Published January 2, 2020

Science and art: Bringing closure by identifying the dead

Thousands of unidentified bodies pass through Joburg’s mortuaries every year. Meet the forensic specialists who put names to them — and give closure to families.

Meet the forensic specialists who put names and faces to unidentified bodies — and give closure to families

Mail & Guardian

Published December 19, 2019

2019 in Review

Africa for optimists — and pessimists

It was another turbulent year for Africa. From revolutions to raging storms, peace prizes to power cuts, Simon Allison rounds up the year’s most encouraging news stories and alarming headlines

Mail & Guardian

Published December 1, 2019

Schooling behind bars

Bars don’t stop dreams: The importance of education

The cracks children fall into when they are ‘in conflict with the law’

Mail & Guardian

Published November 7, 2019

He was hijacked by pirates - and then mistaken for one

One man’s ordeal in the Gulf of Guinea, the world’s most dangerous shipping route

Published July 18, 2019

Dancing to the beat of the 419

HOW INTERNET SCAMS ARE FUNDING NIGERIA’S POP SCENE

Mail & Guardian

Published June 20, 2019

Somalia's enduring love affair with Bollywood

Mail & Guardian

Published April 16, 2019

'South America’s biggest museum was destroyed by fire on my watch’

The director of Brazil’s National Museum on his grief, anger and guilt - and what he could have done differently

The fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris devastated one of the world’s most iconic buildings, an incalculable loss to humanity’s architectural, religious and cultural heritage. Alexander Kellner knows exactly what this feels like. He was in charge of Brazil’s National Museum when it burnt down last year, destroying more than 90% of the collection. This is his story.

Mail & Guardian

Published April 4, 2019

GHANA MUST GO: The ugly history of Africa’s most famous bag

Mail & Guardian

Published March 28, 2019

The villages in Malawi that prepared for the floods - and survived

Published January 7, 2019

Who is the media?

Mail & Guardian

Published December 20, 2018

Africa for pessimists and optimists: 2018 in review

Intractable conflicts, terrible presidents, climate change ... if you are looking for bad news from Africa, this year has provided it, but there are many good news stories from the continent, writes Simon Allison

Mail & Guardian

Published November 23, 2018

Offline horrors hit home affairs

One of the department’s centres was unavailable for 130 out of South Africa’s 248 working days in the past year

Mail & Guardian

Published November 22, 2018

Africa's best inventions

The shortlist for the 2019 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation was announced this week. Here it is.

Meet Africa’s best and brightest

Mail & Guardian

Published October 25, 2018

Boy Scouts in a war zone

There are more boy scouts than peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. Even in the midst of a civil war, the scouts are arguably more effective

Moussa Abdoulaye, Simon Allison, Will Baxter and Amy Niang

Published October 11, 2018

Border kids search for a better life

Although there are no official statistics, one policeman said, “between one and five” Mozambican children are caught every week trying to cross, unaccompanied and without proper documentation into South Africa

Unaccompanied Mozambican teenagers regularly attempt to cross into South Africa

Mail & Guardian

Published August 20, 2018

Hated at home, queer exiles find cold comfort in SA

Queer asylum seekers from all over Africa hope to find refuge in South Africa, a country whose Constitution famously forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But they don’t always receive the welcome they are expecting.

Mail & Guardian

Published July 5, 2018

The Promised Land

South Africa begins the arduous task of grappling with its past and future as hearings into the proposed amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution show

The land. The land. The land.

Mail & Guardian

Published February 8, 2018

Finding Rhapta

Kevin Davie goes on a journey to find a Roman-era city off the East African coast, using a captain’s log written 2 000 years ago.

Forgotten by history, the ancient city of Rhapta is among Africa’s most enduring archaeological mysteries.

Published December 15, 2017

Bending the curves

In South Africa, as in many other countries, men test for HIV at lower rates than women. The country’s latest national HIV survey found that about 72% of women 15 years and older said they had tested for HIV, according to 2012 data from the HSCR.

Mail & Guardian

Published December 7, 2017

Inside the Sudanese courts that put profit above principle

An investigation into the lucrative business of morality policing in Sudan, and its disproportionate impact on women

Mail & Guardian

Published November 2, 2017

How South Sudan’s elite looted its foreign reserves

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked audit report shows how family and friends of top government officials benefited from letters of credit scam.

Simona Foltyn’s painstaking investigation into how South Sudan’s ruling elite have stolen and squandered the country’s reserves of foreign currency is an extraordinary insight into the mechanics of looting on a grand, almost unimaginable scale.

Mail & Guardian

Published September 14, 2017