Africa’s Kleptocracies – Do You Know Them?

After the Mugabes, which African dynasties remain?

With Robert Mugabe’s hopes of handing power to his wife in Zimbabwe over, which political dynasties are still going strong elsewhere in Africa?

Since the 1990s, multi-party elections and peaceful transfers of power have become far more common on the continent but quite a few current leaders have succeeded their fathers, or are planning to hand power to their sons. (Daughters seem to be less favoured.)

Some dynasties have established themselves through assassinations, coups, and rebellions, while in Zimbabwe’s neighbour, South Africa, President Jacob Zuma is hoping to hand power to his ex-wife in the coming years.

A former French colony, it has been ruled by the Eyadema family for the last 50 years, making it the dynasty that has been in power for the longest period.

And of all the governments currently in power in Africa, it is under the greatest threat of being overthrown in a mass uprising. Crowds of up to 800,000 have repeatedly taken to the streets since August, demanding an end to dynastic rule in the country of 6.6 million.

Protesters accuse the government of tinkering with the constitution so that President Faure Gnassingbé can remain in power until 2030. The government denies this, insisting that it will introduce a two-term presidential limit ahead of elections in 2020.

With the backing of the military, Mr Gnassingbé became president in 2005 after the unexpected death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadema, at the age of 69. Later, he won two elections, which were denounced by the opposition as a sham.

Faure has shared, or has tried to share, the spoils of power with his family. He appointed his half-brother, Kpatcha, to the all-important post of defence minster after taking office.

However, the two fell-out, and Kpatcha was sacked as defence minister in 2007.

Togo: Oldest dynasty

Faure accused him of trying to dethrone him. Kpatcha, in turn, accused the president of plotting to assassinate him. Faure won the power-struggle, had his half-brother arrested, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

But his reputation for ruthlessness is nothing compared to that of his late father.

As a 28-year-old army sergeant, Eyadema was widely suspected to have fired the shots which killed Togo’s first post-independence president. Then, on 13 January 1967, the third anniversary of the assassination, Eyadema himself seized power in a bloodless coup.

When he died, he held the title of Africa’s longest-serving ruler. He had been on the political throne for 38 years.

Gabon: ‘Kleptocratic regime’

Also a former French colony, it has Africa’s second oldest political dynasty. A Christian convert to Islam, Omar Bongo took power 11 months after Eyadema, and ruled for nearly 42 years until his death in 2009.

He left his son Ali Bongo Ondimba, a fortune worth millions of dollars, and the country. He did win an election, although the opposition said it was rigged.

After France launched a corruption investigation against the family, the president of the oil-rich nation announced in 2015 that he would spend his entire inheritance on development projects, including starting a university and a youth foundation.

French police investigations identified that Bongo family assets included 39 properties in France, located in affluent areas of Paris and on the French Riviera, as well as nine luxury cars, including Ferraris and Mercedes.

Rights groups say the Bongos have turned Gabon into a “kleptocratic regime”, which loots its natural resources, oil wealth and rainforests – an allegation the family strongly denies.

In 2015 Argentinean football star Lionel Messi came under heavy criticism for visiting the Central African state.

He laid the first stone at the construction site of a football stadium for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Bongo denied giving Messi money to visit Gabon, saying: “When I was in Barcelona a few years ago, I met Messi who had told me that he would come to visit me in Libreville,” he said.

“It’s a promise he made me. He is a man of honour who just kept his word.

A former Spanish colony, it currently has Africa’s longest-serving ruler, Theodoro Obiang Nguema.

Said to be one of Africa’s most brutal leaders, he seized power in 1979 after overthrowing independence leader President Francisco Macias Nguema, his uncle, and having him executed.

According to campaign group Human Rights Watch, the ”dictatorship under President Obiang has used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country’s people”.

The president’s 48-year-old son, Teodorin Obiang, is his deputy, putting him in pole position to inherit power.

Known for his flamboyant lifestyle, Teodorin is a fugitive from justice. In October, a French court convicted him in absentia of embezzlement.

It ordered the seizure of his assets in France, including a $29m (£22m) mansion.

He also boasted 18 luxury cars in France, artworks, jewellery and expensive designer fashions,

The Paris judge found that the president’s son had used his position as agriculture and forestry minister to siphon off payments from timber firms who were exporting from Equatorial Guinea.

In November, Swiss prosecutors seized 11 luxury cars belonging to Mr Obiang junior. They said he had plundered his country’s oil wealth to buy luxuries, including a private jet and Michael Jackson memorabilia.

Teodorin denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Equatorial Guinea: Luxury cars and Michael Jackson gloves

Uganda: ‘Playing God’