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• South African President Thabo Mbeki says he is still in the race to lead the ruling African National Congress after his rival Jacob Zuma gathered nominations from key groups and five of the nine provinces. The party goes into its December meeting deeply split over the selection of a new leader, with critics who back Zuma saying that the majority of the country's black population have not benefited from Mbeki's rule and that his policies have favoured big business.
• Former Mozambiquan President Joaquim Chissano wins the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership. Chissano served as president of the Southern African country from 1986 until 2005, winning praise for his pragmatic policies in a nation once one of the poorest in the world. The leader has said that he will use the $5-million prize money to push for better governance in Africa. • Violence and chaos surrounding the run-up to Kenya’s presidential election on December 27 leads to the European Union calling for calm in the East African country. Analysts say that the closeness of the race between candidates President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga has heightened the potential for trouble. Traditionally viewed as an oasis of stability compared with many of its war-torn neighbours in the region, Kenya nevertheless has a history of violence at election times.
Also making headlines:
• Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accepts an invitation to attend a European Union/Africa summit in December in Lisbon, triggering a boycott of the meeting by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. • Nigeria asks Britain to help it reform and train its police force, which has drawn international criticism for corruption and brutality; and • A British primary school teacher is arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam's Prophet by letting her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear Mohammed.
This bulletin has been compiled with the assistance of Reuters and Sapa.
Also available on the Polity website are a number of recommended reports and documents that provide for interesting reading, including:
• The African Development Bank’s results- based country strategy paper which provides a framework for its collaboration with South Africa in the next five years; • The South African government’s Millenium Development Goals midterm country report and; • The United Nations 2007 Aids Epidemic Update
Also freely downloadable on the site are several new pieces of South African legislation and a collection of important addresses made by South African government leaders and other leading figures from around the African continent.
That’s a roundup of this week’s activities on Creamer Media’s polity.org.za.
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