Politics

This Friday 17-05-2013 on Al Jazeera’s new global talk show South 2 North, Redi Tlhabi interviews two remarkable African leaders: Joyce Banda, Malawi’s first female president, and Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, founder of Agang, South Africa’s new party political platform.

President Banda became only the second woman to lead an African country in April 2012, following the example of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Time Magazine recently named Banda one of the most influential people in the world, while Forbes called her the most powerful woman in Africa in 2012.

Ramphele, a former vice-chancellor at The University of…

Malawi’s President Joyce Banda has had 12 tumultuous months since she took office in April last year.

She has attempted to right Malawi’s economy by devaluing its currency, giving herself a 30 percent pay cut and proposed to offload a fleet of Mercs for her 35 member cabinet.

But the economy has continued to sputter despite the reforms although central bank Governor Peter Chuka has remained optimistic that the economy will start to stabilize from mid 2013.

Commodity prices have gone up and pushed inflation to 36.5 percent in March; higher than the IMF forecast.

Since she took over, the cost of living in urban Malawi for a family of six now needs…

MALAWI will lobby for the removal of the illegal Western sanctions regime that is affecting ordinary people, the nation’s President Dr Joyce Banda has said. Officially opening the 54th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair here

yesterday, Dr Banda said her country would “blow the trumpet”. “My visit to Zimbabwe has provided me with a rare opportunity to see what is emerging in Zimbabwe. “It gives hope to see that the destiny of Zimbabwe remains in the hands of Zimbabweans.

“We will march with you and the rest of us shall blow the trumpet: ‘lift sanctions, they are hurting…

President Robert Mugabe welcomed Malawian President Joyce Banda today in Zimbabwe whom he has invited the to officially open this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo.

The trip is Banda’s first official visit to Zimbabwe since taking over power after the death last year of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika, who was a close ally to Mugabe.

The president wrote this message on her official facebook page:

This afternoon I have arrived in Harare…

My father once told me when I was a young girl that I was destined to do great things. His belief in my abilities and ambition is rooted deeply in the spirit of Malawians; resilient and determined for a better Malawi and a better Africa. Today we’re at a crossroads to test this spirit. For far too long, the scourge of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria has devastated families and communities and slowed the economic growth of Africa. However, significant scientific advances and years of intervention experience have given us the tools we need to defeat these diseases. I…

Africa has left itself wide open with glaring sores to the eyes, for celebrities to bandage. When one is drowning in poverty and gross mismanagement, any extended hand of support provided is better than nothing at all! It is not the African elite who suffer due to lack of an elite girl’s school or a functional maternity ward- their own children are whisked away to the best schools and hospitals money can buy to give birth! There are many African nations – who are truly appreciative of such celebrity meddling in their dysfunctional service delivery to the poor, indeed the poor among Africans welcome these super stars who make personal…

The skirmish between Madonna and the Malawian government has taken yet another turn with the country’s President reportedly “incandescent with anger” over a statement released by her own office harshly criticising the American singer.

Sources described as “well-placed” told the BBC that President Joyce Banda was unaware of the statement released on Wednesday which accused Madonna of “bullying state officials” and chaining Malawi to “an obligation of gratitude”.

Madonna, who visited the country last week with her children, including her two  adopted Malawian-born kids David and Mercy James, both 8, to see schools built by her charitable donations, hit back at the criticisms calling them “lies”.

President Banda was reportedly in the…

The Malawi government issued an angry attack on the pop diva Madonna Wednesday, alleging expected to be granted VIP treatment during her controversial tour to this southern African country last week.

A strongly-worded statement issued Wednesday by the president’s office, State House, in the capital, Lilongwe, accused Madonna of using her fame and money to press the government of Malawi to give her VIP treatment.

“Granted, Madonna is a famed international musician. But that does not impose an injunction of obligation on any government under whose territory Madonna finds…

President Dr Joyce Banda on Tuesday requested the Flemish Government to earmark the next cycle of assistance towards the agriculture sector.

The President made the request at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agriculture between the Government of Malawi and Government of Flanders.

The next cycle of assistance amounting to 25 million Euros (about K14 billion) has been pledged towards this course.

“I believe that it…

Governments of Malawi and Mozambique on Wednesday signed three pacts in the areas of power, science and technology, and immigration and public security.

The signing of the agreements took place at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe after the visiting Mozambican President Armando Guebuza held bilateral talks with President Dr. Joyce Banda.

The two governments first signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in Scientific Technological and Innovation which was signed by Malawi Education Minister, Eunice Kazembe and Oldemiro Julio Marques Baloi,…