Cyril Ramaphosa to Lead South Africa’s Ruling ANC Party

Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa has been chosen by the African National Congress as its leader for the next five years after winning with 2,440 votes to 2,261 for his rival Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The battle to lead South Africa’s ruling party, which has been in power for 23 years but has been hit by declining support and a series of scandals, remained on a knife edge to the last minute.

The vote also amounted to a rejection of Mr. Zuma, who had backed the other main contender, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a veteran politician and Mr. Zuma’s former wife.

Mr. Ramaphosa’s victory amounts to a victory for reformers in the A.N.C., which wants to root out corruption and woo back foreign investors. Ms. Dlamini-Zuma had promised the radical economic transformation her former husband had never delivered. Read: 

Andrew Donaldson is a former deputy director-general of South Africa’s National Treasury, and is currently Senior Research Associate, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town writes that “the toughest test facing the ANC’s new leadership will be to reverse the creeping dirigisme that the country has faced in recent years, while steering bold reform. For too long, both private investment and critical state programs have been impeded by misdirected bureaucratic efforts to promote black economic interests, and public management regulations that are impenetrable and impractical.”

UN Trained Rangers Colluding with Elephant Poachers in Tanzania

In 2014 more than  ten thousand elephants were killed in and around  Ruaha National Park in Tanzania – one of the bloodiest symbols of the ivory trade.

A Deutsche Welle investigation has found evidence of collusion between UN-trained rangers and the poachers they are supposed to be stopping in Tanzania. Insiders say rangers at Ruaha National Park have been informing poachers of patrols and even supplying them with ammunition.  Watch Video

Trump unveils a national security strategy that reflects ‘America First’ campaign pledge

President Donald Trump on Monday released his first national security strategy.
The document paints the United States as engaged in a global power struggle for economic and military dominance and reflects his “America First” campaign promise.
“We are prioritizing the interests of our citizens and protecting our sovereign rights as a nation,” Trump wrote in the opening pages of the framework. Read

More Kenyans have electricity, but it is not cheap

The Economist reports that in Kenya, more people than ever may be connected to electricity, but they are not using it much.

In 2014 each African consumed, on average, just 483 kilowatt hours (kWh). That is less than in the 1980s. Americans, for comparison, used almost 13,000kWh each.

In Kenya , lectricity use per person rose by just 10% between 2010 and 2014, even as the number of people connected more than doubled.

Bringing electricity to subsistence farmers certainly improves their lot. But it is not cheap: a single connection in Kenya can cost nearly $2,500. And since few people in rural areas can afford to buy power-hungry appliances such as fridges or airconditioners, there is little chance that utilities will make much of a return on their investment. Read: