Today, Premier Alan Winde announced the appointment of Jaco Londt as Western cape Minister of Education and Wendy Kaizer-Philander as provincial Minister of Social Development.
Premier Winde said, “Both Ministers Londt and Kaizer-Philander bring extensive experience, principled leadership and a proven commitment to serving the residents of the Western Cape. Their new portfolios will allow them to build on their respective track records and bring fresh energy, insight and collaborative leadership to two critical areas of government.”
Minister Londt moves from social development where he has served as provincial minister since June 2024. Under Minister Londt, Social Development now runs 21 GBV Ambassador Programmes across the province, has launched the Cape Care Fund to support the work of social development non-profit organisations, and ensured the implementation of the Social Work Integrated Management System (SWIMS) app.
Minister Londt holds a Humanities Bachelor’s Degree from the University of South Africa and a Public Administration Honours Degree from the University of Stellenbosch. Prior to being sworn in as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, Minister Londt served for 10 years as a Member of Parliament in the National Council of Provinces.
He remarked, “The tremendous responsibility being entrusted to me by Premier Winde is not taken lightly. I am looking forward to building on the solid foundation that was laid by my predecessor, Minister David Maynier. The last two years at DSD have been a great privilege and pleasure. I am proud of what we’ve been able to achieve in strengthening support for vulnerable residents across the province and leading the way with innovation. Thank you to the DSD management, staff, and our incredible partner organisations.”
Minister Kaizer-Philander is an experienced public representative who has served as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since 2018, before which she was a councillor and member of the mayoral committee in the Drakenstein Local Municipality.
At the time of her appointment, Minister Kaizer-Philander served as the Chairperson on Social Development and Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee on Child Protection Reform in the Western Cape. She has also served in senior parliamentary leadership and committee positions, including as Chief Whip and Chairperson of the TB Ad Hoc Committee and Conduct Committee.
Having served as the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Social Development, she comes into the ministerial role with a deep understanding of the critical work done by this department.
Minister Kaizer-Philander is completing a BAdmin Honours in Public Administration at the University of the Western Cape.
“This is a huge honour, and I would like to thank the Premier for trusting me with this enormous responsibility. I look forward to continuing the excellent work of Minister Londt, who has already achieved significant milestones in the department. I am deeply passionate about supporting vulnerable communities, particularly children, families, women, older persons and communities facing social and economic challenges. I am ready to serve the people of the Western Cape in this critical position,” she said.
“With their respective experience and commitment to public service, I have full faith in both Ministers to advance the Western Cape Government’s work to create more opportunity, improve lives and build a province in which all residents can thrive,” Premier Winde concluded.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Western Cape Government: Office of the Premier.
Alors que l’Afrique intensifie le développement en amont, l’expansion industrielle et les échanges énergétiques transfrontaliers, l’accès au financement du développement et à des conseils juridiques pointus est devenu indispensable pour transformer les engagements d’investissement en projets opérationnels. Reflétant cette évolution, l’African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 – qui se tiendra au Cap du 12 au 16 octobre – accueillera parmi ses intervenants de cette année des hauts représentants de l’Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) sud-africaine et du cabinet juridique et de conseil panafricain CLG.
La participation de ces cabinets prestigieux à l’AEW 2026 offrira aux délégués des perspectives précieuses sur les cadres financiers, juridiques et institutionnels nécessaires pour accélérer les investissements et soutenir la croissance industrielle à long terme sur l’ensemble du continent.
L’IDC rejoint la conférence à la suite de l’une de ses annonces les plus importantes de 2026. Fin juillet, cette institution publique de financement du développement a signé un accord-cadre conjoint avec Afreximbank visant à mobiliser 8 milliards de dollars de financements pour renforcer la base industrielle de l’Afrique du Sud, développer les capacités de production et soutenir le développement des infrastructures dans le cadre de la Zone de libre-échange continentale africaine. Cette initiative renforce le rôle croissant de l’institution dans la mobilisation de capitaux à grande échelle en faveur de l’industrialisation, tout en créant de nouvelles opportunités pour des projets dans les secteurs de l’énergie, des mines et des infrastructures stratégiques.
Dans le cadre de son plan stratégique 2026/27, l’IDC s’est également engagée à consacrer 38,5 milliards de rands au développement industriel, y compris des financements spécifiques destinés aux industriels locaux ainsi qu’aux entreprises détenues par des femmes et des jeunes. Ces initiatives soulignent l’élargissement du mandat de l’organisation, à la fois en tant que bailleur de fonds pour le développement et en tant que catalyseur industriel.
Dans ce contexte, Nina Yose, directrice par intérim de la division Mines, Métaux, Infrastructures et Énergie, apporte sa vaste expérience à l’événement de cette année. Lors de l’AEW 2026, elle devrait offrir un éclairage précieux sur la manière dont les institutions de financement du développement peuvent mobiliser des investissements, renforcer les capacités et soutenir la prochaine génération de projets africains dans les domaines de l’énergie et des infrastructures.
En complément de cette perspective financière, CLG participe à l’AEW 2026 en tant que l’un des principaux cabinets africains de conseil juridique et d’accompagnement des entreprises. Au début du mois, le pôle Afrique centrale de CLG a fourni des conseils sur le système de facturation électronique certifié de la République du Congo, aidant ainsi les entreprises à s’adapter aux nouvelles exigences de conformité qui affectent leurs activités dans toute la région.
xReprésentant le cabinet à l’AEW 2026, Adeleke Alao, directeur du bureau du Nigeria et conseiller juridique en chef du groupe, apporte une expertise approfondie en matière de financement de projets, de transactions transfrontalières et de réglementation énergétique. À ses côtés, Grace Yella, directrice des affaires fiscales et juridiques pour l’Afrique centrale, apporte une connaissance approfondie de la fiscalité, de la structuration d’entreprise et de la conformité réglementaire dans l’ensemble de la région de la CEMAC. Ensemble, ils sont bien placés pour offrir aux délégués des perspectives concrètes sur la gestion des risques juridiques, la facilitation des investissements et la création d’une sécurité réglementaire pour le secteur énergétique africain en pleine évolution.
« Mobiliser des investissements nécessite plus que du simple capital », déclare NJ Ayuk, président exécutif de l’African Energy Chamber. « Des institutions de financement du développement solides et une expertise juridique de classe mondiale sont essentielles pour mener à bien les projets, renforcer la confiance des investisseurs et garantir que l’Afrique tire davantage de valeur de ses ressources naturelles. »
La participation de ces institutions financières et juridiques reflète la nature interdépendante du secteur énergétique africain, où la réussite des investissements repose sur la combinaison de plusieurs facteurs : capitaux, bonne gouvernance et sécurité réglementaire. Alors que les gouvernements et les investisseurs se préparent à la prochaine vague de développements dans les domaines du pétrole, du gaz, des mines et des infrastructures sur le continent, l’AEW 2026 constituera une plateforme essentielle pour définir les cadres financiers et juridiques nécessaires à la transformation de ces opportunités en croissance économique à long terme.
Distribué par APO Group pour African Energy Chamber.
À Bocaranga, dans la préfecture de l’Ouham-Pendé, une équipe de la MINUSCA a effectué le 19 août 2026 une mission de suivi auprès des ex-combattants bénéficiaires du Programme de réduction de la violence communautaire (CVR). Cette visite a permis d’évaluer les progrès réalisés dans leur réintégration socio-économique, d’identifier les difficultés rencontrées et de recueillir leurs témoignages. L’initiative s’inscrit dans les efforts de la Mission en faveur de la consolidation de la paix et du renforcement de la cohésion sociale.
Au cours de cette mission, menée dans le cadre des efforts visant à accompagner les bénéficiaires dans leur processus de réintégration socio-économique, les membres de la Section Désarmement, démobilisation et réintégration (DDR) de la MINUSCA ont rencontré les anciens combattants ayant bénéficié d’un accompagnement technique après leur démobilisation.
Les échanges ont permis de constater que 148 bénéficiaires suivent d’abord une formation en éducation civique d’une durée de deux mois avant d’intégrer des filières porteuses telles que la mécanique, la conduite automobile, la saponification, la couture ou encore l’élevage de moutons.
Plusieurs participants ont exprimé leur satisfaction quant au soutien reçu, estimant que ces initiatives leur offrent de nouvelles perspectives de vie loin des groupes armés. Abel DELATIDE, l’un des bénéficiaires, a remercié les partenaires ainsi que la MINUSCA pour la mise en œuvre de ce programme.
« Avec les kits que je vais recevoir à la fin de ma formation en conduite automobile, je serai autonome pour gérer ma vie. J’appelle les autres à emboîter mes pas », a-t-il déclaré.
Sam HOWARD, coordonnateur régional des activités DDR de la MINUSCA pour la zone de l’Équateur, a sensibilisé les bénéficiaires à l’importance de préserver les acquis de la paix, de renforcer la cohésion sociale et de participer activement au développement de leurs communautés respectives.
Il a également salué les avancées enregistrées tout en reconnaissant les défis qui subsistent. « Ce que j’ai vu me permettra de faire des propositions pour l’amélioration des activités et aussi des conditions des ex-combattants qui participent à la réintégration socio-économique », a-t-il indiqué.
Pour lui, « la réintégration durable des ex-combattants constitue un élément essentiel pour la stabilité et la consolidation de la paix dans la région ».
Pour la MINUSCA, cette mission témoigne de l’engagement continu des acteurs du DDR à accompagner les ex-combattants vers une réintégration réussie et à soutenir les initiatives favorisant la paix, la cohésion sociale et la stabilité dans l’Ouham-Pendé.
Distribué par APO Group pour United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Infrastructures modernes, équipements, médicaments et ressources financières sont indispensables au bon fonctionnement d’un système de santé. Mais pour transformer durablement les services et obtenir de meilleurs résultats pour les populations, une autre ressource est tout aussi déterminante : des femmes et des hommes capables de diriger, d’inspirer, de décider et de conduire le changement.
C’est dans cette dynamique que le Ministre de la Santé et de la Population, le Professeur Jean-Rosaire Ibara, a officiellement lancé, le 19 août 2026 à Pointe-Noire, le cours sur le leadership et le management en santé, avec l’appui de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS). Cette initiative réunit 30 gestionnaires issus notamment des hôpitaux et des départements sanitaires du pays, appelés à renforcer leurs capacités pour mieux répondre aux défis actuels et futurs du système de santé.
Pour le Ministère de la Santé et de la Population, cet investissement dans le capital humain intervient à un moment stratégique. À quelques années de l’échéance de 2030 pour l’atteinte des Objectifs de développement durable, le Congo prépare également son prochain Plan national de développement sanitaire 2027-2031, qui devra traduire les priorités nationales en résultats tangibles pour les populations. « L’heure n’est plus à la simple gestion de routine, mais à un leadership de transformation et de performance », a déclaré le Professeur Jean-Rosaire Ibara avant d’ajouter : « La réussite des réformes dépendra notamment de responsables capables de mobiliser leurs équipes, d’optimiser les ressources, d’utiliser les données pour orienter leurs décisions et de conduire le changement avec responsabilité ».
Cette vision place le leadership au cœur de l’amélioration de la performance du système de santé. Les décisions prises quotidiennement par les responsables sanitaires influencent directement la qualité des services, l’utilisation des ressources et, à terme, la santé des populations. « Le leadership n’est pas seulement une fonction. C’est une capacité à inspirer, à fédérer et à orienter les efforts de chacun vers l’atteinte d’un objectif commun », a souligné le Ministre.
Développé par le Bureau régional de l’OMS pour l’Afrique, le programme « Les voies vers le leadership pour la transformation de la santé en Afrique » mise sur une approche pratique combinant apprentissage, réflexion, accompagnement et coaching. Au Congo, la phase présentielle est précédée de séances virtuelles et sera suivie d’activités complémentaires ainsi que d’un coaching personnalisé des participants. L’objectif va donc au-delà de l’acquisition de connaissances. Il s’agit de développer une nouvelle culture de leadership fondée sur la vision, la communication, l’intégrité, la connaissance de soi, la responsabilisation des équipes et l’orientation vers les résultats.
Pour le Dr Vincent Dossou Sodjinou, Représentant résident de l’OMS au Congo, les investissements matériels dans la santé doivent ainsi aller de pair avec le développement des capacités des responsables chargés de les transformer en services efficaces. « Aucun système de santé ne peut atteindre son plein potentiel sans un leadership fort et un management efficace à tous les niveaux », a-t-il déclaré.
Face aux urgences de santé publique, aux maladies transmissibles et non transmissibles, aux effets du changement climatique et aux contraintes économiques, les responsables sanitaires doivent aujourd’hui savoir anticiper, mobiliser leurs équipes et optimiser des ressources parfois limitées. À travers cette première cohorte, le ministère de la Santé et de la Population, avec l’accompagnement de l’OMS, entend faire du leadership un véritable levier de gouvernance et de performance du système national de santé. Les 30 participants sont ainsi appelés à devenir des agents de changement au sein de leurs structures respectives, en mettant les compétences acquises au service d’une amélioration continue de la qualité des soins et des services.
« Nous sommes convaincus que les connaissances acquises au cours de cette formation contribueront à créer une nouvelle génération de leaders capables d’impulser les transformations nécessaires pour construire un système de santé plus performant, plus résilient et davantage centré sur les besoins des populations », a affirmé le Dr Sodjinou.
Il a enfin a réaffirmé à cette occasion l’engagement de l’OMS à poursuivre son accompagnement au Gouvernement congolais dans le renforcement de la gouvernance sanitaire, le développement des ressources humaines et la formation de futures cohortes de gestionnaires.
À Pointe-Noire, le message est ainsi clair : transformer durablement le système de santé congolais passe aussi par celles et ceux qui le dirigent.
Distribué par APO Group pour WHO Regional Office for Africa.
As Africa scales upstream development, industrial expansion and cross-border energy trade, access to development finance and sophisticated legal advisory has become indispensable to turning investment commitments into operational projects. Reflecting this shift, African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 – taking place in Cape Town from October 12–16 – will welcome senior representatives from South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and pan-African legal and advisory firm CLG to this year’s speaker lineup.
The participation of these esteemed firms at AEW 2026 will provide delegates with valuable perspectives on the financial, legal and institutional frameworks needed to accelerate investment and support long-term industrial growth across the continent.
The IDC joins the conference following one of its most significant announcements of 2026. In late July, the state-owned development finance institution signed a joint framework agreement with Afreximbank targeting $8 billion in financing to strengthen South Africa’s industrial base, expand manufacturing capacity and support infrastructure development under the African Continental Free Trade Area. The initiative reinforces the institution’s growing role in mobilizing large-scale capital for industrialization while creating new opportunities for energy, mining and strategic infrastructure projects.
Under its 2026/27 strategic plan, the IDC has also committed R38.5 billion toward industrial development, including dedicated funding for local industrialists, women and youth-owned businesses. These initiatives underscore the organization’s expanding mandate as both a development financier and industrial catalyst.
Against this backdrop, Acting Divisional Executive for Mining, Metals, Infrastructure and Energy Nina Yose brings extensive experience to this year’s event. At AEW 2026, she is expected to offer valuable insight into how development finance institutions can unlock investment, strengthen capacity and support the next generation of African energy and infrastructure projects.
Complementing the financing perspective, CLG arrives at AEW 2026 as one of Africa’s premier legal and corporate advisory firms. Earlier this month, CLG’s Central African practice provided guidance on the Republic of Congo’s certified electronic invoicing system, helping companies navigate new compliance requirements affecting business operations across the region.
xRepresenting the firm at AEW 2026, Nigeria Office Director and Group Managing Counsel Adeleke Alao brings extensive expertise in project finance, cross-border transactions and energy regulation. Joining him, Director of Tax & Legal for Central Africa Grace Yella offers deep knowledge of tax, corporate structuring and regulatory compliance throughout the CEMAC region. Together, they are positioned to provide delegates with practical perspectives on managing legal risk, facilitating investment and creating regulatory certainty for Africa’s evolving energy sector.
“Mobilizing investment requires more than capital alone,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber. “Strong development finance institutions and world-class legal expertise are essential to delivering projects, strengthening investor confidence and ensuring Africa captures greater value from its natural resources.”
The participation of these finance and legal institutions reflects the interconnected nature of Africa’s energy sector, where investment success depends on capital, sound governance and regulatory certainty working in tandem. As governments and investors pursue the continent’s next wave of oil, gas, mining and infrastructure developments, AEW 2026 will provide a vital platform for shaping the financial and legal frameworks needed to turn opportunity into long-term economic growth.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Nhlanhla Mpofu, Researcher in TESOL & Literacy, University of Notre Dame Australia
In many South African classrooms, learners continue to experience the subject of history through the language, concepts and perspectives inherited from colonial traditions. Changes have been made to what children are taught. But the curriculum changes might not be enough to change what children learn in history classrooms.
The reason for this is that English continues to dominate as the language of learning and teaching in most secondary schools. This is despite the fact that South Africa officially recognises 12 languages.
As education researchers with an interest in the languages used in the classroom, we wanted to examine the relationship between language choice and the teaching of history.
We did this through a study of Grade 8 history classrooms in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Focusing on a local historical event, learners were encouraged to examine whose perspectives become visible or invisible through different language choices.
We found that this allowed them to think critically about how history is recorded, challenge the standard versions of the event, and create more of a connection between their own lives and the bigger historical picture.
Our research suggests that if learners are to engage critically with history, they must also be empowered to question the language through which the subject is taught.
The Kimberley diamond rush
Our research focused on the Kimberley diamond rush. The development of Kimberley can be traced back to the discovery of diamonds around 1870 on a farm in what was then known as Griqualand West, now part of South Africa’s Northern Cape province. News of the discovery spread quickly and attracted thousands of prospectors, fortune seekers and labourers from across the region and beyond. As people flocked to the area in search of wealth and employment, a small settlement rapidly grew into the bustling town of Kimberley. The diamond rush played a significant role in shaping South Africa’s economic and social history, establishing Kimberley as one of the country’s most important mining centres.
This is a topic taught in South African schools in Grade 8 (for learners in the age group 14-16 years).
Traditionally, learners encounter this history through narratives centred on economic development, industrialisation and influential figures such as Cecil John Rhodes. All these texts are written in English. While these accounts are important, they leave little room for the experiences, languages and perspectives of African communities affected by mining, land dispossession and labour exploitation.
Our study followed an approach known as decolonial language awareness. The approach positions indigenous languages as legitimate sources of knowledge.
The study took place in two public secondary schools in the Northern Cape. Participants were two Grade 8 History teachers and learners in linguistically diverse classrooms. The schools served multilingual communities where isiXhosa, Setswana, Afrikaans and English were commonly used, although English remained the primary language of learning and teaching.
The intervention began with what looked like a simple question posed by teachers:
Why is the story of Kimberley diamonds always taught in English?
The discussion that followed revealed a level of critical awareness often underestimated in young learners. Students quickly linked English to political power, pointing out that many historical records were written by colonial administrators, mine owners and government officials. They recognised that the voices preserved in textbooks were often those of people who held power rather than those who experienced the consequences of that power.
What happened next was perhaps the most significant aspect of the project.
Teachers and learners in this study worked together to develop a historical glossary in English and isiXhosa. This was more than a simple translation exercise. Instead, learners explored whether familiar historical terms accurately represented the experiences of African communities. They drew on family histories, community memories, oral narratives, cultural knowledge, and contemporary experiences of language, identity and inequality to make sense of events that had occurred generations earlier.
Take the term “compound system”. In many history textbooks, it is presented as a labour arrangement that housed African mine workers in employer-provided accommodation to facilitate the management and control of the workforce. Yet when learners explored isiXhosa alternatives such as inkampu yabakhonziswa (“a camp of those compelled to labour”), they began to question the neutrality of the textbook term. Their discussions shifted attention from labour organisation to the lived realities of confinement, coercion and restricted freedom.
In this way, language became a tool for uncovering different interpretations of the same historical phenomenon and for foregrounding perspectives often absent from dominant historical accounts.
A similar process unfolded around the concept of “dispossession”. When discussions shifted towards isiXhosa expressions such as ukuncothulwa emhlabeni (“being uprooted from the land”), the historical event acquired a more human and emotional dimension. Learners connected the concept not only to the loss of land but also to disrupted ties of belonging, community, identity and ancestry. What had previously appeared as an abstract textbook term was reinterpreted as a lived experience with profound social and cultural consequences.
These discussions transformed the dynamics of the classroom. Learners who were often quiet during conventional history lessons became active participants. Some brought stories, expressions and insights from parents and grandparents into classroom debates. Others challenged textbook terminology and proposed alternative ways of understanding historical events. Home language was no longer treated as something left at the classroom door. It became a valuable academic resource.
Perhaps most importantly, learners began to recognise that history was not a single story.
When presented with a British mine manager’s report describing workers as “industrious but sullen”, learners asked how those same workers might have described the manager. Whose perspective was represented? What experiences were omitted? How would the story change if told from another viewpoint? These questions demonstrate a level of historical thinking that goes far beyond memorising facts and dates.
Beyond curriculum change
Critics may argue that such approaches make history too political. Yet history has always been political. Decisions about which events are recorded, whose voices are preserved and which languages are regarded as authoritative are never neutral. By making these processes visible, learners are being equipped to think critically about knowledge itself.
The broader implications extend beyond history classrooms. Three decades after the end of apartheid, South Africa continues to grapple with questions of transformation, equity and inclusion. If educational success remains tied to English, many learners will continue to experience a disconnect between their lived realities and what schools recognise as knowledge.
Decolonising education is not about replacing one version of history with another. It is about giving learners the agency to ask difficult questions, evaluate competing perspectives and participate in the ongoing construction of historical knowledge.
– Changing the history curriculum is not enough if English always dominates the classroom – South African study – https://theconversation.com/changing-the-history-curriculum-is-not-enough-if-english-always-dominates-the-classroom-south-african-study-289515
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Marloes Janson, Professor of West African Anthropology, SOAS, University of London
The highway between Lagos and Ibadan was built in 1978 at the height of Nigeria’s oil boom. Lagos is the country’s largest city, with an estimated population of over 20 million, and Ibadan the third-largest and home to a globally renowned university.
But the boom years are over and rising traffic and decades of neglect have turned the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway into one of Nigeria’s deadliest motorways, earning it the nickname “highway of death”.
Yet even as the 127km stretch of road has faltered as a transport corridor linking north and south, it has flourished as a stage for public religion. Today, lined with sprawling prayer camps, it’s also known as the “spiritual highway”. Religious billboards have replaced road signs and religious camps have been established along the route.
For years my research as an anthropologist has explored how multi-faith settings challenge conventional ideas of religion. I have studied the more than 30 religious organisations that have established vast prayer camps along the course of the highway since the 1980s. Attracting tens of thousands of worshippers seeking health and wealth, they have transformed the expressway into an urban spiritual centre.
The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway connecting Nigeria’s first and third largest cities.Akintunde Akinleye
These sites consist of vast, factory-like prayer halls. They offer a wide range of facilities, including shopping malls, restaurants, banks, hotels, health clinics, schools, and even universities. As a result, many have evolved into “prayer cities” that combine urban and religious worlds within a single space.
While drawing vast crowds during religious programmes, a growing number of camps provide permanent residence for members seeking to escape what they perceive as the moral corruption of urban life. By supplying services often lacking in Lagos and Ibadan, like reliable electricity, a clean and secure environment, and spiritual redemption, these camps have developed into “religiocities”.
My research shows that the prayer camps lining the expressway challenge enduring portrayals of Nigeria – particularly its cities – as chaotic, dysfunctional, and driven by religious tensions.
One of the ways they do this is by blurring the lines between religious traditions. Muslim prayer camps borrow from Pentecostal models, Christians attend Muslim programmes. And many Lagosians move between these religious spaces in search of healing, prosperity, or spiritual fulfilment. These religious crossovers point to a faith landscape shaped less by fixed identities than by interaction and exchange.
The camps also reveal how urban development and religious life are deeply intertwined. Through investments in land, infrastructure, education and healthcare, religious organisations have emerged as key forces in the making of new urban spaces.
Faith at the crossroads
The best-known prayer camp along the expressway, found 46km from Lagos, is Redemption City. It’s the headquarters of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Founded in 1983, this 3,500-hectare camp was the first to be established along the highway and continues to be the largest of its kind.
It has a resident population of about 250,000 and an estimated half a million workers. To serve their needs, Redemption City has developed its own electricity, water and waste-management infrastructure. It has been transformed into a city-like environment in both scale and functionality.
Added to this, a monthly Holy Ghost Service draws hundreds of thousands of worshippers to an all-night programme of prayer, preaching, healing and deliverance.
Redeemed Christian Church of God’s Redemption City.Akintunde Akinleye
Redemption City’s success spurred other religious organisations to establish camps along the expressway. One of them is the Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fathi Society of Nigeria, which opened its camp in 2000. An official told me:
We didn’t want to be left behind by the Pentecostal churches, so we followed their example and bought land along the expressway … We are investing heavily in developing our camp.
Once a month, Muslims travel from Lagos and beyond for asalatu, a mass prayer gathering held on Sunday mornings to coincide with Pentecostal services. Mirroring Pentecostal formats, the event combines praise worship, prayer requests, testimonies and thanksgiving offerings.
Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fathi Society of Nigeria’s Islamic Centre.Akintunde Akinleye
The close proximity of Christian and Muslim camps has encouraged mutual borrowing of spatial forms and religious practices. During my fieldwork in Redemption City, I met a young professional who moved between Pentecostal and Muslim prayer gatherings to “multiply” his chances of success.
Such practices, often described by Lagosians as “religious shopping”, suggest that the city’s religious landscape is shaped less by rigid boundaries than by reciprocal exchange.
Christianity and Islam are not the only forces reshaping the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Near Ibadan stands Guru Maharaj Ji’s 40-hectare ashram – a Hindu term for the place where the pupils of a guru or spiritual leader are taught. Lacking the monumental architecture of the neighbouring Christian and Muslim camps, and distinguished by images of Hindu deities, the camp appears as an unlikely presence within this landscape.
The site centres on a temple where thousands of followers gather weekly to hear teachings that blend African religious traditions, Hinduism and Rastafarianism. Presenting these as complementary paths to spiritual liberation, Guru Maharaj Ji rejects Christianity and Islam as foreign, imperial faiths. Instead, he draws on traditions he sees as closer to Africa’s indigenous spiritual heritage.
Satguru Maharaj Ji’s ashram along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.Akintunde Akinleye
The ashram appeals to urban Nigerians looking for a different spiritual path than the Pentecostal megachurches and Muslim mass movements that shape life in Lagos and Ibadan. Followers often describe Christianity and Islam as restrictive. As one told me:
Guru Maharaj Ji teaches us practical exercises for a better life. His knowledge is divine; it’s not book knowledge.
Rethinking the city
The prayer camps illustrate the strong links between urban growth and religious practice. Religion does not simply occupy the spaces along the highway, it’s helped develop them. Through investments in land, infrastructure and municipal services, religious organisations have emerged as powerful agents of making orderly and secure urban spaces.
The religious groups have taken over the role of the state. The withering of the state’s ability to play a meaningful role in urban development stretches back to the 1980s when structural adjustment and neoliberal reforms led to the privatisation of state functions. Religious organisations emerged as influential public actors.
A second factor behind the developments was soaring land prices and limited space in Lagos that pushed fast-growing churches to the city’s outskirts. The forested land along the expressway offered room to grow. It was gradually folded into the expanding urban corridor between Lagos and Ibadan.
Prayer camps challenge stereotypes of African cities as deficient and Nigerian cities as sites of religious conflict. My research shows that they provide viable urban alternatives to Lagos, fostering coexistence and everyday forms of conviviality across religious boundaries.
In the process, they shift attention away from dominant portrayals of African cities as spaces of deprivation and “slums”. Instead, they highlight Lagos and surrounds as a site of creativity, innovation and emerging urban futures.
– Along Nigeria’s ‘spiritual highway’, prayer camps create a new urban future – https://theconversation.com/along-nigerias-spiritual-highway-prayer-camps-create-a-new-urban-future-289769
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Sheila Petty, Professor Emerita of Film Studies, University of Regina
Palgrave Macmillan
African film festivals were once quite rare, but in the past decades they’ve been growing in the continent and mushrooming around the world. A recent open access book explores these events through case studies.
The book’s editor, African cinema scholar Sheila Petty, has also written chapters in it about the role film festivals play in creating a living and lasting conversation about African culture. We asked her five questions.
What generally happens at a film festival?
Since the world’s first international film festival in Venice, Italy, in 1932, film festivals have created spaces for the discovery of new stories and cultures. The main idea is to bring films to local audiences that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to see them in movie theatres. These festivals can be large or small, annual or a one-off event.
Some film festivals offer premiere screenings and red carpet events. A jury awards prizes for best film, best directing, best acting and the like. This can include audiences voting for the most popular film. Many festivals focus on a single topic or genre (like documentary or fantasy or climate change) and this determines the type of films shown at them.
Festivals act as community-builders. They are also spaces where lifelong friendships and working relationships can be formed through the love of cinema. They don’t just programme films, they also hold workshops and discussion panels, and often other cultural exhibits of art, music and performance.
Filmmakers and industry professionals might attend them to market and discuss their films, often with the hopes of attracting funding to make their next movie or find distribution deals. Local audiences have the opportunity to chat with film directors and learn about the production process. Emerging talent is often showcased in pitching forums.
How has the film festival grown in Africa?
The oldest film festivals on the continent include:
Two chapters in the book focus on festivals in Africa. One is on the mythology of Fespaco and how this event has remained the continent’s most prestigious meeting place for cinephiles despite ongoing threats of political instability, regional insecurity and financial precarity.
How does the book cover African film festivals overseas?
I’m interested in what happens to knowledge, cultural expressions and creative forms that arise in Africa and then travel around the globe and adapt to new places.
Chapters in the book focus on North American film festivals whose mandates include providing a meeting place and space of celebration and dialogue between diverse local communities and African cultures in the diaspora.
Vues d’Afrique is North America’s largest and longest-running African film festival. It was established in Montreal in 1984 to introduce African and Creole cinema and culture to Quebec and Canada. One of its goals is to forge links with other African cinema festivals around the world.
Vues d’Afrique
Over the years it has expanded its offerings to include conferences, art exhibitions, film training projects for school kids, and year round screenings. Every July, it hosts free public moonlight screenings in a park that attract thousands.
In Mexico, FestAfro (the Festival Artistico Audiovisual Afrodescendencias) was founded in 2021 by a group of researchers, artists, activists and communities. The goal is to celebrate Afro-Mexican identity through a multidisciplinary travelling showcase of arts.
Festivals like these, from Brazil to the UK, are discussed in the book. They highlight the value of film festivals for the exchange of living cultural heritage between communities and societies.
How does cultural exchange happen at festivals?
In the book there’s a fascinating case study. In 2022 and 2023, three different African film festivals in Brazil and Canada chose the same film to screen so that they could compare audience reactions. The film, produced in Kenya a year earlier, was Maïmouna Jallow’s Tales of the Accidental City.
Chief Nyamweya/Inkwiri
Her Nairobi comedy looks at social justice issues through five characters who gather over a Zoom call for a court-ordered anger management class. The filmmaker attended all three festivals and led conversations with very different audiences in Curitiba, Winnipeg and Montreal.
In Brazil, the audience was in laughter and tears. The injustices shown in the film resonated with the experiences of members of local Black and Indigenous communities present. Winnipeg’s audience had a large presence of Kenyan migrants, who laughed harder at certain comedy scenes than other audience members. They related their lived experiences back home to those of the film’s characters. Many viewers in Montreal couldn’t recall when they had laughed so hard at a screening at the festival. With many women present, the conversation also focused on the vital role of African women in shaping their own, authentic stories on screen.
The experiment showed how inter-cultural conversation can be sparked by a film and how it is programmed at a festival, creating a space of sharing and learning about a diverse world.
This book presents cultural heritage, exhibited through film festivals, as a shared human and transglobal concern that must move across borders and be passed on to future generations.
When cultures are forgotten, humanity loses access to perspectives and worldviews that could help address life’s challenges. A broad, diverse understanding of history and culture helps us see where we are and how we arrived here.
– Film festivals take African cultural heritage around the world – and help keep it alive – https://theconversation.com/film-festivals-take-african-cultural-heritage-around-the-world-and-help-keep-it-alive-286698
HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani met in Cairo on Thursday with HE Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Nabil Fahmy.
At the outset of the meeting, His Excellency congratulated the Secretary-General of the Arab League on the confidence placed in him by the member states, wishing him success in supporting the League’s mission.
HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs also affirmed the State of Qatar’s keen interest in strengthening joint action with the League of Arab States and consolidating cooperative relations, in order to fulfill the aspirations of the Arab peoples for security, stability, and development.
The meeting discussed the latest regional developments, as well as diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions, containing conflicts, and enhancing security and stability in the region.
The two sides also discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories, in addition to a number of topics of mutual interest.
À medida que África intensifica o desenvolvimento a montante, a expansão industrial e o comércio transfronteiriço de energia, o acesso ao financiamento ao desenvolvimento e a consultoria jurídica especializada tornou-se indispensável para transformar os compromissos de investimento em projetos operacionais. Refletindo esta mudança, a African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 — que decorrerá na Cidade do Cabo, de 12 a 16 de outubro — contará com a presença de representantes de alto nível da Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) da África do Sul e da sociedade pan-africana de serviços jurídicos e de consultoria CLG no painel de oradores deste ano.
A participação destas conceituadas empresas na AEW 2026 proporcionará aos delegados perspetivas valiosas sobre os quadros financeiros, jurídicos e institucionais necessários para acelerar o investimento e apoiar o crescimento industrial a longo prazo em todo o continente.
A IDC junta-se à conferência na sequência de um dos seus anúncios mais significativos de 2026. No final de julho, a instituição financeira de desenvolvimento estatal assinou um acordo-quadro conjunto com o Afreximbank, com o objetivo de angariar 8 mil milhões de dólares em financiamento para reforçar a base industrial da África do Sul, expandir a capacidade de produção e apoiar o desenvolvimento de infraestruturas no âmbito da Zona de Comércio Livre Continental Africana. A iniciativa reforça o papel crescente da instituição na mobilização de capital em grande escala para a industrialização, criando simultaneamente novas oportunidades para projetos nos setores da energia, da mineração e das infraestruturas estratégicas.
No âmbito do seu plano estratégico para 2026/27, a IDC comprometeu-se também a investir 38,5 mil milhões de rands no desenvolvimento industrial, incluindo financiamento específico para industriais locais e empresas detidas por mulheres e jovens. Estas iniciativas sublinham o mandato cada vez mais alargado da organização, tanto como financiadora do desenvolvimento como catalisadora industrial.
Neste contexto, a Diretora Executiva Interina da Divisão de Mineração, Metais, Infraestruturas e Energia, Nina Yose, traz uma vasta experiência para o evento deste ano. Na AEW 2026, espera-se que ela ofereça uma visão valiosa sobre como as instituições de financiamento ao desenvolvimento podem desbloquear investimento, reforçar capacidades e apoiar a próxima geração de projetos africanos de energia e infraestruturas.
Complementando a perspetiva de financiamento, a CLG chega à AEW 2026 como uma das principais sociedades de consultoria jurídica e empresarial de África. No início deste mês, a equipa da CLG na África Central prestou aconselhamento sobre o sistema de faturação eletrónica certificada da República do Congo, ajudando as empresas a orientarem-se face aos novos requisitos de conformidade que afetam as operações comerciais em toda a região.
Representando a empresa na AEW 2026, o Diretor do Escritório da Nigéria e Conselheiro Jurídico Geral do Grupo, Adeleke Alao, traz uma vasta experiência em financiamento de projetos, transações transfronteiriças e regulamentação energética. Juntamente com ele, a Diretora de Assuntos Fiscais e Jurídicos para a África Central, Grace Yella, oferece um profundo conhecimento em matéria fiscal, estruturação empresarial e conformidade regulamentar em toda a região da CEMAC. Juntos, estão posicionados para proporcionar aos delegados perspetivas práticas sobre a gestão do risco jurídico, a facilitação do investimento e a criação de segurança regulatória para o setor energético africano em evolução.
«Mobilizar investimento requer mais do que apenas capital», afirma NJ Ayuk, presidente executivo da Câmara Africana de Energia. «Instituições financeiras de desenvolvimento sólidas e conhecimentos jurídicos de nível mundial são essenciais para concretizar projetos, reforçar a confiança dos investidores e garantir que África obtenha maior valor dos seus recursos naturais.»
A participação destas instituições financeiras e jurídicas reflete a natureza interligada do setor energético africano, onde o sucesso do investimento depende da combinação de capital, boa governação e segurança regulamentar. À medida que os governos e os investidores procuram a próxima vaga de desenvolvimentos no continente nas áreas do petróleo, gás, mineração e infraestruturas, a AEW 2026 proporcionará uma plataforma vital para moldar os quadros financeiros e jurídicos necessários para transformar oportunidades em crescimento económico a longo prazo.
Distribuído pelo Grupo APO para African Energy Chamber.
