John Magufuli is the Grinch who stole Uhuru, literally and figuratively. He’s also stolen a lot of other things since coming into office less than two months ago. Like luxury travel and other perks for public officials. Like free meals at official meetings. Like fat kickbacks for customs officials at Dar es Salaam port and in the Tanzanian Revenue Authority.
Peter Fabricius
Politics and Society Rebalancing an unbalanced relationship
For a government which stresses that FOCAC – the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation – is not about demanding handouts from China, South Africa has a remarkably long wish list from the FOCAC summit which takes place in Sandton in a fortnight.
Politics and Society The political Pope comes to Africa
Can the ‘political Pope,’ as he is increasingly being called, advance peace and promote reconciliation in Africa where so many others have failed?
Politics and Society MPLA rattled as Angola’s oil price plummets
There’s a palpable sense of crisis in Angola, say observers of the country. That’s largely because of the plummeting price of oil, the mainstay of the economy. This is making it harder for ordinary people to make ends meet and so is stirring social discontent. It’s also making it harder for the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) government to finance the security apparatus and the patronage networks that have so far kept it in power, despite the rising discontent.
Africans rising Sea Fever: Swaziland’s quest for maritime power
Last month, the Swaziland Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Gideon Dlamini, lent his government’s full support to a project announced by a business consortium to construct a seaport.
Politics and Society What are African countries really doing in Yemen?
The Saudi-led intervention campaign in Yemen is rather perplexing and ironic, particularly for some of the African countries participating. Like Sudan. And especially Senegal, which is the furthest from the fighting
Politics and Society South Africa joins the EU in the dogbox for abusing illegal African migrants
The irony of Zuma’s Freedom Day speech was not lost on European diplomats. Zuma is wont to criticise EU policies towards Africa as neo-colonial. Now he finds himself in a rather uncomfortably similar predicament – as the object of sharp criticism for mistreating desperate African migrants. ‘Welcome to our world,’ said one of those diplomats, wryly
Politics and Society Mswati allows judicial heads to roll
Like God, the king of Swaziland may move in ways mysterious to mere mortals. But presumably he has a purpose. That is surely not to establish a truly independent judiciary. Perhaps, though, it is to create a less personally vindictive one
Politics and Society The AU shuffles towards democracy, looking over its shoulder
Is Africa slowly turning the rhetoric of democracy into action? The Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU), which introduced to the continental body the values of democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism, is 13 years old. And its prohibition of seizing power unconstitutionally goes back even earlier to 2000, preceding the AU