“This was on another level, but a typical Nigerian wedding is usually big, bold, and rich in tradition and culture - it's a show of our heritage.”

When Tanzanian music star Juma Jux married Nigerian influencer Priscilla Ojo, the hashtag #JP2025 took over social media feeds across Africa and beyond. Their lavish Lagos wedding had flamboyant fashion, a 15-foot cake entrance, and a celebrity-filled guestlist. It became one of the continent's most talked-about weddings.

But in times of economic hardship for many, it also raises deeper questions: What do these extravagant weddings reveal about culture, class, and celebration in Africa today?

Mpho Lakaje speaks to Nigerian content creator Anyanwu Chioma, known online as AnChi Vibes, and Tanzanian journalist Meenah Ally, who were both at the wedding.

In January 2024, protests erupted across Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa as Kenyans demanded justice for women killed in a wave of femicides.

The government promised action, launching a 90 day task force to deliver recommendations to President William Ruto.

But that deadline has long passed and there’s still no clear plan.

”It has been a week and a half since we heard that Joseph Kabila was leaving South Africa for DRC. Since then, however, we haven’t heard much more about whether he arrived in Goma” - Goma resident.

Last week the news that former President Joseph Kabila had returned to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo grabbed the attention of the world’s media. But why has his presence in that part of the country been such a hot topic, even against the backdrop of a potential, imminent deal between the governments of the DRC and Rwanda?

Today on the podcast, Alan Kasujja speaks to the BBC’s Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa, Erik Kennes, a senior research fellow for the Africa Programme, while our reporter Ikaba Koyi gets opinions from residents in Goma.

“I can see that president Trump is trying to play some kind of a chess [game] to put the other nations in the context of a prisoner’s dilemma to say, okay, if I do this, what happens? If I do that, what happens?” - Professor Gowokani Chijere Chirwa, University of Malawi

His second tenure at the White House has been marred by controversial Executive Orders and heated exchanges with foreign governments.

“This generation of storytellers are ageing. Our elders are ageing. I am the one who needs to start this preservation process — at least in my family,” says Hana Baba, a Sudanese-American journalist and podcaster.

The relationship between Algeria and France - often sensitive, sometimes strained, but usually restrained - has soured horribly in recent weeks.

“South Africa is known for championing human rights using diplomacy to bring all parties together. But it’s not as simple as that” - Thelela Ngcetane-Vika of the Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital Pretoria today.

The two are expected to discuss the on-going war in Europe, trade and several other issues.

This comes a few days after Ramaphosa had a telephone conversation with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin about the conflict.

Today, Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja attempts to understand if the southern African nation has what it takes to help end the conflict which started in February 2022.

Some political observers argue that it will be a tricky assignment for Ramaphosa, considering his close proximity to Putin.

Relations between Russia and South Africa date back to the years of apartheid, when the then Soviet Union threw its weight behind black liberation movements.

“Our goal is to... silence the guns.”

“We’ve had a pope who was able to grasp and understand the problems in third world countries.”

In 2023 Pope Francis showed his commitment to Africa by visiting two countries riven by conflict: the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to celebrate him in Kinshasa. But his decision was not a surprising choice – given that he’d made social justice and the rights of the poor and suffering central to his papacy.

So when the news of his death was announced yesterday, it was greeted by African Catholics with both sadness, but also prayers of thanks for his life.

For today’s Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja hears from two Congolese people who met the pope as students, Mpongo Simon and Christine Mwanini, and speaks to Father Desmond Nair, a Catholic Priest of the Archdiocese of Durban, South Africa.

Think about your favourite foods… the dishes you eat to make you happy. Are they traditional African foods - like vegetables, fresh fruits, roots, tubers, nuts, beans, and staple whole grains? Foods like Pap, Fufu or Ugali? Or are you thinking about a burger or deep fried chicken and chips from your favourite fast food shop?

A new small-scale study found that when participants switched from a western diet to the traditional Kilimanjaro diet, their health markers improved in as little as two weeks. The researchers say they believe traditional foods from throughout the continent could have a similar impact.

So could the ‘African Heritage Diet’ be the new Mediterranean diet which helps us all get healthier?

Today on the podcast, Mpho Lakaje speaks with the team from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College which conducted the research: Dr Godfrey Temba, an expert in nutrition, and members of his research team, Dr. Mary Mosha and Dr Vesla Kullaya.