Africa Daily

“I just wish the governments of South Africa and Lesotho would come together and help us to get the bodies” In May, 31 people believed to be illegal miners died in a gas explosion at an abandoned shaft in the Free State province of South Africa. The authorities have been trying to retrieve their remains, but high levels of methane gas is making it difficult to get them. Their relatives, who are from Lesotho, have been waiting in South Africa for two months, hoping to get an update on their loved ones. Illegal mining has been a big problem over the years, with criminals targeting sealed shafts which still have plenty of gold. They extract it before selling it on the black market, a multi-million dollar industry controlled by sophisticated criminal syndicates. Scores of illegal miners have died since the dawn of South Africa’s democracy, either in underground accidents or in territorial battles among themselves. Presenter: Mpho Lakaje Guests: Mohao Mojewa and David van Wyk

Should there be a ban on the importation of the body parts of wild animals, like lion pelts, elephant tusks or zebra hides into Britain?That’s a question currently being considered by British lawmakers. Cases like Cecil the Lion - killed by an American dentist in Zimbabwe - have raised concern about the practice worldwide – and the image of white foreigners killing African wildlife disturbs many people. But the leaders of some African countries argue that trophy hunting can be GOOD for the environment. Botswana’s environment minister Philda Nani Kereng has been leading a delegation of officials from southern Africa to plead with lawmakers not to pass the law, or at least to make some amendments to it.Botswana has a population of 150,000 elephants, the largest anywhere in the world.So what are the arguments surrounding trophy hunting? PRESENTER: Alan @kasujjaGUESTS: Philda Nani Kereng, Botswana’s Environment Minister. Polson Majaga, a member of Botswana’s parliament representing a community heavily reliant on proceeds from trophy hunting. Henry Smith, the British MP sponsoring the bill.

Across Africa there are moves afoot to toughen laws against the gay community.In May, President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill – giving Uganda some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world.But now Ghana’s and Kenya’s parliaments are due to soon start debating even tougher legislation. Just after the Ugandan bill was passed, MPs from a number of countries across the continent attended a networking conference in Entebbe sponsored by the socially conservative US Mormon pressure group ‘Family Watch International’.One of them was the MP behind the Kenyan bill, George Peter Kaluma.The BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga spoke to him.

“Women are not used to being open to being 100% themselves and doing what they love…. We’re still building an industry”What are the main challenges facing female Hip Hop artists on the continent? Today Africa Daily heads to Senegal to speak to two artists – Aida Sock and Sister LB (Selbe Diouf) – about the challenges they’ve faced and their hopes for the future of the industry. They also talk about their willingness to take risks in speaking truth to power.

For young people lucky enough to go into higher education, long hours of study are put in with the anticipation of a better job and life prospects. But finding work after leaving university isn’t guaranteed. In South Africa, graduate unemployment stands at 32%. Julius Malema, leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters, has suggested a stipend for unemployed graduates. And in Namibia, where more than 20% of graduates are out of work, one university is teaching courses to encourage entrepreneurship. So, could these be part of the solution to graduate unemployment?

The Uganda Wildlife Court began its work in 2017 because of concerns that crimes against wild animals weren’t getting the attention they deserved in the country’s criminal courts. Uganda has historically been known as trading hub for wildlife and its products in east Africa. But is the court achieving what it set out to? Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja spoke to it’s Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanya to find out more about the court’s work and why safeguarding Uganda’s wild animals is so important to her.

The term black tax is used to describe the financial burden borne by many black people who have achieved a noticeable level of success and find themselves providing support to less secure family members. It’s a dynamic that can play out between people in the same city, or between family living on different continents. It’s a topic that divides opinion. Is it a way to give an opportunity to those still trying to find their feet? Or is it a burden on young people trying to make their way in the world

“The next building block should have been economic freedom. However, it is not his (Mandela’s) fault that it was not done. It is the fault of the generation that followed him” In today’s episode, Alan Kasujja sits down with Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela. They discuss a variety of issues including things the world probably doesn’t know about the global icon, his political thinking and how he felt about the state of South Africa. They also interrogate claims that Mandela ‘sold out’ by prioritizing racial reconciliation at the expense of economic freedom for the black majority. This conversation forms part of a short series on Africa’s intellectuals like Thomas Sankara, Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kaunda. Yesterday Alan spoke to Kwame Nkrumah’s daughter, Samia Nkrumah. Check it out if you haven’t had a chance to listen to it.

“The thoughts, the theories, the ideas are there. But how to reach them, we have to come up with our own method and strategy. And I think one of them is that we badly need consensus on what needs to be done. The time now is for consensus building.”In today’s episode, Alan Kasujja sits down with Samia Nkrumah, the daughter of legendary Ghanaian politician, Kwame Nkrumah. They will be discussing the political icon’s leadership style, his philosophy and personal life. They will also be drawing parallels between the struggles faced by Africans today and those who lived through past decades. Nkrumah, who is celebrated for leading Ghana to independence in the late 1950s, is one of a number of intellectual giants Africa produced in recent history. Others include Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo of Namibia and Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta. Alan will continue the conversation around Africa's visionary leaders with Ndileka Mandela, Nelson Mandela's granddaughter, in tomorrow’s episode.

This weekend eligible voters in Sierra Leone will be casting their ballots up and down the country to decide whether to re-elect President Maada Bio or elect a new president. President Bio’s main challenger is Samura Kamara from the opposition APC party once again. He came a very close second in 2018’s presidential election. It’s an election which comes at a time when Sierra Leone has been dealing with economic challenges which have made life almost unbearable for so many there. The campaign season has also been marred by a rising number of violent incidents and there are fears that tensions could boil over in this election. So, for a look at the ins and outs of the election season, Alan Kasujja spoke to journalist Umaru Fofana in the capital, Freetown.