13 minute read
Q3 / July, August, September
Quarter
- AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY; CAP PRIZE 2021 ‘FACES’ UNTITLED , FROM MAURO VOMBE,
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The Africa Report’s exclusive guide to the quarter ahead features key events from the worlds of politics, business and culture. Find out more about how to plan your July, August & September. Election-watching party with your Lungu- and Hichilemasupporting friends? Looking for a beach read? A spot of art in Cape Town? Or to indulge your interest in building hotels on the continent? No matter your tastes and hobbies, there is plenty on.
Q3 / JULY
Somalia’s President Farmaajo has been on the campaign and deal-making trail since late 2020
POSTPONED POLLS Somalia elections
ABDIRAHMAN YUSUF / AFP Somalia’s political stalemate is set to end by July, but those plans – like others before them – could be thrown off course by insecurity and political wrangling. At the end of May, prime minister Hussein Roble and the leaders of five regional states agreed to aim for parliamentary elections to be held within 60 days.
Opposition candidates including former presidents Sheikh Sharif and Sheikh Hassan and former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire complained of attacks against them by government forces in the lead-up to the 2021 election campaign.
President Mohamed ‘Farmaajo’ Abdullahi Mohamed had promised to hold ‘one person, one vote’ elections at the end of his term in December 2020, but was unable to do so due to Islamist rebel group Al-Shabaab’s control of territory, and disagreements with the leaders of Somalia’s federal member states. In September, Somalia’s leaders agreed to a deal to hold indirect elections by the Federal Parliament.
Political tensions are high. Due to a perceived increase in misinformation shared on social media, the Federation of Somali Journalists has launched a campaign called the ‘Disinformation Lab’ against the spread of fake news, hate speech and propaganda.
15.06%
South Africans must prepare for a large hike in their electricity bills from 1 July. On 1 April, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa approved the national electricity company Eskom’s request to raise electricity prices for direct customers by 15.06%. Municipalities will announce their own increases, based on their approved budgets, which are likely to be 13.5% for Cape Town and 14.5% for Johannesburg.
BOOK
Winner of the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma, the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, and the French Voices Grand Priz in Alexia Trigo’s translation (Europa Editions), the Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s debut novel, Brotherhood, is set in an imaginary world of a fundamentalist Islamist government. Following the public execution of two lovers, the characters show heroism, cowardice, fear and love when faced with a brutal regime.
Q3 / JULY
APPOINTMENTS
PHUTHUMA NHLEKO
The former MTN group executive chairman’s appointment as an independent non-executive director of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is effective from 1 July. He will also become the board chairman from May 2022.
EDNAH OTIENO
East African Breweries Group human resources director Otieno, who has been in the profession for 18 years, has been appointed to the same role at Diageo Great Britain as of 1 July.
DENNIS HEARNE
The US Ambassador to Maputo prepares for a second joint training exercise against Islamic State terrorists in July, as Portugal sends in more troops.
40%
Ethiopia is to sell up to 40% of the stateowned telecommunications company, Ethio Telecom, the main internet and telephone service provider in the country, by July. Many international bidders are interested.
BOOK
A collection of poetry by the Congolese award-winning writer of Tram 83, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, celebrates the Congo River – a metaphor for the post-colonial DRC. Previously the main route for exploitation of the country’s resources, it is now a symbol of life, but also of poverty and insecurity. Mixing history, religion and myths from Africa and Europe, the volume, originally published in French in 2013, is translated by J. Bret Maley for Deep Vellum.
ETHIOPIA Fill and be dammed
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has described preventing the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as an “existential issue” for his country. The dam has a capacity of 74bn cubic metres, and the aim is to generate 6,000MW through 16 turbines, but countries downstream are worried about the long-term effects on their water supplies. The first filling of 4.9bn cubic metres took place in 2020, and Ethiopia has scheduled the second for July 2021. Sudan claimed at the end of May that the filling had already begun, heightening tensions between the two countries.
MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/AFP
Q3 / AUGUST
HAKA AINDE HICHIL LEMA
Sixth attem mpt for presidency; a aims to restructur re debt
EDGAR NGULUN
Populist appealing to rural and Copperbelt voters, going fo f r his second elec edte term
ZAMBIA Will the debt crisis mean the end for Lungu?
QUETE/AFP PA ROBERTO
On 12 August, Zambians will head to the polls to vote in general elections, which must be held every five years. Due to heavy borrowing and a combative relationship with mining firms, Zambia is struggling to pay its debts. Will President Edgar Lungu and his Patriotic Front (PF) party hold on to power?
Lungu’s backers want him to stay to spend more on infrastructure and talk tough to mining companies. A populist, he has sought to get more support from women and young people with projects to boost agricultural production.
However, since the 2016 election that gave him the legitimacy of a popular vote – he originally stepped into the presidency when Michael Sata died in office – Lungu has been accused of authoritarianism. In 2017 the Conference of Catholic Bishops, who rarely speak out publicly, made a statement concluding that Zambia ‘is now all, except in designation, a dictatorship’.
One of their complaints was that opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema had been arrested on a trumped-up treason charge – a claim supported by Amnesty International. Hichelema was released, but the possibility of re-arrest hangs over him.
A businessman campaigning on a programme to fix the economy, who lost in the 2016 elections by about 10,000 votes, Hichilema and his United Party for National Development are unlikely to have an easy ride. His traditional support base is in the south and west, whereas Lungu polls well in the north and east (the Copperbelt). Hichilema is trying to win over PF-leaning urban voters and says he wants to unify the country, restructure the debt and reduce government spending.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia has published a new voters’ register, which addresses many of the opposition and the bishops’ concerns, but Hichilema and his supporters say they still worry that not everyone who is eligible to vote will be able to do so. Lungu has also banned campaign rallies, citing anti-Covid-19 measures.
‘This is a new start, a new deal for Africa’
MACKY SALL
Senegal’s President Macky Sall backs a drive for rich countries to reallocate some $100bn of their special drawing rights at the IMF to provide more finance for African countries.
SOLAR
The government in South Africa is trying to approve 1GW of solar photovoltaic projects as part of its Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme.
23.6m
NGOs are warning of an ‘unprecedented’ rise in the number of people facing acute food insecurity in the Sahel and West Africa in the upcoming lean season, which runs from June until August. The biggest contributor to the rise is the growing number of food-insecure in Nigeria.
Q3 / AUGUST
FLYING
South African Airways, which suspended commercial flights in September 2020 due to Covid-19 and debts, aims to restart in July or August if the health situation permits.
MUSIC
Multi-award winning South African singer-songwriter and recording artist Amanda Black will release her latest album, Mnyama, this month. She first came into the spotlight as a contestant on the TV show Idols SA. Speaking about the new album, the singer said: “We want better days […]. We seek healing from the incredulous [sic] losses we have experienced during this time [the Covid-19 pandemic] and I hope people can find it through my story.”
GALLO IMAGES
ART Waiting for Gebane
For six years, South African artist Senzeni Marasela wore the same symbolic dress, through which she inhabited her alter ego, Theodorah Mthetyane. In this solo exhibition, she narrates Theodorah’s story – and a universal story of women waiting – using textiles, embroidery, photography and painting. When Theodorah’s husband, Gebane Hlongwane, leaves her in a rural town to look for work, he gives her an ishweshwe dress, signifiying marriage in Xhosa culture, which she wears in the hope he will return. The exhibition is at the Zeitz MOCAA – Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town until 29 August.
BOOK
Leïla Slimani’s third novel, released in French last year, is out in translation this month. In the Country of Others (Random House) is story about freedom and belonging in colonial Morocco, and set to be the first part of a trilogy.
ZEITZ MOCAA
Telling through textiles
APPOINTMENT
C. SURENDRAN
C. Surendran takes over as CEO of Airtel Nigeria on 1 August 2021, when Olusegun
Ogunsanya moves to Airtel Africa.
Surendran was CEO of Airtel’s largest Indian subsidiary in Karnataka.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Q3 / SEPTEMBER
Kourkouni Adil, ‘Untitled’ from ‘Utopic Perception’
AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY; CAP PRIZE 2021
Kudita Tamary, ‘African Victoria’ from ‘African Victorian’
AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY; CAP PRIZE 2021
PHOTOGRAPHY Eyes on the African prize
The five winners of the Continental African Photography (CAP) Prize will be announced in September, from a shortlist of 25 projects. From fine art portraits to documentary and experimental photography by photographers from Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt and more, the shortlist is a showcase of continental talent. Previous winners of the CAP Prize have had their work shown in festivals worldwide.
Mauro Vombe, Untitled, from ‘Faces’
AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY; CAP PRIZE 2021
MATSHIDISO MOETI
The WHO’s regional director for Africa says the continent will need 200m vaccine doses to hit the target of 10% of the population by September.
KENYA
The Kenyan government is getting serious about developing the country’s export potential. Parliamentarians are expecting to receive reports about the setting up of Kenya
Export Promotion and Branding Agency by September and studies about export markets by December.
Q3 / SEPTEMBER
30000
25000
20000
HOTEL CHAIN DEVELOPMENT PIPELINES IN AFRICA 2021
Pipeline Existing
TOTAL NUMBER OF ROOMS
57,603
79,287
15000
10000
5000
0
Accor Marriott International Hilton
Radisson Hotel Group IHG
W H OSPITALITY GROUP SOURCE:
TOURISM A day in the sun
Covid-19 has dampened some optimism in the African tourism industry, but not all of it. The continent’s major international hotel chains are still committed to their long-term development plans. African tourism ministers and actors in the sector will be meeting to discuss developments at the Arabian and African Hospitality Investment Conference in Dubai on 20-22 September and the Africa Tourism Investment Summit in Cape Town on 1-3 September.
By far, Egypt is attracting the most activity, according to the 2021 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa report. It says: “Whilst the crisis had a profoundly negative impact on Africa’s travel and hotel operations, the impact on deal signing was, surprisingly, much less – there were 71 deals with 10,000 rooms signed since the last study, down ‘only’ 30% on 2020.” After Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco are attracting the most activity.
In terms of international competition, the top leadership spots are held by France’s Accor and the US-based Marriott group, which are far ahead of their multinational peers and local competitors (see graph). Marriott made its first move in the Nigerian market by opening the 206-room Lagos Marriott Hotel Ikeja in May in the country’s economic capital. Meanwhile, Accor opened the luxury floating hotel the Mantis Kivu Queen uBuranga to tour Lake Kivu in Rwanda this year.
EVENTS
Oil industry insiders will be in attendance at the Angola Oil & Gas Conference on 9-10 September to discuss the future of one of Africa’s top crude producers.
The next United Nations General Assembly meeting will kick off in New York on 14 September, with leaders from Africa and all over the world laying out their international priorities.
On 15 September, Invest Africa will host The Africa Debate on the theme of ‘The Great Reset’.
4.5m
Dangote Cement is aiming to increase total cement production capacity in Nigeria to 4.5m tonnes a year before September. The plan includes restarting production at the company’s plant in Gboko, Benue State. The government is worried about high cement prices, and so is opening up the market to more international competition.
BOOK
A collection of essays from 24 acclaimed writers, Of This Our Country is a personal work, one in which Nigerians attempt to define their home country, whilst realising that this is not entirely possible. Contributing authors include Half of a Yellow Sun’s Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Everything Good Will Come’s Sefi Atta.
BOOK
Written by Max Lobe, A Long Way from Douala is a novel that follows the journey of two friends across Cameroon, while they deal with grief, sexuality, dreams bigger than reality, and more. Some of the many themes include violence, terrorism, homosexuality and migration.
Featu res
28 INTERVIEW Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame
He talks about the country’s complicated relationship with France and neighbours in East and Central Africa; he answers questions about freedom and the role of his family.
34 WIDE ANGLE Sudan’s new dawn
Diplomatic and debt-relief deals are creating new opportunities for the transitional government, which has tough challenges on the security and economic fronts.
40 PROFILE Akufo-Addos’s second-term test
Political and economic obstacles stand in the way of the flagship policies of Ghana’s President, who was re-elected in December 2020.
