The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a contribution of JPY 200 million (approx. US$1.3 million) from the Government of Japan to support 32,000 vulnerable people with nutritious food assistance in Zimbabwe.
The contribution will assist WFP deliver cereals, pulses and vegetable oil, ensuring that families have access to basic nutrition during the January to March lean season, the time between harvests, when food supplies are typically at their lowest.
“The Government of Japan and the Embassy of Japan in Zimbabwe are very concerned about the food insecurity in Zimbabwe,” said H.E. Mr Shinichi Yamanaka, the Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe. “I hope that this food assistance will help these vulnerable people to overcome the lean season. We will continue our support to allow all Zimbabweans to meet their food security needs.”
WFP’s Lean Season Assistance response, supporting communities in the most food-insecure districts, is in line with the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment (ZimLAC), a multi-stakeholder body responsible for conducting regular livelihood assessments.
“Thanks to this support from the Government of Japan, many families will not worry about their next meal when hunger is at its worst,” said Ms Barbara Clemens, WFP Zimbabwe Country Director and Representative. “This contribution is a show of solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, and we remain resolute in ensuring the right food reaches the right people at the right time.”
WFP supports the Government of Zimbabwe’s Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy, which protects the most vulnerable individuals from worsening food insecurity.
“We are grateful to Japan for their commitment to supporting the people of Zimbabwe,” said Hon Edgar Moyo, Minister of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare. “This contribution reflects our continued partnership with WFP to ensure food reaches those who need it the most and no one is left behind, in line with the mandate from His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.”
The Government of Japan’s continued support highlights the strong and enduring partnership between Japan, WFP, and the Government of Zimbabwe. Between 2021 and 2015, Japan has provided food assistance through WFP, amounting to US$15.8 million.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).
En marge des rencontres sportives et des prestations artistiques, le Président de la République, M. Wavel Ramkalawan a reçu, ce mercredi, les Ministres et Représentants des pays membres de la Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l’Océan Indien (CJSOI) venus lui rendre une visite de courtoise à State House.
Cette visite a été l’occasion pour les dirigeants sportifs et le Président de la République de s’engager dans une discussion de haut niveau sur le déroulement des jeux et de s’appesantir sur la prévalence de l’esprit d’amitié et de fraternité dont ont fait montre jusque-là les jeunes sportifs de l’Océan indien tout au long des rencontres.
Le Président Ramkalawan s’est félicité de la participation active de tous les pays membres ȧ cette 13e édition et a réitéré les sentiments de fierté que ressentent les Seychelles d’avoir accueilli ces jeux. Les délégations se sont également engagées dans un dialogue constructif concernant l’impact multidimensionnel des jeux, notamment la sensibilisation accrue aux questions du changement climatique soulevée par les participants lors de l’Assemblée de la Jeunesse, les échanges culturels dynamiques entre les nations participantes, et les opportunités entrepreneuriales en faveur des jeunes.
Tous ces éléments pris ensemble démontrent collectivement la place et la portée de l’événement dans la promotion de l’excellence sportive, de la compréhension culturelle, de l’innovation commerciale et de la conscience sociale chez les jeunes.
Dans un entretien avec les médias, à l’issue de la rencontre avec le Président de la République, le Secrétaire Général de la CJSOI, Monsieur Ashok Cheetamun, a souligné les objectifs globaux des jeux: autonomiser les jeunes par le sport et les échanges culturels tout en promouvant l’intégration régionale et en défendant la solidarité dans l’Océan Indien. Il a félicité le Gouvernement seychellois pour la planification et l’exécution exemplaires des événements sportifs.
« Les jeunes attendaient ces jeux avec une grande impatience. Il s’agit d’un événement qui a été méticuleusement organisé, ce depuis les arrangements d’hébergement jusqu’à la bonne exécution des compétitions », a noté Monsieur Cheetamun.
Étaient présents à cette visite de courtoisie : la Ministre de la Jeunesse, des Sports et de la Famille, Madame Marie-Céline Zialor, le Ministre de la Jeunesse et des Sports de Madagascar, Monsieur Abdoulah Marson Moustapha, le Ministre de la Jeunesse et des Sports de Maurice, Monsieur Deven Nagalingum, le Représentant des Comores, Monsieur Kaisane Hassan, la Chef de Délégation de Djibouti, Madame Roukya Hassan Cheik, le Représentant de La Réunion, Monsieur Nicolas Vouillon, et la Représentante de Mayotte, Madame Madeleine Delaperriere.
Distribué par APO Group pour State House Seychelles.
Le 5 août 2025, la MINUSCA a remis 150 motocyclettes aux représentants des Forces armées centrafricaines (FACA). Ces motocyclettes, qui constituent la première vague des 300 prévues, permettront aux Forces armées centrafricaines d’atteindre facilement les régions et zones difficiles d’accès pour une sécurisation et protection optimales des populations, outre l’appui à l’extension de l’autorité de l’État et au processus électoral.
La remise a été faite par la Cheffe de la Mission, Valentine Rugwabiza, au Général de corps d’armée Bruno Léopold Izamo, représentant le ministre centrafricain de la Défense à cette cérémonie. Cette flotte de 150 motos est destinée à renforcer les capacités opérationnelles de protection des FACA, avec à la clé une meilleure couverture du territoire et une plus grande mobilité pour protéger les civils, particulièrement dans les localités qui sont inaccessibles aux véhicules à quatre roues.
A cette occasion, la Représentante spéciale du Secrétaire général de l’ONU pour la République centrafricaine, Valentine Rugwabiza, a déclaré qu’il est « attendu que la mobilité active des forces nationales contribue à la volonté d’inclusivité des élections en permettant de sécuriser les zones les plus difficiles d’accès du pays, avec pour objectif de garantir aux populations concernées la prise en compte de leurs voix, parfois pour la première fois. Enfin, ces dotations s’inscrivent dans les efforts conclus de l’administration pour appuyer la réaffirmation et l’extension de l’autorité de l’État ».
Ces moyens roulants, qui seront répartis à travers différents services des FACA à Bangui et dans les préfectures, serviront aussi à renforcer les patrouilles conjointes de la Force de la MINUSCA et des FACA pour la sécurisation de la population ainsi que des échéances électorales à venir.
Bruno Léopold Izamo, Général de corps d’armée, a affirmé que tout est mis en œuvre afin d’assurer l’acheminement dans les préfectures. « La répartition est déjà faite au niveau de l’État-major des armées qui va évidemment utiliser les moyens aériens de la MINUSCA, pour que ces motocyclettes soient acheminées le plus tôt possible sur les zones afin de faciliter le travail des FACA, parce que certaines zones sont inaccessibles par voie de véhicule et ce sont seulement les motocyclettes qui peuvent aller dans ces zones. Le gros du travail se fera à l’intérieur donc, le gros de cette donation sera utilisé à l’intérieur du pays pour faciliter les opérations électorales », a-t-il souligné.
Pour le Général de corps d’armée Humphrey Nyone, Commandant de la Force de la MINUSCA, cette donation fait partie des différentes activités réalisées de manière conjointe par la Force et les FACA pour garantir la sécurité de la population en RCA.
« C’est une partie de la donation que la MINUSCA a faite pour améliorer la capacité des FACA. Beaucoup de choses sont en train de se dérouler pour améliorer leur mobilité, pour pouvoir atteindre certains endroits et sécuriser les élections, ensemble avec la MINUSCA. Nous travaillons ensemble, même dans les endroits réputés être sous contrôle des groupes armés », a-t-il affirmé.
Dans le cadre de ce projet, les Forces Armées Centrafricaines (FACA) recevront très prochainement un 2e lot de 150 motos, totalisant 300 moyens roulants pour un montant total de 228 930 000 FCFA.
Distribué par APO Group pour United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Wednesday condemned the escalation in deadly attacks by the Rwandan-backed M23 and other armed groups against civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past month.
According to first-hand accounts received by the UN Human Rights Office, at least 319 civilians were killed by the M23, backed by members of the Rwanda Defence Force, between 9 and 21 July in four villages in the Rutshuru territory, in North Kivu Province – one of the largest documented death tolls in such attacks since the M23’s resurgence in 2022. Most of the victims, including at least 48 women and 19 children, were local farmers camping in their fields during the planting season.
“I am appalled by the attacks on civilians by the M23 and other armed groups in eastern DRC amid continued fighting, despite the ceasefire that was recently signed in Doha,” said Türk. “All attacks against civilians must stop immediately, and all those responsible must be held to account.”
Türk also condemned attacks against civilians by other armed actors. The UN Human Rights Office documented multiple such attacks in the North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri Provinces in July, including by the ‘Allied Democratic Forces’ (ADF) and ‘Coopérative pour le développement du Congo’ (CODECO) armed groups.
ADF members killed at least 40 Christian worshippers in an attack during Sunday prayers in Komanda village, Ituri Province, on 27 July – among them 13 children – and burnt down at least 27 shops and four homes, as well as three cars. The group had earlier killed six men, one woman and a boy, in an attack in Ituri’s Otmaber village on 12 July, during which it also set multiple homes on fire. On 9 July 2025, ADF fighters killed at least 70 civilians in Pikamaibo village, also in Ituri.
CODECO members killed three civilians and injured another on 21 July in Lopa village, in Ituri. And eight women were raped by members of the Raia Mutomboki/Wazalendo armed group in Busolo village, in South Kivu, on 27 July.
The High Commissioner renewed his call on all parties to the conflicts in eastern DRC to protect civilians from harm, and to uphold all their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. He also urged all parties to the recently signed declaration of principles to commit to the peace process in good faith and to act decisively to end the cycles of recurring violence.
The DRC Government and the M23 group signed a declaration of principles in Qatar on 19 July 2025, agreeing to a ceasefire and to further negotiations towards a comprehensive agreement. This was preceded by the signing of a peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda in Washington D.C., on 27 June. Yet meaningful progress on the ground remains limited, leaving affected communities in a state of deep uncertainty.
“I urge the signatories and facilitators of both the Doha and Washington agreements to ensure that they rapidly translate into safety, security and real progress for civilians in the DRC, who continue to endure the devastating consequences of these conflicts,” said Türk.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The Ministry of Energy of Guinea-Bissau, with the support of the ECOWAS Commission through the Regional Off-Grid Access to Electricity Project (ROGEAP), officially launched the mission to develop the country’s first National Energy Policy on Wednesday, 23rd of July 2025, in Bissau.
The opening ceremony, chaired by the Minister of Energy, Dr. José Carlos Varela Casimiro, was attended by the Senior Advisor of the ROGEAP project, as well as representatives of technical and financial partners.
As part of this strategic initiative, two international experts were recruited by the ROGEAP project to:
Review the current energy policy and the legal and regulatory framework in force;
Diagnose and evaluate the energy sector in Guinea-Bissau.
Develop a new energy policy in line with government priorities and propose a roadmap for its implementation.
Align this policy with national development plans, regional (ECOWAS) and international commitments, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
In his speech, the Minister of Energy welcomed this structural support, stating: “This policy will be the first in our country to establish a clear vision for the energy sector, defining the foundations of essential tools such as action plans and strategic guidelines. It will cover the fuel, oil and gas sectors, as well as energy production, transport, distribution and access, both on-grid and off-grid, while promoting low-carbon technologies.”
As a reminder, the ROGEAP Project is financed by the World Bank, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Directorate-General for International Cooperation.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Ms Nonceba Mhlauli, will join the Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, for the official handover of newly equipped science laboratories at four schools in Atteridgeville, Pretoria on Thursday, 07 August 2025.
The School Science Lab Handover Programme forms part of Mandela Day commemorations and is a collaborative initiative between the Department of Electricity and Energy and several private sector partners. The initiative seeks to improve the quality of science education in township schools by providing essential infrastructure to foster problem-solving, critical thinking, and innovation among learners.
The Deputy Minister will participate in the official opening of labs at Bokgoni Technical Secondary School, Hofmeyr High School, Edward Phatudi Comprehensive School, and Seaparankwe Primary School.
The handover will culminate in a Mandela Commemoration Ceremony hosted at Seaparankwe Primary School, where the Deputy Minister and dignitaries will reflect on Tata Madiba’s legacy of education and social justice.
Event details: Date: Thursday, 07 August 2025 Time: 08h00 – 13h00 Venue: Bokgoni Technical Secondary School, Hofmeyr High School, Edward Phatudi Comprehensive School, and Seaparankwe Primary School, Atteridgeville, Pretoria
Members of the media are invited to attend.
Media enquiries & RSVP: Mandisa Mbele: MandisaM@Presidency.gov.za / 082 580 2213 or Kutlwano Huma: kutlwano.huma@dmre.gov.za / 078 133 1482
Four people have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of engineer Oscar Hlatshwayo in a drive-by shooting in Ladysmith in 2019, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said on Wednesday.
The SAPS Political Killings Task Team secured the convictions in the Madadeni High Court.
At the time of his murder, Hlatshwayo was an Executive Director in the Engineering and Infrastructure Services Department of the Alfred Duma Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
The following accused were each sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles into the murder of the late engineer are as follows: • Nomaswazi Shabalala who was a senior engineer at the Alfred Duma Local municipality is believed to have ordered the hit. • The second accused, Mondli Mabaso is a businessman linked to tenders at the municipality. • The third accused, Mduduzi Njuza’s role was to coordinate and organise the firearms used in the commission of the crime and the fourth accused, Brown Ngcobo was the shooter in the matter.
The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola welcomed the life imprisonment sentence for each accused and said he hopes the convictions will provide the necessary closure to the family of the murdered Civil Engineer. – SAnews.gov.za
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abdifatah Ismael Tahir, Honorary Research Fellow, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester
Around 98 million children and youth in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school, accounting for nearly 40% of the global out-of-school population. This is disproportionately high, considering that the region accounts for roughly 15% of the world’s population. In simple terms, “out-of-school children” is defined as those within the age bracket for primary or lower secondary education who are not enrolled in either level.
One of the primary barriers to access is conflict. This is particularly evident in Somalia, which has endured violence and upheaval since the collapse of its central government in 1991. Various armed groups, including clan militias and al-Shabaab militants, have vied for control over the capital, with devastating consequences.
At present, nearly 3 million children and youth are out of school in Somalia out of an estimated 7.6 million school-age population. As the epicentre of conflict and displacement, Mogadishu experiences profound disruptions to educational access. Less than 23% of children eligible for primary education are enrolled, according to 2020 government statistics. Only 17% progress to secondary education.
I am a scholar of urban geography with a research focus on urban politics and governance. My co-researcher and I sought to examine the historical, social and economic factors over and above conflict contributing to the high number of out-of-school children in Mogadishu.
We found that public education is both limited and unevenly distributed. Government-run schools make up only 4% of the total number of schools in the city. These few public schools are disproportionately located in areas dominated by major clans, leaving minority communities and conflict-displaced populations with limited access to formal education.
A key barrier is the prohibitive cost of schooling. Equally important are entrenched cultural dynamics in areas populated by minority clans, where formal education, particularly for girls, is often undervalued in favor of technical skills or small-scale entrepreneurial training passed down through generations. Much like Somali society’s historical resistance to colonial education through Islamic schooling, many minority communities today rely on vocational skills as strategies of autonomy from dominant clans that control political and economic power and often restrict their access to opportunity.
By narrowing our focus to Mogadishu, our study offers a more detailed and localised understanding of the educational barriers within the city. It highlights the everyday choices, institutional fragmentation, and socio-religious imperatives that reproduce exclusion in ways that other studies have overlooked. It contributes to a more nuanced analysis of Somalia’s educational challenges, supporting the development of more targeted and effective policy recommendations and interventions.
The findings
Our qualitative study was conducted in two stages. We started with a review of academic literature, government and non-governmental reports and education policy documents. The aim was to trace the historical and structural causes of exclusion. This was followed by 21 semi-structured interviews with families of out-of-school children, teachers, education officials and policymakers at both regional and federal level.
Our findings suggest that the reasons children are out of school in Mogadishu are complex and deeply structural. On one level, we found that formal education is largely inaccessible. Government-funded public education is limited by the small number of schools and by its uneven distribution. Formal private school fees on the other hand range from US$120 to US$300 per year. This is far beyond the reach of most households, whose average monthly income stands at US$350.
Though no official statistics exist, anecdotal evidence suggests that hundreds of thousands of children are enrolled in Qur’anic schools, also known as madrassas. This is because madrassa instruction is culturally embedded and widely trusted. Many families also rely on madrassas because the fees are lower or negotiable and they offer flexible arrangements, such as discounted fees or waivers.
However, these institutions typically exclude academic subjects such as science, mathematics and language.
Families must choose between two parallel systems – formal and Islamic – that are neither harmonised nor mutually reinforcing. In many cases, children complete madrassa instruction without acquiring basic literacy or numeracy skills, stalling their educational progression.
This two-track education system goes back to the colonial era. There was resistance to western-style schools introduced in the 1930s which were seen as a foreign influence and religious dilution.
Spatial inequality and social identity also exclude people. Peripheral districts and neighbourhoods where minorities are concentrated suffer from underinvestment in educational infrastructure. These areas may be absent from national and municipal development plans. Some existing schools lack adequate sanitation facilities, libraries, and trained teaching staff.
For internally displaced persons, tenure insecurity and legal ambiguity further limit access to public services, including education.
What needs to happen
This situation is not unique to Somalia, but the scale of exclusion in Mogadishu is alarming. Education is more than academic instruction – it offers safety, structure and hope. When children can’t go to school, the consequences are profound: increased poverty, higher crime and weakened social cohesion.
The solution requires more than constructing classrooms. Based on our research and policy analysis, we propose some recommendations.
With a federal budget of only US$1 billion, the options are limited. For a start, the government should authorise madrassas to provide education up to grade 6 and repurpose primary schools into secondary institutions.
Flexible madrassas and mobile classrooms have shown notable resilience in times of crisis. In Hodan district of Mogadishu, Qur’anic schools adapted to the influx of the internally displaced by extending hours and reducing fees. These locally embedded systems should be formally recognised. They also deserve direct national support to ensure quality and alignment with strategic education goals.
Many community-run schools currently operate outside public planning and budgeting frameworks, yet they deliver critical services. In Somaliland, some schools have been financed through zakat (charitable donations) and diaspora contributions. Mogadishu should adapt this model.
While Islamic education enjoys broad legitimacy, its narrow curriculum constrains students’ prospects. This calls for a hybrid curriculum blending Qur’anic instruction with core academic subjects: literacy, numeracy and science. This has proven successful in pilot schools in Puntland state.
Finally, school construction and rehabilitation efforts should go to historically underserved districts first.
Mogadishu’s out-of-school children are not invisible. They are the future of the city. Including them requires more than donor-led programmes or technical solutions. It requires a political commitment to equity. This means formally recognising community efforts, bridging religious and secular traditions, and investing where it is needed most.
– Somalia’s education crisis: why so few children attend school and what could be done to change that – https://theconversation.com/somalias-education-crisis-why-so-few-children-attend-school-and-what-could-be-done-to-change-that-261721
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Robert J. Gordon, Emeritus Professor, University of Vermont and Research Associate, University of the Free State
The genocide of Namibia’s Ovaherero and Nama people by German colonial forces (1904-1907) is widely documented. But much less is made of what came next – the genocide of the country’s Bushmen, also known as the San.
In 1992, anthropologist Robert J. Gordon published a book, The Bushman Myth and the Making of a Namibian Underclass, about these indigenous people of Namibia and how they were hunted and turned into servants by German colonisers.
Now it has been thoroughly revised and has been republished as The Bushman Myth Revisited: Genocide, Dispossession and the Road to Servitude. We asked him five questions.
Why a revised, rewritten book?
Today, most Bushmen still live a life of servitude in their own country. Local San and human rights activists encouraged me to bring out an updated and inexpensive version, which the University of Namibia Press has just published. The original editions were published in the US, making them virtually unobtainable in Namibia, where they needed to be read and discussed.
UNAM Press
Since the first edition, an extraordinary number of books on German colonialism have been published, including my own. These inspired the use of key concepts in the book like platzgeist, where a particular zeitgeist (spirit of the times) is anchored in a specific place (platz) that makes people engage in activities they might not normally do.
What was life like for indigenous people before colonialism?
The Kalahari Basin in southern Africa is one of the world’s richest ethnographic zones (areas with distinct cultures). The region is home to some of the oldest languages still in existence and the genetic diversity found in the zone indicates that it is home to one of the world’s original ancestral populations.
“Bushman” is used as a blanket term encompassing more than 200 ethnic groups. There is no “typical Bushman”; rather, they constitute a miscellany of fluid groups. “Bushman” is preferred by many local communities, possibly as a form of resistance against officialdom’s categorisation of them as San and “Marginals”. The term “San” is found only in one language, Khoekhoegowab, and means the same as Bushman.
I see them as convivial with a strong ideology of sharing. Colonial power is based on controlling access to what people desire, like money or livestock. Bushmen lived as hunter-gatherers, roaming across the landscape. They had a different concept of property, desiring neither money or livestock; they were uncontrollable and so they were treated as animals and subject to annihilation.
What was the genocidal platzgeist?
First, some background. Today’s Namibia was a German colony called German South West Africa from 1884. The 1904-1907 genocidal Herero-Nama war was decisive, as Germany sought to create a German haven by encouraging settlers.
The north-east arc of the territory, stretching from Otavi to Gobabis with Grootfontein as the epicentre, served as a magnet, with a newly completed railway line, mines, vast agricultural potential and accessible land. In Grootfontein alone, the number of settler farms increased from 15 in 1903 to 175 by 1913. Almost all these cattle ranches were on land occupied by Bushmen.
Settlers were soon in trouble. By 1911, the Namibian press headlines screamed “Bushman Plague”. Two factors fed the panic. First, the killing of a policeman and a few white farmers. And second, Bushman activities, allegedly “brigandage” or banditry, were hindering the flow of sorely needed migrant contract workers from the Owambo and Kavango regions to work on the newly discovered Luderitzbucht diamond fields. The Chamber of Mines wanted the area “sanitised”.
Accordingly, the German governor ordered that Bushmen could be shot if they were believed to be attempting to resist arrest by officials or settlers. Over 400 anti-Bushman patrols covering some 60,000km² were deployed from 1911 to 1913.
But settlers and officials considered these measures inadequate. Settlers continued to terrorise Bushmen without as much as a slap on the wrist. “Bushman hunts” continued until the South African takeover of the territory in 1915 when the country became known as South West Africa.
We don’t know how many Bushmen died, but as I explain in my book, official estimates put Bushmen numbers in 1913 at 8,000-12,000. In 1923 it was 3,600. This gives an indication of the magnitude of the killings.
What oiled the genocide was the settler platzgeist. The dominant ethos was one of besiegement, of being threatened by unpredictable external forces. The farmers, attracted by generous government support and subsidies, were mostly discharged soldiers, ill-trained in farming, lacking crucial local knowledge, and schooled in racist arrogance. The situation bred insecurity, fear and hyper-masculinity.
Bushmen, with their reputed ability to camouflage themselves and to track and hunt using poisoned arrows for which there was no known antidote, epitomised their worst nightmare as they sought to establish overlordship on their isolated farms. Believed to be like predatory game, Bushmen had to be exterminated as a group. This was genocide.
What happened after the genocide?
Repression continued under South African rule from 1915 until independence in 1990, although it was less extreme. The possession of Bushman bows and arrows was made illegal. Bushmen were steadily dispossessed of their territory to make way for game reserves and settler farms.
As late as the 1970s, the administration was still thinking of relocating 30,000 Bushmen to the proclaimed artificially created Bushmanland, which constituted 2% of the territory they had once occupied.
The vast majority remained in their traditional areas now under the overlordship of settler farmers, where they sank into a situation of servitude. With Namibia’s independence, the situation worsened. New labour laws set a minimum wage, making it uneconomical to keep Bushmen workers. And many farmers switched to game farming or sold to black farmers who preferred to hire their kinsfolk.
The result was that Bushmen were forced into communal areas or peri-urban informal settlements, where they eke out a precarious living.
Where does this find these people today?
Bushmen are currently found in varying states of servitude, doing largely menial labour in the north and north-eastern regions, where they were once the ancestral inhabitants. The government is trying to assist Bushmen, mainly with welfare grants and a few overcrowded resettlement farms.
Search “Namibian Bushmen” on the internet and one is bombarded with glamourised images of Bushmen in traditional dress demonstrating hunting and tracking. Such narratives, largely the result of tourism boosters, reinforce the myth of the “pristine” Bushmen. The history of genocide and servitude is airbrushed out.
– Namibia’s forgotten genocide: how Bushmen were hunted and killed under German colonial rule – https://theconversation.com/namibias-forgotten-genocide-how-bushmen-were-hunted-and-killed-under-german-colonial-rule-261267
No Município de São Miguel, o Ministro das Infraestruturas realizou visita a obras em curso que visam melhorar a mobilidade e garantir habitação condigna.
É obra de construção e asfaltagem da estrada Igreja de São Miguel – Entroncamento de Cutelo Gomes, incluindo muros de suporte, pavimentação, valetas, passagens hidráulicas e sinalização. No plano apresentado pelo empreiteiro da obra, foram previstas medidas de contingência para a época das chuvas, assegurando a continuidade e segurança dos trabalhos.
Em Achada Bolanha, é obra de 14 habitações sociais em fase final, destinadas a famílias em situação de vulnerabilidade. As moradias, do tipo geminado, garantem mais conforto, dignidade e segurança.
O Governo de Cabo Verde continua a cumprir com São Miguel e Santiago Norte, com foco nas pessoas.
Distribuído pelo Grupo APO para Governo de Cabo Verde.
