The single greatest failure of current punditry is the refusal to recognise that context matters. A one-size-fits-all approach to solving Zimbabwe’s complex set of problems simply won’t help.
Corruption pollutes the African business environment.
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Public sector corruption is a major challenge to doing business in Africa and players are mostly ill-equipped to deal with it. Business schools can teach the skills to tackle it.
Promoting mechanisation for small scale farmers in Africa is proving incredibly difficult.
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Mechanisation of agricultural activity can help many African countries unlock underutilised agricultural potential. But there are serious obstacles which must be removed.
Mugabe tried to impose his wife on his party as his chosen successor.
Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
Are we witnessing the end of an era in which dictators stayed in power for decades? If so this must be good not only for Angola and Zimbabwe but for southern Africa as a whole.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma seems to be making a final push to secure the nuclear power deal before his tenure comes to an end. But it won’t be easy.
Rural areas across South Africa are hosting battles for control of land.
Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
A different form of state capture is underway in South Africa’s rural areas where traditional leaders are selling off people’s land to miners. But communities are fighting back.
When the DfID minister held secret meetings with government officials while on holiday, she seems to have forgotten about her quest to stamp out dodgy dealings in development spending.
South African President Jacob Zuma. Mounting allegations of corruption at home are having international repercussions.
Reuters/Mark Schiefelbein
There are disturbing questions around the complicity - witting or unwitting - of UK global financial institutions in the transnational network set up by President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli after inspecting a guard of honour in Kenya.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has brought dramatic change and his intolerance for corruption won him worldwide admiration. But his repressive means to stay in power are being questioned.
President Xi Jinping is cracking down on corruption in the Chinese government. But could it just be a power play?
Reuters/Damir Sagolj
South Africa’s 2017 medium term budget reveals a growing gap between revenue and expenditure which places the country in a highly vulnerable financial state.
Oliver Reginald Tambo served as ANC president from 1967 to 1991.
Reuters
Factions within South Africa’s ANC nostalgically point to the example of Oliver Reginald Tambo whose seen as an exemplar of integrity, personifying an ideal leader who served the party selflessly.
Jacqui Lambie has released a policy on lobbying that has become the starting point for negotiations on the issue.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Corruption, not gang warfare, is the root cause of the record violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Until public officials stop shielding criminal groups like MS-13, lawlessness will reign.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his 86th birthday and the unveiling of an arch in his honour outside St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
As South Africa marks Media Freedom Day, it’s clear that its battle isn’t over. Attacks on journalists continue –through physical intimidation and there’s also the threat of new laws.
South Africa’s president faces a difficult time ahead, following the loss of his bid to escape justice.
GCIS
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma’s loss in the Appeals Court forms part of three milestones in his recent history dominated by corruption, unethical conduct and a knack to avoid criminal charges.