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August 21, 2025

Wheelchair basketball: what can be learned from a South African athlete’s journey to France

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Phoebe Runciman, Associate Professor and Research Chair at the Division of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Stellenbosch University

Wheelchair basketball is one of the fastest-growing Para sports in the world. Over 100,000 athletes compete in national and international competitions and at the Paralympic Games and Commonwealth Games. In Africa, there are 26 national wheelchair basketball federations.

But the level of support and resources available for athletes with disability (Para athletes) varies greatly between the global north and south, shaped by gaps in healthcare, infrastructure and policy.

In African countries the sport is often underfunded. In 2022, for example, South Africa’s sports and recreation budget was 15 times lower than France’s.

Many Para sport athletes from the global south must pay for their own travel expenses and equipment. This limits their access to quality training and support, affecting their performance.

But little is known about what it’s like for Para athletes to move between countries, especially from the global south to the global north.

My case study (on page 83 of the PDF) followed Sphelele Dlamini, a 29-year-old South African wheelchair basketball player who grew up in an underdeveloped area in KwaZulu-Natal province. He was born with a condition that led to the amputation of both legs below the knee.

After beginning his sporting journey in South Africa, Dlamini moved to France in 2022 to play professionally.

His experience reveals what Para athletes can expect as well as what they gain and what they leave behind when crossing borders in search of better opportunities. Dlamini’s journey highlights how cross-border moves may offer access to resources and more recognition, but also involve cultural challenges, adaptations and identity shifts.

His story can inform the support needed from organisations helping Para athletes to navigate these transitions so that they can compete at their full potential.

What must happen for athletes to shine

Dlamini’s story highlights four key factors that must be addressed to make a difference in the lives of South Africa’s Para athletes.

1. Public services

Firstly, the South African government and schools need to address the shortage of public services for people with disability. This includes creating accessible infrastructure, disability-inclusive healthcare and social support services.

Overcrowding and limited public services have been part of Dlamini’s daily life. For people with disability, townships can be especially challenging environments.

These are residential areas that were designated for Black South Africans under apartheid, South Africa’s former system of white minority rule. Townships were deliberately underdeveloped and under-resourced and they remain structurally disadvantaged today.

As Dlamini told me in an interview for my case study:

With the things that are happening in the township, it’s wild, it’s always busy.

He shared a home with 11 family members and described his upbringing as “an ever-changing environment that never settled down”.

2. Funding and promotion

Secondly, Para sport requires more financial support and promotion to build a more inclusive society – funding and competitive opportunities.

Dlamini had all but stopped playing competitively:

I spent about two years without playing. Then suddenly, I got a chance to go to France.

In France he found himself in what he called “a different type of chaos”. Training schedules were intense, and “there was hardly any free time”. Although the move was a breakthrough, the years of limited game time had caused some self-doubt for him.

This highlights the need for investment in Para sport in countries like South Africa, so that athletes can develop locally and have greater chances of international success.

3. Athlete and coach education

Thirdly, athlete and coach education is critical. Dlamini’s move to France was self-driven with no formal pathways or international exposure. He reached out to coaches directly:

I sent them emails and sometimes I would write to them on Facebook.

In much of the global south, Para sport relies on volunteer coaches with limited access to networks. Despite having no video footage, a French coach gave Dlamini a chance. In the global north, building a portfolio through documented game performance is standard, but this kind of athlete education is rarely emphasised in South Africa.

Chances to compete are greater, but migrating brings new challenges. Courtesy Sphelele Dlamini

Countries like France also have established local clubs, with leagues that create pathways for regional, national and international competitions – and opportunities for professional contracts. Athletes receive a salary and games are streamed with backing from sponsors.

4. NGO support

Securing a spot on a French team didn’t mean Dlamini’s challenges were over. While his new club offered a salary, they couldn’t cover the cost of travel to France. It was Jumping Kids, a South African non-governmental organisation (NGO), that stepped in and paid for his air ticket, visa, flights and insurance.

Dlamini first connected with Jumping Kids in 2014, when the organisation visited his school. He was selected to receive prosthetic legs and has remained in contact with them ever since. Today, he is one of the NGO’s ambassadors, alongside Paralympic athletes like Ntando Mahlangu and Arnu Fourie.

NGOs like this are a lifeline that need to be funded and supported, particularly in countries like South Africa where there are gaps in formal support.

Why Para sport matters

For many Para athletes, support starts at the school level. South Africa has 465 special needs schools catering to a range of disabilities. These schools often provide the first exposure to sport, as they did for Dlamini:

That’s where I saw people who were similar to my situation.

Research shows that sport gives individuals with disability a sense of belonging. This sense of inclusion, however, is difficult to achieve when environments are inaccessible.

In France, Dlamini felt that his skills were recognised and everyday life felt more navigable:

I really enjoy having the access [to public transport] and being able to move around and do things easily, without having to bother any other person.

Compared to South Africa, where players often share wheelchairs and go months without formal competition, France offered both structure and dignity.

However, in hindsight, Dlamini says he can look back at the setbacks and challenges he faced in South Africa, and view them from a different perspective:

I can never really judge it because, I may never know, maybe I was getting prepared for that journey.

Sphelele Dlamini’s story is one of resilience. Despite the odds, he created his path to play professionally. His journey highlights the determination required of athletes from the global south, and the systemic barriers they face that hinder development and progress in sport.

While NGOs continue to fill critical gaps, long-term progress in Para sport requires structural investment.

Faatima Adam, a biokineticist and PhD candidate, contributed to this article.

– Wheelchair basketball: what can be learned from a South African athlete’s journey to France
– https://theconversation.com/wheelchair-basketball-what-can-be-learned-from-a-south-african-athletes-journey-to-france-261593

August 21, 2025

How Nollywood films help Kenyan housemaids make sense of their lives

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Solomon Waliaula, Associate Professor, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Culture, Maasai Mara University

Nollywood, Nigeria’s prolific video-film industry, has been popular in Kenya since it was introduced to east Africa at around the turn of the century.

These low-budget, high-output films and TV series immediately struck a chord with ordinary people in lower income brackets. Although new Nollywood productions can be slick, high budget affairs, the bulk are not about high production values. They’re about real-life stories and social issues that are easy to relate to.

At first Nollywood films were screened in informal video-halls in poorer Kenyan communities, offering a unique going-to-the-movies experience. But in the first decade of the new millennium, TV stations began screening them. In Kenya, Nollywood was most popularly known as “Afrocinema” on TV, and it was soon a daily affair.

One of the audiences that has emerged are young women, often in their teens, working in urban Kenyan homes. Known as housemaids, they come from humble and materially deprived backgrounds and occupy a precarious position in the homes they work in. Their daily routine is a blend of domestic chores including childcare, cooking, cleaning and running errands for the family.

Employed through an informal system of social networking and patronage, housemaids don’t necessarily bring any training or experience to their jobs and generally aren’t offered employment contracts. The power is in the hands of the employer and there is little job security.

Duke University Press

These young women were the subject of my recent study in the Kenyan city of Eldoret for the book Contemporary African Screen Worlds.

I explored the housemaid’s fandom of Nollywood films, as part of a decade-long study of electronic media audiences in the city.

It became clear that housemaids saw themselves as socially inferior to the families they worked for. Their identity as domestic labourers masked their identity as real people. Their social identity was defined by, and reducible to, their daily job card.

I found that they developed a special relationship with Nollywood cinema. This love of the movies (fandom) offered much more than leisure and companionship. Nollywood stories are a medium through which they could transcend the limits of their situations and aspire to other, more desirable worlds. Nollywood on TV helped them make sense of their lives.

The research

Twelve participants took part in the study, most of them housemaids, some former housemaids. All were drawn from similar neighbourhoods. Research mostly involved observing their working lives along with in-depth, unstructured interviews.

To establish some of the specific lessons the housemaids of Eldoret learnt from Nollywood, I asked each to discuss any two films that they considered as educational. I noted that there were some significant patterns.

The lessons raised were connected to the housemaids’ immediate life experiences, and many of the films mentioned seemed to explore the social impacts of poverty, and how it affects family relationships. The social costs of poverty on the family is a popular Nollywood theme.

Another kind of story that appealed to participants was the Cinderella tale. In these films, the orphaned girl living in abject poverty eventually becomes a princess.

Dina recalled a film that told the story of a poor woman whose father died and his extended family kicked her and her mother out. They moved to a slum. It so happened that she was actually destined to be a princess, but her father died before telling her the news. Her paternal grandmother eventually tracked her down, to link her up with her prince.

Most of the housemaids I’ve talked to over the years have clearly expressed their admiration for this Cinderella narrative in Nollywood stories. They can project themselves into her situation and use her experience as a source of hope for a better future.

Real life stories

But there were many other ways that housemaid fans of Nollywood said they saw their real lives in the films. One told me:

I used to watch films that presented young women who underwent life experiences that were like mine. But within the stories, their lives turned round, yet mine did not…

But then things changed:

I had reached the very end of my tether when God turned my life around. I met a man in church that proposed to me and we got married two months later. This is when I looked back and realised God had used Nollywood to prepare me for my portion.

She added:

The very first Nollywood film I watched was about a married couple who stayed with the wife’s mother, who ended up taking over her daughter’s husband. But the wife was a prayerful woman, and she consulted her pastor to intercede for their marriage as well. It worked.

True to Nollywood’s often melodramatic form, the mother became mentally deranged, drank a poisonous concoction and died.

I remember many other Nollywood stories that had been about the virtue of patience and waiting for God’s time.

In her case, Nollywood had helped her face her situation for what it was, and, in her view, it helped to keep her positive.

Why this matters

An exploration of the housemaids’ own understanding and use of Nollywood cinema becomes a medium through which to engage with the housemaids’ world – as well as their aspirational identities.

This is a social category of people that occupies a place of absolute subservience and has been forced by circumstances to live invisibly. Electronic media fandom is one of the few avenues where they can momentarily rise above their immediate circumstances.

The routine nature of the housemaids’ lives, coupled with limited social interaction and the pressures of long working hours, is a danger to mental health. For them Nollywood fandom served as a healthy antidote.

– How Nollywood films help Kenyan housemaids make sense of their lives
– https://theconversation.com/how-nollywood-films-help-kenyan-housemaids-make-sense-of-their-lives-262059

August 21, 2025

Enslaved Africans, an uprising and an ancient farming system in Iraq: study sheds light on timelines

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Peter J. Brown, Honorary Fellow in Archaeology, Durham University

Written accounts tell the story of the Zanj rebellion – a slave revolt that took place in the late 9th century in southern Iraq. Some of the rebels were enslaved Africans working in various sectors of the local economy.

Thousands of ridges and canals still stand today across a floodplain in southern Iraq. They’ve long been believed to be the remains of a massive agricultural system built by these enslaved people. Creating them, and farming here, could have been what drove the rebellion that’s often thought to have led to the rapid decline of the historic city of Basra and the local economy.

Courtesy the authors/Cambridge University Press

For the first time, our archaeological study offers a firmer timeline for when farming occurred across this landscape. This also allows an insight into how the Zanj rebellion affected the region.

We dated four of the 7,000 abandoned ridge features which cover a large swathe of the Shatt al-Arab floodplain, attesting to a period of agricultural expansion.

Our study finds that this agricultural system was in use for far longer than was previously assumed, calling into question the impact of the rebellion on farming and the local economy.

Our findings enhance our knowledge of the landscape history of southern Iraq and draw attention to the historical significance of landscape features which have often been overlooked.

The secret of the abandoned ridges

Abandoned and eroding earthworks litter the floodplain of the Shatt al-Arab – the river forming at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. This flows through southern Iraq out into the Gulf and the Indian Ocean.

Most noticeably, groups of massive, raised, linear ridge features, some of which extend for over a kilometre, are arranged in regular formations. Among these features, the remains of dried-up canals and smaller, adjoining, secondary water channels can be traced.

Today, agriculture in the floodplain is restricted to the band roughly within 5km of the river. But the abandoned features relate to farming in the past across a much larger area. While we don’t know exactly what was grown, cereals like barley or wheat, dates or sugarcane are the most likely crops.

Accounts from travellers who visited the area, as well as historical maps, indicate that the modern agricultural pattern has existed, essentially unchanged, at least since the 17th century. So, the features we see in the landscape today must have been constructed, in use, and abandoned in an earlier period.

Satellite photo of the ridge features in the study area. Courtesy US Geological Survey

New scientific evidence for the dating of these features helps us to understand when this occurred and the historical circumstances around this phase of agricultural expansion.

In 2022, we excavated small trenches into the top of four of the ridges. This allowed us to extract soil samples from their cores. Using a method called optically stimulated luminescence dating, individual grains of soil could be analysed. This allows the length of time since these grains were exposed to sunlight to be calculated. As our samples came from inside the ridge features, where they would have been permanently hidden from the sun, these samples should give the date when the soil was originally deposited.

The Zanj rebellion

Until now, no significant fieldwork had been carried out to investigate these features. However, these traces of pre-modern farming have often been linked with one particular historical episode – but without concrete evidence. Documents from the early Islamic period (from about the mid 7th to mid 13th century) provide a detailed account of a slave revolt in southern Iraq during the late 9th century, between 869 and 883.

The Zanj Rebellion saw large groups of slaves rebel against the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate – which ruled most of the Islamic world. The rebellion included violent episodes, including the sacking of the nearby city of Basra and clashes with the forces of the caliph sent to suppress the revolt. This threw southern Iraq into turmoil.

An Arab slave ship in the Red Sea in the 1500s or 1600s. New York Public Library

The identity of the Zanj people involved in the uprising has been a focus for debate. “Zanj” is an Arabic term used throughout the medieval period to refer to the Swahili coast of east Africa, though it was also used to refer to Africa more generally. As a result, the Zanj have typically been regarded collectively as enslaved people transported to southern Iraq from east Africa.

While the evidence for slaving traffic between Africa and Iraq during the early Islamic period is uncontroversial, the scale of the trade has been questioned. Based on genetic evidence, and the logistics of shipping large numbers to the Gulf, it has been argued that the majority of African slaves at the time of the revolt came from west and western central Africa via Saharan trade routes, rather than coastal east Africa. Importantly, the people involved in the revolt were not all African slaves – some seem to have been local farmers – so the rebels were a mixed group.

We know little about what the group known as the Zanj were doing before the 869 revolt. Their presence in Iraq is documented for centuries beforehand – smaller scale rebellions occurred in the late 7th century but only a few details are available about the lives of the slaves before the 9th century rebellion.

Some were involved in tasks like transporting flour. Others were dispersed in groups of 50-500 in work camps across the floodplain. Details relating to life within these camps are unavailable yet the written sources suggest the slaves were treated poorly by the “agents” who oversaw them. Other than for agriculture, it’s difficult to explain why such camps would have existed across this zone.

What we know about the Zanj fits closely with the scale of the landscape features visible today. Large numbers of labourers would have been needed, both to transport the soil forming the raised ridges and to farm the areas in between. This must have been enormously difficult work.

Unanswered questions

It’s often been assumed that the Zanj rebellion caused a significant decline in the region’s economy, including activities like farming. Our results, however, indicate that the earthworks date to the period after the rebellion.

While some samples date to the period immediately after the rebellion, others gave dates from a century or two later, in the 11th, 12th or 13th centuries. Rather than features created in one go, these traces in the landscape were likely added to over a longer period – perhaps as part of the annual farming cycle.

This means the samples we dated likely do not relate to the earliest farming activity but provide a “snapshot” of ongoing work. Since some of the features date to shortly after the rebellion, the slaves discussed in the written sources were likely involved in creating these ridge features. However, farming across this landscape certainly continued for a significant period after the revolt’s conclusion.

Be it climatic change, the impact of a pandemic, or wider economic and political shifts, exactly why such a large area of farmland was later abandoned remains an unanswered question. One which requires further research to answer.

But, by more definitively linking these landscape features to their historical context, we are one step closer to understanding social and economic processes in southern Iraq during the medieval period.

Archaeology adds another dimension to what we know about a historical event like the Zanj rebellion.

– Enslaved Africans, an uprising and an ancient farming system in Iraq: study sheds light on timelines
– https://theconversation.com/enslaved-africans-an-uprising-and-an-ancient-farming-system-in-iraq-study-sheds-light-on-timelines-262977

August 21, 2025

Tributes for ITHPCSA member, Mme Ntswaki Maria Siease

Source: Government of South Africa

The Interim Traditional Health Practitioners Council of South Africa (ITHPCSA) has announced the passing of Mme Ntswaki Maria Siease, a dedicated member of the council, who passed away earlier this month.

The ITHPCSA praised Siease who passed away on 12 August, for her distinguished service and unwavering commitment to the council.

“She was an active member of the Legal Committee as well as the Registration, Education and Accreditation Committee, where her contribution, wisdom, and leadership enriched the work of the Council,” the statement read.

The team said she was passionate about advancing the recognition, regulation, and professionalisation of traditional health practice in South Africa.

In accordance with Section 7(c) of the Traditional Health Practitioners Act, No. 22 of 2007, the council consists of a maximum of 22 members, appointed by the Minister of Health in the prescribed manner.

It plays a critical role in upholding ethical standards, protecting public health, and promoting the recognition and integration of traditional healing within South Africa’s broader healthcare system.

Siease was appointed as one of the nine traditional health practitioners representing each province.
“She carried this responsibility with pride, dignity, and a deep sense of duty to both the council and the communities she served.”

Beyond her council responsibilities, she also served as a member of the Free State Provincial Initiation Coordinating Committee (PICC), where she worked tirelessly to promote safe, culturally rooted, and regulated initiation practices.
“Her involvement at both provincial and national levels demonstrated her dedication to preserving and safeguarding African traditions while ensuring the well-being of communities.”

The council, under the leadership of Sheila Fihliwe Khama, Chairperson of the ITHPCSA, has since extended its deepest condolences to the Siease family, friends, colleagues, and community during this time of mourning.

She will be laid to rest on Saturday, 23 August 2025, at Matsikeng in the Free State. The service will begin at 8 am. – SAnews.gov.za

August 21, 2025

Seychelles: Minister Sylvestre Radegonde addresses Plenary Session on Peace and Stability at the 9th edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development Summit (TICAD)

Source: APO

The 9th edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development Summit (TICAD9) is taking place in Yokohama, Japan from 20th to 22nd August under the theme “Co-Create Innovative Solutions with Africa”.

During the first day of the Summit, Minister Sylvestre Radegonde addressed the plenary session on Peace and Stability. He stated that this year’s theme calls for deeper, more balanced, and forward-looking partnerships and in the context of the TICAD summit, he called for more enhanced cooperation between Africa and Japan, a partnership anchored in mutual respect and a shared commitment to peace, security, and development.

Highlighting the importance Seychelles places on Maritime Security, Minister Radegonde also pointed out that ‘Africa’s extensive maritime domain faces a growing array of transnational threats. From piracy, arms and drug trafficking, and illegal fishing, to human smuggling and emerging cyber risks, these challenges transcend national boundaries. They demand regional coordination, shared responsibility, and strong multilateral cooperation.’

He placed particular emphasis on fragility of Maritime trade in the region referring to the recent conflict in the Red Sea which led to the ‘rerouting of vessels away from the Suez Canal and disrupted African ports and supply chains, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen the resilience and security of maritime corridors.’

Minister Radegonde also mentioned the increasing importance of other domains of security such as Cybersecurity and called for collective efforts to ‘build cyber resilience, uphold digital sovereignty, and encourage the responsible and ethical use of such emerging technologies.’

Minister Radegonde commended Japan’s long-standing commitment and financial assistance to maritime security in Africa. He stated that ‘through the technical support provided to the UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme by the Japanese Government, has helped enhance law enforcement capabilities, strengthen institutional resilience, and improve operational coordination across coastal states.’

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Republic of Seychelles.

August 21, 2025

Health Minister to host NHI session Cape Town

Source: Government of South Africa

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, will this evening engage with medical students and the healthcare community at the University of Cape Town.

This discussion will focus on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act, a legislative reform aimed at achieving universal health coverage and addressing the healthcare needs of all South Africans.

The session is part of the Minister’s countrywide roadshow to address the concerns and unpack the benefits of the NHI to the entire population, including ordinary citizens who currently rely only on the public health system for healthcare.

READ | Health Minister takes NHI roadshow to KZN

“Motsoaledi will use this opportunity to dispel any myths and misinformation about this legislative reform, which is part of the country’s transformative agenda to address the existing disparities in the current fragmented health system,” the advisory, ahead of Thursday’s meeting, read.

Since the NHI was enacted by President Cyril Ramaphosa in May 2024, numerous stakeholders from various sectors of society have reached out to the Ministry of Health to request exclusive engagement regarding the NHI Act.

The stakeholder engagement programme includes ordinary people, healthcare providers, health professionals, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders, and young people who will benefit most from the phased implementation of the NHI Act.
The country is actively working towards achieving universal health coverage through the NHI system.

The NHI aims to offer financial protection for everyone, ensuring that access to quality healthcare is not determined by an individual’s ability to pay.

It also seeks to use resources efficiently by pooling funds and strategically purchasing services. – SAnews.gov.za

August 21, 2025

Call for investment in health of women, children and adolescents

Source: Government of South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged world leaders to intensify investments in the health and rights of women, children and adolescents, warning that the cost of inaction would be measured in lives lost, diminished futures and destabilised communities.

The President was delivering an address on Thursday at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Global Leaders Network dialogue on Investing in Peace: “Health for Adolescent Youth and Women.”

The session was held on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Summit in Yokohama, Japan.

Speaking in his capacity as Chair of the Global Leaders Network for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, President Ramaphosa said the Network is a coalition of heads of state and government united by the conviction that the health, dignity and potential of women, children and adolescents are the cornerstones of a fair, prosperous and peaceful world.

WATCH | President Ramaphosa addresses UNFPA and Global Leaders Network dialogue

[embedded content]

“The reality that we must confront is that too many women still die in childbirth of preventable causes. Too many children and adolescents still suffer and die from illnesses we know how to prevent or treat,” he said.

President Ramaphosa stressed that every avoidable death represented a policy and administrative failure while every life saved reflected political will.

The President outlined three priority areas for the Global Leaders Network:
•    Placing women, children and adolescents at the centre of universal health coverage
“Health services need to be safe, effective, compassionate and responsive to the lived realities of those who need them most.”
•    Increasing investment in women, children’s and adolescents’ health.
“As official development assistance is cut, many countries are pursuing domestic resource mobilisation as a sustainable health financing solution. However, we must continue to foster the principle of solidarity through multilateral financing solutions. This includes the consideration of a gap financing mechanism to address the needs.”
•    Upholding sexual and reproductive health rights.

“The data is clear: a lack of access to safe abortion leads to higher incidents of deaths, costly complications and permanent damage leading to infertility.”

Calling for stronger partnerships among governments, financing institutions, civil society and the private sector, President Ramaphosa urged stakeholders to protect funding for health as a pillar of development cooperation, integrate health into climate and broader development strategies, invest in innovation and digital health, and ensure accountability.

“The Global Leaders Network commits at the highest political level to keeping the voices of the most vulnerable alive in the halls of power.

“The moral imperative is clear: no woman, child or adolescent should die of preventable causes. We must stand firm against the reversals we are witnessing in sexual and reproductive health and rights.

“We believe that every woman has autonomy over her sexuality and reproductive choices. Every adolescent should get comprehensive sexual education. Every person should be free from sexually transmitted diseases,” the President said.

President Ramaphosa concluded that women, children and adolescents must remain at the heart of sustainable development, as they represent the future the global community is striving to secure. – SAnews.gov.za

August 21, 2025

Deputy Minister Moraka strengthens ties with Jordan, UAE

Source: Government of South Africa

The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Thandi Moraka, is on an official visit to Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to strengthen South Africa’s relations with the two countries.

The visit, which began on 15 August 2025, aims to promote stronger people-to-people cooperation.

The main objectives of the visits to Jordan and the UAE are to enhance bilateral relations, primarily by strengthening government-to-government connections and expanding economic collaboration through focused engagements with businesses.

During the visit to Jordan, the Deputy Minister held the inaugural round of bilateral consultations with her Jordanian counterpart, Ambassador Majid Thalji Al Qatarneh.

”These consultations provided the foundation for future engagements and will pave the way for enhancing cooperation between the two countries,” the department said in a statement.

To expand economic cooperation, the department said South Africa seeks to establish frameworks that encourage private sector participation, particularly in sectors with high growth potential.

In addition, investment missions, trade delegations, and bilateral platforms are integral to fostering bilateral partnerships.

“Both the UAE and Jordan’s interest in diversifying their economies align with South Africa’s broader commitment to expand market opportunities as well as to promote intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).”

To enhance bilateral tourism between South Africa and Jordan, Moraka visited Jordan’s historically significant and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites.

During a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Petra, she met with Dr Fares Braizat, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA).

The Deputy Minister also engaged with Engineer Rustom Mkhlian, the Secretary General of the Baptismal Site.

The department said she also interacted with women-owned businesses to establish collaboration partnerships with South African women in the creative industries and furniture sectors.

The Deputy Minister is scheduled to conclude her visit on 24 August 2025. – SAnews.gov.za

August 21, 2025

Sankofa Events, Paul Sinclair & Hyve Events Sued for Misrepresentation

Source: APO

Sankofa Events Limited and Paul Sinclair have been added to a court case brought by the African Energy Chamber (AEC) (www.EnergyChamber.org/) to the High Court of the Republic of South Africa against Hyve Events SA Limited. The Edictal Citation application was granted, were Sankofa Events and Paul Sinclair will be joined in an action for damages arising from misrepresentation, unlawful completion and false marketing. This serves as an official legal notice for the respondents, as the court believes there is a strong case for misrepresentation – a serious allegation and one that brings significant impacts for the African energy industry.

Sankofa Events Limited and Paul Sinclair have been added to the case for their role in providing false statements and misleading information regarding the upcoming Africa Oil Week (AOW): Energy conference. The event – which has moved to Accra, Ghana for its 31^st edition – has been the product of numerous misleading statements, press releases and communications, particularly surrounding its participants and the topics of discussion.

A notable example is information published by AOW: Energy’s official communication channels related to the participation by Equatorial Guinea’s state-owned oil corporation GEPetrol. Information shared outlined references to technical presentations, one-on-one meetings and the promotion of new licenses by the corporation. Information was not provided, authorized or validated by GEPetrol. This level of misrepresentation is aimed at enticing delegates to participate and is not an accurate reflection of the event itself.

As such, the AEC – representing the voice of the African energy sector – is suing Sankofa Events Limited and Paul Sinclair in Ghana from South Africa, as they recognize the damages that this level of misrepresentation has on stakeholders across the continent. Sankofa Events Limited and Paul Sinclair are required to legally participate in the case as they have been officially brought into this serious lawsuit. The respondents are granted 30 days from the date of service in their country to enter appearance to oppose the Joinder Application.

The case comes at a pivotal time for the African energy industry and its importance cannot be overstated. At a time when the global energy sector is divided on key issues such as the energy transition and hydrocarbon investment, Africa requires a unified voice. With over 600 million people living without access to electricity across the continent and over 900 million living without access to clean cooking solutions in Africa, there has never been a more pressing time to come together, address challenges and advance development.

Yet, organizations such as Sankofa Events Limited and individuals such as Paul Sinclair use platforms such as AOW: Energy to advance their own agendas. Rather than prioritizing Africa’s needs, these parties continuously demonstrate their resolve to attracting investment for person gains. Through misrepresentation, the parties seek to attract capital and people to their event, regardless of the fact that they will not deliver on their promises. This limits productivity, disrupts meaningful progress to address key energy challenges and impacts the continent’s efforts to make energy poverty history.

“The court case brought by the AEC seeks to make Sankofa Events Limited and Paul Sinclair accountable for their actions. Africa deserves more than organizations and individuals who prioritize their own wants over the need of the continent. The AEC stands in full support of the continent and will remain committed to protecting the interests of its people,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

August 21, 2025

Life comes full circle for Deputy Governor Modise

Source: Government of South Africa

By Neo Semono
There is something special about life coming full circle – especially when things were not perfect at the starting line.

“When I came to the SARB, I had a CV that was just a page [with] 1.5 [line] spacing and I think it was in Arial 12. I had not even finished my undergrad at the time because I had supplementary exams in January,” said South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Deputy Governor, Dr Mampho Modise.

She recalled how receiving a call from the bank saying she provisionally got the intern position provided that she pass her supplementary examinations, jump started her career in 2004.

“I’ve never studied so much in my life. I hadthree exams. I did not see [the] December [holidays] that year. I studied so much because I knew my life just depended on this thing,” she said in an interview with SAnews.

“Poverty was not an option,” she said, as we sat in one of the boardrooms of the Reserve Bank building in central Pretoria.

“When I left home to come and do my degree, I knew I had three years, and I knew I had to work so hard [as] not to go back home and be a problem. I think I was more scared of poverty, and I knew that an undergraduate degree is not enough, I needed to be better.

“I wanted to make sure I never go home to be a failed statistic; I couldn’t be that child. I wanted everyone to know you can do it; you cannot just give up. I was an NSFAS [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] baby,” she explained.

She adds that while at home “everyone was just as poor as the next one” and “I never felt poorer until I got to university.”

She said one’s background shouldn’t dictate one’s future.

“You cannot change it. You should be proud of it because it gives you resilience. It should be something that keeps you going because if you sit and say I am poor you’re never going to grow.”

Having placed her shoulder to the wheel, Modise placed shoulder to the wheel and today holds a BCom in Economics, BCom Honours in Econometrics, an MCom in Econometrics (cum laude) and a PhD in Economics from the University of Pretoria.

She tells SAnews as she sips her black coffee, that her drive to become an economist was sparked by a couple during an episode of the television series, Yizo Yizo, in which the girl told her boyfriend she wanted to become an economist when she finished school.

“I was like ‘oh, I also want to be an ‘ist,’” she recalls, with a burst of laughter. This led to her pursuing her studies in economics, instead of nursing.

She had to further her studies so she could get a job elsewhere no matter what happened so she wouldn’t “go back and become my mother’s problem.”

The work paid off and she became an economist in the bank’s Economic Research Department, a position she held until 2009 when she moved to National Treasury in the same year and served as a senior economist.

She steadily climbed the ladder at Treasury becoming Director of Fiscal Policy, Chief Director of Strategy and Risk Management. In 2017, she was appointed as Deputy Director-General for Public Finance.
Having been appointed as Deputy Governor with effect from 1 April 2024, she described the past year as having “been full of excitement.”

“It is new work that I’m doing at the Reserve Bank. At the Treasury you do policy… at the SARB, the work is very technical. The full year has been a year of learning, understanding what the bank does, understanding the impact that the bank has in ordinary people’s lives and making sure that we communicate what the bank does.”

As Deputy Governor, Modise is also a member of the bank’s’ Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which is responsible for deciding on South Africa’s appropriate monetary policy stance.

The bank’s, whose primary object is to protect the value of the currency in the interest of balanced and sustainable economic growth, interaction with the public is a priority for Modise.

“A lot of people don’t know what the Reserve Bank does and they don’t know how to approach the Reserve Bank. They don’t know how to engage with the Reserve Bank. So how do we take ourselves as the Reserve Bank to the people is a big priority. The second priority for me is to have employees of the SARB hear their [people’s] voices.

Prior to becoming the Deputy Governor, Modise had applied for the Director-General position at the Treasury but did not get it, after which she recalls how her friends sent her an article that made mention of individuals in the running for the Deputy Governor position.
The article mentioned her name.

“At that time, I didn’t want to want this job because I was still grieving the other one and I didn’t want to be sad twice.”

Little did she know that while getting on with the business of work, she would receive a letter of appointment in March 2024.

“And I get this email from the Ministry [of Finance] and the letter said it was from the Minister [of Finance], and that the President has decided they want to appoint you [as Deputy Governor]. This is an offer letter, and you must tell us if you want the job or not’” she said as she laughed.

“It was a rumour for so long. I didn’t even believe it at the end. I didn’t know whether to scream or not,” she said recalling how she asked a colleague to continue with the meeting with rating agency Moody’s while she excused herself and went to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, she gave a quiet scream and tried to regain her composure. She could barely focus when she returned to the meeting.

“The fact that the President thought of this lady from the dusty streets of kwaNdebele [in Mpumalanga] to do this particular role, where I was just minding my business and doing my job at the Treasury, I could never describe the feeling,” she gleamed.

When she relayed the news to her mother in a phone call, her response was: “Mampho! Why are you taking a temporary job? Don’t you see that unemployment is a problem?”

“ She asked if it was a promotion and I said well it depends on how you look at it. She was not impressed,” she said, as we both laughed.

However, once the official announcement was made, the Deputy Governor’s mom changed her tune.
“That was when she recognised the magnitude of the role.”

The return to the central bank gave Modise mixed emotions.

“I was nervous; I was so scared; I was excited …and I felt that maybe I’m not good enough. That element of doubt was what I had to deal with in my first two to three months of being here. When I got to the SARB in Irene and I stopped at the door before I could get in, I was shaking.”

Helping others to rise

As the country continues to mark Women’s Month in August, she expressed gratitude to those who have helped her up in her journey.

“I was so blessed. I had people who grabbed me by the hand and pulled me even when I was exhausted and didn’t want to move. They didn’t take no for an answer. It was not women only, it was not men only, it was a combination of people. The best lesson is [that] you can never rise alone. If you do progress all by yourself, you are not successful. You haven’t made someone’s else’s life better.
“The biggest lesson for me is you have to move with others.”

The bubbly Deputy Governor usually starts her day with a session at a gym in central Pretoria where the instructors are “cute”, after which she heads to the office, attends meetings and tackles her list of things to do.
The central bank is headed by Governor Lesetja Kganyayo and has three Deputy Governors – namely Dr Rashad Cassim, Fundi Tshazibana and Dr Modise.

On what it is like to work with Governor Kganyago, Modise said that he has a consultative nature.
“He consults. That makes working with him easier because you know what his thinking is, and he brings us together through his thinking. Whether we agree or disagree, you get an opportunity to voice your opinion and then a decision is made based on everyone’s opinion being taken into consideration. That is the type of leader I want to be.”

She also stressed the importance of a work-life balance that ensures she also spends time with her daughter, Neo.

“When I get home, I spend time with Neo and around 9:30pm I push the work for the following day and plan for the [following] day.”

Modise also spends time with her friends and sister while also training for the upcoming Cape Town Marathon in October.

As the middle child in a family of three girls, she played soccer but gave it up as a result of an injury in varsity.

True to oneself

With South Africa having observed the 30th anniversary of the first official National Women’s Day on 9 August, the Deputy Governor urged women to be true to themselves.

“First of all, I’m not an imbokodo [rock]. I’m not strong, I am fragile and sensitive. I cry over movies. The saying that [states that] women must hold the knife on the sharp end, I don’t believe in strength like that.
“I don’t believe we must suffer. Girls we can do this thing, and we can do it while we remain true to ourselves. We do not have to be strong; we just need to work hard.

“There is a difference between trying to be strong because when you’re trying to be strong, it means you’re emotionless. That is not how I would do life. I embrace my feelings; I embrace being a woman. I embrace being soft, I embrace crying in watching a movie even if it’s a cartoon, I embrace all of that.”
She also spoke of the need for women to believe in themselves.

“I think the biggest hurdle we need to deal with is getting women to believe in themselves; to get them to raise their hand; to get them to a point where when they are given a Deputy Governor’s role, they don’t shake and be terrified.

“We need to get our women to be so confident that they can take on roles, make mistakes and learn from them. We need to support them. When I say ‘we’ I’m talking females, I’m talking males. We need to be deliberate in supporting them.”

On her message to young people who want to follow in her footsteps, Dr Modise urged the youth to be proud of where they come from.

“Be proud of where you come from, it defines you. It doesn’t break you; it just makes you better. Once you get an opportunity, you must make sure you move with others. We need to stop the mentality of “I was the first” and you want to remain the first. That must stop. If you were the youngest something somewhere, make sure by the time you leave, that the person that takes over, is younger than you so they become the first,” she explained.

On what she would like her legacy to be, Dr Modise said: “If I’ve made a change in someone else’s life for the better, that will let me sleep better. My legacy is not [about] people remembering my positions, but I want them to remember how I made their lives better.”

No doubt, the Deputy Governor will have widened her circle at the end of her five-year term at the central bank in March 2029 as she continues her journey while passing the baton for others to succeed as well. –SAnews.gov.za