African belt is one …
Babies born in the Krugersdorp area could suffer severe lung damage or even die because of dust pollution from a nearby mine dump, says Vali Yousefi, spokesperson of National Department of Occupational Health (NDOH). According to Yousefi, the high quartz content in dust from a slimes dam in Kagiso Extension-8 …
several horrors from South Africa's apartheid era are gradually coming to light. During a recent testimony before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (trc), several witnesses revealed how undetectable ways of murdering political opponents figured high on the priority of chemical and biological warfare campaigns. Millions of dollars were spent …
cycads are, perhaps, some of the oldest, rarest and most endangered plants in the world right now. As their habitats have been destroyed through the years, these plants have acquired the status of collector's items, leading to an unprecedented rise in the demand for rare species. The recent outcry against …
south African dealers are negotiating import of Tata vehicles in s move that can give the Indian transport industry new inroads into Africa. South African dealers have shown particular interest in the new addition to the Tata range of vehicles
Over 400 homes in south African villages now have electricity, and thousands more will be getting it soon, thanks to an old method that has been reworked by the African arm of a uk-based engineering consultancy firm. The technique, called single wire earth return (swer), sends electricity out along a …
some two decades ago, South Africa's powerful asbestos mining companies closed shop. Most of them left open waste dumps of the deadly fibre to be spread by wind and water. Now, the University of Potchefstroom's Research Institute of Reclamation Ecology (rire) has been handed over the task of rehabilitating many …
the human immuno-deficiency virus ( hiv) that causes aids , has caught most South Africans unawares. Much of central and east Africa has been invaded by the infection since the 1980s. But in South Africa, the virus is a relatively new arrival, its spread hastened by the opening up of …
The latest furore in South Africa is over the Cloudy Creek or Rietspruit wetland on the south bank of the Vaal river. The Sasol Chemical Industries wants to strip mine the area for coal as feedstock for the plant, which requires seven million tonnes of coal per annum to turn …
An elephant story, and that of family values gone haywire! Cow elephants in the Kruger National Park were introduced to contraceptive pills to cut down their population into small and happy families. But the outcome was a mammoth problem - elephantine free love resulted in a jumbo-sized social and sexual …
Twenty four black South African workers are planning to give evidence in London against three British companies, which they say poisoned them with asbestos and mercury. Reportedly, two workers have died from mercury poisoning in 1992, and hundreds from asbestos-related diseases after working at British plants set up in South …
