The announcement on 29 November that Angola is to join the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in March came as a surprise - not at the decision but...

Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa's 4.3 trillion Zimbabwe dollar (officially US$17.2 million) budget for 2007 passed through Parliament on 7 December with no debate about its untenable assumptions. It...

Special reports from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's annual conference, 14-17 December 2006. This article is free to all users in Special Reports.

The ruling party's barons are getting ready for the national conference this week - by suing each other. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's National Chairman John Nkomo,...

President Thabo Mbeki and Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula are so far standing by National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who is at the centre of a bizarre...

Jackie Selebi's appointment as the first black Police Commissioner was initially well received. In August 2004, he was elected as the first African President of the International Criminal...

Luanda saw its biggest demonstration for years in the week before registration, when the radical Partido de Apoio Democrático e Progresso de Angola gathered outside the French Embassy...

Running the world's fastest growing oil economy gives President José Eduardo dos Santos some autonomy over policy. He wants to sustain record growth rates with Chinese-style centralised state...

Malawi is in political turmoil. As many as half of its MPs may face by-elections after a constitutional ruling barred them from changing party allegiance between elections. In...

Alcan is to build a US$2.7 billion smelter at the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) in South Africa's Eastern Cape. This could salvage the Zone's faltering fortunes -...

An overpriced rand and government protectionism block foreign direct investment and economic growth. That is the view of a team of Harvard University economists, who are advising the...

Rival factions are ramping up corruption claims against each other in the run-up to the annual conference on 14-17 December of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front....

Robert Mugabe's government has presided for the past five years over the world's fastest shrinking economy - and achieved the world's worst mortality rates. Yet the main argument...

Solomon Mujuru remains a key party kingmaker and a leading member of the 'inner cabinet' or Committee of 26. Its primacy is resented, particularly in Matebeleland. Enos Nkala,...

Opposition parties are cheering the Constitutional Court's 8 November ruling in favour of restrictions on MPs trying to change their party allegiance after election.

The building which was the headquarters of torture and abuse by Portugal's secret police, is to be a centre for Mozambique's highest legal association, Ordem dos Advogados, in...

The doubling of Angola's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to 31.4% in 2007 from this year's estimated 14.3%, as forecast by the IMF, reflects the 'surge in oil...

The issue centres on the legitmacy of share trading involving hundreds of milions of dollars undertaken by the late mining magnate Brett Kebble before he was murdered in...

New army Chief Lieutenant General Martin Shalli, recalled from Zambia last month after Gen. Solomon Hawala's sudden retirement, faces a storm over sales of armoured personnel carriers (APCs)...

Following pop queen Madonna Louisa Ciccone's tearful defence of her adoption of Malawi-born orphan David Banda on America's Oprah Winfrey TV chatshow in October, some Malawi officials expressed...

The polls were wrong and Michael Sata lost to incumbent President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, whose solid 42 per cent of the vote came overwhelmingly from rural areas. In...

Even the most conservative African National Congress activists admit that a schism has developed in the party between supporters of President Thabo Mbeki and those of sacked Deputy...

Preparatory conferences 1.The African National Congress Provincial Conferences will be fiercely lobbied by Jacob Zuma's and Thabo Mbeki's camps. The Provincial Conferences will be held after Mbeki delivers...

The African National Congress strictly determines eligibility to vote at national conferences. Branches usually nominate two delegates, more in large urban branches . . .

Former Chief Executive of United States-based Comverse Inc. Jacob 'Kobi' Alexander was arrested in Windhoek on 27 September on an Interpol warrant but he has formed some powerful...

President Armando Emilio Guebuza promotes himself as a successful businessman and a reformer. Two years ago that won him the presidency (AC Vol 47 No 6), but he...

Former President Sam Nujoma's claim for N$5 million (US$650,000) damages against the The Namibian could backfire. Last year, it carried a lengthy report on the N$30 mn. Avid...

Former Presidents, Kenneth Kaunda and Frederick Chiluba, have each picked an opposition candidate for the presidential election on 28 September. President Levy Mwanawasa of the Movement for Multiparty...

South Africa's giant Anglo American Corporation (AAC) is moving away from its African roots. It is restructuring and may be taken over by an American corporation. It controls...

A growing and diversified economy, a liberal constitution, a big army and residual post-apartheid moral high ground makes Tshwane (formerly Pretoria) a natural centre for African diplomacy. It...

With its threat to cut diplomatic ties with Zambia if Michael Sata, the opposition leader, wins the 28 September general elections, China has at last lost its political...

Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has decided to slash three zeroes from the amount printed on currency notes and issue new notes in a bid to tackle the...

When Chief Justice Ernest Sakala closed the presidential nominations for the 28 September elections, five candidates were on the starting line. In order of strength they are: incumbent...

A national referendum could pave the way for a return to power by Namibia's founding President, the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) leader Sam Nujoma. President Hifikepunye...

António Bento Bembe is an unlikely peacemaker. Apparently representing both the rebel Frente de Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda (FLEC) and the umbrella Fórum Cabindês para o Diálogo...

The poorer Hindu voters who brought Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam's Labour Party to power last year see little to celebrate in his government's tough and reform-minded budget officially...

Presidential elections set for 28 September 2006 will pit incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) against veteran bruiser Michael Sata on the Patriotic...

Who wants tycoon John Arnold Bredenkamp out of the way? On 21 July, Zimbabwean police arrested Bredenkamp on charges of illegally using a foreign passport and remanded him...

Blantyre is reeling from reports of the arrest of former President Bakili Muluzi on corruption charges on 27 July. Within hours, Muluzi was released on unconditional bail; a...

Manoeuvring over the succession to President Thabo Mbeki in 2009 is becoming increasingly fraught - so much so that a high-level negotiating group was set up last week...

Supporters of ex-President Sam Nujoma are competing with those of ex-Foreign Affairs Minister Hidipo Hamutenya to recruit delegates to the 2007 congress of the ruling South West African...

Angola has become China's biggest oil supplier and its closest African ally. The 24-hour visit of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Luanda last month cemented the special relationship...

Angola is planning the biggest urban project ever attempted in Africa. A mega-city south of Luanda, even larger than Brazil's inland capital of Brasilia, is to house four...

Last month, Chakufwa Chihana, leader of the Alliance for Democracy (Aford), arrived from South Africa in a coffin. He had struggled with a brain tumour. His state funeral...

Zambia's economy is looking up, as the recent boom in copper prices helps drive growth in gross domestic product up to more than 6 per cent this year,...

When Themba Ncube, leader of Bulawayo's 'war veterans', was assaulted in his office on 30 May, the media wrongly reported it as a battle for control of the...

Jacob Zuma's supporters claim that a battle of ideas and loyalties is gripping the African National Congress. On his side are the populists, while President Thabo Mbeki leads...

Smiles wreathed the faces of President Festus Mogae and the De Beers' Chairman, Nicky Oppenheimer, as they confirmed the De Beers-Botswana diamond partnership for the next quarter of...

The main disagreement, over policy on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, has been fudged; both sides now back United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's initiative to offer support for...

With the nom de guerre Teurai Ropa ('Spill Blood'), Vice-President Comrade Joyce Mujuru Chimurenga (née Runaida Mugari) has been consecrated as front-line successor to President Robert Gabriel Mugabe,...

Soldiers and ex-soldiers hold top jobs in agriculture, industry, government and the diplomatic corps. Now they are trying to run the economy, with orders to turn Zimbabwe's fortunes...

President Hu Jintao missed out South Africa on his tour of Africa and the Gulf last month, when he visited Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya. That wasn't...

Jacob Zuma began his political fight-back as soon as he left the Johannesburg High Court on 8 May, after his acquittal on charges of rape (AC Vol 47...

The arrest on treason charges of Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha and two of his close associates - Yusuf Matumula, ex-Trustee of the Bakili Bullets football team, and United Democratic...

The auction for new acreage in Angola's rich offshore oilfields, which began in Luanda on 9 May, will increase China's stake in Angola's oil and gas industry. China...

The many misfortunes of Jacob Zuma, self-inflicted or otherwise, have elevated Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (AC Vol 47 No 6). Almost without effort, she has replaced Zuma as...

In the middle of a politically damaging rape trial and facing another on corruption charges in July, Jacob Zuma finds his finances under heavy pressure. His total legal...

The return of President Levy Mwanawasa on 21 April, three weeks after his departure for emergency medical treatment in Britain, was a big relief for his supporters. His...

Luanda gossip says President José Eduardo dos Santos, 64, is gravely ill after a heart attack in Brazil. The presidential spokesman, Victor Carvalho, said Dos Santos was fit,...

A new political order may emerge as parliament reassembles for a new four-week term. Amid last year's chaos, President Bingu wa Mutharika's nervous government suspended parliamentary sittings for...

Who's who in the parties?

This week, an International Monetary Fund team is in Luanda to assess Angola's staggering economic boom; the Fund expects gross domestic product to grow by 27.6 per cent...

A treason trial that raises human rights questions is under way virtually unnoticed in Windhoek's High Court. The 119 people on trial are charged with plotting the secession...

Local elections offered South Africans their chance to punish the governing African National Congress. Its urban record is grim: in several areas, there have been riots against poor...

Accusing some government officials of trying to destroy him over the past five years, besieged former Deputy President Jacob Zuma told Africa Confidential that he had a duty...

The makeover is complete. Step forward President Armando Emilio Guebuza, the thoroughly modern reformer. In the days of Marxist revolution and civil war, when the ruling Frente de...

The great hydroelectric barrage at Cahora Bassa, on the Zambezi River, has a rated capacity of 2,075 megawatts, is one of Africa's largest dams and has been a...

Western creditors are divided over negotiating strategy on the rescheduling of Luanda's official debts to the Paris Club, which make up about half of its US$9.7 billion foreign...

Feuding rages on in the governing South West Africa People's Organisation. Ex-President Sam Nujoma clings to the SWAPO presidency, undermining the central policies of his successor. President Hifikepunye...

Sam Nujoma no longer completely controls the party he has led for over 45 years. The 21-member Political Bureau is split between Nujomaists and backers of former Foreign...

The new leader of half of the Movement for Democratic Change, Arthur Mutambara, is a man with a plan. His short-term aim is to end the pointless split...

Malawi's constitution does not empower presidents to sack vice-presidents, even those elected on the same ticket. Yet last month, President Bingu wa Mutharika told Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha to...

The sacking of intelligence chief General Fernando Garcia Miala by President José Eduardo dos Santos late last month points to new tensions in the ruling elite over the...

Cape Town's political season opens during the city's sunniest weeks, drawing journalists and commentators down from Johannesburg in droves. The government had hoped to fix their attention...

The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) accepts that poverty and unemployment are the country's main economic problems and promises to halve both by 2014....

The high price of copper, and the resulting flow of investment into Zambia's mining sector, is a huge piece of luck for President Levy Mwanawasa, who hopes to...

No formal discussion has been held with the Paris Club debtors, who demand that Angola enter into a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility lending scheme with the Fund...

Political and economic paralysis has overtaken Zimbabwe. The government does not know what to do with its two election victories of last year, apart from aiming blows at...

President José Eduardo dos Santos was typically circumspect in his New Year address, when he announced that he wanted the Comissão Nacional Eleitoral (CNE) to start electoral registration...