Ivory Coast | A mirage of democracy
- Details
- By Selay Kouassi
- Investigations
It is March 2025, seven months before the much-anticipated presidential elections. In the brightly lit conference room of the Plateau Mövenpick Hotel in Abidjan, government representatives, diplomats, political party leaders, religious figures, electoral commission officials, and civil society representatives gather to loud applause. The EU delegation to Ivory Coast has just announced a €7 million package to support violence-free and transparent elections through its programme, “Tous engagés #ElectionsSansGbangban”.
Nigeria | Technology 0, politicians 1
- Details
- By Theophilus Abbah
- Investigations
“I was so frustrated and exhausted,” Josephine Ochadamu says when asked about her experiences as an Assistant Presiding Officer at a polling unit in Nasarawa State during Nigeria’s 2023 elections. Connected through a mutual acquaintance, she has agreed to a telephonic interview to share her struggles with the new technology that was meant to deliver, in the words of the then-national electoral commission chair, the “best election ever.” Through state-of-the-art machines, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was intended to upload votes directly to a connected Result Viewing Portal.
Uganda | A humanitarian veneer
- Details
- By ZAM Reporters
- Investigations
The European Union does not provide electoral support to the Ugandan state because of human rights abuses by its government, led by 81-year-old autocrat Yoweri Museveni. But it is also not supporting grassroots activists in their fight for democracy in the country. “We were told we should not support troublemakers.”
Kenya | Sound and fury
- Details
- By Eric Mugendi, Africa Uncensored
- Investigations
As Kenyan voters, we have become used to experiencing, every five years, a high-stakes drama full of sound and fury, in which the stage is set years in advance, the actors are meticulously costumed, and the script is written in a language only the elite truly speak. EU funds provide the software for the show.
Zambia | Restraint and fear
- Details
- By Charles Mafa
- Investigations
For more than four decades, Caesar Masina (62), a resident of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, has participated in his country’s elections, lining up at polling stations, casting his ballot, and watching governments change through the vote. This year, however, may be different. With elections approaching in August, he says his trust in the country’s institutions has gradually eroded. “The forthcoming election is ridiculous. I may not vote.”
When aid helps autocracy | Photo essay by Jimmy Kitiro
- Details
- By Jimmy Kitiro
- Investigations
This photo essay pulls back the curtain on the “Democracy Mirage”: the paradox of EU funding meant to fortify African elections but instead reinforcing the grip of the powerful. From high-tech biometric kits used to fraudulently procure victory in Nigeria to the chilling silence in Uganda where activists are branded “troublemakers,” these images capture a disturbing reality: while billions flow into state commissions controlled by ruling parties, the true pulse of democracy, civil society, is left to beat in the dark.
Farren van Wyk | Mixedness is my Mythology
- Details
- By Thembeka Heidi Sincuba
- Arts
Farren van Wyk (b. 1993, Gqeberha, South Africa) is a South African–Dutch artist working in photography. Her first solo museum exhibition at Photomuseum The Hague (4 April – 23 August 2026), Mixedness is my Mythology, rethinks identity through the colonial legacies of black‑and‑white analogue photography.
Editorial April 2026 | Stars of hope
- Details
- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
As often highlighted by ZAM, there is no shortage of troubling dynamics shaping relations between Africa and Europe. As Fortress Capitalism gains ground across the continent, wealth and resources open borders and airports, while those most exploited are left vulnerable to traffickers, often ending up behind barbed wire or in trenches. At the same time, autocracy and oppression are on the rise, increasingly sustained by a rapidly expanding security industry.
Guinea-Bissau | Parents in the dark
- Details
- By Samba Baldé
- Investigations
The government of Guinea-Bissau has cancelled a controversial Hepatitis B vaccine trial involving 14,000 newborns that was about to start in the capital, Bissau. The trial raises considerable ethical issues and the cancellation represents a victory for those who contested the experiment both nationally and globally.
Nigeria | Journalism’s impact on lead-poisoned community
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- By ZAM reporter
- Investigations
Battery recycling, often portrayed as a ‘green’ process that protects the environment, provides employment for many in the Ogijo community in Nigeria. Refurbished batteries from the town are sold to car manufacturers around the world. Yet while Western companies centre this recycled “green” solution in their marketing, unsafe production practices and regulatory violations have poisoned the very Nigerian communities where these batteries are processed.
Exploitation and carbon credits
- Details
- By ZAM Reporter
- Investigations
In the interviews, Siele, Sys, and Cabello shed light on a chaotic picture marked by ineffective land-based carbon offsets, the reinforcement of exploitative neo-colonial structures, and the abuse of power by local political opportunists. Science urges us to address the climate crisis, the interviewees argue, but the solutions must be both non-exploitative and effective. They also question whether current practices constitute solutions at all.
South Africa and Amsterdam | Simphiwe Ndzube
- Details
- By Thembinkosi Goniwe
- Arts
South African artist Simphiwe Ndzube, the new Thami Mnyele Resident in Amsterdam, builds on magical realism, a tradition of writers and storytellers “who do not distinguish between reality and fantasy, or between the imagined and spirituality, particularly in the context of post-apartheid South Africa.”
