José Filomeno dos Santos, aka Zenú, is on trial in Luanda accused of illegally taking US$500 million out of the country during his time as head of Fundo...

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni described national power utility Eskom as 'South Africa's biggest economic risk' next to low growth. The gigantic utility is an albatross around the African...

Everyone was expecting the electorate to deliver a snub to the ruling SWAPO Party in the 27 November general election – but not quite the loud slap that...

Opponents of President Cyril Ramaphosa in the African National Congress's biggest province intend to start a fightback at the National General Council in 2020 with a vote of...

Zambia has defaulted again on its €97 million (US$107m) loan from Italian bank Intesa San Paolo for the purchase of two C27J twin-engined military transport aircraft from Italy's...

The first of the criminal trials in connection with Mozambique's $2bn 'tuna bonds' hidden loans scandal has ended with the surprise acquittal of Lebanese salesman Jean Boustani at...

Days after regional leaders called for dialogue across the political divide to resolve Zimbabwe's deepening crisis, police broke up a crowd outside the headquarters of the main opposition...

Namibia is in the grip of a crippling drought, but negative economic growth, blatant disregard for its election promises and persistent scandal will do little to prevent SWAPO's...

The departure of both Mmusi Maimane as leader of the Democratic Alliance and Herman Mashaba as mayor of Johannesburg has sent shock waves through the main opposition party...

Tussles for supremacy among President Edgar Lungu's key advisors have claimed scalps in his ever-smaller inner circle. One of the most important was that of former journalist Amos...

The sense of a return to the Mandela spirit in the wake of South Africa's 32-12 victory over England in the Rugby World Cup final on 2 November...

Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters has always prided itself on being a cohesive unit speaking with one voice but with a month to go before the party's elective...

The Botswana Democratic Party won a new five-year mandate by a larger margin than expected on 23 October, taking 38 of the 57 seats in parliament, one more...

President Filipe Nyusi has won a second and final term of office with the second-largest majority since multi-party elections began in 1994. The election win – which included...

Supporters of President Cyril Ramaphosa are increasingly worried about moves against him by opponents in key African National Congress branches including Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Privinvest salesman Jean Boustani's trial on money-laundering charges in connection with Mozambique's $2 billion hidden loan scandal started in New York on 14 October.

With 8.5 million people facing serious food shortages next year, the discovery that some senior state officials are profiteering by importing 17,000 tonnes of grain at double the...

Three key developments this month will shape South Africa's economic standing – Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's budget statement, Moody's credit rating report and the appointment of a new...

After 53 years in power, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is facing its toughest challenge in national elections on 23 October with former President Ian Khama and his...

Zambia is on the brink of an energy crisis that threatens to hike tariffs for consumers already feeling the economic hardship caused by the country's rocketing debt service...

With sweeping promises of a multi-billion-dollar privatisation programme, including the state oil company Sonangol, President João Lourenço attracted top diplomats and business people to the Council on Foreign...

For pan-African economic alliances and security cooperation much is riding on the summit between Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Muhammadu Buhari, due to hold on 3 October in South...

Mozambique's Minister of Finance, Adriano Maleiane, is under growing pressure to explain his role in allegedly covering up the US$2 billion hidden loan scandal. The United States Department...

Producing 70% of the world's cobalt, an essential component of electric car batteries and mobile phones, Africa's Copperbelt is in the midst of a sweeping transformation. Seeking to...

The death of Robert Mugabe means little to the majority of Zimbabweans. Not only are most too young to be aware of the liberation war and the dawn...

As many as 1,000 people may have died in the devastation that Cyclone Idai wreaked on the port city of Beira, which made tens of thousands homeless. Yet...

Cyril Ramaphosa's supporters have claimed that the broadcast of the wrong version of the President's recent address to the nation was 'deliberate sabotage' by supporters and appointees in...

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube may be instituting deep, painful economic reforms to regain financial credibility abroad, but he has no control over the cash machine by which the...

William Shakespeare said it best in Julius Caesar: 'You all did love him once – and not without cause. What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?'...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has regained some political stability by seeing off opponents on both his political flanks. After he endorsed economic policies his traditional communist and trade union...

Through the last 17 years of his rule, former President Robert Mugabe consistently dismissed claims of human rights violations as part of a Western plot to bring about...

Ace Magashule, the African National Congress Secretary-General, has read the riot act to the newly constituted Western Cape Provincial Task Team to start working in communities and end...

Three months after the highly contested and narrowly won elections, politicians, civil society and even religious leaders are divided between pro-opposition and pro-government factions. The issue is unlikely...

Observing the success of mass protests in Algiers and Khartoum against highly militarised regimes, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is planning a change in tactics, stepping...

The United States case against eight defendants accused of fraud and money-laundering in Mozambique's US$2 billion hidden loan scandal has secured two guilty pleas at the Eastern District...

Battered by an economy in recession and a ruling party riven by corruption, President Cyril Ramaphosa's ability to drive radical economic and political reforms is coming increasingly into...

By a quirk of history, it fell to Ace Magashule, Secretary General of the African National Congress and leading beneficiary of Jacob Zuma's leadership, to deliver the most...

After the latest round of proxy battles, President Cyril Ramaphosa is marginally ahead of his predecessor Jacob Zuma, but his supporters warn that his opponents still control too...

The African National Congress breathed a collective sigh of relief – party insiders said – when the questioning of former President Jacob Zuma, who is facing multiple corruption...

The dismissal of Zambia's embattled Minister of Finance, Margaret Mwanakatwe, on 14 July came as no surprise, although a few eyebrows were raised at the choice of Sunday...

Two weeks after the Zimbabwe government banned the use of foreign currency, the economy is reeling. Statutory Instrument 142, published without warning on 24 June, decreed that the...

There is virtually no prospect of President Hage Geingob, Namibia's first non-northern head of state, failing to secure a second five-year term in the presidential and legislative elections...

President Edgar Lungu's government has proposed sweeping changes to the Zambian constitution that critics say are aimed at reducing scrutiny and improving his chances of retaining power at...

Opponents of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the ruling African National Congress have opened a new front in the ruthless campaign to remove him from office by...

Voter-registration has been hijacked by the ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, which is blatantly inflating the electoral roll with ghost voters in order to win a clear...

Two wings of the African National Congress – the constitutional and the rent-seeking – are engulfed in a civil war which could turn the country's economy into a...

Malawi's defeated oppositionists are taking different attitudes to May's disputed presidential polls, and that appears to be playing into newly re-elected President Peter Mutharika's hands.

Agricultural subsidy reforms that reach to the heart of Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front's (ZANU-PF) patronage structure – which underpins the regime – have been negotiated...

On the eve of the expected announcement of his drastically trimmed and revamped cabinet on 27 May, a power struggle erupted between President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy...

The arrest of five civic activists on 20 May typifies the crackdown President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government is implementing. Aware of the penury into which most citizens are forced,...

After a bitter, though largely policy-free, campaign in which the main candidates jockeyed for ethnically advantageous alliances while flinging accusations at each other, the High Court finally awarded...

The government's chronic shortage of cash has resulted not only in late payment of salaries for public servants, but also in a four-week default on a large loan...

Leaders of Mozambique's ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique(Frelimo) won an unexpected victory over the United States when South Africa's Justice Minister Michael Masutha overturned a court decision...

Ex-President Ian Khama has given up on pursuing his rivalry with President Mokgweetsi Masisi within the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and founded his own. Although he is...

President Cyril Ramaphosa's mandate at the polls, amid waning support for the ruling African National Congress and rapidly growing support for the populist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), leaves...

The sacking of Sonangol chair Carlos Saturnino Guerra Sousa e Oliveira on 8 May is a deeply political affair, according to sources in Luanda. Saturnino replaced the billionaire...

After shaking off a challenge for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leadership, President Mokgweetsi Masisi has begun a clear-out of the ruling party and cabinet ahead of elections...

The result of the 21 May general election is now anybody's guess, as President Peter Mutharika of the Democratic People's Party (DPP) and his main rival Lazarus Chakwera,...

President Cyril Ramaphosa is running almost a solitary national campaign for the African National Congress in the 8 May elections while his opponents in the party, led by...

The lavish spending and borrowing of President Edgar Lungu's government is starting to catch up with it. Africa Confidential has learned that in March, it had to raid...

Two months after the launch of vital currency reforms, the official exchange rate is still way out of line with the parallel market, despite solemn commitments by the...

President Mokgweetsi Masisi has fended off a dangerous challenge for the leadership of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from former senior cabinet minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, widely seen as...

The African National Congress is in far worse shape than it should be as it heads for victory in the 8 May elections. President Cyril Ramaphosa is still...

The power struggle between President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his predecessor Ian Khama has taken an extra-territorial twist with the involvement of Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's anti-corruption campaign is being undermined by key leaders of the ruling African National Congress loyal to former President Jacob Zuma. They have enabled allies of...

Backed by France, Japan and South Africa, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube is pushing a tough economic reform plan to pay off Zimbabwe's international arrears by the end of...

Former President Joyce Banda has withdrawn from the presidential race, and she may have effectively taken President Peter Mutharika out of the contest too. Mutharika's nemesis, Vice-President Saulos...

President Peter Mutharika has snubbed his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) political gurus and picked a political novice, Everton Chimulirenji, as his running mate for the vice-presidency. The decision...

A year after becoming President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa has gone a long way to transforming the political landscape and curbing corruption, but his toughest task lies...

It seemed like a defining moment when Mark Bristow, the new chief executive officer of Barrick Gold, was asked at the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town last...

President Edgar Lungu's brand new Gulfstream G650 business jet arrived on 28 February and is parked in a purpose-built hangar at Lusaka international airport, which now boasts a...

Two weeks after his arrest on corruption charges, Zambia's Infrastructure Minister Ronald Chitotela remains in President Edgar Lungu's cabinet. After a tip-off from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), local...

As food imports dwindle and oppositionists gear up for a fresh round of protests, the government has announced a radical shake-up to its currency regime to boost foreign...

The arrest last weekend of Ndambi Guebuza, eldest son of ex-President Armando Guebuza, in connection with the US$2 billion hidden loans scandal has sent shock waves through the...

As mining investors and managers gathered for the annual Mining Indaba in Cape Town on 4 February the talk was of little else but the rumour that Anglo...

Ex-President Ian Khama's anger at his successor, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, is so strong that he is backing a rival candidate to remove him from the leadership of the...

A diplomatic storm blew up just after Shamila Batohi, the new national director of public prosecutions, took over from her compromised predecessor, Shaun Abrahams, on 1 February. President...

Everything hangs on the economy in 2019, but the outlook is dire. There are two semi-functional currencies apart from real US dollar notes: electronic 'US dollars' in local...

With no prospect of a deal with the International Monetary Fund, the stand-off with donors over embezzled aid money far from resolved, ballooning domestic arrears, and low foreign...

The United States government has indicted a swathe of bankers, sales people and Mozambican public officials with wire fraud, money laundering and securities fraud. It claims a criminal...

The African National Congress's strategists do not doubt the ruling party will emerge from the May national and provincial parliamentary elections by far the largest party, but the...

South Africa is facing an even tougher year economically in 2019. The disastrous legacy of former President Jacob Zuma may seem distant but its echoes will continue to...

João Lourenço will consolidate his power in 2019, cashing in on his popularity and position as President of both the country and the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertacão...