Electrifying
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced efforts to break the hold of Eskom on the South African electricity sector this week.
In his state of the union address, Mr Ramaphosa highlighted a
far-reaching plan to liberalize the electricity industry. That could help address chronic energy shortages and ease dependence on the national power company, which is stricken with $30 billion of debt. He also pledged spending cuts and greater control over the state wage bill.
Fuel Scarcity in Liberia
Liberia is facing a situation most Nigerians are intimately familiar with i.e. a chronic fuel shortage. The West African country is marking one month since a chronic petrol shortage hit the country.
According to reports, the streets are deserted (queue the tumbleweed) with petrol stations the only hubs of activity as people wait in vain for a chance to buy the precious liquid. As a result, people are staying home from work and students are not going to school because of the absence of public transport.
On Ice
Portugal has frozen the accounts of Africa’s richest woman Isabel dos Santos over allegations of embezzlement and corruption as discussed in previous issues. The public prosecutor’s office in Lisbon said that dozens of personal and corporate accounts belonging to Isabel dos Santos and her husband were the subject of a seizure order.
Burundi’s Buried Past
Burundi’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found
more than 6,000 bodies in six mass graves in Karusi Province, the largest finding since the government launched a nationwide excavation in January.
The commission chairman Pierre Claver Ndayicariye told journalists on Friday that the remains of 6,032 victims as well as thousands of bullets were recovered.
Burundi’s civil war - which killed 300,000 people, ended in 2005.