Over the past week, there were many important stories from around the African continent, and we served you some of the most topical ones.
Here is a rundown of the backstories to some of the biggest news stories in Africa that we covered during the week:
Morocco in fresh culture reform
The week started with Morocco’s Ministry of Culture announcing that it has begun meetings with the National Foundation of Museums to discuss methods and practices to better police and detect forged paintings and artworks, including handing down harsher sentences and better regulating auction houses.
Later in the week, Moroccan activists began online campaigns demanding the return of a letter that dates back to the 18th century, which they see as an important part of the country’s history.
The historic letter was allegedly sent by Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif to Charles Stewart of the United Kingdom in 1720. It is presently on display in Austria. The letter was reportedly a diplomatic communication delivered by the Sultan in December 1720 to Stewart, the English Ambassador leading a mission dispatched during King George I’s reign to negotiate peace with Morocco.
Over the years, culturally strong Morocco has been keen on the return of its artefacts scattered across the world; in 2021, Moroccan authorities received nearly 25,000 archaeological objects, which had been seized in France during three customs controls and which illustrate the “scourge” of looting of cultural property.
But Morocco’s claims of “cultural theft” are beyond tangibles. Historically, the country has also been in diplomatic tension, particularly with neighbouring Algeria, over the appropriation of some of its intangible cultural heritage as the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills that communities, groups, and individuals recognize as part of its cultural heritage. Adidas, a company that makes football uniforms, became embroiled in a dispute in 2022 between the two countries over a new national team design created for Algeria, which Moroccan officials claim amounts to cultural appropriation.
But the issues extend beyond Morocco; other African countries also have claims of illegal cultural engagement that amounts to theft, forgery and cultural appropriation. In some other instances, it is a case of “error of facts” around certain history similar to that which surfaced in 2023 over the Netflix docudrama “Cleopatra,” in which some Egyptian observers claimed the feature of the eponymous character was appropriating their culture and rewriting their history, primarily because Cleopatra is portrayed by a black woman in the film.
Perhaps Morocco’s latest drive for “cultural policing” will pave the way for other African countries and provide a template to maximize the potential of Africa’s culture and art. It is curious to see if the controversies around cultural theft will ever end, with most countries on the continent being “colonial states” and some having a history of settlers.
Zimbabwe is considering another adventure for currency stability
The governor of Zimbabwe’s central bank announced on Wednesday that the bank and the finance ministry will be working together to devise fresh plans for stabilising the country’s currency. The decision was required because the Zimbabwean dollar in less than two months has dropped by over 40% since the start of the year due to lower commodity prices that have dampened inflows and increased demand for foreign currency from state employees earning December bonuses.
The planned collaboration will be the latest of many policy attempts to stabilize the Southern African economy. According to a study by Statista, “inflation in Zimbabwe rose to 10.61 percent in 2018 and is projected to jump dramatically to 577.21 percent in 2020. After that, estimates predict a slow decline for now; however, given Zimbabwe’s history of poor monetary policy, including one of the worst instances of hyperinflation, this seems unrealistic.” The current economic situation appears to have fulfilled Statista’s projection.
The country’s dark economic history can be traced to when the Economic Structural Adjustment Policy (ESAP), a policy of economic liberalisation that demolished a planned “siege” economy from the UDI era, was implemented in August 1991. The value of the currency started to decline sharply. Also, Zimbabwe’s involvement in the Second Congo War, the chaotic redistribution of land to unskilled farmers, and declining export revenues all contributed to the currency’s official and unofficial exchange rates plummeting further.
So bad did the situation turn that the Zimbabwean government announced on July 13, 2007 that it had temporarily stopped releasing official inflation data—an attempt observers say was to deflect attention from “runaway inflation, which symbolises the country’s unprecedented economic meltdown.” Also, in response to the currency’s declining value, the central bank favoured the printing of additional banknotes, which experts say compounded the issue.
Following years of price speculation and hyperinflation, general consumer prices began to stabilise in January 2009, when the use of foreign currencies became authorised. The Central Bank declared on January 29, 2014, that the following currencies would be recognised as legal tender in Zimbabwe: US dollars, South African rand, Botswana pula, pound sterling, Euro, Australian dollar, Chinese yuan (renminbi), Indian rupee, and Japanese yen.
It is yet to be seen what the likely new moves by the central bank and the finance ministry will be this time, as Zimbabweans hope that incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa who was recently reelected, can turn things around, but a more critical point would be the sustainability of the reforms vis-à-vis lasting effects on the public after years of various quick fixes.
World Bank won’t budge over alleged sexual assault in Kenya’s IFC division
World Bank President Ajay Banga, for the umpteenth time, denied allegations that the organization’s International Finance Corp (IFC) unit tried to hide allegations of sexual assault at a chain of for-profit schools in Kenya that it controlled between 2013 and 2022. Banga took this position during a public event sponsored by the Centre for Global Development. When asked about the IFC’s response to an independent investigation into the claims at Bridge International Academies, Banga refuted the idea that the IFC was involved in a cover-up.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the bank failed to meet its own environmental and social requirements prior to funding Bridge International Academies in 2014 and during its oversight of its investment in the project, which came to an end last year, according to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the bank’s internal watchdog.
The CAO stated in a draft report in August that the company was aware of complaints of abuse but had not made sufficient efforts to address the cases or implement preventative measures to prevent abuse in the future. According to the CAO, between 2014 and 2021, it discovered 21 instances of teacher sexual abuse of minors at Bridge schools.
Bridge acknowledged that nine reports of child sexual abuse were made in 2016 at one of its schools. It claimed to have terminated the contracts of the teachers who had been accused of abuse, reported the occurrences to the police, provided the victims with psychiatric support, and communicated with the communities and parents of the affected children.
The scandal has continued to resurface despite the World Bank’s continued denial. Although Banga was not selected for the position of bank president at the time of the divestment, he will still have to cope with the fallout while trying to improve the lender’s operations.
Nigeria’s central bank under pressure as economic crisis deepens
Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Yemi Cardoso, appeared before the House of Representatives for the sectoral debate on Tuesday, as many of the lawmakers expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the governor in handling the naira, which has been on a downward spiral in the past couple of months.
Alongside him were Wale Edun, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance; Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and National Planning; and Zacch Adedeji, the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
Nigeria is talking about receiving up to $1.5 billion in loans from the World Bank to help ease the chronic dollar shortage that has been a major factor in the sharp collapse of the naira. International investors have praised recent reforms, but they have also resulted in a sharp increase in living expenses. Last month, inflation reached a 27-year high of 28.9%, and the value of the naira fell by about 50% compared to the US dollar.
During his address to the House, Cardoso outlined the difficulties the naira is facing, particularly the demand from students studying abroad. According to Mr. Cardoso, Nigerians also spent $11.06 billion on medical travel during that time. Also, more than 100,000 students are presently enrolled in programmes abroad, he said, adding that between 2010 and 2020, Nigerian students expended $28.5 billion abroad.
The country anticipates that oil production will increase to 1.78 million barrels per day, up from 1.49 million barrels last month. This should support the government’s finances and stimulate the economy. Meanwhile, domestic crude refining is anticipated to start up again this year at the state-owned refinery in Port Harcourt and at the Dangote refinery in Lagos. This would help ease the currency crunch by lowering the amount of petrol imported.
