The riots that wracked Thandukukhanya township in Piet Retief highlighted just how out of touch the African National Congress (ANC) leadership is with anger on the ground at councillors who abuse their positions to fund lavish lifestyles rather than serving the people who elected them. Days after mobs armed with petrol bombs and knobkierries went on the rampage, burning down several municipal buildings and houses belonging to councillors — including mayor Mary Khumalo — Tim Modise debated the topic on SAfm’s AM Live.

Zimbabwe’s constitutional conference designed as the first stage of drawing up a new constitution for the country collapsed in chaos in Harare on Monday only 10 minutes after the formal proceedings started. Neither President Robert Mugabe nor his coalition partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who were scheduled to speak, attended the meeting. Delegates from the two main parties – Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change – disrupted the opening address by the Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo, throwing bottles of water, jeering and heckling.

cc Asking the majority of people around the world what they know about Swaziland, writes Jan Sithole, is likely to draw a blank stare. But Swaziland is a country with a strong history of political struggle against formidable odds. Despite the determined suppression of democratic expression by the country's government, the last few years have seen a resurgence in civil society's drive for greater freedom, something which Sithole hopes will pave the way for progressively greater interest from the international community in coming years.

cc The internet and wires have been burning with anger and disappointment at the speech made by Obama this week at the start of his visit to Ghana. With several articles commenting on the speech in this issue, Firoze Manji provides a perspective on what Obama might have, or should have, said during his second visit to the continent in the space of a few weeks.

Cattle raids continue in Samburu East, writes Mike Rainy, but by the time these attacks come to the attention of the media and the world press, there will be no more cattle left.

Samir Amin

A belated thank you for publishing my poem . That was very exciting, thank you!

You do such a great service for Africa. Pambazuka will be very instrumental to realising the dream for real African unity, that's a prophecy. It is all very much appreciated.

Best wishes and keep up the wonderful job.

cc Chachage explores whether nationals of a country ought to have the option of dual citizenship, in the third and final part of

cc Disappointed by Barack Obama's Ghana speech, Tendai Marima says the US president's failure to acknowledge the role America has played in African affairs reflects its 'political historical aphasia'. By glossing over 'how African wars and dictatorships are made', Obama reinforces the image of Africa as the 'black hole of war and corruption', Marima argues. The US media may have hailed the speech as a turning point in US–Africa relations, but says Marima, so far 'Obama's foreign policy has not reflected a politics of change but more of the same'.

cc International media reports on growing instability in the Niger Delta largely in terms of its effect on global oil supply and prices, writes Kia Mistilis, but for region’s 12 million inhabitants, the struggle is about their survival. Despite the vast wealth oil revenue has generated for Nigeria, communities in the Delta continue to live in ‘abject poverty’. As peak oil and a looming world energy crisis raise the stakes even higher, these local communities and ecosystems are bearing the brunt of conflict between activists, militant groups and the Nigerian forces protecting the economic interests of the government and multi-national companies.

cc The majority of South Africans are dirt-poor, writes William Gumede, something which makes the country's leaders fondness for lavish living on public money all the more unacceptable. President Jacob Zuma must instil a culture of engagement with ordinary citizens among his officials, Gumede argues, one which ends self-serving cronyism and sees public funds directed to those most in need.

cc A new, democratic, people-driven and people-centred constitution is key to addressing Zimbabwe’s problems, writes Mutsa Murenje. Examining amendments to the country’s constitution that created the role of executive president, Murenje argues that these have given Mugabe excessive power and undermined the country’s democratic development.

cc Legislation that allows the Zimbabwean president to pass new laws without parliamentary approval in times of crisis is open to abuse, warns Mutsa Murenje. Highlighting the dangers that the Presidential Powers Act poses to democracy, Murenje calls on all Zimbabweans to increase their awareness of the country’s legislation so that they can challenge and ‘say no to evil laws’.

cc The media has presented the G8’s L’Alqila summit promise of US$20 billion for food security and agricultural development in Africa as good news, but a closer look at the figures shows that G8 countries actually take much more out than they put into the continent, writes Yash Tandon.

cc UK-based lawyer Mihret Goitom tells how his sister–in-law’s attempt to escape Eritrea and join her husband ended in tragedy, after she and her children were incarcerated in a refugee camp in Sudan en-route.

Reactions to Obama’s Ghana visit and the contradictory and somewhat insubstantial speech he made there are the focus of Sokari Ekine’s fortnightly round-up of the African blogosphere. Some are ‘uncritical’ and ‘bordering on the sycophantic’, but there is also ‘balanced and informed analysis’ to be found, says Ekine.

Fusion of Tabule, Balangi and Milo Jazz music regenerates accord at
Awojoh feast. I muse at crossroads, a communion of ancestral spirits:
sharing assorted kola nuts, drinking palm wine from gourd of peace.
Titans of unity: Clifford Fyle and John Akar were patriots of mettle,
glaring humility, steadfast nationalism, and integrity as selfless love.
Homegrown fowl savor fangadama: happy-clutching chicks roaming.

Teary-eyed folk embrace each other, tropical breeze hones a melody.
Sacrilege of alabaster balm of love: shrapnel pierced nation’s psyche.
Compatriots return home; to where their umbilical cords are rooted.
Christian or Muslim pray for healing, sharing, caring: God forgives.
Church bells toll: abiding gratitude hallows unerring artisan’s craft.

Salone is a heartland not wasteland: inspiration ripens genius in me
National Anthem unites us; renaissance to love peace blooms like a
baobab tree on one foundation. A fallen elephant is taller than grass.
Ignorance, curry-peppered fame ruined homeland. Tenacity as mental
prowess weather storms: rising motherland blazes into Star of Africa.

cc Two decades after their country's independence, Namibians inhabit a society that remains one of the world's most unequal, writes Henning Melber. The country's common people are the victims of a rapacious, self-serving elite group which is all too happy to cooperate with foreign corporations to exploit Nambia's natural resources for mutual gain. With Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) earmarked in official thinking as the new means towards 'trickle-down' benefits for all, Melber argues that such schemes are nothing more than a strategy for allowing private capital to generate profit from public property at the wider population's expense.

cc As Africa surpasses the Middle East as an oil supplier to the US, Emira Woods argues that satisfying the US's addiction to fossil fuels remains the primary influence on the country's foreign policy. With global energy multinationals like Chevron and British Petroleum (BP) battling for a piece of sites like the Kosmos Energy-owned 'Jubilee Fields' off the Ghanaian coast, the US AFRICOM (AFRIcan COMmand) remains a symbol of US efforts to consolidate its access to oil resources. Will Obama's commitment to a greener economy translate into concrete policies, Woods asks, or will we continue to see increased military backing for an oil-based agenda?

cc While American officials stress that US foreign policy towards Africa isn't being militarised, Gerald LeMelle thinks differently. Militarisation is essentially about asserting your might to impose your own agenda, LeMelle stresses, something which the doubling of funds to be allocated to AFRICOM (AFRIcan COMmand) in the 2010 financial year would certainly suggest. While Obama's trip to Ghana was officially about celebrating a democratic success, there are fears that America's concern was more for oil and a strategic AFRICOM base. If such concerns are to be refuted, LeMelle concludes, the Obama administration will need to explain how increased military funding relates to its stated aim of promoting and strengthening democracy in Africa.