Latest news with #Southern Africa
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
How the informal sector in Zimbabwe has become a ‘critical risk'?
How Zimbabwe's booming informal sector is shortening government revenue Zimbabwe's economy predominantly operates within the informal sector, comprising over 75% of economic activity. This trend arises from decades of economic issues, such as job shortages, inflation, and currency instability. The informal sector provides livelihoods but contributes minimally to government revenue due to tax non-compliance. This is according to the results of the country's first economic census, which present a striking picture of how pervasive the informal economy has become. Informal businesses in the Southern African country have now 'increasingly become a significant source of livelihoods, its contribution to government revenue remains minimal due to non-compliance with the formal tax system,' the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency said in a report released on Wednesday. According to the country's most prevalent industry body, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the situation poses a 'critical risk' to the country's economy. 'Formal businesses are being squeezed,' MacDonald Mutengo, CZI's lead research officer, said at the event. 'Companies are not making profits, they are highly regulated.' The informal sector's expansion is mostly a reaction to the loss of official job prospects brought on by decades of economic mismanagement, hyperinflation, and periodic currency depreciations, as seen on Bloomberg. According to the economic census, which surveyed over 204,798 businesses, wholesale and retail trade accounts for 73% of the informal economy's activity. Manufacturing trailed behind at 8%. Bulawayo has the largest concentration of formal enterprises among Zimbabwe's provinces, at 40%, significantly outpacing other areas where the formal sector make up less than 30% of the local market. The growth of the informal sector in other African markets This trend is not exclusive to Zimbabwe, as Kenya faces a similar situation. kenya market Based on a 2024 report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the informal sector employs 83.6% of the workforce, or approximately 17.4 million people. Notably, the informal sector created 703,700 new jobs, accounting for 90% of all new employment outside of small-scale agriculture. In Nigeria, the informal sector is also dominant. According to Moniepoint's Informal Economy report, 89.4% of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) do business informally. However, unlike with Zimbabwe, an impressive 89% of these informal enterprises allegedly pay some type of tax, suggesting that taxing of this section is possible if properly handled. © Copyright The Zimbabwean. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
News24
2 days ago
- Politics
- News24
No evidence of Lesotho rebel army, says SAPS
SAPS says the country's intelligence structures have been investigating Lesotho's claims that there are illegal military camps on farms in South Africa. Lesotho Commissioner of Police Borotho Matsoso had said the country was working closely with South African officials to investigate the camps. SAPS said National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola had met with all nine provincial commissioners and Matsoso's claims were high on the agenda. The South African Police Service (SAPS) says the country's intelligence structures have been investigating Lesotho's claims that there are illegal military camps on farms in South Africa training a rebel army. But the Hawks have yet to find any evidence of this, GroundUp reports. This follows an extraordinary press briefing on 18 July by Lesotho's top security chiefs, who claimed that a rebel group known as Malata Naha is recruiting Basotho youth and providing military training in South Africa. On Saturday, SAPS issued a statement after GroundUp reported that the South African authorities were mum on the allegations. Previously, Lesotho Commissioner of Police Borotho Matsoso had said the country was working closely with South African officials to investigate the camps. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, through its Crimes Against the State (CATS) unit, has been roped in to investigate. Various searches have been undertaken by CATS at identified farms, and no such evidence has been found to date. SAPS said National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola had met with all nine provincial commissioners and Matsoso's claims were high on the agenda. SAPS noted that a preliminary report from its Crime Intelligence Division was reviewed. Intelligence structures have heightened operations to verify the allegations. In a further development, SAPS confirmed that Masemola has directly engaged with Matsoso. 'Both commissioners agreed that law enforcement intelligence structures from both countries are on the ground investigating the existence of such camps,' the statement read. Masemola said: 'The safety and security of all people living in South Africa is of paramount importance, and anyone found committing illegal acts will face the full might of the law.' The SAPS statement said South Africans are urged not to panic or worry as police from both countries remain on high alert and are working jointly to establish the facts on the ground.
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Eswatini opposition attacks US deal as ‘human trafficking disguised as deportation'
Civil society and opposition groups in Eswatini have expressed outrage after the US deported five men to the country, with the largest opposition party calling it 'human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal'. The men, from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, were flown to the small southern African country, an absolute monarchy, last week as the US stepped up deportations to 'third countries' after the supreme court cleared them last month. Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique and has a population of about 1.2 million. It is Africa's last absolute monarchy and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. The government estimated the five men would be held for about 12 months, a spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said, adding: 'It could be slightly less or slightly more.' She said Eswatini was ready to receive more deportees, depending on the availability of facilities and negotiations with the US, which has also deported eight people to South Sudan after holding them for weeks in a shipping container in Djibouti, and more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador. Officials have said the men, who were put in solitary confinement, were safely imprisoned in Eswatini. However, they have refused to disclose the terms of the deal, other than to say the US was footing the costs of keeping the men locked up and that they would work with international organisations to deport them to their home countries. Many civil society organisations and politicians were not convinced. 'This action, carried out without public consultation, adequate preparation, or community engagement, raises urgent questions about legality, transparency, and the safety of both the deported individuals and the people of Eswatini, especially women and girls,' said a coalition of seven women's groups. The organisations delivered a petition to the US embassy on Monday calling for the US to take back the deportees, for the deportees' human rights to be respected, and for Eswatini not to become a 'dumping ground for unresolved problems from elsewhere'. The groups' leaders held a protest outside the US embassy on Friday, where they sang, danced and held up signs with messages including: 'Whose taxpayers?', 'Eswatini is not a prison for US rejects' and 'Take the five criminals back to the US!!' Eswatini's largest opposition party, the People's United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), said in a statement: 'Pudemo vehemently condemns the treacherous and reckless decision by King Mswati III's regime to allow the United States of America to dump its most dangerous criminals on Swazi soil. 'This is not diplomacy but human trafficking disguised as a deportation deal. It is an insult to all Emaswati who value peace, security, and the sanctity of our homeland.' The coordinating assembly of NGOs, an umbrella group, said the situation was 'deeply alarming' and condemned the 'stigmatising and dehumanising language used by US officials'. It called for the Eswatini-US agreement to be made public and to be suspended pending 'genuine public consultation and transparent national dialogue'. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, said in a post on X on 16 July that the men, who she said had been convicted of crimes including child rape, murder and burglary, were 'so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back'. She added: 'These depraved monsters have been terrorising American communities but … they are off of American soil.' Eswatini's prime minister, Russell Dlamini, told local media on Friday that the government was confident it would safely manage the prisoners. 'Eswatini is currently holding inmates who have committed more dangerous crimes than those attributed to the five deportees,' he said. A prison service spokesperson, Baphelele Kunene, said the country's citizens should not be afraid. 'We can confirm that the five inmates in question have been admitted to one of our high-security centres where they are responding very well to the new environment,' he said. 'Even though they come from the US, there is no preferential treatment for them as they are guided by the same prison regulations, eat the same food as others and are also expected to exhibit the same and equal amount of respect for prison protocols.' The US state department's most recent human rights report on Eswatini, in 2023, said there were 'credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; [and] political prisoners or detainees'. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections, which the system's advocates argue makes MPs more representative of their constituents. In September, Pudemo's leader, Mlungisi Makhanya, was allegedly poisoned in South Africa. The party said it was an assassination attempt, which Eswatini's government has denied. The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Experts deploy helicopters carrying over 500 tons of poison to eradicate dangerous island threat: 'A roll of the dice'
An invasive population of mice is wreaking havoc on Marion Island, a small island off the southern coast of South Africa, reported. The damage they've done to local seabird populations has grown so extreme that officials are looking to eradicate all of the mice in one fell swoop using an innovative method — rodenticide-laced pellets. Mice first arrived on the island two centuries ago, via sealing vessels, and they've been relatively minor pests for much of their time there. However, reported that a number of factors — namely, warmer temperatures that extend their breeding cycles — have created the perfect storm for an enormous mouse population. That population is, of course, hungry. The mice seek food in the form of bird eggs and even the birds themselves. Now, grisly sights can be found around the island, as mice gnaw for hours at a time on nesting albatross. The birds, who never evolved a defense mechanism against land predators, simply sit in place until they bleed out or succumb to infection. "These mice, for the first time last year, were found to be feeding on adult Wandering Albatrosses," said Mark Anderson, CEO of nonprofit BirdLife South Africa, per "Mice just climb onto them and slowly eat them until they succumb." According to warmer waters have also driven fish deeper and farther south, meaning adult birds need to travel further for food and return to their nests more exhausted, unable to endure the attacks. Additionally, climate-intensified storms have been wiping away nests with extreme weather. "Combined with the mouse attacks, these pressures make every breeding season a roll of the dice," explained. Marion is home to approximately 25% of the world's wandering albatross and 29 seabird species overall. However, given the severe threat posed by the mice, 19 of those species are now facing local extinction. This poses a significant risk to the entire marine ecosystem of Marion and beyond. According to a study published in the Ecological Society of America, seabirds play an integral role in their food webs, enriching plant and coral health through their roles as both predators and prey. How concerned are you about the plastic waste in our oceans? Extremely I'm pretty concerned A little Not much Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Their guano, or dung, fertilizes the oceans with nitrogen and phosphorus, boosting plankton and fish populations. Without these stocks, the entire food web would suffer. Generally, any time that an invasive species wipes out a native plant or animal species, it risks throwing the entire ecosystem off balance. This jeopardizes the natural functions of that environment, including air and water filtration, food production, carbon sequestration, and disease control. It can also cost billions, or even trillions, of dollars to local economies. To address the issue, an initiative called the Mouse-Free Marion Project is looking to wipe out the island's mice all at once, leaving no chance for the species' recovery. The plan? Using helicopters to distribute 600 tons of rodenticide-laced cereal pellets. It may sound drastic, but conservationists argue that drastic is now the only possible approach. "We have to get rid of every last mouse," Anderson explained to "If there were a male and female remaining, they could breed and eventually get back to where we are now." Currently, the program is fundraising, as it comes with a hefty $29 million price tag, and hopes to deploy its "bombs" in 2027. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
