Africa Daily

12 countries in Africa will receive 18 million doses of the RTS,S malaria vaccine in the coming days. The roll out will begin in the new year. The doses are injections for children between 5 months and 2 years old. Kenya, Ghana and Malawi have already been using the vaccine in a pilot programme since 2019, but in other countries - including Uganda, Mozambique and Cameroon - this will be new.So today, Africa Daily asks how parents view the vaccine – and about how the rollout is likely to go.

The South African singer and pianist Thandi Ntuli was surrounded by music as a child – her grandfather was a key part of the musical scene in Sophiatown, a suburb in Johannesburg known for its music. She now has a new album out called ‘Rainbow Revisited’ – referring to the term coined by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu “Rainbow Nation” to describe post-apartheid South Africa – a nation where its diverse people could live together in harmony, following years of racial segregation. Now – nearly thirty years on, with Victoria Uwonkunda, Thandi explores where that optimism has gone – and what hope there is for the future.

Today, Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje attempts to find out whose heritage is being preserved and whose is being sacrificed when we change the names of Africa’s roads, towns and cities. Zimbabwe for example, changed its name after independence from white minority rule in 1980. White people, however, remain very much part of that country. Neighbouring South Africa has also been doing away with public names associated with the apartheid regime. Some people are even calling for the nickname of the rugby national team, the Springboks, to be abolished because it represents “white supremacy”. Is this the way to go? Mpho is joined by Charlotte Ashamu, the Director of International Programs at Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, and Cameron Peters who runs Cape Town Heritage Tours.NOTE: edited to correct Charlotte's job title on 20th Nov 2023.

Sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where individuals perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud or coercion - often by those they know. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists say the UAE is a major destination for sex trafficking. African women are forced into prostitution by illicit networks operating in the country. BBC Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja speaks to Mary*, a survivor of human trafficking who courageously shared her story of how her life changed when she went from Nigeria to Dubai. He also speaks to the Director General of the Nigerian National Agency for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons - Fatima Waziri-Azi, for more insight on the scale of this problem in Nigeria.

“Those who are not killed are hiding”.Thousands of new refugees have crossed into Chad from Darfur in recent weeks - all describing scenes of horror as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, establish their dominance across the region in western Sudan.The RSF was created from the feared Janjaweed militia which destroyed villages and killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur in 2003 and 2004. Its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo - widely known as Hemedti - used to be a Janjaweed commander. Now the RSF is expected to take the capital city of north Darfur - Al Fashar - previously a safe haven for the non-Arab population. Around 50 thousand internally displaced people had already sought shelter there earlier in the war, prompting fears of an even greater humanitarian disaster.For today’s Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja gets the latest on the situation from Suliman Baldo of the Sudan Crisis Research Network as well as from Seif Nemir who managed to get his family out of the embattled city of El Geneina in June.

On the 16th of November, millions of people are expected to vote in the presidential election in Madagascar. Long-time political rivals Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana will take each other on, along with eleven other candidates. Rajoelina, the former DJ-turned-politician, rose to power back in 2009 when he replaced Ravalomana as head of state, following a bloodless coup. Madagascar is among the poorest nations in the world. The percentage of the population living below the national poverty line rose from 72% in 2012 to 75% in 2022, according to the World Bank. Africa Daily's Alan Kasujja has been looking at what's at stake in this election.

“Divorces were happening on these cassette tapes… And the messenger wouldn't know that there had been a divorce recorded on this cassette tape, so when they got to the partner and offered them the cassette tape and it was played they were the unwilling participant in this divorce.” Nowadays we’re so linked up - via whatsapp, email, phone calls. But how did people stay connected in the days before the mobile phone? In Somalia – from the 1970s to 90s –the cassette tape was a crucial tool for sending messages – especially to family members who had fled to other countries after war broke out. Letter tapes were used for verbal love letters, regular family updates, to plan political resistance – and even as a means of divorce. Now a Somali feminist art group called Dhaqan Collective (@DhaqanC) - based in Bristol in South West England - is using these tapes as a way to explore Somali history and culture in a project called Camel Meat & Cassette Tapes. They’ve also used cassettes as a vehicle to encourage young Somalis to record interviews with their older family members – and so to connect with their history and traditions. For Africa Daily, Mpho Lakaje speaks with two members of the collective.With thanks to producer @layla_mood

Last month a ‘controlled spillage’ was conducted at the Akosombo and Kpong hydro-electric dams near the southern tip of Lake Volta.But for those living downstream it felt anything but controlled; rather residents described sudden and massive floods which took water levels to the rooftops of their houses – destroying homes in minutes which had taken them years to build.Around 26,000 people were left homeless. With water levels still high, any thoughts of rebuilding are for the future and for now the priority remains survival. The authorities say that unpredictable and heavy rains caused by climate change significantly increased the volume of water in the two dams – and that Akosombo dam had reached the maximum safe operational level. They say without the release of the water the dam could have burst creating an even greater disaster.But many local people are critical with how the situation has been handled.For Africa Daily, Victoria Uwonkunda reports.

On yesterday’s episode, Alan heard that the traffic in Lagos has become unbearable for many people. Hours spent in gridlock mean that some people aren’t spending enough time at home for a good night’s sleep. For years, commuters have been promised a new train service linking the island with the suburbs where many people live. It finally launched in September and has been a huge hit. Alan took the train for a evening commute to find out whether it is meeting expectations and can continue to match demand.#AfricaDaily

If you are visiting Lagos, you’ll likely be away for the traffic long before you arrive. People are eager to warn you about the gridlocked roads when they find out you’re travelling there. For commuters in the city, it has been an ongoing problem for years. Journeys that should take just an hour, can sometimes take over five hours. And some people have to miss out on sleep to make enough time for the commute. So, it’s no surprise that people are looking for any shortcut, even if that means stepping foot off dry land. Could boat travel be one of the answers to the travel woes in Lagos?#AfricaDaily