Ngadi Smart Wata Na Life
Africa’s political elite's deforestation scam | Transnational Investigation Logging the trees, mining the forest and pocketing ‘green’ funds, all at the same time A ZAM transnational investigation conducted across six African countries has revealed the complicity of governing political elites in rapid deforestation. At the same time, many of these elites are receiving billions of dollars and euros in ‘green’ funds from international partners, including the UN, the EU, and the World Bank. Previous...
Africa’s political elite's deforestation scam | Transnational Investigation Logging the trees, mining the forest and pocketing ‘green’ funds, all at the same time A ZAM transnational investigation conducted across six African countries has revealed the complicity of governing...
Raided forests leave villages empty as the wood trucks roll Almost half of Cameroon is covered by tropical forests, but it is disappearing fast. According to Global Forest Watch, the country lost close to one million hectares of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2023, representing about half of its total tree cover loss in the same period. The devastation is a key focus of several international partnerships with Cameroon, including a European Commission support programme for “development...
Raided forests leave villages empty as the wood trucks roll Almost half of Cameroon is covered by tropical forests, but it is disappearing fast. According to Global Forest Watch, the country lost close to one million hectares of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2023,...
How ‘thieves in government’ are ravaging Mulanje mountain Located in Malawi’s southern region, near the Mozambique border, Mulanje is the country’s highest mountain and the source of several rivers that support hydroelectric power generation and agriculture. Bananas, pineapples, cassava, and sweet potatoes, along with cross-border trade with Mozambique, sustain the livelihoods of nearly 700,000 people in surrounding communities. But it was always the cedar tree that symbolised the real wealth of...
How ‘thieves in government’ are ravaging Mulanje mountain Located in Malawi’s southern region, near the Mozambique border, Mulanje is the country’s highest mountain and the source of several rivers that support hydroelectric power generation and agriculture. Bananas, pineapples,...
Despite much ‘green’ planning and funding, Ghana’s political elite still mines the forests ‘Green’ plans and international funding do little to counter the rapid shrinking of Ghana’s forest cover, while a set of powerful politicians continue to receive mining licenses in protected areas. Mining, legal and illegal, and mainly for gold, is one of the greatest driving forces of deforestation in the country. In 2016, Ghana developed a Forestry Development Master Plan aimed at eliminating mining in...
Despite much ‘green’ planning and funding, Ghana’s political elite still mines the forests ‘Green’ plans and international funding do little to counter the rapid shrinking of Ghana’s forest cover, while a set of powerful politicians continue to receive mining licenses in protected...
G4S security guards working for the multinational cement manufacturer Bamburi Portland Cement Ltd, along with a special Kenyan police unit stationed at a site claimed by Bamburi, have been accused of torture and assault by dozens of locals in Denyenye, a small village in Kwale County, coastal Kenya. The villagers, who live near a 1,500-acre piece of contested land, rely on it for farming cattle, fetching firewood for cooking, and accessing the ocean for fishing. However, in what appears to be a...
G4S security guards working for the multinational cement manufacturer Bamburi Portland Cement Ltd, along with a special Kenyan police unit stationed at a site claimed by Bamburi, have been accused of torture and assault by dozens of locals in Denyenye, a small village in Kwale...
For the past three weeks, the streets of Maputo, Mozambique's capital, and other major cities have been consumed by protests against the ruling Frelimo party and the electoral fraud that, according to EU observers and the opposition, is securing its continued dominance following the 9 October elections. Estacio Valoi, a Mozambican investigative journalist and member of ZAM's partner Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors (NAIRE), left his country to attend the African Investigative...
For the past three weeks, the streets of Maputo, Mozambique's capital, and other major cities have been consumed by protests against the ruling Frelimo party and the electoral fraud that, according to EU observers and the opposition, is securing its continued dominance following the...
Investigative journalists discuss challenges at continental conference “But isn’t it better to have a dictatorship-with-development, like in Rwanda”, asks an audience member during the Rwanda Classified panel on Day 1 of the African Investigative Journalism Conference, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 30 October to 1 November. “Where I work in West Africa, people would give a dear thing to have development, even if the government is authoritarian.” Rwanda Classified , a cross-continental...
Investigative journalists discuss challenges at continental conference “But isn’t it better to have a dictatorship-with-development, like in Rwanda”, asks an audience member during the Rwanda Classified panel on Day 1 of the African Investigative Journalism Conference, held in...
Anyone listening to the rhetoric of European anti-immigration parties cannot escape the impression that they aim to transform the continent into a lily-white bastion. They call for ‘tougher’ and ‘stricter’ actions against the ‘influx’ of African ‘fortune seekers.’ Yet, behind this alarming facade of xenophobia lie campaigns by politicians from the very same parties who seek staff from Africa—whether for healthcare in London, the high-tech industry in Denmark, or housing in Portugal. However,...
Anyone listening to the rhetoric of European anti-immigration parties cannot escape the impression that they aim to transform the continent into a lily-white bastion. They call for ‘tougher’ and ‘stricter’ actions against the ‘influx’ of African ‘fortune seekers.’ Yet, behind this...
The impact of climate change is devastating but communities find ways of surviving despite corruption and governmental planning. Wata Na Life (Krio for ‘Water is Life’), is a phrase photographer Ngadi Smart heard time and again in Sierra Leone, a country where water is very much a currency. Smart spent three months in the country of her heritage in 2021 exploring the link between water and our changing climate. What she found were communities adapting as best they could to the fall-out from a...
The impact of climate change is devastating but communities find ways of surviving despite corruption and governmental planning. Wata Na Life (Krio for ‘Water is Life’), is a phrase photographer Ngadi Smart heard time and again in Sierra Leone, a country where water is very much a...
Kom je ons helpen om de vele werkzaamheden in de ZAM-studio in goede banen te leiden? Het gaat om een onbezoldigde functie voor maximaal 8 uur per week in het Amsterdamse zenuwcentrum van ZAM. ZAM brengt de verhalen, inzichten en ervaringen van Afrikaanse creatieven en vernieuwers in onderzoeksjournalistiek, fotografie, kunst en opinie onder de aandacht van een groeiend internationaal publiek. ZAM introduceert nieuwe perspectieven in de discussies van onze tijd door middel van digitale en gedrukte...
Kom je ons helpen om de vele werkzaamheden in de ZAM-studio in goede banen te leiden? Het gaat om een onbezoldigde functie voor maximaal 8 uur per week in het Amsterdamse zenuwcentrum van ZAM. ZAM brengt de verhalen, inzichten en ervaringen van Afrikaanse creatieven en vernieuwers...
The investigative work done by ZAM’s partner NAIRE (the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors) will be featured in no less than three sessions at this year’s African Investigative Journalism Conference, to be held between 30 October and 1 November in Johannesburg. In one of these investigations, regarding the Rwanda Classified project , the NAIRE member who led ZAM’s team investigating Rwanda’s ‘long arm’ in East Africa will participate under a pseudonym. Image by AIJC. A second...
The investigative work done by ZAM’s partner NAIRE (the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors) will be featured in no less than three sessions at this year’s African Investigative Journalism Conference, to be held between 30 October and 1 November in Johannesburg....
Amsterdam, November 2024 Onlangs verschenen: The Complicit Camera [English text below] Zodra een foto het publieke domein betreedt, lijken de oorspronkelijke intenties van de maker uit het zicht te verdwijnen. Zo ontstaat een beeldeconomie, meer dan een beeldcultuur. En die cultuur wordt nog steeds gedomineerd door witte en westerse percepties. De verbeelding van het Afrikaanse continent is een ‘goed’ voorbeeld van veelvuldige vertekening. In het fotoboek The Complicit Camera onderwerpt Pieter van...
Amsterdam, November 2024 Onlangs verschenen: The Complicit Camera [English text below] Zodra een foto het publieke domein betreedt, lijken de oorspronkelijke intenties van de maker uit het zicht te verdwijnen. Zo ontstaat een beeldeconomie, meer dan een beeldcultuur. En die cultuur...
In an imaginary interview, composed from actual quotes, the late Zimbawean writer Dambudzo Marechera (1952 – 1987) comments on the troubles his country is facing today. It is reported that in 1978, Dambudzo Marechera, heckled Robert Mugabe when he came to London to address Zimbabweans at the Africa Centre. He had already seen the troubles ahead as he could read through the deceptive characters that were on the brink of leading Zimbabwe. Most of those in power in Zimbabwe today were Marechera’s...
In an imaginary interview, composed from actual quotes, the late Zimbawean writer Dambudzo Marechera (1952 – 1987) comments on the troubles his country is facing today. It is reported that in 1978, Dambudzo Marechera, heckled Robert Mugabe when he came to London to address...
In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging. While her mother earned a living as a domestic worker in Johannesburg, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi was raised in the countryside by her grandmother, from whom she learned the traditional crafts of mural painting and pyro engraving of calabashes. As a teenager...
In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging. While her mother earned a living as...
During the Tigray war, queer Tigrayans like me had to isolate ourselves from the state and our community, as violent nationalism and support of the state’s subjugation were justified by the same people who faced oppression from the state. “So did you dump the strap-on?” I asked a friend over text. I had expressed my worries after police started searching the homes of Tigrayans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. As a queer woman, I had begun de-dyking my space, which included getting rid of...
During the Tigray war, queer Tigrayans like me had to isolate ourselves from the state and our community, as violent nationalism and support of the state’s subjugation were justified by the same people who faced oppression from the state. “So did you dump the strap-on?” I asked a...
How can we avoid, refuse, or obscure the colonial gaze and create images challenging the status quo? What power dynamics are at play when capturing an image, and what does it take to create images that celebrate the multiplicity of identities and experiences that sustain cultures in times of ongoing crises? These sets of questions animate The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories exhibition by exploring the possibilities of visual narratives, imagination and self-determination. The...
How can we avoid, refuse, or obscure the colonial gaze and create images challenging the status quo? What power dynamics are at play when capturing an image, and what does it take to create images that celebrate the multiplicity of identities and experiences that sustain cultures in...
Cape Town is a most popular holiday destination. The city also bears the scars of slavery that the Dutch settlers were guilty of. In his new book, The Truth about Cape Slavery , Patric Tariq Mellet challenges the Netherlands to improve on the weak apology and the lack of reparations offered in 2022 by the Dutch government and king. Finding My Roots I first came to understand what slavery meant when I was a young boy of eight years old. I was occasionally cared for by a German nun while my single...
Cape Town is a most popular holiday destination. The city also bears the scars of slavery that the Dutch settlers were guilty of. In his new book, The Truth about Cape Slavery , Patric Tariq Mellet challenges the Netherlands to improve on the weak apology and the lack of reparations...
Vanaf woensdag 16 oktober gaat de Nigeriaans/Britse programmamaker Ikenna Azuike in een nieuwe serie op zoek naar Afrikaanse diaspora gemeenschappen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk (Nigerianen), Portugal (Kaapverdianen), Finland (Somaliërs), Cyprus (Soedanezen) en Belgie (Congolezen). Maar Azuike (45) gaat vooral ook op zoek naar zichzelf. In de eerste van 6 uitzendingen wordt dat al behoorlijk stevig neergezet. Ikenna, geboren en de eerste acht jaren van zijn leven opgegroeid in Nigeria, verhuisde in...
Vanaf woensdag 16 oktober gaat de Nigeriaans/Britse programmamaker Ikenna Azuike in een nieuwe serie op zoek naar Afrikaanse diaspora gemeenschappen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk (Nigerianen), Portugal (Kaapverdianen), Finland (Somaliërs), Cyprus (Soedanezen) en Belgie (Congolezen)....
Many of Zimbabwe’s richest men and women are vessels for the ruling party’s looting of state coffers. Commonly called ‘mbingas’, for their penchant for the good life, these briefcase entrepreneurs drive luxury cars, own several mansions, broadcast lavish weddings and parties on online media and buy gifts for their fans. However, they rarely engage in meaningful production or create employment. Mukudzei Madenyika traces how they rose from once well-intended black empowerment schemes. Establishing a...
Many of Zimbabwe’s richest men and women are vessels for the ruling party’s looting of state coffers. Commonly called ‘mbingas’, for their penchant for the good life, these briefcase entrepreneurs drive luxury cars, own several mansions, broadcast lavish weddings and parties on...
Award-winning author and BBC broadcaster Zeinab Badawi will be in conversation with fellow writer Vamba Sherif about her new book, dealing with a history from the dawn of humanity to independence. In her new book, the Sudanese-British journalist traces the sprawling history of the African continent through the voices of Africans themselves – of countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers from across more than 30 countries. ‘The history of Africa is the story of the...
Award-winning author and BBC broadcaster Zeinab Badawi will be in conversation with fellow writer Vamba Sherif about her new book, dealing with a history from the dawn of humanity to independence. In her new book, the Sudanese-British journalist traces the sprawling history of the...
