Irate South Africans chased away a mayor from a hospital north of the capital, Pretoria, because they blame him for failing to provide clean water as deaths from cholera rose to 15 in Gauteng, the country's most populous province.

Tshwane City Mayor Cilliers Brink was expected to join government officials to assess the situation in the wake of the cholera outbreak in the area.

But tempers flared outside the Jubilee District Hospital on Monday as angry residents confronted him, demanding clean water, local media reported.

The disgruntled residents ambushed cars outside the hospital, forcing the mayor off the premises. They accused him of not taking their health seriously.

The health department in Gauteng declared a cholera outbreak on Sunday in Hammanskraal, north of the capital Pretoria.

Almost 100 people have been to hospital, and 37 have been admitted, the city government said on Monday, warning residents of Hammanskraal and surrounding areas not to drink tap water.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, AFP

The authorities in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, have said all beaches in the city will be closed between 19:00 and 05:00 local time in order to combat crime.

Increasing acts of violence - including rapes and murder, especially at night and often on beaches - have prompted the measure.

Leonel Matsumane, the municipal director of tourism, said that permission would have to be obtained before anyone could hold activities on the beachfront during the evening.

The Costa do Sol beach - a popular venue for parties and sporting activities, will have a dedicated police post to ensure that people complied with the order, he added.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Sudan's latest ceasefire now appears to be holding despite early breaches of the deal.

It is the first truce to have been formally agreed and signed by both sides, but there were reports of airstrikes and clashes in the capital, Khartoum, as it came into force on Monday evening.

In the cities of Omdurman and Bahri which adjoin the capital, people said they had heard gunfire.

The ceasefire will enable the delivery of badly needed humanitarian aid.

Hours before the latest truce was due to begin, the head of the paramilitary RSF, General Hamdan Dagalo, issued a belligerent statement urging his troops to defeat the national army and win the war.

Lucy Pawle
BBC Hardtalk

Image source, AFP

The secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress Party (ANC) has said the country could become a failed state as incessant power cuts threaten to cripple the economy.

Fikile Mbalula told the BBC that “if certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state, but we are not journeying towards that direction”.

In an exclusive interview with Stephen Sackur for the BBC’s Hardtalk programme, Mr Mbalula said that South Africa’s economy had "been battered”.

He said while external forces such as the global economy, impact of Covid, and war in Ukraine all played a role, the blame also lay partly with “some of our own weaknesses in terms of managing the economy well”.

One in two young South Africans are unemployed and 60% of South Africans are living under the poverty line. But the country “is recovering well”, Mr Mbalula said.

Defending the ANC’s economic record after almost three decades in power, Mr Mbulala said the government had cushioned "our people from the worst, after a legacy of 300 years of deprivation and a mismanaged country and economy".

He acknowledged that regular "load-shedding", an ongoing period of widespread power cuts, was at the heart of the country's woes - and with dire consequences.

He said this could affect the political fortunes of the ANC in next year's elections.

“It will effect the fortunes of the ANC to receive just an outright majority…if it is not dealt with decisively”, he said.

Watch the full interview on Tuesday 23 May 2023 on BBC News or watch again on BBC iPlayer (UK only). It will be available to listen to on BBC World Service radio on Wednesday 24 May 2023.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The authorities in Liberia say they have lost all trace of four suspected drug dealers linked to a $100m (£80m) cocaine shipment, after a trial jury unexpectedly acquitted them.

Last year, with assistance from the US and Brazil, Liberian security officials seized a container with more than 500kg of cocaine inside.

Four men - from Liberia, Portugal, Lebanon and Guinea-Bissau - were arrested in what was seen at the time as one of Liberia's biggest successes against drug smugglers.

But last week a jury in the capital, Monrovia, found them not guilty.

The justice minister condemned the decision, saying it had brought international ridicule on Liberia. He vowed to re-arrest them but they have since fled.

Liberian authorities have launched a manhunt for the suspects.

Our proverb of the day:

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Every year thousands of Nigerian graduates across the country take part in the National Youth Service Corps, a compulsory year-long scheme.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll be back on Tuesday morning.

Our wise words of the day:

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We leave you with a photo of Saharawi women celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front, which is campaigning for the independence of Western Sahara:

Image source, Getty Images

Omar Wally
Gambian journalist

Image source, Rohey Malick Lowe/Facbook

The Gambia's only female mayor has been re-elected to her post, in elections that saw President Adama Barrow's ruling party perform badly.

Rohey Malick Lowe - a member of the opposition United Demcratic Party (UDP) - won Saturday's mayoral election in the capital, Banjul, defeating Mr Barrow's chosen candidate Eboy Faye.

The UDP also won the mayoral race in Kanifing, the most populous municipality which includes Serekunda.

In regional elections, the UDP won the most populous regions - West Coast and Lower River - while the ruling National People's Party (NPP) won four other regions.

All in all the results were a blow to Mr Barrow, as the biggest cities and regions are in opposition hands. But he congratulated the winners and promised to focus on development and solidifying peace and stability in The Gambia.

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Four nurses in Tanzania's western Tabora region are to be charged in court with harvesting the organs of baby twins, a regional official has said.

A committee set up to investigate the incident found that the bodies of the prematurely born twins were mutilated after they had died.

The mother found her babies' eyes gouged out and part of their skin peeled off from the forehead.

Tabora regional commissioner Batilda Buriani said the nurses, who are under arrest, have been suspended from their duties.

She said the organ-harvesting was linked to witchcraft.

The nurses misled the investigating committee by falsely claiming that the bodies were kept in the maternity ward when, in fact, they were found in the nurses' room, Ms Buriani added.

The nurses have not yet commented on the allegations.

The report also indicates that the twins died due to a lack of neonatal care services, which were unavailable at the facility where they were born.

It is hoped that the plant will alleviate chronic fuel shortages in Africa's biggest oil producer.

Exhuming Prince Alemayehu's body would disrupt the remains of others, Buckingham Palace says.

BBC World Service

Health officials in South Africa have confirmed that a cholera outbreak has killed at least 15 people.

More than 100 others have shown symptoms - including diarrhoea and vomiting - after drinking contaminated water in Hammanskraal, a township north of the capital Pretoria.

Officials have urged people to stop drinking tap water.

Frustrated residents chased away the regional mayor when he attempted to visit a hospital treating victims.

Last month, the emergency services in Johannesburg urged people to avoid performing traditional and baptism rituals in rivers and streams following another cholera outbreak.

South African health experts have raised concern about further infections in areas with poor sanitation and sewage running through the streets.

Zeinab Mohammed Salih
Journalist, Khartoum

Image source, Reuters

"It felt like an earthquake," a resident said, as he described how his house shook from the latest heavy artillery fire in Sudan's Omdurman city.

Fierce fighting is still raging between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Omdurman and across the River Nile in the capital Khartoum.

The intensity of the fighting suggests that the warring sides are trying to gain ground before a ceasefire - brokered by Saudi Arabia and the US - comes into force on Monday night.

The fighting raged throughout Sunday night, and has continued on Monday.

"Members of my family were sleeping upstairs and had to come down. Everyone woke up because all the buildings were shaking. It felt like an earthquake," the resident told me.

There has also heavy fighting around the military hospital in Omdurman where former President Omar al-Bashir has been getting treatment, his nephew Awab al-Bashir confirmed to me.

Bashir - who is serving a jail sentence for corruption - was moved to the hospital before the latest hostilities broke out on 15 April, according to the army.

On Sunday, heavy clashes also took place in north Omdurman near the Wadi Saeedna airbase.

The airfield is used by the military to carry out air strikes on the RSF, and was also used by foreign governments to evacuate their nationals early in the conflict.

The RSF has been attempting to reach the airbase from the eastern banks of the River Nile, but on Monday fighting also broke out along the river's western bank.

Fighting has also been taking place south of Omdurman near the border with White Nile state, where there is a small airport.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

A special UN Security Council meeting is under way focusing on the war in Sudan that has seen more than a million people displaced over the last five weeks.

The UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, warned of a growing ethnic dimension to the conflict between the army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

He said it was at risk of expanding with serious implications for the region.

A seven-day ceasefire mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States is due to come into force in a few hours.

Gunfire and explosions have continued in the capital Khartoum and there have been frequent outbreaks of violence in the western region of Darfur.

Nahla Abugusseisa travelled to Egypt from Oxford and is hoping to bring her mother back home.

Image source, Alexandra Ndolo/Instagram

German-born Kenyan fencer Alexandra Ndolo has criticised the East African country for allegedly failing to support her sports journey, even after switching loyalty.

Ndolo had represented Germany for 15 years until November last year when she decided to fence for Kenya, her father’s home country.

In a long post on Instagram, external, she said all she had received in the last nine months were "empty words and promises" from the Kenyan Fencing Federation (KFF).

"I have travelled to many competitions without my coach and not once taken a physio with me. For a fencer of my calibre, this is not just unusual, it is unheard of," she wrote.

The 36-year-old said she had exhausted her savings and could not single-handedly develop or promote fencing in Kenya.

"I have reached my limit,” she added.

Ndolo, who has a Polish mother, is a founding member of KFF and has helped start a training centre in the capital, Nairobi.

She is hoping to secure qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 but before then, she urged Kenyan authorities to "put some actions behind your words".

National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) secretary general, Francis Mutuku, told Daily Nation that Ndolo couldn’t be funded until her transition of becoming a Kenyan fencer was completed.

An athlete changing citizenship can compete for their adopted country only after three years, but this period can be reduced if both countries and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agree.

A tribunal in Nigeria has refused to allow live television broadcasts of an opposition challenge to Bola Tinubu's victory in February's fiercely contested presidential election.

Lawyers for defeated candidates Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi argued that was in the public interest for the hearings to be broadcast live.

But fives judges unanimously turned down their request,

“The mere sentimental claim that it [live broadcasts] will benefit the voters has no utilitarian value on the matters before the court,” Justice Haruna Tsammani, who handed down the ruling, is quoted by Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper as saying, external.

The ruling is a victory for Mr Tinubu and the electoral commission as they argued against proceedings being broadcast live.

Mr Abubakar and Mr Obi are trying to annul Mr Tinubu's victory, alleging that the poll was marred by irregularities.

Mr Tinubu and the electoral commission say the result was credible, even if there were glitches in uploading results on the commission's website.

Mr Tunibu was declared the winner with 37% of the vote, while Mr Abubakar polled 29% and Mr Obi 25%.

Read more: The mystery of the altered results in Rivers state

Azeezat Olaoluwa
BBC News, Lagos

Image source, AFP

Nigerian doctors in public hospitals have resumed work after suspending their five-day nationwide strike to demand, among others, a salary increase of 200%.

This follows a "review of the commitments made by the federal government" in their latest meeting, the National Association of Resident Doctors (Nard) said.

The association is demanding a 200% salary increment, hiring to replace professionals who have left the system and an immediate upgrade of infrastructure in public hospitals.

They are also calling for a withdrawal of a bill that seeks to stop doctors who have recently graduated from leaving the country until they have worked for five years.

Nard president Emeka Orji told the BBC that the government had promised that some payments would be made next month.

This is despite President Muhammadu Buhari leaving office on 29 May.

"Government is in continuum so we are not worried. These issues are not going to go away because of a change of government.

"If some of our demands are met soon as promised, let the new government take care of the rest. We don't want any blame-game." Dr Orji said.

The doctors say they will monitor the situation for two weeks before deciding on the next line of action.

Apart from a 200% salary increase, the doctors are demanding that the government fills vacancies, upgrades infrastructure in public hospitals, and withdraws a bill that seeks to stop doctors who have recently graduated from leaving the country until they have worked for five years.

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa Business Journalist, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has officially opened a $19bn (£15bn) single-train oil refinery - the largest of its kind in the world and built by Africa’s richest person, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote.

The government hopes the refinery will turn Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, from an importer of refined fuels to an exporter and put an end to recurring fuel shortages while creating tens of thousands of jobs.

The size of about 130 football fields, Dangote Industries has billed it as the world's largest single-train petroleum refinery, meaning it will have only one crude distillation unit.

The project, launched in 2017, is located in the Lekki area of Lagos State, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is expected to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

The refinery, 20%-owned by the state, is not expected to operate at full capacity until 2024.

"At full capacity it can meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products and also have surplus for export," Dangote Industries said in a statement last week.

Mr Buhari is commissioning the plant in one of his last public acts before he steps down as president next Monday following two terms in office.

He will hand power to Bola Tinubu, who won disputed presidential elections in February.

Nigerian oil and gas consultant Henry Adigun told the BBC that Monday's event was "more political than technical".

"There is still a lot more work to do in terms of permits and licences. I don’t think the refinery is at the stage where we will start enjoying the benefit as Nigerians," he said.