OkayAfrica’s Top Cultural Moments of 2025

2025 was a year marked by the audacity and brilliance of young Africans, as well as their creativity. Across music, art, film, politics, and more, they broke records, achieved incredible feats, and captured the hearts and attention of the world. To wrap up the year, OkayAfrica’s regional correspondents have shared the top cultural moments that resonated with them or captured the continent's dynamic energy, cementing the hopeful culture that young Africans are exporting to the world.

East Africa by Paula Adhis

Protests Follow Disputed 2025 Tanzania Election

Tanzania’s 2025 general election ended in turmoil after President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner with 97.66 percent of the vote in a poll widely criticized for lacking democratic credibility. Key opposition parties were barred from running, and when protests erupted across cities like Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, security forces responded with violent crackdowns involving tear gas, live bullets, and curfews. Human rights groups described the response as one of the deadliest political episodes in the country’s recent history. The election left deep divisions across Tanzania and — alongside protests in neighboring Kenya — sparked regional concern about the future of democratic freedoms in East Africa.

Faith Kipyegon Runs Fastest Women’s Mile in Historic Attempt

In June 2025, Kenyan track icon Faith Kipyegon clocked 4:06.42 at a Nike’s “Breaking4” event in Paris, recording the fastest women’s mile of the year and coming just six seconds shy of breaking the four-minute barrier. Already a three-time Olympic gold medalist and the 1500m world record holder, Kipyegon’s performance was part of her bold pursuit to become the first woman in history to run a sub-four-minute mile. Though the time was not ratified as an official world record due to pacing and gear specifications, the run reaffirmed her position as one of the greatest middle-distance athletes of all time. 

East African Nations Sign Controversial Deals to Accept U.S. Deportees

In 2025, South Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda quietly entered into agreements with the United States to accept deported asylum seekers under third-country resettlement deals. These deals allow the U.S. to remove individuals whose claims were rejected, even if they have no ties to the receiving country. South Sudan and Rwanda have already accepted small groups, while Uganda confirmed it would take in deportees under strict conditions. The agreements sparked backlash from human rights groups, who warn they could put vulnerable people at risk and violate international norms. For East Africa, the deals raise urgent questions on whether economic incentives — given the extensive aid cuts — are driving governments to accept controversial U.S. demands.

East Africa Unites Under ‘Pamoja’ to Host 2025 CHAN

For the first time in history, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda co-hosted the 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN) under the unified “Pamoja” banner, symbolizing regional unity and ambition. Originally slated for February, the tournament was pushed to August to allow more time for crucial stadium upgrades and infrastructure development. As a CAF-sanctioned competition limited to locally based players, CHAN 2025 placed a spotlight on East Africa’s homegrown talent. While all three host nations exited in the quarterfinals, the tournament was widely viewed as a successful dress rehearsal for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which the same countries will co-host. 

East African Artists Break Through with Global Award Nominations

In an era dominated by Afrobeats and amapiano, two East African artists broke through on global stages with major award nominations. Tanzanian singer Abigail Chams made history at the 2025 BET Awards as the first solo female artist from East Africa nominated for Best New International Act, marking a significant milestone for the region’s pop scene. Looking ahead to 2026, Ugandan star Eddy Kenzo is set to represent East Africa at the 68th Grammy Awards with a nomination in the Best African Music Performance category for his track “Hope & Love” featuring Mehran Matin. His nomination is a rare nod for East African music at the Grammys, a space largely dominated by West African sounds. 

Nairobi City Thunder Makes Historic Basketball Africa League Debut

In 2025, Nairobi City Thunder became the first Kenyan team ever to qualify for the Basketball Africa League, marking a defining moment for basketball in East Africa. The team entered the BAL after an undefeated domestic season and a dominant run in the Road to BAL qualifiers. That win made them East Division champions and sealed their place in Africa’s premier basketball competition. TheThunder’s debut signals the arrival of Kenya as a real contender in continental basketball, showing what’s possible when East African sports receive intentional investment, professional structure, and regional support.

West Africa by Nelson CJ

My Father’s Shadow Becomes First Nigerian Film To Premiere at Cannes

Directed by Akinola Davies Jr. and written alongside his brother Wale Davies, My Father’s Shadow was one of Nigeria’s biggest and most important cultural moments in 2025. The story follows a father and his children at the height of political conflict in 1993. Tender, gripping, and immensely powerful, My Father’s Shadow made history when it was selected under the Un Certain Regard category at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the first Nigerian film to be selected. It also took home the Special Mention for the Camera d’Or. My Father’s Shadow has since screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and became Britain’s official submission to the Oscars.

Koyo Kouoh Becomes the First African Woman to Curate the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026

When Koyo Kouoh, known to many as Madam Kouoh, was announced as the curator of the 2026 Venice Biennale, it felt like a fitting appointment for a formidable cultural figure. Kouoh, who was born in Cameroon but established her artistic practice as curator and the founder of RAW Materials, established a pan-African and truly visionary idea of what art means and can do in the world. While Kouoh unfortunately passed in May 2025, her curatorial theme “In Minor Keys” was announced posthumously and will open as planned in May 2026. 

Lagos Fashion Week Wins the 2025 Earthshot Prize on Its 15th Anniversary

Not long after Lagos Fashion Week celebrated its 15th anniversary, the premiere event, which brings together a range of Nigerian fashion designers and creatives across multiple days, was awarded a 1 million pounds Earthshot Prize to support its sustainability efforts. The award was received by Omoyemi Akerele, the founder of Stylehouse Files, the body behind Lagos Fashion Week, who said the award would support LFW’s sustainability initiatives until 2030.

Ghana Elects First Female Vice President 

On January 7, 2025, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang was elected into office as Vice President alongside President John Mahama. That moment made her the first female Vice President in Ghana’s history, opening up a monumental period in Ghana’s storied political history. 

Ghana Grants Kente Cloth Geographical Indication 

This landmark proclamation means that only clothes woven in designated Ghanaian communities can legally be called Kente. This effectively prohibits factory-produced versions from bearing that name. This landmark proclamation is vital for Ghanaian culture as it officially safeguards the ancestral craft and authenticity of Kente cloth, empowering the designated weaving communities and preserving a centuries-old cultural symbol from commercial imitation.

North Africa by Amuna Wagner

Khartoum 

The poetic, genre-bending documentary Khartoum traveled the world, impressing international audiences and inviting them into a pivotal moment in the Sudanese capital after the 2021 military coup. Five protagonists share their heartbreaking and heartwarming stories and experiences of exile after the outbreak of a counterrevolutionary war in 2023. Amongst many other festivals, the film saw its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and celebrated its European premiere at Berlinale, where it won the Peace Film Prize and received an honorable mention from the jury of the first Amnesty International Film Award. OkayAfrica interviewed the co-directors. 

Al-Soumoud Convoy 

On June 9, Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccans, and Mauritanians congregated for Al-Soumoud Convoy (the convoy of steadfast resilience), hoping to deliver much-needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza. They planned to travel through Libya and Egypt by land, picking up like-minded Libyans and Egyptians on the way to Rafah. For a region plagued by military dictatorships and repression of civic life, this was a historic act of humanity, solidarity, and defiance against powers that try to divide people who feel deeply connected. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, they never made it to Rafah. OkayAfrica published an Op-Ed that critically examined the types of solidarity North Africa was witnessing at the time and sadly predicted the convoy’s fate. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Tunisian filmmaker and Academy Award nominee Kaouther Ben Hania wrote and directed The Voice of Hind Rajab, a docudrama that tells the story of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was brutally killed by Israeli forces while trapped in a car under fire, pleading with the Red Crescent to rescue her. The film received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival and won its Grand Jury Prize alongside six other prizes. About the film, Ben Hania wrote: “The heart of this film is something very simple, and very hard to live with. I cannot accept a world where a child calls for help, and no one comes. That pain, that failure, belongs to all of us. This story is not just about Gaza. It speaks to a universal grief.”

The grand opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum

On November 1st, Egypt’s latest masterpiece — the Grand Egyptian Museum — officially opened to the public, making it the largest archeological museum dedicated to one civilization in the world. A few months prior, OkayAfrica interviewed one of the museum’s tour guides about the feat that was achieved, building a museum at the foot of the Great Pyramids of Giza that can match the splendor and grandeur of the ancient Egyptian artifacts on show. The museum took over two decades to build, but it was worth the wait, and the opening show was an epic (if opera-overloaded) celebration of the many civilizations and cultures that have shaped the Land of Peace, from Nubia to Coptic Christianity to Islam. 

AFCON and WAFCON in Morocco

In December, Morocco is hosting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, an honor that is both celebrated and criticized in the country whose football team has been on a successful run for years (and making its people proud) and whose education and health systems are not serving the majority of its people. Gen Z protested the money that is being spent on AFCON and the upcoming FIFA World Cup, but a Moroccan protester also told OkayAfrica that, despite the criticism, Moroccans are looking forward to hosting the continent and the world in their beautiful home. Earlier this year, in July, Africa’s women's football teams already competed in the 15th edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, with Nigeria defeating their Moroccan hosts 3-2.

Southern Africa by Tseliso Monaheng

Thato Toeba becomes the first Mosotho artist to win the FNB Art Prize

A defining cultural milestone of the year came when Thato Toeba was named the winner of the 2025 FNB Art Prize, making the mixed media artist the first Mosotho to achieve the feat. Born in 1990 in Maseru, Lesotho, Toeba has built a multidisciplinary career as an artist, lawyer, and researcher, using collage and assemblage to probe representation, identity, and the politics of Black life. Their rise included an LLM from Humboldt University, exhibitions across Maseru, Cape Town, and Johannesburg, a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, and a breakout 2023 solo exhibition, Phate lia Lekana, through Stevenson’s STAGE initiative. By receiving the prize, Toeba joined a distinguished lineage of past laureates such as Bronwyn Katz, Dada Khanyisa, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, and Lady Skollie. Toeba secured a cash prize and the opportunity for a solo exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, scheduled for 2026 — a career-defining moment that underscored their growing cultural significance. Their win is a win for all Basotho artists, especially younger ones who are still finding their footing. It lets them know that it's possible, that their dreams are valid and within reach.

Woza Sisi vs Trevor Stuurman 

In May, a case of intellectual property infringement was opened by the artist collective Woza Sisi against celebrated South African photographer, Trevor Stuurman, following the launch of his exhibition titled Your Beauty Is Our Concern. They pointed out similarities to the name of and subject matter of their 2023 photo book, My Beauty Is Your Concern. Their letter demanded that the gallery, THK Gallery, immediately stop that exhibition, that he issue a public apology, and that they be compensated for profits made from the sale of the artworks. Stuurman denied the allegations, arguing that his exhibition was independently conceived and inspired by his own long-standing engagement with themes of beauty and Black identity, and he launched an appeal, which was recently overturned, and he was ordered to pay legal costs. The case may set an important precedent in the South African and greater African art world for how intellectual property claims are handled between individuals and collectives.

South Africa hosts the G20 Summit

As South Africa hosts the 2025 G20 Summit — the first on African soil — global attention has swung sharply onto Johannesburg. Instead of the diplomatic uplift many hoped for, two major international reports ignited a debate about how the city is seen, and who gets to tell its story. First came the Wall Street Journal article, which framed Johannesburg as a city in free fall: broken infrastructure, failing services, and private companies stepping in where the state has faltered. The piece landed poorly among South Africans, many of whom accused it of selectively highlighting the city’s worst moments while ignoring the layered reality – a metropolis marked by both institutional collapse and remarkable citizen-led ingenuity. Then the BBC’s Africa Eye documentary, A City Held Hostage – Johannesburg, added to the tension. The investigation into hijacked and derelict buildings was thorough and difficult to watch, tracing the human cost of unsafe housing, criminal syndicates, and the policy failures that produced them. While some viewers praised its depth, others questioned its timing and intentions, noting how global media often gravitates to narratives of decay, especially when the African continent takes centre stage. Together, the reports underscored Johannesburg’s contradictions: failing infrastructure alongside grassroots renewal; political instability alongside cultural vitality. And as the city undergoes rapid beautification to ready itself for world leaders, many South Africans wonder whether these fixes will endure after the summit, or whether they exist only for the cameras. The G20 has amplified a long-standing tension: Johannesburg is undeniably in crisis, yet it refuses the simplicity of a single story.

Brenda Fassie Exhibition

Brenda Fassie carried the hopes, contradictions, and exuberant energy of South Africa for more than three decades. Her death in May 2004, officially linked to a cocaine overdose that led to respiratory failure and irreversible brain damage, left the country – and the continent – reeling. Few artists have held such a mirror to the culture: its joys, its fault lines, its tenderness, its defiance. The superstar was unmistakably of the people: outspoken, generous, chaotic, brilliant, and always honest. On what would have been her 61st birthday, Spotify, through its global LGBTQIA+ initiative GLOW, honored her legacy with a month-long celebration that asserts her place not just as the Queen of African Pop. GLOW lit up New York City’s Times Square with a banner in her honor, underscoring the magnitude of her influence across continents and generations. The centerpiece of the tribute is The Impact of Brenda Fassie, a 10-minute documentary now streaming on Spotify’s YouTube channel. The film gathers contemporary artists – including Langa Mavuso, Zoë Modiga, Muneyi, and Nanette – to reflect on the audacity and emotional clarity they’ve inherited from Fassie’s catalogue and public life. Spotify also hosted an immersive event at the Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg, where her statue stands. Curated by Maria McCloy, the exhibition runs from 4 November to 4 December 2025 and features rare photographs, archival footage, personal memorabilia, and iconic moments from her career.

The Theatre Club Revival in Eswatini

For decades, the Mbabane Theatre Club served as a central cultural hub in Eswatini, but it became neglected over the years. This year, a group of the country’s creatives were able to acquire funding to revitalise the space and renamed it The Theatre Club. It has so far held successful film screenings, live music shows, dance and drama classes, as well as smaller cultural events. Says Sizo Hlophe, who was involved in the planning, “Eswatini Theatre Club is the only purpose-built theatre and arts facility in the country. It went into a slump due to the wrong people being in power. The bar became the only thing, the facility became a venue for hire, and was made inaccessible to artists. It was expensive to use, and under-resourced as well. Our mission has been to come in and make the space accessible through a combination of ways, reduced rates, and we have started programming our own activities. It comes at a time when the country is on a cultural renaissance of some sort.” He tells OkayAfrica that the committee is 100% artists-led, and that they are writing a new narrative and dismantling the structures that created barriers in the space. “We see it as a multi-functional space for local artists,” he says.