Geoff Hill

In Britain, lightning causes an average of two deaths a year; in South Africa, it can be well over 200. Near Pretoria over the Christmas break, more than 150 people were injured by what some call in Zulu 'ukufa ngomlilo': lethal fire. Yet little is being done to keep the public safe in a country with one of the highest lightning death tolls in the world. Thunderstorms are more common in South Africa – and the millions of people who commute on foot are at particular risk of being struck. Although many visitors to South Africa enjoy the Mediterranean climate of the Cape of Good Hope, with its dry summers, this milder weather isn't representative. Other parts of South Africa experience hot, rainy summers, accompanied by some of the world’s most violent storms.

Next time you bite into a bar of chocolate, spare a thought for Ivory Coast. As the world’s largest supplier of cocoa, chances are the beans in your slab came from there. Elections, alas, have not been so sweet and with one due on Saturday 25 October, there are worries the protests, killings and all-out civil war that came in the wake of past votes could happen again. President Alassane Ouattara, the incumbent, is 83 and seeking a fourth term under a constitution that, like the United States, allows just two. The Constitutional Council which vets all candidates for high office has barred most of the contenders, so Ouattara should cruise to victory.

Sir Keir Starmer will recognise Palestine as a country despite objections from both the US and Israel. Yet when it came to independence for Scotland, the three main parties at Westminster were against the idea at the 2014 referendum, and none have called for a similar vote in Wales. How, then, to decide which 'two-state solutions' deserve our support? In 1974, the government of Cyprus was overthrown in a coup, and plans to merge the island with Greece followed. That might have worked, given Greek Cypriots made up 80 per cent of the population, but the Turkish minority, already marginalised, feared expulsion. Just five days after the coup, Turkey invaded from the north and by 1983 had created the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus.

There's a joke in South Africa that it's so easy to claim asylum here, even the Swiss could do so. It's easy to believe. At our local shopping centre in Johannesburg, the security guards hail from various safe African countries – Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi. All are on refugee permits that are renewed every few months, often with a bribe. If there's murderous intent among South Africa's poorest, it's not directed at white people There are countless illegal migrants and refugees from as far away as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ironic then that president Cyril Ramaphosa is making such a fuss about the 49 Afrikaners who have been granted asylum in the United States.

If Donald Trump and Elon Musk really want to know if there is a “white genocide” happening in South Africa, as they claim, I’d suggest they start in a beer hall. Such speakeasies are common in the black townships around Jo’burg and in rural areas. Size varies from a shed to a small aircraft hangar, some are licensed, others not, and as a journalist, it’s where I read the pulse of the nation. The townships are where millions scrape by on next to nothing, crowded in shacks with few street lights and open sewers, while the political elite enjoy their mansions in the city.I am always the only white face in a sea of black. I don’t own a gun and move about engaging with drinkers who are mostly under the age of 30, the majority unemployed.

There’s been a momentous election in Africa, Botswana to be exact. Not heard about it? Don’t be surprised. The British and US media have all but ignored the story or got it wrong in the run-up. Even the BBC barely mentioned it though they bang on about Israel to such a degree you’d think the war was in Guernsey instead of Gaza. On 30 October, Botswana held a general election as they have every five years since independence from Britain in 1966. Of all the countries in Africa, it’s the only one that’s never had a coup or a period of autocratic rule. But since 1966, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has won every time.

More than 30 years after the Berlin Wall came down, leaders of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s long-time ruling party, still refer to each other as 'comrade'. Unless, that is, you’re seen as a problem. 'Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa will be here,' ANC secretary general Fikile Mbabula told journalists on Sunday morning as he explained how, around 5 p.m., the President would receive the final election results at the main counting centre between Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria. 'There’s nothing to celebrate in terms of performance of the ANC,' he said.  Zuma has come away with 14.

From the start, it didn’t look good this time round for the African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled South Africa since Nelson Mandela came to power in the first democratic elections 30 years ago. Since mid-2023, polls for the ANC have ranged from 38 per cent to the high-40s, a long way down from the 57 per cent President Cyril Ramaphosa had won five years ago. ANC party faithful have long chanted, ‘We will rule till Jesus comes’ The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it will only have the full results by Sunday, given the unexpectedly high turnout. At the first national vote in 1994, a stunning 87 per cent took part, but in 2019 a third of those registered to vote stayed away. This time turnout has risen, though final figures are get to be released.

Kigali is, for now, one of Africa’s safest cities. Walk down a street in the Rwandan capital after dark and there are lights everywhere, police are on the beat and tourists and locals are strolling back to their lodgings or dining al-fresco. There are no potholes where you might twist your ankle and the city feels, and works, like a European capital, without the pickpockets. The power of the state here is absolute; few dare to test it. Many travellers come to Rwanda to see mountain gorillas. As with Kigali, Rwanda's national parks are safe and poachers risk being shot if they cross the fence. After decades in decline, gorilla numbers in Rwanda are on the increase. Rwanda is a country, to all appearances, that other African countries aspire to emulate. What will Sunak do then?

Is a crime against humanity at risk of unfolding in South Africa? Elon Musk, the Pretoria-born billionaire who owns X (Twitter) and Tesla, fears that there might be. Earlier this year, he wrote that he’d heard of calls for 'a genocide of white people’ in his former homeland. Musk isn't alone in his concerns. Steve Hofmeyr, a South African singer with a cult following, thinks that the 'g-word' is an appropriate way to describe what is unfolding: 'If you think that the slaughter of South African farmers is not genocide enough, ask them about their land, language, religion, education, universities, heritage, monuments, safety, dignity and the race-based regulations imposed upon them and their children'. Donald Trump voiced a similar concern when he was in the White House.