THIS WEEK

 

11: Grayson Beare, the son of the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation Julian Beare, will appear in court on charges of murder and attempted murder after an alleged Islamophobic attack. Beare, allegedly stabbed Halima Hoosen-Preston to death in her Glenmore home last Sunday (Durban).

 

11-13: Hotel & Hospitality Expo Africa. The expo is  a major platform for the hotel and hospitality sector in Africa, showcasing specialised parts of the interiors industry such as lighting, furniture, furnishings, homeware, artisan products, textiles, office equipment, surface materials and hospitality interiors (Sandton).

 

14: Resumption of the trial of three American suspects and 47 others in what the DRC army called an attempted coup in Kinshasa last month committed acts ‘punishable by death’. The trial is being staged in the Ndolo military prison (Kinshasa).

 

16: Youth Day. Commemoration of the 1976 Soweto Riots. One of the main events will be the ZA Fest Headlining the festival will be the Ndlovu Youth Choir and platinum-selling artist Jesse Clegg. The theme is ‘30 years of democracy’ (Ballito).

 

OTHER:

 

* Libya's Higher National Electoral Commission has published the electoral register for the elections of the first group of municipal councils in 60 municipalities. The announcement was made at a press conference held by the Chairman of the Commission, Imad Al-Sayeh, on Sunday in Tripoli.

 

* Nigeria’s trade unions have suspended a general strike by workers that has brought economic activity to a halt this week. The decision comes after the government pledged to increase the national minimum wage to at least 60 000 naira ($40) a month. Yhe Premium Times reports that it falls below the $330 that unions were demanding, but is double the current monthly wage. The strike began on Monday and led to the shutdown of the country's power grid, leaving millions without electricity. Government and union representatives say they will now meet every day for a week for further negotiations in the hopes of a permanent resolution.

 

* South African artist Zanele Muholi, whose work prominently features the lives of black South Africans in the LGBTQ+ community, has returned to the Tate Modern after being cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. The revived exhibition features over 300 photographs representing their career to date, from their first images to their more recent works. The exhibition is on until January 2025 (London)

 

* Namibia has opened a three-month voter registration period, ahead of 27 November elections. The registration period for the presidential and National Assembly elections is due to run until 1 August.  For the first time since independence, the ruling party, the Swapo will have a female presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

  

* Somalia will expel thousands of Ethiopian troops stationed in the country to help with security by the end of the year unless Addis Ababa scraps a disputed port deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland, a senior Somali official said last week. Security experts and foreign diplomats said the move risks further destabilising Somalia as local forces would be unable to fill the security vacuum, which would likely be exploited by fighters from al Shabaab, an affiliate of al Qaeda. At least 3 000 Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in the Horn of Africa country as part of an AU peacekeeping mission fighting al Shabaab, which controls large portions of Somalia.

 

* The Angolan and Namibian governments have reiterated the need for the two countries to collaborate on the Baynes Binational Power Project. The two countries held a bilateral meeting on the 881 megawatt hydro power project at the Laúca Hydroelectric Power Station in Angola last week. The two governments plan on developing the project on the lower Kunene River, along the common border of the two countries.

  

* The EU is now set to withdraw its forces in Niger by the end of June, due to the grave current political situation. The EU withdrawal came after the US and Niger fell out, resulting in an agreement that American forces should have left the country by mid-September. Niger also instructed French troops to leave by December 2023, while it forged stronger ties with Russia, primarily deployed via the Africa Corps (formerly the Wagner Group), which it has now acknowledged as state-controlled. The EU Military Partnership Mission in Niger is now due to have all operations wound up by 30 June, the EU said in a statement.

 

* DRC President Felix Tshisekedi has removed former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from the Ministry of Defence in a cabinet reshuffle, but has retained him as one of six deputy prime ministers. That has him reporting to Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka, along with the rest of the all-male deputy prime ministers. Of the 10 provincial ministers, four are women, and in the 54-member cabinet there are 17 women.

 

* The High Court in New Delhi has granted Rajesh and Atul Gupta leave to visit their ‘old and sick’ mother without fear of being arrested on SA’s demand. The court granted the brothers leave to visit India for eight weeks from 27 May to 8 July  and that the ‘Look Out Circular’ for their arrests will be suspended for that period.

 

* The World Bank has approved $1.2bn in funding for Kenya to support the East African nation’s economic growth amid external shocks. The development policy-operation loan will boost foreign-exchange reserves ahead of a $557m eurobond repayment due on 24 June. It will also help fund Kenya’s budget as it’s missing tax-revenue targets and provide more support for the shilling, the world’s best-performing currency against the dollar so far this year.