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....
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | MADAGASCARASIA Andry's Asian alliances under fire 28th February 2011 A rowdy colonel in detention is lambasting Andry Rajoelina’s Haute autorité de la transition (HAT) for its reliance on opaque deals with Asian companies. Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina claims...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | ZIMBABWECHINA Platinum-bottomed deals 28th February 2011 Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi wants strengthened relations with China’s ‘good brother’ Zimbabwe but conditions on the latest deals are tougher Beijing is offering its biggest financial deal yet in Zimbabwe but the cash-strapped,power-sharing government may yet turn down the investment. For all President Robert Mugabe’s enthusiasm for China,...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | ZIMBABWE The Great Dyke anomaly 28th February 2011 Platinum output for 2011 is projected, in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s recent mid-term review, to have almost doubled in volume to 12 tonnes since 2009. The RBZ...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | MOZAMBIQUEASIA It’s mine 28th February 2011 Asian mining companies, from India’s state-owned giants to the opaque China International Fund, are taking up their positions for Mozambique’s great mining rush. The Indian government has already...