Here is a very well written article by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) dealing with the current situation in Mozambique in preparation for the national elections in October 2014. It summarises succinctly the relations between FRELIMO and RENAMO and the changes made to the composition and operations of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), amongst others.
Full article: http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/mozambican-elections-what-to-make-of-dhlakamas-intention-to-run-for-president
Hello Everybody
It has been a while. Much too long!
I had a fantastic 2013. Very busy. I was blessed with many projects, worked in many exotic places in Africa, met interesting people, and realised quite a few personal goals. I am immensely grateful.
I managed to read a few books in between (very important) and just finished reading Robin Sharma’s “The Greatness Guide”. What a good book. It inspired me to do a “clean sweep” so that I can be more efficient in my work and get more out of my days (including a few minutes to write in my website); it made me think about and realign some of my goals; it made me add to my “Bucket List” (or 101 things to do before I die) at 4am; it made me want to be a better human being.
Here are some snippets:
“Your days define your life. Your days are your life in miniature” + “Make time to think”
Isn’t it true that sometimes we are so busy that we don’t even take the time to think about why it is so and why we are doing what we do? Do we really use our days the best way possible?
“To be more productive, relax and have more fun” + “Get goofy at work”
I have been trying to live by this for the last 14 years and it works. I find that if you look after yourself by having a balanced life and taking time to enjoy moments and people, and laugh at things, life gets easier to tackle and the moments of creativity appear more often. I am well known for my quirky ways…
“The earth is small”
Oh boy! Have I felt this countless times! Stephen Hawking (another inspiring human being. His book “A Briefer History of Time”, which I got for Christmas, is awesome) writes that we are on a minor planet of a very average star in the outer suburb of one of a hundred billion galaxies. It puts a new perspective on things, doesn’t it?
“Who inspires you?”
I like to surround myself with inspiring people. Be it someone who is bravely battling through cancer; someone who is always joyful; someone who is very good at what they do; someone who teaches you new things; or someone who just makes you feel happy. Have you noticed that it takes days to recover from contact with negative people? Best to be avoided!
“How to live forever”
I am still working (hard) on this one : ) And I am planning to continue doing so until the last day!
Best wishes for happy days in 2014!
The Brics summit in Durban was deemed a success by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said “phenomenal progress” had been made in reaching an agreement to establish the New Development Bank. He could not say how long it would take to establish, but that it would be within 10 years.
Pacts signed on Wednesday included a “Multilateral agreement on Infrastructure Co-financing for Africa” and a “Multilateral Agreement on Green Economy Co-operation Co-Financing.”
A Brics Business Council was also formed and billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe has been appointed to chair it.
China’s president Xi Jinping called on Brics countries to support Africa for stronger growth: “We should not only seek our own development, but seek the development of all countries”.
The Democratic Alliance welcomed the Brics Business Council, saying that the council could become a platform to trade and develop commerce worldwide, and an axis of influence which could alter the traditional distribution of economic power in the world.
Full article: http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Brics-sign-pact-as-summit-ends-20130327
Video: http://www.fin24.com/Multimedia/Brics-wrangle-over-new-development-bank-20130327-2
(See also post of 13 May on the subject)
It’s about time people start analysing this!
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has said he has “serious grievances” with BEE focusing on shareholding rather helping beneficiaries gain a deeper understanding of business on Tuesday. He was addressing analysts as part of the ANC’s programme to speak to various sectors in South Africa.
Mantashe said the ANC would meet the Black Business Council (BBC) to discuss the strengths and failures of black economic empowerment (BEE) and the role of state procurement in transformation of the economy. A representative from the BBC had complained that the government’s procurement policy had gone wrong.
Various delegates raised questions about the effectiveness of BEE policies. Mantashe responded that he had a problem with the idea of BEE. “I have a serious grievance with BEE… focusing on shareholding with beneficiaries not being operational.” He said if the beneficiaries of BEE deals were not part of operations, they were not gaining a deeper understanding of the business in order to grow. “Operational exposure, to me, is more powerful than just ownership…”
He commended Exxaro Coal’s South African CEO Sipho Nkosi for not being a “window-shopping CEO”. “Sipho Nkosi is not a big shareholder, but he is very operational… he knows mining. To me, that is how we are going to transform the economy.”
Black business should deliver affordable, quality products and services if it wants government contracts, Mantashe said. “As we support black business, black business must bring a commitment of delivery, cost-competitive and quality of items that are procured,” he told analysts and business people in Soweto.
Mantashe said the primary outcome of the ANC lekgotla in July was that the government needed to drop the system of tenders. It needed to move away from giving business to black companies, and then afterwards arguing about quality and cost. “Don’t undermine this question of people delivering bridges that get eroded with the first rainfall. It can’t continue. It just can’t continue. It is wrong. It is wrong.”
Full article:
The EU and Angola: Making Up for Lost Time?
By Pedro Seabra, Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security (IPRIS)
On April 19-21, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso paid a long awaited three-day visit to Angola, with one simple stated goal: catching up. Catching up to the time and opportunities lost in a relationship that has been neglected or poorly nurtured over the years, especially in comparison with other international suitors like China or Brazil, who have persistently wooed Angola in the hopes of figuring among its top foreign relations priorities.
… In Barroso’s own words, it “would be a mistake, it would be short-sighted for Europe not to be more present in the development tasks ahead of Angola”.
…The instrument chosen to achieve such a goal was the so-called Joint Way Forward (JWF) mechanism that the EU has used in the past to promote its relations with countries that have not yet reached the ‘strategic partnership’ level but are considered important enough to receive considerable official attention. In the case of Angola, negotiations towards the final approval of the JWF have been taking place for years now and many assumed that a final agreement would remain difficult to achieve.
… Nevertheless, despite Barroso’s own admission that the process hasn’t gone as smoothly as the EU had hoped, significant advancements have apparently been reached and Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos was even invited to visit Brussels to personally sign the final agreement, thus “elevating to a superior level the relations between the EU and Angola”.
… Auspicious expectations aside, EU officials tread a fine line when it comes to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Angola, expected to be held in the second quarter of 2012. Unlike UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he recently travelled to Luanda, Barroso actually met with Angolan opposition leaders and civil society leaders, seeking to highlight the efforts made by all Angolans towards preserving national peace and stability while granting nearly €1.2 million for electoral support to local movements. That did not mean, however, that he backed down from the previous announcement that the EU would not send electoral observers this time, despite the insistent requests from opposition parties.
Full article: IPRIS Viewpoints 94 www.ipris.org/php/download.php?fid=721
As language departments are downsized, or cut altogether in U.S. universities, the demand for Portuguese is growing. Although Portuguese has always been an important world language, it has only recently been recognized as an important language for business and international relations.
…Today’s student is interested in Portuguese as a means to get ahead in the business world. Associate professor of Portuguese at Dartmouth College, Rodolfo Franconi, attributes the increased interest in Portuguese to two factors: “One, knowing just Spanish limits them to working in only one side of Latin America and right now, the Brazilian side is becoming more appealing and, two, the growing interest in ‘emerging’ countries on the part of the richest nations, especially U.S. interest in Brazil.”
Full article in http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=3630
I cannot resist sharing this story from ScienceNOW. It is the eternal curiosity of the scientist in me, you know. What if this were possible? It could very well work. What could we do with it in present times?
Viking Sunstone Guided Ships in Cloudy Weather
By John Bohannon, ScienceNOW
To avoid getting lost on their voyages across the North Atlantic 1,000 years ago, Vikings relied on the sun to determine their heading. (This was long before magnetic compasses had been invented.) But cloudy days could have sent their ships dangerously off course, especially during the all-day summer sun at those far-north latitudes. The Norse sagas mention a mysterious “sunstone” used for navigation. Now a team of scientists claims that the sunstones could have been calcite crystals and that Vikings could have used them to get highly accurate compass readings even when the sun was hidden.
The trick for locating the position of the hidden sun is to detect polarization, the orientation of light waves along their path. Even on a cloudy day, the sky still forms a pattern of concentric rings of polarized light with the sun at its center. If you have a crystal that depolarizes light, you can determine the location of the rings around the hidden sun.
Calcite is such a crystal. It has a property called birefringence: Light passing through calcite is split along two paths, forming a double image on the far side. The brightness of the two images relative to each other depends on the polarization of the light. By passing light from the sky through calcite and changing the crystal’s orientation until the projections of the split beams are equally bright, it is theoretically possible to detect the concentric rings of polarization and thus the location of the sun.
Full story: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/viking-polarized-navigation/
Everyone knew that, sooner or later, the president and the ruling party would have to start giving some answers to the people, especially the questioning youth, about the past 35 years and the future of Angola. Here is a good update of the situation in that country by the Institute for Security Studies:
Political Upheaval in Angola Ahead of 2012 Polls
Angola is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections next year, and all indications are that tensions are mounting amidst varied incidents of political upheaval ahead of the polls. Both the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) are facing internal friction and possible leadership changes; while on the streets Angolans have been demonstrating with repeated fervor.
There are several points of contention that have sparked the recurrent demonstrations seen in Luanda since March this year. The major gripe is the excessive political power that resides in the presidency of Eduardo dos Santos that has resulted in poor levels of agency of the citizens of Angola by limiting their involvement in domestic political processes. Moreover, many Angolans decry their economic and political marginalisation, which has become evident in the low level of socio-economic development. Despite the strong economic growth that has taken place on the back of the oil industry, Angola still has some of the worst socio-economic indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa.
President dos Santos has announced his successor to be Sonangol chief Manuel Vicente due to, it is speculated, the aforementioned demonstrations as well as internal debates surrounding succession in the party. Commentators suspect that this move is Dos Santos testing the waters and appeasing unhappy factions, yet doubt remains as to how certain succession will be and whether Vicente will thus be presented as the presidential candidate.
In spite of the many decades that Angola has enjoyed independence, the country has not yet been metamorphosed into that which was envisioned for the country at its birth. With the country being notoriously underdeveloped, without the liberty of the citizens to engage in political processes, it is clear that a close eye will need to be kept on developments in Angola in the coming months.
Full article by Lisa Otto, ISS: http://www.issafrica.org/iss_today.php?ID=1372
Here is a good assessment of the current situation, albeit a bit negative, by David Dapice:
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/global-economy-anybody-control
“Around the globe, national leaders show no clue, no confidence, about how to re-engineer job creation or global economic security, contends economist David Dapice. The US has many resources for resolving its large debt, but bickering and stubborn quests for power prevent speedy resolution. Europe’s resistance to enact long-term policies on unequal accrual of debt among its member states and grudging rescue do little to inspire confidence. Debt has weakened once strong economies, leaving them highly vulnerable in the event of unavoidable disasters, as is the case with Japan and its debt/GDP ratio of 200 percent. Emerging economies, so dependent on exports to wealthy nations and natural-resource extraction, offer limited hope. Around the world, the young confront a bleak future with limited job prospects, huge imbalances of all sorts and institutions under strain. National leaders resist efforts to pursue the common good and seek instead the pettiest of political victories. – YaleGlobal”
Cape Verde is often praised as an example among African nations, for its stability and developmental growth despite its lack of natural resources. It is a pity that other Lusophone countries seem unable to follow Cape Verde’s example.
Last week, during the State of the Nation address, PM José Maria Neves stated that “the country is the most stable and better managed in Africa”, fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals and, “surprisingly, despite the biggest international crisis of the past 75 years”, its economy “continues to growth at a rate of 5,6%”.
PS. Presidential elections will be held in Cape Verde on 7 August 2011.
