The video game market in Africa is estimated to be worth 2.14 billion US dollars in 2024.

Originally published on Global Voices

Senegalese journalists participate in virtual reality training at the 2016 Gamecamp Summer in Dakar; photo by Kofi Sika Latzoo, used with permission.

As a highly innovative sector that generates new jobs, the creative economy encompasses several fields today, including music, art, cinema, and video games. The latter alone generates billions of US dollars within the African market.

According to the report Africa Gaming Market Size (2024–2029) by Mordor Intelligence, a consultancy and market research firm, the video game market in Africa is estimated to be worth over USD 2.14 billion in 2024. This figure could reach USD 3.72 billion by 2029.

Video games have strong appeal among African youth — of the continent’s 1.6 billion inhabitants, over 400 million are between the ages of 15 and 35. Gaming is not merely a pastime; it can also be a real profession, known as esports, which includes its own rules, tournaments, prize money, and international competitions, like the Olympics Esports Games set to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025. To explore the significance of this industry, Global Voices spoke with Kofi Sika Latzoo, a Togolese expert based in Senegal.

Kofi Sika Latzoo; photo used with permission

Kofi is certified in creative industries entrepreneurship by the British Council, holds credentials in Social Impact Gamification, and has received an award from Microsoft for innovative educational expertise. A pioneer in Africa’s creative industries and art digitisation, he founded Gamecampcities Agency in 2012, an agency promoting video games and esports. He has been teaching esports management for seven years at Kedge Business School, on the Bordeaux and Paris campuses, and at Bem Africa in Dakar and Abidjan.

Jean Sovon (JS): Which African countries are leading in added value within the video game industry?

Kofi Sika Latzoo (KSL): En premier lieu, l'Afrique du Sud, qui est l'un des premiers pays africains à ériger des studios de développement de jeux vidéo: Free Live, l'un des plus anciens studios de développement de jeux vidéo sur le continent. C'est aussi l'un des rares pays à développer une fédération e-sport et le premier à faire partie des grandes instances de gouvernance de l'e-sport mondial. D’autres pays comme la Tunisie, l'Égypte, le Maroc, le Zimbabwe, le Ghana, et le Sénégal, qui est l'un des rares marchés francophones sont très dynamiques. Le Sénégal est aussi l'un des rares pays à avoir un cadre légal depuis 2020 pour la structuration de l'e-sport: le jeu vidéo compétitif et le développement de jeu vidéo. Le Togo aussi est en train de se structurer avec une fédération fraîchement naissante. De nombreux pays africains vont participer aux Jeux Olympiques e-sport en Arabie Saoudite: le Sénégal, le Maroc, le Togo, l'Égypte, la Tunisie, l'Afrique du Sud, la Zambie, le Zimbabwe, la Côte d'Ivoire, le Cap Vert, l’île Maurice, et le Kenya.

Kofi Sika Latzoo (KSL): Firstly, South Africa leads the way, being among the first African nations to have set up video game development studios, including Free Live, one of the oldest studios on the continent. It is also one of the few countries to establish an esports federation and the first to be part of major global esports governance bodies. Other countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Senegal — one of the rare French-speaking markets — are highly dynamic as well. Senegal is also one of the few countries to have a legal framework since 2020 for structuring esports, including competitive gaming and video game development. Togo, too, is organising itself with a newly established federation. Numerous African countries will participate in the Olympics Esports Games in Saudi Arabia, including Senegal, Morocco, Togo, Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Mauritius and Kenya.

JS: Do players actually benefit financially, or are they just consumers?

KSL : Il y a trois niveaux: amateurs, semi-professionnels et les professionnels et il faut être au second niveau pour bénéficier des retombées financières. Les amateurs se font connaître des différents tournois dans leurs pays. Ils passent ensuite à la seconde étape et deviennent des joueurs semi-professionnels. Ils commencent par avoir des jeux de prédilection. Il faut savoir qu'il y a 15 disciplines d'e-sport. A partir de ce moment-là, ils cherchent une marque qui va les sponsoriser et leur permettre de grandir. De là, ils peuvent voyager pour aller à des compétitions régionales ou à l'international.

En Afrique, plus de 90% des joueurs sont semi-pro. C'est très rare de voir un joueur pro, car cela veut dire que déjà vous n'avez pas un seul sponsor, mais plusieurs sponsors et vous êtes sous contrat. Tout autour de vous est contrôlé et vous faites des rapports réguliers à vos sponsors. Il n’existe que moins de 20 équipes professionnelles dans le monde, et 80% d'entre-elles qui arrivent à atteindre des évaluations de 10 à 30 millions de dollars [américains] , sont aux États-Unis. Il y en a une seule en Espagne, en France, en Angleterre et quelques-unes au Brésil.

Sur le continent, la majorité des équipes professionnelles et semi-professionnelles se trouve en Afrique du Sud avec des équipes comme Goliath Gaming. Il y en a aussi au Maroc, en Tunisie. On commence à avoir des équipes en Zambie avec la Team Gematrix qui arrive à avoir des tournois même jusqu'à Las Vegas. Il y a également une très bonne équipe au Sénégal, XamXamLions que j'ai créée moi-même en 2016 qui a déjà à son actif deux qualifications olympiques avec des joueurs sur contrat.

KSL: There are three levels — amateurs, semi-professionals, and professionals — and you need to be at the second level to benefit financially. Amateurs gain recognition through various tournaments in their countries. They then move on to the next stage and become semi-professional players, when often they start to specialise in their favourite games. Keep in mind that there are 15 esports disciplines, so at this stage, players seek out a sponsor to help them grow, enabling them to travel for regional or international competitions.

In Africa, over 90 percent of players are semi-professional. It’s very rare to see a professional player, as this requires not just one but multiple sponsors, as well as being under contract. Everything around you is closely managed, and you regularly report to your sponsors. There are fewer than 20 professional teams worldwide, and 80 percent of those valued between USD 10 and 30 million are based in the United States. There is only one team in Spain, in France, and in England, and a few in Brazil.

On the continent, most professional and semi-professional teams are based in South Africa, with teams like Goliath Gaming. There are also teams in Morocco and Tunisia. Zambia is starting to see growth as well, with Team Gematrix participating in tournaments as far as Las Vegas. Senegal also boasts a strong team, XamXamLions, which I founded in 2016 and which has already achieved two Olympic qualifications with contracted players.

JS: What is the contribution of the video game economy to the development of the African continent?

KSL : Le jeu vidéo est un marché de 800 milliards de dollars [américains] d'offres en Afrique. Mais pour avoir une vision globale de l'approche, le jeu vidéo, en termes d'industrie mondiale, c'est 300 milliards de dollars américains annuels de marché. Et l'e-sport, c'est un milliard de dollars de marché.

L'engouement pour la discipline est en train de se généraliser au niveau global et l'Afrique ne doit pas être en reste pour la simple raison que l'Afrique détient la plus jeune population. C'est le continent qui a la capacité de tout consommer et de tout créer. Les pays en tête sont l'Afrique du Sud et le Maroc. Au Maroc, l'opérateur Télécom Invi crée depuis 2012 des hackathons pour détecter des talents de développeurs de jeux ; embauche ces talents pour créer des jeux vidéo mobiles qui vont être lancés pendant la période du Ramadan. Invi détient déjà trois ligues e-sport au Maroc: une ligue professionnelle, une ligue universitaire et une ligue pour enfants. Il y a là une stratégie qui a été pensée et des investissements.

KSL: The video game market offers a USD 1.3 billion opportunity in Africa. For a broader perspective, the global video game industry is a USD 300-billion annual market, while esports alone represents a one-billion-dollar market.

The enthusiasm for this discipline is spreading globally, and Africa must keep pace, especially as it has the world’s youngest population. It’s a continent with the potential to consume and create on a large scale. Leading the way are South Africa and Morocco.

In Morocco, the telecom operator has been organising hackathons since 2012 to scout talented game developers and hiring them to create mobile video games that are released during Ramadan. Inwi already hosts three esports leagues in Morocco: a professional league, a university league, and a children’s league. This reflects a well-thought-out strategy and substantial investment.

JS: What is the relationship between sports and e-sports? And where does Togo, your home country, stand in this field?

KSL : Pas mal de figures sportives ont un intérêt pour la discipline et s'impliquent. Un très bon exemple est le cas de David Beckham, qui est propriétaire d'un club e-sport qui s'appelle Guild, alors qu'il détient aussi un club de football à Miami, où joue Lionel Messi.

Je pense qu'il y a une forte relation entre le sport et l’e-sport. On a même tendance à voir les deux fusionner, comme l'événement qu'on appelle les Jeux du Futur ou Games of Futures, qui est l'événement phygital qui implique des disciplines digitales comme des disciplines sportives et physiques. Le Bénin était présent à ces jeux du futur avec son équipe de basketball, et celle d’e-basketball ( le basketball en mode jeu vidéo).

Parlant du Togo, c’est une nation qui a un potentiel avéré, disposant plus de 32 salles de jeu dans la capitale Lomé, et une première participation à des championnats du monde organisés par Alibaba en 2016 sur les disciplines Hearthstone ( jeu de cartes en ligne). Le pays a aussi obtenu la médaille d'or aux derniers Jeux africains qui ont inclus de l'e-sport au Ghana. De plus, le président de l'association e-sport France est un franco-togolais.  Je suis moi-même, Togolais basé au Sénégal, professeur d'e-sport certifié avec plus de 100 événements produits dans le domaine du jeu vidéo et du jeu vidéo compétitif en Afrique. Le président de la fédération du Togo est un ancien formé par l'agence Gamecampcities. Nous avons donc tous les ingrédients possibles pour avoir une nation e-sport forte. Le Togo est aussi membre de la confédération africaine d’esports (CASE) dont le siège est basé au Sénégal. La CASE compte aujourd’hui 30 pays et a comme partenaire le géant informatique HP.

KSL: Quite a few sports figures are showing interest in the discipline and getting involved. A prime example is David Beckham, who owns an esports club called Guild, while also owning a football club in Miami, where Lionel Messi plays.

I think there is a close relationship between traditional sports and esports. We’re even beginning to see a fusion of the two, as with the event known as the Games of the Future, a phygital event blending digital disciplines with physical and athletic sports. Benin was represented at these Games of the Future with both its basketball team and its ebasketball team (basketball in video game form).

Speaking of Togo, it is a nation with proven potential. the capital, Lomé, counts over 32 gaming centres, and the country made its debut at the World Championships organised by Alibaba in 2016 in the Hearthstone (online card game) discipline. The country also won the gold medal at the last African Games, which included esports, held in Ghana. Additionally, the president of France's esports association is Franco-Togolese. I am myself Togolese, based in Senegal, a certified esports instructor, and I have produced over 100 events in video gaming and competitive gaming across Africa. The president of Togo’s federation is a former trainee of the Gamecampcities agency. We have all the necessary elements to build a strong esports nation. Togo is also a member of the African Esports Confederation (CASE), whose headquarters are in Senegal. CASE now includes 30 countries and has the tech giant HP as a partner.

Written by Jean Sovon Translated by Jean-Christophe Brunet · View original post [fr]

China is the world's largest importer of timber

Originally published on Global Voices

Miombo Woodland. Wikicommons license CC BY 2.0 DEED

The Miombo woodlands cover several countries in the Congo Basin and southern Africa. The woodlands are comprised of tropical and subtropical grasslands that contribute to the sequestration of between 0.5 tons and 0.9 tons of carbon per hectare per year, making them a crucial part of offsetting human carbon emissions.

Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, DR Congo, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, DR Congo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, which house the Miombo woodlands, benefit enormously from the forest because it effectively fights against global warming and erosion phenomena and can help limit climatic disasters in the region. 

The Miombo forest in Malawi. Wikicommons license CC BY-SA 3.0

The forest and surrounding ecosystem also play a crucial part in supporting local livelihoods, economies, and cultures. For instance, at the turn of the season, the Miombo trees shed their leaves, which supports the growth of red mushrooms called “Kabengera” in the Kirundi language. The red mushrooms can cost between USD 5–7 per kilo, making them a lucrative economic resource, particularly in Burundi and Tanzania where the income per capita is among the lowest in the region.

At least 300 million people in Southern Africa, East Africa, and Central Africa benefit from Miombo Woodlands products, according to the President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi. The Miombo woodlands are home to some endemic species of animals and fauna, including lions, great apes, elephants, rhinoceroses, and more. 

Despite the woodlands’ important role in society, foreign investors, specifically Chinese trade groups, are participating in illegal deforestation for mining, logging, and trade purposes.

Chinese companies in the Miombo Forest

Many logging companies have complicated relationships with China in the Miombo Forest and the Congo Basin. Three-quarters of the timber from the Miombo is exported to China. At the same time, China imports two-thirds of the world's tropical logs. According to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), the wood consumption in 2019 was 431 million cubic meters RWE (a unit used to measure the volume of logs), with 90 percent being used for construction, paper, and furniture manufacturing.

Local Chinese companies play a crucial role in promoting local timber trade and exports. However, whether Chinese companies are following local logging regulations remains to be seen.  

Most of these Chinese logging companies are privately owned, rather than state-owned and on paper, most have obtained timber harvesting rights. For instance, in Gabon, China holds 25 percent of the timber harvesting rights, and this percentage is steadily increasing. However, possessing these rights doesn't guarantee that the extraction follows the legal regulations. In 2022, an investigation by EL PAÍS/Planeta Futuro, a Spanish newspaper, revealed that numerous Chinese companies and local authorities engaged in bribes to illegally acquire logging rights. 

In Yaliwasa, located in the northern part of the Republic of the Congo, centuries-old trees in the tropical rainforest were hastily cut down and illegally shipped to China and other nations. One of the logging companies involved in this deforestation was a Chinese enterprise called Fodeco. Despite lacking industrial logging experience, Fodeco has been operating under the protection of successive Congolese ministers, violating Congo's 20-year moratorium on new industrial logging. 

“In the DRC, any document, any proof of legality can be bought; administrations are legalizing machines,” an international consultant based in Kinshasa, who requested anonymity due to his advisory role with DRC authorities on forest governance, told EL PAÍS/Planeta Futuro.

This situation is not unique to Fodeco. Downstream, a subsidiary of Booming Group, a company registered in Hong Kong, is also violating Congolese laws by logging hardwood. These companies have obtained local logging permits, but engage in illegal logging and transportation with the participation or acquiescence of local government officials. The abuse of permits is common in many African countries.

In a Linkedin post, Booming Green's chairman promotes the company's Afrormosia, an endangered tree species.

In Mozambique, local insiders claim that the bribe to export a container of non-compliant raw timber is about USD 520, usually requiring bribes to at least four government officials. In Cameroon, some illegal enterprises even hire officials to escort the transport of illegal timber. These government officials facilitate communication and secure passage at checkpoints, representing another form of collusion to violate logging bans. 

According to researchers, Mozambique received as many as 66 projects owned by public or private Chinese investors, between 2000 and 2010.

Blood-wood

For several years now, Mozambique has been facing an insurgency near its border with Tanzania. Between 2017 and 2023, about 3.7 million tons of timber were exported to China from Mozambique — sometimes from insurgent-controlled areas — making the country the main timber supplier to China. A US-based NGO Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) report reveals that more than 89 percent of timber exports were illegal, with much of it being the rare, endangered rosewood trees. 

While China bans importing endangered trees from African countries, the traffic in wood linked to the Miombo woodlands continues to increase, with an estimated USD 23 million worth of illegal wood exported per year. Much of the revenue from this illicit timber trade is being used to fund terrorist groups, according to the BBC.

According to a report recently cited by the BBC, investigators tracked more than 300 containers shipped to China, between October 2023 and March 2024 and found that the value of each container was USD 60,000 for a total of USD 18,000,000. 

In Africa, authorities such as the African Union are becoming aware of the issue and trying to find solutions against the illegal exploitation of timber and minerals. Most countries sharing the forest signed the Maputo Declaration in 2022, aiming to protect this area of more than 2.7 million square kilometers. 

Furthermore, President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique, whose country loses the equivalent of 1,000 football fields of forests annually through vandalism, illegal timber trade, and illicit logging in the Miombo woodlands forests, is sounding the alarm. 

Speaking at a Miombo protection seminar in the US, Nyusi spoke of the need to work with heads of state in the region to combat the disappearance of the Miombo forest. “To go far, we must work together,” he said.

Ambiguity from China

Over the past few years, illegal timber from Africa has consistently flowed into the Chinese market, and defining responsibility for illegal logging has been difficult. In 2023, the international environmental watchdog Global Witness reported that Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development exported USD 5 million worth of illegally logged timber to China's Wanpeng Wood Industry Co., Ltd. over six months. 

In response, Chinese customs officials, addressing the evidence collected by Global Witness, indicated that since the logging occurred in the Republic of Congo, the investigation should be conducted by the local government. If requested by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Chinese government can investigate Chinese companies and citizens involved in illegal logging. In general, the Chinese authorities’ approach to transnational business investigations has been based on voluntary remediation. Therefore, the legitimacy of the entire process relies on self-regulation by enterprises.

This is a contradictory stance, as in countries like Congo, where corruption is rampant, the law often equates to bribery negotiations. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, Congo ranked 158 out of 180 countries for corruption in 2023. Charlie Hammans, a Global Witness investigator, believes that the only truly effective way to curb illegal timber is for China to explicitly ban the import of illegal overseas timber in its Forest Law.

China has implemented some measures to do this in recent years. In July 2020, China revised its Forest Law to establish a legal basis for tracing the source of illegal timber. Article 65 of the revised law requires:

木材经营加工企业应当建立原料和产品出入库台账。任何单位和个人不得收购、加工、运输明知是盗伐、滥伐等非法来源的林木.

Timber processing enterprises shall establish ledgers for the entry and exit of raw materials and products. No unit or individual may purchase, process, or transport timber known to be of illegal origin, such as stolen or indiscriminately logged timber.

However, this regulation has yet to explicitly cover imported timber and does not require enterprises to conduct due diligence on their timber purchases. The Ministry of Natural Resources has included the amendment of this regulation on its agenda, but it has not yet been issued.

Written by Ruohan Xie, Desire Nimubona

The influence of technology in driving social behavior change

Originally published on Global Voices

A side event about risk communication CPHIA 2023 with Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (center), Prof Margaret Gyapong, Co-Chair of CPHIA 2023 (left of Dr. Kaseya), and Hon. Sylvia Masebo, Zambia's health minister (right of Dr. Kaseya). Photo by Cecelia Maundu, used with permission.

In an increasingly interconnected world, the significance of technology in fostering positive social behavior change on a global scale is undeniable. Africa, though a latecomer to digitalization, has exhibited a notably swift technology adoption rate. Recent data on internet penetration and a conference focused on achievements and innovations in public health underscore the substantial influence of technology on the continent. The 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2023), was held in Lusaka, Zambia and focused on preparing communities for the next pandemic with community engagement and social behavioral change architecture.

Traversing digital frontiers reveals their multifaceted nature, weaving through diverse sectors and influencing behavioral changes in myriad ways.

The power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in social behavior change

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a formidable force in shaping societal attitudes and behaviors. By harnessing machine learning algorithms, AI can analyze extensive datasets, identify patterns, and predict future trends. This capability proves particularly valuable in comprehending human behavior and customizing interventions for positive change. Organizations and initiatives are progressively utilizing AI to gain insights into human behavior, forecast trends, and craft targeted interventions.

At the CPHIA 2023  conference, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) showered praise on the success of AI-driven initiatives, evident in their effective real-time surveillance of infectious diseases.
These initiatives played a pivotal role in guiding interventions and building capacity in big data approaches for outbreak prediction, analysis, and prevention. Notably, during the COVID-19 pandemic, surveillance systems seamlessly activated even in remote locations, showcasing the adaptability and impactful nature of these groundbreaking technologies.

“AI could really help us to be very agile and to analyze that data quick enough for us to be able to plan our interventions,” said Sylvia Masebo, Minister of Health of the Republic of Zambia.

Social media as a catalyst for change

The pervasive influence of social media has provided a dynamic platform for promoting social behavior change. Campaigns and movements that leverage the reach and engagement potential of platforms like Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Instagram have the capacity to transcend geographical boundaries. Social media allows for the rapid dissemination of information, the mobilization of communities, and the amplification of voices advocating for positive societal shifts.

“We're working through the work health structures to also share information using social media but we're going to step ahead not only to share the information but also monitor what's happening on social media. So we're doing social media listening and we're using applications such as CrowdTangle to monitor social media conversations,” said Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General, Africa CDC.

Beyond campaigns, social media platforms are vital tools for grassroots movements, enabling activists to amplify voices and connect globally. Utilizing platforms like X, activists organize protests, exemplified by the 2019 Hong Kong protests with the hashtag #antiELAB for real-time coordination. Environmental conservation efforts, as seen with Extinction Rebellion, leverage X and Facebook for global mobilization. Human rights advocacy, exemplified by the #BlackLivesMatter movement and its impactful use of the hashtag, spans platforms like X and Instagram, where activists share visuals and stories, sparking global conversations on social injustice.

This collective power enables these movements to overcome traditional barriers and drive positive societal change globally. The real-time nature of social media facilitates the swift dissemination of information, leading to significant behavioral changes in response to targeted societal campaigns.

Data analytics driving informed decision-making

Data analytics serves as the backbone for evidence-based decision-making in behavior change initiatives. By analyzing large datasets, organizations gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of interventions, enabling them to refine strategies and maximize impact. The integration of data analytics ensures that initiatives are targeted, measurable, and adaptable to the evolving dynamics of societal behavior.

“Technology is bridging the gaps in health care access and delivery. The Digital Disease Surveillance, which was piloted by Africa CDC in six countries, is developing digital surveillance indicators and online disease dashboards based on social media and search engines to inform infectious disease surveillance on the continent,” said Masebo.

Data analytics is pivotal for evidence-based decision-making in behavior change initiatives across health, education, environment, social justice, and economics. Khan Academy optimizes learning experiences through analytics, while the Climate Change in the American Mind project gauges public attitudes toward environmental campaigns. The Center for Policing Equity employs analytics to analyze discrimination patterns in social justice, and the World Bank's Global Findex initiative uses data analytics for interventions promoting responsible financial practices and global financial inclusion.

This versatile approach underscores how analytics empower organizations to drive positive societal changes across diverse sectors.

Navigating the ethical landscape

The CPHIA 2023 conference discussions underscored the importance of navigating the ethical landscape as technology continues to play a pivotal role in shaping social behavior. Ethical considerations, including privacy, data security, and transparency, are paramount to ensure that technological interventions lead to positive societal changes without unintended consequences.

Dr. Kaseya explained:

…But then of course that comes with the whole implications of us understanding the whole issues of privacy, data privacy and securities around that and how we address that. And then also just understanding that even though there are benefits to be tapped in this industry for AI, we still don't have or have very limited regulatory frameworks that govern how AI can be used. And so in the absence of these kinds of regulatory frameworks,  we need to tread very carefully about how we incorporate it.

As we explore the digital frontiers of AI, social media, data analytics, and the Internet of Things, it becomes evident that these technologies, when wielded responsibly, have the potential to drive positive transformations on a global scale. The commitment of African governments, international organizations, and partners to improve public health outcomes reflects a promising future where technology serves as a force for positive societal change.

Written by Cecilia Maundu

Political and economic factors influenced the highs and lows of Zambian music

Originally published on Global Voices

Legendary Zambian rock band, WITCH, 2021. Image by Esnala Banda, from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED).

As rightly stated by writer Lisa Insansa, Zambia’s music scene has experienced multiple deaths and rebirths, reflective of turbulent social, economic, and political realities. However, the country’s culture and identity are once again flourishing because of the resurgence of Zambian musicians and the promotion of Zambian music.

Prior to independence, there was a dominant cultural influence from the white colonial rulers. The British upper class living in Zambia, for example, imported rock records featuring popular artists of the time, including Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Deep Purple, and The Rolling Stones. An entire generation grew up listening to these bands, with some Zambian fans even picking up instruments and emulating their musical heroes. 

Traditionally, Zambian music served clear ritual purposes and expressed the social fabric of the culture. Songs were tools for teaching, healing, appealing to the spirits, and simple enjoyment. Despite the decline of traditional music, its influences persist in many contemporary Zambian musical forms today. The African “call-and-response” form is ubiquitous in almost every Zambian song, regardless of the style. Traditional drum rhythms and polymeters also echo in various Zambian music genres.

After the country, then called Northern Rhodesia, gained independence from Britain in 1964, Kenneth Kaunda‘s new government implemented a law that required 95 percent of the music played on the radio to be of Zambian origin. Kaunda loved music and would incorporate songs into his political messages during his campaigns. Two factors — this law stipulating local content on the airwaves, coupled with an economic boom from the country’s copper industry that brought increased industrialisation and urbanisation — helped create a favourable environment for the development of Zambian musicians and their unique sound. Live music thrived, as miners were paid well enough to afford to spend on watching local bands perform. The mining industry played a pivotal role in the development of Zambian music. Zambian musicians and their distinctive sound flourished during a period when the mining sector was thriving. The economic prosperity generated by the mining industry had a direct impact on the local communities, and in turn, the live music scene.  

Rise and fall of some unique sounds of Zambia

One of the unique sounds that emerged and gained popularity during this time — the 1970s — is “Zamrock.” It combined psychedelic rock, funk, and traditional Zambian music, and represented a desire to break away from colonial influences while still incorporating Western musical styles. Bands like WITCH (a backronym for “We Intend To Cause Havoc”) played with imported Western styles but added their own indigenous twist, acknowledging their African identity in their music.

Other noteworthy artists who were known for this music genre include The Peace, Amanaz, Chrissy “Zebby” Tembo, and Paul Ngozi and his Ngozi Family. Ngozi was a legendary Zambian musician in the 1970s and 1980s. He gained popularity as the leader of the Ngozi Family, a local rock group known for their Zamrock music; his songs resonated with society due to their relatable themes.

Here is a YouTube video of WITCH performing to an audience in London in 2017: 

In addition to Zamrock, Kalindula became a popular genre in Zambia. Characterized by its up-tempo rhythm, distinctive bass guitar, and frequent use of traditional drums, Kalindula is a musical style originating from Central-Southern Africa. While its specific country of origin is unclear, many claims point to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its popularity is most evident in Zambia, with well-known artists such as Ameyenge, Emmanuel Mulemena, Chris Chali, Paul Ngozi and PK Chishala, though the sound is also present in neighboring countries like Malawi and Zimbabwe. This music genre was typically performed by bands, including Serenje, Mulemena Boys, Oliya, Masasu, Amayenge Asoza, Mashombe Blue Jeans, Mutende Cultural Ensemble, Distro Kuomboka, and the Green Labels bands. These bands were known for their live performances, particularly on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) TV.

Many Zamrock classics explored themes reflecting the economic despair and social tensions caused by the 1973–1974 oil crisis, while others captured the issues of politics. For instance, Zamrock songs such as “Working on the Wrong Thing” by Rikki Ililonga & Musi-O-Tunya and “I've Been Losing” by Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family highlighted themes of migrant workers and everyday injustices, while “Black Power” by The Peace captured the growing awareness in Africa and the world.

As detailed on the Music in Africa platform, Kalindula's lyrical narratives delve into a diverse range of subjects, from traditional folklore and societal values to contemporary issues. The genre often serves as a medium for storytelling, preserving Zambia's cultural heritage and identity through its rhythmic beats and melodious tunes with themes of marriage, customs, daily life, and community.

Zamrock and Kalindula gained popularity during the 1970s but started losing their appeal and momentum towards the end of the decade. This decline was due to economic factors, political instability, and the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic on the musicians, as highlighted by Ambitious Africa and Amaka. According to the Ambitious Africa article and another article by the Guardian, Zamrock was rediscovered and revived decades later by overseas music lovers, leading to a resurgence of interest in Zamrock and the reissuing of records, allowing some surviving Zamrock artists like Emmanuel Jagari Chanda, lead vocalist from WITCH, to tour and perform for new audiences in Europe and the US.

The sounds of today

After the events mentioned above that shook the country's stability, Zambia's music scene saw a resurgence of heavily imported sounds through the diaspora, including hip-hop, soul, reggae, and gospel in the early 2000s. The increasing prevalence of piracy via digitization further destabilized Zambia's music industry. Nevertheless, Zambian musical output never completely vanished, as artists persisted in creating music despite the economic challenges.

Presently, Zambia's music scene has given rise to a distinct local sound known as Zed Beats (“Zed” is the colloquial term for Zambia). Zed Beats is distinguished by its use of electronic instruments and software, creating a fusion of African sounds with elements of R&B, hip-hop, and other Western musical styles. It encompasses various sub-genres like Zed R&B, Zed Hip Hop, Zed Rhumba, Zed Dancehall, or even Zed “Anything.” It has gained significant popularity, especially among the youth in Zambia. Key Zed Beats artists include JK, Danny Kaya, Petersen Zagaze, Macky 2 and K'Millian. The lyrical themes in Zed Beats songs are diverse, covering subjects such as love and relationships, social and political issues, and more. For instance, songs such as “Kapiripiri Kandi” by JK and No More Love by Macky 2 are about love and relationships, while others, like “Alabalansa” by K'Millian and Petersen Zagaze's “Munyaule,” delve into social and political commentary.

Zed hip-hop is the most promising category in Zed Beats, with popular rappers like Slap Dee, Chef 187, Macky 2 and others. Responding to public demand for a nod to Zambian culture, some hip-hop artists have incorporated a “Kalindula touch” into their work. For instance, Bombshell Grenade's song “Backshot,” as explained in the YouTube video below:

While the Zambian pop music scene has traditionally been dominated by male artists, some talented women artists that stand out include, Mampi, Cleo Ice Queen, Bombshell Grenade,  Kantu Siachingili, Dambisa, Kay Figo, Princess Natasha Chansa and Salma Dodia.

Zambia’s contemporary music scene has not only evolved to become diverse in genre but in gender too; many women artists like those mentioned above are pushing back against the historically patriarchal musical space.

Find a playlist highlighting Zambian music below, and for a full assortment of eclectic music from around the world, see Global Voices’ Spotify profile.

Written by Zita Zage

Local and international media outlets that provide coverage of Zambia

Originally published on Global Voices

President Hakainde Hichilema, Lusaka, 2023. Image by TheophilusMaurice from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED).

Zambia, a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, has a media landscape that is fairly rich and diverse. The media sphere in Zambia encompasses a wide array of communication platforms, including television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and web-based internet sites. This article provides a curated selection of informative sources to help you stay updated on Zambian news.

The establishment of new media outlets and the growth of the media industry have contributed to a more diverse and vibrant media landscape in Zambia. A research article by Peter Brooke reveals that the decolonization of Zambia in the 1960s significantly impacted the media sector, fostering greater freedom of expression and the establishment of new media outlets. The article also underscores the role of short-wave radio broadcasting and the increasing availability and affordability of transistor radios in Zambia in fueling the growth of the media industry. Transistor radios provided better access to news and information, especially in rural areas where other forms of media may not have been readily available. Their proliferation also made it challenging for the government to control the media landscape, as monitoring and regulating content became more difficult.

Zambia’s official language is English; hence, media publications and broadcasts are produced mostly in English. The country's population is estimated at more than 20 million. While English is the most commonly used second language, only 2 percent of the population speak English as their native language. As reported by Translators without Borders, the most widely spoken languages are Bemba (spoken by 35 percent of the population), Nyanja or Chewa (20 percent), Tonga (12 percent) and Lozi (6 percent).

The Zambian government operates a public relations outfit, the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS), which is responsible for promoting a positive image of the government. It also owns and operates two daily newspapers, the Times of Zambia and the Daily Mail. In addition to the state-owned newspapers, there are several other privately owned newspapers, the most influential being the News Diggers, Mast, Daily Nation, Lusaka Times and Lusaka Voice. 

For purely digital news, platforms like Mwebantu, Zambia Reports, and Zambian Watchdog cover a wide range of topics, including politics, entertainment, media, sports, lifestyle, and business. These news sites have garnered more than 2.5 million, 1.6 million, and 1.3 million followers on their respective Facebook pages.

The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is the national broadcaster, operating three TV channels and three radio stations. ZNBC also maintains a presence on Facebook and YouTube, where it has garnered more than 858,000 and 93, 000 followers, respectively.  In addition to the state-owned broadcast media, there are 42 privately owned TV channels and around 120 privately owned radio stations. Some of the most influential privately owned TV channels are Prime TV, Diamond TV, and MUVI Television. These private media outlets have more diverse viewpoints and are critical of the government.  

Internationally, Zambian news receives coverage from several French and English-speaking international media outlets, including Voice of America, the Conversation, the Independent, News Now, Okayafrica, Al Jazeera, France 24, Radio France Internationale, the Guardian, the English section of Africanews, BBC Africa and Sky News.

The state of freedom of expression in Zambia has been a continual focus for international organizations. The former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF), maintained tight control over both state and privately owned media, resulting in the closure of media outlets and the dismissal of outspoken journalists. However, the situation has improved since the new government took office in August 2021, with reduced interference and increased media freedom, as reported by Reporters Without Borders. In February 2022, a court ruled the 2015 closure of Zambia's most important independent newspaper, The Post, as illegal, signaling a positive development.

In 2023, Reporters Without Borders, ranked Zambia 87th out of 180 countries, which indicates an improvement to last year's rank of 109. The Freedom House report categorizes Zambia as “partly free,” giving it a score of 54 out of 100 because of restrictive laws that limit political space and online speech. For instance, the access to information law, promised for years, has still not been enacted. The Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act that was adopted in March 2021, officially with the aim of protecting Zambian citizens from online abuse, is seen by many as a tool to muzzle the online press, as highlighted in a report by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA). Finally, the Defamation Act is often used by the government to arrest citizens and journalists on charges of defaming the president.

Internet penetration in Zambia remains relatively low at 21.2 percent, according to a report by DataReportal, implying that about 78.8 percent of the population remained offline at the beginning of 2023. Only 13.3 percent of the total population actively uses social media, with Facebook (2.60 million users) and LinkedIn (640,000 users) being the most widely utilized platforms. They are followed by Facebook Messenger (366,000), Instagram (349,800), and Twitter (154,500). A recent study about social media consumption in Zambia found that 71.3 percent of respondents used social media to counteract government propaganda.

Zambia's media has undergone a significant transformation, shaped by the historical context of decolonization, technological advancements, and the resilience of both state and private media entities. Despite these positive changes, challenges such as restrictive laws and limited internet access continue to pose obstacles. However, with the continued advancement of technology, effective regulations and the potential for increased internet penetration, Zambia's media landscape is on the cusp of further evolution, presenting new prospects for information dissemination and public engagement.

Written by Zita Zage

His return to politics is ‘motivated by a desire to restore unity within his party’

Originally published on Global Voices

Zambian Former President Edgar Lungu. Image by Chalo Chatu from Flickr (PDM 1.0 DEED).

Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu has announced his return to active politics, aiming for the 2026 presidential elections after retiring in 2021 following a significant defeat.

EDGAR LUNGU RETURNS TO POLITICS, UPND SENDS BEST WISHES

By Wendson Mavoro

Former Republican President Edgar Lungu has announced his return to active politics. pic.twitter.com/wnDBvqVTPr

— Diamond TV (@diamondtvzambia) October 28, 2023

His previous six-year tenure left the country grappling with economic challenges, impacting the lives of Zambians.

Lungu declared his readiness to defend democracy in a speech honoring Michael Sata, the former president of Zambia and leader and founder of the Patriotic Front (PF), who died in office in 2014. According to News Central TV, Lungu stated:

I'm ready to fight from the front not from the rear in defense of democracy those who are ready for this fight please come along with me I'm ready for anything.

Lungu has launched a bid to lead the Patriotic Front, the party he led until his defeat in 2021, but faces a leadership challenge. The party has splintered into two factions: one led by Miles Sampa, who was proclaimed the party's president and the other faction wants Lungu to lead the party. There are accusations that Sampa is backed by the state. As reported by Africanews, Lungu's return to the forefront involves his commitment to salvage the party, which is facing potential deregistration by the government due to internal leadership disputes.

Lungu accuses President Hakainde Hichilema, of using state institutions to suppress the opposition and violating his rights. Police actions, including stopping Lungu from jogging and seeking medical attention abroad, have fueled tensions.

In May of this year, police surrounded Lungu's home, demanding to search it as part of a corruption probe.

The report by Africanews said that on the matter of Lungu's claims of being targeted by supporters of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), the government spokesman, Cornelius Mweetwa, dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Capitalizing on dissatisfaction with the current economic hardships, Lungu says he aims to regain support, especially considering growing concerns about inflation, unemployment, and poverty under Hichilema's administration.

Government reaction

In response to Lungu's return to politics, the Zambian government has withdrawn his retirement benefits and privileges. Government spokesman Cornelius Mweetwa cited compliance with the country's laws, which mandate the withdrawal of such benefits when a former president re-enters politics. This includes the removal of security personnel, diplomatic passport, state cars, a furnished house, medical insurance, and funeral expenses.

Mweetwa emphasized that Lungu will now be treated equally under the law, raising questions about the potential removal of his immunity from prosecution. Notably, Zambia's parliament has previously revoked immunity for two former presidents: Frederick Chiluba in 2002 and Rupiah Banda in 2013.

Reactions from Zambian citizens

Reactions among Zambians are mixed, with some expressing excitement for Lungu's return while others believe it may not be in the country's best interest.

In an interview with News Central, geopolitics analyst, Aon Gambi, said:

Mr Sata who died in office, was a man that was loved by the people and was a man that the common people could actually relate to. When he died prematurely from falling ill while in office and as a result did not finish his five year term of office, Mr Lungo came as a successor. Since then Mr Lungu went on to lose the elections to his opponent in 2021 who is now the president. So the mixed reactions to Mr Lungu's return is because the people that belong to the party of Mr Lungu that you see in the video of course are excited but also there are people that feel like it is not a good move for Mr Lunga to come back because he's the only remaining and surviving former head of state.

According to Gambi, many Zambians express disappointment in Hichilema's performance as president, citing elevated levels of inflation, unemployment, and poverty as key concerns with the current government. While some comments on this video align with Gambi's analysis, others argue that the government is making sincere efforts, as one individual pointed out:

Debt was restructured, teachers recruited, health workers employed, defense and correctional services personnel employed, free education, and the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is equal to the task at grass roots, empowerment to youths and women is a game changer, people are encouraged to work and empowered under entrepreneurship. It's only a biased person who cannot see any positive efforts put in place. We are Zambians in Zambia on ground and not false clips from social media. People can make films to create what's not on the ground. Let's be factual!

Gambi asserted that because of the perceived shortcomings of the current government, the ruling party is gradually losing support, even among those who voted for President Hichilema in 2021. Consequently, Hichilema is allegedly adopting authoritarian and autocratic measures, constricting the democratic space.

According to Gambi, Edgar Lungu's return to politics is motivated by a desire to restore unity within his party:

President Hakainde Hichilema is actively working to dismantle the Patriotic Front, the political home of Mr. Lungu. Thus, Mr. Lungu feels compelled to re-enter politics, believing he is the only one capable of fostering unity and preserving the party's cohesion leading up to the 2026 elections.

As Zambia navigates this political turbulence, the upcoming 2026 elections will likely play a pivotal role in shaping the country's political landscape.

Written by Zita Zage

AI training is an absolute must

Originally published on Global Voices

Photo of African Union media fellows, used with permission.

In an interview with Global Voices, African journalists shared their views on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism on this continent.

Over the past few decades, the developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have transformed the journalism profession. In addition to basic internet usage and a plethora of social networks, artificial intelligence is now making inroads into journalism. ChatGPT, ZeroGPT, DALL-E, new/s/leak, Midjourney, and Audemic are just some of the tools that all journalists should be aware of.

However, Africa remains the least connected region in the world. While countries like Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and South Korea all have internet penetration rates of over 90 percent, this only reaches 50 percent in Africa, where the digital divide is most apparent. The infrastructure is often outdated, connection costs remain high in some countries and imported technologies are not adapted to suit African circumstances. According to the results of a Cable.co.uk study published on Statista, this continent has five of the ten countries in the world (São Tomé and Principe, Botswana, Togo, the Seychelles and Namibia) where 1GB of internet data costs more than USD 20.
On the other hand, the internet can fuel the disinformation phenomenon, especially in Africa.

During the Second African Media Convention held in Lusaka, Zambia on May 11 to 13, 2023, by UNESCO and the African Union (AU), African journalists discussed the intrusion of artificial intelligence in their profession. They also discussed media sustainability and the on this continent.

To mark the 30-year anniversary of the #WPFD, Our #AUMediaFellows joined over 300 African editors, journalists and media stakeholders at the #AMC2023 to shape a future of journalism ,by addressing rights of journalists in the age of Pre-Trained Transformed AI. #AUMediaFellowship pic.twitter.com/E4hR4v5bqm

— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) May 16, 2023

Some participants, including a group of African Union media fellows, agreed to share their views with Global Voices. The African Union Media Fellowship is a program launched by this continental body and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in 2022. It aims to better equip journalists and content creators to be able to tell stories about Africa beyond the conflicts and crises

AI should not replace the primary role of journalists

Although AI undoubtedly helps save time, select topics based on algorithms, sort information in record time, and generate graphs, amongst other such functions, all media professionals should make moderate use of AI in their profession. Nigerian journalist for the Daily Trust, Afeez Hanafi, explains:

L'IA est un outil très pertinent pour le journalisme et je pense que chaque journaliste devrait l'adopter pour améliorer son travail. Notez que j'ai dit “améliorer”, ce qui signifie que l'IA ne remplace pas et ne devrait pas remplacer le rôle premier d'un journaliste, qui est de rassembler des faits à l'aide de sources fiables et de reportages sur le terrain. Elle offre des moyens multidimensionnels d'utiliser l'IA et le journalisme de données pour amplifier la narration et produire les impacts souhaités.

AI is a very useful tool in journalism, and I think all journalists should use it to improve their work. Note that I said “improve” here. This means that AI does not and should not replace the primary role of journalists, which is to gather facts from reliable sources and field reports. There are multidimensional ways of using AI and data journalism to amplify a story and achieve the desired impact.

According to Amira Sayed, Head of Department at the Egyptian Gazette, technologies like AI have radically changed the media landscape, thus having both a positive and negative impact.

En ce qui concerne l'aspect positif de l'utilisation de l'intelligence artificielle, elle facilite la collecte d'informations et de données sur certains sujets, la manière de les rendre plus accrocheuses en utilisant la visualisation des données et d'autres outils de l'intelligence artificielle. Vous pouvez créer un podcast en utilisant l'IA. Cela facilite donc le rôle des médias. Cependant il y a un impact négatif en ce qui concerne la diffusion des stéréotypes. Par exemple, si vous demandez à l'IA de collecter des informations sur l'Afrique, elle aura certains types d'études liés à l'Afrique et aux clauses traditionnelles de l'Afrique (…).

With regard to the positive impact of the use of artificial intelligence, it facilitates data and information collection on certain subjects and how to make it more eye-catching by using data visualization and other artificial intelligence tools. You can create podcasts using AI, thus facilitating the role of the media. However, there is also a negative impact, involving the dissemination of stereotypes. For example, if you ask AI to collect information on Africa, it will have certain types of studies associated with Africa and traditional African clauses (…).

AI training is a must for journalists

It would therefore be unwise for media professionals to throw themselves into using AI without first having formal training. An introduction is a must, as Sayed points out:

En tant que journalistes et professionnels des médias, nous devons maîtriser les nouvelles technologies. En plus de la presse écrite, les médias numériques sont désormais au premier plan. Aujourd'hui, les gens ont tendance à préférer regarder une vidéo plutôt que de lire un article. Il est donc très important de savoir comment utiliser au mieux ces technologies, surtout l'IA, pour améliorer la qualité de son travail.

As journalists and media professionals, we must embrace new technologies. Besides print media, digital media now occupy a primary place. Today, people would rather watch videos than read articles. It’s therefore very important to know how to optimally use these technologies, especially AI, to improve the quality of our work.

While the first two individuals have mixed views on this matter, Rwandan journalist and founder of Rwanda Post, Johnson Kanamugire, is emphatic about one thing: AI raises ethical concerns.

Je n'utilise pas l'IA pour créer. Tout auteur qui l'utilise devrait faire savoir aux lecteurs que l'outil a contribué au contenu qu'il produit, et dans quelle mesure. Je dis cela parce que les outils d'IA ont des défauts en ce qui concerne les droits d'auteur du contenu qu'ils génèrent, qu'ils reproduisent des schémas biaisés et qu'ils se trompent dans leurs prédictions sur un certain nombre de choses. Certains outils d'IA ne peuvent être utilisés par les journalistes que pour effectuer des recherches ou pour analyser d'énormes volumes de données. Les utilisateurs devraient toujours être conscients de ces défauts.

I don’t use AI to write. Any author who uses it must make the readers aware that this tool has contributed towards the content they’ve created, and to what extent. I say this because AI tools are flawed in terms of copyrighting the content they create. They copy biased models and make mistakes in their predictions on a number of things. Some AI tools can only be used by journalists to conduct research or analyze large volumes of data. The users must always be aware of these flaws.

However, Johnson is not opposed to AI. He recognizes that its use is inevitable and that journalists must get into it:

La révolution de l'IA par rapport au journalisme est une question émergente qui n'a pas reçu l'attention qu'elle mérite dans les salles de rédaction en Afrique, et le fait d'avoir l'occasion d'améliorer mes compétences à cet égard, me donne une longueur d'avance.

The journalism AI revolution is an emerging issue that hasn’t received due attention in African newsrooms. Having this opportunity to improve my skills in this area puts me at an advantage.

Kenyan broadcast journalist and podcaster Cecilia Maundu states:

Grâce à cette rencontre, j’ai appris que l’IA n'est pas toujours factuelle et qu'elle est en quelque sorte “raciste” en raison des algorithmes qui lui ont été imposés. J'utiliserais l'IA pour m'aider à en savoir plus sur la thématique sur laquelle je travaille, et sur ce que je veux écrire, mais je ne dépendrai pas d'elle.

Thanks to this convention, I learned that AI isn’t always factual and is somewhat “racist” due to the algorithms it receives. I would thereby use AI to learn more about the topic I’m working on and want to write about, but I wouldn’t depend on it.

Although it’s clear that artificial intelligence hasn’t quite finished making headlines, especially in Africa where there are major technological challenges, media readiness remains the key issue here. Will African newsrooms be up to the challenge of embracing artificial intelligence tools in an ethical manner?

Written by Aïssatou Fofana Translated by Laura · View original post [fr]

There are approximately 150 languages in Tanzania, though Swahili is prioritised

Originally published on Global Voices

‘Students in Primary Seven at Zanaki Primary School in Tanzania’ by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

There are approximately 150 languages in Tanzania. However, because the country's language policies prioritize Swahili, community languages have suffered — particularly in the area of primary education. The findings of an ongoing study by a team of researchers and linguists show this phenomenon isn't unique to Tanzania, but is occurring across the African continent. 

Hannah Gibson (University of Essex), Gastor Mapunda (University of Dar es Salaam) and Colin Reilly (University of Essex), are involved in an ongoing research project examining language practices and language policy in Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana. Here they report on some of their emerging findings, focusing on Tanzania. 

In this article, we share some of our views with Global Voices about how the country's language policies affect Swahili and other community languages. We also looked at multilingualism in Tanzania and the way in which the language policy deals with the multilingual reality of the country.

According to findings from our study, in some parts of Tanzania, children encounter Swahili for the first time when they begin primary school. There are a variety of different languages spoken in these regions, such as Sukuma, Ha and Iraqw. There are other areas in which Swahili is used to a limited extent, and there are areas where Swahili is not used at all, except for in specific contexts such as administrative matters, religious purposes or public meetings.

Statements relating to language policy in Tanzania are provided by the Education and Training Policy (1995, 2014), the Cultural Policy (1997) and a number of statements relating to the media. However, there is almost no explicit mention of community languages in any of these documents. 

In fact, the Culture Policy is the only one that explicitly references community languages, saying:

Community languages will continue to be used as natural assets to grow Swahili.

But even this policy does not encourage the official use of community languages. In fact, many government bodies call for the total exclusion of community languages in official domains in order to, in their view, avoid ethnic divisions within the country.

For example, on October 30, 2003, the Majira newspaper quoted a representative of the Tanzania Broadcasting Commission who prohibited the use of community languages on the radio, claiming these languages could be dangerous.

We argue the language policy in Tanzania is discriminatory as it prioritises Swahili at the expense of the many other languages, and by doing so, negatively impacts communities in the country who don’t use Swahili as their main language.

Our research with community members shows that the use of Swahili in primary education in rural districts does not facilitate the learners’ comprehension in their studies. If you look at the results of the grade four and grade seven national exams, there are huge differences between regions. For example, in our research in Nzega, Tabora, where Sukuma and Nyamwezi are the main languages of the community, approximately half of the grade four students in one of the schools we visited in 2020 were forced to repeat a year. As a result of this, the grade four class had twice as many students in it as the other classes that year.

‘A student in Primary Seven at Zanaki Primary School’ by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Our research appears to shows that forcing learners to speak Swahili exacerbates educational issues and causes poor results in these national exams. For example, numerous reports from the NGO Uwezo Tanzania show that the comprehension level of students in grade three in terms of reading, arithmetic and writing is very low. They have also shown that even in grade seven, there are still a large proportion of students who have comprehension levels equal or lower to grade two students. This includes a large number of students from rural areas where they are not exposed to Swahili.

What does this mean?

We believe that this situation means lots of people are simply wasting time in school. It is continuing to undermine progress in these areas. There are students who study for seven years and who are still unable to answer relatively basic questions. People might think that these children are not very clever, but this is simply not the case. They have sufficient knowledge and are capable of success, but they have not yet been able to acquire a level of Swahili that would enable them to learn through Swahili medium instruction. 

Another issue that needs to be examined closely in relation to this policy is that in addition to the students who do poorly in their studies and exams, some of these parents don’t believe that their community languages can help their children in their education. This was observed in earlier research carried out by Gastor Mapunda (2013) titled “Ngoni People's Attitudes towards the Use of Kingoni in Beginner Classes.”

Similarly, in our research in Songea District, when a parent was asked whether she would like her second-grade child to be taught in Ngoni, she responded:

No, I don’t want that at all. I myself speak Ngoni. How has it helped me? Up until today, I’m poor because of the Ngoni language.

Is it really true that the language has caused her to suffer like this? Or is it the lack of support for speakers of community languages? 

In our view, not valuing community languages is a real problem and this is the situation that we find in Tanzania and many other countries. It is the right of every citizen to be respected and given the opportunity to shape their identity, including their right to choose which language they want to use in their daily lives. This must be supported through policy.

A consequence of a policy that discriminates against community languages is that people who speak these community languages may end up looking down on their own languages and perceiving themselves and their languages as being worthless.

In addition to celebrating the announcement by UNESCO that will recognise Swahili as a global language via the announcement of a Swahili Day on July 7, it is important not to acknowledge that there are other languages that also need to be recognised. When children finish primary school without having their needs cared for, ultimately they will lose self-respect and feel devalued. In our view, this is not something that we can ignore.

This article was originally written in Swahili. Click here for the Swahili version.

Written by Gastor Mapunda, Hannah Gibson Translated by Hannah Gibson, Gastor Mapunda, Colin Reilly · View original post [sw]

Don’t single out Africa. The virus is also in the West.

Originally published on Global Voices

A mother getting vaccinated in South Africa. Image by USAID/South Africa, taken on September 3, 2021 (CC BY-NC 2.0).

On November 25, South African health minister Joe Phaahla announced the detection of a new COVID-19 variant in the country’s Gauteng province. The B.1.1.529 or Omicron COVID-19 variant was first sequenced in Botswana by Dr. Sikhulile Moyo, a Zimbabwean scientist based there. 

Since then, Western nations have re-echoed colonial labeling of Africa as a diseased continent by racing to ban flights from what they perceive as COVID-infested Southern Africa. At the same time, the entry requirements for people from Western nations remain the same — even if they have significantly higher case numbers than African countries.

These prejudices towards African countries caused outrage from African governments and citizens. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described them as “unjustified and unfairly” discriminatory. The flight bans on African countries have only reinforced the dominant Western narrative that “only disease and chaos comes from Africa,” insists Dr. Yolande Bouka, an assistant professor of political studies at Canada’s Queen's University. This is despite the fact that “the continent has fared better despite vax apartheid and limited resources. And most importantly erasing Africa’s contribution towards fighting COVID-19,” Bouka tweeted.

Western outlook on health services in Africa remains the same as it was in the 19th century, a “project of colonial conquest and domination,” according to historian Jessica Pearson-Patel. Journalist Samira Sawlani further asserts in a tweet that, “Colonialism was built on and reinforced through the idea that the west is superior to those in countries they colonised. That hasn’t changed. It just looks & plays out a little different.”

Not only did travel restrictions themselves earn criticism, but also the language used to describe the discovery and spread of the new virus variant. In a tweet, South African citizen Graeme Codington points to the role of media and how “lazy journalists” get it wrong. “It is not a surprise that our medical system is one of the first to identify new Covid variants. (…) What is a surprise is how lazy journalists write headlines,” Codington writes. 

The United States’ double standard was most obvious. On the one hand, the U.S. Secretary of State said that South Africa's transparency in sharing information about the Omicron variant “should serve as a model for the world.” Yet, the U.S. was one of the first Western nations to ban flights from southern Africa, ostentatiously backed by “science,” according to a November 26 tweet by President Joe Biden. 

After two cases of the new variant were detected in the UK, six African countries were placed on their red list. Two days later, four other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were red-listed. People from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola are now banned from entering the UK. 

countries banned because of the omicron variant
vs.
countries with confirmed omicron cases pic.twitter.com/7HAxx03KfE

— Trevor Branch (@TrevorABranch) November 28, 2021

One day later, the EU followed the UK. “The European Commission has today proposed to member states to activate the emergency brake on travel from Southern African and other affected countries. All air travel to and from these countries should be suspended until we have a clear understanding of how serious the mutations of this new variant are,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU commission. 

Since then, Australia and Thailand joined the U.S., Brazil, and Canada in imposing travel bans from the southern African countries. Japan, Israel, Morocco, Oman, and Jamaica have followed suit. 

Meanwhile, the numbers of infections in Europe are at their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic. This surge is driven by a mix of factors, including vaccination refusal, the Delta variant, and relaxed restrictions. Even though the new variant was detected in several European countries, and in Canada, Israel, Australia, and Hong Kong, travel bans are so far only imposed on African countries. 

Déjà vu of colonial anti-Blackness 

Similar categorisation of Africa as the seedbed of disease was manifested at the height of the Ebola epidemic in 2014. This was exemplified by the Newsweek magazine cover which featured a photo of a chimpanzee with the headline: “A Back Door for Ebola: Smuggled Bushmeat Could Spark a U.S. Epidemic.”

But this was not just a gaffe. Rather, it represents what Washington Post journalists Laura Seay and Kim Yi Dionne, describe as the “long and ugly tradition of treating Africans as savage animals and the African continent as a dirty, diseased place to be feared.”

Not much has changed in 2021. 

It is ironic that a red alert has been placed on African countries who lead the global effort in identifying this variant, particularly when several African countries imposed stricter measures, including the compulsory wearing of masks in public, to curb coronavirus. These measures were already being enforced in most parts of Africa while the U.S. was embroiled in partisan ideological politics to wear or not to wear masks. A joint report from the House of Commons science and health committees affirmed that the UK performed “significantly worse” than many other countries at the early days of the pandemic due to “group-think” among scientists and government officials, leading to over 150,000 deaths. 

While Europe and the U.S. blame Africa for spreading the virus, their policies undermine the global COVID-19 response. The West’s vaccine nationalism emphasizes the exclusive reliance on private companies with patents to the COVID-19 vaccine together with the dynamics of a free-market system to determine who gets the vaccine. In simpler terms, this means that countries with more money will get the vaccine. 

The U.S. and EU successfully placed advance orders for millions of the vaccine, leaving very little for less developed countries. The consequences, as now evident with the Omicron variant, is that Europe and the U.S., which scrambled to inoculate most of their population ahead of less wealthy countries will continue struggling to contain the virus until other countries are fully vaccinated as well. 

Despite the vaccine nationalism of Western countries, Africa seems to have fared better in curtailing the spread of COVID-19. As of November 29, Africa has recorded 221,635 deaths as compared to the 1,104,494 in Asia, 2,341,205 in the Americas, and 1,491,599 in Europe according to the European Centre for Disease Control. In addition, “the case-fatality ratio (CFR) for COVID-19 in Africa is lower than the global CFR” going by a study conducted by the Partnership for Evidence-based Response to COVID-19 (PERC), explains why the fatality rate was lower in the continent. 

A study by public health scholars Dr. Itai Chitungo and Dr. Mathias Dzobo asserts that it is “not accurate to offer limited testing capacity, poor health systems, and under-reporting as the only explanations for the lower numbers of COVID-19 cases reported in Africa.” The continent’s young population, favourable climate, and quick action contributed to stemming the tide against the pandemic. 

Another explanation for the low COVID-19 fatality rates in the continent was given by Dr. Olúwatómidé Adéoyè, a drug development scientist based in Lisbon, Portugal. Adéoyè told Global Voices via Twitter DM chat that blood tests known as serological surveys that were conducted in south-eastern, south-western and north-western Nigeria “suggest about 25 to 50% already got COVID. When you map this on age and comorbidity with adjusted risk of death or hospitalisation, it makes sense that we [Nigerians] have not been that affected.” 

The rate of vaccine administration by continent shows Africa trailing with 2.98 percent, while Asia (67.9 percent), Europe (11.9 percent), and North America (9.4 percent) top the chart. 

The rate of vaccine administration by continent as at November 2021. Image credit: Our World in Data.

Dr. Ayoade Alakija, member of the African Union’s Vaccine Delivery Alliance, blamed the West for hoarding vaccines and refusing to waive patents. “It is a result of hoarding by high-income countries of the world and quite frankly, it is unacceptable. These travel bans are based in politics and not in science,” Alakija said.

As of March 2021, COVAX, whose mandate was to ensure the fair and equitable rate of coronavirus vaccination in every country, allocated more than 500,000 doses to the UK which has already achieved a high rate of vaccination coverage. On the other hand, Botswana, which had not started its vaccination drive, was assigned a meager 20,000 doses of vaccine. 

African countries face challenges distributing vaccines due to storage problems, government bureaucracy, hesitation to take the vaccine, and mis/disinformation about the vaccine. But the hesitation to take COVID-19 vaccines is not exclusive to the continent. A study showed that vaccine hesitancy is higher in wealthier nations like Russia and the U.S. This position was confirmed by another study by pathology professor Malik Sallam, which showed that Italy, Russia, Poland, the U.S., and France had low rates of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. 

Scientists weigh in on the Omicron variant

The U.S. president's claim that his African travel ban was based on “science” is contradicted by many reputable scientists.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it is still “not yet clear” if Omicron spreads faster or causes more severe disease than the Delta COVID-19 variant. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the Associated Press that the “knee-jerk” travel ban by Western politicians was counterproductive because countries already have rapid tests and vaccines. 

Caroline Colijn, a mathematician and epidemiologist at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, asserts that “the omicron variant has already been detected in countries outside of the targeted region.” On November 29, six Scottish nationals with no travel history tested positive for the Omicron variant. Similarly, the new variant was already present in the Netherlands by November 19, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said.

A guy who tweeted the following when Trump banned travels from Europe/China now bans travel from African countries. The irony is the so-called ‘liberal media’ provides ‘scientific context’ for Biden's decision while presenting Trump's decision as a racist. Journalism is broken pic.twitter.com/FF1SAPQ14X

— Endalk (@endalk2006) November 27, 2021

Rather, scientists at Johns Hopkins University have shown that the country that first reports the result of COVID-19 sequencing on the new variant “may not be the origin.” Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University further asserts that “penalizing countries that report variants may have a chilling effect on surveillance for variants.” 

Besides, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says that  “imposing bans on travelers from countries where a new variant is reported has not yielded a meaningful outcome.” Consequently, it is “naive” of countries like the U.S. and the UK to believe that imposing travel restrictions will “prevent the importation” of the new Omicron Covid variant, vaccinologist Professor Shabir Madhi told Channel 4 News. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus WHO chair affirms that “the more we allow the COVID-19 virus to circulate, mutate and become potentially more dangerous,” the less safe our world becomes, irrespective of the location, rate of vaccination, and affluence of the country. 

Written by Nwachukwu Egbunike, Lisa Plank, Rosemary Ajayi, Pernille Baerendtsen

Musicians are fusing archived African folk songs with modern music

Originally published on Global Voices

“Old Wooden Djembe” by dejankrsmanovic is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Traditional African musical sounds and songs are under threat today. More than 50 years after the end of official colonial rule, the legacy of colonialism continues to sideline many traditional musical practices as capitalism commodifies the art form as pure entertainment — rather than a cultural tool for preserving tradition and community.

Ethnomusicologists began recording, collecting, and archiving African Folk music as early as the 1920s, in an effort to preserve and document disappearing cultures. According to the Vinyl Factory:

Record labels and ethnologists started recording ethnic communities’ music in the 1920s and 1930s, at the dawn of field recording technology, when they realized they had the means to record, and not only transpose music made in the rural areas away from the studio.

Global Voices compiled some samples of these recordings in a YouTube playlist. And a piece from the Nigerian Yoruba Tribe is available below.

Archiving East Africa's folk music

Huey Tracey is perhaps one of the most renowned ethnomusicologists who, together with his wife Barbara Tracey, made over 35,000 recordings of African folk music between the 1920s and the 1970s. He later founded the International Library of African Music ( ILAM) — the largest repository of African music in the world which preserves thousands of historical recordings going back to 1929. The research institution has since become devoted to the study of music in Africa.

In recent years, there has been renewed interest and efforts among African musicologists, historians, and enthusiasts to record, digitize, and archive traditional music and ancient sounds from indigenous communities on the African continent. The primary goal has been to preserve and sustain the music's extraordinary heritage which has become inaccessible. The influence of Christianity on indigenous people's perception of traditional music and accompanying practices, urbanization, the ubiquity of radio and studio-recorded music, and commodification have all contributed to the demise of African folk music.

Tabu Osusa is a Kenyan music producer, author, and the founding director of Ketebul music — a nonprofit organization dedicated to researching, documenting, developing, and promoting the diverse musical traditions of East Africa. His organization together with the Abubilla Music Foundation started the Singing project wells nine years ago  This is a collaborative project that travels to remote villages across East Africa with mobile recording studios in order to record and archive traditional sounds and music of Eastern Africa in an audiovisual format. These musical performances are then published on their website, on their SoundCloud podcast, and on YouTube.

Unlike some ethnomusicologists whose recordings are mainly for archival purposes — making it difficult for music producers or musicians to access the songs for sampling or adaptation purposes — the Singing Wells project says they are determined not to become “fossil collectors.” As noted on their website:

We work with musicians to make sure their music traditions continue to be practised, can be shared amongst the widest audiences and become a source of inspiration for new musicians.

Osusa’s immense contributions towards music as a historian, not just on the Singing Wells project but also in a project documenting the history of popular music in Kenya from 1946–2016, were recently recognized through an Order of Arts and Letters honours. In August this year, Osusa was given the award which recognizes eminent artists and writers who have significantly contributed to the creative industry.

Benson Rukantabula is a young Tanzanian who founded the Tanzania Heritage Project in 2012 with the mission to find, restore and share Tanzania’s rich musical heritage through digitization. In so doing, he hopes his contribution will go towards supporting and promoting modern-day cultural expression that will keep Tanzanian creativity and art vibrant and accessible.

While speaking to the Global Post following the launch of the project on Kickstarter, Rukantabula said;

I hope that by making this music available, the country can both preserve its heritage and inspire young Tanzanian artists through the musical storytelling of their past. The popular Bongo Flava music that blares from local nightclubs hardly reflects Tanzania’s rich musical history.

The messages are all messed up… If we digitize the archives, they can know where they lost their way.

Fusing traditional folk music with modern sounds

Thanks to technology, these recorded and archived sounds are now finding a new life as modern musicians, DJs, artists, and music producers fuse ancient sounds with modern musical concepts.

And just like in the 1950s when field recordings of African music precipitated the beginning of the musical avant-garde in Europe, where producers such as Henry Cowell, incorporated tonal and rhythmic ideas into his own compositions, modern-day musicians, and music producers are borrowing from this very template.

One of our favs with @SarondeMusic Ft. Waliko – Contains samples of field recordings made in Zambia & Malawi in 1952 & footage filmed by Hugh Tracey on his recording expeditions throughout Sub Saharan Africa (1939-1964)#FutureSounds ?https://t.co/OfbeKFq9HF

— Beating Heart (@BeatingHeart500) November 15, 2019

Saronde, a project that fuses ancient sounds with modern musical themes was started by musician and producer duo Chris Pedley and Olly Wood when they launched their Beating Heart label in 2016. It has since become a collaboration between established music producers from Africa and around the globe to remix vintage field recordings from the International Library of African Music (ILAM).

Saronde has so far produced 10 songs which include field recordings of folk music from the Sub-Saharan Region in collaboration with various African musicians.

.@SarondeMusic have been busy working to bring Hugh Tracey's legacy into the present day. Their latest release ‘Beating Heart Origins’ samples his field recordings from Malawi, Congo & Zambia – tracks have been hyped at festivals and in Ibiza this summer. https://t.co/X0StAn1VB4 pic.twitter.com/mNmtIr5YPK

— Beating Heart (@BeatingHeart500) August 27, 2019

Oxhala is a musical project of the Portuguese duo Maria and Luis that blends traditional ethnic folk elements with contemporary electronic music. Now on their fifth album, the duo are greatly influenced by ancient rhythms from field recordings from Iberic, Brazilian, and African cultures

The Laibon dance a song by Ohxala that was released under the Shika Shika Presents Eco compilation album features field recordings from the Maasai in Kenya. The song became the soundtrack to the film Endangered species by Scott Shields.

Traditional African music is a gem! and it holds the foundation on which today’s music is built notes the Citizen, a Tanzanian media publication

With so much diversity in new musical sub-genres as streaming becomes the way of the future for music distribution, the vastness, rich and distinct sound of traditional music now becoming secret sauce that is giving modern music its unique texture as the production of music becomes more and more digitized.

Global Voices created a Spotify playlist to highlight some of this genre-bending music. Check it out below.

Written by Njeri Wangari

A new breed of African TikTokers is using the app to raise awareness about politics and bad governance

Originally published on Global Voices

“TikTok” by Solen Feyissa is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

TikTok’s growth in the African continent has been phenomenal. In 2019, TikTok became the second most downloaded app in South Africa, after Facebook Lite, and is estimated to have more than 6 million users in that country, according to the 2020 SA Social Media Landscape report. The app currently ranks as the third most downloaded social media app among Nigerians in the Google Play Store, and sixth among Kenyans.

Although TikTok's largest user bases are still outside of Africa, it seems that moves by its parent company ByteDance to woo young African creatives to the platform are paying off.

According to a March 2020 story by Quartz:

When TikTok first looked at the African market in 2018, it had barely been searched by Africans on Google trends. Today, hits for TikTok top searches for terms like “influencer” in the apps three key markets: Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

TikTok’s massive popularity globally has been attributed to its appeal to Millennials and Generation z for its support of a mix of music, lip-sync videos, and micro-video content. With Africa's massive young population, it's no surprise that the app caught on there. As Weetracker.com notes:

For many reasons, TikTok’s attention to Africa makes absolute sense. The reason being that Africa is the world’s youngest continent with a median age of 20 years, in comparison with India which is 27, and America which is 38. This presents greater access to its target audience; the so-called Millennials and Gen Z.

The platform is already nurturing outliers within the continent: Female content creators who are using the app for more than just lip-syncing dance routines and viral challenges. This breed of political satire analysts and humanitarian TikTokers are using the app to create awareness about issues such as politics, hunger, and bad governance.

Kenyan comedian Barbara Nyambura, who joined TikTok in 2018, has found a niche with her tongue-in-cheek critique of African governments. Her lip-synched commentary videos poke fun at political statements, news, and current affairs using humor and satire that goes beyond just entertainment.

Politics, however, hasn’t always been her forte. A look at her first videos indicates that her initial brand of comedy was more on lipsynching black comedians and enacting satirical videos of Kenya’s society. It was not until 2020 that she began making political videos, such as reactions to Kenyan news or government announcements.

Her first video marking this turning point in her content was a reaction to the news that the government would be conducting another exercise to capture biometric data as part of its initiative in the registration of persons in the country. 

@barbara.nyamburaI really don’t have the time or the patience. ??? ##comedy ##africanmeme ##barbaranyambura♬ Mommy Trend Challenge – amirrior

Although the video only garnered 5,000 views, it still resonated a lot with Kenyans on Twitter and Instagram, where Barbara crossposts her content.

It is her latest videos that have brought her to have a cross-over appeal beyond TikTok onto Twitter, Instagram, and even Whatsapp.

DCI ?? pic.twitter.com/ZrQJjzX7tS

— Mwarimū Mūtemi wa Kīama (@MutemiWaKiama) April 13, 2021

In Zambia, Dora Moono Nyambe, a 28-year-old primary school teacher, is using the platform to document school life in the rural village of Mapapa.

Nyambe left her teaching job in China a year ago. Together with her seven adopted children, she moved to Mapapa, a rural village near her home where she began holding school lessons under a tree.

Since joining TikTok, she has attracted 2.1 million followers to her account and 56.7 million likes to her videos, with some of them getting as many as 36 million views.

A September 2020 story on Nyambe that appeared on Boren magazine reported:

While she first created her TikTok account in March 2018, it wasn’t until May 2020 when Nyambe began to upload and attract attention to her account. After receiving hundreds of thousands of views on her initial videos on Mapapa, many viewers asked how they could help support her vision of improving children’s way of living in Mapapa. On May 14, 2020, Nyambe, with help from a fellow missionary in the United States, created a GoFundMe page for the village.

Although her initial GoFundMe goal was to raise 6,000 USD, she quickly surpassed that and has so far raised approximately 80,000 USD.

@doramoononyambeYou thought it was just the boarding house? Well, give a house I’ll make it a home ##life ##can ##be ##what ##you ##make ##be ##thankful♬ FLY TO YOUR HEART – Selena Gomez

Recently, Dora Nyambe was announced as the new Goodwill Ambassador for The Hunger Project. A press statement shared with Global Voices by the anti-hunger and anti-poverty nonprofit organization said:

Dora, 28, will use her platform to reach her 2.1 million followers on TikTok to educate the world about hunger and poverty and the impact we can have when we commit to ending hunger together. Dora’s TikTok features content from around her life in Zambia, the free school she runs and of her seven adopted children, ages 3-19.

In the statement, Dora shared her reaction to the announcement:

I love what The Hunger Project stands for. […] I am passionate about ending hunger and I hope I can use my platform and influence to drive our goal to end hunger. I know we can reach so many kids and impact so many lives. For me, being an Ambassador means doing something that is not just about myself.

Nyambe shared her future goals with Pov21.com, saying that she is planning on building a boarding school to provide her students with the best quality of life she can. This, she noted, was very important because there are still a lot of African children who have dreadful situations at home, from abusive parents to not having the basic needs met. 

For Esther Kazungu, African parliamentary proceedings have become her TikTok comedy staple. Originally from Kenya, she rose to fame with video skits of South Africa’s Parliament debates and re-enactments of South Africa's “People's Bae” and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition leader MP Dr. Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

Dr. Ndlozi, who is also the EFF spokesperson, earned a reputation as ‘The People's Bae” due to his eloquence, good looks, and quick-witted jabs that have turned the South African parliamentary debates into one of the most dramatic if not humorous spectacles in the continent.

@estherkazungu_Back to normal programming now ##tiktoksouthafrica ##estherkazungu ##fyp ##saparliament♬ original sound – Esther Kazungu

Although meant to elicit laughter, Esther’s skits are veiled in satire, exposing how lawmakers reduce serious sessions meant to deliberate issues affecting citizens into “sleepiest” and trivialized small talk inundated by sideshows.

Esther, who began creating content on YouTube in 2016 before moving to TikTok, has since diversified her coverage of the South African parliament after her fans made requests to cover parliamentary proceedings from other countries, such as Kenya, Somalia, Ghana, Namibia, and Malawi. 

These women are perhaps the pioneers in showing another side of TikTok that most of us don’t get to see. They are demonstrating that this platform can and might become the Twitter of its generation – a medium for discussion about pertinent issues, in ways that prompt real-life action and change.

Written by Njeri Wangari

Some of the laws reviewed have a chilling effect on digital freedom

Originally published on Global Voices

Youth pose for a photo at a conference in Namibia. Image credit: Yusuf Kalyango Jnr. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

A recent study by the coalition of the African Declaration of Internet Rights and Freedoms (AfDec) reviewed extant legislation and its impact on the right to freedom of expression in seven countries in Southern Africa— Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The 102-page report had seven contributors, including Dércio Tsandzana, Global Voices’ Lusophone Editor.

A summary of the findings for each country is discussed below.

Malawi 

Section 35 of Malawi’s 1994 Constitution (with amendments) guarantees freedom of expression, “provides for the right to freedom of opinion in section 34; press freedom in section 36; access to information in section 37; and freedom of assembly in section 38,” the report noted. 

Nonetheless, the AfDec review singled out three laws that have derailed free expression: the Cyber Security and Electronic Transaction Act 33 of 2016, the Protected Flag, Emblems and Names Act 10 of 1967 (as amended by Act 11 of 2012), and section 60 of the Penal Code. 

Specifically, the Cyber Security Act contains explicit clauses that gag online free speech and limit press freedom. 

Mozambique

Women in Praia do Bilene, Gaza, Mozambique. Photo by Flickr user Julien Lagarde, August 6, 2006 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Article 48 of Mozambique’s 2004 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and the right to information to all citizens. 

The constitution contains “no specific limitation” to these rights, but the “right to information and expression is regulated within specific laws,” the study revealed. 

Namibia 

Namibia stands tall with a more friendly freedom of expression climate among the other six countries reviewed in this study. It also has the freest media environment in Africa according to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, a ranking by Reporters Without Borders. 

The “repression of human rights, including freedom of expression” in Namibia “is by no means a usual or normal occurrence,” the study asserts. However, there are red flags. Some of the laws in Namibia “allow or enable such repression if or when those with autocratic tendencies or intentions were to come to power, either democratically or undemocratically,” the study warns.  

South Africa 

Youth technology training in South Africa. Photo by Beyond Access via Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

The right to free expression is firmly rooted in section 16(1) of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which protects the following freedoms: the press, sharing and receiving information, artistic creativity, academic and scientific research. 

But these rights are not absolute. The first is section 16(2) of the constitution which criminalizes speech that incites war propaganda, violence, and ethnic, racial, gender, or religious hatred. The second is section 36 which limits the right to free expression as long as the limitation is “reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality, and freedom,” the section says. 

Tanzania 

A man looks at his mobile phone in Tanzania, December 9, 2018. Photo by Riaz Jahanpour, for USAID Tanzania / Digital Development Communications via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.

Since 2015, Tanzania has witnessed a downward spiral into authoritarianism with a widespread climate of fear, media censorship, dismembering of the opposition with an increased crackdown on journalists and activists. 

Although the right to free expression is protected under article 18 of the Tanzanian Constitution, some laws like the 2015 Cybercrimes Act, the 2016 Media Services Act, and the 2018 Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations “contain the provisions most susceptible to be used to repress dissenting voices,” the report says. 

The Cybercrimes Act grants the government excessive power to arbitrarily ban, censor, and sanction print and social media. Conviction under this law attracts a jail term of three years or a fine of at least 5 million Tanzanian shillings (about 2,000 USD) or both.

The Media Services Act enforces compulsory accreditation for journalists, which can be withdrawn at will. This legislation also “conferred absolute power on the minister to prohibit importation of publications and sanction media content,” says the AfDec study.

Similarly, the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations made it mandatory for blogs and online forums to pay a registration fee of over 900 USD. Failure of which is punishable by a fine “not less than 5 million Tanzanian shillings” (about 2,500 USD), or imprisonment for “not less than 12 months or both.”

Zambia 

The right to freedom of expression is protected in article 20 of the Zambian Constitution. But restrictive laws like the Information Communication Technologies and the 2009 Electronic Communications and Transactions Acts “criminalize certain online activities that impede the right to freedom of expression” the study noted.  The combination of these laws and state surveillance has limited freedom of expression in the country.  

Zimbabwe

A police officer wearing a protective anti-virus mask talks with a motorist at a checkpoint in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, April 20, 2020. Photo by KB Mpofu / ILO via Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Despite clear constitutional provisions — Section 61 and the Declaration of Rights in Zimbabwe’s 2013 Constitution — that protects freedom of expression, “Zimbabwe still scores poorly on various regional and global state of the freedom of expression matrices,” according to the study. 

The enforcement of COVID-19 pandemic protocols presented an excuse to clamp down on online free speech as evident in the 2020 Public Health Order, which  “criminalizes false reporting,” the study stated. 

The AfDec study also asserts that the “Zimbabwean government has been suspected of sponsoring the torture, abductions, and sometimes disappearances” of critical voices. For instance, Itai Dzamara, a vocal government critic, was abducted on March 9, 2015, and has been missing since.

Chilling effect on freedom of expression 

The report showed a grim state of freedom of expression within some of the reviewed countries. Some of the countries employ laws that impose license and accreditation fees on journalists and bloggers, increasing the cost of expression and communication with the objective to discourage it.

The resultant effect is the stifling of dissent and  “a chilling effect on the free flow of ideas and meaningful discourse,” says AfDec.

Written by Nwachukwu Egbunike

The snooping technique tracks phones and intercepts calls and texts

Originally published on Global Voices

A map from the Citizen Lab showing countries using of Circle's spyware

The governments of seven African countries — Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — are using spyware technology, according to a new report by Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary research unit at the University of Toronto, Canada.

The study has identified at least 25 countries around the world that have deployed surveillance software produced by Circles, a firm affiliated with Israel's NSO Group. The study says Circles claim to only deal with nation-states.

The report, written by Bill Marczak and four others, discovered “a unique signature associated with the hostnames of Check Point firewalls used in Circles deployments, enabling us to identify Circles deployments.” Check Point is a leading American-Israeli cybersecurity firm.

According to the study, Circles’ technology operates by exploiting a common signal flaw in the global mobile phone system to enable call and text snooping as well as tracking of phones.

The snooping technique used by Circles is called Signaling System 7 (SS7), a “protocol suite developed in 1975 for exchanging information and routing phone calls between different wireline telecommunications companies,” the report says. SS7 is currently used in 2G and 3G mobile networks during cross-border billing for roamed calls. 

Thomas Brewster, a cybersecurity analyst at Forbes who reported on the Citizen Lab study, further explains that when one travels to another country, “the SS7 network is used to move your phone over to a partner telecoms provider and adjust billing accordingly.” However, a twist occurs in this normal process if “a surveillance vendor” is able to access the SS7 networks, “either via hacking or acquiring it.” The SS7 then sends “commands to a subscriber’s ‘home network’ falsely indicating the subscriber is roaming. That will, in turn, reveal their location, though only the coordinates of the cell tower closest to the phone,” says Brewster. 

Circle's clients in Africa identified by Citizen Lab are the following: Botswana’s Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS), Morocco’s Ministry of Interior, Nigeria’s Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), and an unknown agency in Zambia.  

Written by Nwachukwu Egbunike

Truck drivers are the heartbeat of regional trade

Originally published on Global Voices

Truck with Kilimanjaro beers parked in Karatu town in Tanzania. Photo: Pernille Bærendtsen, used with permission.

The number of coronavirus cases remains relatively low in East Africa, but health officials note that border crossings— through which truck drivers pass daily with essential goods — have become hot spots for coronavirus contagion.

While most of East Africa has been under varying degrees of lockdown, truck drivers are the heartbeat of regional trade who trek frequented routes in the region as essential workers.

Borders between East African countries including Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya have become sites of confusion, chaos, traffic queues and protests as truck drivers face an onslaught of new, temporary COVID-19 restrictions.

Kenya: Mandatory testing

Kenya has implemented mandatory COVID-19 testing at the Namanga border with Tanzania, causing massive delays and leaving drivers stranded with perishable goods.

TESTING THE TRUCKERS
Testing of truck drivers arriving from Tanzania enters day two
Drivers urge officials to reduce time it takes for test #CitizenWeekend pic.twitter.com/b0NIfg1Yx9

— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) May 10, 2020

As of May 14, least 33 truck drivers have tested positive at the border between Tanzania and Kenya in the town of Namanga.

#Kenya dispatches an emergency medical team to #Tanzania border to undertake mandatory testing for truckers at the #Namanga crossing as concerns mount over #Covid19 transmissions from the neighbouring country. pic.twitter.com/kMftcxIXrf

— Dommy Ameti ?? (@dommyametiKE) May 13, 2020

Kenyan truck drivers who tested positive were allowed to enter Kenya and self-isolate but Tanzanian drivers were denied entry and were forced to return home. It is unclear whether they were taken to health facilities to self-quarantine for 14 days or were expected to self-isolate at home.

Signpost for The First & Last Hotel in Namanga, on the Tanzanian side of the border with Kenya. Border transit towns in East Africa are often busy communities, which apart from immigration and customs, also provide other services such as bars, restaurants and lodges. Photo: Pernille Bærendtsen, used with permission.

Kenya's health minister Mercy Mwangangi said that aside from porous borders, “truck drivers are becoming the other weak link in the fight against the virus,” as reported in The Citizen, a Tanzanian daily.

Truckers from Kenya must now present a certificate to prove that they are coronavirus-free before leaving or entering Kenya at entry points.

Kenyan officials are considering closing the border with Tanzania to curb the spread of the virus, but no decisions have been made at this time.

Rwanda: Delays and protests

In early May, Tanzanian truckers were not happy when they arrived at Rwanda's Rusumo border with essential goods and were told to hand over their trucks to new drivers upon arrival.

This “relay” measure was put in place by Rwandan authorities who saw an increase in virus cases among truck drivers. The directive led to reported bursts of violence at the Rusomo border, which was later debated on Twitter:

If this is true, then #Rwandan truck drivers in #Tanzania are not safe. @PSF_Rwanda @RwandaTrade #covid19Tanzania https://t.co/b8Iv684axQ

— Richard Kwizera (@Muzungu4) May 5, 2020

This Twitter user called out the tension as xenophobia:

Somebody save our drivers from this xenophobia

— Frank Kigenza (@Rwakigenza) May 5, 2020

Over 90 percent of Rwanda's goods are imported through Tanzania's cultural capital of Dar es Salaam via the Rusomo border, and this is where many of Rwanda's coronavirus cases have been reported, with the highest number recorded in a day.

Most drivers do not ride with any form of personal protective equipment like face masks or gloves, noted Abdul Ndarubogoye, chairman of the Rwanda Truckers Association.

Uganda: Hunger, theft, traffic jams

For landlocked countries like Uganda and South Sudan, truck drivers are critical lifelines for transporting essential goods inland from coastal port cities like Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Mombasa, Kenya.

Uganda was one of the first countries to enforce strict testing protocols at its borders — drivers must register at mandatory stops for testing and vehicle disinfectant.

John Wanjiku, a driver from Kenya, said that he faced up to 11 screenings in a single trip from Nairobi to the Ugandan border, facing an 18-mile traffic jam. Drivers reported fears of running out of food and theft at night.

Speak FM, in Gulu, northern Uganda, a transit town for trucks going to South Sudan, has repeatedly reported on the situation of truck drivers. On May 9, it reported 13 positive virus cases from a mass screening of 2,421 truck driver samples tested at border points, while samples from the community tested negative.

On May 14, 21 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed from 1,593 samples of truck drivers in Uganda, bringing the total number of virus cases in the country to 160. 

Zambia: Border closures

Zambian President Edgar Lungu directed the Zambia-Tanzania border to close temporarily starting on May 11, while the border town of Nakonde was locked down.

After testing over 900 people between May 13-14, Zambia's Ministry of Health reported a total of 654 cases as of May 15. Out of these, 398 cases were people residing in Nakonde, working in immigration, customs as well as truckers and sex workers.

Both Tanzania and Zambia are part of the Southern African Development Community (SADEC), and the border crossing is central for Zambia's export of copper and cobalt, and fuel imports.

On May 15, the border was reopened for cargo — not people — and the lockdown was lifted but is expected to be enforced again with further testing.

EAC ‘asleep’ at the wheel?

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, truck drivers have faced an onslaught of stigma in East Africa. Media and government authorities have referred to them as “vectors,” “superspreaders” and “the weakest link” in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

Sex workers, closely linked to truck drivers through communities typically formed around border transit towns in East Africa, have also attracted media attention as health authorities target, test and track them along truck driver routes.

In an unusual move, Uganda's Ministry of Health collaborated with Ugandan socialite and self-proclaimed sex worker Bad Black, who in a video message addressed sex workers to stay away from truck drivers.

Many netizens have questioned whether or not governments are doing enough to help protect truck drivers and border communities as a whole.

On May 12, EAC leaders agreed to joint interventions to tackle COVID-19 and acknowledged the need to improve conditions for truck drivers.

But Evelyn Lirri tweeted her doubts about the EAC and expressed concerns for the drivers:

Since the #EAC is asleep, or may be closed shop many moons ago, what are the companies that hire these #truck drivers doing to minimise the drivers’ risk of being infected with #COVID19? Or have they been left to the elements? https://t.co/gTtXfGqa15

— Evelyn Lirri (@Elirri) May 15, 2020

Rosebell Kagumire agreed, raising questions about occupational health and safety for truck drivers:

Great question! What does occupational health and safety look like for truck drivers among whom the highest cases of #covid19 are happening in East Africa?

We tend to see them as vectors these days with every update saying truck drivers truck drivers truck drivers https://t.co/oSO8ljBdkD

— Rosebell Kagumire (@RosebellK) May 15, 2020

These recent border tensions highlight larger policy issues within the East African Community (EAC) in terms of regional integration and sustainable, intraregional trade.

The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in East Africa “could result in welfare gains amounting to USD 1.8 billion for East Africa, boosting intra-African exports by more than USD 1.1 billion and creating more than 2 million new jobs,” says a new report.

Written by Amanda Lichtenstein, Pernille Baerendtsen

Originally published on Global Voices

Students at Haromaya University in Ethiopia displaying a quasi-official anti-government gesture. Photo shared widely on social media.

Africa’s landscape of online free speech and dissent is gradually, but consistently, being tightened. In legal and economic terms, the cost of speaking out is rapidly rising across the continent.

While most governments are considered democratic in that they hold elections with multi-party candidates and profess participatory ideals, in practice, many operate much closer dictatorships — and they appear to be asserting more control over digital space with each passing day.

Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Benin have in the recent past witnessed internet shutdowns, the imposition of taxes on blogging and social media use, and the arrest of journalists. Media workers and citizens have been jailed on charges ranging from publishing “false information” to exposing state secrets to terrorism.

At the recent Forum of Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFA) held in Accra, Ghana, a group of panelists from various African countries all said they feared African governments were interested in controlling digital space to keep citizens in check.

Many countries have statutes and laws which guarantee the right to free expression. In Nigeria, for example, the Freedom of Information Act grants citizens the right to demand information from any government agency. Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution provides for freedom of the press and Section 39 maintains that “every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference…”

Yet, Nigeria has issued other laws that authorities use to deny these aforementioned rights.

Section 24 of Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act criminalises “anyone who spreads messages he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent.”

Making laws with ambiguous and subjective terms like “inconvenience” or “insult” calls for concern. Governments and their agents often use this as a cover to suppress freedom of expression.

Who determines the definition of an insult? Should public officials expect to develop a thick skin? In many parts of the world, citizens have the right to criticise public officials. Why don't Africans have the right to offend as an essential part of free expression?

In 2017 and 2016, Nigerian online journalists and bloggers Abubakar Sidiq Usman and Kemi Olunloyo were each booked on spurious charges of cyber-stalking in connection with journalistic investigations on the basis of the Cybercrime Act.

Don’t suffer in silence — keep talking

The very existence of these legal challenges tells citizens that their voices matter. From Tanzania’s prohibition on spreading “false, deceptive, misleading or inaccurate” information online to Uganda’s tax on social media that is intended to curb “gossip”, the noise made on digital platforms scares oppressive regimes. In some cases, it may even lead them to rescind their actions.

The experience of the Zone9 bloggers of Ethiopia provides a powerful example.

In 2014, nine Ethiopian writers were jailed and tortured over a collective blogging project in which they wrote about human rights violations by Ethiopia’s former government, daring to speak truth to power. The state labeled the group “terrorists” for their online activity and incarcerated them for almost 18 months.

Zone9 members Mahlet (left) and Zelalem (right) rejoiced at the release of Befeqadu Hailu (second from left, in scarf) in October 2015. Photo shared on Twitter by Zelalem Kiberet.

Six members of the now liberated group made their premier international engagement in Ghana during FIFA conference: Atnaf Berhane, Befeqadu Hailu Techane, Zelalem Kibret, Natnael Feleke Aberra, and Abel Wabella were all in attendance. Jomanex Kasaye, who had worked with the group prior to the arrests (but was not arrested) also attended.

Several members had collaborated with Global Voices to write and translate stories into the Amharic. As members of the community, Global Voices campaigned and mobilised the global human rights community to speak out about their case from the very first night they were arrested.

After months of writing stories and promoting their case on Twitter, international condemnation of their arrest and imprisonment began to flow from governments and prominent human rights leaders, alongside hundreds of thousands of online supporters. From the four-compass points of the world, a mighty cry arose demanding the Ethiopian government to free the Zone9 bloggers.

In their remarks at FIFA, the bloggers said that their membership in the Global Voices community was key to visibility during their time in prison. In their panel session, they credited Global Voices’ campaign for keeping them alive.

Berhan Taye, the panel moderator, asked the group to recount their prison experiences. As they spoke, the lights on the stage dimmed. Their voices filled the room with a quiet power.

Abel Wabella, who ran Global Voices’ Amharic site, lost hearing in one ear due to the torture he endured after refusing to sign a false confession.

Atnaf Berhane recalled that one of his torture sessions lasted until 2 a.m. and then continued after he had a few hours of sleep.

One of the security agents who arrested Zelalem Kibret had once been Kibret's student at the university where he taught.

Jomanex Kasaye recounted the mental agony of leaving Ethiopia before his friends were arrested — the anguish of powerlessness — the unending suspense and fear that his friends would not make it out alive.

Zone9 bloggers together in Addis Ababa, 2012. From left: Endalk, Soleyana, Natnael, Abel, Befeqadu, Mahlet, Zelalem, Atnaf, Jomanex. Photo courtesy of Endalk Chala.

With modesty, the Zone9 bloggers said: “We are not strong or courageous people…we are only glad we inspired others.”

Yet, the Zone9 bloggers redefined patriotism with both their words and actions. It takes immense courage to love one's country even after suffering at its hands for speaking out.

Ugandan journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo, also in attendance at FIFA, shared an Igbo proverb popularised by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe which says:

Since the hunter has learned to shoot without missing, Eneke the bird has also learnt to fly without perching.

In essence, he meant that in order to keep digital spaces free and safe, those involved in this struggle must devise new methods.

Activists on the front lines of free speech in sub-Saharan Africa and across the globe cannot afford to work in silos or go silent in frustration and defeat. With our strength and unity, online spaces will remain free to deepen democracy through vibrant dissent.

Written by Nwachukwu Egbunike