Features

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo began testing voting machines as part of a new system that civil-society groups said will undermine the credibility of long-awaited elections that seek to end the central African nation’s political crisis. The new technology will be used in the vote scheduled Dec. 23 to pick a successor to President Joseph Kabila. His decision to remain in office beyond the end of his final term in…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s corruption case was adjourned until June 8, signalling that a criminal trial may be delayed until at least the end of the year. Zuma, 75, is facing 16 charges brought by the National Prosecuting Authority that range from corruption to racketeering related to bribes he allegedly took in the 1990s from weapons dealers including French arms maker Thales SA, which is also a defendant….

DAR ES SALAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Tanzanian court granted seven opposition officials bail after most were detained for a week on charges of sedition, incitement to violence and unlawful assembly, their political party said. Chadema Party Chairman Freeman Mbowe, Secretary-General Vincent Mashinji and four others had been remanded in custody since March 28. A seventh person, lawmaker Halima Mdee, was arrested April 1 on arrival at the airport in Dar es Salaam, the commercial…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backtracked on a just-announced agreement with the United Nations to let about 20,000 African migrants remain in Israel, following an outcry from coalition partners and his political base. On Monday afternoon, Netanyahu called a news conference to disclose Israel had cancelled an earlier plan to deport all 38,000 migrants to Africa, following mass demonstrations against the policy at home and criticism from abroad. Instead, he said, he…