Southern Africa

Historic G-20 Summit in South Africa Moves Forward Without U.S. The G-20 summit in South Africa made an unprecedented move by adopting its declaration without the United States, which boycotted the event over diplomatic tensions. This break in protocol signals a significant step for the summit hosted in Africa for the first time. The declaration was adopted at the start of the summit, a departure from standard procedure. South Africa positioned this as a victory amid U.S. absence. Key focuses include climate…

Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane has ordered a halt to the recruitment of new commissioners for Lesotho's electoral commission after a high court application challenged the constitutionality of the process. The applicants, who moved to the High Court, raised concerns about what they described as a "peculiar manner" in which an employment consulting firm was procured to assist the commission, and cited other unspecified irregularities that they say have marred the selection exercise. After hearing arguments from the parties,…

SOUTH AFRICA — South Africa faces what health researchers call a “vaping crisis” among adolescents while a long-promised overhaul of the country’s tobacco laws sits largely dormant. The draft Tobacco Bill published in 2018 — designed to extend smoke-free public spaces, introduce plain packaging and ban point-of-sale displays for both cigarettes and electronic cigarettes — has yet to clear the long road from proposal to law, leaving regulators and public-health advocates alarmed as youth nicotine use climbs. A 2024 study of…

Thousands of South Africans joined an online and street-level protest this week calling on the government to declare gender-based violence (GBV) a national disaster, a demand activists say is necessary to match the scale of attacks on women across the country. The movement, which began on social media and crystallised in a coordinated "G20 Women's Shutdown," asked women to withdraw from work and the economy for a day, wear black, and lie down for 15 minutes at noon to honour those killed. Organisers urged supporters to turn…

South Africa Stands Firm Amid U.S. G-20 Boycott South Africa reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism as the U.S. opts out of the G-20 summit in Johannesburg. Despite Washington's demands to drop the traditional declaration, President Cyril Ramaphosa insists on proceeding with the summit's agenda. South Africa dismisses U.S. requests for a toned-down statement. President Ramaphosa emphasizes the importance of global equality and multilateralism. U.S. diplomats warn against adopting a summit declaration without…

India offers aid as Botswana confronts acute medicine shortages India has offered to assist Botswana in addressing a severe shortage of essential medicines, officials said during a visit by Indian President Droupadi Murmu. The offer was announced by Botswana President Duma Boko at a joint media briefing, underscoring the urgency of the country’s health supply crisis. President Boko announced the offer while briefing the media alongside visiting Indian President Droupadi Murmu. Available reports put the stock of essential…

Latest situation Conditions in Gauteng are expected to improve after a period of severe weather that disrupted services and response efforts. The latest forecast now calls for only scattered showers across the province. Weather models show a reduction in storm intensity, moving from widespread severe conditions to isolated showers. Authorities report that the earlier severe weather slowed emergency and repair responses in affected areas. Power restoration work is underway in some neighbourhoods where outages occurred…

Namibia’s plan to revive a flag carrier revives familiar risks — and questions The government of Namibia has moved from intention to action in its plan to relaunch a national airline, confirming a new state-owned entity — Namibia Air Pty Limited — and the appointment of an interim board. Works and transport minister Veikko Nekundi says market analysis, traffic forecasting and a business model are under way, and that the carrier could be operational in the next financial year. Opposition parties have urged caution, warning…

G20 in Johannesburg: A test of multilateralism as Africa’s priorities meet fracturing diplomacy The historic 2025 G20 Summit in Johannesburg (November 22–23) arrives with symbolic weight — the first time the grouping meets on African soil — and with urgent expectations. Under South Africa’s presidency theme, “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” hosts have signalled a push to center issues that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries: debt sustainability, climate finance, and rising inequality. Yet the…

South Africa tightens its inflation anchor — a test of credibility for monetary and fiscal policy South Africa’s National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank have agreed on a new inflation objective: a 3% target with a one percentage point tolerance band. That shifts the nominal anchor to 3% (effectively a 2–4% acceptable range), and — according to reporting — is part of a fragile compromise between the Government of National Unity and the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement after three failed attempts to pass the…