Africa Update Report with Advocate Sipho Mantula, Researcher: Thabo Mbeki African School of Public & International Affairs: Unisa

14 January 2026

1.    Uganda – Kampala 

Uganda decides 2026 latest on Uganda internet blackout complicates election monitoring, and Uganda's military deployed in the national capital before the presidential election

Uganda was plunged into a nationwide internet shutdown yesterday, just two days before Thursday’s general election, raising fresh concerns over transparency, freedom of expression and the ability of election observers to monitor the vote.

President Yoweri Museveni and his political opponents in Uganda held their final rallies on yesterday before an election that authorities will oversee with soldiers in the streets — deployments that have alarmed opposition figures who see signs of the authoritarianism they want to do away with.

2.    DR Kongo- North Kivu- Burutsi Village 

A landslide in eastern Congo early yesterday killed at least 13 people and left over 30 still missing, according to local authorities.

The landslide occurred at around 1 a.m. in the village of Burutsi in North Kivu province. Witnesses say that the landslide followed several hours of intense rainfall and has cut off the main road between the major city of Goma and the provincial capital, Walikale.

3.    The Gambia - Banjul

The Gambia Reparations Commission has begun paying reparations to victims of human rights abuses perpetrated under the regime of former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh.The commission described the move as a "significant milestone" in its mandate for "justice" and "dignity."

4.    In our historical archives, it was on this day 14 January 1933 when teacher , journalist and first Afrikan secretary general of Communist Party of South Africa , Albert Thomas Nzula passed away of pneumonia in Moscow, Russia.He left SA in 1931 to study in Moscow. 

The date of his death varies in different sources. It is given as 17 January in one and the year as 1934 in various other sources.