I have moments in this job when I realise what a curious turn my life has taken. There was, for instance, the time I sat down with a Beninese voodoo priest who warned me off papaya, the meeting ...

Across Africa, governments are chasing the image of modern cities. “Smart” districts now define progress in places like Addis Ababa, Nairobi, and Cairo. But behind this ‘progress’ is a quiet crisis.

In many households in Mabopane and Soshanguve - townships on the northern outskirts of South Africa's City of Tshwane that are marked by high poverty, unemployment and informal economic activity - ...