Vol 51 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA President under pressure 10th September 2010 The would-be usurpers plotting against President Jacob Zuma should not underestimate their target’s determination President Jacob Zuma is hitting the media hard with a charm offensive before the governing party’s critical National General Council meeting on 19 September. His plan is to appeal ...
Vol 51 No 18 | SOUTH AFRICA Vavi and the unions stake their claim 10th September 2010 Not only have trades unionists pushed the government to accept most of their demands for higher wages and housing allowances but some of their leaders now believe they should provi...
Vol 51 No 18 | MOZAMBIQUE The President is for turning 10th September 2010 The people’s protests against ruinous rises in food prices may have ended Guebuza’s efforts to extend his rule A week of street demonstrations has checked the confidence of the ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo). After describing a 30% rise in bread prices as ‘irreversible’...
Vol 51 No 18 | MOZAMBIQUE The real cost of Maputo’s aid 10th September 2010 Mozambique receives more aid per head than neighbouring – and similar – countries like Malawi and Tanzania. This is partly because of its long-past ‘post-conflict status’ but also ...
Vol 51 No 18 | ZIMBABWE Ghostly presences 10th September 2010 As Mugabe’s party declines in Matebeleland, the old alternative resistance movement is climbing out of the grave A black shroud materialised on Bulawayo’s Main Street a month ago in the dead of night and has since been guarded around the clock by uniformed and plainclothes security officers. ...
Vol 51 No 18 | ZIMBABWE Malema loses a friend 10th September 2010 Robert Mugabe’s bid for Kwame Nkrumah’s pan-African kente cloth won mixed reviews at the African National Congress’s Youth Conference near Johannesburg. Tongai Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe...
Vol 51 No 18 | ZIMBABWE Indigens and expatriates 10th September 2010 The National Indigenisation and Empowerment Board is supposed to ensure that 51% of the economy is indigenised by 2015. However, its original target of a blanket 51% indigenous hol...
Vol 51 No 17 | ZAMBIA Copper-bottomed but leaky 27th August 2010 Booming mines and farms, and a government beset by talk of corruption and strange legal decisions Fuelled by rising world demand for copper and cobalt and by a bumper maize harvest, the economy is growing at a roaring 7.5%. Yet President Rupiah Banda, who will seek re-election ...
Vol 51 No 17 | ZAMBIA Strong investment, weak prosperity 27th August 2010 According to the latest figures from the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), foreign direct investment totalled a record US$2.4 billion in the first half of 2010, up from $959 million...
Vol 51 No 17 | SOUTH AFRICA Mounting strikes 27th August 2010 Support is building for the national strike of nurses, teachers and clerks since it was launched on 18 August, presenting two serious threats to President Jacob Zuma’s government. ...