Africa

1. S. Africa’s diplomat dilemma
2. Rebranding Africa
3. Trump’s new travel ban?
4. PE investment drops
5. Diabetes surges
6. The Week Ahead

The discovery of dinosaur tracks in South Africa.

S. Africa scrambles for new US diplomat

South Africa is scrambling to appoint a new ambassador to the US after the expulsion of its top diplomat. South African government leaders were let down by Ebrahim Rasool’s “indefensible” criticism of US President Donald Trump at a webinar last week, said three senior members of the African National Congress, the largest party in the country’s ruling coalition.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Rasool of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates the US and Trump. In the webinar on Mar. 11, Rasool told participants that Trump was leading a “supremacist” movement disrupting long-established political norms. Semafor first reported last week that Rasool, a veteran diplomat who also served as ambassador to the US during the Obama administration, was struggling to secure crucial meetings in a Republican-led Washington, most likely due to his prior criticism of Israel.

Why it’s time to rebrand Africa

African countries must forge a “Made in Africa” agenda and enact a “Buy African Act,” a branding expert argued in a new Semafor column.

It is in Africa’s interests to build resilient and competitive brands, wrote Thebe Ikalafeng, founder and chairman of Brand Africa, an initiative to boost the visibility of African brands.

He points to the precedent established by the US with its 1933 Buy American Act, which legislated that at least 50% of all procurement by the US government and its agencies must be “made in America.” It’s now time for the African Union to help drive a similar agenda for the continent, Ikalafeng said, “to catalyze and inspire African entrepreneurship and the growth of African brand-led solutions.”

Reported US travel ban to hit Africa

More than half of the 43 countries whose citizens could face restrictions under a possible Washington travel ban are in Africa. The “red” list of countries drafted by the US State Department — meaning all travel would be prohibited — includes Libya, Somalia, and Sudan, The New York Times reported. Officials familiar with the matter told the paper that the Trump administration’s proposed plans are broader than those imposed during his first term.

Citizens of countries on the draft “orange” list — including Eritrea, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan — would find visas sharply restricted but not cut off, while those on the “yellow” list will have 60 days to address Washington’s concerns. Countries on the lists share characteristics, The Times noted: “They are generally Muslim-majority or otherwise nonwhite, poor and have governments that are considered weak or corrupt.”

PE investment in infrastructure drops

Private equity investment in African infrastructure projects dropped to $1.4 billion in 2024 from $2.3 billion in 2023, a new report found. The continent faces critical gaps in infrastructure — from power to digital connectivity — with an annual $100 billion financing hole for such projects, according to data from the Global Private Capital Association. But while this shortfall is holding back African businesses and consumers, “these structural shortcomings also create openings for private capital investors” to bypass legacy models and direct their money into more innovative technologies, GPCA said. Investment in infrastructure has accounted for 42% of private capital deployed in Africa since 2023, with funds going into sectors including renewable energy, telecoms, and transportation.

— Alexander Onukwue

Diabetes doubles in sub-Saharan Africa

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new study, which suggested the disease is rising at a much faster rate than predicted. Drawing on data from more than 10,000 participants tracked between 2013 and 2022, researchers found the prevalence of type 2 diabetes nearly doubled in middle-aged people in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa over a period of six years. South Africa had the “highest incidence of the disease,” followed by countries in East Africa and West Africa, said Raylton Chikwati, a co-author of the paper published in The Lancet.

Higher rates of the disease were found among urban communities and men. Earlier estimates said around 6% of sub-Saharan Africa would have diabetes by 2045 — about 60 million people — a figure the researchers now believe to be a gross underestimate. “The problem is urgent and is not in the distant future,” Chikwati said.

The Week Ahead

• Mar. 18: Peace talks between DR Congo and M23 rebels will be held in Angola.
• Mar. 18: Angola announces its interest rate decision.
• Mar. 19: South Africa publishes consumer price index data for February.
• Mar. 20: The South African Reserve Bank announces its interest rate decision.
• Mar. 21: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah will be sworn in as Namibia’s president.

Business & Macro

🇿🇦 South African bank Absa hired Kenny Fihla — until recently Standard Bank Group’s deputy CEO — to be its new chief executive.

🇿🇦 MTN Group’s full year earnings fell 69% for the 12 months to December 31, affected by Nigeria’s devaluation of the naira currency.

🇳🇬 Minority shareholders in the Nigeria subsidiary of PZ Cussons rejected a plan to convert a $34 million loan from the company’s UK parent company into equity.

Climate & Energy

🇺🇬 Uganda launched its first public electric-vehicle charging station in Kampala, the first 10 planned stations in a government pilot.

Geopolitics & Policy

🇷🇼 Rwanda severed diplomatic relations with Belgium on Monday, accusing the European nation of undermining it over the conflict in DR Congo. It gave Belgian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.

🇲🇼 Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa are withdrawing troops sent to DR Congo two years ago as part of a Southern African mission against the M23 rebel insurgency.

🇸🇩 Sudan rejected the US government’s proposal for some African countries to receive Palestinians displaced from Gaza.

Tech & Deals

🇿🇦 South African fibre provider Vumatel completed the acquisition of internet service provider Herotel Telecoms, with conditional approval from the country’s competition regulator.

🇿🇦 MTN Group plans to make its fintech operations a separate business by the end of June to allow Mastercard acquire a minority stake.

Dinosaur tracks that are around 140 million years old were discovered in South Africa’s Western Cape. Researchers said they were made by enormous plant-eating dinosaurs called sauropods and possibly by ornithopods, another group of large herbivorous dinosaurs. “Some were walking on sandy, inter-tidal channel bars,” they wrote in The Conversation. “Other vague ‘squishy’ structures were formed by dinosaurs wading, or even wallowing in the muddy fill of abandoned channels.” Earlier dinosaur tracks from southern Africa have been dated to the Triassic and Jurassic periods. The latest discovery appears to be the most recent so far reported from the region.

Amazon’s bid to take on Nvidia, leading to the e-commerce giant’s biggest investment ever this year, is also a gamble for artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti reported.

The company’s new five-nanometer Trainium 2 microprocessor is not as powerful as the Nvidia chips coveted by artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI, but the e-commerce giant is betting on making AI chips in-house — and is aiming to build the most powerful computer in the world.

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— Alexis Akwagyiram, Preeti Jha, Alexander Onukwue, and Yinka Adegoke.