A historic drought across southern Africa has jeopardised access to food for 26 million people, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday, calling for urgent funding. "Today we have up to 26 million people facing acute food insecurity in the region and this is because of El Nino induced drought,

South Africa's economy unexpected contracted in the third quarter of this year, driven by a big drop in agricultural production, statistics agency data showed on Tuesday.

South Africa risks missing its 2024 economic growth forecast after the agricultural sector’s deepest slump in at least three decades led to an unexpected contraction in the third quarter.

South Africa's economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter of this year as a drought caused a big drop in agricultural production, but analysts said they expected a return to modest growth in the coming quarters.