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An increase in the number of clashes between pastoralists and farmers in countries that make up the Sahel region is causing increasing concern. Traditionally the conflict has been driven by tensions over access to natural resources. But there’s growing evidence that the latest surge in armed killings can be traced to weapon inflows from Libya and Mali. To address the regional threat, argues Olayinka Ajala, countries must move beyond a piecemeal national approach.
Today is World Press Freedom Day, an important opportunity to mark the struggle journalists face in many countries when trying to do their jobs. But what exactly is the “job” of a journalist in the 21st Century? What does it mean to be a watchdog? And is it enough for the media to merely present evidence of corruption? Vanessa Malila suggests that South Africa’s media can do far more to empower citizens.
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Pastoralists on a dry plain in central Mali, one of the seven Sahel countries hit by a wave of deadly attacks.
EPA/Nic Bothma
Olayinka Ajala, University of York
A big rise in armed attacks in the Sahel - and the intensity of the attacks in recent years - is now seen as a major source of concern.
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Journalists must do more to empower citizens to deal with corruption.
DAI KUROKAWA/EPA
Vanessa Malila, Rhodes University
Both the media and civil society need to rethink the way they understand their roles when it comes to social accountability.
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Health + Medicine
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Vusumuzi Nkosi, South African Medical Research Council
People living close to mine dumps are more inclined to show symptoms of asthma.
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Education
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Yusef Waghid, Stellenbosch University; Faiq Waghid; Zayd Waghid, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Education systems around the world are increasingly recognising the value of local approaches to thinking, learning and being.
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Politics + Society
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Stephen Chan, SOAS, University of London
Zimbabwe has high hopes for a post-Mugabe era, but it has some serious growing pains to deal with first.
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What's trending
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Andries Bezuidenhout, University of Fort Hare
The protest song "Stimela" remains as much a song about present and future aspirations, as it is of the past.
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
A furious Twitter row between a TV personality and South African politician about slavery sheds light on the failings of arguments in 280 characters.
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Walter Focke, University of Pretoria; Mthokozisi Sibanda, University of Pretoria; Taneshka Kruger, University of Pretoria
A novel mosquito repellent has been found to have a longer lifespan than those commercially available.
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From our international editions
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Alvaro Jarrin, College of the Holy Cross
Who's really benefiting from a health care system that provides free or low-cost plastic surgeries for the poor?
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Alex Johnstone, University of Aberdeen
Shakespeare wrote of the 'seven ages of man', and our appetite for food changes as we age too – with implications for our health.
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Terence Crofts, Washington University in St Louis
Antibiotic-munching microbes may prove useful for mopping up contaminated water supplies and land.
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