Issue 56

ISSUE 56

A far from bright future 

A far from bright future 

More people in Africa live without electricity than anywhere else and there is little hope things will change soon When it comes to access to energy, Africa’s figures are noticeably unimpressive....

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The struggle to keep pace

The struggle to keep pace

Africa's collective electricity supply is bedevilled by weak legal frameworks and regional rivalry An estimated 580 million Africans lack access to electricity, three quarters of the global total....

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Power for the people

Power for the people

Africa’s energy deficit requires a multi-layered approach Africa faces a gigantic energy challenge. Latest estimates are that on the continent 600 million people, virtually all residing in sub-Saharan Africa and amounting to more than half the population, still don’t...

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A very expensive white elephant

A very expensive white elephant

The Stiegler’s Gorge project is a 48-year-old folly that will not deliver the energy security that President John Magufuli seems convinced it will Every aspirant dictator seems to want at least one Soviet-style mega-project to their name. It is almost as if the construction of a white elephant will validate the personality cult that they invariably build for themselves. The Stiegler’s Gorge hydropower project in Tanzania is...

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BOOK REVIEWS

Book review

Book review

The Political Economy of Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa Edited by Andrew Emmanuel Okem and Lucky E Asuelime. Routledge, London and New York; 2018 In pre-industrial society, one used wood and fire for heat and light, gathering wood from the environment on a more or less sustainable basis. But industrialisation has made energy an issue of state, and if states fail to procure and provide energy to vast populations, poverty, disease and death await.  Access to electricity, in the 21st century, is about as important as access to food, shelter, health and employment, and plays a significant role in securing access to these basic conditions of life itself. Access is a critical factor in improving life chances, in escaping poverty, and a hundred years after electricity came into general...

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The Zimbabwean nightmare and tragic optimism of Mutambara

The Zimbabwean nightmare and tragic optimism of Mutambara

To mention Zimbabwe and the idea of a “dream” in the same sentence, as Professor Arthur Mutambara has done, is to be provocative and challenging. The provocation and the challenge come from the troubling Zimbabwean economic and political condition that can only be...

Book review – An action page-turner with academic precision 

Book review – An action page-turner with academic precision 

Hitmen for hire: Exposing South Africa’s underworld, Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2017  In September 2022 the Global Initiative (GI) Against Transnational Organized Crime released a strategic assessment of the existential threat to South Africa that is organised crime....

Shaping Africa’s Post-Covid Recovery

Shaping Africa’s Post-Covid Recovery

Book Review  Shaping Africa's Post-Covid Recovery Edited by Rabah Arezki, Simeon Djankov and Ugo Panizza Published by Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2021   With most of the world still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, different regions face unique...

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