An S&P downgrade, a tighter budget and a recast ODC sales contract are not three separate stories. Together they sketch a model of how diamond dependency works.
Section
Intellectual
SADC transport and ICT integration — regional framework to study — and what comes next
Regional blocs accumulate frameworks the way institutions accumulate filing cabinets: each new plan is layered onto the last, rarely retired, and increasingly difficult for an outsider to read as a coherent whole. SADC's transport and ICT architecture, by 26 June...
Liberalised skies and AI infrastructure: policy and strategy logic and what comes next
SADC has committed, on paper, to open regional skies before. The Yamoussoukro Decision on liberalising African air transport dates back decades at continental level, and the Single African Air Transport Market has been a stated African Union project since 2018. That a...
Rail’s return: Africa’s revival inside a larger modernisation arc
Rail is back on Africa’s agenda after decades of decline. The new lines are part of a wider story – and bounded by a financing gap measured in tens of billions.
The dragnet argument: why the China-Africa story is bigger than its biggest project
Every headline picks one mega-project to judge China in Africa. The aggregate – 13,000 km of rail and road, 170 schools, 100 ports – tells a different and harder-to-dismiss story.
Green Development: From Side Project to the Centre of China-Africa Energy
Solar fields in Morocco, wind farms in South Africa, hydropower in Uganda – China’s clean-energy projects in Africa have moved from the margins to the mainstream of the relationship.
South-South Exchange: China-Africa Ties as Knowledge, Not Only Capital
The roads and ports dominate the headlines, but the more durable transfer between China and Africa may be training, research centres and technical know-how.
Joint Modernization: The Idea China Is Using to Reframe Its Africa Role
Beijing now describes its African partnership through six characteristics of modernization, positioning itself as a fellow traveller rather than a creditor.
35th trade ministerial across SADC — regional framework to study — and what comes next
SADC does not lack frameworks. By the time its trade ministers met for the 35th time on 12 June 2026, the region already had a free trade area, an industrialisation strategy running to 2063, an SME competitiveness strategy and a formal alignment programme with the...