The uneasy coalition government will rumble on into 2010, making painful but discernible progress on economic reform. It is in none of the three main parties’ interest to...

The key issue for the power-sharing regime is reviving the economy. According to the 2010 budget, the government is aiming for 7% gross domestic product growth, underpinned by...

At the congress of the governing Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) in December, President José Eduardo dos Santos once more postponed the general elections until 2012...

Sepp Blatter, President of football’s ruling Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) looked relieved at the 11 December draw in Cape Town for next year’s World Cup. Standing...

In 2010, South Africans will celebrate the two decades since the release of Nelson Mandela from gaol on 11 February 1990. Polemicists of all stripes will assess the...

With copper revenue rising, poverty falling and farms thriving, the fortunes of President Rupiah Banda’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government should be on the up, with hopes...

Nine opposition parties have launched a joint legal challenge to the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) election victory on 27-28 November. This may force a recount (AC...

The details of the US$8 billion China Sonangol/China International Fund are becoming more apparent as subsidiary deals are signed. On 7 December, Zimbabwe's Transport and Mining Ministries signed mining and construction...

A financing crisis in the state-owned power company, Eskom, threatens the government's hopes of more investment in manufacturing and services. On 30 November, Eskom applied to the National...

Emmerson Mnangagwa is nicknamed 'the Crocodile' partly for his ability to snap after long periods of log-like but watchful inertia. In November's election for the Praesidium of the...