Vol 53 No 14 | SOUTH AFRICA Zuma delays judgement day 6th July 2012 Arguments over personalities rather than ideas dominate the ANC’s policy conference in the Free State Policies were not changed nor presidents toppled when the African National Congress met last week. Yet everyone – supporters of President Jacob Zuma and of his two main...
Vol 53 No 14 | SOUTH AFRICASADC Bank to bank 6th July 2012 The Southern African Development Community, anxious to free its financial operations from domination by the large, state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa, plans to set up a rival...
Vol 53 No 13 | GUINEASOUTH AFRICA A new battle to control the mines 22nd June 2012 The collapse of an opaque scheme to set up a multi-billion dollar national mining company prompts recriminations in Conakry and South Africa The Guinean government’s decision this week to shut down a bid by South African businessmen who wield high-level political connections, to run its national mining company follows growing...
Vol 53 No 13 | GUINEASOUTH AFRICA Who's who in the Guinea loan saga 22nd June 2012 • Walter Hennig, Chief Executive Officer of Palladino, a South African. The considerable fortune enjoyed by the Hennig family comes mainly from diamond trading and farming, though Walter...
Vol 53 No 12 | SOUTH AFRICA Higher taxes, less nationalisation 8th June 2012 Instead of nationalisation, an ANC report proposes new taxes, a swarm of regulatory commissions and a new super-state mining company An attempt to meet the political requirements and the economic self-interest of factions in the governing African National Congress has produced a plan for super-taxes on mining profits,...
Vol 53 No 12 | SOUTH AFRICA A born-again state mining company 8th June 2012 The nucleus of a proposed state-owned mining company would be the existing African Exploration Mining and Finance Company (AEMFC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Central Energy Fund (CEF)...
Vol 53 No 12 | SOUTH AFRICA The new Thabo Mbeki 8th June 2012 Ex-President Thabo Mbeki is again reinventing himself: his latest struggle is against corruption, leading a campaign to recover some of the hundreds of billions of dollars extracted from...
Vol 53 No 11 | SOUTH AFRICA The leadership race opens up 25th May 2012 The contest for the presidential nomination is stirring up a lot of mud, and harming the governing party and the entire country The battle for succession in the African National Congress is getting nastier as its outcome looks more uncertain. Supporters of the main protagonists fight their battles, firstly within...
Vol 53 No 11 | SOUTH AFRICA Police and thieves 25th May 2012 President Jacob Zuma’s allies are trying to arrange the state security and financial apparatus to protect him from future prosecution. They also want security officials to pursue his...
Vol 53 No 11 | SOUTH AFRICA An imported ally 25th May 2012 Joseph Stiglitz, a United States Nobel prize-winning economist, has become an unlikely guru of the left wing of the governing African National Congress in its battle with...