Featured

This Friday 17-05-2013 on Al Jazeera’s new global talk show South 2 North, Redi Tlhabi interviews two remarkable African leaders: Joyce Banda, Malawi’s first female president, and Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, founder of Agang, South Africa’s new party political platform.

President Banda became only the second woman to lead an African country in April 2012, following the example of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Time Magazine recently named Banda one of the most influential people in the world, while Forbes called her the most powerful woman in Africa in 2012.

Ramphele, a former vice-chancellor at The University of…

Malawi’s President Joyce Banda has had 12 tumultuous months since she took office in April last year.

She has attempted to right Malawi’s economy by devaluing its currency, giving herself a 30 percent pay cut and proposed to offload a fleet of Mercs for her 35 member cabinet.

But the economy has continued to sputter despite the reforms although central bank Governor Peter Chuka has remained optimistic that the economy will start to stabilize from mid 2013.

Commodity prices have gone up and pushed inflation to 36.5 percent in March; higher than the IMF forecast.

Since she took over, the cost of living in urban Malawi for a family of six now needs…

MALAWI will lobby for the removal of the illegal Western sanctions regime that is affecting ordinary people, the nation’s President Dr Joyce Banda has said. Officially opening the 54th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair here

yesterday, Dr Banda said her country would “blow the trumpet”. “My visit to Zimbabwe has provided me with a rare opportunity to see what is emerging in Zimbabwe. “It gives hope to see that the destiny of Zimbabwe remains in the hands of Zimbabweans.

“We will march with you and the rest of us shall blow the trumpet: ‘lift sanctions, they are hurting…

Kenya Airways (KQ) has received approval from the government of Malawi that will see the airline operate between the capital Lilongwe and Lusaka in Zambia from June 3.

This is after it was given the Fifth Freedom Traffic Rights which allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline’s own country.

That means KQ will now have the unique role to pick up passengers in Lilongwe and drop them in Lusaka and vice versa.

Currently, Malawi has…

Construction of a multi-million dollar secondary school in Kasungu with funding from the Royal Jesuits of the Roman Catholic Church is progressing well, to the satisfaction of the church.

Loyola Jesuit Secondary School which will cost the Jesuits US$9 million is expected to enroll 500 students once completed in 2016.

The first phase of its construction is due to finish in 2014 and will be ready for its first intake of form 1 students.

Roman Catholic Church Jesuits Superior General Father Aldofo Nicholas expressed the sentiments…

You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!

by Field Ruwe

“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”

Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.

“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.

I…

Project by A.J. Walkley Background

Vuto is my third book and the premise was inspired by my experience as a health volunteer in the Peace Corps, stationed in Malawi, Africa. As a member of the Peace Corps, I was exposed to many cultural traditions I had never even heard of before, like the prospect of puberty rites and wife inheritance (when a husband dies and leaves behind his wife, she is usually “inherited” by his brother or another male family member).

A.J. Walkley with her…

Governments of Malawi and Mozambique on Wednesday signed three pacts in the areas of power, science and technology, and immigration and public security.

The signing of the agreements took place at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe after the visiting Mozambican President Armando Guebuza held bilateral talks with President Dr. Joyce Banda.

The two governments first signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in Scientific Technological and Innovation which was signed by Malawi Education Minister, Eunice Kazembe and Oldemiro Julio Marques Baloi,…

The president of Malawi, Mrs Joyce Banda (Dr), have created a facebook page to interact with Malawians and friends of Malawi.

While some have been reluctant to believe that the page is genuine, a good number of people still think it’s a “fake one”, there is a message on the page stating that it is an official page. It could be a very big disappointment to her many followers who are acting already like real fans with thousands of posts congratulating and encouraging her on the move.

The message on the page states: “I the President of…

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond accompanies President of Malawi Joyce Banda on a visit to the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire – one of many events to mark the 200th Anniversary of the birth of David Livingstone in Blantyre