Justice Malala

Until recently, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema seemed to have it all: The adulation of the business community, growing support among his political constituency and admiration from global peers for rescuing a shattered economy.

Heard the one about the Public Investment Corp., Africa’s largest investment fund? It’s being referred to as “Hollywood” these days — because everyone is in an acting role.

As betrayals go, South Africa turning its back on the African continent is particularly brutal. Between 1960 and 1994, when South Africa’s liberation movements were banned and leaders like Nelson Mandela were imprisoned by the apartheid government, other African countries established camps and schools for the diaspora and gave money and military assistance to the resistance.

Last week, South Africa’s top court ordered parliament to conduct an impeachment hearing into Cyril Ramaphosa’s handling of the theft of hundreds of thousands of US dollars stashed in a sofa at his game farm. The ruling effectively seals the president’s fate, leaving just the question of timing: Does he leave office immediately, setting off uncertainty and chaos in the governing coalition he’s built with the market-friendly Democratic Alliance (DA) and others? Or does he put up a fight, giving h

You can’t walk through an African capital these days without stumbling over a gaggle of visiting European politicians and business people. Similarly, European cities are abuzz with African leaders invited to town for bilateral meetings, summits, “relationship upgrades” and photo opportunities.

Oil, oil is everywhere in Africa. Without domestic refineries, though, not a drop is available for local gas tanks. The energy shock resulting from the Iran war is a warning to the continent to accelerate development of its infrastructure, and intensify intra-African trading.

At the launch of a new “Department for Partnership with Africa” in Moscow in February 2025, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov extolled his country’s virtues with regards to the continent. “Our African friends have always found a reliable and understanding friend and partner in Russia,” he declared. “Russia selflessly supported Africans in their heroic struggle against colonial powers… and assisted in developing young states.”

As election stunts go, it was pretty tame. Last week, with temperatures in Johannesburg reaching 31 degrees Celsius (88 Fahrenheit) and the city’s taps running dry due to government mismanagement, 74-year-old Helen Zille — de facto leader of South Africa’s center-right Democratic Alliance (DA) party — dunked herself in a large pool of water gushing from a burst pipe in the middle of a suburban street.

It’s raining trade deals.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Uganda’s “forever president” Yoweri Museveni won last week’s elections and his seventh term with more than 70% of the vote. Museveni, 81 and in power since 1986, triumphed after unleashing a ruthless crackdown on the opposition, prompting the United Nations to say the poll was “marked by widespread repression.” Opposition leader Bobi Wine, 43, accused authorities of falsifying the results.