Vol 53 No 2 | ZIMBABWE Positions pending 20th January 2012 After his annual holiday in south-east Asia, Mugabe has to decide whether to reappoint many of his ageing securocrats The security officers around President Robert Mugabe like to shroud his movements in mystery. During the congress of his Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in Bulawayo...
Vol 53 No 2 | ZIMBABWE Mugabe breaks with the region 20th January 2012 By snubbing the African National Congress centenary celebrations and their host, South African President Jacob Zuma, President Robert Mugabe wanted to make some political points. He is furious...
Vol 53 No 2 | NAMIBIA The man most likely to succeed Pohamba 20th January 2012 SWAPO chooses its candidate this year for the 2014 election In the coming political battles, Vice-President Hage Geingob is best placed to succeed President Hifikepunye Pohamba as leader of the governing SWAPO, previously the South West African People’s...
Vol 53 No 2 | MOZAMBIQUEUNITED STATES Maputo shuns US concern 20th January 2012 The government appears indifferent about beefing up coastal security and introducing anti-pirate laws The United States is making little headway in its bid to get Mozambique and other coastal states to beef up their anti-piracy laws and their military response. It...
Vol 53 No 2 | ANGOLA Cutting rivalries 20th January 2012 The coming battle between two gemstone plutocrats in London’s High Court could embarrass Angola’s secretive diamond marketing organisation, Angola Selling Corporation (Ascorp). Uzbekistan-born Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev,...
Vol 53 No 1 | SOUTH AFRICA Zuma goes for broke 6th January 2012 Ructions in the ANC and the President’s grim fight to hold on to power will have economic as well as political consequences The election that matters is the one within the governing African National Congress, whose December conference in Mangaung in the Free State will pick its presidential candidate for...
Vol 53 No 1 | SOUTH AFRICA Economic jitters as Tshwane looks East 6th January 2012 Foreign investors will find the political climate discouraging. Exports, apart from gold, are likely to slow. The fall of the rand against the US dollar will help some...
Vol 53 No 1 | ZIMBABWE A race against time 6th January 2012 The probability of President Mugabe scuppering constitutional reforms and calling a snap election is firming up Both President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) want elections as soon as possible. Each...
Vol 53 No 1 | ZIMBABWE A pause in economic progress 6th January 2012 The early economic successes of the power-sharing government are sputtering (AC Vol 52 No 25). A decade after the land reform battles, agriculture will be the main source...
Vol 52 No 25 | ANGOLA Opposition picks its champions 16th December 2011 Isaías Samakuva looks certain to be re-elected head of UNITA while the other parties prepare for the polls The leadership contest for the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola is widely seen as an empty affair since the ambitious Abel Chivukuvuku decided not to...