The Africa Report — July-August 2017

SOURCE:WORLDBANK

In conjunction with

GeoPoll,The Africa

Reportasked 102

Zimbabweans:

Should the government

reintroduce the Zimbabwe

dollar?

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using GeoPoll’s easy-to-use platform

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50%

42.1%

7.8%

Yes I don’t know

No

T

he legacy of the strong men

leading liberation parties

in Southern Africa is being tested

by President Robert Mugabe’s

succession quandaries and President

Jacob Zuma’s struggles to balance

personal and national priorities. As

hopes dim of Harare erasing its debts

to international creditors, the succession

is sucking more and more air out

of Zimbabwe’s political sphere. In June,

First Lady Grace Mugabe was fighting

a war of words with the war veterans

and military brass, who favour deputy

president Emmerson Mnangagwa

and have warned of political instability.

Meanwhile, leaked emails about

the Gupta family’s ties and the sacking,

reappointing and sacking of Eskom

chief executive Brief Molefe show that

Zuma and those close to him are losing

the public perceptions battle in South

Africa. The fight for Zuma’s succession,

too (see page 36), is eating into the

brief time left for him to turn a page

on his controversy-filled legacy and stop

the slide in the ANC’s popularity.

And while Zambia is no longer run

by the liberation-era single party,

President Edgar Lungu is experimenting

in the strong man’s dark arts.

Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema

remains in jail on treason charges

and the national assembly has imposed

a 30-day ban on MPs who boycotted

Lungu’s state of the nation address.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Liberators no more

GCIS

Sit-tight presidents

unite: Jacob Zuma

and Robert Mugabe

SOUTH AFRICADurbanites take part in Gay Pride, celebrated

around the world on 24 June. South Africa is the African leader in

LBGTI rights, but still suffers hate crimes, especially towards women.

KENYAWork begins on

Pinnacle Towers, set to be

Africa’s highest building.

ETHIOPIAArcheologists have unearthed an

ancient Islamic trading city under the town of Harlaa;

beads and Chinese pottery are among the finds.

POPULATION

LAGOS IS MEGA

By 2050, Nigeria’s economic capital,

Lagos, is set to have a population

of more than 36 million, up from

18 million in 2015. That would make

it the world’s fourth-largest city and

the continent’s largest megalopolis.

The population growth poses a major

challenge for Lagos’s city planners.

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