Forbes Africa

Three weeks into the new year and it already feels like a news year - from the sweat-inducing blackouts scourging a major African economy steeped in an electricity crisis, to the freezing white Alps where the climate was of bringing countries and companies to book for climate change. The editorial exigencies and redrafting of the 2023 script that this has all already led to brings into our colloquial lexicon yet another slang word recently doing the rounds, especially in South African media - gatvol - meaning‘completely fed up’. The corruption, the crime, the governance issues… the fury and frustrations are being rattled off one after another in the dark hours of a debilitating power crisis gripping South Africa. Businesses are shutting down, people are looking for alternative energy sources and there is all-round…

When I was packing my bags to leave South Africa at the end of November 2022, the country was going through political lobbying and hobnobbing that seemed to be far more fragmented than I had witnessed from my first visit in 2004. As I had predicted in 2004/5 and have spoken and written about for years, the time for true democracy in the country has come. This is not about any one individual or event, but history is evidence that nations emerging from any oppression or a change in system take time through disillusionment, to cast their old beliefs/ misplaced loyalties and embrace change. The greatest example of this political change was seen in India that has gone through a very similar transition in its political system after 1947. The Indian…

From soap operas to sipping (and selling) wine, Mbalenhle Mavimbela rose to popularity in South Africa in 2020 with streaming platform Showmax airing the telenovela, The Wife, based on Dudu Busani-Dube’s book series Hlomu the Wife. Mavimbela, who plays the lead as Hlomu, chats to FORBES AFRICA about how she was never prepared for the reception and fandom the show gave her, and also her role as a spirited entrepreneur off-screen: Q. The Wife has been received well and has everyone hooked every Thursday. How has your own life changed since its inception? A. This was literally my breakout role, also [in] just realizing that this role [brought] more of a healing process for South Africans, both men and women. It has changed my life but also clearly the lives of others…

Less than four months after the first case was confirmed in Uganda’s central Mubende district on September 20 last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the country has declared the end of the Ebola disease outbreak caused by the Sudan ebolavirus. The health department in the country has said this has all been due to robust work in the communities. The last patient was released from care on November 30 when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began. From the 164 reported Ebola cases (142 confirmed and 22 probable), there were 55 confirmed deaths and 87 recovered patients. According to WHO, more than 4,000 people who came in contact with confirmed cases were followed up and their health monitored for 21 days, which left the casefatality…

In January, South Africa’s Department of Health announced the country’s first case of the new Covid-19 Omicron sub-variant, XBB.1.5. According to Bloomberg, Maria Van Kerkhove, a Covid-19 technical lead at the World’s Health Organization (WHO), called XBB.1.5 "the most transmissible sub-variant” detected so far in the pandemic. Despite Japan, USA, Brazil, and South Korea leading with new infections, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa stated that it is not known if the severity of infection will be different to other Omicron sublineages. "Due to the widespread circulation of other Omicron sublineages,” NCID said in a statement, "and the overall high population immunity in South Africa, the introduction of XBB.1.5 in South Africa may not necessarily result in a large wave of infections.”…

In February, regarded the month of love, we take a look at a recent 2023 United States study that shows that Valentine’s Day is worth over $27 billion. From jewelry to teddy bears, from movie dates to traveling to exotic beaches, the study shows that people still love love. In South Africa, a 2021 survey by Picodi also proved that the day is very expensive, with 86% of South Africans stating they celebrate Valentine’s Day and about 85% saying that they will spend on their partner. In South Africa, the most popular Valentine’s Day gift (no surprise) is flowers. The least-popular are board games and food on delivery.…