Lack of integration means there is still no identifiable white culture to speak of in Africa In his book White Writing (1988), JM Coetzee’s first collection of essays, the Nobel laureate attempts to understand and unpack the consciousness of white South African writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. “The Dutch East India Company, which ran the settlement (at Cape Town), had little interest in the hinterland of the Cape, which, reports said, was barren, inhospitable, and sparsely populated by primitive Hottentots and Bushmen,” he writes. “Interest waned further when exploring parties failed to find any workable mineral deposits.”…
Kevin Bloom
The Chinese in Botswana and Zimbabwe Both countries use Chinese companies to build infrastructure. Guess which one applies strict controls? by Kevin Bloom When measured against the performance of President Ian Khama of Botswana, the dismal governance record of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe should come as no surprise. The big revelation in such a comparison is to be found in just how wide the governance gap between these two state leaders extends—especially when the evaluation concerns large-scale infrastructure projects in their respective countries. The top-line numbers provide an important backdrop. On a scale of zero to 100, where zero counts…
Ethiopia presents a conundrum for proponents of free markets: despite heavy state intervention and significant limitations on civil rights, the country’s economy appears to be growing at an extraordinary pace. Kevin Bloom tries to make sense of the numbers. To drive through Addis Ababa in mid-2012 is to be struck by the pace at which Ethiopia’s capital is reinventing itself. It is a phenomenon that can only vaguely be compared to urban renewal schemes in the West: Addis is undergoing not so much a facelift as a complete overhaul of its organs and capillaries. New highways and bridges stretch across…
To bypass the Democratic Republic of Congo’s hopeless government, a mining company built its own road by Kevin Bloom In the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the country’s remote bush cuts a corner with South Sudan and Uganda, mining company Randgold’s managers recently took it upon themselves to do President Joseph Kabila’s work. The “elephant deposit” the company had acquired in 2009 from Moto Gold, at a reported cost of half a billion dollars, had come with much promise but little infrastructure. Initially, Randgold was flying in heavy machinery on C-130 transport planes, and in the dry season…
Central African Republic: between two lines New constitution stands little chance while CAR’s civil war simmers On a Monday in late March 2013, after his Séléka rebels had seized control of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), Michel Djotodia made his first public address. In a recorded radio statement, he told the nation that deposed President Francois Bozizé, who had been in power for ten years, had turned the republic into a dictatorship. “I have decided that it is therefore necessary,” Mr Djotodia declared, “to dissolve the constitution of December 27, 2004, as well as the parliament and…
South Sudan: SPLA splits A longstanding personal rivalry has torn apart the world’s newest country—and its armed forces For too long, South Sudan’s army has not performed its primary function, safeguarding its citizens. Spirals of defections and divisions that pre-date its birth have intensified the 14-month civil war in the world’s youngest nation. In December, at the time of writing, more than 600,000 refugees had fled into neighbouring Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, with 100 refugees entering Ethiopia every day, according to UN estimates. A few months before, in September, a new rebel movement was born, the so-called “National Democratic…
