Vol 61 No 4 | SOUTH AFRICA Opposition in flux 20th February 2020 With the main opposition party in turmoil, political players old and new are gearing up to form new political movements The main South African opposition parties are in an unprecedented state of flux after the resignation of two black leaders rocked the Democratic Alliance late last year. Now that P...
Vol 61 No 4 | SOUTH AFRICA Ramaphosus interruptus 20th February 2020 Punctuated by protests, the President gave an eloquent statement but he is leaving the heavy lifting to the finance minister In the first of two last-chance bids by government to forestall a ratings downgrade on the country's credit rating to junk status, President Cyril Ramaphosa failed to convince the ...
Vol 61 No 4 | NAMIBIA Itula has another go 20th February 2020 Namibia's Supreme Court in Windhoek may have refused on 5 February to order a rerun of last November's presidential election but opposition political parties are still claiming vic...
Vol 61 No 4 | ZAMBIA Unhealthy bank balance 20th February 2020 Finance Minister Bwalya Ng'andu's January request for a funded programme from the International Monetary Fund may be in danger from continued borrowing beyond the Treasury's contro...
Vol 61 No 4 | BOTSWANA Wildlife targets 20th February 2020 Botswana has authorised the resumption of licensed elephant hunting, auctioning licences to shoot 60 elephants worth US$2.34 million. It's the first such sale since President Mokgw...
Vol 61 No 4 | SOUTH AFRICA The state of Cyril Ramaphosa 12th February 2020 The President's speech to parliament on 13 February will say more about his fragile coalition of reformers than about the country he governs For the past three decades each State of the Nation speech has been billed as the most important ever. Most – with the honourable exception of Nelson Mandela's epic performance aft...
Vol 61 No 3 | MALAWI Shock ruling resets poll 6th February 2020 The Constitutional Court has nullified the presidential election and re-set the political landscape The Constitutional Court has ordered a fresh presidential election, saying the Malawi Electoral Commission's (MEC) failure to follow its duties under constitutional and electoral l...
Vol 61 No 3 | SOUTH AFRICA Over the rainbow 6th February 2020 Ramaphosa grapples with economic crisis, corruption prosecutions and power shortages on a historic anniversary The 30th anniversary of then-President FW de Klerk's announcement on 2 February 1990 of the release of Nelson Mandela nine days afterwards passed quietly as investors gathered to s...
Vol 61 No 3 | ANGOLA Lourenço faces the crunch 6th February 2020 The campaign to recover loot is popular, and the IMF is supportive, but the numbers are terrible The pursuit by investigative journalists and Luanda's prosecutors of Isabel dos Santos offers a temporary distraction from the country's economic meltdown. Enthusiasm to see Isabel...
Vol 61 No 3 | ANGOLA The fight over the missing billions goes global 25th January 2020 The Lourenço government expands its search for stolen assets, launching an international campaign against the Dos Santos clan In what is set to be a gargantuan legal battle stretching over many years, the government of President João Lourenço is stepping up action to recover several billion dollars in ass...
