African Leaders prefer United States to China - Obama

President Barack is in Johannnesburg for his second stop on his week-long African tour where he is expected to promote democracy and food security.

White House officials hope Obama's three-nation tour of Africa - his first substantial visit to the continent since taking office in 2009 - will compensate for what some view as years of neglect by America's first black president.

Obama has been conscious on the second country he is visiting which is South Africa because of the health condition of the man who is just like him; the first black president of South Africa - Nelson Mandela. Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, said his condition had improved in the past few days. The visit has not been all rosy and jaw-jaw.

Nearly 1,000 trade unionists, Muslim activists and South African Communist Party members marched through the capital to the US Embassy, where they burned an American flag and called Obama's foreign policy 'arrogant and oppressive'.

Muslim activists held prayers in a car park outside the embassy. Leader Imam Sayeed Mohammed told the group: "We hope that Mandela feels better and that Obama can learn from him."

New York Times reports that Obama sees Mandela, also known as Madiba, as a hero. Whether they are able to meet or not, officials said his trip would serve largely as a tribute to the anti-apartheid leader. Like Mandela, Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize and both men were the first black presidents of their nations.

Madiba was enamoured by the young Illinois senator's charisma while Mandela enthralled Obama when they met in 2005. Obama is to visit Robben Island, where Mandela spent years in prison under South Africa's former white minority regime. He told reporters his message in South Africa would draw from the lessons of Mandela's life.

"If we focus on what Africa as a continent can do together and what these countries can do when they're unified, as opposed to when they're divided by tribe or race or religion, then Africa's rise will continue," Obama said.

White House officials said Obama would hold a "town hall" on Saturday with youth leaders in Soweto, the Johannesburg township known for 1976 student protests against apartheid.

He will discuss a new exchange programme for African students with US colleges and universities. The event will include youth in Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya participating through video conference, and will be televised in those countries, White House officials said. Obama's only previous visit to the African continent was a one-day stopover in Ghana at the beginning of his first term.

While acknowledging that Obama has not spent as much time in Africa as people hoped, the White House is eager to highlight what it has done, in part to end unflattering comparisons to accomplishments of predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

"Given the budget constraints, for us to try to get the kind of money that President Bush was able to get out of the Republican House for massively scaled new foreign aid programmes is very difficult," Obama said. Obama and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have fought bitterly over government spending. US foreign aid is a perennial target for lawmakers who want more budget cuts.

Reuters report that before departing Senegal, Obama met farmers and local entrepreneurs to discuss new technologies helping to raise agricultural output in West Africa, one of the world's most under-developed and drought-prone regions. The technical aid in the US government's "Feed the Future" programme leverages money from the private sector and aid groups to help small farmers.

Obama said he would announce an initiative to use the same strategies for the power sector, a model he said makes the most of the shrinking US foreign aid budget. "I think everything we do is designed to make sure that Africa is not viewed as a dependent, as a charity case, but is instead viewed as a partner," he said.

Obama acknowledged that China, Brazil, India and other countries have been increasingly active in Africa and said the United States risks being left behind. But he said the US approach to development is preferred by African leaders.

"They recognise that China's primary interest is being able to obtain access for natural resources in Africa to feed the manufacturers in export-driven policies of the Chinese economy," Obama said. he stated that "Oftentimes that leaves Africa as simply an exporter of raw goods" as opposed to creating long-term jobs.

South Africa: Nightfall or Morning Rise in Soweto?

South Africa is witnessing the dawn of a new era with the formation of a new political party. The party surfaces at a time when Nelson Mandela is battling lung infection in hospital. Some analysts have postulated that South Africa after Nelson Mandela will not be same again. Are we already seeing the handwriting on the wall?

The penultimate party to be formed in South Africa before this new one was in 2008 when former ANC members launched the Congress of the People (COPE).

A leading apartheid-era activist launched South Africa's first new political party in five years, saying the ruling African National Congress (ANC) was destroying the continent's biggest economy. Although, despite widening schisms in the ANC and allegations of graft and poor leadership, it remains a formidable political machine, commanding a nearly two-thirds majority in parliament.

'Agang', Sesotho for "let us build", which is the new political 'baby' will contest 2014 elections, party leader Mamphela Ramphele said. An anti-apartheid campaigner and partner of Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, Ramphele said millions were still living like forgotten citizens and that the country had not come far enough, fast enough.

She referred to the optimism that prevailed at South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994, "We remember the outpouring of hope and joy at the release of Nelson Mandela, fist raised in defiance." Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu - a strong anti-apartheid voice and champion of the "Free Mandela" campaign globally - has backed Ramphele, 65, saying she is a principled leader ready to take costly stands for social justice.

"Nearly 20 years into our democracy the graciousness and magnanimity that characterised our political firmament have to a great extent been surrendered at the altar of power and wealth," Tutu said in a letter in support of Ramphele released. Archbishop Desmond Tutu had earlier stated categorically that he will never cast his ballot in support or favour of ANC again.

Ramphele is a medical doctor and was a former World Bank managing director. She was also placed under house arrest for seven years by the apartheid government because of her political work. She has regularly challenged authority and the ANC on its failings.

"Our country has reached a crossroads and I for one do not want to think about where we will be in five years time unless we change course," she said in her launch speech in Pretoria. 

Others are also looking to revive the dream of the "Rainbow Nation" 19 years after the end of white-minority rule. Even Julius Malema, the erstwhile youth leader, kicked out of ANC, is looking to build a future in politics by starting his own political party. This definitely could be a messy fragmentation for the African economic giant.