THIS WEEK

29: South Africa’s general elections. The Electoral Commission of SA is preparing for an increased voter turnout on Wednesday for the most closely contested general elections since 1994.

29: About 12m voters registered for Madagascar's legislative elections. The ruling Tanora Malagasy Vonona party will seek to extended its grip on power. In November, Andry Rajoelina secured a third presidential term in an election marred by a low turnout and an opposition boycott.

29-31: eLearning Africa. The continent’s leading conference and exhibition on digital learning, training, and skills development is co-hosted by Rwanda’s Ministry of Education. It promises to bring together an unprecedented gathering of experts, educators, policymakers, business leaders, and innovators from across Africa and beyond, focusing not only on education but also on crucial aspects of training and skills development. This year’s theme is ‘Education Fuels Innovation, Investment Amplifies Skills: Africa’s Vibrant Leap Forward.’

30: Neville Mutsvangwa, the son of Cabinet Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, will appear in court on charges of with ‘dealing in foreign currency’ since 2019, in violation of exchange-control regulations and the money-laundering Act (Harare).

30: David Melesi who has been criminally charged on one count of reckless/negligent driving following the recent death of Justice Yvonne Mokgoro is due in court. He has been charged in connection with the 2023 car crash in which she was injured. Mokgoro suffered multiple injuries in the serious car crash near Kimberley in the Northern Cape in April 2023 (Barkly West).

OTHER:

* Comorian President Azali Assoumani was inaugurated for a fourth term on Sunday. About 16% of Comorians voted in the presidential election, with many voters boycotting it due to the jailing of opposition candidates such as former President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Special Envoy He Baoxiang attended the ceremony.

* More than 130 people have died at a single hospital in Sudan's besieged city of El Fasher, in the Darfur region, according to medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières. Fighting between rival groups in Sudan's civil war in the battle for control of the city has recently intensified. El Fasher is the last major urban centre in Darfur that remains in the hands of Sudan's army.

* Applications are open for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in June. The flagship programme of the Young African Leaders Initiative, empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities, and local community engagement. The fellowship, which is in its 10th year, brings 25 to 35-year-old innovators and leaders from sub-saharan Africa to the US for training. The six-week programme will give participants the opportunity to interact with US leaders in business, government and non-profit organisations, and network with other young leaders from sub-saharan Africa and the US.

* Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into TotalEnergies to establish whether the energy giant can be charged with involuntary manslaughter linked to an Islamist militant attack on its facilities in Mozambique. It follows a legal complaint lodged by survivors and relatives of people who died in the attack. They accuse the company of failing to protect subcontractors and not adequately assisting with evacuations – claims the company categorically rejects.