South Africa is rated as excellent in these slides, yet was placed second-last in a few TIMSS categories[1]. Progress won't happen if we cherry-pick data that makes things look better than they are, the education system in South Africa is in dire need of repair. Notably, all the problems at the universities this year. Additionally, instead of improving the quality of education, the government is lowering the passing mark.
[1]: https://press-admin.voteda.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1_... https://press-admin.voteda.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1_... https://press-admin.voteda.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1_...
There is no doubt that Africa is rising; the argument is pace of growth on the continent is not fast enough (one must keep in mind that African countries must benchmark their progress against other regions/continents). An interesting feature in my experience of growth in sub-saharan africa is that most of it is private sector rather than government driven- a case where the tail wags the dog.
You're either actively doing politics or it is being actively done to you. Nothing that you do makes any sense outside of politics anyway.
That was the point I was trying to make about how a "no politics" rule affects far too many stories.
"Story must have a tech angle / be on a tech topic" is much more defensible, although I think this story would also be off-topic under such a rule.