Africa’s Free Trade Area carries hopes of wonder drug for struggling economies
Created by the Free Trade Agreement in 2018, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect on January this year. Expectations are high that the new economic and trading bloc will open up borders for more intra-Africa trade. Since the World Trade Organization creation, the AfCFTA is the...
‘Fake news is the currency with which opinion shapers peddle their influence’
The growth of fact checking in Africa has established one cardinal fact: sources and spreaders of fake news are routinely opinion shapers. At government level, they are in the executive, the judiciary, the legislature or security formations. Beyond the government, the business community, keen to have advantage over rivals, spreads...
Fake vs fact: Disinformation risks security, public health and democracy in Africa
The rise in disinformation in Africa poses a threat to security, public health and democracy, fact-checkers warn. The African Centre for Security and Strategic Studies (ACSSS) says combatting misinformation requires building the capacity of Africa’s fact-checking community and improving media literacy. The process, they say, is painstakingly slow and risky...
Science needs data and evidence from the arts to effectively roll back coronavirus
One key issue is who is being called on to aid recovery. Governments have sought expert advice from the beginning of the pandemic, but that expertise tended to come from people in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) – despite it being clear from the start that human behaviour, motivations...
