By Busani Bafana

Zimbabwe’s challenge is to change people’s attitudes about sanitation and hygiene. / Busani Bafana/IPS

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Apr 20 (IPS) – Government and sanitation experts say Zimbabwe needs to increase efforts to promote good hygiene and invest in toilets and clean water provision, as the country grapples with a typhoid outbreak.

The country [...]

Kristin Palitza interviews NICKY NEWTON-KING, the first female chief executive officer of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange CEO Nicky Newton-King. / Kristin Palitza/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 17 (IPS) – More than three years after the start of the global economic crisis, which has had a considerable impact on African trade, investments [...]

By Busani Bafana

Bulawayo only has a 20-month supply of water left if the seasonal rains do not come. / Busani Bafana/IPS

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Apr 17 (IPS) – Residents of Zimbabwe's water-scarce city, Bulawayo, are concerned about the government’s slow response to finding a permanent source of water to cover their needs.

In March the city [...]

By Claire Ngozo

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world: 74 percent of the population here lives on less than 1.25 dollars a day. / Claire Ngozo/IPS

LILONGWE, Apr 15 (IPS) – She has been in office for less than a week but Malawi’s, and the region’s, first female president, Joyce Banda, has [...]

By Katie Lin

On Jul. 20, 2011, the peaceful country of Malawi broke out into nationwide anti-government protests. / Katie Lin/IPS

BLANTRYE, Malawi, Apr 13 (IPS) – As Malawians celebrate Joyce Banda’s appointment as president on sites, like Facebook and Twitter, the increased use of social media in Malawi comes full circle as her new government [...]

By Kristin Palitza

Recycling cooperative member Andiswa Konco sorts garbage. / Kristin Palitza/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 11 (IPS) – Nokwanda Sotyantya sits among heaps of garbage and patiently sorts through it, separating cardboard, plastic, glass, paper and metal, piece by piece. The recycled piles of trash are then weighed and sold to packaging [...]

By Claire Ngozo

Malawi’s Army Commander General Henry Odillo hands over the presidential sword to President Joyce Banda at her swearing in ceremony. / Claire Ngozo/IPS

LILONGWE, Apr 8 (IPS) – It would be too simplistic to think that Malawi’s problems have ended with the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. But it is an opportunity [...]

By Ravi Kanth Deverakonda

Industrialised countries have voiced their unhappiness with theUNCTAD's policy advice to developing nations. / Einberger/argum/EED/IPS

GENEVA, Apr 6 (IPS) – Industrialised countries have mounted an unprecedented campaign to stop the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from providing policy advice to the poorest countries in Africa and across the globe.

As UNCTAD [...]

Marcolino Moro, a member of Angola's ruling party, is concerned about the country’s stability. Credit:Kristin Palitza/IPS

By Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 4, 2012 (IPS) – Angola is celebrating 10 years of peace on Apr. 4. Since the end of its 27-year- long civil war in 2002, the country’s economy has prospered thanks to [...]

By Louise Redvers
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 3, 2012 (IPS) – South Africa needs to stop agonising over whether it deserves to be in BRICS and start focusing on making the most of its membership to leverage better trade deals.
That is the message from business leaders and academics following last week’s BRICS summit in New
Delhi, which brought together [...]

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda

The G20 is not representative of the WTO because the poorest countries have no say in setting the trade agenda. / Kim Cloete/IPS

GENEVA, Apr 2 (IPS) – Trade ministers of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – say that at the G20 trade ministerial summit later [...]

By Lee Middleton
 

South Africa's nine provinces will begin phasing out provision of free formula to HIV-positive mothers and implement a new policy on breast-feeding. / Nastasya Tay/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Apr 1 (IPS) – South Africa’s nine provinces will begin phasing out provision of free formula to HIV-positive mothers and implement a new policy on [...]

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
GENEVA, Mar 30 (IPS) – Brazil and South Africa have experienced a widespread contraction of their manufacturing industries, with the latter suffering massive unemployment as well, thanks to the rampant volatility and misalignment of dominant global currencies like the dollar, trade experts from the two countries say.

South Africa's unstable exchange rate made [...]

By Servaas van den Bosch

Rail networks in Africa remain underdeveloped only 10 percent of transport goes via rail. Here a train crossing the Namib Desert. / Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 29 (IPS) – South Africa’s membership of the bloc of leading emerging economies and its unique position in Africa heralded the country’s role [...]

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
GENEVA, Mar 24 (IPS) – Trade envoys of India, Brazil, and South Africa have warned industrialised countries not to hijack the Doha multilateral trade negotiations by adopting the controversial plurilateral approach to liberalise trade in services.

A plurilateral agreement allows member countries to voluntarily agree to new rules. In contrast, in a multilateral [...]