Bolobedu Solar Plant fires up SA’s energy security
Government has welcomed the successful commissioning of the Bolobedu Solar Plant, a 148-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic facility in Limpopo province.
The plant was completed in April 2026 and commissioned by mineral resources company, Rio Tinto.
“This milestone represents a significant contribution to South Africa’s ongoing efforts to diversify its energy mix, strengthen energy security, and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
“The plant, which spans approximately 347 hectares, is expected to generate around 300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean energy annually, supplying power through the national grid,” the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said on Thursday.
The Bolobedu Solar Plant, the GCIS said, stands as a strong example of how strategic public-private collaboration can unlock investment, drive infrastructure development, and support inclusive economic growth.
During its construction phase, the project created employment opportunities for approximately 800 local residents, with a clear emphasis on skills development, empowerment of women-led enterprises, and meaningful community upliftment.
“Government commends all stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of this project for prioritising local participation, and ensuring that communities benefit directly from infrastructure investments.
“Initiatives such as these play a vital role in addressing unemployment, promoting sustainable livelihoods, and building resilient local economies,” the GCIS said.
As South Africa continues to confront energy challenges, projects like the Bolobedu Solar Plant demonstrate the critical role of renewable energy in stabilising electricity supply, while advancing the country’s climate commitments.
Government remains committed to creating an enabling environment for further investment in renewable energy and infrastructure development that delivers both economic and social value. – SAnews.gov.za
Mr. Beyene Russom, Eritrea’s Ambassador to Kenya, conducted a public seminar for nationals residing in Nairobi and its environs on 4 April.
At the seminar, Ambassador Beyene gave an extensive briefing on the objective situation in the homeland as well as regional and global developments. He also called on the nationals to consolidate their unity and organization with a view to emerging victorious against challenges they may encounter.
Urging the nationals to fulfil their national obligations through organizing themselves in community and national associations, Ambassador Beyene called for a proper understanding of their rights and obligations and for taking advantage of the opportunities in their country.
Mr. Dawit Hagos, chairman of the Eritrean community in Kenya, said that strengthening and developing the Eritrean community and participation in national affairs is a timely responsibility of the nationals.
The participants, on their part, expressed conviction to strengthen the Eritrean community in Kenya and called for the organization of similar seminars.
African multilateral financial institutions, policymakers, development partners, and private sector leaders have called for more coordinated, innovative, and better-structured financing approaches to support Africa’s digital and technological transformation.
This was a key message from a high-level session held on April 1 on the sidelines of the 58th Session of the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, under the theme “Financing for Innovation: The Role of African Multilateral Financial Institutions in Accelerating Africa’s Technological and Economic Transformation.”
The session brought together senior representatives from governments, African multilateral financial institutions, and development partners to examine how to mobilize long-term, affordable capital for digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and innovation-led sectors—critical drivers of productivity, job creation, and structural transformation.
Despite the rapid expansion of Africa’s digital economy, participants underscored that access to affordable, long-term financing remains a binding constraint.
High costs of capital, limited risk-sharing mechanisms, currency risks, and insufficient early-stage financing continue to inhibit investment in digital infrastructure and innovation ecosystems. These challenges are further compounded by gaps in project preparation and the limited availability of bankable investment opportunities.
Opening the session, Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary (Programme) and Chief Economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, emphasized:
“Africa’s innovation challenge is not a shortage of ideas, but a shortage of long-term, affordable, and well-structured financing. Addressing this will be critical to unlocking productivity, job creation, and structural transformation across the continent.”
Participants highlighted the need to address the disconnect between capital availability and actual investment in innovation-driven sectors.
Haytham Elmaayergi, Executive Vice President-Global Trade Bank at African Export-Import Bank, noted:
“One of Africa’s key challenges is not a lack of capital, but a shortage of bankable projects and stronger institutional collaboration to scale investment.”
Strengthening project preparation, improving pipeline development, and deepening coordination across institutions were identified as key priorities to unlock large-scale financing.
Participants also emphasized the need to adapt financing approaches through blended and risk-sharing structures, combining guarantees, advisory, and capital mobilization to better align with the risk-return profiles of technology and innovation-driven sectors.
Adeniran Aderogba, President and CEO of Regional Maritime Development Bank, stated:
“In the technology space, risk is harder to structure. We need more creative financing models and dedicated funds to support early-stage innovation.”
The discussion highlighted the need for expanded use of tailored financial instruments including blended finance, co-financing mechanisms, and dedicated innovation to support the full lifecycle of innovation from early-stage development to scale.
The session also underscored that financing innovation must go hand in hand with investments in enabling infrastructure and systems.
Robert Lisinge, Director of Technology, Innovation, Connectivity and Infrastructure at ECA, noted:
“Technology and innovation go beyond digital. We are talking about a broader ecosystem—including infrastructure, energy, and emerging technologies—all of which require significant investment.”
Participants emphasized the importance of strengthening regulatory frameworks, digital infrastructure, and innovation ecosystems to enable scalable and sustainable investment.
The session concluded with a strong call to move beyond traditional financing approaches toward more coordinated and practical solutions that can:
Reduce financing costs for digital and innovation sectors
Expand risk-sharing and co-financing mechanisms
Strengthen project preparation and pipeline development
Mobilize long-term capital at scale
Enhance collaboration among African institutions and partners
Organized by the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions and partners, the session forms part of ongoing efforts to strengthen Africa’s financial architecture and position African multilateral financial institutions at the center of financing the continent’s digital and economic transformation.
– on behalf of Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI).
Media Contact:
Ms. Senait Afework
Communication and Programme Manager
Email: safework@aamfi.org
About the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI) or the Africa Club:
The Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), also known as the Africa Club, is an alliance of African-owned and controlled multilateral financial institutions established to advance the interests of their member states in global finance and to promote coordinated African solutions to development financing challenges.
Launched on 17 February 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the margins of the African Union Summit, AAMFI works to strengthen collaboration, cooperation, and coordination among its members in support of Africa’s sustainable development and integration objectives.
AAMFI brings together leading African financial institutions, including the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group), African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), Shelter Afrique Development Bank (ShafDB), ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company), East African Development Bank (EADB), African Solidarity Fund (ASF), and the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), as well as new members including the Regional Maritime Development Bank (RMDB) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD).
Collectively, AAMFI members command a balance sheet exceeding US$70 billion, providing critical financing for trade, infrastructure, and development across the continent.
A new partnership between Perenco Cameroon, Perenco Gabon and the UCAC-ICAM Institute in Douala to establish an Industry 4.0 laboratory marks a significant step toward aligning academic training with the evolving needs of the energy and industrial sectors. The facility will give students access to advanced automation, digital simulation and smart production technologies, helping close the gap between academic learning and the practical, industry-ready skills required across Central Africa’s industrial landscape.
As the voice of Africa’s energy sector, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) welcomes the initiative as a scalable model for local content development. By equipping students with Industry 4.0 capabilities, the laboratory directly supports the Chamber’s mandate to ensure greater in-country value creation and workforce participation across Africa’s energy value chain. The initiative also addresses critical skills shortages, enabling operators to increasingly rely on locally trained talent.
The partnership underscores Perenco’s long-term commitment to sustainable development and capacity building in Cameroon and Gabon. Designed as a mini-factory, the UCAC-ICAM laboratory enables students to engage with real-world industrial tools and processes. This hands-on approach will support the development of engineers and technicians capable of contributing to key projects, including operations in the Rio del Rey Basin and infrastructure developments such as the Cap Lopez LNG terminal in Gabon.
Students across multiple disciplines will benefit from hands-on exposure to the lab’s advanced technologies. General Engineering students will train using robotic systems and virtual reality simulations, while Computer Science Engineering students will focus on industrial IoT and smart technologies. Process Engineering students will gain experience in automated production systems, and Petroleum program students will develop expertise in energy systems and instrumentation control. Graduates from UCAC-ICAM are being actively recruited by leading companies operating in Douala, reflecting growing demand for locally trained, industry-ready talent.
“Developing local skills is fundamental to building a competitive and sustainable energy sector in Africa,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC. “This partnership demonstrates how industry and academia can work together to create a highly skilled workforce that will drive Africa’s industrialization and energy future. It is exactly the type of initiative needed to ensure Africans play a leading role in developing the continent’s resources.”
The UCAC-ICAM laboratory represents a strategic investment in Africa’s industrial and energy future. By strengthening local capacity, advancing technology adoption and supporting independent operators, the initiative aligns with the AEC’s broader vision of a self-sufficient and globally competitive African energy sector.
HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani received a phone call from HE Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Portugal Paulo Rangel.
During the call, the latest developments in the region were reviewed in light of the announcement of a ceasefire between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to a number of issues of mutual interest.
During the call, HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed the State of Qatar’s welcome of the ceasefire announcement and stressed the need to build on it urgently to prevent the escalation of tensions in the region.
HE also stressed the importance of ensuring the security of maritime routes and the freedom of navigation and international trade in accordance with the rules of international law, in a way that contributes to maintaining regional stability and global supply chains.
The Youth Charter (www.YouthCharter.com) has today issued a call for a transformative Commonwealth Youth Legacy Programme to be launched in the lead-up to the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, urging Commonwealth leaders to seize the opportunity to invest in young people across the Commonwealth.
The call comes as youth delegates from across the Commonwealth gather this week at University of Oxford for the Commonwealth Youth Summit, where discussions are focusing on youth leadership, opportunity and development across the 56 member nations.
Representing more than 2.5 billion people, with young people accounting for over 60% of the population, the Commonwealth is one of the largest youth communities in the world.
The Youth Charter believes the upcoming Glasgow Games present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a lasting social, cultural and economic legacy for young people across the Commonwealth.
A Global Youth Legacy Framework
Through its newly proposed “Commonwealth Youth Legacy Declaration, Glasgow 2026,” the Youth Charter is calling for the establishment of a global network of Community Campuses, designed to support youth development through sport, education, arts and leadership programmes.
The initiative would see the creation of:
50 Community Campuses across Commonwealth nations by 2030
10,000 trained Social Coaches supporting youth development
1 million young people directly engaged through sport, education and cultural programmes
5 million young people indirectly impacted through community outreach and digital engagement
These campuses would operate as local hubs connected through a global Commonwealth youth development network, supporting young people through structured programmes that promote leadership, wellbeing, employment pathways and community cohesion.
Sport for Development and Peace
The Youth Charter’s proposal is grounded in the internationally recognised principles of Sport for Development and Peace, which use sport and cultural activity as tools to address social challenges including youth violence, inequality, poor health outcomes and economic exclusion.
According to the Youth Charter, the Community Campus model provides a practical framework capable of delivering long-term impact locally, nationally and internationally.
Geoff Thompson MBE, Founder and Chair of the Youth Charter, said: “The Commonwealth represents one of the greatest youth opportunities in the world. Glasgow 2026 must become more than a sporting event, it must become a catalyst for lasting social change.
Through the Community Campus model, we can create a Commonwealth-wide movement that empowers young people through sport, culture and education, providing pathways to leadership, employment and community development.
The real legacy of the Commonwealth Games should not be measured in stadiums or medals, but in the lives of young people whose futures we help to transform.”
A Call to Commonwealth Leaders
The Youth Charter is calling upon governments, sporting bodies, educational institutions, corporate partners and civil society organisations across the Commonwealth to collaborate in delivering the proposed legacy programme.
By harnessing the power of sport, education and community engagement, the initiative aims to strengthen social cohesion, promote youth leadership and unlock economic opportunities for young people across Commonwealth nations.
– on behalf of Youth Charter.
Youth Charter @ Social Media:
LinkedIn: @ YouthCharter
Facebook: @ YouthCharter
Instagram: @ youthchartersdp
YouTube: @ YouthCharter
X: @ YOUTHCHARTER
About Youth Charter:
The Youth Charter is a UK registered charity and UN accredited non-governmental organisation. Launched in 1993 as part of the Manchester 2000 Olympic Bid and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the Youth Charter has Campaigned and Promoted the role and value of sport, art, culture and digital technology in the lives of disaffected young people from disadvantaged communities nationally and internationally. The Youth Charter has a proven track record in the creation and delivery of social and human development.
“Magic mushrooms” are consumed recreationally and for medicinal purposes around the world. These fungi gained their fame as “magic” because they produce chemical compounds (called psilocybin and psilocin) which have psychedelic effects.
The most famous species of these mushrooms, due to their global distribution and ease of cultivation, is Psilocybe cubensis, known primarily from its preferred habitat of dung-laden fields. It was first described from Cuba, but is found throughout the world.
However, there has been a long-standing question about its evolutionary history. Where did it originate, and how did it move around the globe?
We described a new species of magic mushroom in South Africa and Zimbabwe, now named Psilocybe ochraceocentrata, which has allowed us to investigate this question.
Our disciplines are mycology (the study of fungi) and evolutionary biology. In a recent paper, we report on what P. ochraceocentrata may tell us about the possible wild origins of Psilocybe cubensis.
Our findings used sophisticated methods to test whether P. cubensis could have arrived in the Americas along with European colonisation and cattle, a long standing hypothesis proposed by the Mexican mycologist and ethnomycologist Gastón Guzmán. We also investigated other possible scenarios, such as dispersal by environmental factors like wind, or ancient biological means such as large herbivore or insect migration.
Before this study, P. ochraceocentrata was already regularly collected. But it was assumed either to be P. cubensis or P. natalensis, sold under the name “Natal Super Strength”.
We have created a framework of unambiguous identification. Ultimately, our work does not fully resolve the evolutionary history question. But it provides a guide for future study to fully understand where these fungi evolved and how they may have travelled the world.
Knowing the origin of a species is important as it explains how historical, geological and climate factors shape the current distribution of life on Earth. This can be important for understanding how some traits evolved in response to their environment, where a species may become invasive, or possibly where to look for closely related species with traits of interest for medicinal research.
How was the study performed?
Fieldwork conducted over decades in Zimbabwe by researcher Cathy Sharp, and further observations in South Africa, yielded multiple collections of mushrooms similar to P. cubensis. All were associated with the dung of herbivores, including animals native to Africa. Some Psilocybe mushrooms use dung as a food source.
Our work showed that these “cubensis look-a-likes” were superficially similar but differed microscopically and at a molecular level. We chose to investigate this relationship further. Our approach involved:
field collection – studying specimens from the wild
genomics of museum specimens (museomics) – using molecular techniques on historically important specimens
phylogenetics – using genetic data to reconstruct how species are related through common ancestry
molecular dating – estimating a general time frame when two species may have diverged from one another
ecological niche modelling – predicting where a species can live based on environmental conditions.
This allowed us to study the natural history of P. cubensis and its close relative Psilocybe ochraceocentrata.
We found that P. ochraceocentrata and P. cubensis may have had a common ancestor living about 1.56 million years ago.
This corresponds with the global expansion of grasslands and the distribution of grazing herbivores. The world at this time would have been populated with migrating herbivores. Coprophilic fungi (fungi that grow on animal dung) could have moved with them globally, and then begun to evolve along independent paths.
Origin story
To complement our taxonomic and dating investigations, we wanted to see if we could find a plausible origin of P. cubensis. In previous studies, the lead author had identified that the closest relatives of P. cubensis all had native distributions across the Asian continent. There was very little overlap with species from the Americas.
With the addition of P. ochraceocentrata as the sister taxon (the closest relative), it became far more reasonable to suggest its evolutionary history is centred in Africa or Asia, not the Americas.
To test this, we used publicly available data from the popular public “citizen science” repository for biodiversity monitoring, iNaturalist. We then used mathematical modelling to hypothesise where these organisms might have occurred hundreds of thousands to millions of years ago.
Our work showed a lot of variability across time but partially favoured tropical and subtropical regions where large animals roamed. From this, we proposed a few scenarios of how P. cubensis split from the ancestor it shared with P. ochraceocentrata and became globally dispersed.
One theory is a natural disturbance via unknown animal or environmental vectors. In other words, something may have changed the environment and disrupted the population. For example, dung beetles could have eaten dung that had fungal spores in it, and could have crossed the ocean, taking the fungus with them. Or the spores may have been carried across the ocean on the wind. This is known to have happened with other fungi, such as Podospora.
Another possibility is migration via the Bering land bridge between Eurasia and the Americas. This is how many plants and animals moved between the continents.
Guzmán proposed that P. cubensis likely originated in Africa and was transported to the Americas via cattle transport during the colonisation events of the 1400s and 1500s. Our work suggests that this route was also possible.
The most likely scenario would be multiple introductions, and spore dispersal between populations in the Americas to retain genetic diversity.
What’s missing
Africa is one of the most biodiverse continents, and yet it is the most under-sampled for fungal diversity, due in part to a historical sampling bias of fungi from other parts of the world.
When it comes to Psilocybe, fewer than ten species are officially described from the African continent. Worldwide about 165 species are known.
Further studies are needed across the continent, to describe and map local fungal diversity and improve on current knowledge. Knowing more about the mushrooms that occur in a region tells us more about the ecology of the area, which is key to conservation efforts.
Natural history museums and herbariums were critical for this work and serve as an immeasurable biodiversity resource representing hundreds of years of scientific effort that both scientists and the general public can access.
– Magic mushrooms: new African species sheds light on the history of the famous fungus – https://theconversation.com/magic-mushrooms-new-african-species-sheds-light-on-the-history-of-the-famous-fungus-279007
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abeer Elshater, Professor of Urban Morphology, Ain Shams University
Cities are often described as living archives of human memory. Walk through an old neighbourhood in an Islamic city like Fez in Morocco or Cairo in Egypt, and you can see layers of history in its streets and buildings. Traces of the past remain visible in everyday life.
Urban historians sometimes call this a palimpsest – a place where layers of history remain visible, like old writing faintly showing beneath new text.
But in many parts of the world today, cities are being transformed so rapidly that these historical layers are disappearing. Entire neighbourhoods and older areas are demolished and replaced with new districts, infrastructure corridors, or megaprojects. It’s a process that might remind one of French civil servant Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s dramatic demolition and reshaping of Paris in the 1800s.
In Cairo historical Muslim districts have been preserved.Omar Elsharawy/Pexels, CC BY
Today’s speed and scale of development challenge the idea that cities grow slowly over time. Building places from scratch is often described as tabula rasa – a “blank slate” approach in which everything is cleared away and rebuilt as if nothing had existed before.
As scholars of architecture and urban design, we recently researched this tension between erasure and memory in urban design. We argue that urban transformation today cannot be understood simply as a choice between preserving the past or starting anew. Instead, cities are increasingly shaped by a complex interaction between the two.
Understanding this tension matters because it influences not only the identity and heritage of a city but also the social and cultural lives of the people who inhabit it. Our argument is grounded in the importance of understanding history to guide future development based on solutions that have been tested successfully in the past.
The myth of the blank slate
For centuries, planners and philosophers have been fascinated by the idea of the tabula rasa. In practice, however, urban space is never truly empty.
Even after buildings are demolished, the forces shaping the city remain: economic pressures, planning regulations, infrastructure networks, and political agendas. Clearing land often produces what French social theorist Henri Lefebvre described as “abstract space”. These are spaces designed mainly for efficiency, profit, or control – rather than for people’s memories or everyday life.
Napoleon III commissioned Haussmann to demolish overcrowded medieval neighbourhoods to open up and beautify Paris.Camille Pissarro/Museum of Fine Arts of Reim
Modern urban renewal projects have often replaced historic districts with standardised environments such as large housing estates, business districts, or transport infrastructures. These environments can feel disconnected from local identity because the historical context that once gave the place meaning has been removed.
For example, Pruitt‑Igoe in St Louis in the US replaced dense, mixed-use neighbourhoods with high-rise public housing that ignored existing street patterns and community life. In Beirut in Lebanon, post-war reconstruction of the city centre prioritised modern commercial developments over the urban fabric and social networks that had defined it for decades.
Pruitt-Igoe, a massive housing complex completed in 1954, was demolished by 1976, becoming a symbol of urban decay.The Myth of Pruitt-Igoe/Flickr, CC BY
French anthropologist Marc Augé described many of these environments as “non-places”: spaces of transit and consumption, such as airports, highways, and anonymous commercial zones. People pass through without forming lasting attachments.
Cities as layered memory
At the opposite end of the spectrum lies the idea of cities as palimpsest. Historic districts, archaeological remains, street patterns, and even place names all contribute to a layered memory. Urban designers often create designs that draw from the history of a site.
But the palimpsest approach also has limits. Preserving historical layers does not necessarily guarantee meaningful engagement with the past. Sometimes heritage becomes a form of nostalgia –replicating historical styles without understanding their social or cultural significance.
Warsaw’s Old Town, destroyed in the second world war, was rebuilt using paintings and historical evidence.Egor Komarov/Pexels, CC BY
French philosopher Paul Ricoeur helps clarify this by distinguishing between two types of memory: repetition memory and reconstruction memory.
Repetition memory reproduces the past, often superficially. In Sydney, efforts to revitalise Indigenous neighbourhoods between 2005 and 2019 ended up repeating patterns of colonial land displacement.
Meanwhile, in Rio de Janeiro, the push to redevelop the waterfront for the 2014 Football World Cup and 2016 Olympics wiped out Afro-Brazilian cultural heritage. It replaced it with a sleek, futuristic vision of a global city.
More broadly, across cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, speculative real-estate projects and investment-driven urban developments have turned land into a commodity. This has fuelled gentrification and pushed local communities to the margins.
Reconstruction memory, by contrast, uses fragments of the past to interpret and reinvent them for the present. For example, in Warsaw in Poland after the second world war, the Old Town was rebuilt. Not as an exact replica but as a carefully interpreted reconstruction, using historical paintings, archaeological evidence, and surviving fragments to evoke the city’s pre-war character. At the same time it accommodated modern needs.
Hiroshima preserved ruins of war to create memorial spaces within the Japanese city.Hoi Wai/Pexels, CC BY
Similarly, Hiroshima’s post-1945 reconstruction preserved certain ruins, such as the Genbaku Dome, while redesigning the surrounding urban fabric to create a memorial landscape. This both honours the past and supports a functional, modern city.
Moving beyond preservation vs demolition
Rather than choosing between total preservation and total erasure, urban design needs to recognise the dynamic relationship between memory and transformation.
We propose thinking about cities through what philosophers call a negative dialectic – a relationship in which two opposing forces, erasure and memory, continually reshape one another. We argue that:
Urban clearance does not create a neutral blank slate. It produces new forms of space shaped by political and economic power.
Historical memory is not a fixed archive. It is continually reconstructed through interpretation and design.
Understanding cities in this way opens the door to new design strategies. Instead of replicating historical forms or ignoring them entirely, designers can work with fragments, traces, and spatial relationships to generate new urban forms.
For example, in the historic centre of Lugano, Switzerland, the traditional public markets that take place on medieval streets and lake‑edge promenades have long shaped the city’s social life and spatial patterns. Today, these markets interact with contemporary cafés, restaurants and pedestrian routes. They knit together old street networks and new uses in a living urban tapestry rather than freezing them as static heritage relics.
This kind of layering, where everyday activities and historical paths inform modern public space design, shows how urban form can evolve by reintegrating historical traces into present-day life. But urban transformation today is largely driven by rapid development, erasure, and less visible forces.
Lugano, Switzerland, developed spaces to integrate city life with the past.Abeer Elshater
This makes it essential to rethink how memory, preservation and design methods work together. It requires a shift in design practice away from established paradigms and toward more flexible, context-sensitive strategies.
Designers have tools to respond to rapidly changing urban environments in ways that remain meaningful to communities. These tools include cognitive mapping, which visualises how people perceive and move through a city; layered analysis, which examines overlapping aspects of urban life; and network thinking, which conceptualises cities as interconnected systems.
Designing cities in a rapidly changing world
The future of cities will likely involve even more rapid transformation. Urban sprawl, technological change, and shifting economic systems are already reshaping urban environments, challenging established planning models. For urban designers, this means learning to work in situations where historical precedents are incomplete or unstable.
Cities react to destruction and change in very different ways. Some take a tabula rasa approach. They wipe out communities and rebuilding from scratch, sometimes referencing the past in form or style. This happened in Warsaw’s Old Town. It was rebuilt to look like the prewar city, even though the original residents were gone. Brasília in Brazil, meanwhile, was planned entirely from scratch, clearing old settlements to create a modernist vision.
Brasília, a planned city built from scratch was declared a World Heritage Site because of its notable modernist design.Arturdiasr/Wikimedia Commons
Others take a more layered, incremental approach, working with what’s already there and letting communities adapt over time.
In Harare’s Dzivarasekwa Extension, for instance, informal settlements were gradually formalised. Housing, services and land tenure were improved, but streets and social networks were preserved. Some cities mix both strategies, like Hiroshima did.
The challenge today is to design urban spaces that acknowledge history while remaining open to new possibilities. For us, the city is neither a blank slate nor a finished story but constantly rewritten through memory and change.
– Designing cities: should we build from scratch or keep history alive? – https://theconversation.com/designing-cities-should-we-build-from-scratch-or-keep-history-alive-280071
The recent Liaison Agreement between the STS Association and the DLMS User Association marks a pivotal step in the evolution of interoperable, secure and future-ready metering systems. By aligning STS token technology with the widely adopted DLMS/COSEM framework, this collaboration is set to bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and next-generation smart metering. The partnership reflects a shared vision to enhance interoperability, strengthen smart prepayment integration, and unlock greater value across the global metering ecosystem.
STS Association, in partnership with ESI Africa (part of VUKA Group), and DLMS User Association, is hosting a free webinar on this topic:
Securing the bridge between legacy and smart
Thursday, 7 May 2026 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Register: https://apo-opa.co/4cfEUb5
What you will learn
Industry experts will unpack how this strategic alignment enables seamless integration between your trusted prepayment systems and advanced data exchange protocols. Attendees will gain insight into:
How STS tokens can be securely transported using DLMS/COSEM
The role of Generic Companion Profiles in enabling interoperability
How coordinated roadmaps will shape the future of token technology and smart metering
The expanding application of these standards beyond electricity into water, gas and time metering
Practical benefits for utilities, manufacturers and system integrators navigating the transition from legacy to smart environments
Introducing the Panel
Lance Hawkins-Dady – STSA Board Chairman
Franco Pucci – STSA Technical Consultant
Don Taylor – STSA Independent Director
Sergio Lazzarotto – DLMS User Association, President
Join STS Association and ESI Africa to explore how this landmark collaboration is securing the bridge between legacy systems and smart innovation. Discover how aligned standards can simplify integration, enhance security and future-proof your metering strategy.
Register now: https://apo-opa.co/4cfEUb5
– on behalf of VUKA Group.
About ESI Africa:
ESI Africa is Africa’s trusted power, energy, water and utility multimedia platform, delivering technical developments and industry analysis in print and digital formats since 1996. The platform connects readers and solution providers across Africa’s energy and utility transformation. www.ESI-Africa.com
About VUKA Group:
VUKA Group connects people and organisations across Africa’s energy, mining, mobility, green economy and retail sectors through events, content and strategic networking. Venture partners to The Global Trust Project and leaders of NPO Go Green Africa. www.WeAreVuka.com
eThekwini digital recruitment portal to boost fairness and transparency
The eThekwini Municipality has unveiled its new “Digitally You” e-recruitment job application portal, a move aimed at transforming how municipal vacancies are accessed and managed while strengthening transparency and fairness in hiring.
The launch generated strong interest from city leadership, management and job seekers, marking a significant step in the municipality’s efforts to modernise recruitment systems and rebuild public confidence.
The news digital platform replaces the previous paper-based system with a streamlined, centralised process designed to improve efficiency, accountability, and service delivery.
According to the municipality, the “Digitally You” system places fairness, accessibility, and dignity at the centre of recruitment, addressing longstanding concerns around inefficiencies and vulnerability to fraud.
The rollout follows a temporary suspension of job advertisements in December, allowing for a full transition to the new platform.
While the system is already operational, new vacancies will begin appearing from 10 April 2026, after the closure of the current job circular, ensuring continuity and fairness for applicants.
Strengthening accountability
Chairperson of the Governance and Human Resources Committee, Nkosenhle Madlala, said the initiative reflects the municipality’s commitment to ethical governance and improved performance.
“The platform allows users to create profiles, upload supporting documents and prepare applications in advance. Once vacancies are posted, applicants can submit their applications seamlessly,” Madlala said.
He added that the new system consolidates fragmented processes into one efficient platform that improves how the Municipality serves communities while prioritising citizens with fairness, dignity and transparency.
The system allows applicants to create and complete profiles, upload supporting documents and prepare applications in advance, ensuring applications are seamless and stress free when vacancies go live.
The system also introduces automated features that automatically screens applications against minimum requirements, confirms successful submissions, flags missing documents and immediately notifies applicants whether minimum requirements are met.
These improvements are expected to reduce uncertainty, delays and administrative bottlenecks.
Job seeker Nondumiso Ntuli welcomed the innovation, highlighting its accessibility and ease of use.
“Digitally You makes applying easy using my phone anytime, anywhere. The process is transparent and restores confidence that applications are handled fairly,” she said.
By removing paper systems and manual interference, Digitally You restores trust and signals a corruption‑free, people‑centred recruitment process.
The municipality has urged job seekers to register on the platform, update their profiles and prepare required documents ahead of the release of new vacancies on Friday. – SAnews.gov.za
