Vol 62 No 12 | ZIMBABWE Tagwirei's pipeline under threat 10th June 2021 President Mnangagwa is backing a new oil company against a fuel cartel run by the generals' favourite businessman A company registered in the United Kingdom with strong South African links has signed an agreement that could give it dominance over Zimbabwe's more than US$1 billion fuel...
Vol 62 No 12 | NAMIBIA Apology but no reparations 10th June 2021 Berlin's belated offer of compensation for colonial atrocities won’t end the matter and is proving politically divisive Germany has finally acknowledged that its colonial forces committed genocide against the Ovaherero and Nama and agreed to pay compensation, but these communities of central-eastern and southern Namibia...
Vol 62 No 12 | ZAMBIA Betting the farm on winning 10th June 2021 As defaults continue and debts pile up, the President reckons his bonanza payment to farmers will win him re-election in August Just before the start of the three-month election campaign on 12 May, the Patriotic Front (PF) government rushed through at least US$145 million of new loans to fund... READ FOR FREE
Vol 62 No 12 | SOUTH AFRICA More time for the truth 10th June 2021 Three years of testimony on a decade of political and corporate crime are to be followed by a wave of prosecutions Few countries have had more thoroughgoing probes of their business and political classes but a bigger test is coming next. Can the governing African National Congress shut...
Vol 62 No 12 | NAMIBIA Controversial delta drilling 10th June 2021 Canada's Reconnaissance Energy Africa (ReconAfrica) is convinced it has hit paydirt in the Kavango basin of north-eastern Namibia/north-western Botswana, which extends under part of the watershed of the...
Vol 62 No 11 | MOZAMBIQUE Nyusi angers the region 27th May 2021 Maputo's resistance to a Southern African force to quell the insurgents is poisoning relations with its former allies Two months after Islamist militants mounted their spectacular invasion of the town of Palma in Cabo Delgado province, President Filipe Nyusi still does not know where to turn.... READ FOR FREE
Vol 62 No 11 | ZIMBABWE Repression, guns and new laws 27th May 2021 As economic chaos and corruption reign, President Mnangagwa crafts a wave of new laws to pre-empt dissent After bludgeoning his opponents for the past three years, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is stepping up laws against all dissent and erasing the last vestiges of judicial independence. Seizing...
Vol 62 No 11 | SOUTH AFRICA Fightback lands in the courts 27th May 2021 President Ramaphosa will see off the legal challenges from Ace Magashule's camp but it will be messy and expensive Political support for the fightback against President Cyril Ramaphosa and his allies in the African National Congress is eroding day by day. The last act of the drama...
Vol 62 No 11 | MALAWI Chakwera loses his lustre 27th May 2021 U-turns and misjudgements are damaging the President’s standing with the public as stresses in the ruling coalition mount As befits a devout evangelist and former pastor, President Lazarus Chakwera promised to lead Malawians 'to Canaan' after winning last year's dramatic election, a re-run of the previous...
Vol 62 No 10 | SOUTH AFRICA Magashule overplays his hand 13th May 2021 After sidelining his main rival, President Ramaphosa has to take tough decisions on state companies, energy policy and jobs There was no hint of triumphalism in Cyril Ramaphosa's measured speech on 10 May at the end of a dramatic three-day National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that saw... READ FOR FREE