Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria
Babatunde Fashola Nigeria
Julius Malema South Africa
It may be early days, but President Goodluck Jonathan is truly in the spotlight following his meteoric rise and his victory in the April elections. What is in store for him will impact the rest of the continent as he strives to keep Africa's most populous and complex country united and to place it on the path to glory. The world will have to wait, watch and see whether Jonathan’s luck runs out or rides high.
Fashola has made a name for himself among Lagosians by getting things done and transforming the way the city is run. If Lagos were a country it would be Africa's 5th largest economy and Fashola has changed mindsets and dynamised the city. He is touted the world over and aims to transform Lagos into an efficiently run megalopolis.
Jacob Zuma South Africa
Johnson-Sirleaf Liberia
The first female
president in Africa and one who commands respect wherever she goes. Doubting Thomases said she would never deliver
The leader of Africa’s largest economy, which is the only African member of the Group of Twenty major economies and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group of emerging economies. With a seat at the high table, Jacob Zuma’s influence stretches beyond South African and continental borders. And it matters to the whole continent how he exerts himself on the international scene.
and resurrect Liberia from the ravages of years of civil war. But under her presidency, Africa’s oldest republic is slowly finding its feet again. Although there is a lot still to be done, many believe that Johnson-Sirleaf deserves the credit for the positive changes thus far. In just one term, she has stabilised Liberia’s economy, maintained peace and installed a sense of pride. President Johnson-Sirleaf has become not only an inspiration and role model to millions of African women, but also a symbol of women’s empowerment.
He conjures adulation and disdain in equal measure. Malema, the 30-year- old leader of the ANC's influential youth wing, has become a household name in South Africa. He is famous for his straight-talking and provocative attitude on burning issues such as land reform. To his critics he is a foul-mouthed, anti- white radical, bent on resurrecting the politics of race and hate in the “rainbow” nation. But his undeniable popularity among the majority of black South Africans is something that cannot be ignored.
Salva Kiir South Sudan
Salva Kiir, the president of Africa’s newest country, South Sudan, can claim some “luck” on his way to the top. He came into his own when his former boss, John Garang, died in a harrowing helicopter crash in July 2005. Kiir took over the reins and the cause of the Southern Sudanese and using his dogged pragmatism, led his people through tough and tortuous negotiations to independence in 2011. It is hoped that his reign as president of South Sudan, which begins in July this year, will bring improvement (and peace) to the new nation.
New African June 2011 | 13
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