Africa News

Gloucestershire charity founder awarded for water project

A“selfless” man who has provided thousands in Africa with clean water wells has been given an award.

Nigel Linacre, from Chippenham, has been given a British Empire Medal for his work in Uganda, Kenya, Gambia and Malawi with his charity WellBoring.

His organisation has built wells in 300 schools and aims to get clean water to a million people within three years.

Africa head of operations Benjamin Koyoo said the charity had made a “huge impact” on people’s lives.

“We here in Kenya, we’re celebrating the medal that Nigel received,” he said.

“The guy is selfless and has gone out of his way to ensure that small children in the village can get the clean water.

“The impact is huge.”

Mr Koyoo said water-related diseases were common in the places the charity worked in before the bore wells were made.

“The children are now healthy and they can attend school without missing class to fetch water for family,” he added.

Mr Linacre founded the Gloucestershire-based charity in 2012.

He said WellBoring initially aimed to provide 100 schools with clean water but that figure continued to increase.

Mr Linacre said having access to clean water in these places “really is a game changer”.

“Instead of having to walk to a river or a stream, where they’ll get water that can and often does make them sick, they’ve got water in their school that is shared with the community as well,” he said.

“Sickness goes down, attendance goes up, lives are changed.

“We’ve already got safe water to over a quarter of a million people. We’ll get safe water to a million people in about three years.”

Zambian footaller mauled to death by his own dogs

A60-year-old man who was mauled to death over the weekend by his own dogs in the South African town of Lichtenburg, has been formally identified as Zambian football star, Philemon Mulala.

Mr Mulala’s wife is reported to have found the him lifeless in the garden of their home and quickly called for the emergency services who pronounced him dead at the scene, according to a statement by the South African Police Service .Tributes have been pouring in with the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) leading the way. FAZ general secretary Adrian Kashala told South Africa’s Times Live newspaper ; “We remain with wonderful memories that the late Philemon honoured us with on the pitch.”

Mr Mulala moved to South Africa in the 1980’s to play for the Kaizer Chiefs and later, the Cape Town Spurs.

The South African Police Service have said that an inquest docket has been opened and investigation into the matter continues.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have removed the three dogs from their home and put them in shelters.

Key suspect arrested over Uganda New Year’s Eve crush

Police in Uganda say they’ve arrested a key suspect who went on the run after a deadly New Year’s Eve crush.

They said the event’s host, Elvis Francis Juuko, was found in a hideout about 60 km (37 miles) from the capital Kampala.

He has been accused of urging revellers to go through a narrow passageway to watch fireworks outside the mall where the party was held.

The event’s organisers closed other exits to prevent people who hadn’t paid from accessing the venue. At least 10 people died in the crush, most of them children.

Tigray passengers say they were blocked from flying

Passengers in the capital of northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province, Mekelle, have told the BBC that they were restricted from flying to the federal capital, Addis Ababa.

The passengers have alleged police at the city’s airport have barred anyone between the ages of 16 and 64 from boarding flights, without explanation, unless they are traveling for medical reasons.

A federal police spokesperson said he was unaware of the allegations while a senior official at Ethiopian Airlines, the national carrier, told the BBC that the airline does not discriminate against travellers.

Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa’s largest airlines, resumed commercial flights to conflict-hit Mekelle late last month following a deal that was reached between the federal government and Tigrayan fighters to end a two-year civil war.

Much of Tigray had been sealed off from the outside world for more than a year and a half before the deal was agreed in November in South Africa.

Basic services including electricity, phone lines and flights are slowly returning to the region.

SA20: Graeme Smith convinced new T20 competition can boost South Africa’s Test team

Mr Linacre started the Wellboring project in Africa in 2012

South Africa’s record-breaking former captain, Graeme Smith, says the country’s new limited overs “The challenge for Test cricket is the growth: is it the same impact when two minnows are playing each other? You SA20 competition can also help the struggling Test team recover past glories.

The T20 tournament begins on 10 January as MI Cape Town host Paarl Royals in the inaugural game (1630 GMT).

Smith - who led South Africa in 108 Tests, 149 one-day internationals and 27 T20 matches - is now commissioner of SA20 and insists it will also benefit the longer format of the game.

“The problem we’re having is the talent is still around,” Smith told BBC Sport Africa.

“But the standards have definitely separated a lot more between the level of the international game and our domestic one.

“We are really looking to bridge that gap, to expose our players to better coaching, medical fitness, the investment into the game, the exposure to the topquality internationals.”

The “challenge” for Test cricket

South Africa’s recent three-Test tour of Australia ended in defeat, with the first match of the series lost inside two days - the seventh shortest Test in history.

The second match was lost by an innings and 182 runs, leaving the Proteas with only an outside chance of reaching the World Test Championship final in June.

Ahead of the final Test, current captain Dean Elgar said more games were needed in the longest format, an opinion echoed by the national team’s batting coach Justin Sammons.

“I can feel the disappointment at how our Test team performed in Australia,” admitted Smith.

“People want to watch, they want to see the quality teams playing Test cricket against each other and the storylines that come from there.”

Smith insists Test cricket remains the pinnacle of the sport, but thinks some one-day cricket might have to make way to allow room in the calendar for the growth of the T20 format. could probably say that for most formats. “When the top nations are playing it is always of interest. That’s what we want, to keep South Africa strong so it remains a competitive nation, certainly in the Test cricket format.” Tapping into Africa’s cricketing potential Smith, who remains South Africa’s youngest - at 22 - and most successful captain, already has plans to expand SA20 beyond his homeland. “We’ve got a few nations close to us that have a bit of cricketing history: Kenya, Zimbabwe and Namibia - but how do we go out and interact with the rest of the continent?” One of the ideas is to take SA20 games on the road - potentially starting in Angola next year. “It’s been too long,” added Smith, referencing Africa’s last major international tournament, the T20 World Cup held in South Africa in 2007. “We’ve had no global cricket since. This is going to be the biggest one and we hope that everyone will sit up and take notice and celebrate with us.” Smith is also happy to work alongside the African Cricket Association (ACA), which has its own plans for two new pan-African limited overs competitions, rather than view possible competitors as rivals. “We’ll sit down post season and discuss with the Africa team and see what the opportunities are and how we can handle it,” said the 41-year-old. “We both can work together. How that looks, and how that business side comes together, I guess it’s a long strategy session! “I think the intent and the motivation is there to grow the game and to make an impact. “We have that opportunity now through the six (SA20) teams. “We are going to make new heroes who will play for South Africa all around the world. That’s our goal.”