At Business Insider Lawrence Delevingne has a lengthy expose on the realities of at least one major company’s attempt to do business in Senegal. From Delevingne’s intro paragraphs:

For entrepreneurs, Africa represents the last great open market.

The upsides can be tremendous. Tens of billions of dollars from around the world, especially China, have gone into tapping the continent’s rich natural resources, especially oil and minerals, and expanding basic infrastructure, like Internet and cell phone service.

The IMF estimates that sub-Saharan Africa’s economies will expand 4.3% in 2010 and 5.5% in 2011, more than 1% higher than the global average. Indeed, eight of the 20 fastest growing economies are African, including Angola (9%) and Republic of Congo (12%).

But then there’s the downside.

Even investments in relatively stable, democratic countries — the “good” ones — come with significant obstacles, especially corruption and political meddling. The story of Millicom International Cellular’s battle with secret demands from senior-level Senegalese officials shows just how tough it can be.

And remember — historically, Senegal does not suffer from the Big Man syndrome that usually fuels state-level graft and practically promotes bureaucracy-by-kleptocracy.

Is the new trend of African nations selling or leasing agricultural land to foreign companies or countries a new form of colonialism (”agri-imperialism”) or a savvy form of investment and partnership? These are the questions raised in recent articles in the  New York Times Magazine and Washington Post. The deeply unsatisfying answer from my vantage point is: We don’t know, and it depends. There is nothing innately imperialist about these sorts of partnerships. But Africa observers are probably right to worry about the potential for exploitation. One would hope that these agreements would always involve pretty substantial commitments to local development and food production and would have opt-out options that would not lock Africans into unexpectedly onerous agreements and that African governments would first and foremost have the larger interests of their countries in mind. But yes, the skepticism is probably warranted.

I am pleasantly shocked by the news that South Africa has already moved out of recession. According to Statistics SA, South Africa recorded modest positive growth in the third quarter.

In a disquieting assessment, an economist has concluded that South Africa could have the most expensive electric rates in the world if ESKOM’s price hikes go into effect. And given the rates of poverty and the status of the working classes and general economic precariousness in South Africa, this is alarming news that could fast turn disastrous.

It isn’t easy being a continental superpower. This is a lesson that South Africa learns on a regular basis. By most measures, South Africa is the most powerful country in Africa, which begs the question of what it means to be the most powerful country in Africa. Culturally and economically the country’s influence is pretty clear. Throughout southern Africa in particular people drink products from South African Breweries, watch or listen to programs produced by the SABC, and purchase goods that are imported to Africa through Cape Town and Durban and Joberg and Pretoria. Most would acknowledge that the South African military is the most formidable in the region. And politically, South Africa casts a huge shadow. The confluence of these markers of powers culminates in the 2010 World Cup.

But South Africa’s status breeds mixed feelings, ranging from pride to  jealousy to hostility. If the country throws its weight around, or benefits disproportionately from, say, bilateral agreements, it is resented. If South Africa does not act firmly enough, as, say, in Zimbabwe, it is accused of being feckless. The reality is that South Africa’s diplomatic power comes primarily in its power to persuade, which resides more in the known capacity of its economy and military and culture than in the actual leveraging of those things.

For at least the time being the tensions within the ANC’s tripartite alliance over the establishment of the National Planning Commission (NPC) appear to have been assuaged. ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe assures us that all is well, and to prove it he had beside him at his announcement two nodding figureheads, one each from the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions COSATU). Of course none of this means that SACP and COSATU are actually appeased. But merely that the ANC stalwarts have convinced them that they need to go along to get along. My guess is that the ANC hierarchy was happy to remind their partners on the left precisely who holds all of the cards right now in South African politics.

Here are stories that should keep you busy as you head into a November weekend. If you are reading this from the US, Europe or elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, winter is fast approaching. If you are reading from Africa or the southern hemisphere, winter seems like a distant concept. Either way, enjoy. Commentary as appropriate:

The Christian Science Monitor (via McClatchy Newspapers) has an interview with Eritrea’s elusive President Isaias Afwerki. Afwerki is widely seen as a strongman uninterested in human rights who is also centrally involved in exacerbating the crisis in neighboring Somalia. Let’s just say that the (admittedly interpolated) interview doesn’t disabuse us of any of these notions.

On the good news front, we are accustomed to seeing various global rankings of various human indexes with African states lagging way behind. It is worth noting, then, that the World Economic Forum’s 2009 Gender Gap Review is out and that South Africa (7th), Lesotho (10th), and Mozambique (26th) all rank in the top 30. By way of comparison, the United States ranks 31st. (Via Matthew Yglesias.)

Botswana is widely recognized as one of the true success stories in sub-Saharan Africa. Which is why it was reassuring to hear the country’s President, Ian Khama, speak out against Robert Mugabe’s delaying tactics and general bad faith in moving toward power sharing Zimbabwe and his call for new elections. Now, whether new elections would change Mugabe’s general approach remains to be seen, and it seems a mite optimistic to think that even elections with a clearcut anti-Mugabe outcome would force the old despot’s hand, but we can hope, can’t we?

It looks as if Nigeria is poised to become the country with the fastest growing construction rate in the world.

Could journalists please stop resorting to references to “The Dark Continent” when referring to Africa, and could I redouble that request for those who will be writing about next year’s World Cup in South Africa? Thanks.

Has anything changed in South Africa in the last 15 years? Let me give you the simple answer: Yes. Enormously. Nonetheless, you should absorb a  series of papers, “The Dinokeng Scenarios” that address South Africa’s many challenges.

In a wide-ranging series of lectures Open Society Institute chairman and founder George Soros has been trying to place the global financial crisis in some larger context. In one recent speech he said:

And China needs to become a more open society in order to be acceptable to the rest of the world. The rest of the world will never subordinate the freedom of the individual to the prosperity of the Chinese state. As China is becoming a world leader, it must learn to pay more attention to the opinion of the rest of the world. But all this may be happening too fast for the Chinese leadership to adjust to it. China is too accustomed to thinking of itself as the victim of imperialism to realize that it is beginning to occupy an imperialistic position. That is why it has such difficulties in dealing with Africa and its own ethnic minorities. Hopefully, the Chinese leadership will rise to the occasion.  It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the world depends on it.

I agree with this assessment. And I worry in particular about China’s work in Africa because of the twin pillars of the potential for neocolonialism and the utter lack of concern for human rights in China’s engagements with the rest of the world. But I also am optimistic that unlike the colonial era, which gave Africans virtually no options, and the Cold War, where clientelism gave only a few more choices, the new era will at least offer Africans opportunities and thus choice. To compete with the Chinese, the Brazilians and Americans and Europeans will have to offer something to Africans. While I fear that such competition might lead to  a race to the bottom as each tries to undercut the other while ordinary Africans reap few benefits, I hope that competition really does allowAfricans the freedom and flexibility to steer their own course, and not one determined by those writing checks.

When Jacob Zuma first rose to the South African presidency many feared that among the changes he would implement would be to reduce the role of Trevor Manuel. Instead Manuel, long considered among the very best, most effective South African politicians, seems to have had his role augmented. Finance Minister from 1996 to Zuma’s ascension this year, Manuel now serves as Minister in the Presidency in charge of the National Planning Commission. And yet there has been some outcry in recent months about Manuel’s role on the commission and its ultimate mission, especially from the ANC alliance partners in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and South African Communist Party (SACP). Manuel has announced that he will lead a group of “external experts” within the planning commission and the ANC will try to strengthen the tripartite alliance from within. One wonders if the planning commission will mark another step in the eventual dissolution of the tripartite alliance or if Manuel and others will be able to convince COSATU and SACP leaders that the commission will serve the long-term interests of all alliance members.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has committed his country to a massive expansion of aid across the African continent.   The infusion of $10 billion in loans and other sources of support doubles the current amount of Chinese aid to Africa, an amount that already had many fearing that China was engaged in a new scramble for Africa and brings us back to what will surely be a long-term discussion: Is Chinese aid good for Africa?

The two biggest concerns are simply that China’s involvement in Africa will amount to a new form of neocolonialism of clientelism on the one hand and that China cares not a whit for human rights issues, and thus China will be able to bolster pariah states even as the rest of the world hopes that pressure on such states will lead to change. But assuming that China does not operate in a vacuum, it also seems clear that Africans will benefit from competing interest in the continent.

I still fear the ramifications of China’s disregard for the niceties of human rights, though. The last things Africa’s Big Men need is a safety valve for kleptocratic violence.