Crypto News: Next Africa: Criminal-justice rot

Welcome to Next Africa, a daily newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. In today's edition, we look at the state of law enforcement in South Africa, and:

Governments say they have enough fuel
Morocco is looking to add more hotel rooms
Finally, Ghana pushes for reparations for slavery

Police and Crime

This was a dark week for South Africa's criminal-justice system.

On an overcast Monday morning in downtown Johannesburg, Chinette Gallichan was gunned down by unknown assailants as she stepped out of her car.

The 35-year-old lawyer was about to represent her employer in a labor dispute, and the suspicion is she was killed due to her work.

On Wednesday, the country's most senior policeman, Fannie Masemola, was summoned to answer claims linked to a health-services contract, allegations that came out of a judicial commission of inquiry into police corruption.

TOPSHOT - A bullet riddled vehicle is stationed in the middle of the street, part of the crime scene after a botched cash-in-transit attack in Rosettenville, on the outskirts of Johannesburg on February 21, 2022, resulting in two South African police officers being airlifted with chest wounds. - South Africa's already alarming number of murders and rapes kept increasing at the end of 2021, the police minister announced February 18, 2022. From October to December, the country suffered an average of 74 murders and 122 reported rapes every day, Police Minister Bheki Cele told a news conference. (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP) (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP — The scene of a botched cash-in-transit attack in Johannesburg in February 2022.

That a top cop would be implicated in a crime would shock most countries, but Masemola — who denies wrongdoing — adds to a long list of South African police bosses to face possible charges. This time, the chief will be joined by 12 of his most-senior officers.

Meanwhile, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu is currently suspended after being accused by a provincial commissioner of sabotaging a unit set up to investigate political assassinations.

Elsewhere, a separate probe into why cases haven't been brought against perpetrators of crimes during apartheid heard that political interference in the prosecuting authority may have been responsible.

When the police protect criminals, responsibility for seeking justice can fall onto lawyers, insolvency experts, tax consultants, accountants and other professionals. Many of them — just like Gallichan — have paid an appalling price.

It all paints a gloomy picture of a society in which the police are seemingly powerless to halt rampant crime, where private-security firms and even the army are called in to patrol its streets.

For many South Africans, seeing the bulk of the nation's top cops in the dock may come with a mix of frustration and hope. — Alexander Parker

TOPSHOT - A member of the South African Police Services (SAPS) fires rubber bullets at rioters looting the Jabulani Mall in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, on July 12, 2021. - South Africa said it was deploying troops to two provinces, including Johannesburg, after unrest sparked by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma led to six deaths and widespread looting. Overwhelmed police are facing mobs who have ransacked stores. Six people have died, some with gunshot wounds, and 219 people have been arrested, according to a police tally issued before the army deployed. (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP) (Photo by GUILLEM SARTORIO/AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: Gillem Sartorio/AFP/Getty Images — A policeman fires rubber bullets during riots in Soweto, near Johannesburg, in July 2021.

What Everyone's Reading

The conflict in the Middle East is reviving the specter of inflation and hobbling the global economy just as it was showing signs of strengthening at the start of the year, the OECD said in its latest update. It's also sending air-travel costs soaring with little relief in sight — prices are expected to remain about 30% above last year's levels even as far out as October.

South Africa's central bank held interest rates steady in a unanimous decision to allow policymakers time to assess the impact of the global oil-price shock caused by the war. That matched the forecast of all 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

African nations from South Africa to Kenya say they have sufficient fuel and warned against hoarding amid fears of shortages caused by the Iran war, even as counterparts in Asia began rationing and restricting exports. The continent's carriers sought to assure customers, with Kenya Airlines saying that it has at least 50 days of jet fuel left.

A motorcycle rider pays for fuel at a Lake Oil Ltd. gas station in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The leader of Kenya's main opposition coalition Raila Odinga said he's ready to hold talks with the government even as he vowed to continue with demonstrations to demand tax cuts and an audit of last year's elections that brought President William Ruto to power. Photographer: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg — A fuel station in Nairobi, Kenya.

Morocco, already Africa's top tourism destination, is counting on a $4 billion investment drive to increase hotel capacity by a fifth before it co-hosts the men's football World Cup at the end of the decade. The bid to add 25,000 rooms represents "one of the most significant expansions ever undertaken in the kingdom," said Imad Barrakad, head of the Moroccan tourism-development agency.

A selloff on Mozambique's dollar bonds extended into a 10th day as the oil shock from the closing of the Strait of Hormuz deepens the country's financial crisis. The southeast African nation's troubles started well before the Gulf conflict, with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank having sounded warnings over persistent debt-funded overspending.

France withdrew an invitation for South Africa to attend a summit of Group of Seven leaders in June following pressure from the US, President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said. Chief of the world's richest nations are scheduled to meet in Évian-les-Bains, in southeastern France, from June 15-17.

Traders at a market along a railway line in Lusaka, Zambia.

Zambian Growth Decelerates Sharply After Record Power Outages

Zambia's economy slowed in the final quarter of last year, resulting in annual output increasing at almost half the rate targeted by the government. Inflation eased to an eight-year low.

Quote of the Week

"We are just a few weeks into this shock, and conditions remain extremely uncertain."

South African central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago

Kganyago was referring to the impact of the Iran war at a briefing today to announce the latest interest-rate decision.

Last Word

The US and two other nations voted against a United Nations resolution presented by Ghanaian President John Mahama for members to recognize the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity and the need for reparations for African nations. While the US acknowledges the horrors of the past, it "does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred," said Dan Negrea, Washington's representative at the UN Economic and Social Council.