Tawanda Karombo Harare

Years of water contamination from raw sewage is plaguing one of South Africa’s biggest water bodies, the Vaal Dam, on which about 19 million people depend, according to a report released this month by the South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). Situated about 140 km (87 miles) from Johannesburg, the Vaal river system is a major source of drinking, household, and commercial water for the three large provinces it straddles, including the commercial capital of Gauteng.

Former US president Donald Trump’s last minute controversial removal of sanctions against an Israeli businessman named in corruption scandals in DR Congo’s mining industry and the jailing of another international commodity broker for bribery in a Guinea iron ore scandal this month shows just how vulnerable Africa’s lucrative resources sector has long been to international operators. For too long Africa’s mineral wealth has failed to uplift the majority of ordinary citizens out of poverty.

Zimbabwe has become the latest African country to make a move to curb hazardous emissions from old vehicles imported from Japan and to make it mandatory for all imported vehicles to be screened for radiation contamination as more African countries seek to reduce environmental contamination from imported pre-owned cars. Importation of cheap secondhand vehicles from Japan is big business across many African countries whose citizens cannot afford new ones.