Namibia seems almost certain to become an oil producer by 2030, and the war in Iran has added urgency to its ambitions to become a major energy exporter. John Grobler takes stock...
20 March, 2026
The unexpected move is testament to the power of journalism to enforce accountability, offer scrutiny and influence policy re-think, writes Tatenda Chitagu...
03 March, 2026
Oxpeckers associates Andiswa Matikinca and Tatenda Chitagu win major international award for their exposé on lithium smuggling across Southern Africa’s borders...
26 January, 2026
After nine months of chasing information about renewable energy land lease deals across South Africa, we share what we learned. Roxanne Joseph reports...
20 November, 2025
What we learnt during our interrogation of land deals and social ownership of renewable energy projects. Roxanne Joseph reports...
07 July, 2025
Renewable energy projects are benefitting local communities, yet few people knew that they exist – let alone what their impact is. Thabo Molelekwa reports...
01 April, 2025
Oxpeckers and its partners in the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project (SA | AJP) aim to support and strengthen investigative journalism in the region...
17 January, 2025
New matchmaking platform for green energy funding offers solutions to coal-dependent communities at the frontline of SA’s energy transition, Thabo Molelekwa reports...
12 November, 2024
Our pioneering project gears up to track the JET journey beyond the country’s energy capital. Andiswa Matikinca and Roxanne Joseph report...
25 September, 2024
How we tracked the notorious Mozambican syndicate leader ‘Navara’ from 2013 until he ended up in jail in 2024. By Fiona Macleod & Estacio Valoi...
29 August, 2024
Amid new promises from the government to scale up renewables, Andiswa Matikinca tracks our journey to unlock data on SA’s Just Energy Transition...
21 August, 2024
A Zimbabwe journalist working with Oxpeckers investigated how a Chinese mining company polluted local water sources. Anders Behrmann reports...
29 July, 2024
As the global transition to greener sources of energy continues full steam ahead, Oxpeckers takes the #PowerTracker project to journalists on the ground. Andiswa Matikinca reports...
05 March, 2024
A six-month training and journalistic project has unravelled data and the human face of the renewals revolution, writes Estacio Valoi...
24 November, 2023
Next month the team will start work on the project’s second year in SA’s energy heartland, continuing to track and investigate the energy transition, reports Roxanne Joseph...
14 November, 2023
After a year of research, we can authoritatively confirm that renewable energy is on the rise in South Africa’s power capital. Andiswa Matikinca reports...
12 October, 2023
In continuing our partnership with CIJ's Open Climate Reporting Initiative, we now have the opportunity to focus on tracking and mapping Mozambique’s renewable energy initiatives...
29 June, 2023
#PowerTracker rates South Africa’s transparency on renewable power agreements, after spending the past five months tracking down the data. Andiswa Matikinca reports...
22 May, 2023
Launch of catalytic renewable energy programme in Mpumalanga follows Oxpeckers data exposé. Roxanne Joseph reports...
16 March, 2023
The second iteration of the Oxpeckers #PowerTracker programme zooms in on the financing of renewable energy projects in Mpumalanga – the focus area of SA’s Just Energy Transition. ...
19 January, 2023
Local journalists create and share a new dataset that untangles green energy investments across Southern Africa...
05 December, 2022
By the time our latest in-depth training session – storytelling with data – came to a close, our #PowerTracker grantees could more confidently call themselves data journalists...
29 August, 2022
Oxpeckers’ latest project, #PowerTracker, brings together journalists from across Southern Africa to investigate financing of renewable energy projects...
12 August, 2022
New Oxpeckers collaboration to investigate who is financing renewable energy initiatives in Southern Africa, and how the money is being spent...
15 July, 2022
Journalists and investigators finally have a single place to access data on wildlife cases in East Africa that will help drive reporting and expose criminal syndicates, writes Andi...
06 July, 2022
There doesn’t seem to be a clear, singular approach to wildlife crime in the UK, which makes accessing data about it extremely challenging, writes Marthe de Ferrer...
08 June, 2022
Legal expert guides journalists on using legal frameworks to access information on environmental crimes in Europe. Nompumelelo Mtsweni reports...
28 April, 2022
Resources and learning materials from the inaugural six-month Oxpeckers training course are now available to advance data journalism and environmental reporting around the globe...
17 February, 2022
Wildlife crime in Southern Africa has become easier to track and harder to hide, after Oxpeckers launched a digital tool that follows court cases and convictions in the region...
24 November, 2021
Attorneys from the Legal Resources Centre train journalists on legal frameworks and access to information in Southern African countries. Dianne Tipping-Woods reports...
25 August, 2021
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, working with Henry Nxumalo Foundation, Oxpeckers and #WildEye Asia, offers grants to investigate environmental crime...
03 August, 2021
New Oxpeckers professional support programme boosts wildlife crime reporting in Southern Africa with data-driven tools and journalist training...
26 July, 2021
Takeaways from a #WildEye discussion among diverse journalists from across Asia about their experiences of using data to investigate wildlife crimes...
09 June, 2021
The government admits its online platform for accessing information on SA’s mines is not working. Thank goodness for #MineAlert, writes Andiswa Matikinca...
11 March, 2021
A recent #WildEye webinar saw journalists from across Asia discussing how best to cover wildlife trafficking in the region...
26 August, 2020
What we do: Peer review by NiemanLab and the Global Investigative Journalism Network of Oxpeckers tools and investigations...
03 August, 2020
With global attention focused on wildlife trade in Asia, Oxpeckers introduces a new data journalism tool that investigates legal interventions...
06 May, 2020
Research, contacts and networks from our journalistic investigations in the hub of Africa's illegal pangolin trade contributed to Nigeria hosting World Pangolin Day...
05 March, 2020
Oxpeckers associate Yuexuan Chen tells her story of Hubei, the Chinese province at the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis...
20 February, 2020
Deliberations at the 11th Alternative Mining Indaba focused on environmental damage and climate change caused by the extractives industry. Andiswa Matikinca was there...
14 February, 2020
Instead of grabbing the story and rushing away to publish, this journalistic investigation helped remote rural community members participate in the project...
05 February, 2020
A recent #WildEye webinar raised lively discussion among journalists and other participants about Europe’s role in the global illegal wildlife trade...
22 November, 2019
A year after joining Oxpeckers, Andiswa Matikinca was crowned regional winner of the prestigious Vodacom Young Journalist of the Year Award...
11 November, 2019
From going cross-eyed cleaning datasets to freezing on the summit of the Drakensberg – Yuexuan Chen finds her groove in investigative environmental journalism...
23 August, 2019
Mining your Water project empowers users to track and share water use licences approved for mining, reports Andiswa Matikinca ...
14 August, 2019
Analysis of #WildEye data shows there has been an increase in the number of court cases and convictions taking place across Europe, writes Roxanne Joseph...
26 July, 2019
Transnational investigation into abalone smuggling from South Africa to China wins at Asian Environmental Journalism Awards...
22 March, 2019
President Cyril Ramaphosa says SA mining wants to be more transparent and embracing. Andiswa Matikinca talks to organisations with advice...
08 February, 2019
Our digital geojournalism tool #WildEye gives easy access to data on seizures, arrests, court cases and convictions related to wildlife crime in Europe...
28 January, 2019
The Open Society Foundation for South Africa’s 25th anniversary was cause for celebration at Oxpeckers #MineAlert manager Tholakele Nene has been announced as one of 20 young South...
07 December, 2018
Our new #WildEye project aims to expose wildlife smuggling networks and how they work across the greater European continent...
20 November, 2018
An anonymous tip-off sparked a sustained investigative journalism trail and a precedent-setting High Court judgment, writes Julia Thomas...
16 November, 2018
Story about Patricia de Lille’s struggle to access climate funding for drought-stricken Cape Town wins United Nations contest...
02 November, 2018
Award-winning work demonstrates the success of transnational multimedia collaborations in environmental journalism...
24 October, 2018
Public participation in the mining sector has improved but there is still a long way to go to gain stakeholder trust, writes Tholakele Nene...
28 September, 2018
SA’s Parliament decides to initiate a forensic investigation into the controversial R1.1-billion MalaMala deal, the country’s most expensive land settlement. Tholakele Nene reports...
25 July, 2018
Multimedia geojournalism collaboration uses cutting-edge technology to expose uncharted territory...
13 April, 2018
New Water Threats map layers provide a birds’-eye view of mining risks to SA's ground and surface water reserves...
28 March, 2018
Lessons we learnt from experimenting with savvy storytelling tech to tell visually strong and impactful multimedia investigations...
10 November, 2017
Pioneering data journalism project on financial provisions for mine closures and rehabilitation is rewarded with top environmental media award...
25 October, 2017
#MineAlert's Tholakele Nene discusses the importance of building trusted partnerships when creating tools for transparency and accountability...
18 September, 2017
A lot of tools and skill go into creating a cutting-edge multimedia investigation, as Tricia Govindasamy discovered when covering our Fire Factories feature...
15 September, 2017
Want to find out how many uranium mines there are in SA, given the focus on nuclear build? This kind of information is available on our #MineAlert map...
04 April, 2017
What does climate change mean for the average household? Our new ClimaTracker Food Basket Calculator shows the costs in real terms...
01 March, 2017
Estacio Valoi, an Oxpeckers Associate based in Mozambique, won the environmental journalism award at the 15th anniversary celebrations of the Worldwide Fund for Nature...
30 January, 2017
'Swashbuckling tale' of poaching links from Namibia to China won Oxpeckers a prestigious CNN Multichoice African Journalist of the Year Award...
10 October, 2016
Communities affected by mining in South Africa live under a double-edged sword. Geojournalism helps them to participate in governance and compliance monitoring...
26 August, 2016
Shi Yi, a Chinese journalist who joined Oxpeckers to expose wildlife trafficking routes from Namibia to Asia, won the coveted Journalist of the Year Award at the 2016 China Environ...
30 May, 2016
#MineAlert is a citizen-focused, mobile and web-based resource that provides users with real-time and location-based alerts about mining & associated applications...
25 April, 2016
In a move directly linked to an Oxpeckers investigation, the Vietnamese government has warned tour operators not to support illegal wildlife product processing workshops</s...
03 March, 2016
Nicky Rehbock, global campaigns officer for Corruption Watch and Transparency International, wrote this blog about the Mala Mala Files for Corruption Watch Connected</stron...
15 January, 2016
ClimaTracker is an innovative geojournalism project that makes complex scientific data accessible, and tells Southern Africa’s climate change stories at a mouse click</stro...
25 November, 2015
Oxpeckers both creates and applies new technologies for investigative environmental reporting. It is a new kind of journalism that creates visual narratives while empowering civic ...
23 June, 2015
Oxpeckers partnered with the Barcode of Wildlife Project, a global programme building a DNA barcode reference library of threatened species vulnerable to illegal trade...
07 November, 2014
Hongqiao Liu, one of China’s youngest environmental reporters, was an Oxpeckers Fellow in 2013 and spent three months in South Africa investigating wildlife trafficking links...
03 November, 2014
Judges of the prestigious SAB EnviroMedia Award describe the Oxpeckers Fellowship Project as 'South Africa's pioneering attempt to facilitate collaborative journalism on an interna...
24 October, 2014
Oxpeckers Rhino Court Cases interactive map provides an easy, accessible way to keep track of cases involving rhino poaching...
21 August, 2014
On the eve of his departure from the Police Ministry, Nathi Mthethwa released to Oxpeckers consolidated data on court cases involving alleged rhino poachers...
18 July, 2014
Oxpeckers' work on rhino poaching features in the Art and Science of Data-driven Journalism, published by the Tow Center of the School of Journalism...
03 June, 2014
The Botswana government banned canned hunting of large carnivores, in response to an Oxpeckers cross-border investigation. Lawrence Seretse reports...
01 April, 2014
This photograph, taken during an undercover transnational investigation by Oxpeckers reporters in late 2013, went viral during a global campaign against canned lion hunting in Marc...
18 March, 2014
Global wildlife trafficking syndicates employ increasingly sophisticated circumvention tools and technology to avoid detection. Oxpeckers exposes them by playing them at th...
14 February, 2014
