Africa

1. Pan-African research
2. Beauty & the beasts
3. Switching sides
4. A Kigali Grand Prix?
5. Digitizing Nairobi

Also, financial constraints are holding back African women’s football.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa Weekend.

The Olympics, a bit like the World Cup, is one of the few times when non-political types like me get a true shot of pan-Africanism. To misquote the actress Issa Rae, we want all the Africans to win (unless said African is up against your compatriot). While it hasn’t necessarily always been a stellar ‘African’ Olympics there have been several great moments and new stars.

Female African athletes in particular have shone bright like Algeria’s 17-year-old Kaylia Nemou, who became a champion on the uneven bars and the first African gymnast to ever win a medal; Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet winning the women’s 5,000m race; and South Africa’s Tatjana Smith winning the women’s 100m breaststroke. For men, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who won the 200m, was an incredibly popular gold.

But as Martin’s story explains below, doing well at the Olympics isn’t just about having raw talent and good training but also about national sports bodies planning carefully ahead of time and being competent in navigating the global sports world. If not, you will hear stories of frustration from athletes and find even more of the best talent switching from their African country.

🟡 This week, Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, Nigeria dug into the mystery of the Russian flags being waved at inflation protests in some northern Nigeria cities last week. Joël Té-Léssia Assoko looked into the link between the killing of Russian operatives in northern Mali by Tuareg rebels and Ukrainian intelligence.

🟡🟡 Have you followed us on WhatsApp yet? What are you waiting for?

Gathering African research

The amount the Association of African Universities will invest in an electronic research archive to capture all research by African universities published in international journals. The archive, expected to be ready by March next year, will comprise works from more than 2,000 universities and research institutions from across the continent. The AAU secretary general said the project will make it possible to recognize the research strength of each university, enhance visibility and accessibility for their work, and increase collaborations and networking among researchers.

The beauty queen vs the xenophobes

Beauty pageant contestant Chidimma Adetshina officially withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition on Thursday 48 hours ahead of the event following a storm of controversy and public outcry questioning her citizenship.

Ever since the 23-year-old law student announced her spot in the contest in May, she has been the subject of cyberbullying and xenophobic abuse, with online trolls and some anti-immigration politicians saying she is “not South African enough” to compete.

Adetshina was born in Soweto, Johannesburg’s historic township. She had previously said that her father is Nigerian and that her mother is South African with Mozambican roots. South African law states that citizenship can be acquired if you are born in the country and at least one of your parents is a citizen or permanent resident.

Her detractors zeroed in on her Nigerian heritage, but it is the dispute over her mother’s nationality that was the final straw. In response to a request from the Miss South Africa Organisation, an investigation by the ministry of home affairs found early evidence that Adetshina’s mother may have committed fraud and identity theft in 2001 and might not be a South African citizen.

The wave of vitriol directed at Adetshina highlights a very particular type of bigotry in South Africa — Afrophobia. Nigerian nationals living in South Africa have long been used as scapegoats by local politicians to whitewash their own failures.

— Marché Arends in Cape Town

More African athletes will switch sides

The success of African athletes who opted to represent other countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics is fueling debate in Africa’s sports sector.

Experts say underinvestment in sports facilities and talent development pipelines and, in some cases, incompetence by sports authorities, could likely see the trend of young African talent switching nationalities continue unabated, and possibly even rise.

Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, winner of the 3,000M women’s steeplechase and new Olympic record holder, is one of several athletes at the Paris Olympics who previously represented Kenya.

Annette Nneka Echikunwoke, who won a silver medal at the Olympics for her birth country, USA, previously represented Nigeria in the hammer throw. Echikunwoke chose to represent Nigeria at the last Olympics in Tokyo, but was unable to compete at the games in what she attributed to negligence by Nigeria’s athletic federation. Echikunwoke and nine other Nigerian athletes were ruled out of participating after it was established that the Nigerian federation failed to conduct mandatory tests.

In Yavi’s case, she’s previously said the stiff competition in Kenya’s middle-distance running scene led her to represent Bahrain despite wanting to represent her home country. But Kenyan coaches have long complained about the lack of adequate facilities and structures to support the development of young athletes in the country.

African athletes also regularly face off with sports federations across the continent over matters including poor facilities, inadequate preparation, logistics, and compensation. A few months ahead of this year’s Olympics some of Kenya’s top athletes threatened to boycott national trials over the questionable choice of facilities.

Rwanda bets on Formula 1

Rwanda is in talks that could see Kigali host the first Formula 1 race in Africa since the 1993 South African Grand Prix.

Formula 1 President CEO Stefano Domenicali in an interview published on Thursday, told Motorsport.com, that Rwanda was “serious” about its bid, adding that further talks were scheduled for September. The bid was separately confirmed on Friday, Aug. 9 by Christian Gakwaya, president of the Rwanda Automobile Club, which governs motor sports in Rwanda.

“They have presented a good plan and actually we have a meeting with them at the end of September,” Domenicali said, disclosing that the proposed race would be on a permanent track. “We want to go to Africa, but we need to have the right investment, and the right strategic plan.”

Rwanda, which already has partnerships with the NBA and the International Cycling Union, will be hosting the annual meeting and awards gala of Formula One’s sports federation in December. It presents an opportunity for a charm offensive in support of its bid, said Michael Hart, CEO of motorsport-focused sponsorships firm The CarMichael Group.

“The fact that they’re talking is huge,” Hart said, while noting that the bid would still face competition from other countries including Thailand, whose government has also been pushing for a grand prix.

— Martin

A digital story of Nairobi

An initiative to digitize the minutes of Nairobi’s county council meetings from the 1960s through the 2010s hopes to uncover key principles and decisions that influenced the development of the country’s capital.

The initiative by the Book Bunk archivist organization wants to show the evolution of the city from the early days of independence. This project will complement one in which 350,000 pages of material were digitized from the McMillan Memorial Library, the oldest library in the city and the second oldest in Kenya.

Book Bunk’s founders say they have focused on “changing Nairobi” by restoring some of the city’s public libraries into sites of heritage, public art, collective memory, and cultural exchange. With the effort to digitize policy documents the hope is more people will become familiar with the making of modern Nairobi.

— Muchira Gachenge in Nairobi

Weekend Reads

🇳🇬 Nigerian investor Tony Elumelu wants Africa to look beyond blaming colonialism for its present predicaments and seize the potential in private sector-led development. Elumelu describes joblessness in Africa as “the betrayal of a generation” and a result of failed leadership, in an interview with Aanu Adeoye of the Financial Times.

🌍 Women’s football is being intentionally underdeveloped in Africa despite sporadic success for the continent’s teams, writes Lee Nxumalo in Africa Is A Country. The organizing body for African football faces real financial constraints in allocating resources between men’s and women’s competitions but “there is clear discrimination,” Nxumalo argues.

🇸🇳 Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s emergence from a revolt against the establishment points to the rise of a new left-wing ideological movement in Africa, Erick Kabendera writes in African Arguments. The trend is also exemplified by parties and pursuits led by Julius Malema in South Africa and Zitto Kabwe in Tanzania. Their electoral outcomes differ but the movements represent a youth-led anti-incumbency wave sweeping across Africa.

🇸🇩 Fighting to achieve Western-style democracy marks the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North as an unusual rebel group in the country. In its more than 50-year face off against whatever government is in power in Sudan, the SPLM has operated with a constitution and demanded a secular state “though it does so while pointing a rifle,” reports Nicholas Casey in the New York Times.

🌍 An increasing number of African countries are asking China to fund and build new schools in their countries. The appeal is often orchestrated by political parties who also solicit party-building support from the Chinese Communist Party, reports Jevans Nyabiage in the South China Morning Post. Parties in Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, Tanzania and DR Congo are among those to have taken the approach so far.

🗓️ Week Ahead

Aug. 12 — The International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing will bring together leading academic scientists, and researchers to Alexandria, Egypt.

Aug. 12-15 — The inaugural East Africa Community Regional Conference on Education will take place in Arusha, Tanzania.

Aug. 13 — Uganda’s International Criminal Court division is expected to pass its first judgment against former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo.

Aug. 14 — The Institute of Security Studies will hold an event to discuss how South Africa’s unity government can manage migration.

Aug. 14 — The Connected Banking Summit — Ethiopia, will take place in Addis Ababa.

Aug. 15 — South Africa’s Standard Bank is expected to release half-year results.

Aug. 15 — Nigeria’s statistics office is expected to release the latest inflation data.

For Your Consideration

Aug. 20 — Applicants between 18-30 are invited to join the International Organization for Migration COP29 Youth Delegates on Climate Migration to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan Nov. 11-22.

Nov. 5 — Scholars and aspiring leaders from African countries and elsewhere are invited to apply for the Chevening Scholarship 2025 for a chance to study at the UK’s top universities.

• Etsy says it wants to ‘keep commerce human.’ Artisans disagree.
• Harris’ VP pick broke through on the US’ biggest climate challenge.
• The Philippines chose two dynasties to lead together. Now it’s a family feud.

If you’re enjoying the Semafor Africa newsletter and finding it useful, please share with your family, and friends. We’d love to have them aboard, too.

Happy 64th independence day to the people of Chad!! 🇹🇩

Happy 64th independence day to the people of Central African Republic!! (Aug. 13) 🇨🇫

Let’s make sure this email doesn’t end up in your junk folder by adding africa@semafor.com to your contacts. In Gmail you should drag this newsletter over to your ‘Primary’ tab.

You can reply to this email and send us your news tips, gossip, street food recommendations and good vibes.

— Yinka, Alexis Akwagyiram, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge