Latest news with #AfricanContinent
Zawya
2 days ago
- Politics
- Zawya
Morocco: Portugal Welcomes Atlantic Initiatives Launched by His Majesty (HM) the King in Favor of Africa
Portugal, as an Atlantic country, welcomes the Atlantic Initiatives launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in favor of the African continent. This position was expressed by the Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Paulo Rangel, in a Joint Statement signed following his meeting on Tuesday in Lisbon with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita. In this Joint Statement, Portugal, as an Atlantic country, thus welcomed the Atlantic Initiatives launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in support of the African continent, notably the Initiative of the Atlantic African States Process, the Royal International Initiative to facilitate access of Sahel countries to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic African Gas Pipeline Project. Rangel also praised the role of the Kingdom of Morocco as a driver of development and a provider of stability in the region and across Africa. In this regard, he commended the reforms undertaken by the Kingdom under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. The Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Portugal emphasized their positive and constructive roles in maintaining stability, security, and peace in their respective regions. They also reaffirmed their commitment to these principles, as well as to the peaceful resolution of conflicts and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of States, the Joint statement adds. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, paid an official visit to Portugal at the invitation of the Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Paulo Rangel. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Kingdom of Morocco - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates.
News24
16-07-2025
- Business
- News24
Standard Bank launches campaign to back your growth journey
Standard Bank has launched its new 'Keep Growing' brand campaign, a powerful affirmation of the bank's purpose: 'Africa is our home, we drive her growth'. The advertising campaign, which launches with a brand advert in the South African market, champions the limitless potential of the African continent, its people and communities - recognising that every individual and every business possesses both the ability and desire to grow. As Africa's largest bank by assets with over 50,000 employees and 20 million customers, Standard Bank is uniquely positioned to drive the continent's growth as Africa's population surges towards an estimated 2.5 billion people by 2050. Standard Bank Group Chief Operating Officer Margaret Nienaber says: 'Our 163-year history on the continent gives us a deep understanding of Africa's unique context. This campaign is a statement of our unwavering commitment to the people of this continent. We want our customers to know that their dreams matter and that we're here to support them. We're not just their bank – we're their trusted partner on every step of their growth journey.' Created in partnership with M&C Saatchi Abel, part of the Up&Up Group, the campaign's creative direction captures a fundamental truth: growth transforms everything – it creates impact, unlocks opportunities, and has the extraordinary power to elevate all aspects of life, from financial prosperity to personal fulfilment and thriving communities. Diana Springer, Standard Bank's Head of Group Brand and Marketing, says: 'We wanted to ensure the message truly resonated with our markets. The creative treatment needed to be visually memorable and emotionally powerful. It was crucial for us to communicate that growth isn't always easy, but it is worth it. Our message is simple yet profound: Keep growing with Standard Bank by your side.' The Up&Up Group Chief Strategy Officer, Robert Grace, adds that: 'Instead of spotlighting the finish line, be it a new home or a thriving business, Keep Growing motivates us to focus on the climb itself. In a first for South African advertising, using the gimbal, the advertisement literally tilts the characters' environments, transforming their aspirations into a tangible, visual, uphill journey. It's an arresting image that mirrors the real-life, lived experiences of customers.' Zoe Modiga's powerful rendition of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' brings soul and depth to the campaign – a perfect rendition for a story about resilience and growth. 'Zoe is a celebrated Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, and her journey since receiving that recognition has been remarkable. She's become one of South Africa's most compelling voices in contemporary jazz and soul,' concludes Springer. The television commercial goes live in July 2025. Watch the full brand ad here.
Mail & Guardian
15-07-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Standard Bank's Keep Growing campaign: A promise to embrace the journey of growth with customers
Standard Bank has launched its new 'Keep Growing' brand campaign, a powerful affirmation of the bank's purpose: 'Africa is our home, we drive her growth '. The advertising campaign, which launches with a brand advert in the South African market, champions the limitless potential of the African continent, its people and communities – recognising that every individual and every business possesses both the ability and desire to grow. As Africa's largest bank by assets with over 50,000 employees and 20 million customers, Standard Bank is uniquely positioned to drive the continent's growth as Africa's population surges towards an estimated 2.5 billion people by 2050. Standard Bank Group Chief Operating Officer Margaret Nienaber says: 'Our 163-year history on the continent gives us a deep understanding of Africa's unique context. This campaign is a statement of our unwavering commitment to the people of this continent. We want our customers to know that their dreams matter and that we're here to support them. We're not just their bank – we're their trusted partner on every step of their growth journey.' Created in partnership with M&C Saatchi Abel, part of the Up&Up Group, the campaign's creative direction captures a fundamental truth: growth transforms everything – it creates impact, unlocks opportunities, and has the extraordinary power to elevate all aspects of life, from financial prosperity to personal fulfilment and thriving communities. Diana Springer, Standard Bank's Head of Group Brand and Marketing, says: 'We wanted to ensure the message truly resonated with our markets. The creative treatment needed to be visually memorable and emotionally powerful. It was crucial for us to communicate that growth isn't always easy, but it is worth it. Our message is simple yet profound: Keep growing with Standard Bank by your side.' The Up&Up Group Chief Strategy Officer, Robert Grace, adds that: 'Instead of spotlighting the finish line, be it a new home or a thriving business, Keep Growing motivates us to focus on the climb itself. In a first for South African advertising, using the gimbal, the advertisement literally tilts the characters' environments, transforming their aspirations into a tangible, visual, uphill journey. It's an arresting image that mirrors the real-life, lived experiences of customers.' Zoe Modiga's powerful rendition of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' brings soul and depth to the campaign – a perfect rendition for a story about resilience and growth. 'Zoe is a celebrated Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, and her journey since receiving that recognition has been remarkable. She's become one of South Africa's most compelling voices in contemporary jazz and soul,' concludes Springer. The television commercial goes live in July 2025. Watch the full brand ad
News24
02-07-2025
- Politics
- News24
Unfinished Freedom: Africa's Long Walk beyond 1884 Berlin Conference
Archive Our continent needs economic justice, not charity or IMF loans. Africa is not poor; it is impoverished. Today, African countries spend more repaying interest on borrowed money than they do investing in education or healthcare. It is time to complete the freedom that Walter Sisulu and his generation began. On 12 June 2025, we gathered at Vaal University of Technology (VUT) not just to honour the towering legacy of Walter Sisulu, whose birthday was on the 18th of May 1912 – a revolutionary, a father of our democracy, and a quiet architect of freedom – but the day was also used to reflect on the deeper, historical roots of the struggles that continue to shape our continent. Walter Sisulu believed, above all else, in the unity, dignity and potential of African people, and he understood that true liberation would not come with the lowering of colonial flags, but with the dismantling of colonial logic – embedded in institutions, economies and minds. It is for that reason that, partially, the fulcrum of his inaugural memorial lecture looked back –not to dwell – but to understand, so that we may act differently going forward. In emulating Sisulu by looking back at our history, I want to argue that our problems as the African continent date back to the ill-fated Berlin Conference of 1884. In 1884-85, in cold, chandelier-lit halls of imperial Europe, 14 European powers convened what is now known as the Berlin Conference – also called the Congo Conference. Not a single African was present. Yet the lives of millions would be irrevocably changed by the discussions and decisions taken at that conference. At that conference, the continent was carved up like a pie. Arbitrary borders were drawn across the land, tearing apart ethnic groups, kingdoms and ecological zones and disrupting ancient trade routes. Entire civilisations were dismembered. Africa was not seen as a place of peoples' cultures or sovereignty – but as territory to be occupied, extracted from and exploited. This process was legitimised by the so-called principle of 'effective occupation,' which required European powers to demonstrate control over African territories to claim them. In truth, it was a license for conquest, enslavement and cultural erasure. As Frantz Fanon warned us: 'Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot, which we must clinically detect and remove not only from our land but from our minds as well.' The mid-20th century brought political decolonisation. Flags were changed, anthems composed and parliaments erected. But what did we really inherit? We inherited a map not made by us. States that were, in many cases, artificially constructed with no national consensus. We inherited economies wired to feed Europe's factories, not Africa's people, and tragically, we inherited elite classes – many of whom became, in the words of Amílcar Cabral, 'the transmission belt of foreign interests.' Yes, we achieved formal independence, which some were celebrating recently. But the substance of freedom remains unfinished. The promise of decolonisation has produced mixed results. We have seen moments of triumph and excellence—indigenous innovation, Pan-African solidarity, democratic progress—but also the painful betrayal of liberation ideals, especially here at home in South Africa. The post-colonial African states have too often been caught between external manipulation and internal misleadership. Between structural adjustment and military coups. Between IMF dictates and elite capture. Today, we see new waves of defiance. The people of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – nations in the Sahel – are attempting to reimagine sovereignty in a world still structured against African independence. Their struggle is fraught. Attempts to build new political and economic models are met with sanctions, destabilisation and even covert efforts at regime change. Often, external forces act not alone but in collaboration with internal elites who fear change. I call these collaborators 'committed and helpless or hopeless slaves, who mistakenly believe that Africa's total liberation will come from a coloniser and our former oppressors.' The Sahel defiance is inspiring the youth – the majority of our continent – understandably so because these young Sahel leaders represent our real African liberation aspirations. These young people, born in the ashes of neoliberal broken promises, are reclaiming the right to shape their future. As Thomas Sankara once declared: 'We must dare to invent the future.' Our continent is in need of economic justice, not charity or IMF loans. Africa is not poor; it is impoverished. Through stolen resources, unjust trade, climate injustice and debt traps, we are made to kneel before the same powers that once colonised us. A case in point is the recent Oval Office meeting in the US, where our rare earth minerals as a country were voluntarily offered and donated without a request, with an apologetic anatomical posture to the Groot Baas. Today, African countries spend more repaying interest than investing in education or healthcare. They made us believe that development meant becoming more like them. But development should mean becoming more like ourselves. Julius Nyerere, the former president of Tanzania We must now demand not aid, but restitution. Not charity, but economic justice in memory of Walter Sisulu. Walter Sisulu understood that liberation is a process, not a moment. He lived through a century of struggle – from the pass laws to the Robben Island cell, from exile to the birth of democracy, leading his family, which conservatively accounts for 59 years in prison combined, for committing no crime, but demanding equality and justice. Such a sacrifice must not be sacrificed for immediacy and silver or short-term myopic pliability. Walter Sisulu's life teaches us that freedom requires integrity, vigilance, sacrifice and, above all, solidarity across borders, ideologies and generations. This calls for ethical leadership. As the Foundation that bears his and Mama Albertina's names, we recommit ourselves today to that Pan-African vision – a continent of self-reliant nations, accountable ethical leadership, educated citizens and just economies. We invite African thinkers, students, workers, women, elders, the downtrodden and especially the youth to carry forward this (Walter Sisulu's) legacy. To free the continent not only from external domination but also from internal betrayal, as this is a serious hazard towards the gains of our liberation. Let us look beyond Berlin, towards African rebirth and reawakening. Let Walter Sisulu serve as more than remembrance. Let it be a moment of reckoning and renewal. Once again, we must look beyond Berlin, beyond the maps we did not draw, beyond the narratives we did not write. It is time for a new African imagination. It is time to complete the freedom that Walter Sisulu and his generation began. As Africans Let us rise. Let us remember. Let us rebuild.
Mail & Guardian
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Africa's G20 moment: A moral call for justice and global solidarity
The G20 is a forum of the largest economies in the world who meet regularly to discuss the most pressing issues facing the global economy. (Photo: Brenton Geach/Gallo Images/Getty Image) This year, as South Africa assumes the presidency of the G20 for the first time, the nation carries not only a geopolitical responsibility — but a profound moral opportunity. The G20, a grouping that represents 85% of the global GDP, must not remain a platform for the wealthy and powerful to reinforce the status quo. It must become a vehicle for transformation, for solidarity, and for hope. For Africa, this is not merely a policy agenda — it is a call to conscience. Our continent stands at a crossroads. On one hand, Africa is home to the youngest population on Earth, to vibrant movements of renewal, and to communities rich in resilience and faith. On the other hand, we remain burdened by unjust financial systems, debilitating debt, ecological degradation and global neglect. This tension defines the African condition in our time: abundance in potential, yet constricted by external rules and internal inequities. This is why we are gathering in Cape Town this month, together with fellow faith leaders, civil society actors, academic institutions, and policy-makers, under the banner of the G20 Symposium on Global Justice and Solidarity. Our shared goal is to bring Africa's voice — and Africa's soul — into the heart of the G20 agenda. This effort is coordinated under the umbrella of the Solidarity for One Humanity, One Future network. As Pope Francis consistently reminded us, true global leadership begins not with dominance, but with dialogue. In Fratelli Tutti , he urges us to build 'a better kind of politics', one rooted in 'social love' and 'a sense of belonging to one another'. This is not naïve idealism. It is the only path to a sustainable, peaceful and humane future. Africa's sovereign debt crisis is not just an economic problem — it is a moral scandal. Today, many African governments spend more servicing debt than on health or education. This is not because African nations are reckless, but because the global financial system is rigged against them. Private creditors charge African nations exorbitant interest rates. Multilateral institutions impose rigid conditions. Meanwhile, the climate crisis — caused largely by the emissions of the Global North — forces African countries to borrow even more just to recover from floods, droughts, and cyclones. Pope Francis has spoken forcefully about this injustice. 'The debt should not be paid at the price of unbearable sacrifices,' he said in a message to heavily indebted nations. 'There is a need for mechanisms to reduce the debt, which do not compromise the development of the poorest.' In 2025, as the Church prepares to celebrate the Jubilee Year — a biblical tradition rooted in the forgiveness of debts — we must push the G20 to commit to real debt relief and to the creation of a fair international insolvency framework. But our message must also be hopeful and constructive. One of the most powerful ideas emerging from our continent is the push for universal school meals. Every child who eats a nutritious meal at school is healthier, learns better and has a chance to escape poverty. Every local farmer who supplies that food strengthens the local economy. Every woman employed in food preparation or delivery gains dignity and income. School meals are not charity. They are strategic investments in a more just society. This is why we support the call, led by congressman Jim McGovern and former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, to make universal school meals a G20 priority. Africa, with its moral authority and its demographic momentum, should lead the charge. We propose a continental coalition, driven by African governments, faith institutions, and development partners, to ensure that by 2030, no African child goes to school hungry. Some may ask: what business do churches have in discussions of debt, climate, or economic justice? Our answer is simple: these are spiritual questions. Hunger is not just a policy failure — it is an affront to human dignity. Exclusion from education is not just inequality — it is a theft of God-given potential. Unpayable debt is not just poor planning — it is a modern form of oppression. We do not come to the G20 with empty hands. Faith communities run more than 40% of healthcare services in Africa. They educate millions of children. They hold the trust of communities. They can mobilise. Most importantly, they can speak the truth — especially when that truth is uncomfortable. The world needs Africa's moral imagination. As Pope Francis once declared, 'From the peripheries, we often see more clearly.' The Cape Town Symposium is not a side event. It is a spark. From it, we hope to ignite a movement rooted in the Gospel's call to justice and the African tradition of ubuntu: I am because we are. Let South Africa's G20 presidency not be remembered for polite communiqués and photo opportunities. Let it be remembered as the moment when Africa stood tall — not just to ask, but to lead. Let us rise, with courage and conviction, to build a world where justice is not a slogan, but a structure. Bishop is the chairperson of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference.
