An early Second Coming

This week I’m aboard a time machine that has taken me to the year 2121, a century from now. Time is moving ever so slowly. To avoid descending into boredom, I decide to do some light reading. After... 

Migration – the pros and cons

I have a suspicion that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an obscure name to many Africa Beat readers. But that’s certainly not the case in the world of the literati. The Nigerian-born novelist is... 

Pulane Tshabalala Kingston

This week we profile Pulane Tshabalala Kingston, CEO of Mirai Rail Corporation, which designs, manufactures and supplies turnouts and turnout components. It also supplies rails as well as... 

New era of the silent majority

The 2021 local government elections have come and gone, and pundits have written column centimetres upon column centimetres about them. But the temptation to also weigh in has been too much for me.... 

Lili Nupen

This week we profile Lili Nupen, director and founder of NSDV, a mining, environmental and construction law and professional advisory company 

I told you so, didn’t I?

Having looked into my crystal ball, I wrote in this column not so long ago that military coups were on the comeback in Africa and that they were poised to become an all too frequent mode of power... 

The neighbour from hell

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi comes across as someone who is so cool headed that one would expect him to always display diplomatic nous, even in the face of provocation. But that façade... 

Tracey Henry

This week we profile Tracey Henry, CEO of Tshikululu Social Investments, which manages and advises on social investment funds 

Misplaced honour

Presidential elections are due in six African countries next year, namely Angola, Djibouti, Kenya, Mali, Somaliland and Sudan. While in some countries elections have tended to be robust affairs –... 

Frontier stalemate

A key consensus among Africa’s postcolonial leaders is that the national boundaries drawn by the European powers that partitioned the continent in Berlin in 1884 are as sacrosanct today as they... 

Keletjo Chiloane

This week we profile Keletjo Chiloane, senior associate at Mercer Career Consulting, which is part of the MarshMclennan group of companies and specialises in talent strategy, talent mobility, human... 

Brenton Spies

This week we Brenton Spies, MD of Boyco Engineering, which is involved in the design, manufacture and maintenance of specialised mobile heating, ventilation and air-conditioning solutions for... 

Promises, promises . . .

Someone once remarked that football matches are the most heated contests in much of Africa. But in today’s environment, where most countries are doing their best to at least be seen to be abiding... 

Murray Crow

Murray Crow, MD of Electrolux South Africa, a producer of floor-care appliances 

Tribute to Hammarskjöld

Just over six decades ago, former United Nations (UN) secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold died in mysterious circumstances in what is now Zambia. Some cried assassination, with more than a couple of... 

John Jacobs

This week we profile John Jacobs, CEO of Sweet-Orr & Lybro, a manufacturing and sales company 

Shining in the world

Africa’s got talent! For the latest evidence of this, one need not look further than US news magazine Time’s 2021 list of the most influential 100  individuals on Planet Earth in various spheres of... 

A forlorn continent

We Africans are an unhappy lot. I am not joking – scientifically derived statistics are available to back this up, and it appears the advent of Covid-19 has exacerbated our collective melancholy.... 

Katlego Makgata

This week we profiole Katlego Makgata, MD of Leoka Engineering, which procvides project management, design and engineering services, mainly in the mining sector 

Coup d’état comeback?

I remember, as a freshman in journalism school, a lecturer telling us that some Western newspapers and other media organisations had settled on a stock headline to use each time an African... 

Joblessness scourge

While the joblessness numbers released by Statistics South Africa recently make for sad reading, bringing the country’s unemployment scourge into sharp focus, the key takeaway is that it is young... 

Aneesh Misra

This week we profile Aneesh Misra, CEO of Sedibeng Iron Ore, an iron-ore mining company, and MD of IMR South Africa  

Costly blackouts

Africa’s despots – and they are numerous – are increasingly developing a worrying penchant for switching off social media networks to prevent citizens from sharing information they dislike or when... 

Dear ex-Prez Lungu

I guess you are busy moving house, following your electoral defeat, which spelled the end to your tenancy at State House in Lusaka. When things are less hectic, please spare a few moments to read... 

Thabi Malatji

This week we profile Thabi Malatji, a partner at professional services firm EY 

Yershen Pillay

This week we profile Yershen Pillay, CEO of the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority, a statutory body that is responsible for education, training and skills development 

Biased reporting is not okay

When Covid hit African shores in early 2020, many predicted the death toll would be much higher than in other regions, given the parlous state of the healthcare system in many countries on the... 

Tom Marsicano

This week we profile Tom Marsicano, CEO of and Change, a change management consulting and training company 

What a disappointment!

Zweli Mkhize has always come across as a conscientious fellow, which is why it came as a shock when allegations that he used his influence as Health Minister to have a contract awarded to a... 

Misplaced intervention?

Late last month, Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations started deploying troops to northern Mozambique to help quell an Islamist insurgency that is threatening the development of... 

South Africa’s ‘single story’

That the rest of Africa sets great store by this country is a no-brainer. After all, Mzansi’s is the most developed economy on the continent and, until the Nigerians tweaked the numbers in a... 

Warmongering peace laureate

The Nobel Peace Prize, the world’s most prestigious award, with pickings of about $1.15-million in 2020, has been soiled by one of its more recent laureates, who happens to be a son of the African... 

Finally, SA finds its voice

At the time of writing, eSwatini was burning – literally and figuratively. The country, which has the dubious distinction of being Africa’s sole absolute monarchy, was engulfed in protests by... 

Rogue journalism

It’s Journalism 101 time this week – well, mostly – and I will cut to the chase: what is the difference between reporting and journalism? The two are not perfect synonyms. Reporting, or simply the... 

Remembering Kenneth Kaunda

At the time of writing, Africa was in mourning, following the breaking of the news that Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s President from 1964 to 1991, had breathed his last in a Lusaka military hospital.... 

Fabio Longano

This week we profile Fabio Longano, MD of TouchFoundry, a digital innovation company that undertakes custom software development and user-experience design 

Gweezy’s smallanyana flaw

Gwede Mantashe is a jolly good fellow. And a reasonable one too. But events of the past couple of weeks betray a smallanyana (read ‘smallish’) flaw on his part: an inability to read his boss’s... 

Worthless talk shop

Fathers of pan-Africanism such as the late Kwame Nkrumah, who wished for the day when Africa would be truly united, must have been pleased as they witnessed from the Great Unknown the coming into... 

Moneyed and insensitive

American political scientist Bernard Cecil Cohen famously wrote in 1963 that “the press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in... 

Vishal Pooran

This week we profile Vishal Pooran, MD of Egoli, a natural gas reticulation and trading company