Guest: Prof Yogan Pillay is the director for HIV and TB delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guest: Goolam Ballim: Chief Economist, Standard Bank Group

Guest: Mr Ismail Momoniat: National Treasury advisor

 

 

Guest: Dr. Thabo Mashongoane: CEO of the National Mining Sector Education and Training Authority

 

 

Guest: Chad Thomas: Director, IRS Forensic Investigations

 

Guest: Busisiwe Mavuso: CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA)

 

 

Guest: Sophie Mokoena: SABC International News Editor

 

 

Afrika Update Report

21 February 2025

 

1. USA- Rwanda – DR Congo

Treasury Sanctions Rwandan Minister and Senior Militant for Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on James Kabarebe (Kabarebe), Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration.

Kabarebe is central to Rwanda’s support for the March 23 Movement (M23), a U.S.- and United Nations (UN)-designated armed group that has rapidly expanded its territorial control in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and is responsible for human rights abuses.

OFAC is also sanctioning Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston (Kanyuka), an M23 and Congo River Alliance senior member and spokesperson, alongside two of Kanyuka’s companies registered in the U.K. and France.

 

2.Niger- Niamey

Commission recommends 5-year transition period to civilian rule

A commission in junta-led Niger has recommended a five-year transition timeframe back to civilian rule. Back in 2023 when the military seized power ousting Mohamed Bazoum, the junta suggested three years for the transition, which ECOWAS rejected.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso left the bloc after political disagreements.

 

3.Madagascar- Antananarivo

 Journalist Detained On False News Charge Over Facebook Post

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Malagasy authorities to immediately release investigative journalist Fernand Cello, who has been in detention since his January 29 arrest over a Facebook post about President Andry Rajoelina.

On January 30, a judge charged Cello with spreading false news and undermining national security and placed him in pretrial detention in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo's Antanimora prison, one of Cello's relatives told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.

 

4.European Union- Zimbabwe

EU removes final sanctioned entity from Zimbabwe list, retains oversight

The European Union (EU) has lifted its asset freeze on the state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), the last remaining entity on its targeted sanctions list.

This decision concludes a phased removal of restrictions that began after their initial imposition in 2002.

The original sanctions, implemented following the expulsion of the EU’s chief election observer during the Robert Mugabe presidency, have been progressively eased. With the removal of ZDI, no Zimbabwean entities or individuals are currently subject to direct EU sanctions.

 

5.In our historical archives , it was on this day 21 February 1924 when the late Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born at the Kutama Mission village in Southern Rhodesia's Zvimba District and it was also on this day 21 February 1965 when African American civil rights leader Malcolm X was assassinated inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York.

 

Guest: Juan Hanekom: national director of the South African Motor Body Repairers’ Association (SAMBRA)

 

Guest: Prof. Susan Booysen: political Analyst 

 

 

Guest: Roland Henwood: Political Scientist And Commentator University of Pretoria