Vol 54 No 14 | ZIMBABWE Election fever and finance 5th July 2013 Even if ZANU-PF loses the argument over the election date, its business and military backers put it ahead of the MDC The Constitutional Court will soon announce its decision on granting an extension to the 31 July election date. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been pressing ...
Vol 54 No 14 | ZIMBABWE Diamond votes 5th July 2013 The death in a car accident of Edward Chindori-Chininga, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Mining and Minerals, came within days of its damning report on revenue losse...
Vol 54 No 14 | MALAWITANZANIA Digging in on the Lake 5th July 2013 Malawi will not give up an inch of its lake, sources close to President Joyce Banda say. At issue in the row with Tanzania is where the frontier on Lake Malawi/Lake Nyasa should li...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 9 | MALAWISOUTH KOREA Seoul says no to youth export 2nd July 2013 South Korea ends speculation on the matter and begins to investigate Yoon Choong-sup, the man behind the plan South Korea is adamant that it did not and will not authorise the arrival of some 100,000 young Malawian workers, as announced by President Joyce Banda and her People’s Party...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 9 | SOUTH AFRICACHINA Han Fang 2nd July 2013 President, Shanghai Chamber of Commerce in South Africa Chinese entrepreneur Han Fang, new President of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce in South Africa, moved to the country two decades ago and has since established a business empire w...
Vol 54 No 13 | ZIMBABWE Mugabe wins voting day drama 21st June 2013 In a piece of political theatre, President Mugabe asks the Constitutional Court to reconsider its decision on the election date but the vote will still go ahead Although it now seems likely that the Constitutional Court will bow to pressure and postpone the election for a few weeks beyond 31 July, the beneficiaries of any Court review are ...
Vol 54 No 13 | MOZAMBIQUE A bumpy ride to the polls 19th June 2013 A fraught registration of electors before the local polls and growing civil society interest compound Renamo’s dispute with Frelimo Civil society, the media and all Mozambique’s political parties are heavily engaged in scrutinising and politicking over the new electoral register. The register should be co...
Vol 54 No 12 | MOZAMBIQUE Timber rackets, gas booms 7th June 2013 As the gas industry opens up the north, generals and politicians are smuggling hundreds of tonnes of timber and ivory to China As the booming trade in smuggled ivory and timber devastates northern Mozambique’s environment, Attorney General Augusto Paulino has launched an investigation into the claimed invo...
Vol 54 No 12 | MALAWI The hill Banda must climb 7th June 2013 If economic conditions don’t improve, the President’s prospects for next year’s elections look poor President Joyce Banda opened Parliament in May and announced a strong budget in an attempt to regain ground lost to an opposition that is already in election mode. While donors and...
Vol 54 No 12 | NAMIBIA Economy thrives, BEE slows 7th June 2013 Policies favouring foreign investment are set to prevail over those who want more of the benefits of growth to flow to black citizens Unreconciled opponents of Prime Minister Hage Geingob, the expected heir to the presidency, resent their marginalisation within the ever-governing SWAPO party. The critics, many of...