Africa Is a Country

Have some sympathy for the poor suffering bosses

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Have some sympathy for the poor suffering bosses

By
Africa is a Country

Miners at multinational Lonmin platinum mine at Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, speaking to (South African) Sunday Times reporter Lucky Biyase:

‘Whenever we ask for a wage increase, these companies plead poverty and threaten us with retrenchments. This is because they don’t want to pay money to black people. Why work when you don’t get what you deserve?’ [The workers are] are aware of the failing platinum price, but … mining companies were reaping the consequence of their greed. Management rewarded themselves, while workers sweated … Workers needed to be more militant because the mining companies could afford the 60% increases demanded. ‘Yes, the targeted metal is platinum, which has experienced a fall in prices, but there are other commodities in the process of mining platinum’ … These included nickel, palladium, rhodium, copper and even gold’ … This made the companies complaints about falling prices ‘nonsensical.’ ‘They can afford this percentage. If they want to close the mines, so be it. We will reorganize our lives.

* No hyperlink; password protected.

Further Reading

On Safari

On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.

Rebuilding Algeria’s oceans

Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.

Ibaaku’s space race

Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.

An allegiance to abusers

This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.

Shell’s exit scam

Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.

Africa’s sibling rivalry

Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.

The price of power

Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.

Beats of defiance

From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.