Vol 53 No 8 | MALAWI New leader, new broom 13th April 2012 Africa’s second female president faces a fickle parliament and a desperate economy Joyce Banda, accepting promotion from Vice-President to President on the death of Bingu wa Mutharika, inaugurated her rule on 9 April by sacking the police chief, Peter Mukhito....
Vol 53 No 8 | MALAWI How Mutharika went wrong 13th April 2012 Bingu wa Mutharika was Malawi’s third President, after Hastings Kamuzu Banda and Bakili Muluzi. Born in 1934 in the Thyolo district of southern Malawi, he was educated...
Vol 53 No 8 | ANGOLA Hope of peace for Cabinda 13th April 2012 The threat of armed rebellion may fade after rebels offer to talk After four decades of the struggle for independence in the oil-rich Cabinda enclave, the last fighting faction has launched an offer of peace talks. The octogenarian, exiled leader...
Vol 53 No 8 | SOUTH AFRICA Zuma battles Juju 13th April 2012 President Jacob Zuma is struggling to carry fellow leaders of the African National Congress with him in his campaign against dissident ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema. On...
Vol 53 No 7 | ZAMBIA Sata stumbles 30th March 2012 The promise of a clean sweep of corruption is unfulfilled and the commitment to open politics undermined Six months after their sweeping election victory, President Michael Chilufya Sata and his Patriotic Front (PF) are struggling to live up to their promises. They are in danger...
Vol 53 No 7 | ZAMBIA Soothing the investors 30th March 2012 Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda and President Michael Sata spent the first two months of 2012 meeting key shareholders in foreign-owned mining companies to reassure them that the government...
Vol 53 No 7 | ZIMBABWE Where’s the indigenous cash? 30th March 2012 Impala Platinum will let 51% of Zimplats go to public ownership but it looks as though the government has not got the cash Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere’s campaign to compel foreign-owned companies to sell majority stakes to Zimbabweans has stalled amid questions about how the government and local...
Vol 53 No 7 | ZIMBABWE Power to the president 30th March 2012 President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have failed to pay huge electricity bills over the last two years, according to documents from the state...
Vol 53 No 6 | SOUTH AFRICAANALYSIS How to buy growth – for $100 billion 16th March 2012 Both trades unions and business question the accountability of the government’s huge public spending programme, which would invest 850 billion rand (US$112 bn.) in power generation, transport and telecommunications over the next three years, plus more than R400 bn. for six new nuclear power stations by 2030 The announcement of these grandiose schemes in Parliament last month coincides with leadership contests within the governing African National Congress, which will choose its presidential candidate at...
Vol 53 No 6 | SOUTH AFRICA At the top, a three-way split 16th March 2012 The cabinet is split three ways over control over the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and infrastructure spending.