May 25, 2022 , Africa Meetup

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Africa Meetups

Date: Wednesday, May 25th

Time: 3pm SAST / 1pm UTC / 4pm EAT / 9am EDT

Who: Facilitated by Mardiya & Tawanda

Where: BigBlueButton link will be shared in the following rooms on the IFF Mattermost one or two hours before the start of the meeting: Sub-Saharian Africa.

Notes: Please put notes here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/africa-meetup

Notes

Africa Day

Why are many African countries not celebrating Africa Day?

How is the community feeling

  • Tired
  • Happy
  • Calm

Countries Represented

  • Ghana
  • Zimbabwe
  • South Africa
  • Nigeria
  • Kenya

Collaboration Opportunities

  • Community members highlighted opportunities for collaboration especially regarding mapping the digital security organizations, activists and practitioners in the ecosystem for a career journey map. These profiles help key stakeholders understand who is in the space, their expertise, and needs.

Country Updates

South Africa

  • Ongoing Workers strikes across key sectors in the country
  • The country is currently dealing with the economic effects of the floods that happened in Kwazulu-Natal Province.
  • Continuous rise in fuel prices
  • Freedom of expression
  • People are charged fees to protest in the Gauteng province, yet most people who protest are usually low income communities and workers. What's more, citizens should not have to pay to exercise their freedom of experience and right to protest. As such civil society organizations (CSO) and activists appealed this issue in court and are awaiting the verdict on whether the fee is going to be removed

Nigeria

  • There is a potential bill that aims to ban cross-dressing in Nigeria. Meanwhile the current draft does not clearly define cross dressing and activists believe that the bill is designed to simply target LBQTQ+ communities
  • There have been recent killings in Nigeria including a girl , Deborah, who was killed by her classmates for blasphemy. Authorities have not addressed the issue with the fear that they may lose the upcoming election votes from the Northern Nigerian community.
  • Activists, and CSOs are trying to encourage people to Trying to register to vote ahead of next year's elections with hope that it might contribute to improving the lives and realities of Nigerians
  • Regarding safety, moderation and protection online community members fear that the acquisition interest of Elon Musk is affecting content moderation and policy on twitter, hence posts applauding the murder of Deborah and threats against people who defend her remain on the platform
  • The lack of effective law enforcement bodies and institutions play a significant role in the issues Nigeria continues to face.
  • What is the process in Nigeria to oppose bills such as the cross-dressing bill
    • The nigerian feminist forums and organisations are trying to strategically organise ways to oppose the bill before it is passed because, the federal government makes it difficult to repeal or fight against laws they have set their minds to.

Zimbabwe

  • Ahead of the Presidential election next year, many people are preparing for the polls however given the political unrest in 2019, many citizens have anxieties for the upcoming election
  • Still on elections, people are organising protests but abductions and arrests are also increasing
  • The standard of living continues to fall in Zimbabwe

Malawi

  • Malawian activists are actively fighting for better governance and freedom of expression however they face an unforeseen dynamic where their former CSO colleagues who backed the recent President during the last election are in places of power and serving as gatekeepers of the system they are trying to dismantle.

Eswatini

  • LGTBQ communities in Eswatini moved for legal recognition which was recently denied in court
  • In light of the most recent unrest, protests and killings in Eswatini, citizens are not hopeful that the upcoming elections is going to yield any significant change since the current King is the sole determinant of the countries affairs.

Kenya

  • Calls for National Participation on the Huduma bill
  • Data protect and privacy concerns
  • There was a rushed data protection act put together by the government
  • Adoption strategies for data protection regulation was not clear
  • Issues with capturing the of biometrics for kids
  • Concerns with sufficient and nuanced data protection measures.
  • Controversial sections on issues of interference on the database..
  • Key stakeholders are recommending that the government increases the penalties for unauthorized access to the database
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