| Welcome to Next Africa, a newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it's headed. Over the past week, Zimbabwe has been roiled by allegations of gold smuggling apparently with the government's knowledge and the central bank's involvement. The first episode of an investigative documentary by Al Jazeera has been viewed 3 million times on YouTube and the second episode has now aired, stoking outrage on social media. The government has said nothing publicly since it's screening. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, ahead of the release, said claims in snippets of the documentary it had watched were "sensationally wild, false and malicious." It said alleged smuggling kingpins, secretly filmed, don't represent the central bank.  Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks in a pre-recorded video during the UN General Assembly in September 2021. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg The government's silence is at odds with President Emmerson Mnangagwa's 2017 pledge of a break with the past and a commitment to transparency in business and politics. Spokesman Nick Mangwana didn't answer repeated calls and text messages to his mobile phone. It's not the first report to stir suspicion in Zimbabwe's mining circles. In late 2020, the administration announced the formation of state-controlled Kuvimba Mining House, which groups together some of the country's best mines. To this day it hasn't explained how those operations were transferred from the ownership of Kudakwashe Tagwirei — a tycoon and adviser to Mnangagwa who has been sanctioned for corruption by the US and UK — to the new company. Nor has it divulged who the 35% private shareholding belongs to. And last year, Bloomberg reported on a deal giving trading group Trafigura the right to revenue from some of those mines to pay for undisclosed debts. Again the government hasn't commented. It's a strategy that's undermined Mnangagwa's attempts to attract investment to a moribund economy and it's a dangerous one just months before an election. With two more episodes of the documentary to come, the government may well soon have to break its silence. — Antony Sguazzin Click here for this week's most compelling political images, and if you are enjoying this newsletter, sign up here. Protests in Kenya intensified as opposition leader Raila Odinga defied the government's move to stop him inciting them. Odinga, who failed to overturn last year's presidential election result in the Supreme Court after narrowly losing to William Ruto, vowed to rally supporters against the government. His demands include an audit to try and prove that he won and the state to do more to bring down the cost of living. Read here about why Kenya is being rocked by protests.  A protester during clashes with police in Nairobi on March 27. Photographer: Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images Ugandan legislation that proposes death sentences and life imprisonment for violating laws prohibiting homosexuality puts companies and workers in the East African nation at risk of blackmail, according to a group of investors. The bill that will force companies to report LGBTQ people to authorities is "unacceptable" and may deter investment, the firms including JPMorgan, Meta Platforms and Deutsche Bank said in a letter to President Yoweri Museveni. A Dakar court sentenced Ousmane Sonko, the most prominent challenger to President Macky Sall in next year's presidential elections, to a two-months suspended prison sentence for defaming a government minister. Sonko, 48, was also fined $333,000. The ruling doesn't disqualify him from running for public office, according to one of his lawyers, although the opposition leader still faces charges of rape and assault of a beauty-salon employee — he's denied any wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated. Read this interview with Sonko by Katarina Hoije and Momar Niang.  Sonko speaks during a protest in Dakar in 2019. Photographer: Xaume Olleros/Getty Images International Monetary Fund officials are visiting Ethiopia for talks on a new support program as the country emerges from two years of civil war that hammered the economy. The officials are expected to stay 10 days and discuss funding to address both humanitarian and economic challenges, according to sources. Ethiopia needs to pay for post-conflict reconstruction and bolster its depleted foreign-currency reserves. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told lawmakers his government is borrowing prudently to avoid a debt default. Botswana will acquire a 24% stake in Belgian gem trader HB Antwerp, in a deal that may challenge the southern African country's 50-year partnership with diamond trading giant, De Beers. The new approach could potentially generate more revenue for the government than De Beers's traditional method of selling rough — uncut and unpolished — stones. President Mokgweetsi Masisi has previously threatened to walk away from talks with the world's biggest diamond company, which is a unit of Anglo American.  A 109-carat uncut diamond from Botswana. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Data Watch - Namibia's economy grew 4.6% in 2022, the fastest pace in eight years. Zambian gross domestic product expanded an annual 5.6% in the final quarter of last year.
- Inflation in Zambia accelerated to a three-month high as a slide in its currency pushed up the price of imports such as gasoline and cereals. It was at 9.9% in March. Price growth in Uganda slowed to 9%.
- Nigerian private sector credit growth slowed to 16% in February, the lowest level in a year.
Zimbabwe was the outlier this week on interest rates, cutting its central bank rate to 140% — that's still the highest in the world, though. South Africa, Ghana and Kenya raised borrowing costs more than expected. South Africa's benchmark of 7.75% is now at the highest level since 2009, Kenya's 9.5% is a five-year high and the rate for Ghana at 29.5% is a record. Coming Up - April 3 South Africa manufacturing PMI & new vehicle sales data for March and preliminary annual tax-collection data, Angola reserves for March, opposition-led protests in Kenya
- April 4 Lesotho interest-rate decision
- April 5 March PMI releases for Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Ghana, Uganda current-account data for the fourth quarter
- April 6 Uganda interest-rate decision, Tanzania inflation data for March
- April 7 Mauritius inflation & reserves data for March
"There may be an obsession in America about Chinese activities on the continent, but there's no such obsession here," Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said at a news briefing with US Vice President Kamala Harris in Accra. "China is one of many countries with which Ghana is engaged in the world."  Akufo-Addo in London in April 2022. Photographer: Neil Hall/EPA/Getty Images Harris surprised onlookers in Ghana when she stopped at a local recording studio joined by two famous Black actors. Idris Elba and Sheryl Lee Ralph joined her at Vibrate Space in Accra as part of the US vice president's week-long tour of Africa that also includes stops in Tanzania and Zambia. The event was intended to highlight the growing creative economy on the continent, and the links between African artists and those in the US. As Akayla Gardner writes, Harris's trip as the first Black person and woman US vice president is an opportunity for President Joe Biden's number two to burnish her foreign policy credentials and boost her visibility. The tour follows a string of visits by top US officials highlighting the renewed interest in Africa from the world's biggest economy after years of indifference left Washington far behind rivals China and Russia in holding influence with its leaders.  Harris visits the recording studio with Idris Elba, center, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, center right, in Accra on March 27. Photographer: Nipah Dennis/AFP/Getty Images Thanks for reading. We'll be back in your inbox next week Friday. Send any feedback to us at gbell16@bloomberg.net. | 
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