confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
SOUTH AFRICA: Questions are asked about the goals of President Ramaphosa's purge of security agencies
Patrick Smith
We start in South Africa where President Ramaphosa's
motives in reforming the security sector are being questioned, and then
to Uganda where a big budget increase laying the
ground for oil infrastructure includes a controversial proposal to tax
social media. In Congo-Kinshasa, mining companies
face adversity in-country, from new taxes, and internationally, from
increased scrutiny. And then to Morocco
and Nigeria which have just
agreed on a new gas pipeline project, and finally to Cameroon where there are moves to
postpone this year's presidential elections.
SOUTH AFRICA: Questions are asked about the goals of
President Ramaphosa's purge of security agencies
A fight between Setlhomamaru Dintwe,
Inspector-General of Intelligence, and former head of the State
Security Agency (SSA) Arthur Fraser is raising doubts
about whether President Cyril Ramaphosa is set on reforming these
agencies and making them more accountable.
Before Ramaphosa became President, Fraser, a close ally of
ex-President Jacob Zuma, had revoked Dintwe's
security clearance after he had launched an investigation into the SSA.
Fraser has been accused by investigative journalist Jaques Pauw
of running an illegal network of agents and transferring classified
data to his private computer. His activities were said to have cost the
state 1 billion rand (US$73 million).
Although Ramaphosa has restored Dintwe's security clearance,
the government is not backing a court order to stop further
interference in the Inspector-General's work. Ramaphosa is also under
fire from the opposition Democratic Alliance for transferring Fraser to
a senior post in the Department of Correctional Services, rather than
suspending him and launching an investigation into his record in
Security.
UGANDA: A bumper budget as Museveni targets the
tweeters In his 2018-19 budget
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija says he
will increase spending by 13%, boosting security spending by 60%. About
15% of the budget is to go on roads and communications linked to the
oil development schemes near Lake Albert. President Yoweri
Museveni also wants a tax on social media use.
CONGO-KINSHASA: Tough times for mining companies as
Kabila mulls succession plan
Mining companies have had a bad, certainly expensive
time in Congo-K in the past month. Apart from the new, increased
revised taxes and royalty payments just passed into law, some are also
facing the long arm of international regulators.
Glencore, the world's biggest commodity trader, had a couple
of costly problems. The first was to settle with its dispute with the
Kinshasa government over finance and equity shares in the Kamoto Copper
Company which is to produce 300,000 tonnes of copper and 34,000 tonnes
of cobalt next year. Reluctantly, Glencore agreed to write off $5.6bn
of debt in the project.
Glencore's other problem was to pay off Dan Gertler, its erstwhile business
partner in Congo, who was suing it for $3bn for unpaid royalties owed
on another mine. After talking to the United
States government, which has imposed sanctions against
Gertler accusing him of grand corruption, Glencore hopes to circumvent
Washington's penalties by paying royalties to him in Euros, rather than
US dollars.
Meanwhile in Kinshasa, President Kabila's call on parliament to draft
a law that would protect former presidents from prosecution is being
taken as more evidence that he may consider leaving office this year,
as scheduled.
MOROCCO/NIGERIA: Losing the World Cup, gaining a
pipeline
Clumsy diplomacy may have cost Rabat its chance to host the 2026 World
Cup – 11 African countries voted against it – but it is having more
success on the business front.
Although Nigeria had opposed Morocco's bid to join the
Economic Community of West African States, the two countries have
initialled an agreement on a 5,660 kilometre pipeline which takes a
circuitous offshore and onshore route via Mauritania.
Announcements about the plan followed President Muhammadu
Buhari's meeting with King Mohammed VI Rabat
last week.
CAMEROON: Biya tries to postpone elections for a year
As the country's political crisis deepens, it has emerged that
President Paul Biya has written to the Senate asking
it to consider postponing presidential elections scheduled for October.
The ostensible reason is that the crisis in the Anglophone regions have
had very low voter registration.
Although 20% of Cameroonians are Anglophone, only 3% of the
voters registered this year come from their community.
THE WEEK AHEAD IN VERY BRIEF
ETHIOPIA/SOMALIA: Premier Abiy
and President Farmajo propose plan to invest in four
ports on the Red Sea
KENYA: With its 26 million users, Safaricom
wants to push back against higher taxes on mobile money payments
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Tennis star Boris
Becker accused of taking Bangui envoy post to dodge London
bankruptcy case
