Anyone who knows a South African will be amply aware that the country is currently undergoing economically ruinous rolling blackouts labeled ‘loadshedding.’ Even if you don’t know them, South Africans are liable to follow you down the street, foam-flecked and shouting about Eskom, the corruption-addled state power utility.
The loadshedding scandal is rooted in corruption. It’s only the most visible part of a historical tragedy: how the ruling African National Congress ...
Day: November 7, 2022
New Kenyan Government Releases Controversial Chinese Loan Agreements For Standard Gauge Railway
Kenya's new Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, rocked the political establishment in Nairobi over the weekend when he released the first details about the controversial multi-billion dollar loan from China to build the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Why Kenya Should Have Never Borrowed So Much Money From China to Build the Standard Gauge Railway
The Kenyan national television network KTN broadcast a scathing 10-minute mini-documentary on Sunday that detailed the controversial history of the Standard Gauge Railway and how the lack of proper due diligence set the project to fail from the start. The focal ...
Loan Revelations Spark New Confusion Over Whether Kenya’s Port of Mombasa Can Be Seized by China
There is renewed anxiety in Kenya over whether the Port the Mombasa is at risk of being seized by Chinese creditors in the event that the government fails to repay the loan for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Even Amid Debt Crisis, Kenya Still Wants to Extend SGR to Ugandan Border
The burgeoning fiscal crisis in Kenya is not dampening the government's ambition to extend the Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway from the Naivasha in the Rift Valley all the way to Kisumu near the border with Uganda. “This project will only make ...
Huawei Eyes Expansion in the DR Congo
A delegation of senior executives from Huawei's Africa division met on Friday with Congolese Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde at his office in Kinshasa to discuss "the DRC's digital development." No other details about the meeting were made available. Huawei is leaning ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
A Chinese Giant’s Complicity in South Africa’s Corruption Disaster
Why Sharif’s Recent Visit to Pakistan Wasn’t as Successful as Many Think
Dear Eric and Cobus, Because I know you all care deeply about this topic, I thought I’d share my take on the Pakistan-China relationship and what came out of PM Sharif’s recent Beijing trip. I’m saying this because I’ve got a ...