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 President Daniel Chapo may still reside in the mansion-and-private-swimming-pool-studded Sommerschield suburb of Maputo and party with oil, gemstone, gas, and wood multinational representatives under the chandeliers of the Polana Hotel. But he is far less secure than his predecessors, less adulated by the ruling Frelimo party’s flag-waving ‘masses of the people,’ and less ensconced in the old-fashioned Mozambican revolutionary rhetoric of half a century ago, when Frelimo was a true liberation movement fighting the Portuguese coloniser. The sad truth about Daniel Chapo today is simply that nobody listens to him.
Instead, Mozambican smartphones and radios now turn to the words of opposition leader Venancio Mondlane. Many regard Mondlane as the rightful leader of the country, even as the government, the ruling party, and, more recently, the Constitutional Court insist that the long-dominant Frelimo once again won the elections. Masses of citizens place more faith in Mondlane’s parallel tally of the July 2024 vote than in the official count propagated by these institutions—and perhaps rightly so. Foreign observers also reported irregularities, the ruling party’s unfair use of state resources, and signs of ‘ballot stuffing’. The subsequent assassinations of two of Mondlane’s close associates, who were preparing to challenge the fraud, and the more recent killing of opposition-linked journalist Arlindo Chissale also failed to produce the silencing effect such acts once did.
Trucks taking out resources have been stopped
So, instead of listening to the once all-powerful ruling Frelimo party, many citizens now follow Mondlane. When Mondlane says, "Don’t pay the toll on the freeway to Maputo," they refuse to pay—it has been weeks since they last did.
When Mondlane says, "Don’t pay taxes," hundreds or even thousands stop paying. When he announces a public appearance, massive crowds gather, particularly in resource-rich areas where communities anticipate “enter(ing) into negotiations and concluding contracts with mining companies directly, without going through any intermediaries in the government,” as promised by his opposition party, Podemos.
Meanwhile, literally hundreds of social media reports describe protesting crowds blocking trucks transporting the country’s timber and other resources in Sofala, Nampula, and at the harbour in Beira. Drivers are being instructed to offload their valuable cargo at nearby schools instead. (1)
Daniel Chapo’s efforts to manage the increasingly rebellious mood in the country by positioning himself as a candidate of positive change within Frelimo rule—with, as Mondlane said in an interview with The Continent, “proposals I have been advocating for the last three to four years”—have so far not helped him much, since, Mondlane added, “the copy is never like the original.” The protests continue.
Kicking out the government
Meanwhile, in Ghana, the ruling party received an – in this case formally accepted – trouncing in the 7 December elections, also fuelled by the government’s (mis)handling of natural resources. Popular outrage against rapacious mining by politically connected persons who were allocated abundant licences to mine in often protected forest areas – with all the environmental devastation this meant for communities – was described by ZAM just weeks before the vote that sent President Akufo-Addo packing. By then, the powers that be had already felt obliged to start withdrawing a controversial regulation that had enabled the political elite’s mining free-for-all.
Social justice and good governance may not yet be a shoo-in in Ghana. Like in Zambia, where former opposition candidate and political prisoner-turned-president Hakainde Hichilema has not yet managed to turn the country around, there is still a long way to go. However, according to reports in Ghana’s independent media, many Ghanaians feel that this is a step in the right direction.
Activists in power
One month earlier, Senegalese voters had sent their rulers home as well. New president Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Sonko, both former civil society activists, are said to have brought a new atmosphere to government. According to some sources, civil servants are now “more serious” about behaving correctly, and repression of the opposition has ceased. Since the elections, there have been no internet blackouts, which were previously imposed by the state to censor social media.
The first steps towards accountability have been taken
Citizens are hopeful that exploitative extractive agreements with foreign powers, particularly concerning fish reserves, will come to an end. Many small fishing families have been forced to risk their lives by migrating in small boats, often with deadly consequences, as fishing licenses have been concentrated to benefit foreign trawlers. According to the OkayAfrica platform, negotiations are now underway to address fish and other natural resource agreements. Furthermore, OkayAfrica reports that “the first steps towards accountability have been taken with the publication of reports by the National Office Against Fraud and Corruption, the Audit Office, and the reorganization of the High Court of the Judiciary.” The platform also cited interviewees who noted that food prices have been reduced, state debts to farmers have been paid, and the distribution of seeds and fertilisers to farmers is now occurring “without any embezzlement.”
Rebellion in the streets
Kenya is perhaps the most sensational example of the power of Africa’s predominantly young protest movements, or ‘Gen Z’, as the massive street protests that rocked the country in July and August 2024 are now labelled. The protests, which took place relentlessly across all cities and towns during that period, led to the withdrawal of the Finance Bill that had sparked the unrest, with its new high taxes on ordinary people while the political elite continued to live in luxury. In tandem with the withdrawal, President Ruto also dismissed most ministers and made cuts to other state budgets instead.
The Gen Z victory over the Finance Bill came at a high cost: more than 80 activists were shot dead by police, and dozens were abducted, with some disappearing without a trace. It is therefore no surprise that the protest mood continues to resonate throughout the country, recently flaring up again with the announcement of a state visit by the Dutch King and Queen to the Ruto regime in March. These state visit plans have already sparked protests and petitions, particularly within the Dutch-Kenyan community, gaining such momentum that the Kenyan government launched a counter-campaign, accusing ‘cyber hackers’ of instigating the outrage.
The Kenyan government blamed “cyber hackers”
The Kenyan government remains in power, and it is unlikely that its political elite, supported by financial backing from business and political figures, as well as intimidation and violence, will transition into a genuine democracy anytime soon—despite its numerous, recent promises to improve services for citizens. However, the regime is now known to be vulnerable.
Small wins
Social media activist and investigative journalist Agather Atuhaire says she is ‘jealous’ of Mozambique and Kenya, because “things are still too slow” in Uganda, her country. “I don’t know what it will take for people to go out massively in the streets here like they do there,” she sighs. When reminded that over a hundred people were massacred on the streets of Kampala in 2020 while protesting election fraud that secured yet another term for the autocratic regime of 80-year-old President Museveni, and his oppressive regime, she admits that people are probably terrified now. “But it’s not like the impunity and dysfunctionality don’t kill you anyway. The potholed roads, where you swerve and cause accidents, will kill you. The hospitals without medicines, X-rays, or blood will kill you.”
Protests may begin to build once again. "Everyone has their tipping point. I reached mine. I wasn’t on the streets, but recently, I went after they arrested an opposition lawyer in court—one who was there to defend his client. That’s when I, along with a small group, took to the streets again." Interestingly, the group of arrested individuals noticed they were no longer subjected to the customary blows, jail cells, and death threats. "They were friendly, but I think that’s because they know I’m a well-known figure among NGOs and Western embassies. Others were saying that if I hadn’t been there, we would have been beaten."
“We said to the policeman yes, it was you”
There was still another “small win,” however: “We recognised a policeman who had tortured activists arrested at earlier protests in July. He tried to deny it, but some who were with us had been there and said, ‘Yes, we saw you. It wasn’t 3, not 5, but about 20 protestors identified you.’ We had been looking around to get treatment for them; one of them couldn’t walk because he had been beaten very badly. Then he tried to say it wasn’t his fault, complaining that we put his photo out, and a photo of his wife too. ‘Why did you put my wife out there?’ I said, ‘We’ll put everyone out there because that’s the only choice you leave us with. There is no functional system where we can report you, so this is what we do.’”
Perhaps the waves of change are gradually building in Uganda as well. Atuhaire’s group, Agora, and their X Spaces and ‘exhibitions’ relentlessly dissect and expose power abuses and the thefts of politicians from state coffers, attracting audiences of tens of thousands. “When I see these small victories, they give me some courage. But I am growing impatient. We need more.” She mentions that some support from Western countries wouldn’t hurt, “but they (the embassies) are such cowards. They claim to be ‘working behind the scenes,’ but what does that actually mean? All we see are their photo ops with General Muhoozi (the President’s son and commander of the Uganda Defence Force). When opposition lawyer Eron Kiiza was arrested and jailed for nine months by a military court, they didn’t even issue one of their meaningless statements.”
A little mosquito
A recent cartoon featuring Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a civil society activist in Tanzania, depicts her as a pesky mosquito circling the face of President Samia Suluhu Hassan. In the cartoon, the president attempts to swat the mosquito but ends up hitting her own face, offering a sharp metaphor for the challenges an increasingly restless civil society—reaching even rural areas—poses for old-style autocrats in Tanzania. Protests in 2024 against restrictions on grazing land access, involving tens of thousands of Maasai herders, successfully led to the lifting of these restrictions in August of the same year. Meanwhile, in urban areas, social media exposés of arrests and abductions of government opponents continue to go viral.
Reports on arrests and abductions go viral
When Sarungi Tsehai was briefly abducted in January—remarkably, in Nairobi, Kenya—this exposed coordination between Kenyan and Tanzanian security forces. She was held for only an hour, but the terror of being beaten while held captive, fearing death, was poignantly described by her in this interview. In the same interview, she forcefully denounces the kidnappings and disappearances of dozens of fellow dissident Tanzanians. The fact that Tsehai was released may, like in the case of Agather Atuhaire in Uganda, be an indication of the growing profiles of African activists, and an awareness among certain oppressive governments that there are limitations to the excesses they can commit.
Russian flags
Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day on October 1, 2024, was marked by widespread protests against worsening poverty, insecurity, ineffective governance, and rising fuel prices under a dysfunctional state and an increasingly neoliberal regime. This was the second time in less than three months that citizens, spurred by the hashtag #EndBadGovernance and inspired by Kenya’s youth revolt, took to the streets. The Nigerian government responded in a manner reminiscent of the brutal repression of the 2020 #EndSARS protests (2): with water cannons and live bullets. In Northern Nigeria, at least 40 protesters were reportedly shot dead, and dozens were arrested.
Sporadic expressions of outrage persist today, particularly around universities and police stations where detainees are held. However, many Nigerians on social media now express fear of being shot if they dare to confront the government on the streets again. This, however, does not signify a shift in popular sentiment. Al Jazeera recently reported that hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youth, in their own spaces, play a distinctly Nigerian version of the Grand Theft Auto game, where they win by taking on the corrupt and violent police. "It is a more entertaining way to shed light on the issues with the abuse of power in the country," says TacticalCeza, the Nigerian video game streamer behind the game, who has a following of over 300,000, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
Perhaps more concerning, some frustrated opponents of the regime in Nigeria have begun calling for Russian support. Drawing inspiration from Russia's recent influence in other West African countries such as Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, Russian flags have appeared in Nigeria's protest crowds, and calls for Russian military intervention have surfaced on social media. This phenomenon was swiftly denounced by Nigeria's leaders as evidence of Russian involvement behind the protests (see here).
Europe should reassess its neo-colonial partnerships
Europe and the West should probably take note of this particular consequence of the increasing rage of citizens towards Africa’s notoriously inept and kleptocratic leaders. The ‘Frexit’ in West Africa—where Mali, Niger, Guinea, and Burkina Faso exchanged alliances with France for new ones with Russia—was also mentioned by ZAM’s Nelson Mandela Lecture speaker, John-Allan Namu, as an example of this shift. A recent social media post by Maria Tsehai, was likewise somewhat sympathetic to the new leader of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, known for his fervent anti-colonialist and anti-Western rhetoric and his government’s new friendship with Russia.
Now that, additionally, Donald Trump’s United States appears to be doubling down on further exploitation of Africa, with less aid flowing to the continent (3), likely invoking even more anti-Western sentiment, it may be time for Europe’s democrats to seriously reassess their neocolonial “partnerships” with African leaders—since the old guard, on their way out, are likely to be replaced by a new generation that is more independent, questioning, or even outright hostile. A dialogue with African democrats and civic activists may well be the way forward.
(2) EndSARS, a nationwide protest against the brutal and oppressive security police unit, mobilised hundreds of thousands of Nigerians in 2020.
(3) In addition to dismantling USAID, the Trump administration recently closed the International Kleptocracy Unit at the Department of Justice. See this thread on X.
