Vol 50 No 12 | ANGOLA Jobs and votes 12th June 2009 President Dos Santos is certain of victory, whether the postponed elections are held this year or next Although Angola’s presidential election is to be postponed until 2010, the dominant Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) has abandoned its plans for indirect elections, in which...
Vol 50 No 11 | SOUTH AFRICA You've stood, now deliver 29th May 2009 The people who got out the vote for Zuma insist that he keep his side of the bargain The trades union chief, Zwelinzima Vavi, a key supporter of President Jacob Zuma when he was a mere candidate, is warning the government of a season of strikes...
Vol 50 No 11 | SOUTH AFRICA The telephone test 29th May 2009 The trades unions' legal challenge to the listing of the multibillion dollar Vodacom cellular phone group on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange tested President Jacob Zuma's political nerves. But...
Vol 50 No 11 | MALAWI A double win for Bingu 29th May 2009 The overwhelming election victory for the President and his party revive troubling memories of Kamuzu Banda's system Voters overturned the political order in the fourth of Malawi's multiparty elections on 19 May. They voted for Bingu wa Mutharika for a second term in the presidency...
Vol 50 No 11 | ZIMBABWE A public quarrel 29th May 2009 Disagreements within the top echelons of ZANU-PF used to be a state secret, now rival factions are briefing reporters about the meltdown Since the power-sharing government began work in February, the Politburo of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has leaked like a sieve with graphic details of...
Vol 50 No 11 | ANGOLACONGO-KINSHASAECONOMY The cement boom 29th May 2009 In both Angola and Congo-Kinshasa, public works produce surprising profits for well-connected cement producers, but an oil-fired building boom requires a lot of cement. Angola's Minister of Public...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | ZAMBIACHINAINDIA A shake-out after the crash 22nd May 2009 China and India want to snap up assets as metal markets hit the floor and the mining houses sack workers Western mining houses are pulling out of Zambia due to the copper price slump, leaving Chinese and Indian investors to battle over the abandoned assets. As the copper price crashed...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | ANGOLACHINA Oil, votes and Beijing 22nd May 2009 As Luanda tries to shore up its finances as export revenues tumble, China’s offer of credit becomes more important The combination of lower world oil prices, tighter credit and production cuts has increased Luanda's reliance on its countertrade credits with China. As Angola holds the presidency of the Organisation of...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | SOUTH AFRICAINDIA Friends in the right places 22nd May 2009 Just before President Jacob Zuma's inauguration on 9 May, India's state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) signed a commercial cooperation agreement with the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu)...
Vol 50 No 10 | ZIMBABWE Until the stout lady sings 15th May 2009 All the party leaders are struggling to keep a grip on their undisciplined comrades The battle for supremacy within the power-sharing government is taking second place to wrangling for power within the three main parties (AC Vol 50 Nos 8 & 9)....