The emergence of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki as a super-minister coordinating economic and development policy strengthens his personal position and points to government concern about the slow pace...

It was a political as much as a sporting triumph when South Africa’s national team, Bafana Bafana (‘The boys, the boys’) stormed through to the African Cup of...

From outside looking in, Mozambique seems a triumph of conflict resolution and reconciliation. A newly arrived diplomat like Britain's High Commissioner Bernard Everett can claim that trade, not...

Nobody doubts that President Robert Mugabe will win a fresh six-year term of office at the presidential election on 16-17 March. The real question is how much of...

Swaziland is now the only country in Southern Africa in which political parties are now banned. The People's United Democratic Party, the main opposition movement, is therefore illegal....

The omens are not good for Crown Prince Letsie David Mohato's second coming to the Basotho throne. His first reign started an effective coup when he dissolved the...

Who bugged the telephones of South Africa's top policemen, and why? Some of the country's security operatives want to find out, others to keep it quiet. National Police...

Reports that armed Zimbabwean dissidents are operating in Mozambique are being taken seriously by the authorities in Harare and Maputo. Both governments seems to lack reliable information about...

Worried that instability in Cabinda could divert resources from its confrontation and negotiations with Jonas Savimbi's rebels, the Luanda government has spent several months trying to make diplomatic...