| Welcome to Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. Southern African cities are running dry. Years of inadequate investment and mismanagement coupled with a searing drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon have left reservoirs empty. Municipalities are scrambling to keep water flowing through their pipes.  A reservoir in Pretoria. Photographer: Phill Magakoe/AFP/Getty Images The specter of Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city, and the capital Pretoria depleting their water resources has been raised repeatedly in recent years. This weekend, Rand Water, the continent's largest bulk-water supplier, warned they're on the brink. Municipalities across an urban area accommodating 12 million people had been ignoring recommendations to reduce usage for too long and they now faced an "impending disaster," the utility said. Johannesburg alone loses 44% of its water to leaks and theft. Further north, the situation is even more dire. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, extended water cuts to 130 hours a week as it closed the third of its six reservoirs due to low levels. Chitungwiza, a heavily populated area close to the capital, Harare, is facing a similar crisis after two dams it uses dried up.  A tap in Hammanskraal, South Africa, Photographer: Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg The shortages have been blamed on drought and, in the case of South Africa, a heat wave. But the problems are also man-made. Zimbabwe's urban-water systems have been collapsing for years and Johannesburg has a massive infrastructure maintenance backlog. A key project to feed the wider Gauteng province with additional supplies from Lesotho is a decade behind schedule. Pleas from municipalities to residents to cut back on usage and threats of restrictions may well be a case of too little too late. — Antony Sguazzin Key stories and opinion:
Taps May Soon Run Dry in South African Cities Housing 12 Million
Zimbabwe's Second City Deepens Water Cuts to 5 1/2 Days a Week
South African Firms Seek Water Investments to Avoid Next Crisis
As Dams Overflow, Cape Town Braces for Future Droughts
How Extreme Heat and Humidity Test Survival Limits: QuickTake Mozambique's ruling party took an early lead as votes were tallied from an election widely expected to extend its 49-year rule. The preliminary results showed Daniel Chapo, a former provincial governor and the candidate of the Liberation Front of Mozambique, is on course to succeed Filipe Nyusi as president. Meanwhile, the attorney general warned parties against inciting violence or prematurely proclaiming victory before the official outcome is announced. Opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane has claimed that he's winning the contest.  Daniel Chapo. Photographer: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images Turkish company Yapi Merkezi signed a $2.95 billion deal to build a railway line in Uganda, reviving a project that struggled to find financing after China withdrew support. The 272-kilometer (169-mile) track will run from Uganda's capital, Kampala, to the border with neighboring Kenya. Another $600 million line linking the town of Tororo in eastern Uganda to a planned port on Lake Victoria is also on the drawing board. The World Bank downgraded its 2024 economic-growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 3%. The deterioration from an April estimate of 3.4% was largely blamed on the civil war in Sudan, which erupted 18 months ago and has continued to escalate. The United Nations estimates that the fighting has displaced around 11 million of the North African nation's 48 million people. The World Bank expects Sudan's economy to contract 15.1% this year. Former Senegalese President Macky Sall rejected the findings of an audit that his administration had understated government debt, an outcome that led to a downgrade of the nation's credit rating. The review, spearheaded by newly installed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, showed the ratio of debt to gross domestic product averaged 76.3% during Sall's last five years in power — higher than had been reported. "I regret the prime minister's remarks that are totally false," Sall said in an interview. Allen Onyema, who owns Nigeria's largest airline Air Peace, maintained his innocence after being indicted in the US on charges of obstructing justice. The tycoon allegedly submitted false documents in a bid to end an earlier probe that resulted in charges of bank fraud and money laundering, according to the US Department of Justice, which issued a warrant for his arrest last week. The carrier said that Onyema and his legal team have consistently cooperated with the American authorities and it was confident he'd be exonerated.  An Air Peace plane. Source: Air Peace Mali's junta set aside funds to conduct elections, without saying when the vote will take place and despite previously deciding to postpone the ballot until 2027. The West African nation's Finance Ministry provides for $135 million of "electoral expenses" in 2025, according to a copy of the draft budget. Mali has been under military rule since 2021, when Colonel Assimi Goita staged a second coup within a year to remove an interim administration he'd installed to prepare for elections. Thank you for your responses to our weekly Next Africa Quiz and congratulations to Altan Ari, who was the first to name Mali as the African country whose military leaders lifted a ban on SpaceX's Starlink internet kits that was imposed because of fears they'd be used by militants. South Africa has shut down almost half of its refining capacity over recent years and now has to bring in most of its fuel. Africa's biggest economy relied on imports for 61% of its petroleum-product supply last year, compared with 22% in 2019, according to state logistics firm Transnet. The transition has created supply risks, with new infrastructure needed to store and transport the fuel. Thanks for reading. We'll be back in your inbox with the next edition on Friday. Send any feedback to mcohen21@bloomberg.net | 
No comments:
Post a Comment