Focus Africa

In 2022, the Eritrean Biniam Girmay writes sporting history: He is the first African road racing cyclist to win a stage in the Giro d'Italia - one of the most important cycling races in the world. Many see this success as the start of a cycling revolution. Will African athletes soon dominate cycling after their success in long-distance running? Among the hopefuls from Africa is 21-year-old Eric Muhoza. The Rwander has been riding for the German team Bike Aid and wants to establish himself as a professional in Europe. But before he heads to Germany, he has one more race left at home: At the Tour de Rwanda - the biggest cycling race in Africa - he is one of the favourites. Xaverine Nirere also dreams of a career as a professional cyclist. The Rwandan is concentrating on the so-called "gravel races" off the road. Since gravel races are still new in the cycling world, there is still a lot of room for development here. This is an opportunity for cyclists from Africa.

Africa's population will double by 2050. Will growth become a nightmare for the continent, or does it offer an opportunity for a better future? With an average of five children per woman, Nigeria has one of the highest birth rates in Africa. But slowly a change in thinking is taking place. Africa's population growth will have an impact on the entire world. According to Jakkie Cilliers of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, CO2 emissions will exceed those of America and China. This will jeopardize climate targets and accelerate climate change. But Cilliers also believes in the resilience and adaptability of Africa's people.

In South Africa, more than 50% of the population has no access to clean drinking water. This is a problem that affects many regions of the world. How can a fair water supply be ensured? Corruption, climate change, broken infrastructure - these are the core causes that contribute to the bad drinking water supplies in South Africa. As a result, more than half the population has to buy water or rely on polluted water. We accompany people who are fighting against water scarcity and for a fair water supply in South Africa. While scientists and activists try to get more say in politics with the help of crowd-sourced science, an investigator shows how corruption systematically runs through the water sector.

In Africa, unlike in Europe, droughts are nothing new. But like everywhere else, they too are lasting longer and are more extreme - the consequences of global warming remain undisputed. Combined with the war in Ukraine, they led to skyrocketing food prices and showed how dependent Africa had become on imports. Ruth Oniang'o, one of Africa's first female nutrition professors, shows that Africa, or in this case Kenya, is quite capable of feeding itself. The 75-year-old has already convinced more than 100,000 farmers in western Kenya to switch to cultivating local varieties to combat the increasingly unpredictable seasons. A trend that is growing internationally, but native varieties are only part of the solution. In Turkana, the barren north of Kenya, there has been a drought for three years. People have lost almost all their livestock, forcing nomadic pastoralists in Turkana to redefine their millennia-old traditions. Billy Kapua, the son of a cattle breeder, has been fighting for the survival of his people for years and shows how a mixture of traditional lifestyles with modern methods could work.

Many medicines available in the Western world today have their origins from plants in Africa and Asia. Who owns this knowledge? In South Africa, the indigenous Khoi San people have developed extensive knowledge about plants over thousands of years. Who should own the rights of this knowledge? How should it be compensated? Traditional medicinal plants have attracted scientists once again due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In South Africa, safari tourists are increasingly dropping out. This is a catastrophe for animal welfare and over one million people, because the safari industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy. As a result, poaching has increased and animal protection has decreased. Operators of private wildlife parks are now looking for innovative solutions: alternative safaris are on the rise. They are more basic with tents and huts instead of lodges and want to encourage more people for animal conservation.

In the multi-ethnic state of South Africa, traditions are gaining more and more importance like the virginity test. With the re-emergence of the virginity test, women and girls are examined for an intact hymen. Critics see this as an encroachment on women's and children's rights, while traditionalists insist on their right to culture. We accompany young South African women in search of their place in a society that is largely patriarchal in structure and at the same time has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world - on paper, at least.

A small country in the heart of Africa has become a symbol of woman power. In Rwanda, there are more women in parliament than in the every other country in the world: a positive fact with a sad cause that goes back more than 20 years. The genocide experienced by the Tutsi and the Hutu ethnic group of 1994 had cost approx. one million people their lives, most of whom were men. All that was left was a destroyed land to be rebuilt by widows and daughters. It was the beginning of a profound change that led to the Rwanda of today – one of the safest and cleanest countries in Africa. Most of the young women in the capital Kigali were well educated and they pushed forward with innovative ideas and long-term thinking that quickly redeveloped the once destroyed country. Whether it’s fashion designing, video production or carpentry: more than half of the small and mid-sized businesses are in the hands of women.