Africa Daily

The stated aim of the global charity International Justice Mission is commendable: rescue millions of people from being trafficked into forced labour by the year 2030. But in the Volta Lake region of Ghana, families claimed their children had been taken from them at gun point.. BBC Africa Eye, prompted by tip offs from local sources, decided to investigate and went undercover.

Riots spread from Paris to many French cities after the killing by police of Nahel M, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian origin. The unrest has been described as unprecedented in terms of scale and intensity. While the riots were sparked by the death of Nahel, it has also raised questions about race and poverty in France. So, what can the past two weeks tell us about life in the country?

“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.