Lynsey Chutel

For the first time in 38 years, Angola has someone new sitting in the seat of power.

On Aug. 14, after three days of heavy rains, a massive landslide in and around Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown created a national emergency that is fast becoming one of Africa’s worst disasters in recent memory.

Any progress made to liberate South Africa’s black majority since apartheid ended two decades ago looks to have been undone in just five short years, with more than half of the country now living in poverty.

In bathroom mirrors all over the world, countless little black girls have thrown a T-shirt over their heads to pretend they finally have the long flowing hair of their favorite pop star. What seems like an innocent moment is filled with shame and the internalization of the message that they are not good enough.

Botswana president wants you to know that he is not intimidated by China. Ian Khama, president of the diamond-rich nation of less than two million people, stood up to the global power over the Dalai Lama’s planned visit to his county this week.

A Mugabe will once again hijack the SADC story, although this time it’s Zimbabwean first lady Grace Mugabe.

For a century, animated films have shaped the childhood memories of children all over the world. Children in Europe and North America, though, have had the privilege of recognizing themselves in these characters. This is why Disney princesses Jasmine, Mulan and Tiana were almost revolutionary for being Middle-Eastern, Chinese and African-American, respectively. Those characters just don’t exist for African children.

South Africa has no trouble remembering its painful past, and yet at the fifth anniversary of the Marikana shooting the country still has no closure—or monument—to one of the most seminal events in recent history.

South African president Jacob Zuma has survived his sixth vote of no-confidence with a narrow win of just 198 votes in his favor versus 177 against and 9 abstentions. It was the highest number of votes secured by the opposition in the last four motions against the ANC president, winning 51 more votes than the motion last November.

When Wayde van Niekerk returned home to South Africa with his first major gold medal from the 2015 World Championship in Beijing, only his mother was at the airport to meet him. At least, that’s according to the Facebook post of a woman who happened to recognize him in the Bloemfontein airport.

The close-up shot of Nyajime Guet’s cherubic cheeks are a victory for her family and the aid workers who brought her back from the brink. In the world of aid photography, it’s also a rarity.

The Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing announced a partnership with Uber’s rival Taxify on Aug. 1.

As Johannesburg’s mayor Herman Mashaba posed on the rooftop of a newly gentrified building this week, his accompanying social media posts made it clear that this what he wants the heart of Africa’s economic hub to be. To live up to the tagline, “A World Class African City of the Future,” Johannesburg’s poor and African migrant community may have to pay the price.

It was supposed to be Africa’s century, then the robots arrived.

For the first time, an African architect has designed London’s prestigious Serpentine Pavilion. This year, Francis Kéré will take center stage in what has become a global architectural and design event. The Burkinabe architect plans to use the pavilion as a platform to discuss the impact of climate change and humanity’s communal responsibility to preserve the natural environment.

Despite the independence implied in the term “drivers-partners,” Uber drivers are in fact employees of the ride-hailing service, at least according to South African labor regulations.

South Africans have a grim outlook of their economy right now.

A video of a white Airbnb host apparently shoving a black woman down a flight of stairs has gone viral, adding to the perception that the house-sharing site’s promise of hospitality is still blighted by discrimination.

It takes a certain level of cynicism to race bait South Africans to protect profits. It’s downright underhanded to hire a public relations firm to do it professionally.

South Africans, known for their protest movements, are taking a stand on the high cost of mobile data in the country.

For more than four decades the marshmallow test has been used to measure an individuals self-control and ability to delay gratification—a personality trait that is likely to yield positive results from the gym to the office.

With his signature thumbs up, US president Donald Trump welcomed two “Chibok schoolgirls” to the White House this week.

People flocking to South Africa’s economic hub are likely to find some of the world’s cheapest rents. An average family living in Johannesburg spends less than a quarter of their monthly income on rent, according to a survey by RentCafé, an online property listing service. That makes the city the third most affordable city in the world, according to the index.