Africa has a new superhero and his name is Jongo, played by hip hop star Pacou Mutombo. South Africa's e.tv network will broadcast the new TV series on 19 April on e.tv and DStv channel 194. The storyline has a quirky local twist to the genre: the source of Jongo's superpowers is a crystal found in the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg.

However it will take more than one superhero to save some African economies from recession as the drought in Southern Africa takes hold and economic diversification is being promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is assisting Angola in formulating new economic policies and structural reforms.

The SADC region also came under the spotlight in a World Economic Forum meeting last week, where the more complex areas of competitiveness, such as innovation, technological readiness and financial market development were discussed. The workshop interrogated how the SADC region could regain its growth momentum in a sustainable way by 2020 after recent challenges.

Now if we could just get 'Jongo' to make it rain during our next rainy season, we will be halfway there...

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