Vol 44 No 22 | ZIMBABWE No chance, Mr President 7th November 2003 Party officials and military commanders are ignoring President Mugabe's orders to surrender their farms Several government ministers and senior military officers accused of grabbing farms are refusing to hand them back to the state, according to a new report on land reform...
Vol 44 No 21 | NAMIBIA Presidential stakes 24th October 2003 In the race to succeed Sam Nujoma, Foreign Affairs Minister Hidipo Hamutenya is far out in front Contenders for the presidency are stepping up their campaigns following the announcement that the governing South West Africa People's Organisation will hold an extraordinary party congress in May....
Vol 44 No 20 | SOUTH AFRICA Spies pop out of the past 10th October 2003 Allegations that the official chief prosecutor was once a spy have split the leadership South Africa's ruling African National Congress risks sinking deeper into a quagmire of spy-naming and mutual suspicion amidst suspected corruption in a multimillion pound arms deal (AC Vol...
Vol 44 No 20 | SOUTH AFRICA An awkward embrace 10th October 2003 The ovation given to Deputy President Jacob Zuma at last month's national conference of the Congress of South African Trade Unions points again to the very odd nature...
Vol 44 No 20 | ZIMBABWE Media attrition 10th October 2003 After the government's closure of the Daily News, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo is turning his attention to the two remaining independent weeklies, the Sunday Standard and Zimbabwe Independent....
Vol 44 No 19 | ZAMBIA Watching Big Brother 26th September 2003 As politicians fall like ninepins to the Anti-Corruption Task Force, the President turns to TV When Cherise Makubale beat eleven contestants this month in Big Brother Africa, an international 'reality television' show avidly followed in Zambia, President Levy Mwanawasa immediately appointed her a...
Vol 44 No 19 | ZAMBIA Zamtrop and the politicians 26th September 2003 The courts are crowded with politicians and public servants who served under the previous President. Frederick Chiluba himself was arrested on 5 August to face 96 counts of...
Vol 44 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA Struggling to succeed 12th September 2003 Mbeki moves the chess pieces as the 2004 elections draw near and scandals rage The African National Congress had studiously avoided an open succession struggle since going into exile four decades ago. Now no holds are barred as it prepares for April's...
Vol 44 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA BAE's role in SA's big arms deal 12th September 2003 A public inquiry into contracts awarded for South Africa's arms purchasing programme, the Strategic Defence Procurement Package, found in 2001 that most bids required closer scrutiny. Main successful...
Vol 44 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA Butter on those guns 12th September 2003 The Strategic Defence Procurement Package was signed in November 1999, six months after Thabo Mbeki took over from Nelson Mandela as president. The largest arms procurement programme in...