Angry National Party politicians used to say, when the African National Congress won power in 1994, that the definition of a South African optimist was 'someone not in...

President Robert Mugabe's plan is well on track for Senate elections to add to his political patronage and weaken the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Although turnout for...

Luanda's political and business elite could well afford to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Angola's Independence, on 11 November. They form one of Africa's wealthiest and most extravagant...

The fate of the national elections and who's running in them is shrouded in mystery. They were meant to be held in 2006 but no date has been...

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change is divided over whether to fight Senate elections on 26 November amid wide-ranging political realignments. Party leader Morgan Tsvangirai insists the party...

A crisis of authority between President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his predecessor, Sam Nujoma, has been averted. The Deputy Minister of Transport, Works and Communication, Paulus Kapia, implicated in...

South Africans will have to wait nine months for the political trial of the century, when Jacob Zuma's trial for corruption starts in the Durban High Court in...

President Bingu wa Mutharika's declaration of a national disaster because of the food shortages which threaten over half of Malawi's eleven million people may boost contributions to the...

The Indeni oil refinery, the only one in Zambia, is jointly owned by the government and the French company TotalFinaElf, which manages it. The owner-partners are quarrelling furiously...

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change is split, and the future of Morgan Tsvangirai, its leader, is in doubt. Tsvangirai wants to boycott the coming elections, as voting...

President Marc Ravalomanana runs Madagascar like one of his own successful companies. The buck stops at the top and poorly performing executives or ministers are sacked without worrying...

Justice Peter Smith of the London High Court found himself unable to assemble the necessary witnesses for a civil action by the Zambian government, in which it is...

In expansive mood after his Caribbean sojourn, 81-year old President Robert Mugabe announced for the first time to journalists at the United Nations summit that he definitely intends...

Ex-Foreign Affairs Minister Hidipo Hamutenya may soon return to frontline politics after the fall of his opponent Paulus Kapia, the former deputy Minister of Works involved in the...

The tricky relationship between President Thabo Mbeki and the country's big trades unions has become intermingled with the corruption charges against Vice-President Jacob Zuma (AC Vol 46 No...

Josiah Tungamirai, who died in South Africa on 25 August, served as Air Vice-Marshal and as Black Empowerment Minister. More importantly, he was the standard-bearer of the Karanga,...

Two groups of armed men squared up to each other outside former Deputy President Jacob Zuma's house in Johannesburg's wealthy Forest Town suburb on 18 August. One was...

With five weeks before the start of its highest profile trial, South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is broadening its investigation of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who...

A serious fraud has been uncovered by a judicial probe into the misuse of 30 million Namibian dollars (US$4.6 mn.) of state funds by local asset managers Avid...

A grudge match between Zimbabwe 's leading newspapers could further weaken independent journalism. The weekly Zimbabwe Independent claims the government's Central Intelligence Organisation wholly owns the Financial Gazette,...

President-in-Waiting Ian Khama Seretse Khama strengthened his position at July 's national congress of the governing Botswana Democratic Party, of which he is Chairman (AC Vol 46 No...

According to Jonathan Moyo, the latest round of forced removals of slum-dwellers proves that President Robert Mugabe has been reading 'Stalin's economic textbook'. Moyo should know; he was...

Intelligence services in Southern Africa are trying to establish the origins of reports that the ousted Haitian President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has hired a team of South African mercenaries...

The diamond war between Israeli magnate Lev Leviev and South African giant De Beers is heating up again in Namibia, a year after Leviev's LLD Diamonds Namibia subsidiary...

President Robert Mugabe has brought forward his trip to China by a week to 23 July in an attempt to negotiate an economic rescue package. He wants Chinese...

The late Rodwell Munyenyembe has been feted as a martyr of democracy since, as parliamentary Speaker, he collapsed on 23 June while trying to calm a row between...

The proposed new constitution would reduce presidential powers and entrench fundamental rights and freedoms (AC Vol 46 No 3). President Levy Mwanawasa doesn't like it - even though...

The elevation of Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to the deputy presidency on 22 June is an astute if provocative move by President Thabo Mbeki. Mlambo-Ngcuka, 49,...

National leaders of the governing African National Congress, including President Thabo Mbeki's ally Zola Skweyiya, the Minister for Social Development, publicly supported Ebrahim Rasool for the premiership of...

The model Indian Ocean economy is faltering and opposition leader Navin Ramgoolam looks well placed to topple Prime Minister Paul Bérenger at the general elections on 3 July,...

Text message jokes were flashing across South Africa this week. 'Jacob Zuma and Schabir Shaik are together in a car. Who's driving?' Answer: 'The Police!' This debunking of...

Multinational mining giant Rio Tinto is about to approve a US$500 million dollar investment in the Fort Dauphin region of south-eastern Madagascar. The resulting employment and economic growth...

Treading the boards at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town last week, President Armando Guebuza, impressed the delegates as a witty and thoroughly modern business-minded reformer. Odd...

The government's willingness to use arbitrary force against poor Zimbabweans just after claiming a landslide election victory on 31 March suggests it thinks the country is much closer...

A bitter race looms for the Secretary Generalship of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) at its national congress on 21-23 July in Serowe. A compromise offered by...

Economic logic is biting back faster even than the government's opponents predicted. Zimbabwe is fast running out of fuel and maize-meal. Before the elections (AC Vol 46 Nos...

After the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's third election defeat, some blame the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front for skilful rigging and also clandestine South African support....

No stranger to self-parody, the government's sacked spin-doctor Jonathan Moyo told Africa Confidential: 'I am a voice for resolution'. He enjoys making mischief, in the ruling Zimbabwe African...

Swaziland has become synonymous with royal extravagance, in an absolute monarchy whose sovereigns have long resisted local and international pressure for democracy. The ruling class is deaf to...

Parliament's tumultuous, short April session was the first since President Bingu wa Mutharika bailed out of the United Democratic Front and the first since he launched the Democratic...

Zimbabweans are reeling from the aftershock of the country's third disputed elections. Although the opposition Movement for Democratic Change MPs attended the swearing in of the new parliament...

Russian businessman and director of prestigious British banking consultancy Fleming Family & Partners (FF&P) Mark Garber is developing a reputation as a key marriage broker between Moscow-based oligarchs...

Even before polling started on 31 March, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was preparing to challenge the results. The MDC expected to win in Manicaland, Masvingo and...

President Robert Mugabe's current term lasts until 2008 and the parliamentary elections due on 31 March are critical to his next moves. He may get his biggest shock...

Five parties are contesting the elections, but only the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the Movement for Democratic Change have candidates in all 120 seats. The Zimbabwe...

A 72-year-old Australian academic is resisting a deportation order and calling into question Botswana's much-valued reputation as Africa's leading democracy. On 18 February President Festus Mogae issued a...

The ruling South West African People's Organisation is riven by quarrels, as President Sam Nujoma gets ready to hand over to Hifikepunye Pohamba on 21 March. Pohamba's difficulties...

Madagascar intends to join the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in August, according to its Foreign Minister, Jaya Krishna Cuttaree (who is also a candidate for Director General...

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's budget offered a generous formula for fuelling growth and cutting taxes without letting inflation rip. He called it 'More for all': a balancing act...

Hifikepunye Pohamba's mandate seemed clear when the 15-16 November presidential election awarded him 76 per cent of the vote. But it is not that simple. First, the outgoing...

Jazz bands, street theatre groups and coquettish members of parliament jostled for space at a blisteringly hot opening of parliament in Cape Town on 11 February. Both the...

The last shreds of credibility of President Robert Mugabe's government are at stake in a war of words between businessman Mutumwa Mawere and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono....

South African President Thabo Mbeki's position on Zimbabwe has toughened considerably since the arrest of a South African counterintelligence officer in December 2004 (AC Vol 46 No 2)....

By resigning from the United Democratic Front, which carried him to the presidency last year, President Bingu wa Mutharika has triggered political confusion (AC Vol 46 No 2)....

Green neckties are popular in Zambia's National Assembly these days. The Speaker had banned the wearing of green ribbons in the House, since members were wearing them to...

A row over corruption plans linked to China's US$2 billion oil-backed credit line threatens the position of Finance Minister José Pedro de Morais and major diplomatic embarrassment for...

South African prosecutors are pressing ahead with investigations into the Equatorial Guinea coup saga following their plea bargain deal with Mark Thatcher, which was ratified in Cape Town's...

Centre-stage in the latest spy saga is Philip Chiyangwa, the zealous MP for Chinhoyi, Chairman of Mashonaland West's branch of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, and...

The long-awaited showdown between President Bingu Wa Mutharika and his predecessor Bakili Muluzi is under way (AC Vol 45 No 24). Mutharika has told his predecessor to 'shut...