In the digital age, social media has become the most visible stage for African politics. Yet too often, what citizens see on their leaders’ feeds are not schools, hospitals, or jobs created, but Ferraris, tailored Italian suits, and champagne banquets. On a continent where millions still struggle for daily survival, this display of excess is not simply tone-deaf. It is a betrayal of public trust.
AfricaHeadline Reports Team
editorial@africaheadline.com
African leaders must commit to using their platforms to showcase the results of governance, not the symbols of privilege. Citizens deserve clear answers: how many hospitals were built, how many classrooms opened, how many jobs created, and how many families now have clean water and electricity. Social media should be a space of accountability, not vanity.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offers a striking contrast. His social media posts highlight the Bolsa Família program, new hospitals, investments in universities, anti-hunger initiatives, and wage increases for workers. Lula appears with farmers, students, and families, not sports cars. The message is unmistakable: leadership should be communicated through results, not indulgence.
Africa has its own positive examples. In Angola, President João Lourenço has emerged as the leader who has built the largest number of hospitals in recent years, expanding healthcare access while advancing anti-corruption reforms and economic diversification. “Health is the foundation of our social progress,” Lourenço declared at a recent hospital inauguration.
In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has highlighted youth employment programs, energy sector reforms, and new investment projects, framing his communication around solutions to urgent national crises.
And in Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regularly showcases major infrastructure, housing, and health initiatives, underscoring tangible progress.
These leaders prove that social media can amplify governance outcomes rather than vanity.
More than five decades after independence, the statistics remain stark. The FAO estimates that 230 million Africans still go hungry. UNESCO reports that nearly 90 million children are out of school. The World Bank says that more than 400 million people live in extreme poverty.
And yet, political feeds remain flooded with images of armored SUVs and Ferraris, cars that roll over potholes and ungraded dirt roads in countries whose governments have not even managed to level them. Vehicles worth millions travel through communities where a fraction of that money could build an eight-classroom school, a daycare center, or even fund small-scale agricultural projects that would transform daily life.
The irony is not lost on citizens. Leaders prefer to flaunt Swiss watches and Italian suits, while the same resources could have been invested in education, vocational training, or agriculture, all sectors vital for Africa’s development and stability.
For Africa’s 1.4 billion people, half under the age of 20, this is not about optics. It is about credibility. Leaders who flaunt wealth while neglecting results risk losing trust at a time when demands for accountability have never been stronger.
The real measure of leadership is not a convoy of luxury cars crossing broken roads. It is the ability to deliver schools, clinics, and jobs where they are most needed. Citizens do not expect extravagance; they expect competence and fairness.
Africa urgently needs leaders who care about the well-being of the communities they came from. Too many politicians avoid returning to their hometowns, as if allergic to the very places that shaped them. They know exactly what those communities need: a primary school, a health post, a clean water system. Instead, they choose to parade imported cars on social media.
History will judge harshly. The leaders who continue to equate power with indulgence will be remembered for their vanity. Those who invest in people, in education, health, agriculture, and opportunity, will be remembered for their vision.
