Rwanda&#8217;s President Paul Kagame won 98.8 percent of the vote in last week&#8217;s election, more than initially indicated, the central African country&#8217;s electoral body said on Wednesday.
Giving final results at a news conference, electoral commission chairman Kalisa Mbanda said voter turnout had been 98.5 percent. Preliminary results announced late on Friday, the day of the poll, had given Kagame a 98.6 percent vote share.
Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana, Kagame&#8217;s two challengers, each got less than one percent of the vote.
&#8220;We never expected it to be easy but the struggle continues,&#8221; Habineza told Reuters on Wednesday.
Kagame, who has been in power for 17 years, was not meant to stand again but Rwanda&#8217;s constitution was changed in 2015 to allow him extend his rule, a move common in the region and which has alarmed Africa&#8217;s democracy watchers.
Rights groups and opponents accuse him of ruling with an iron fist, suffocating dissent and dealing ruthlessly with critics.
Some Rwandan dissidents have been killed after fleeing abroad, in cases that remain unsolved. The government denies any involvement.
Kagame&#8217;s supporters hail him for achieving robust economic growth and shepherding the country to order and stability after the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 majority Tutsis and some Hutus died.
On Saturday, U.S. State Department spokesperson, Heather Nauert, hailed Rwanda for conducting a peaceful vote but said there were concerns over vote counting and &#8220;the lack of transparency in determining the eligibility of prospective candidates.&#8221;
Poll officials disqualified Diane Rwigara, a vocal critic of Kagame, from contesting saying she had used signatures of dead voters to back her nomination. She said the allegation was a pretext to bar her candidature.
A Catholic priest-turned politician, Thomas Nahimana, who lives in France, also planned to participate in the race but he was twice barred by authorities from entering Rwanda.
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Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Catherine Evans
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Paul Kagame won poll with 98.8% in final tally

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Wednesday the election commission&#8217;s computers had been hacked and fake results posted online, in what he described as a &#8220;massive&#8221; poll fraud to show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a strong lead.
However, the election commission said Tuesday&#8217;s vote was free and fair. It said it was investigating whether or not its computer systems and vote-tallying database had been compromised but had not had a problem with its passwords.
Odinga&#8217;s statement, which was based on his belief that a murdered election commission technician had his identity stolen, raised concerns of unrest over the results in Kenya, which has East Africa&#8217;s biggest economy and is a regional hub.
Angry protests broke out in Nairobi and the western city of Kisumu, with at least one man killed by police. It evoked memories of a disputed election in 2007, when around 1,200 people died and 600,000 were displaced in ethnic violence.
Speaking at a news conference, Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm but added: &#8220;I don&#8217;t control the people&#8221;. His deputy Kalonzo Musyoka struck a similar tone and said the opposition might call for unspecified &#8220;action&#8221; at a later date.
Shortly after Odinga spoke, police fired teargas to scatter a group of 100 supporters in Kisumu, an opposition stronghold where unarmed men marched through the streets waving sticks and chanting &#8220;No Raila, no peace&#8221;.
They later used live rounds to disperse another group, while a pro-Odinga protester was shot dead by police in a Nairobi slum, witnesses said.
<h3 data-reactid="47">CROSS-CHECKING</h3>
As of 1630 GMT, the election commission website put Kenyatta in front with 54.3 percent of votes counted to 44.8 percent for Odinga &#8211; a margin of 1.4 million ballots with 97 percent of polling stations reported.
Odinga published his own party&#8217;s assessment of the count on Twitter, saying he had 8.1 million votes against 7.2 million for Kenyatta but published no supporting documentation.
The main local election monitoring group said its parallel vote tally was incomplete so it could not comment on the differing figures.
Foreign observer missions declined to comment but urged all parties to stay calm while results were cross-checked with paper records.
Kenyatta, a 55-year-old businessman seeking a second five-year term, had held a steady lead of around 10 percent since the start of counting after Tuesday&#8217;s peaceful vote, the culmination of a hard-fought contest between the heads of Kenya&#8217;s two political dynasties.
Odinga, 72, a former political prisoner and self-described leftist, described the reported hack as an attack on Kenya&#8217;s democracy and published 50 pages of computer logs on his Facebook page to support his claims.
Despite its multi-million dollar electronic voting system, the crucial evidence on voting comes from the paper forms signed at each of the country&#8217;s 41,000 polling stations.
Results in each polling station are recorded on a form &#8211; known as 34A &#8211; that observers from each party must sign. These are then scanned and sent to the election board for posting online, a measure designed to combat rigging.
The commission said it was working flat out to post all 41,000 forms online.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission, a well-known non-governmental organisation, said it had discovered some discrepancies between provisional results on the election commission website and the paper forms.
Of 112 polling stations sampled by Reuters from across the country, two thirds had a match between the electronic and paper results. The rest either had no online scan of the 34A form, or the photographs were illegible or of something else.
There were no demonstrably false results.
<h3 data-reactid="60">VOTE RIGGING</h3>
Odinga ran in Kenya&#8217;s last two elections and lost, blaming vote rigging following irregularities on both occasions.
In 2007, tallying was halted and the incumbent president declared the winner, triggering an outcry from Odinga&#8217;s camp and waves of ethnic violence that led to International Criminal Court charges against Kenyatta and his now-deputy, William Ruto.
The cases against them collapsed as witnesses died or disappeared.
In 2013, Odinga took his concerns to court.
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This time, Odinga invoked the unsolved torture and murder of top election official Chris Msando days before the vote to justify his rigging fears.
&#8220;We fear this was exactly the reason Chris Msando was assassinated, so this could happen,&#8221; he said.
Kenya&#8217;s shilling firmed and bond prices rose on early results, before retreating in the wake of the claims by Odinga, who is seen as less pro-business than Kenyatta.
&#8220;Kenyatta&#8217;s provisional win will soothe those investors who feared a leftist shift in economic policy,&#8221; said Hasnain Malik, global head of equities research at Exotix Capital.
&#8220;The most important issues are ahead of us: Does Odinga concede peacefully? His initial rhetoric suggests there is a risk he does not.&#8221;
Kenya&#8217;s B+ credit rating and stable outlook won&#8217;t be affected by its election as long as there is no repeat of the 2007 violence, the S&amp;P Global agency said.
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Additional reporting by Maggie Fick in Kisumu and Katharine Houreld, George Obultusa, John Ndiso and Rajiv Golla in Nairobi and Marc Jones in London; Writing by Katharine Houreld and Ed Cropley; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Gareth Jones
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Odinga says Kenya election hacked to show Kenyatta lead

Clutching her rosary in one hand and voting card in the other, 102-year-old Lydia Gathoni, a clear contender for Kenya&#8217;s keenest voter, queued through the night to ensure she was first in line to cast her ballot on Tuesday.
It was the same in 2013 elections, when Gathoni, a die-hard supporter of President Uhuru Kenyatta, was first to make her mark at the primary school outside Nairobi where her political hero also voted.
Wrapped in a blanket to ward off the cold and drizzle, Gathoni led election officials and fellow voters in a prayer for peace &#8211; and a Kenyatta victory &#8211; before entering the booth.
&#8220;Let God share with him the wisdom of Solomon,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Let God prevail. Let God govern the country.&#8221;
Born in 1915 when Kenya was known as the British East Africa protectorate, Gathoni was well into middle age by the time Kenya&#8217;s independence arrived in 1963 and her idol, Jomo Kenyatta, became its first president.
Her admiration has since passed to Kenyatta&#8217;s 55-year-old son, Uhuru, who is running for re-election against his veteran rival Raila Odinga, a 72-year-old former political prisoner and son of Kenya&#8217;s first vice-president.
&#8220;This woman has a loving sense for Kenyatta and his father,&#8221; said her 70-year-old grandson, Simon, a retired employee of Nairobi&#8217;s Jomo Kenyatta University.
Since 2013, Gathoni has woken at 3 a.m. every day to pray for another Kenyatta victory, he added. &#8220;She loves his boy more than ever,&#8221; he told Reuters.
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Reporting by Rajiv Golla; Editing by Ed Cropley and Robin Pomeroy
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Kenya’s keenest voter braves old age, rain to make her mark

South Africa&#8217;s business confidence climbed to its highest level in five months in July helped by a firmer currency, falling inflation and an increase in vehicle sales, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry&#8217;s (SACCI) monthly business confidence index (BCI) accelerated to 95.3 in July from 94.9 in June. It was the highest level since February 2017.
The business group said the main contributors to the improvement were made by higher vehicle sales, more building plans passed, lower inflation and higher share prices.
SACCI also said a firmer currency, on a trade weighted basis, had also helped smooth some of the negative sentiment that followed the sudden firing of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister in March and subsequent credit downgrades to &#8220;junk&#8221;.
&#8220;Locally there are indications that growth in the second quarter may be slightly positive. The inflation rate is also slowing down,&#8221; SACCI economists said in a statement.
Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy slipped into recession in March, while political scandals and policy uncertainty, including a no-confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma later on Tuesday, have dampened investment.
SACCI warned that factional battles in the governing African National Congress could hamper a recovery.
Moody&#8217;s, the last of the top three ratings firms to still rate the country investment grade, is due to announce a rating review on Friday.
Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia

South Africa’s business confidence climbs to 5-month high in July

Lawmakers of South Africa&#8217;s ruling African National Congress (ANC) pledged to back President Jacob Zuma in a no-confidence motion in parliament later on Tuesday, a show of support that would thwart opposition efforts to force him to step down.
Zuma, who has held power since 2009, has struggled to fend off accusations of corruption and mismanaging the economy and if the vote was to carry, he would have to relinquish office.
The parliamentary speaker on Monday ruled it would be a secret ballot &#8212; a decision the opposition hoped would embolden ANC members who are unhappy with Zuma to vote against him.
The ANC has 249 seats in the 400-seat parliament and the opposition controls 151, so it would take 50 ANC lawmakers backing the opposition to vote Zuma and his cabinet out.
The party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, is deeply divided and several ANC lawmakers have voiced criticism of Zuma.
But ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said that at a meeting on Tuesday before the parliamentary session, the party resolved to support him. Several ANC lawmakers left the meeting singing, he said.
&#8220;You hear the singing,&#8221; Mthembu told eNCA television channel. &#8220;Zuma was toyi-toying (dancing), that is what we do when we are under attack,&#8221; Mthembu said.
Zuma, who also attended the meeting, was described as being calm and jovial.
For a graphic on seats in parliament, click <a href="http://tmsnrt.rs/2hFvn5h">tmsnrt.rs/2hFvn5h</a>
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<h4 class="RelatedCoverage_related-coverage-title_1iRhG" data-reactid="45">RELATED COVERAGE</h4>
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On the streets, however, protesters blocked roads with burning tyres and rocks in a show of opposition to Zuma before the vote.
Earlier, markets had welcomed Speaker Baleka Mbete&#8217;s decision on the secret ballot, with the rand <a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/currencies/quote?srcCurr=ZAR&amp;destCurr=USD">ZAR=D3</a>, bonds and banking shares surging after Mbete&#8217;s announcement, buoyed by the prospect of Zuma&#8217;s removal. On Tuesday, the rand traded flat as markets waited anxiously.
In the past year, Zuma has upset investors, in particular by removing finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March. The country&#8217;s credit rating has been downgraded to junk by two of the top three credit rating agencies, unemployment is at a 14-year high of 27.7 percent and the economy is back in recession.
&#8220;Jacob Zuma has brought our nation to its knees,&#8221; the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party, which brought the motion to parliament, said in a statement urging lawmakers to vote the president out.
<h3 data-reactid="62">&#8220;FIRE ZUMA&#8221;</h3>
<div id="attachment_119307" style="width: 1160px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-119307" class="wp-image-119307 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/March-against-Zuma-Motlabana-Monnakgotla.jpg" alt="" width="1150" height="770" />March against Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on 12 April 2017. Photo: Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
Across Gauteng province, where the commercial hub Johannesburg and capital Pretoria are located, protesters blocked major roads with burning tyres and rocks.
Many wore DA blue colours and carried posters saying &#8220;Fire Zuma.&#8221; Other posters featured a cartoon of Zuma in a dustbin.
ANC members rallied in Cape Town, where parliament is located, to support Zuma, some carrying placards saying: &#8220;Zuma must stay&#8221;.
Opposition parties also planned a march in Cape Town to push for Zuma&#8217;s removal. The leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party was expected to hold a protest in Pretoria.
Newspaper headlines also reflected the high stakes at play &#8212; &#8220;JZ&#8217;s moment of truth&#8221; read The Star, while The Sowetan declared: &#8220;High Noon for Zuma&#8221;.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-40457 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/23_oct_-_feesmustfall_protests_at_the_university_of_cape_town_04-300x225.jpg" alt="#Feesmustfall - S.A students up in arms about recommended increase" width="300" height="225" />
Zuma&#8217;s tenure as South Africa&#8217;s president is due to run until 2019, when national elections will be held.
He has survived eight no-confidence votes during his eight years in power thanks to loyal voting by ANC lawmakers, who form a strong parliamentary majority. But those votes were not secret.
&#8220;This motion, just like others before it, will be defeated,&#8221; a statement from the ANC&#8217;s chief whip Jackson Mthembu said.
But ANC lawmaker Derek Hanekom, who was removed as tourism minister in the cabinet reshuffle that cost Gordhan his job, said on Twitter that lawmakers must vote against &#8220;massive looting and corruption. Vote for change&#8221;.
Nomura analyst Peter Attard Montalto said the decision to have a secret ballot was &#8220;a significant surprise&#8221; but he expected Zuma to survive.
&#8220;We still expect the vote to fail, but attach a 30 percent chance of success,&#8221; he said.
If the motion is successful, Zuma would be removed as state president but would remain as ANC leader until December, when he is due to step down and a new leader elected in his place.
Should he be forced to quit as South Africa&#8217;s president, the speaker takes over and the National Assembly is expected to elect a new national leader within 30 days.
As the largest party in parliament, the ANC would be expected to select the new president and government.
The ANC &#8212; once all-powerful as heir of South Africa&#8217;s anti-apartheid struggle &#8212; has lost popularity under Zuma, underscored by its worst electoral showing in over two decades of power in local elections last year. Thousands of people took part in protest marches in April calling for Zuma to step down.
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Additional reporting by Tanisha Heiberg in Johannesburg and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town,; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Angus MacSwan
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No-confidence vote signals ‘High Noon’ for South Africa’s Zuma

Nigeria has been told by a court it can permanently seize a $37.5 million apartment block owned by a former oil minister who is wanted for money laundering.
The property belongs to former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, who was in office between 2011 and 2015. <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/2017/07/20/nigerian-court-orders-seizure-former-oil-ministers-37-5m-property/">It had previously been seized temporarily.</a>
Alison-Madueke&#8217;s whereabouts are unclear, but she was last known to be in Britain. In April, she was charged in absentia with money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
A judge at the federal high court in the commercial capital Lagos on Monday ordered the forfeiture of the 15-storey apartment block, comprising of 18 flats and six penthouses.
It is located in Banana Island, a gated community where some of the richest people in the country have properties worth millions of dollars.
Alison-Madueke and two other defendants did not respond to an order at last month&#8217;s hearing to demonstrate within 14 days that the property should not be forfeited to the government.
&#8220;(The judge) ordered the final forfeiture of the property to the federal government, in view of the failure of any interested parties or persons to contest the interim forfeiture order&#8221;, the EFCC said in a statement.
Permanent seizure of a further $2.74 million and 84.54 million naira ($269,000) that were said to be part of the rent collected on the property was also ordered.
The seizures are the latest development in a series of corruption allegations that have dogged the former minister over the last year.
The U.S. Justice Department in July filed a civil complaint aimed at recovering about $144 million in assets allegedly obtained through bribes to Alison-Madueke.
In October 2015, she was briefly arrested in London for questioning about allegations related to missing public funds but no charges were brought against her.
Prior to her arrest she had denied to Reuters any wrongdoing when asked about missing public funds and corruption allegations.
Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May 2015 vowing to crackdown on corruption, but there have been no high-profile graft convictions during his tenure.
A number of former government officials have faced criminal charges, which they have denied, since Buhari took office.
The opposition People&#8217;s Democratic Party (PDP), which ruled for 16 years prior to Buhari taking office, has previously accused the 74-year-old former military ruler of mounting a witch-hunt against its members.
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Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Oludare Mayowa
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Nigeria to permanently seize ex-oil minister’s $37.5 million property

Congolese authorities ordered internet capacity be slowed down so that it cannot be used to transmit images via social media, a senior telecoms official based in Kinshasa said.
The move comes as opposition is growing to President Joseph Kabila, who refused to step down when his mandate expires in December, with nationwide strikes planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Monday, clashes between Congolese security forces and anti-government sect Bundu dia Kongo killed at least 14 people.
&#8220;In order to prevent the exchange of abusive images via social media by your subscribers, I ask you to &#8230; take technical measures to restrict to a minimum the capacity to transmit images,&#8221; post and telecoms chief regulator Oscar Manikunda Musata said in a signed letter seen by Reuters.
He listed social media he wanted the measure to target, including Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Twitter.
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Reporting by Patient Ligodi; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Louise Ireland
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Congo orders internet slowdown to restrict social media: telecoms source

Millions of people go to the polls in Kenya on Tuesday amid fears that the latest electoral clash between its foremost political dynasties could once again descend into violence.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, 55, the businessman son of Kenya&#8217;s first president, is running for the second time against arch rival Raila Odinga, a 72-year-old former political prisoner and son of the east African nation&#8217;s first vice-president.
After two months of campaigning marked by fiery rhetoric but public speeches largely free of the ethnic hate that has sullied previous contests, opinion polls have put the pair neck-and-neck. The winner needs one vote more than 50 percent.
First results are not expected before Wednesday, but a very close race might mean as long as three days before a winner emerges. Officially, election authorities have up to a week to declare the outcome.
The razor-thin margins forecast have increased the chances of glitches &#8211; innocent or otherwise &#8211; giving grounds for the loser to complain about the result, as Odinga did in 2007 and 2013.
A decade ago, vote tallying was abruptly stopped and the incumbent president declared the winner, triggering an outcry from Odinga&#8217;s camp followed by outbreaks of ethnic violence in which 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced.
International Criminal Court cases against Kenyatta and his now-deputy, William Ruto, collapsed for lack of evidence.
In 2013, electronic voting equipment suffered widespread failures, although Odinga&#8217;s decision to limit his complaints to the courts prevented any unrest.
This time &#8211; probably Odinga&#8217;s last tilt at the top job in East Africa&#8217;s biggest economy &#8211; the opposition has repeatedly accused the government of trying to rig the polls.
<h3 data-reactid="49">ETHNIC STRONGHOLDS</h3>
The torture and murder of a top election official and the deportation of two foreign Odinga advisers have fuelled wild online conspiracy theories and &#8220;fake news&#8221; items consumed voraciously by Kenya&#8217;s tech-savvy populus.
Tens of thousands have returned to their ethnic strongholds ahead of the elections, fearful of a repeat of 2007 violence.
Odinga&#8217;s key support is in the west and along the coast, with Kenyatta&#8217;s strongholds in central Kenya and the Rift Valley. Urban centres are up for grabs.
The government has deployed more than 150,000 security personnel, including wildlife rangers, to protect 41,000 polling stations.
The electoral commission insists it has run all necessary tests to safeguard the tallying and transmission of results, although a partial test laid on last week for the media had some glitches.
There are more than 6,000 domestic observers and party agents at each tallying station will have to sign off on results that are then sent electronically to county offices and a national collation centre in the capital, Nairobi.
In addition to a new president, Kenyans are electing lawmakers and local representatives, the result of a post-2007 constitutional shake-up designed to devolve power and reduce the &#8220;winner takes all&#8221; nature of the presidential race.
As a result, local races have generated unprecedented interest.
&#8220;Devolution was brought in to deal with the all-or-nothing presidential contest that we had in the past. The president could reward his home of origin and completely ignore other places,&#8221; said Murithi Mutiga, a regional analyst with the think-tank International Crisis Group.
&#8220;Now political patronage has also devolved to the counties.&#8221;
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Editing by Ed Cropley and Alison Williams
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Kenyans vote in Odinga’s last bid for presidency

Roger Southall | University of the Witwatersrand
&nbsp;
South Africa’s governing African National Congress has got itself into one hell of a pickle. The National Assembly is due to debate an opposition motion of no confidence  in President Jacob Zuma.
Were the motion to succeed, Zuma and his entire cabinet would be forced under the constitution to resign. The Speaker of the House would then become Acting President for up to 30 days while it goes about the business of electing a replacement, who would then serve as state president until the expiry of the present term of parliament in early 2019.
Yet the reality is that, save a political tsunami, the motion won’t succeed even though it’s common currency that Zuma is irredeemably corrupt and that he has sold his country out to the Gupta family. He has also alienated many of the ANC’s traditional allies, and the performances of the government and the economy under his rule have become increasingly shambolic.
Key figures in the ANC have indicated that their party’s MPs should vote with the opposition. These include former President Thabo Mbeki who has proclaimed that ANC MPs should vote in the national rather than the party interest. Similarly, the recently dismissed finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, has urged MPs to allow their consciences to dictate their votes.
Despite such calls, only two ANC MPs, Makhosi Khoza and Mondli Gungubele, have openly declared that they will vote with the opposition. The ANC has indicated it will subject Khoza to disciplinary proceedings. Gungubele may well face a similar fate. If the ANC follows through on its threats, both may lose their jobs (for if a party expels an MP from party membership, the MP concerned can no longer sit in parliament).
There are certainly other MPs sitting on the ANC benches who recognise the damage that Zuma has done. But it appears they have been held back from speaking out because of the threat of dismissal from parliament and the loss of salary and status that would involve.
It’s for this reason that the opposition has set such store on securing a secret ballot – reckoning that this will allow ANC MPs to vote in favour of the motion while circumventing the risk of party discipline.
<h2>ANC’s conundrum</h2>
When faced by the request of the opposition parties that she allow a secret ballot on the no confidence motion, Baleka Mbete, the Speaker of the House (and a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee) declared that she did not have the power to grant the request under the rules of the Assembly. However, after being approached by opposition parties, the Constitutional Court subsequently ruled that a secret ballot was permissible, throwing the decision back into her lap. Mbete has yet to make public her decision.
In the end she sought to deflect criticism by announcing in favour of a secret ballot – but only at the last minute.
But even if enough ANC MPs were to align themselves with the opposition to unseat Zuma, the ANC would remain in control of the immediate situation because it would retain its majority in the House, and it would be another ANC MP who would be elected to serve as president.
Yet win or lose the vote, the consequences for the ANC are dire.
<h2>Options for the ANC</h2>
The party faces three possible options:
<ul>
<li>The ANC wins the vote by a substantial majority, with only a handful of ANC MPs voting with the opposition. Supposedly this would be a massive victory for the ruling party, yet it will fly in the face of not just the parliamentary opposition, but a massive body of popular opinion throughout the country. The ANC would have voted to keep a deeply corrupt president in power, with probable long term disastrous electoral consequences. Any internal ANC “reform” project will be more likely to fail.</li>
<li>The ANC just scrapes home by a small majority, indicating that a substantial body of the party’s MPs have voted for Zuma to go. Cue internal party turmoil. Will the dissident MPs own up? If they do, will they face party discipline? What would happen if the dissidents were known to include party heavyweights (and potential candidates for the party leadership at the party’s national congress in December 2017) such as Cyril Ramaphosa and Lindiwe Sisulu? Subjecting them to party discipline would risk not just massive intra-party division, but a split within the party – and the further danger that they might team up with the opposition.</li>
<li class="align-right ">The ANC loses the vote, and Zuma is forced to stand down as state president. In this case, the ANC is openly divided, and all hell would break out within the party ahead of its conference in December. An ANC MP, probably Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, would be elected as state president, but Zuma would remain as party president.
<div id="attachment_120551" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-120551" class="wp-image-120551 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Cyril-Ramaphosa-GovZA-300x213.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="213" />Photo: Government ZA</div></li>
</ul>
The ANC would be at war with itself, with little or no prospect of it facing the electorate in 2019 in one piece. Were the ANC to offer Zuma an amnesty from prosecution, they would face a massive public backlash. If they didn’t, they would face the very real prospect of his having to face trial, with the party’s extraordinarily dirty linen being washed in public for the foreseeable future.
Whatever happens, Zuma will work ceaselessly and ruthlessly after the debate to secure the party presidency for his former wife, (and favoured candidate) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, reckoning that in so doing, he will retain the power to shape events (and not least, to keep himself out of jail).
Meanwhile, those opposing Zuma will need to rapidly group behind one leader (presumably the new state president) if they are to stand a decent chance of securing enough control over the party organisation to defeat Dlamini-Zuma in December. Rivalry between the prospective anti-Zuma candidates for the party leadership (notably Ramaphosa, Lindiwe Sisulu and Mathews Phosa), would only weaken their chances of victory.
<h2>Ominous future</h2>
Tim Cohen, editor of Business Day, has indicated, sagely, that the Zuma presidency has begun to wind down as the #Gupta Leaks – the series of emails detailing the extent of the Gupta family’s control of the state – reveal more and more dirt. More and more ANC rats will desert the sinking ship and seek safety on a new (anti-Zuma) ANC vessel.
Yet even if the anti-Zuma campaign was to gain enough momentum for victory in December, it will come at massive cost. Not the least of these dangers is that the already alarmingly high rate of intra-party killing of rivals will increase.
It’s difficult to imagine that the ANC will be in any reasonable shape to face the electorate in 2019. Although ostensibly it may yet put on a decent show, it seems inevitable that it will lose numerous votes and a large swathe of MPs.
The looming danger is that in facing the risk of defeat, the party will be tempted to subvert a contrary result in the 2019 election.

Op-Ed: Zuma no confidence vote: the ANC is the loser, whatever happens

By Chris Hattingh
What does the sugar tax; an increased minimum drinking age; National Health Insurance; a wealth tax; the spectre of White Monopoly Capital; state capture; tenders; and repeated attempts to stoke racial tension by politicians have in common? They are all elements of collectivist philosophy. And, they are the tools of those in power who believe they know what is best for everyone else and are prepared to use whatever power they have to legislate measures that enforce that belief.
None of the examples mentioned are radical because they cannot be. None will produce any real, radical economic change because none of them holds the standard that the rights of the individual are paramount. Instead, they continue the socialist bent of the apartheid government, which was to increase the reach of the state. The collectivist philosophy is premised on the importance of the group over the individual and our current government’s philosophy is deeply collectivist, just like the apartheid state.
Throughout human history, those in political power have tried to control as much of the individual’s life as possible. Whether in the form of theocracies or socialist utopias, none recognise the importance of the individual.
<h5>The individual thinks, gains knowledge and acts on that</h5>
Thinking, gaining knowledge and acting on that knowledge are all actions of the individual. It is what individuals have to do to ensure their own survival. Any act (or system) that violates this, is immoral. And that is why capitalism is radical, by its very nature. Under capitalism, everyone must decide for themselves how they want to live, how they want to spend their time and how best to use their resources.
Capitalism is based on voluntary actions. As Walter Williams said, capitalism is a voluntary exchange between individuals free of third party intervention. This means that the government’s proper, and only function, is limited to protecting the individual’s right to think, to produce, to trade and to pursue his own life and happiness. The government does this by outlawing the initiation of physical force.
Capitalism, and the individual freedom it necessarily protects, flies directly in the face of history and the deep desire of some people to control the lives of others. No matter the justification offered, all social/economic systems that subject the interests of the individual to that of the group are immoral. The purported ends may be dressed up to appear as noble and caring as possible – but, once the metaphysical importance of the individual is jettisoned, the politics of the day loses all credibility.
<h5>Colonialism dictated peoples lives &#8220;for their own good&#8221;</h5>
Colonialism had, at its heart, the perspective that the state would dictate people’s lives for their own good. Apartheid had, at its heart, the perspective that the state would dictate people’s lives for their own good. The current government, and its view of economy and society, is such that it does not believe South Africans are responsible, smart or resourceful enough to live their lives as they see fit, and so it also attempts every possible avenue to control our lives, for our own good.
It is a stain on South Africa’s history that we have never had a system close to capitalism; that people have never been as free as they ought to be. However, it is also a great testament to the South African people that many have managed to build successful lives through all the state interventions and state failures. Imagine what they could do once the government retracts its tentacles.
I am an advocate for capitalism because its moral justification rests on man’s rational nature – it is premised on and recognises individual rights – and it protects that rational nature from the force of others.
Do we want to continue using the archaic, immoral class rhetoric of the communists? Or the racist groupings of people established by segregation and apartheid? If we want true radical economic change, we must move toward capitalism and jettison attempts to control the individual, in whichever guise they are presented.
Author: Chris Hattingh is a researcher at the Free Market Foundation
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Op-Ed: Capitalism – The only radical choice

Nervous Kenyans stockpiled food and water on Monday and police prepared first emergency aid kits as families headed to their ethnic heartlands on the eve of an election many fear could descend into violence.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga, 72, who lost elections in 2007 and 2013, has already said President Uhuru Kenyatta, 55, can only win if his ruling Jubilee party rigs the vote, a stance that increases the chances of a disputed result and unrest.
Opinion polls before Tuesday&#8217;s presidential election put the pair neck-and-neck. Kenyans will also be voting for members of parliament and local representatives.
In 2007, Odinga&#8217;s call for street protests after problems with the vote count triggered a widespread campaign of ethnic violence in which 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced.
The violence also hammered East Africa&#8217;s biggest economy as regional trade ground to a halt and tourists, the biggest source of foreign exchange, cancelled holidays.
Much of the killing a decade ago was in Kisumu, a city of a million people, most of them from Odinga&#8217;s Luo tribe, on the shores of Lake Victoria.
On Sunday, its open-air markets and shops were packed with customers stocking up on last-minute essentials.
&#8220;We are fearful because before there was rigging and that led to violence,&#8221; said orange seller Christine Okoth.
Wilson Njenga, a central government official overseeing the western region, said police had received disaster equipment including first aid and gloves but insisted it was all part of normal contingency planning.
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to be caught flatfooted,&#8221; he told reporters.
On the campaign trail last week, Odinga told Reuters that Kenyatta could not win without cheating, a message that has fired up supporters in his back yard.
&#8220;If he doesn&#8217;t win, we are going to the streets and we’ll demonstrate,&#8221; said 28-year-old Kisumu potato seller Ruth Achieng.
Deputy President William Ruto, who was charged along with Kenyatta by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for organising the 2007 violence, tweeted a prayer for peaceful and transparent polls.
The ICC cases against both him and Kenyatta collapsed.
<h3 data-reactid="54">INTIMIDATION ACCUSATIONS</h3>
Going back to rural roots to vote is a long-standing Kenyan tradition, driven by a desire to catch up with friends and family as well as choose a suitable local political representative.
More recently, fear of unrest has become a factor.
In all, 150,000 security personnel including park rangers have been called up to maintain order across the country, including preventing demonstrations in hotspots immediately before or after the polls.
In Kisumu, where many people feel neglected by a central government led by a president from the Kikuyu ethnic group since 2002, County Commissioner Mohamed Maalim told local media protests near election day were banned.
Such edicts are likely to fuel opposition accusations of intimidation and dirty tricks by the security forces.
&#8220;I have never seen this level of intimidation by the state against the electorate,&#8221; 71-year-old Senator Peter Anyang&#8217; Nyong&#8217;o, an Odinga ally running for Kisumu county governorship, told Reuters.
Rights groups say hate-speech has been notably absent from large public speeches in both campaigns &#8211; an important difference from 2007 &#8211; although two incidents in the last week have put the nation of nearly 50 million on edge.
A key election official was found tortured and murdered a week ago, and on Friday two foreign political advisers to Odinga were arrested and deported by plain-clothes police. Their laptops were also seized.
Some Kisumu residents said they were headed to villages outside the city to vote and hunker down in case of trouble. Members of Kenyatta&#8217;s Kikuyu ethnic group headed the other direction, away from Odinga&#8217;s strongholds.
One supermarket manager who asked not to be identified said suppliers of televisions and furniture had halted deliveries over the past week due to fears of looting.
&#8220;They fear to come to this side of the country,&#8221; the manager, a Kikuyu, said. He had already sent his family to a Kikuyu-majority city and would be joining them in the evening, he added.
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Editing by Katharine Houreld and Alison Williams
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Kenyans stockpile food, police get first aid kits ahead of vote

Wessel Lemmer, Senior Agricultural Economist | Absa
The practice of cultivating grasses such as wheat, nearly 10,000 years ago, laid the foundations of today’s large urbanized communities. And strangely enough, traditional farming practices as we know today have not changed that much during this age.
It is only in the past century that we have seen significant leaps in agriculture, as the challenge of feeding a global population confronted producers. Machinery, irrigation, road and rail infrastructure, markets, and seed modification, are just some examples of technology that have revolutionized crop output in this time.
Water scarcity
In the last two decades, South Africa has lost close to 30% of its farmlands due to water scarcity. Recently, the Western Cape has seen the worst drought to hit the region in the last century. Deciduous fruit growers in the province feel increased pressure to conserve water as rainfall becomes less predictable and other industries demand a greater share of piped water. This means that farmers face the challenge of producing more fruit, while reducing the impact they have of the province’s water supply.
The Western Cape Agricultural Department has decided to fund the development of an open web portal, called FruitLook. This application grants farmer’s access to satellite-based information catered to their location, crop, water usage, and a multitude of other factors. The software also provides detailed weekly updates on actual evapotranspiration, biomass production and leaf nitrogen content.
Statistics released by SA Wine Industry and Systems, showed that 300 000 jobs relied on the wine industry in South Africa, and contributed R36 billion to the nations GDP in 2016. However, factors such as water scarcity and competitive global markets has had its affects, whittling away 900 producers in the past decade.
The Department has now made FruitLook free-to-use for farmers in the region, meaning meteorological data, satellite imagery and available local data that provide near real-time information on crop health, give farmers greater security and control of their businesses. Stress areas such as water, soil and disease, can then be investigated further to determine what solutions farmers can implement to mitigate production loss.
Technology disruption
Mobile technology is aiding in far more than physical data. Farmers in rural areas on the continent are increasingly using mobile solutions to source buyers, other traders that allow for better leveraging, and the best prices possible for their produce, using platforms such as Agrista, of which Absa is a partner.
Simple changes in practices can result in better efficiencies, reduced impact on the environment, and farmland less prone to climatic changes, all of which have a positive influence on production yields. There is much room for development to harness the potential of agriculture in young people’s lives, by improving financial literacy, building technology and innovation skills and creating a new breed of policymakers in order to see the implementation of better policies.
The South African wine industry and agricultural sector as a whole, has shifted towards a more intensified production system. This shift from the traditional sense of farming has included increased irrigation, fuel, mechanization, use of genetically modified seed and fertilizer inputs. In coping with increasing populations, and our fragile ecosystem experiencing more frequent droughts, modern technologies will continue to impact on farming methods we have traditionally come to know.
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Water scarcity drives a new wave of practices in Cape winelands

South Africa&#8217;s unemployment rate stayed at a 14-year high in the second quarter, with the statistics agency saying on Monday the country was in a &#8220;precarious position&#8221; of not creating enough jobs to make a dent in poverty.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 27.7 percent of the labour force in the second three months of this year, with the absolute number of unemployed down slightly to 6.177 million from 6.214 million, data from the statistics office showed.
Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy has sunk into recession and had its credit rating downgraded to junk by two of the three main credit rating agencies. In July Stats SA said nearly a fourth of all households are in poverty.
Statistician General Pali Lehohla said the real economy, which includes mining and manufacturing, was not creating enough employment.
&#8220;We are in a very precarious position as South Africa in as far as exiting poverty. The type of strategy that can make us exit poverty is when people are working,&#8221; Lehohla said.
&#8220;This kind of poverty cannot be resolved by social grants and the like. That type pf poverty is solved if people are doing work and being productive,&#8221; Lehohla said.
Although South Africa&#8217;s economy contracted for a second successive quarter in March, economists expect positive growth in 2017, but warn that political turmoil and regulatory uncertainty will continue to hamper investor sentiment.
Chief economist for Africa at Standard Charted, Razia Khan, said agriculture and mining were the only sectors that grew meaningfully in the first quarter of this year but actually experienced job losses in the second quarter.
&#8220;With a significant uplift to growth performance unlikely to be on the horizon just yet, there is little to suggest a meaningful pick-up in job creation for some time,&#8221; she said.
The rand shrugged off the unemployment print, with market focus on the no-confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday. As of 0825 GMT, the rand was trading at 13.4025 per dollar, 0.13 percent firmer than its close on Friday.
Zuma faces a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday brought by opposition parties. The ruling African National Congress says its members would rally behind Zuma and vote against the motion.
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Additional reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Editing by James Macharia and Angus MacSwan
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S.Africa’s unemployment stays at 14-year high in second quarter

Faith Kiboro | SMC University
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The democratic ideal visualises a government in which supreme power is vested in the people. They exercise this power indirectly through a system of representation that allows them to elect the leaders of their choice.
In practice, the reality is far more complex. The influence of big business in financing parties and candidates means that some of the biggest owners of capital are inextricably linked to high-level politics.
For example, the funding of US presidential campaigns by big business interests is often hidden in contributions to independent political action committees, or super PACS. The committees can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates.
As an old maxim goes:
<blockquote>He who controls the country’s wealth controls its politics.</blockquote>
When wealthy business people invest in elections they expect their interests to be protected. This has been the expectation in Kenyan politics since the birth of the nation. Over the years, the influence of big business has grown and led to deeper entrenchment of the minority elite.
Big business interests in Kenya range from banking, to manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale concerns, farming, insurance, and media among many others. Quite a number of large corporations and wealthy business people rely heavily on political patronage to maintain a steady growth trajectory.
Kenya is also experiencing the rise of the “tenderpreneur” &#8211; a person who uses their political connections to secure government contracts for personal advantage.
So who finances political campaigns in Kenya? It’s a difficult question to answer because campaign financing arrangements are opaque, and there’s no legal obligation for sponsors to declare all their interests. Large corporations and high net worth individuals tend to be discrete about their donations, but have been known to attend fundraising dinners and to quietly join political foundations.
This model denies the people a seat at the table by allowing only the wealthy minority to participate in determining electoral outcomes. The effect has been to lower trust in the electoral system. Coupled with deep ethnic cleavages, this has led to violence and conflict around elections as different groups jostle for the privileges that come from holding power.
The relationship between big money and the electoral process is worth considering in Kenya at a time when inter-ethnic conflict and violence is so closely linked to the electoral cycle.
<h2>Redesigning campaign financing</h2>
There is a way out of this. In a functioning democracy financing would be open and transparent to the public and not limited to a small section of the population. This would reduce the monopoly of state tools by a minority elite, by increasing the democratic space for the majority voice.
True democracy presupposes equality of opportunity and transparency in campaigning that reduces the advantage held by wealthier parties and candidates.
But how to achieve this? Given Kenya’s context it wouldn’t make sense simply to mirror the political funding models of the West. The country needs to come up with its own system to suit the African context. Campaign financing needs to be redesigned so that it’s more transparent.
That said, some attempts at reform have been made. Kenya’s main political parties are now entitled to funding by the exchequer under the Political Parties Act. But a party must have received at least 3% of the total votes cast in a general election to qualify for funding. This means that only the big parties benefit.
In the 2014-2015 financial year, for example, the National Alliance received USD$866,679, Orange Democratic Movement USD$848,239 and United Republican Party USD$273,688 on the basis of their numbers in parliament.
According to the Election Campaign Financing Act (2013) political parties can receive up to Sh15 billion (USD$150 million) in contributions, and individuals can make single contributions of up to Sh3 billion (about USD$30 million). Presidential candidates are limited to spending Sh5 billion (USD$50 million) for the duration of the campaign period.
The law doesn’t bar political parties and candidates from raising funds to facilitate their campaigns, or making use of money raised by their friends through events such as fundraising dinners.
But even existing regulations aren’t strictly adhered to. For instance, political parties are failing when it comes to campaign-finance reporting. In practice, very little meaningful political finance data is reported, and even less is easily available to the public.
Reforms to Kenya’s laws on party financing are being considered. But crucial amendments to the legislation that would have improved transparency have stalled. This means that party finances are still not well tracked and therefore, large corporations and wealthy individuals can continue to heavily fund campaigns without much scrutiny.
<h2>What steps should be taken</h2>
There are steps Kenya should consider to increase the country’s resilience as a society especially during election time.
First, the country must acknowledge that there’s a connection between the money being spent and the influence of special interests on the political process.
Secondly, it’s critical to distinguish between the money necessary for a candidate’s voice to be heard, and that being used to corrupt the political process. If money must be raised for campaigns in a transparent way, then regulations and laws governing campaign financing are crucial.
Third, the issue is not necessarily the sheer amount being spent. The problem is a political system in which the overwhelming majority of political contributions come from a tiny number of individuals. Kenya must shift from this model of financing because it turns politics into a high-stakes game that very often turns violent.
Given that campaign contributions are often understood as purchases of “goodwill” whose returns benefit a select group of political entrepreneurs, reducing their margin of influence is a step in the right direction.

Op-Ed: Kenya’s election jitters have roots in campaign financing. It’s time to act

South Africa&#8217;s rand steadied against the dollar early on Monday, as investors readied for a parliamentary no-confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma and economic data in the coming week.
At 0648 GMT, the rand traded at 13.4000 per dollar, near its New York close of 13.4200 on Friday.
Statistics South Africa is due to released unemployment numbers at 0730 GMT, while manufacturing and mining data is due out on Thursday.
Market focus also on politics as Zuma faces a ninth attempt by the opposition to unseat him by peeling off dissidents from his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.
National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete will announce voting procedure in the no confidence motion on Monday. Zuma&#8217;s critics want the vote to be anonymous, hoping it will embolden the ANC to support his removal by shielding them from pressure from other party members.
If the motion succeeds, Zuma &#8211; in power since 2009 &#8211; and his entire cabinet would have to step down.
Stocks were set to open higher at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange&#8217;s Top-40 futures index up 0.64 percent.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was down 2 basis points at 8.635 percent.
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Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by John Stonestreet
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South Africa’s rand steady, political risk in focus

Nigeria&#8217;s Forte Oil said on Friday it was in talks with a major refinery to form a strategic partnership for local refining of petroleum products in Africa&#8217;s top oil exporter, its chief executive said.
Nigeria has been pushing to refurbish its decrepit refineries, as the country is still mainly dependent on exporting crude oil for imports of refined products.
It has also been seeking new investments to reduce reliance on imported oil products that consume a large portion of the OPEC member&#8217;s scarce foreign currency reserves, especially with oil prices low.
CEO Akin Akinfemiwa said Forte Oil, majority owned by billionaire Femi Otedola, was exploring partnerships and joint ventures for local refining of petroleum products.
Nigeria&#8217;s oil minister has said its existing, ageing refineries have a daily domestic refining capacity of 6 million litres, while the daily consumption stands at 35 million.
&#8220;We are aggressively pursuing M&amp;A opportunities along the energy value chain,&#8221; Akinfemiwa told investors in Lagos.
He said the company, with interests in fuel distribution and power, would diversify into the upstream sector through acquisition of marginal oilfields.
Shares in Forte rose 4.99 percent on Friday to 60.37 naira, giving it a market value of 78.6 billion naira ($216 million). Its shares have fallen 32 percent this year, adding to a 74 percent fall last year.
Nigeria&#8217;s presidency said on Thursday it will legalise currently outlawed mini-refineries in its Niger-Delta oil hub by the end of the year and supply them with crude at reasonable price, a move which could boost local refining.
In May, rival energy group Oando Plc said it was in talks to work with Italian energy company Eni to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery, one of the West African nation&#8217;s four refineries.
Africa&#8217;s richest man Aliko Dangote is building an $17 billion oil refinery with a capacity of around 650,000 barrels a day, planned to start operation by 2019.
Forte Oil this week reported an 11.3 percent rise in half-year pretax profit to 4.74 billion naira.
($1 = 364.68 naira)
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Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha, editing by David Evans
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Nigeria’s Forte Oil in talks on refinery deal to boost capacity

The leaders of Tanzania and Uganda laid a foundation stone on Saturday for the construction of a $3.55 billion-crude export pipeline that would pump Ugandan oil for international markets.
The 1,445 km-project &#8211; set for completion by 2020 &#8211; will stretch from landlocked Uganda&#8217;s western region, where crude reserves were discovered in 2006, to Tanzania&#8217;s Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga.
The project will become &#8220;the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world,&#8221; said Guy Maurice, Senior Vice President of Africa at Total Exploration and Production.
Total is one of the owners of Ugandan oilfields, alongside China&#8217;s Cnooc and Britain&#8217;s Tullow Oil.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli, flanked by his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, urged the three joint venture partners to speed up construction of the pipeline.
&#8220;We don&#8217;t need to delay the completion of the project for almost three years. They can do it even night and day to ensure the project is completed as quickly as possible,&#8221; Magufuli said.
&#8220;Act with big speed and make sure you finish this project before 2020.&#8221;
Uganda estimates overall crude reserves at 6.5 billion barrels, while recoverable reserves are seen at between 1.4 billion and 1.7 billion barrels.
Kampala said it picked Tanzania over its other neighbour Kenya as the route for the proposed 24-inch export pipeline because it was a &#8220;least cost and least risky&#8221; option.
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&#8220;Tanzania offered several concessions to make the pipeline profitable inspite of the falling global crude oil prices,&#8221; said Museveni.
Tanzania agreed to waive taxes, offered to take up shares in the pipeline project and charge a tariff of $12.2 per barrel to make the project feasible, he said.
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Reporting by Fumbuka Ng&#8217;wanakilala; Editing by Aaron Maasho
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News

Paul Kagame won poll with 98.8% in final tally

Odinga says Kenya election hacked to show Kenyatta lead

Kenya’s keenest voter braves old age, rain to make her mark

South Africa’s business confidence climbs to 5-month high in July

No-confidence vote signals ‘High Noon’ for South Africa’s Zuma

Nigeria to permanently seize ex-oil minister’s $37.5 million property

Congo orders internet slowdown to restrict social media: telecoms source

Kenyans vote in Odinga’s last bid for presidency

Op-Ed: Zuma no confidence vote: the ANC is the loser, whatever happens

Op-Ed: Capitalism – The only radical choice

Kenyans stockpile food, police get first aid kits ahead of vote

Water scarcity drives a new wave of practices in Cape winelands

S.Africa’s unemployment stays at 14-year high in second quarter

Op-Ed: Kenya’s election jitters have roots in campaign financing. It’s time to act

South Africa’s rand steady, political risk in focus

Nigeria’s Forte Oil in talks on refinery deal to boost capacity

Uganda, Tanzania start work on construction of $3.5BN oil pipeline

News Tips

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News

Paul Kagame won poll with 98.8% in final tally

Odinga says Kenya election hacked to show Kenyatta lead

Kenya’s keenest voter braves old age, rain to make her mark

South Africa’s business confidence climbs to 5-month high in July

No-confidence vote signals ‘High Noon’ for South Africa’s Zuma

Nigeria to permanently seize ex-oil minister’s $37.5 million property

Congo orders internet slowdown to restrict social media: telecoms source

Kenyans vote in Odinga’s last bid for presidency

Op-Ed: Zuma no confidence vote: the ANC is the loser, whatever happens

Op-Ed: Capitalism – The only radical choice

Kenyans stockpile food, police get first aid kits ahead of vote

Water scarcity drives a new wave of practices in Cape winelands

S.Africa’s unemployment stays at 14-year high in second quarter

Op-Ed: Kenya’s election jitters have roots in campaign financing. It’s time to act

South Africa’s rand steady, political risk in focus

Nigeria’s Forte Oil in talks on refinery deal to boost capacity

Uganda, Tanzania start work on construction of $3.5BN oil pipeline

News Tips

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