South Africa

JOHANNESBURG - Former President Thabo Mbeki has been accused of being a "conniving" person who betrayed the legacy of struggle icon Nelson Mandela, by African National Congress (ANC) election campaign chief Fikile Mbalula. In an open letter addressed to the former President, Mbalula says that Mbeki was intoxicated with power and "forgot Mandela's wise counsel", allowing the ANC to "stumble on the edge of an abyss". Mbalula says that Mbeki decided to "spawn" the Congress of the People, after being defeated as ANC leader by Jacob Zuma at the Polokwane conference in December 2007. Referring to allegations of political interference in the case against Zuma, Mbalula states that this came about as a result of Mbeki's actions of "conniving, manipulating people and advancing politics of patronage".

JOHANNESBURG - African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma says that the recent uncovering of interference in the fraud and corruption charges against him has shown that South Africa's democratic institutions can indeed check abuses of power. Speaking at a church on Easter Sunday, Zuma said that the country's democratic institutions have been shown to effectively serve the interests and safeguard the rights of all South Africans. Zuma told churchgoers that his visit was neither a mistake nor an electioneering tactic. He asked them for not just their prayers, but their criticism when they thought the ANC was not doing right. Church spokesperson Oupa Mosalakae says that his church has had a relationship with the ANC since the release of former President Nelson Mandela and is "historically... comfortable with the leadership of the ANC".

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress (ANC) plans to speed up the country's land reform programme to help end poverty among the poor black majority. But the ruling party says that it will not forcibly seize farms from white landowners. After the fall of apartheid in 1994, the ANC set itself a target of handing 30% of all agricultural land to the black majority by 2014. Progress toward this target has, however, been slow. Only about 4% of the land has been acquired from private owners amid funding problems that government officials say might hinder government from meeting its goal. Land reform is a sensitive issue in South Africa, where critics say the programme has hurt investment in the commercial farming sector and drastically reduced the land that is available for commercial agriculture. There are also fears that the country's land programme could mirror a similar ‘fast track' programme that damaged farming output and triggered an economic slump in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where white commercial farmers are often violently evicted by President Robert Mugabe's government. The ANC has vowed that its own version of the programme will be orderly, despite criticism that some of the same problems faced by Zimbabwe, including lack of support for new farmers and poor farming skills, may thwart South Africa's programme.

Africa & the world

KHARTOUM - Sudan's leader has welcomed "positive signs" sent by US President Barack Obama to the Islamic world, striking a more conciliatory tone towards Washington, which has been seen as an enemy of Khartoum in the past. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir says that Sudan's government will continue to hold out its hand to "those who call for peace and justice in accordance with the standards of fairness and dignity". Washington has previously had tense relations with the Islamist government of Bashir. The Sudanese leader used his speech at the opening of Parliament to defend a decision to expel 13 foreign aid agencies from Darfur last month after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Sudan's western region.

MOGADISHU - Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia can only be stopped with stability and security onshore, not by international navies patrolling ever-larger stretches of sea, the country's fledgling government says. Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar says that the recent rise in attacks demonstrates clearly that the issue is based on land and has to be resolved on land.