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

24 December 2025

1.    Central African Republic - Bangui

CAR Decides 2025 

Distribution of voter cards underway ahead of the election

In the Central African Republic, voter registration card distribution is well underway as the general elections draw closer.

In Bangui and in several cities across the country, many citizens have already been able to collect their cards at polling stations since mid-December.

2.    Mali -Bamako – Alliance of Sahel State Summit 2025

The Alliance of Sahel States is taking its next steps toward regional autonomy, with the military leaders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso holding high-level talks in Bamako.

The second edition of the AES summit aims to strengthen cooperation within the alliance and reduce reliance on the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.

It focuses on defence and security, development, communication and counterterrorism efforts across the three states.

3.    Malawi – United Kingdom

Malawi Vice President Mme Jane Ansah is alleged to have spent $1.3 million in Public Funds to Attend her husband’s lavish 80th Birthday In the UK.

An official document dated December 11 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Malawi Mission in London showed that Ansah is scheduled to be in Nottingham from December 26 to January 10. 

There is public outrage in Malawi as Malawian Vice President Jane Ansah come under fire and intense backlash following revelations that she is travelling to the United Kingdom with a large, taxpayer-funded entourage. 

4.    Ghana – Accra 

Ghana Government distances itself from ‘Detty December’ label despite tourism boom.

Ghana’s government wants to move away from the popular phrase “Detty December”, saying the label carries meanings it does not wish to associate with the country, even as end-of-year celebrations continue to draw tens of thousands of visitors.

Kofi Okyere-Darko, Ghana’s Director of Diaspora Affairs, stated that he is personally uncomfortable with the term and does not want it associated with Ghana’s national image.

5.    In our historical archives, it was on this day, 24 December 1920- 06 January 2020, when Ntate Pelwana Richard John Maponya, one of South Africa’s wealthiest businessmen, was born in Lenyenye in the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province). 

The founder and first president of the National Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC), Maponya is also a trustee of the Urban Foundation and the SA Foundation. 

Maponya studied teaching but worked as an administration clerk instead after he qualified.

1. The U.S. has been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November, according to flight tracking data and current and former U.S. officials, in a sign of increased security cooperation between the countries.