Africa

1. Credit check
2. Beating inflation
3. ANC has to share
4. A government at last
5. Buying local
6. Smuggled gold
7. Nigeria’s anthem

Also, African archaeology gets its own encyclopedia.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa. I’m writing this from South Africa’s election results center, a cavernous hall in Midrand on the outskirts of Johannesburg where hundreds of us — electoral officials, party representatives and journalists — are watching the numbers change on a giant electronic board. It’s the morning after the country’s most competitive vote since the end of apartheid three decades ago. Early projections as we went to press suggest the ruling ANC may have lost its parliamentary majority. The results are trickling in, so there’s a long way to go. But if that is the case, it marks a seismic shift in South African politics.

The dozens of political parties on the results board are part of the equation that led the ANC — the party that brought freedom from apartheid — to this point. It’s one thing for people to be frustrated with high unemployment, a sclerotic economy, electricity shortages and violent crime. But voters needed genuine alternatives to hold their government to account.

I can’t help drawing comparisons with the last South African election I covered in depth, which was in 2009. At the time, there was excitement over a new party called Congress of the People (COPE) which offered a viable alternative to the ANC. At the same time, Jacob Zuma faced a corruption trial while on the campaign trail. COPE was a flop and Zuma was cleared of wrongdoing before enjoying election success. Fifteen years later, voters have a plethora of choices. And Zuma, still dogged by controversy and now fronting the fledgling MK Party that threatened to make inroads in the voter heavy KwaZulu-Natal province, may have played a pivotal role again.

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South Sudan seeks credit

The amount South Sudan is seeking in financing from the International Monetary Fund to address economic growth, inflation, distribution of resources, education, and health, the Bank of South Sudan’s governor James Alic Garang said. The nation, which depends on oil for most of its revenue and urgently requires alternative sources after a pipeline that carries two-thirds of its crude was damaged in February, has already received three rapid credit facilities since 2020. Garang said that the first two reviews for that policy support were completed this month and the third will be held in November, after which the government will seek 100% of its quota, equivalent to about $250 million.

Africa’s fastest growing countries fend off inflation

Average real gross domestic product across Africa is projected to grow at 3.7% this year, recovering from a blip that saw it fall by one percentage point to 3.1% in 2023, the African Development Bank said. Last year’s growth decline was attributed to rising food and energy prices aggravated by the war in Ukraine, and to low agricultural productivity and political instability in some countries. East Africa will grow by an average of 4.9% this year, and 17 economies in Africa broadly could grow by more than 5% each. The outlook on inflation is not as rosy, however. The average rates in both East and West Africa were above 20% in 2023. The average rate in Africa is projected to rise to 17.8% this year from 17% in 2023, driven by “widening imbalances between supply and demand in domestic and global food markets.” Some of Africa’s largest economies like Nigeria have responded to the inflation problem with large interest rate hikes, but the bank warns that the current wave of high inflation is structural and will not easily bow to conventional monetary policy tools.

ANC set to lose majority in early election projections

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s ruling African National Congress looks set to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since coming to power after the end of apartheid 30 years ago, according to projections based on early election results.

Polls in Wednesday’s election closed at 9 p.m. On Thursday, with results received from 13.9% of polling stations, electoral commission data showed the ANC had secured 42.6% of the vote. The main opposition, the Democratic Alliance, had 25.8%, and the leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) stood at 8.5%.

Based on early results, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which provides projections to state broadcaster SABC, said the ANC is projected to have roughly 42% of the vote when the count has been completed.

Failure to secure 50% of the 400 seats in the National Assembly would force the ANC — which is still expected to be the largest party — to form a coalition government with smaller parties.

Under the constitution, the new parliament must convene within 14 days of final results being declared. And parliament’s first act must be to elect the country’s president.

It means there will be up to two weeks of negotiations to form a government if the ruling party has fallen short of a parliamentary majority.

The ANC has won every election since 1994, when Nelson Mandela led the party to power following the end of the apartheid regime.

DR Congo finally gets a government

President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, named his long-awaited cabinet, ending months of delays characterized by negotiations amongst his coalition.

The naming of the cabinet is expected to give impetus to various government programs and objectives, including restoring stability in eastern DRC, accelerating value addition of the country’s minerals, and improving living conditions for its citizens.

The cabinet will include 54 ministers, down from 57 in the president’s last cabinet. It includes 16 women ministers, including Prime Minister Judith Sumonwa Tuluka, DRC’s first female prime minister who was appointed last month.

Jacquemain Shabani, Tshisekedi’s former electoral campaign director and political advisor, was named interior minister. Constant Mutamba, leader of the Congo Dynamic Progressive Revolutionary Opposition party, was appointed justice minister. Mutamba unsuccessfully ran against Tshisekedi for president in the December 2023 elections.

Guy Kabombo, a veteran political leader with the President’s Union for Social Democracy and Progress party will serve as both deputy prime minister and minister of defense. His role is seen as key given the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC.

Therese Kayiwamba, a former UN official, was named foreign minister, while Kizito Kapinga was appointed to the mines ministry as the country looks to grow earnings from its significant reserves of cobalt and coltan, among other minerals.

— Martin K. N. Siele

Safaricom buys local in Ethiopia

Safaricom Ethiopia is increasing the share of its infrastructure that is made locally. Last week, it received 13 telecom towers made in Ethiopia by Woda Metal, a Chinese-Japanese company based in the Oromia region, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Addis Ababa. Safaricom ordered 68 towers in total from Woda.

Ethiopia’s telecoms market was dominated by the state-owned company Ethio Telecom until Kenya-based Safaricom won a bid to enter the country in 2021. The company has expanded its presence in the three years since, rolling out M-Pesa mobile money service last August and racking up 3 million users so far, though it has not all been plain sailing.

Prioritizing domestically made equipment could position Safaricom as a supporter of local manufacturing. But Wim Vanhelleputte, Safaricom Ethiopia’s chief executive, explains it as a strategic decision based on competence. “The quality of their towers is good; their galvanization plant is the biggest in East Africa,” he said of Woda. The manufacturer’s towers are cost-effective and will enable the telco to expand its network “more efficiently and effectively,” he said.

UAE is a major market for gold smuggled from Africa

The United Arab Emirates hosts a major market for gold smuggled out of Africa, according to a study by development agency Swissaid.

The research suggests that as much as 435 tonnes of gold, worth over $30 billion, may have been smuggled out of the continent in 2022. The findings highlight illicit financial flows involving bullion produced on the continent.

Marc Ummel, head of the raw materials unit at Swissaid and co-author of the study, said the situation is “problematic” because much of the smuggled gold is “potentially linked to conflicts or human rights violations.”

The lack of gold refining capacity across Africa was also highlighted in the report which found only 16 working gold refineries with around 125 industrial gold mines.

The UAE’s gold market is not exclusively for smuggled gold. Formal miners and refineries also ship part of their output there. Mines in Sudan, Niger, Burkina Faso and Kenya also ship gold to refineries and markets in Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE.

– Tawanda Karombo in Harare, Zimbabwe

Nigeria we hail thee

Nigeria’s president signed into law a bill to change the national anthem, sparking criticism from Nigerians. The “new” anthem returns to a version used from independence in October 1960 until 1978, a year before the first era of military rule ended.

The lyrics and music of the former anthem, titled “Nigeria We Hail Thee,” were composed by two British women, Lilian Jean Williams and Frances Berda. “Arise, O Compatriots,” on the other hand, was popularized by five members of the Nigerian police band and has been sung across the world for nearly 50 years.

The bill for the new anthem passed through parliament within a week. Ruling party supporters of the change say the old anthem helped shape national identity and unity, provoking “feelings of nostalgia and fond memories of the country’s early years.”

The speedy amendment has rankled many Nigerians. Made official on the day of the president’s first anniversary, proclaiming a new-old anthem smacks of a hasty attempt at contriving a feel-good anchor to mark a difficult year for residents. If only there have been similarly rapid solutions to the spiraling prices of food and medicine, and for achieving stability for a still depreciating currency.

— Alexander Onukwue in Lagos

Governance

🇿🇼 Zimbabwean wildlife authorities said on Tuesday that they were eyeing trophy hunting export markets in East Asia, as some European countries move to ban trophy imports.

🇰🇪 Kenya’s parliament announced it would hold four public hearings into alleged human rights violations by British soldiers, including one in Nanyuki where the troops are stationed.

🇸🇳 Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Tuesday launched a national consultation to reform the justice system through discussions on issues such as the length of criminal trials and detention conditions. He will receive final submission on June 4.

Tech

🇲🇦🇸🇳 Telecoms company Orange is partnering with Amazon to roll out AWS Wavelength, a software processing and data storage service, in Morocco and Senegal this year.

🇬🇭 Radisys Corporation, a company owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, will implement Ghana’s plan to launch 5G internet this year.

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s competition regulator approved 18 new loan apps, increasing the number of licensed digital lenders to 284.

Deals

🇿🇦 Australian mining giant BHP on Wednesday abandoned its attempted takeover of rival Anglo American. It scrapped its $49 billion proposal shortly before a deadline which Anglo had refused to extend.

🌍 African telecom towers operator Helios Towers secured a $30 million commitment from British International Investment for its $850 million public bonds offering.

🇪🇬 Egyptian food delivery and logistics startup OneOrder raised $16 million in an equity round led by Delivery Hero Ventures with the participation of Norrsken22 and other investors.

🇸🇳 Mediterrania Capital Partners, an Africa-focused private equity firm with ticket sizes of between €10 million and €35 million, appointed Senegalese investor Mati Ndiaye as its managing director for West Africa.

African history and prehistory has been dominated by research by famous European scholars, with African researchers erased from records. However, that looks set to change with the publication of the “Oxford Encyclopedia of African Archeology,” edited by the Zimbabwean archaeologist Shadreck Chirikure. Chirikure, a professor of archaeology at Oxford, collated the most up-to-date archaeological scholarship on 3 million years of African life, he said. The encyclopedia, which is organized into six thematic chapters, covers livelihoods, subsistence and the environment. It looks at faunal exploitation in southern Africa in the later Pleistocene, and how people interacted with the environment in Iron Age Kenya. The book also explores cultural heritage management, new archaeological methodologies, social organization, and technology.

• France’s tax policies threaten its AI ambitions.
• The US is fueling the carbon offset market without fixing it.
• Young voters despair over US politics.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, Muchira Gachenge, and Jenna Moon