Continued.....https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/5/south-africas-opposition-leader-goes-to-ukraine-for-fact-finding

https://www.da.org.za/2023/02/exercise-mosi-ii-south-africa-will-be-the-useful-idiot

https://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/nmw-hike-will-deepen-sas-unemployment-crisis--da
https://www.da.org.za/2024/09/a-national-minimum-wage-hike-will-deepen-south-africas-unemployment-crisis
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9d979k211o

https://www.da.org.za/2024/09/bela-da-continues-to-prepare-for-court-action

https://mg.co.za/politics/2024-09-13-da-rejects-ramaphosas-proposal-of-a-bela-bill-consultation-period/


https://www.da.org.za/2024/05/da-files-public-service-commission-complaint-against-nhi

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1030v3p1r8o

EUROPE LECTURES AFRICA ON HUMAN RIGHTS?

Europe has no moral right to lecture Africa on human rights, given European colonialists' crimes, which include slavery, g*nocide and theft of treasures. That's the view of Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, former African Union Ambassador to the United States. She delivered these remarks at the National Action Network Convention 2023, held 12-15 April 2023, in New York.

One of the most gruesome colonial crimes occurred in the Congo, where Belgian King Leopold II's colonial government massacred an estimated 10 million to 15 million Congolese from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Belgian colonial authorities later executed the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 's first prime minister and visionary Pan-Africanist, Patrice Lumumba (1925-61). They dissolved his body in acid, leaving a tooth, which was repatriated 61 years later in 2022.

Continued......Imperial Germany also committed what some scholars refer to as the 20th century's first g*nocide against the Nama and Herero peoples in Namibia in 1904-08. The British are guilty of imperial violence, with an example being the g*nocide of Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya (1952-60). Other colonial powers, like France, continue to violate the rights of Africans through economic exploitation, requiring its former colonies to store their money in Paris. To this day, remains of Africans killed in anti-colonial wars can be found in European museums.

Video credit: National Action Network

SOURCES:

https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/103353-lumumba-tooth-returned-still-waiting-truth.html

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/18/uncovering-truth-british-empire-caroline-elkins-mau-mau

https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/nandi/talai-clan-wants-britain-to-return-koitalel-samoei-s-skull-3946854

https://www.britannica.com/topic/German-Herero-conflict-of-1904-1907

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2022/11/6/reckoning-with-genocide-in-namibia

https://www.cadtm.org/Africa-How-France-Continues-to-Dominate-Its-Former-Colonies-in-Africa

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/africa-stolen-artifacts-colonial-deaccessioning-repatriation/

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/opinion-unfair-french-economic-relations-with-africa/2073357

GHANAIAN ELDER URGES YOUTH TO
RECLAIM COUNTRY

Ghana's young people must urgently step up and reclaim the country by any means necessary. That's this 70-year-old unnamed Ghanaian man's passionate message during recent protests against illegal mining in the gold-rich West African nation. Government officials, politicians and party financiers have been implicated in illegal small-scale gold mining - known as 'galamsey.' The term comes from the phrase "gather them and sell." Galamsey has been blamed for the destruction of Ghana's forests, farmlands and water system. On becoming President in 2017, Nana Akufo-Addo established the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, chaired by the environment minister. However, the problem has persisted, with warnings from authorities that the country may have to import water by 2030.

Continued.....Major rivers - such as the Pra, Ankobra, Oti, Offin and Birim - have all been contaminated by illegal mines, leading to an increase in kidney failure, cancer and birth defects.

Perhaps Ghana’s next generation should take inspiration from Kenya’s Gen Z, whose defiant protest scuppered IMF-backed tax hikes.

Video credit: @Starr 103.5 FM

SOURCES:

https://metrotvonline.com/galamsey-menace-ghana-may-have-to-import-water-by-fifteen-years-time-research/

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/ce9z5z5nxrgo

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Why-these-towns-in-Central-Region-are-at-a-threat-of-water-shortages-in-the-coming-months-1948648

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMNYkEKVSAo

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/ghana-must-stop-galamsey-before-it-sinks-the-country

https://www.myjoyonline.com/impose-ban-on-small-scale-mining-in-ghana-health-workers-to-akufo-addo/

UGANDA, U.S. - HEADING FOR DIVORCE?

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, has demanded an apology from the US ambassador, William Popp, to President Museveni - for alleged disrespect. Muhoozi warned that failure to comply would result in his expulsion. His demand follows accusations from Muhoozi that the US is working against President Museveni's government and undermining Uganda's sovereignty, particularly after the US recently sanctioned four Ugandan police officials for alleged human-rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, and corruption.

The rift is a surprise departure from regular proceedings. Uganda has been an indispensable US asset in the region for decades, particularly in furthering US interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The US has, for example, maintained silent complicity despite knowledge of Ugandan theft of DRC’s resources - as per UN reports published in 2001.

Continued.....The status quo marked by instability has been lucrative for the Western-dominated global economy as it has meant the Congolese people cannot exercise control over their minerals.

However, 2023 did see heightened tension between the two countries when Uganda passed its anti-gay law, introducing lengthy jail terms and even the death penalty for so-called ‘aggravated homosexuality.’ The Biden White House expressed its dissatisfaction, threatening sanctions, cutting World Bank funding and imposing visa restrictions on Ugandan officials.

Was the law the final straw? Could it be why the US is ratcheting up pressure now as well?

Continued....Apologize or leave

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/apologize-or-leave-uganda-gen-muhoozi-tells-us-ambassador-in-escalating-row--4785452

US has maintained silence despite knowledge of Uganda misdeeds.

https://mronline.org/2023/11/06/if-the-u-s-told-rwanda-and-uganda-to-get-out-of-congo-the-war-would-end/ 

Uganda passes anti-gay law

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/29/africa/uganda-life-for-lgbt-community-intl-cmd/index.html 

US unhappy with Uganda's anti-gay law

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/22/africa/uganda-lgbtq-bill-condemned-intl/index.html

Continued.....

https://www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/documents/10233_Project_Document.pdf

https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9781557756343/ch018.xml

https://panamapapers.investigativecenters.org/sierra-leone/

IDRIS ELBA: AFRICA IS OUR HOME

Even if you’ve never been to Africa or feel no connection to it, if you’re Black, the continent is your home. That was the message of British actor Idris Elba during an interview with Ebony magazine in 2023. In this clip, he gives his reasons.

Video credit: @Ebony.com

This week’s African proverb is not exactly animal friendly, but the meaning is clear: you can often size up someone’s qualities by observing and interacting with those closest to them.

NYERERE: 'SELF-RULE IS NOT A FAVOUR'

Today marks the 25th death anniversary of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Tanzania's first president, who died of leukaemia and a stroke at age 77 on 14 October 1999 in a London hospital.

Nyerere was born in 1922 in a small village in Butiama, in Tanganyika, then administered by the British under a League of Nations mandate before becoming part of a larger country in 1964, known today as the United Republic of Tanzania.

Nyerere, affectionately known by the honorific noscript, 'Mwalimu' (Swahili for teacher), was an anti-colonialist, political theorist and president of Tanzania from 1964 to 1985.

But the struggle wasn't easy. Nyerere, a beacon of resilience, stood against the West, which argued Africa wasn't ready to govern itself. No better example exists than this classic 1960 interview of a young Nyerere answering emphatically against colonialist lies. He asserted that Europeans granting us independence was merely returning a stolen right, as it were.

Continued.........Therefore, the question of whether Africans were ready for self-rule was meaningless. We Africans had managed our affairs well before colonisers arrived.

What are your thoughts on Nyerere's legacy and how his ideas and actions continue to influence African politics and history?

Video credit: National Educational Television, Boston, USA

SOURCES:

https://www.eac.int/about-ncpr/julius-nyerere-biography

https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/former-tanzanian-president-julius-nyerere-dies

https://books.openedition.org/africae/713?lang=en

https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/nyerere/1967/arusha-declaration.htm

DRC POLICE FIRE AT STUDENT PROTESTERS

A viral video of police shooting student protesters has sent shockwaves across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The protest broke out on the morning of 7 October amidst frustration over an ongoing teacher's strike over low wages that kept students out of school in Matadi in western DRC.

According to local media ACTUALITE.CD, police arrested a dozen students for a hearing on 8 October at the Children's Court while two officers were due for a hearing at the Matadi Military Court.

'The students only have pens and notebooks,' one anonymous person reportedly said. 'Why do the police shoot innocent people and very young children when there is another way of doing it?'

Continued......Check out our exclusive interview with Maurice Odingo of the Marxist Pan-African organisation Kinshasa Committee. He relayed details from the scene.

SOURCES:

https://www.mediacongo.net/article-actualite-142855_marche_des_eleves_etouffee_a_matadi_la_justice_militaire_appelee_a_s_impliquer_une_audience_foraine_fixee_ce_mardi.html

https://actualite.cd/2024/10/07/matadi-des-tirs-balles-reelles-lors-dune-manifestation-des-eleves-contre-la-persistance

GHANAIANS CALL FOR CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL MINES

Hundreds of Ghanaians again took to the streets on Friday to urge their government to crack down on illegal gold mines. The protests, the biggest yet, were planned by the Trade Union Congress. Activists are angry that illicit excavation is polluting rivers and damaging the soil across the country while offenders go unpunished.

With the price of gold skyrocketing by nearly 40%, the country is witnessing a surge in unlicensed mining. It’s led to increased use of large excavation machinery and dredging equipment near rivers and forests - with no effort to clean up or regenerate the environment after excavation. This has led to disease and water shortages.

Artisanal and small-scale miners operate with less regulation and oversight, often flouting environmental rules.