Vol 51 No 3 | ZIMBABWE The President ends his holiday 5th February 2010 As the plotting and squabbles in the ZANU-PF break into the open, the military launches a new round of farm seizures The first anniversary of the power-sharing agreement was inauspicious, as all three parties in government argue over the pace of political reform and blame each other for holding...
Vol 51 No 3 | MOZAMBIQUE The country gets richer, the party gets stronger 5th February 2010 The new Prime Minister backs the President’s push for a state-run economy and a tougher line against the opposition President Armando Emílio Guebuza never fails to seize an opportunity. After his controversial landslide election victory in October, he plans to reinforce his dominance of the governing...
Vol 51 No 3 | SOUTH AFRICAOBITUARY David Coetzee 5th February 2010 Over a hundred of us gathered at the Friends Meeting House in Washington DC on 29 January to pay tribute to David Coetzee, a pioneering spirit in African...
Vol 51 No 3 | SOUTH AFRICA It's all mine 5th February 2010 When Mines Minister Susan Shabangu assured South African mining companies that nationalisation would not happen in her lifetime, the reaction at this year’s mining indaba in Cape Town...
Vol 51 No 2 | ANGOLA Soccer shooting 22nd January 2010 President José Eduardo dos Santos's government is arresting human rights activists and claimed sympathisers of the Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda-Forças Armadas de Cabinda (FLEC-FAC)....
Vol 51 No 1 | SOUTH AFRICA Global plaudits, local travails 8th January 2010 Despite the doubters, President Zuma’s government is set to hold a successful World Cup but will face demands for action on jobs and services In his New Year address, President Jacob Zuma likened 2010 to 1994, when South Africa became a democracy. To the outside world, the only big event happening in...
Vol 51 No 1 | SOUTH AFRICA Walking right, talking left 8th January 2010 The African National Congress’s loud debate over economic policy will continue in 2010. The Left demands a more interventionist stance than that of the then Finance Minister, Trevor...
Vol 51 No 1 | ZIMBABWE Three men in a boat 8th January 2010 Somehow the unlikely triumvirate sticks together – for fear of something worse – amid signs of a slowly recovering economy 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...
Vol 51 No 1 | ZIMBABWE Elusive shoots of economic recovery 8th January 2010 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...
Vol 51 No 1 | ANGOLA Football, contracts and then votes 8th January 2010 The President would win an election but won’t hold one, while worrying about the neighbours and the African football cup 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...