Africa Daily BBC World Service

Federalism in Africa is the topic of today’s episode.
Depending on how you define the term, there are only around six countries in Africa that use the federal model, with Nigeria and Ethiopia among them.
But what is federalism and what does it look like in practice? How does it function and differ from a system where power is centralised under one authority?
Mpho Lakaje has been looking into all of this and examining whether this is a form of government that suits Africa.
He is in conversation with Dr Bizuneh Yimenu, a teaching fellow at Birmingham University in the UK.
He has also been talking to Dr Dele Babalola, a senior lecturer in International Relations at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK and author of `The political economy of Federalism in Nigeria`.

“We should also harvest the water, store it in the soil. Grow our crops and grow our trees. Because the storage in the soil is much, much bigger than any store we can ever put on the surface. God has already given us a huge reservoir where we can put our water.”

Kenya has been ravaged by flooding this month: dozens have died – specifically after a dam burst and a passenger ferry capsized – and thousands more have been made homeless. Schools were closed and farmers have seen their crops destroyed.

But in a few months, many of the areas now under water will be struggling with drought.

So what can be done to conserve flood waters and build up resilience? And how can small farmers manage their land better?

For today’s Africa Daily, Peter Musembi speaks with Professor John Gathenya a Hydrologist from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

We’ve spoken many times on Africa Daily about mining and whether natural resources are actually a blessing or a curse for the continent.
It’s led to decades of conflict in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighbouring Central African Republic - and reports from Human Rights organisations about the appalling conditions miners - including children - often work in.
But we rarely get a real sense of what it’s like for people living in these areas.
The BBC’s new Global China Unit has been looking inside the mines owned by Chinese companies in the DR Congo, Indonesia and Argentina.
Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje talked to the BBC’s Wanqing Zhang about a mine near Lubumbashi, a place often referred to as the mining capital of the country, and learned more about the lives of the communities living near the mine.

“Before pronouncing sentence on Bobrisky, the judge asked, ‘are you male or female?’. For me this was a red flag. Bobrisky’s gender has nothing to do with whether he (or she) abused the Naira.”

Money spraying is part of Nigerian culture: throwing bank notes or putting them on a person’s forehead to congratulate them at weddings, birthdays or other big social events.

But since 2007, it’s technically been illegal – as those bank notes can fall to the ground and be trodden on - and the maximum punishment is six months in jail.

But until recently, prosecutions were rare.

So there was much consternation earlier this month when Nigerian internet personality and transgender woman, Bobrisky - who has 5 million followers on Instagram - was sentenced to spend 6 months in a male prison for ‘Naira abuse’ after spraying banknotes at a film premier.

The government says it’s just clamping down on the practice. But others argue that Bobrisky has been targeted because of her gender identity.

“If I have my money, I have my assets, I have my farms, my houses, my cars, I have everything I need, I don’t need to be friendly with any white person” – Sandile Swana, former freedom fighter.
In 1948, the National Party came into power in South Africa and introduced apartheid, a system that segregated society along racial lines. Black people were not allowed to share toilets, beaches, theatres and other public facilities with their white counterparts.
In the decades that followed, the black majority rose up against the system and engaged in various political campaigns. Many activists - including Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada - were incarcerated, while others fled to neighbouring countries. But after years of pressure on the National Party government, which included sanctions and international sports boycotts, apartheid collapsed. On the 27th of April 1994, the nation voted in its first democratic election.
So 30 years since independence, our presenter Mpho Lakaje sits down with two people who were on either side of the political divide: former freedom fighter Sandie Swana and apartheid-era policeman Lourens Groenewald.
So have black and white South Africans truly forgiven each other since those ugly days?

“It feels like a black man deserves the worst. The poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer. I don’t know how things will change” – Alexandra resident, Vusi Mbeye.

On the 27th of April 1994, millions of South Africans voted in their country’s very first democratic election. During white minority rule, black people were not allowed to vote.
Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress won that election and then introduced policies like Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment. In addition, many black students received financial aid from the government and private companies, to further their university or college studies. All these measures were meant to correct the economic injustices of the past.

But 30 years after the fall of apartheid, have black South Africans experienced meaningful economic freedom?
Africa Daily presenter Mpho Lakaje, who is himself a black South African, sits down with two men who were both born in Alexandra township: street vendor Vusi Mbeye and Theo Baloyi, a wealthy businessman. He also visits political analyst Khaya Sithole.