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It’s been an extraordinary week, even for South Africans acclimatised to shockingly high murder rates and a police and security service unable to get on top of the problem. It included: the opening of a commission of inquiry into ‘criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system’; parliamentary hearings on the same issues; and, on Thursday, police raids on two senior officials within crime intelligence due to be witnesses at the parliamentary inquiry.
As the various dramas unfolded it became clear that the country’s police intelligence services are riven with deadly factional rivalries. Among the many victims of this disintegration of professional behaviour have been the whistleblowers brave enough to speak out about corruption and malfeasance. Ugljesa Radulovic and Tina Uys give an account of some of their remarkable stories.
Rock hyraxes – furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails – are known to sometimes drag their butts along the ground while sunning themselves on rocky outcrops. Some 126,000 years ago, a rock hyrax did exactly that, leaving behind a lasting impression. Scientists who study fossilised animal tracks in southern Africa recently found and examined these butt drag marks. Charles Helm and Lynne Quick explain why a trace like this, described as first of its kind, is a valuable heritage.
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Caroline Southey
Founding Editor, Africa
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Ugljesa Radulovic, University of Johannesburg; Tina Uys, University of Johannesburg
By fulfilling their public duty, South African whistleblowers have put themselves at serious personal risk.
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Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University; Lynne Quick, Nelson Mandela University
The first hyrax fossil tracks and traces ever to be discovered were identified on South Africa’s coast.
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Politics
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Christina Culwick Fatti, University of the Western Cape; Charlotte Lemanski, University of Cambridge; Fiona Anciano, University of the Western Cape; Margot Rubin, Cardiff University
Failing water, power, sanitation and security services in South Africa are spurring households and communities to do it themselves.
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Saheed Babajide Owonikoko, Modibbo Adama University of Technology
The governments and militaries of the Lake Chad region should prioritise JAS as much as ISWAP in their counter-terrorism efforts.
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Dan Paget, University of Sussex
President Samia Hassan is relying on repressive tactics to eliminate her most significant competitors from the 2025 presidential race.
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Namhla Thando Matshanda, University of Pretoria
Symbolic attempts at national unity in Ethiopia managed to achieve only short-lived national pride.
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Rashid Seedat, Gauteng City-Region Observatory
There is a link between an enduring perception of marginalisation within Coloured communities and real material struggles.
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Business & Economy
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Elisa Gambino, University of Manchester; Costanza Franceschini, Leiden University
African governments and other local actors have a crucial role to play in shaping the activities of Chinese firms.
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Education
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Anitia Lubbe, North-West University
Employers and societies demand graduates who can evaluate information and make sound judgments.
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Ismaila Sanusi, University of Eastern Finland
Early digital literacy prepares children for future learning and careers.
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Health & Medicine
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Yewande O. Addie, University of Florida
The challenge in using either AI or traditional campaigns for health messaging remains designing accurate and culturally responsive health communication.
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Peter S Millard, University of New England, United States
Estimates are that one million HIV infections have been prevented, saving the cost of treating and monitoring those cases, and avoiding transmission to partners.
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Laura Ferguson, University of Southern California; Bistra Dilkina, University of Southern California
Acute malnutrition weakens a child’s immune system, which can lead to severe illness and an increased risk of death.
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Science & Technology
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Riona Indhur, Durban University of Technology; Sheena Kumari, Durban University of Technology
Researchers developed a new method to remove microplastics from water.
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Environment & Energy
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Cormac Price, North-West University; University of KwaZulu-Natal
Black mambas were found to be indicators of toxic poisons from heavy metals.
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Matthew Germishuizen, University of Pretoria
The link between feeding and breeding makes whales a living barometer of ocean health.
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Climate
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Pedi Obani, University of Bradford
Africa’s second climate summit agreed that climate finance to Africa must be a legal obligation and that every country on the continent should have a climate law.
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Annah Lake Zhu, Wageningen University; Amadou Ndiaye, Université Amadou Mahtar MBOW de Dakar
Africa’s Great Green Wall of 6,000km of trees was launched 18 years ago, promising to halt desertification. But in Senegal, it’s been very slow to progress.
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28 July - 14 October 2025
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28 July - 22 October 2025
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28 July - 28 October 2025
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21 October 2025
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Cape Town
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