Vol 52 No 6 | ZAMBIAMINING Taxing problems for Zambia 18th March 2011 Some US$66 million in tax revenue owed to the Treasury are missing, according to the mid-February report on Zambia published under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The...
Vol 52 No 6 | ZIMBABWE The Speaker's chair 18th March 2011 Members of Parliament are due to vote for a new Speaker in a contest that could determine the next president should 87-year-old President Robert Mugabe be declared medically unfit for...
Vol 52 No 5 | ZIMBABWE ZANU-PF cries treason 4th March 2011 President Mugabe and his allies take stern action against the growing interest in North Africa’s revolutions After they chose the week of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s 87th birthday (21 February) to express solidarity with the democracy movement in North Africa, 45 participants in a Harare discussion...
Vol 52 No 5 | ESWATINI The King's budget 4th March 2011 Swaziland is suffering a severe economic crisis and the monarchy looks ill-equipped to survive it While rebellion has spread only within North Africa and the Middle East so far, monarchies all over the world fear the worst and Swaziland’s has more reasons than most to...
Vol 52 No 5 | MALAWI A port with no ships 4th March 2011 The presidential dream of a navigable trade route to the sea will need more than a grand opening ceremony to make it a reality Although it opened with much fanfare four months ago, the Nsanje World Inland Port is yet to attract a single ship. President Bingu wa Mutharika hosted the opening ceremony and...
Vol 52 No 5 | SOUTH AFRICA It's all about jobs 4th March 2011 Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan stakes everything on the government’s attack on unemployment Job creation and social services would be government’s top political measures, said Finance Minister Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan in his budget speech on 24 February. He warned that without cooperation over economic...
Vol 52 No 5 | SOUTH AFRICA The Gupta factor 4th March 2011 President Jacob Zuma’s critics again claim he is in thrall to the Durban-based Gupta family. If the African National Congress does badly in the coming local elections, party critics will again...
Vol 52 No 5 | SOUTH AFRICA Making history 4th March 2011 As next year’s centenary of the African National Congress approaches, a row is raging over how to portray Presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma in the ANC’s...
Vol 52 No 5 | ANGOLA Oil state on the record 4th March 2011 On 24 February in Luanda, Manuel Vicente, head of the highly secretive state-owned oil company Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola and a possible successor to President José Eduardo dos...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | MADAGASCARCHINA Election funds? Try Hong Kong 28th February 2011 Antananarivo is looking for resource deals with Asian financiers to raise cash for an election campaign for interim leader Andry Rajoelina The transitional regime led by Andry Rajoelina is threatening to cancel oil exploration licences held by Western investors and hand them to the Hong Kong-based China International Fund....