South Africa
 

JOHANNESBURG – The recent split in the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the disarray in the Congress of the People (Cope) is disastrous for South Africa's multiparty democracy, political analysts say. "This does not serve to strengthen democracy, rather it weakens it considerably," analyst Prince Mashele says. "The vibrancy of any democracy depends on the competitiveness of that system, the disarray in the opposition parties diminishes that competitiveness." The IFP recently split – after a power struggle between its president Mangosuthu Buthelezi and national chairperson Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, who went on to form the National Freedom Party. Cope is split by a leadership tussle between its founders, Mosiuoa Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa, with both claiming to be the party's rightful president. The disarray in small opposition parties disempowered voters, Mashele says. He expects both parties to perform poorly in the upcoming elections. "Faced with a local government election, I don't think a new party will be served well by internal infighting. Voters ask themselves simple questions: is this party solid enough to deserve my vote. The answer in relation to Cope would be no . . . no one knows who is the leader of Cope . . . how would a rational voter decide to cast their vote for Cope when there is no clarity of leadership?" In the 2006 local elections, according to the Independent Electoral Commission results, the ANC garnered 67,71% of the total votes, the Democratic Alliance 13,92% and the IFP 8,38%. Cope, formed in 2008, garnered some 30 seats in Parliament in the 2009 national election.

JOHANNESBURG – There is a glaring lack of alignment between South Africa’s power road map and the country’s jobs, industrial development and growth ambitions as outlined in the New Growth Path (NGP), a power sector analyst has warned. Speaking during a Web presentation on South Africa’s integrated resource plan, or IRP2010, Frost & Sullivan energy business unit leader Cornelis van der Waal warns that, while the electricity plan assumes a lowering of the economy’s power intensity between 2010 and 2030, he is uncertain whether South Africa has the necessary skills in place to support such an immediate shift. It is, thus, likely that much of the growth and job creation ambition outlined in the NGP will be heavily dependent on an affordable and reliable electricity supply, which is not currently guaranteed through the IRP2010. In fact, the plan forecasts that, in the absence of material demand shaving and own- and cogeneration from energy-intensive industries, South Africa could face severe supply-side constraints between 2011 and 2016. That shortfall could be as high as 42 000 GWh over the period, which Van der Waal calculates could cost the economy R3,15-trillion if not remedied. Notwithstanding that constraint, the NGP, which is still in draft form, is targeting the creation of five-million jobs by 2020, a revitalisation of South Africa’s manufacturing base, an increase in infrastructure investment and growth in mining, agriculture and green industries.

PRETORIA – Over 30 000 South Africans have obtained their identity documents or other forms of identification to register for the coming local government elections, the Department of Home Affairs says. “Departmental officials, who committed themselves to working full days over the weekend in pursuance of the department’s Constitutional mandate to assist the Independent Electoral Commission in delivering free, fair and credible elections, assisted 31 118 South Africans in all nine provinces,” says department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa in a statement. Of that number, 20 516 people collected their IDs from Home Affairs offices around the country, while the remainder were issued with temporary identity certificates. This was highly commended by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who expressed her appreciation to the officials who worked throughout the extended hours. Mamoepa says that the department was ready to assist more people to acquire documents that will allow them to vote in the run-up to the elections on a date still to be announced.

Africa & the world

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is closely watching the economic fallout from Egypt's political crisis and believes progress toward democratic reforms will help stem economic instability, a US official says. "We're certainly mindful of the economic impact. We're certainly monitoring it closely," says Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser for communications. Egypt's turmoil is costing the country about $310-million a day, according to an analysis from Crédit Agricole bank. The impact on commerce includes a 1,6% drop in revenue in January from December for the Suez Canal, a vital source of income. Rhodes, speaking in a conference call with reporters, says that "insufficient steps" by the Egyptian government to meet the demands of protesters are exacerbating the economic woes. US President Barack Obama and his aides have urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government to move more quickly on a transition of power and to do more to engage a broad swath of Egyptian society in talks on the country's political future. "The way to move out of this period of instability into one of greater stability is for the government to take concrete action, to demonstrate irreversible political progress (and) to get into a set of negotiations with the opposition," Rhodes says.

NIAMEY – The third-place finisher in Niger's presidential election has thrown his support behind veteran opposition candidate Mahamadou Issoufou leading into next month's runoff. The move could improve Issoufou's chances against favourite ex-premier Seyni Oumarou, who represents the party of deposed leader Mamadou Tandja and who has won the backing of around 20 other political parties for the March 12 second-round. "After a thorough analysis of the political situation... the Nigerien Democratic Movement chooses to support Mahamadou Issoufou... in the second round of the presidential election," Hama Amadou's MDN party says. A poor desert nation, Niger's uranium riches have drawn billions of dollars worth of investment, mainly from French nuclear giant Areva. It is also struggling against a rising threat from al-Qaeda-linked fighters, who last month claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Frenchmen, from the capital Niamey, who were later found dead. The election is meant to return the uranium-exporting Sahel country to civilian rule after soldiers ousted Tandja for outstaying his term in office. Issoufou took about 36% of the January 31 first-round vote over Oumarou's 23%. Amadou came in third with just under 20% of the vote – enough to give Issoufou a solid majority in the second-round if Amadou's supporters heed the call.

TOLOUSSE – South African State-owned power utility Eskom has no plans to return to the international bond market for the cash it needs for new power plants and will focus on its existing resources, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba says. He was speaking to Reuters during a visit to France as South African Airways took delivery of a new Airbus A330-200. Eskom last month raised $1,75-billion from a ten-year international bond issue but now government is focusing on existing resources and a proposed government capital increase, Gigaba says. “We are not going to go into the international bond market to raise more funds [for Eskom],” Gigaba adds. “We are going to look at the resources we have within our capacity . . . we still have to decide on the capital equity injection.” The South African government has proposed an equity injection into Eskom of R20-billion. The exact terms of the government equity injection into the utility will hopefully be announced before the end of the month, Gigaba says. Eskom needs to raise billions of rands to build new power plants to meet the rapidly increasing demand in Africa’s largest economy.

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia and the United Nations (UN) say that 2,8-million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid in 2011, and have affected for $227-million to fund programmes for the first six months. The Horn of Africa nation is still one of the world’s poorest countries, with nearly 10% of the population of 77-million people relying on emergency food aid last year. The UN cites poor rainfall in the Somali and Oromiya regions late last year as the cause of the increasing food problem. In addition, donor representatives say access is still restricted in 9 out of the 52 localities in the Somali region, where a low-level insurgency still prevails. About 40% of the beneficiaries are in the Somali region. “Presently, we all remain concerned about the situation in the eastern and south-eastern lowlands of the Somali and Oromiya regions, where renewed drought conditions are having a significant humanitarian impact,” says Eugene Owusu, the resident UN coordinator. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said his country may not need any food aid within five years, thanks to a development plan that targets an average economic growth of 14,9% over the period.

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s fragile unity government has been dealt a blow by a leadership struggle within a splinter group of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which is not expected to alter the balance of power between the two main players in the unity government but could raise tensions in Cabinet. Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, who entered a power-sharing agreement with President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai two years ago, says that he does not recognise a party congress that deposed him a month ago. Industry and International Trade Minister Welshman Ncube replaced Mutambara as leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, and demoted Mutambara to head of a State department in charge of regional integration. “I have no intention, whatsoever, to leave the position of Deputy Prime Minister. There is no facility for a political party to recall a sitting DPM,” he says.