PHUMZILE MLAMBO-NGCUKA
Deputy president of South Africa
No woman has ever risen higher in South African politics than Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Her elevation in June to the office of deputy president is the culmination of 10 successful years in government; and many are now tipping her for one more promotion when Mbeki retires in 2009. That eventuality, less fanciful by the day, would make her Africa's first elected female head of state.
She has been widely praised for her time as minister for minerals and energy, promoting black ownership of South Africa's leading industries, through the Mining Charter of 2002, without jeopardizing stability and investment. Indeed, both business and union bosses have welcomed her appointment. Even opposition leader Tony Leon called it a "bold and gender-friendly move".
Mlambo-Ngcuka returned to her homeland in 1987, after many years based in Switzerland as director of the YWCA's international programme. Before becoming an MP, she assumed a leading role in the Ecumenical Action Group and other anti-apartheid groups.
But her rise has not been without controversy, not least because the man she replaced, Jacob Zuma, was hounded out of office on corruption charges – allegations that she first publicly raised, which were originally investigated by her husband, former chief prosecutor Bulelani Ngcuka. More recently, she led a delegation to observe the elections in Zimbabwe, declaring them "peaceful and credible", a view not shared by all in the region.
And with three years to run until the next presidential election, Zuma and his many allies within the ANC have ample time to challenge any putative succession.
MOELETSI MBEKI
Chairman, South African Institute of International Affairs
Proprietor, Endemol
As a businessman, journalist and intellectual, Moeletsi Mbeki is a substantial figure in his own right on the African scene. Indeed, the Big Brother most people now associate him with is the hit television programme produced by his hugely successful company, Endemol, rather than the current president of South Africa.
But his relationship with brother Thabo does still loom large, not least because Moeletsi is an increasingly vocal, and influential, political commentator on everything from South African diplomacy in Zimbabwe, to the flawed (Western-led) development models he sees being pursued across the continent. All of which is often taken as implicit criticism of his brother's time in office.
Their father, Govan Mbeki, was a leading ANC figure in the Eastern Cape; both sons went into exile after he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1970s. Moeletsi worked as a journalist in Zimbabwe and with the BBC World Service in London, before working as an information officer for the Lusaka-based Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
Upon his return to South Africa in 1990, Mbeki became head of communications at the Congress of South African Trade Unions and a media consultant for the ANC. It wasn't long before he was branching out into television production, while also taking on the chair of the South African Institute of International Affairs. He has used the latter position to criticize existing aid programmes, which he claims entrench inept elites and stifle private enterprise.
He maintains that much-touted Marshall Aid Plans for Africa are completely misguided. The focus instead should be on agriculture, technology and micro-initiatives: "Sub-Saharan Africa should draw from the agricultural reforms in China over the past 25 years or so. After all, changes in the agricultural sector made it possible for China to embark on its current unprecedented industrialization process."
STEVE MASIYIWA
CEO, Econet Wireless International
When Steve Masiyiwa finished school in Scotland in 1978, Southern Rhodesia was still struggling against white domination and British suzerainty. His offer to join the freedom fighters in his native land was swiftly rebuffed by a senior officer: "Look, we're about to win anyway; what we really need is people like you to help rebuild the country," Masiyiwa recalls.
He took the advice, completing a degree in engineering in the UK, before returning to newly independent Zimbabwe in 1984. The story of his remarkable rise has made him a national hero, and probably Africa's most prominent businessman.
Econet Wireless, the mobile phone company he founded, is at the vanguard of a telecommunications revolution in Africa, where the number of mobile connections has jumped from two million to 35 million in the past six years alone. Econet now operates in eight African countries, and generates revenues of over $300 million a year. TSMI, the Masiyiwa family's international investment vehicle, recently merged Econet with South Africa's Altech – creating a telecoms player with genuine regional and global reach.
The potential of mobile phone technology for kick-starting African development is huge. A recent London Business School report found that a rise of just 10 mobile phones per 100 people in a typical emerging economy can add up to 0.6% in GDP growth. Only 5% of people in sub-Saharan Africa currently own mobile phones. That's what Econet is designed to change, through cheaper handsets and customized contracts.
And yet Masiyiwa, 44, has found himself condemned to virtual exile in South Africa, punishment not only for the bruising five-year court battle he successfully fought against Mugabe's attempts to block Econet's licence applications, but also for his ownership of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's most independent and vocal newspaper. It is a strange fate for a man who has long championed the cause of black economic liberation and the "indigenization" of African economies.
Robert Mugabe, of course, has a very different understanding of both those concepts – though it's surely Masiyiwa's vision that will eventually win out.