Latest news with #Angolan
The South African
20 hours ago
- Sport
- The South African
Orlando Pirates set to axe five more senior players!
Five Orlando Pirates senior players face a nervy wait at the club over the next month. The Buccaneers are set to enter a new chapter next season and a number of sweeping changes are expected. Pirates have already parted ways with captain Innocent Maela and midfielder Miguel Timm. New reports suggest however that more exits are looming in Mayfair! READ MORE • Orlando Pirates beat Kaizer Chiefs to star PSL signing! READ MORE • English club enter race to sign Orlando Pirates and Bafana star! According to the latest transfer gossip, five more players could soon be shown the door at the Buccaneers. Katlego Otladisa and Angolan winger Gilberto look set to be offloaded by the club after being loaned out last season, as per Soccer Laduma . Furthermore, the futures of midfielders Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo and Siphelo Baloni are also under the microscope at Orlando Pirates. Finally, Monnapule Saleng is also tipped to leave the club after tumultuous 2024/25 season in Mayfair. Orlando Pirates are also however expected to make a host of key new signings. Some of the players linked with blockbuster moves to the club include Sihle Nduli, Masindi Nemtajela, Sinoxolo Kwayiba and Tshepo Mashiloane. The club are also expected to make a big announcement regarding their new head coach. This comes after Spanish tactician Jose Riveiro left the club, to join Egyptian giants READ MORE • Pirates sign another Betway Premiership star! Who else should Orlando Pirates allow to leave and sign ahead of next season? Let us know by clicking on the comment tab below this article or by emailing info@ or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. You can also follow @ TheSAnews on X and The South African on Facebook for the latest news.
The South African
20 hours ago
- Sport
- The South African
Orlando Pirates transfer news: Four more players to leave?
Are Orlando Pirates finished releasing players? Not a chance. Miguel Timm and Innocent Maela's departures last week are expected to be followed by additional names. Former coach Jose Riveiro successfully recruited new talent from the DStv Diski Challenge (DDC), while Orlando Pirates have also made two new signings. According to reports, the Buccaneers are likely to say goodbye to four more players: Gilberto, Katlego Otladisa, Siphelo Baloni, and Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo. Kaizer Chiefs news: Amakhosi bosses and Morris Orlando Pirates team against Stellenbosch FC at the Orlando Stadium. Image: Goal Zimbabwean attacker to Orlando Pirates? Soccer Laduma have said: 'Angolan winger Gilberto, who left the club on loan in January, is unlikely to have his stay extended, while Katlego Otladisa, who has struggled for game time and was loaned to Sekhukhune United, could also be among those set to leave. 'Midfielders Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo and Siphelo Baloni are also understood to be facing uncertain futures at the club, as the club is evaluating who fits into the plans for the long term. 'While the full list of departures is yet to be confirmed, it's clear that the winds of change are sweeping through the Bucs camp, with more announcements expected in the coming days as preparations intensify for the new season,' the report added. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
2 days ago
- Health
- IOL News
Angola's crossroads: Can the Lobito Corridor deliver prosperity without sacrificing public health?
Bayethe Msimang With Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo rich in natural resources, the corridor offers a vital gateway for mineral exports, crucially improving access to international markets, writes Bayethe Msimang Image: IOL The Lobito Corridor, a transformative transnational infrastructure project, is taking shape along the Atlantic coast of Angola. This ambitious initiative, connecting Angola to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is more than just a blueprint. It is a testament to Africa's determination for regional integration, mineral mobility, and economic transformation. The potential benefits of this corridor, such as increased trade and economic growth, cannot be overlooked. Yet, as the corridor advances through Angola's heartland, slicing across five of its most impoverished provinces, the promise of prosperity faces an uncomfortable truth: development without safeguards can deepen inequality, unravel communities, and cost lives. Touted as a flagship initiative by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in its 2025 Annual Development Effectiveness Review, the Lobito Corridor is positioned as a logistical artery for the continent—a route to reroute exports, attract investment, and reduce the time it takes to move copper and cobalt from the mineral-rich interiors to global markets. With more than $1.6 billion in investment from the United States, and the European Union, it embodies the modern gospel of infrastructure-led growth. But in Angola's Benguela, Bié, Huambo, Moxico, and Moxico Leste provinces, where the railway snakes through dense forests and forgotten villages, the lived reality is starkly different. In many of these provinces, health services are either overstretched or virtually absent. The World Health Organization has flagged that fewer than 40% of births in some areas are attended by trained professionals. Infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis remain widespread, while testing and treatment rates are abysmally low. Hospitals are underequipped, understaffed, and, in some cases, nonexistent. Some areas have fewer than one hospital bed per 10,000 people. In such a context, the corridor's surge in migration, construction, and commercial activity threatens to tip an already strained health system into full collapse. According to a detailed risk analysis by the WHO and public health researchers, five primary dangers accompany the corridor's growth: overburdened health infrastructure, disease transmission, environmental degradation, social displacement, and a rise in transport-related injuries. One could easily add a sixth: the unequal distribution of benefits. While foreign investors and national elites reap profits, local communities bear the brunt of pollution, land dispossession, and exploitative labor. The corridor, in short, risks becoming a steel-framed paradox: a route to riches that bypasses the poor. Yet this outcome is not preordained. Angolan and its partners have an opportunity to turn the Lobito Corridor into a beacon of sustainable and inclusive development. To do that, infrastructure must be planned with health, not merely freight, in mind. This corridor is not just about goods moving from east to west, is the sentiment of public health workers in Luanda. It's also about people about girls walking to school, about mothers giving birth, about workers breathing clean air. If those stories are missing from the planning tables, we're building a corridor of exploitation. Already, warning signs are emerging. Along the Moxico route, air and water pollution from unregulated mining runoff has begun seeping into rivers used by local farmers and families. Temporary settlements mushrooming around construction zones have brought a spike in gender-based violence and child exploitation, mirroring patterns seen in other "boomtown" corridors across the continent. Meanwhile, traffic accidents—particularly involving heavy trucks and makeshift crossings—are on the rise, overwhelming rudimentary emergency services. The African Development Bank's report acknowledges some of these challenges and calls for greater cross-sector collaboration between ministries of transport, health, environment, and gender. It also advocates for social investment safeguards : such as funding mobile clinics, gender-sensitive policing, and environmental health monitoring as conditions tied to infrastructure finance. But Angola's record on multisectoral implementation remains patchy at best. For meaningful reform, the country must embrace a model of co-development, where health ministries are not afterthoughts but co-architects. Development finance institutions must do more than approve grants. They must demand health equity metrics in every contract. This is especially urgent as Angola's oil-dependent economy diversifies. President João Lourenço has rightly staked the country's future on logistics, agriculture, and renewable energy. But none of this will succeed if Angola becomes a cautionary tale of extractive development, where resources flow outward, and trauma flows inward. In this context, the Lobito Corridor becomes more than a rail or road, it becomes a moral test. Can Africa's new development corridors embody Ubuntu the idea that humanity is shared, and none should progress at the cost of another? Or will they follow the path of so many megaprojects, where roads to riches become pipelines of displacement and disease? The time to make the right choice is now, as the health risks are well-documented and the development tools are available. The political will to ensure that every brick laid is linked to a life saved is not just crucial, it's urgent. We cannot afford to delay in addressing these issues. While the health risks are well-documented and the development tools are available, what's crucial now is the political will to ensure that every brick laid is linked to a life saved. In practical terms, this means embedding public health impact assessments into every stage of the corridor's expansion. It means mandating that contractors, foreign and domestic, to invest in local clinics, clean water infrastructure, and occupational health. It means that maternal wards must rise alongside warehouses, and that women's voices must be heard when permits are issued. If managed correctly, the Lobito Corridor could become a global model for development, blending economic progress with social well-being. This potential for positive change should not just inspire hope and optimism, but also motivate us all to work towards it.
DW
4 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Angola faces pressure from oil-rich Cabinda exclave – DW – 05/30/2025
Tensions in Angola's Cabinda exclave are mounting, as clashes between the government and separatist groups intensify. Each side has accused the other of standing in the way of peace. For weeks, disturbing images have circulated on social media showing mutilated men, women and children — victims of brutal attacks, according to the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC-FAC). They claim these civilians were abused by the Angolan army in retaliation for separatist assaults. FLEC-FAC spokesman Emmanuel Nzita, speaking to DW from exile in Switzerland, confirmed these allegations, describing systematic revenge attacks by government forces against civilians. "Whenever FLEC-FAC carries out operations against occupation troops, the army responds with brutal violence against innocent people," he said. Emmanuel Nzita represents the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC-FAC) Image: Privat Independent verification remains difficult. The Angolan government has denied the allegations, asserting that Cabinda is largely pacified and fully controlled by security forces. Official statements from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights regularly emphasize that civilians are not harmed. The recent accusations and images refer to alleged abuses in villages near Mbamba in May 2025. DW's requests for comment from the relevant ministries went unanswered. Conflicting accounts The Angolan government maintains that the situation in Cabinda is increasingly stable. State media recently reported that 202 young men voluntarily had surrendered their weapons and renounced the FLEC-FAC's independence struggle. Nzita dismisses this as staged propaganda. He alleged that most of these so-called "defectors" are unemployed men from the Democratic Republic of Congo who were never members of FLEC-FAC and barely speak Portuguese. "The government lured these young men with promises of jobs and money to legitimize their propaganda show," Nzita told DW. Five decades of conflict Resource-rich Cabinda on Africa's west coast is wedged between Congo and the Republic of Congo — without a direct land connection to the Angolan mainland. For roughly 50 years, local groups have demanded independence from Angola. Before Angola's independence in 1975, Cabinda was a Portuguese protectorate. Its integration into Angola occurred without local consent, an act still considered illegitimate by many inhabitants. FLEC-FAC is fragmented into multiple factions with varying demands and methods. A 2006 peace agreement failed to end the conflict, as not all separatists adhered to it. Bartolomeu Capita said Cabinda is culturally distinct and historically independent Image: privat Political claims and legal foundations Bartolomeu Capita, leader of the Cabindan National Movement (Movimento Nacional de Cabinda, MNC), a purely political independence movement, emphasized Cabinda's unique cultural and historical identity. "Our region is geographically separated from Angola, culturally distinct, and historically independent," he told DW. Capita distances himself from the armed FLEC-FAC, which he claims is manipulated by foreign intelligence agencies. Now a stateless refugee living in Germany, he advocates a diplomatic solution grounded in "binding international agreements." The Cabindan National Movement primarily cites the 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco, which granted Cabinda protectorate status under Portugal and obligated Portugal to protect its territorial integrity. The incorporation of Cabinda into Angola in 1975 is therefore regarded as illegal under international law. Oil wealth amid social hardship Cabinda produces around 60% of Angola's oil, generating roughly $40 billion (€35.2 billion) annually. Yet the region's living conditions have worsened drastically over decades. The call for Cabinda's independence is supported by many people with roots in Cabinda living in the diaspora Image: Association Cabindaise em Suisse Average life expectancy has plummeted from 75 years during colonial times to just 48 today. Child and maternal mortality rates rank among the highest worldwide. Oil spills off the coast have exacerbated environmental damage and further degraded local livelihoods. "Human rights and environmental protection in Cabinda are so severely violated that it amounts to near-genocide," said Capita. Edited by: Benita van Eyssen
DW
4 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Cabinda: Angola faces pressure from its exclave – DW – 05/30/2025
Tensions in Angola's Cabinda exclave are mounting as clashes between the government and separatist groups intensify. Each side accuses the other of human rights abuses, while civilians face increasingly harsh conditions. For weeks, disturbing images have circulated on social media showing mutilated men, women, and children — victims of brutal attacks, according to the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC-FAC). They claim these civilians were abused by the Angolan army in retaliation for separatist assaults. FLEC-FAC spokesman, Emmanuel Nzita, speaking to DW from exile in Switzerland, confirmed these allegations. He described systematic revenge attacks by government forces against civilians: "Whenever FLEC-FAC carries out operations against occupation troops, the army responds with brutal violence against innocent people." Emmanuel Nzita represents the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC-FAC) Image: Privat Independent verification remains difficult. The Angolan government denies the allegations, asserting that Cabinda is largely pacified and fully controlled by security forces. Official statements from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights regularly emphasize that civilians are not harmed. The recent accusations and images refer to alleged abuses in villages near Mbamba in May 2025. DW's requests for comment from the relevant ministries went unanswered. Conflicting accounts The Angolan government maintains that the situation in Cabinda is increasingly stable. State media recently reported that 202 young men voluntarily surrendered their weapons and renounced the FLEC-FAC's independence struggle. Nzita dismisses this as staged propaganda. He alleges that most of these so-called "defectors" are unemployed men from the Democratic Republic of Congo who were never members of FLEC-FAC and barely speak Portuguese. "The government lured these young men with promises of jobs and money to legitimize their propaganda show," Nzita told DW. The flag and symbol of the separatist FLEC-FAC Image: FLEC Five decades of conflict Resource-rich Cabinda on Africa's west coast is wedged between Congo and the Republic of Congo – without a direct land connection to the Angolan mainland. For roughly 50 years, local groups have demanded independence from Angola. Before Angola's independence in 1975, Cabinda was a Portuguese protectorate. Its integration into Angola occurred without local consent – an act still considered illegitimate by many inhabitants. FLEC-FAC is fragmented into multiple factions with varying demands and methods. A 2006 peace agreement failed to end the conflict, as not all separatists adhered to it. Cabindan National Movement founder Bartolomeu Capita Image: privat Political claims and legal foundations Bartolomeu Capita, leader of the Cabindan National Movement (Movimento Nacional de Cabinda, MNC), a purely political independence movement, speaking to DW, emphasized Cabinda's unique cultural and historical identity: "Our region is geographically separated from Angola, culturally distinct, and historically independent." Capita distances himself from the armed FLEC-FAC, which he claims is manipulated by foreign intelligence agencies. Now a stateless refugee living in Germany, he advocates a diplomatic solution grounded in "binding international agreements." The Cabindan National Movement primarily cites the 1885 Treaty of Simulambuco, which granted Cabinda protectorate status under Portugal and obligated Portugal to protect its territorial integrity. The incorporation of Cabinda into Angola in 1975 is therefore regarded as illegal under international law. Oil wealth amid social hardship Cabinda produces around 60% of Angola's oil, generating roughly $40 billion annually. Yet the region's living conditions have worsened drastically over decades. The call for Cabinda's independence is supported by many people with roots in Cabinda living in the diaspora Image: Association Cabindaise em Suisse Average life expectancy has plummeted from 75 years during colonial times to just 48 today. Child and maternal mortality rates rank among the highest worldwide. Oil spills off the coast exacerbate environmental damage and further degrade local livelihoods. Capita warns: "Human rights and environmental protection in Cabinda are so severely violated that it amounts to near-genocide." Edited by: Benita van Eyssen
