Anas Aremeyaw Anas wins defamation case against abusive Ghanaian politician The words of a colleague in a chat group of African investigative journalists said it all: “You’ve made all of us a bit safer, Anas. Thank you.” And indeed, investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ victory over a Ghanaian politician in a US court will resonate through political elite circles that are used to intimidating, harassing and even murdering journalists, and not only in Ghana. The undercover documentaries in...
Anas Aremeyaw Anas wins defamation case against abusive Ghanaian politician The words of a colleague in a chat group of African investigative journalists...
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands are scheduled to visit Kenya. Under normal circumstances, this would be a moment of shared celebration between two nations bound by a history of trade, agriculture, and development cooperation. As regional hubs, both countries have ports that serve as important channels to large hinterlands, facilitating commerce across continents. But these are not normal times. Deepening crisis Since President William Ruto’s...
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands are scheduled to visit Kenya. Under normal circumstances, this...
Dutch lobbyist Henk-Jan van Schothorst, affiliated with the right-wing orthodox Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (State Reformed Protestant Party) and founder of Christian Council International, has been instrumental in exporting anti-rights legislation across the African continent. In early 2023, the Ugandan parliament passed a brutal anti-gay law mandating the death penalty for "aggravated cases of homosexuality" and imposing a 20-year prison sentence for the “promotion” of homosexuality. Shortly...
Dutch lobbyist Henk-Jan van Schothorst, affiliated with the right-wing orthodox Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (State Reformed Protestant Party) and...
In his Nelson Mandela Lecture on Sunday, 16 February, speaker John-Allan Namu expressed optimism about the potential for change across the African continent, attributing it to an ‘upright’ Generation Z that refuses to be held in ‘subservience.’ Amid the many stories of African oppression and conflict, where does Namu find his hope? ZAM offers a bird’s-eye view of a continent where youth—and increasingly, the adult population—are indeed rising up. Mozambique: a crumbling ruling party Mozambican...
In his Nelson Mandela Lecture on Sunday, 16 February, speaker John-Allan Namu expressed optimism about the potential for change across the African...
The protest movement should not betray women On 10 December 2024, I joined thousands of feminists in a nationwide anti-femicide march in Kenya. More than 100 recent reports of women being murdered—most at the hands of their intimate partners—prompted us to spotlight the connections between gender-based violence, poor governance, and the economic crisis, including the rising cost of living. This marked the second march against gender-based violence in Kenya in 2024, following the first in February....
The protest movement should not betray women On 10 December 2024, I joined thousands of feminists in a nationwide anti-femicide march in Kenya. More than...
In March this year, the Dutch royal family will travel to Kenya, a state visit that has sparked considerable controversy. Why is the Dutch government sending its ceremonial representatives to a country where human rights are systematically violated? In Kenya, street protests against soaring prices of food, fuel, and internet access—burdens that weigh heavily on ordinary citizens while the political elite maintains its opulent lifestyle—have been met with extreme police violence in recent months....
In March this year, the Dutch royal family will travel to Kenya, a state visit that has sparked considerable controversy. Why is the Dutch government...
The Slavery Heritage Guide of The Cape (Gids Slavernijverleden van de Kaap) 2025, the latest instalment in the Mapping Slavery series on sites impacted by Dutch slavery and authored by Nancy Jouwe and Carine Zaayman, will be launched on 26 January at the Wereldmuseum in Amsterdam. “With the book launch we want to (…) bring into conversation the history and afterlives of Dutch colonialism in the Cape, but also how it shapes contemporary life in both the Cape and the Netherlands, as well as how it...
The Slavery Heritage Guide of The Cape (Gids Slavernijverleden van de Kaap) 2025, the latest instalment in the Mapping Slavery series on sites impacted...
The Dutch King and Queen’s visit to Kenya’s murderous regime is being prepared in the run up to ZAM’s Nels on Mandela Lecture by Kenyan investigative journalist. “Trade is important, but at what cost?” asks upcoming Nelson Mandela Lecture speaker, Kenyan investigative journalist John-Allan Namu, in a comment on the planned royal visit by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima to his country. In Kenya, over sixty people were killed by police recently and abductions and disappearances of...
The Dutch King and Queen’s visit to Kenya’s murderous regime is being prepared in the run up to ZAM’s Nels on Mandela Lecture by Kenyan investigative...
Editor-in-Chief of the courageous Africa Uncensored media platform, John-Allan Namu, is set to spotlight Africa’s struggles for justice at the 2025 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture. As a Kenyan investigative journalist, Namu is well-acquainted with the horrors of power abuse, the machinations of genocidal politicians, the devastation wrought by climate change, and the forced migration of youth from nations misruled by uncaring, oppressive governments. Yet, while exposing wrongdoing, he also seeks...
Editor-in-Chief of the courageous Africa Uncensored media platform, John-Allan Namu, is set to spotlight Africa’s struggles for justice at the 2025 ZAM...
ZAM has joined the Ugandan civil rights groups Agora and the African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ) in condemning the arrests of journalists Agather Atuhaire and Godwin Toko, while calling for their immediate release. Atuhaire, Toko, and other civil rights activists were detained by Ugandan police on Thursday during a march in the capital, Kampala. The peaceful march protested the imprisonment of Eron Kiiza, the lawyer representing opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Besigye himself has...
ZAM has joined the Ugandan civil rights groups Agora and the African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ) in condemning the arrests of...
In October 2024, months after ZAM published ‘Hotel Kremlin’, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle produced a podcast on the investigation, highlighting its “grim picture of life under military dictatorships in the Sahel.” In the podcast, the broadcaster interviewed one of the Hotel Kremlin journalists who, undercover, investigated in Mali; ZAM investigations editor Evelyn Groenink and seasoned West Africa-reporter and ZAM associate Bram Posthumus. The podcast highlights the investigation’s...
In October 2024, months after ZAM published ‘Hotel Kremlin’, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle produced a podcast on the investigation, highlighting...
Too early to speak of an ‘African Spring’, but the leaves of protest are budding. "For weeks, large numbers of people across Mozambique have been protesting the results of the presidential elections, as seen here in Maputo. The elections, held on October 9, were reportedly won by Frelimo with 70% of the vote. Protesters sing the national anthem, bang pans, blow whistles, and hold up signs. They are responding to Facebook calls from presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who fled the country and...
Too early to speak of an ‘African Spring’, but the leaves of protest are budding. "For weeks, large numbers of people across Mozambique have been...
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”,...
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...
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...
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...
South African activist Simon Nkoli (1957 – 1998) played a key role in getting his country to adopt the first constitution in the world that guarantees equal rights for LGBTIQ+ people. “If you are Black and gay in South Africa, then it really is all the same closet… inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.” These words were issued by Simon Nkoli, a South African gay activist and anti-apartheid leader. In his quest for freedom, he fought for the rights and acceptance of the LGBTQI+...
South African activist Simon Nkoli (1957 – 1998) played a key role in getting his country to adopt the first constitution in the world that guarantees...
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...
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...
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...
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...
