South Africa plans to add 14,500 MW of nuclear capacity by 2050 under its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan – currently in the draft stage. At the same time, the country targets over 7,000 MW of natural gas capacity as it moves to address persistent power supply challenges.

A panel discussion at the second annual Invest in African Energy Forum – organized by Energy Capital&Power – in Paris unpacked opportunities across both the country and broader region’s energy sector. Speakers highlighted untapped opportunities in nuclear, mineral development and natural gas, advocating for a diversified energy mix to support economic growth.

Paul Eardley-Taylor, Head of Oil and Gas Coverage Southern Africa at Standard Bank, drew insight into recent milestones across the regional energy market, spotlighting Mozambique’s offshore gas projects, Namibia’s string of oil and gas discoveries and Zimbabwe’s onshore gas exploration. Given the energy crisis in South Africa, these initiatives stand to support energy security through regional trade.

“Since 2022, Namibia has made 11 discoveries. The big announcement was made by Galp [this year], which announced 10 billion barrels of oil in place at the Mopane well. There is a scenario where Namibia has about 8 billion barrels of oil recoverable. This is good news for South Africa in that the Orange Basin – where these discoveries were made – extends to the country,” Eardley-Taylor stated.

Diversification of the energy mix and the utilization of critical minerals were further explored by the panelists. Dr. Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of the World Nuclear Association, advocated for nuclear power as a clean transitional energy source. Dr. León noted, “Africa’s priority is to energize. This is why we are trying to explain why nuclear can be a true contributor [to supply]. Nuclear energy is the only carbon-free energy resource that can produce electricity and heat at the same time.”

Dr. León highlighted some of the challenges associated with nuclear development. She underscored the substantial infrastructure requirements of nuclear projects, with construction times spanning ten years but providing energy supply for the next century.

She asked: “The real question is not how much does it cost to invest in energy but how much does it cost not to invest in energy.”

Building on Dr. León’s remarks, Calib Cassim, Chief Financial Officer of Eskom, discussed South Africa’s plans to increase nuclear power capacity by an additional 2,500 MW between the period 2031 and 2035. Faced with an energy crisis, South Africa is exploring diversification options for its power supply. In addition to nuclear, Cassim stressed the need for transition fuels such as natural gas, stating “While we move to renewables, we need some transition fuels. Gas is critical and part of our mix going forward. We will invest 3,000 MW in Richard’s Bay gas. You can’t industrialize without power; we need to come together and stabilize the economy.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital&Power.

Multinational energy company Chevron has joined the Angola Oil&Gas (AOG) 2024 conference (https://apo-opa.co/3UF9Rg5) – Angola’s premier oil and gas event, scheduled for 2-3 October in Luanda – as a platinum sponsor. The company has been active in Angola for over 70 years, and with stakes in various strategic oil and gas projects, remains committed to increasing production and sustainable oil and gas development for the long-term.

Chevron currently holds a 26% market share in Angola. The company has interests in offshore Blocks 0 and 14 – boasting a daily production capacity of 70,000 barrels of liquids and 259 million cubic feet of natural gas – as well as a non-operated interest in the Angola LNG project – the country’s pioneer LNG facility. Angola LNG processes natural gas from offshore fields and celebrated its 400th cargo delivery in 2023. During the AOG 2024 conference, Chevron is expected to provide insight into the company’s current project portfolio while unpacking new investments in low-carbon projects.  

Organized by Energy Capital&Power. AOG is the largest oil and gas event in Angola. Taking place with the full support of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas; the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency; the African Energy Chamber; and the Petroleum Derivatives Regulatory Institute, the event is a platform to sign deals and advance Angola’s oil and gas industry. To sponsor or participate as a delegate, please contact sales@energycapitalpower.com.

With interests in several deepwater blocks, Chevron’s expertise in such acreage is expected to support production growth in Angola. In 2023, the company – through its Angolan subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC) – signed a Production Sharing Agreement to manage operations within the Block 14/23 concession area, situated in the Zone of Common Interest shared by Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s maritime territory. Under the agreement – inked with the governments of both countries – CABGOC will act as the operator of the concession, holding a 31% stake in the block.

Chevron’s initiatives in Angola extend to infrastructure projects such as the Sanha Lean Gas Connection Project (SLGC) – valued at $300 million. This endeavor – which reached FID in 2021 – involves the development of a platform that ties into the existing Sanha Condensate complex, as well as new pipelines connecting Block 0 and Block 14 to Angola LNG. The SLGC project is vital for Chevron as it addresses a projected supply gap at the Angola LNG facility. Through collaboration with service companies, Chevron demonstrates its commitment to advancing energy infrastructure in Angola and supporting the growth of the nation’s oil and gas sector, while upholding operational excellence and environmental sustainability.

Meanwhile, Chevron is spearheading low-carbon oil and gas solutions in Angola. CABGOC signed an MoU with the government last October to explore low carbon business opportunities. The company’s goal is to utilize nature-based and technological carbon offsets, as well as lower-carbon intensity biofuels like hydrogen, to enhance Angola’s energy production in conjunction with oil and gas initiatives. Additionally, Chevron and the Angolan government intend to assess various projects related to carbon capture and storage, alongside the establishment of a regional center of excellence aimed at attracting lower carbon investments.

Under the theme Driving Exploration and Development Towards Increased Production in Angola, AOG 2024 will explore innovative approaches, cultivate collaboration among industry players and showcase technological advancements aimed at boosting exploration and development activities. As Chevron consolidates its presence in Angola’s oil and gas sector, its sponsorship of the AOG 2024 conference highlights a commitment to supporting initiatives that pave the way for growth in the country’s oil and gas industry.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital&Power.

President Macron praises the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) for its catalytical role; Access to clean cooking is about more than cooking, it is about dignity, says Adesina; Tanzania’s President Suluhu calls for generous replenishment of African Development Fund to guarantee resources for clean cooking for Africa’s low-income countries.

The African Development Bank Group pledged $2 billion over 10 years towards clean cooking solutions in Africa—a major step along the road to saving the lives of 600,000 mainly women and children each year.

Speaking at a landmark summit on Clean Cooking in Africa held yesterday in Paris, the Bank Group’s President Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said the institution would now commit 20 per cent of all its financing of energy projects towards promoting safe alternatives to cooking with charcoal, wood and biomass.

Receiving heads of state and government, and leaders of international organizations at the Elysee Palace to discuss the outcomes of the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron, praised the African Development Bank’s leading role and commitment to delivering clean cooking in Africa. The summit resulted in $2.2 billion pledges from the public and private sectors.  

“As part of the Paris Pact for People and the Planet, and with the commitment of Tanzania, Norway, the International Energy Agency, the African Development Bank, and many other partners, we are taking a step forward against this silent scourge today. We are mobilizing $2.2 billion to provide clean alternatives to populations in Africa,” Macron said (https://apo-opa.co/3V34UiD). “France pledges to invest €100 million over five years in clean cooking methods and will mobilize even more through the Paris Pact for People and the Planet and Finance in Common.”

Addressing the summit plenary yesterday, the African Development Bank President noted that in Africa a staggering 1.2 billion people lack access to clean cooking facilities.

The Summit was cochaired by United Republic of Tanzania President Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Dr. Fatih Birol.

In his passionate address, Adesina declared that it was time to end the sight of African women and girls, backs bent bearing heavy loads, walking kilometres each day, often with a lack of security just to cook daily family meals. He noted that the tools for enabling clean cooking access are readily available and affordable but had not been sufficiently prioritised.

“As a result over 10 years, six million people, mainly women, will die prematurely. That is not acceptable,” he told the summit attended by some 20 African heads of state and government, representatives of all leading international organisations and global businesses.

“Access to clean cooking is about more than cooking, it is about dignity… It is more than about lighting a stove, it is about life itself. It is about fairness, justice and equity for women,” Adesina said, recalling how as a youth he had damaged his own eyesight blowing into smoking wooden fires and how a friend had died in a kerosene-related explosion.

Worldwide, the lack of access to clean cooking affects over two billion people—more than half of whom are in Africa, typically cooking over open fires and basic stoves. Using charcoal, wood, agricultural waste, and animal dung as fuel, they inhale harmful toxic fumes and smoke with dire consequences for health.

It is the second leading cause of premature death in Africa. Opportunities for education, employment and independence are also severely impacted because women instead spend hours each day foraging for rudimentary fuels.

“This momentous summit on clean cooking in Africa is the largest ever gathering of leaders and policy makers dedicated to confronting the issue of access to clean cooking in Africa. We can fix it,” Adesina added. “There is nothing improved in continued suffering. No woman in Africa should have to cook again with firewood, charcoal or biomass. It is time to restore dignity to women who cook in Africa.”

The Bank’s pledge of $200 million per year represents an important contribution to the $4 billion per year needed to allow African families to have access to clean cooking by 2030.

In addition to its dramatic toll on human lives, the lack of clean cooking facilities is one of the main causes of deforestation in Africa.

International Energy Agency figures show that globally 200 million hectares of forest, 110 million of them in Africa, were at risk because of the climatic effects of cooking with charcoal, biomass, and wood. “Providing access to clean cooking is not only right, fair and just—it is also the globally responsible thing to do,” Adesina said in his address to the Summit plenary session.

Adesina hailed the event in which close to 60 countries took part, with over 1,000 delegates in attendance, as a major turning point on an issue which had gone too long unaddressed.

He added that commitments announced at the summit go beyond the money alone—they set out concrete steps on how governments, institutions and the private sector can work together to solve the clean cooking challenge this decade.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania told the gathering that successfully advancing the clean cooking agenda in Africa would contribute towards protecting the environment, climate, health, and ensuring gender equality.

“This summit underscores our commitment to advancing this agenda and providing a framework towards universal adoption of clean cooking fuels and technologies across the continent,” she said.

President Suluhu launched during COP28 a national program to solve this challenge in Tanzania, and in other parts of Africa, with the African Women Clean Cooking Support Program.

She made a strong call to the global community to ensure a bold replenishment of the next three-year cycle of the African Development Bank Group’s concessional window, the African Development Fund. “To guarantee resources for clean cooking, this summit has to call for a generous next replenishment of the African Development Fund that includes $12 billion for clean cooking,” President Suluhu urged.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway said: “Improving access to clean cooking is about improving health outcomes, reducing emissions, and creating opportunities for economic growth. With today’s summit, we have mobilized much needed support, and built a diverse partnership that together can make a real difference. Norway is a steadfast supporter of clean cooking, and I was pleased to announce today that we are committed to investing approximately $50 million in this important cause.”

“This summit has delivered an emphatic commitment to an issue that has been ignored by too many people, for too long. We still have a long way to go, but the outcome of this summit, $2.2 billion committed, can help support fundamental rights such as health, gender equality and education while also reducing emissions and restoring forests,” IEA Executive Director Birol declared.

Birol said the IEA would build on the summit’s achievements by continuing to play a convening role to engage more willing partners and generate new funds to help meet the $4 billion a year in capital investments required between now and 2030. Reaching this level of funding would enable the world to deploy the stoves and fuel delivery infrastructure needed to reach universal access to clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa.

Within this context, Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy Dan Jannik Jørgensen praised the African Development Bank’s initiative to establish a dedicated clean cooking sub-program under the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA).

Established in 2011, SEFA is a multi-donor Special Fund managed which provides catalytic finance to unlock private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. It offers technical assistance and concessional finance instruments to remove market barriers, build a more robust pipeline of projects and improve the risk-return profile of individual investments.

The African Development Bank has been a key advocate for clean cooking access in Africa. In July 2023, it published with the International Energy Agency a comprehensive report on clean cooking solutions (https://apo-opa.co/3ymLUTc).

At COP28, the African Development Bank hosted a round table on clean cooking during which it committed to allocating 20% of its annual energy lending towards clean cooking, generating $2 billion over the next decade. The Bank also supported Tanzania’s clean cooking initiative, which focuses on improving women’s access to clean cooking solutions, launched by President Samia Suluhu Hassan at COP28.

Asia—led by China and India in the lead—and Latin America have for the most part, succeeded in resolving the issue over the last 20 years. However, today in Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania… more than 80 per cent of the population still depends on biomass to cook their meals. In Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana, the figure is 70 per cent.

Dr Adesina’s speech (https://apo-opa.co/3V4A5tX)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Contact:
Jonathan Clayton
Communication and External Relations Department 
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 34 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org 

Discrimination against women and girls remains widespread in family laws across Africa, finds new research by Equality Now (www.EqualityNow.org). Analysis of twenty African countries reveals gender inequality in marriage, divorce, custody, and property rights is being perpetuated by sex discrimination institutionalized within legal systems and customary laws. While some significant legal reforms have been achieved, progress has been slow, inconsistent, and hampered by setbacks, lack of political will, and weak implementation.

The report, Gender Inequality in Family Laws in Africa: An Overview of Key Trends in Select Countries (http://apo-opa.co/3V0dD4R), identifies how overlap and contradictions in legal frameworks make the interpretation and application of family laws confusing, creating complex challenges for harmonizing legal systems. 

The impacts of discriminatory family laws can be profound, putting women and girls at greater risk of sexual and gender-based violence and making them more dependent and vulnerable by curtailing their economic opportunities and reducing their decision-making power.

Full equality in family laws has not been achieved in any of the countries reviewed, namely Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Tunisia.

Pressing need for comprehensive legal reforms

Africa is home to diverse ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups with varied family law structures. Historically, communities developed intricate and deep-rooted systems of customary laws governing family relations. The introduction of European legal systems and religion resulted in a blend of customary, religious, and statutory laws that still shape legislation and practice through legal pluralism.

This complex patchwork is influenced by evolving social dynamics. Civil, customary, and religious law, such as Islamic or Christian canon law, sometimes encroach or conflict, and many provisions in religious and customary laws discriminate against women and girls.

Esther Waweru, report co-author and a Senior Legal Advisor at Equality Now, explains, “Culture and religion frequently act as major impediments in the struggle for family law equality, stalling reforms. Claw-back clauses and retrogressive practices water down the positive impact of progressive laws, and there is backlash from anti-rights movements seeking to reverse hard-won gains in areas such as eliminating child marriage and female genital mutilation.”

“Stagnation is also a problem, with governments pledging to reform discriminatory laws but failing to take meaningful action. In some instances, progressive family codes remain in limbo awaiting enactment.”

Progress on child marriage, but shortfalls remain

Child marriage is one area of notable progress. Absolute bans on marriage under 18 exist in Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Egypt, The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique. However, the persistence of child marriage in certain communities underscores the need for a multi-sectoral approach (http://apo-opa.co/3UFhEKR) incorporating awareness raising about the legal consequences and harms of child marriage.

Concerningly, laws in Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania still allow child marriage, while in Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Tunisia, the legal age of marriage is 18, but exceptions are permitted.

Marital rape

Countries need greater protections against gender-based violence, especially intimate partner violence. Marital rape is not prohibited in Algeria, Kenya, Sudan, and The Gambia, while Northern Nigeria’s Penal Code allows marital rape and “corrective” assault within marriage.

Marital rape is only criminalized upon separation in Tanzania, and in Burundi, the penalty is under 30 days imprisonment or a fine. Tunisia’s law states a wife must fulfill her duties in line with ‘usages and customs,’ putting women at risk of marital rape as a wife’s traditional role includes pleasing her husband sexually.

Malawi’s courts have stated that rape does not extend to marriage. Customary law presumes perpetual consent to sex within marriage, and Malawi’s civil law appears to support this by providing only limited circumstances in which a wife can deny her husband sex, such as poor health or when legally separated.

Countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, and South Africa can be commended for explicitly criminalizing marital rape. It’s imperative that all nations introduce bans, accompanied by awareness-raising campaigns and accessible support services for survivors. Effective legal enforcement is also crucial, as is providing comprehensive training for officials in the criminal justice, healthcare, and social service sectors.

Discriminatory marriage practices

In most African countries, registration of civil marriages is a legal requirement governed by specific laws formalizing marriage. Women in customary and religious marriages are at greater risk of discrimination as they don’t have the same legal protection as people in civil marriages. Same-sex partners also experience this, as marriages and civil unions are largely reserved for heterosexual couples.

Polygamy is legally permitted in Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, and South Sudan, with men allowed four wives in Sudan and Senegal. Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, and South Africa have statutory laws for monogamy, but customary and religious laws and practices continue to recognize polygamy without adequate protections for women in polygamous marriages. Other harmful traditional practices, such as widow inheritance and surrogate marriage, treat women as property.

Discrimination in divorce and child custody laws

Countries such as Sudan discriminate by granting husbands more powers to initiate divorce. In Algeria, women can only request a divorce in cases of abandonment, violation of the marriage contract, or if alimony is unpaid. In both Sudan and Egypt, in some no-fault divorces, a woman must pay financial compensation to her ex-husband.

Child custody laws have been reformed in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Mozambique, and Senegal, ensuring guardianship rights for both parents, irrespective of marital status.

Sex discrimination remains in countries like Senegal, where the father is the legal guardian regardless of the mother’s caregiving role. In Tunisia and Algeria, fathers retain legal guardianship even if the mother has custody. Algeria and Sudan strip a mother’s rights to custody upon remarriage, but this doesn’t apply to men.

Matrimonial property and inheritance

Matrimonial property laws is another area that has undergone considerable reforms. Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa have introduced legal provisions for equitable distribution of matrimonial property. In Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and The Gambia, laws recognize the right of married women to acquire, own, maintain, and dispose of their property.

However, some customary and religious laws undermine women’s inheritance rights. In Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tunisia, women and girls receive less inheritance than men and boys.

Women are disadvantaged by cultural biases that influence judicial decisions, with unequal distribution particularly evident in divorce and widowhood. In some countries, wives can be excluded from inheriting their husbands’ property. One example is Angola, where customary laws exclude wives from inheriting their deceased husband’s property, and widows are sometimes forced from their matrimonial home.

Aligning family laws with international human rights standards

Family laws in Africa must align fully with international human rights standards. Many countries have ratified key treaties like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). However, implementation and enforcement of these treaties remain inconsistent, with discriminatory family laws and policies remaining in statutes and practices.

Waweru concludes, “It’s especially concerning that in most countries where national judiciaries and African Union judicial bodies have explicitly called for law reform in their decisions, governments haven’t implemented these changes. And even where laws are equitable, enforcement is frequently inadequate and biased against women, and women may not know their legal rights.”

“To safeguard women and girls within family law, it is imperative for all African nations to promptly enact robust legislative and policy frameworks that align with international and regional human rights obligations.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Equality Now.

Notes to editors
For media requests, please contact
Tara Carey
Global Head of Media
at Tcarey@equalitynow.org
T. +44 (0)7971556340 (WhatsApp)

About Equality Now: 
Equality Now is an international non-governmental human rights organization that works to protect and promote the rights of all women and girls around the world by combining grassroots activism with international, regional, and national legal advocacy.

Our international network of lawyers, activists, and supporters achieve legal and systemic change by holding governments responsible for enacting and enforcing laws and policies that end legal inequality, sex trafficking, online sexual exploitation, sexual violence, and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage.

For more information about Equality Now go to www.EqualityNow.org, and follow on X (Twitter) at http://apo-opa.co/3yiYRgN and Linkedin at http://apo-opa.co/3wrGPIT.

About Africa Family Law Network (AFLN): 
Gender Inequality in Family Laws in Africa: An Overview of Key Trends in Select Countries is a critical data source informing legal, policy, and practice reforms to end sexism and discrimination in family laws in Africa. It will be used by Equality Now, the Africa Family Law Network (AFLN) (http://apo-opa.co/4bkc0ot), and partners to help facilitate work with the policy and judicial organs of the African Union, particularly the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa to influence change.

AFLN was launched in October 2022 and aims to formulate a regional alliance in Africa amongst national advocates and groups to raise collective action and accelerate organizing and mobilization efforts toward family law reform.

AFLN is led by founding partners Equality Now, The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) (http://apo-opa.co/3WIinxt), Musawah (http://apo-opa.co/3UZrM2h), and the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) (http://apo-opa.co/4bkz5r2).

AFLN is part of the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law (http://apo-opa.co/4bDdSbF), which calls on all states to ensure equality for women and men under the law in all matters relating to the family, regardless of religion, culture, and tradition.