The Weekend Conversation

Editor's note

A host of matches under the Africa Cup of Nations umbrella are under way. These include the qualifying matches for the 2021 competition. But millions of fans are unable to watch because of a TV blackout after the Confederation of African Football cancelled its media and marketing rights agreement with French company, Lagardère Sports and Entertainment. Chuka Onwumechili outlines the broadcast rights war, court cases and sour deals behind the crisis.

Every needy person who is the primary caregiver for a child in South Africa is entitled to receive a child support grant. These go to more than 12 million children. Both men and women are eligible for the grant, but 98% of the recipients are women. This reflects widespread father absence and the fact that women continue to bear overwhelming responsibility for childcare. Another factor at play is that men are viewed as being more likely to misspend the money. Research by Zoheb Khan debunks this myth, showing that they also spend the money wisely.

Charl Blignaut

Arts, Culture and Society Editor

Arts + Culture

Calls to use Nigerian languages at school are going unheard

Maduabuchi Sennen Agbo, University of Benin

Schools are still not using Nigerian languages to teach students

What South Africa’s top cricketers have to say about quotas

Mary Ann Dove, University of Cape Town

No-one ever asks the players how the quota system affects them. When one academic did, she found conflicting and complex responses about the impact of transformation in South African sport.

Politics + Society

Why South Sudan’s attempts at peace continue to fail

Andrew Edward Tchie, King's College London

South Sudan has had many opportunities to create a lasting peace but so far all efforts have been unsuccessful.

Fighting piracy in the Gulf of Guinea needs a radical rethink

Dirk Siebels, University of Greenwich

Feeding a simple narrative of piracy without a broader look at other maritime security challenges hinders progress in dealing with it.

Sidama vote first step in long process of change in Ethiopia

Yohannes Gedamu, Georgia Gwinnett College

In practical terms. Sidama's successful push has created more groups that aspire to homogenise the demography of their regions.

Why return from Europe is causing problems for The Gambia

Judith Altrogge, University of Basel; Franzisca Zanker, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute

The Gambia's agreement with the European Union to return immigrants to the country is causing the government problems at home.

Health + Medicine

What’s driving Africa’s population growth. And what can change it

Alex Ezeh, Drexel University; Garumma Tolu Feyissa, Drexel University

High fertility is driven by a number of factors including desired family size, low levels of use of modern contraceptives, and high levels of adolescent childbearing.

Collaboration pushes frontiers of anti-malaria drug regimes

Kelly Chibale, University of Cape Town; Richard Gordon, South African Medical Research Council

The aim is to discover, develop and facilitate delivery of anti-malarial medicines to help tackle the burden of malaria in endemic countries and support malaria eradication.

The world needs ‘antibiotic guardians’ to safeguard their future use

Marc Mendelson, University of Cape Town

We are seeing the end of modern medicine slowly being played out due to antibiotic resistance. But we can act together to alter the situation.

Lack of equity and diversity still plague global health research

Madhukar Pai, McGill University

Global health researchers, funders and journals are not walking the talk on equity, diversity and inclusion.

Environment + Energy

Not all droughts are the same: here’s what’s different about them

Mike Muller, University of the Witwatersrand

Not all droughts are the same and South Africa needs to have a targeted approach to each type.

The unusual social habits of East Africa’s vulturine guineafowl

Danai Papageorgiou, Max Planck Institute; Damien Farine, Max Planck Institute

Vulturine guineafowl were found to live in large, sexually mixed groups. These seem to have social preferences for certain other groups.

Podcasts

Pasha 45: Spotlight on population growth in Africa

Ozayr Patel, The Conversation

Population growth rates pose a lingering challenge to development efforts on the continent.

Pasha 44: Gender inequality in Kenyan and South African education systems

Ozayr Patel, The Conversation

Women have to push through barriers to access higher education.

Business + Economy

African multinationals bring home much more than profits

Danson Kimani, University of Essex; Geofry Areneke, Manchester Metropolitan University

Little research has been done on the impact of multinational companies that are born and bred on African soil.

Financial services need to wake up to fact that treating customers well is good business

Andrew Schmulow, University of Wollongong

Attitudes to banks are changing. This requires them to be more customer centric, and to take their role in society more seriously.

Science + Technology
Mobile access won’t fix the digital divide. Fixed-line is needed too Ryan Hawthorne, University of Cape Town; Lukasz Grzybowski, University of Cape Town Regulators should stimulate demand for broadband services through increased access to computers.

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