July 28, 2026

Chisom Aruba

Africa Now

Who gains when South Africa chases out Africans?

Every few years, South Africa turns on the Africans living inside it. It happened in 2008, when more than 60 people were killed and tens of thousands were driven from their homes. It happened again in 2015. And in 2019, when mobs burnt foreign-owned shops around Johannesburg. It is happening right now, in 2026, and

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Builders

Johann Rupert: Africa’s second-richest man crosses $20 billion mark

Johann Rupert, the South African luxury magnate, has become the second African to cross $20 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after a rally in his Swiss group Richemont and his investment company Remgro’s move to take control of Mediclinic’s 50 hospitals lifted his fortune to a record. Only Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person for

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Africa Now

South Africa gets $1 billion loan from BRICS Bank to rescue its failing cities

The New Development Bank (NDB), the lender created by the BRICS group, has approved a loan of up to $1 billion to upgrade urban infrastructure across South Africa’s eight metropolitan municipalities, the bank said on June 17. The money will fund water, sanitation, electricity and solid waste services for more than 22 million residents in

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Explainers

Nigeria’s ₦3.3trn power sector debt, and why Nigerians may remain in darkness

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu recently approved ₦3.3 trillion to clear its power sector debt. That is roughly $2 billion. It sounds like a breakthrough. It is not, at least not on its own. To understand why, you need to understand how Nigeria’s electricity system actually works, why the debt piled up in the first place,

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Builders

Silas Adekunle built a robot, then Apple came calling

Silas Adekunle used to black out his entire apartment block. Not on purpose, or at least, not exactly. As a child in Osun State, Nigeria, he conducted ambitious electronics experiments that tripped the power supply and knocked out the lights for every flat in the building. The neighbours complained. His parents didn’t quite know what

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Power & Wealth

The Alliance of Sahel States confronts US govt in Washington

The Alliance of Sahel States, a defense pact and confederation formed by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, recently sent one of its most direct messages yet to the President Donald Trump administration – we are open to doing business with you, but on our terms. Mali’s ambassador to the United States, Sékou Berthe, on March

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Power & Wealth

Nigeria secures $1 Billion UK port deal, but at what cost?

Nigeria and the UK have agreed to a £746 million ($990 million) export finance deal to redevelop the Lagos Port Complex and TinCan Island Port Complex, two ports that together handle more than 70 per cent of Nigeria’s cargo trade, Reuters reports. The deal was signed during President Bola Tinubu‘s state visit to Britain, and

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Explainers

What Nigeria’s Senate rejection of real-time transmission of results means

The recent rejection of real-time transmission of election results by Nigeria’s Senate has stirred public debate and disappointment. Many had hoped that the amendment to the Electoral Act would make the electronic transmission of results mandatory, especially following criticisms of the 2023 election’s transparency. However, the Senate’s decision has left the law as it stands,

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Tech Africa Now

Elon Musk warns “WhatsApp is not secure,” as Meta faces privacy lawsuit

Elon Musk has reignited the privacy fight around Meta-owned WhatsApp, posting on X that the messaging app “is not secure” and urging people to use X Chat instead.  His comment followed fresh whistleblower-linked claims and a lawsuit that challenges WhatsApp’s long-running pitch that end-to-end encryption keeps messages private from the company itself. DON’T MISS THIS:

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Africa Now

Rabiu to pay Super Eagles $500,000 pledge despite AFCON semi-final exit

Nigerian billionaire and BUA Group chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu, says he will still pay the Super Eagles the $500,000 incentive he previously promised, even after the national team’s defeat to Morocco in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Prior to the game, Rabiu had pledged to gift the Nigeria’s national team the

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