The flagship section of the Africa Almanac.com website is this annual listing of the Top 100 Africans of the Year
Top 100 Africans of the Year
The 700 best-known Africans, all-time

Overview

In 2001, Africa saw a year more stable and with more economic promise than 2000.

For a number of reasons, 2001 might probably have been the most successful year for Africa since the 1960s.

There was only one military coup on the continent, the one in the Indian Ocean island nation of the Comoros, and only one attempted coup, in the Central African Republic.

The brutal 10-year civil war in Sierra Leone appeared to be at an end at last, and the rebel Revolutionary United Front began disarming.

A new, 30 year-old leader, unexpectedly came to power in the Democratic Republic of Congo and suddenly Africa's most complicated ever civil war was headed for resolution.

Two Zambian cabinet ministers set off a daring revolt when it seemed that the incumbent president was contemplating a third, unconstitutional term of office, and thus prevented Zambia from sliding inevitably back to one-man rule.

The theme of African unity was seized by the horns and driven, almost forcibly, by a Libyan army Colonel, one of Africa's most controversial leaders.

And amid all the news coverage and analysis following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Ugandan president, speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, gave the first, reasoned, impartial definition of what constituted terrorism and what the roots of international terrorism were, leaving delegates at the General Assembly staring in admiration and disbelief.

The most promising news of all came in April when 39 major international drug companies relented in their effort to sue the South African government for planning to go ahead and produce generic AIDS drugs --- opening the way for a drop in the prices of these critical drugs.

Another source of important news came with the discovery of oil in Sudan, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea. The implications of these oil findings were far-reaching.

Equatorial Guinea by June was reported to be the world's fastest-growing economy, registering a 25 percent rate.

Then there was the ultimate of ironies: South Africa, a nation which for 46 years between 1948 and 1994 had practiced the segregative policy of apartheid and was the most reviled and hated country in Africa, became by 2001, the main engine of economic growth and hope for Africa.

South African business --- which alone contributes 40 percent of Africa's overall industrial output --- continued its relentless roll out across Africa and bringing new and vital vibrancy and services to African economies long relegated to stagnation.

Among Africa's star economies in 2001 were, in order, Morocco, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, and Ghana.

In a December 25 economic forecast for 2002, the International Monetary Fund said four African economies --- Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana, and Uganda --- would record economic growth rates of between four and six percent in 2002.

Mozambique, the victim of a double season of devastating floods, resumed its high economic growth rate.

Two West African girls, one Senegalese, the other Nigerian, electrified global television audiences, winning major beauty contests and bringing pride and joy to millions of Black Africans.

A Zambian-born teenager became one of the most popular Pop stars of the year, with her hit record that had large sales and regular airplay on radio stations in America and Europe.

Athletes from Kenya, Morocco and Ethiopia continued to win most of the world's major middle and long distance athletics races, from the 1,500 metres to the marathon.

Zimbabwean and South African cricket players broke world records.

A South African golfer became only the second non-American to win the prestigious U.S Open --- and this with the world's number one player, Tiger Woods, also taking part in that competition.

Many were the newsmakers in 2001; many were the people who, by their actions, achievements, initiatives, style, victories, discoveries, and personal integrity, helped advance Africa one step further than the previous year.

Listed below are the Top 100 Africans of 2001, in order of ranking.
THE TOP 100 AFRICANS
By Timothy Kalyegira

	1. Joseph Kabila (Democratic Republic of Congo), president. Featured on the cover of dozens of international magazines throughout the year, he restored respect to one of the world's most ungovernable countries with his calm, dignified attitude and flexible policies, soon after being abruptly catapulted into power, following the assassination of his father, Laurent Desire Kabila, on January 17. Kabila the younger lifted the ban on political party activity and returned Congo to the July 1999 Lusaka peace process. The country's diamond trade was opened to free market forces. For the first time in decades, the former Zaire, even though still in the grip of civil war, seemed to be a viable nation headed for brighter days. Congo had virtually disappeared from the world news headlines by the last four months of the year, mainly because it was no longer the grave situation it had been since the civil war broke out again on August 2, 1998. What was more remarkable was that Kabila came to the office at the age of 30, unmarried, and thrust into power by forces beyond his control. It is complicated enough to govern even such peaceful countries as Mauritius and the Seychelles. It is doubly so governing a country like the Democratic Republic of Congo which has experienced decades of economic and decay in infrastructure under Mobutu Sese Seko and which, since August 1998, was partially occupied by five foreign armies, Angola, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Namibia. Shortly after the assassination of President Laurent Kabila in January, it was the assumption of many analysts that Congo would descend into the kind of genocide seen in Rwanda in 1994 after the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana. That did not happen. On the contrary, for one amazing week, as the American magazine Newsweek reported at the time, there was not one instance of looting, army mutiny, in fighting among cabinet ministers, street violence, rape, or political retribution in the country. The dignified people of Congo disproved the image of Congo as a typical chaotic, dysfunctional state. Most of all, it was the first time in Africa's contemporary history that a son directly succeeded his father as head of state, in a Republic. The progress made in 2001 under Joseph Kabila seemed to raise a question --- could it be that, set against the traditional African values, democracy can evolve its own pattern in Africa just as effectively as western parliamentary democracy? For all these achievements, the symbolism and substance, Major-General Joseph Kabila is the Africa Almanac choice of Person of the Year, for 2001.
	2. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah (Sierra Leone), president. One of the most inhumane and brutal rebel groups of the 20th century has been the rag-tag Sierra Leonean group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Among the atrocities were the cutting off of limbs, ears, and summary executions carried out on the civilian population. In 2001, the civil war that had destroyed a country formerly regarded as one of the best-educated in West Africa finally came to an end, with the defeat of the RUF. It would have to be one of the social wonders of 2001 that the government of President Tejan Kabbah, having gained the upper hand against the RUF, did not go out and unleash its own revenge killings and arbitrary arrests on the former rebels, actions which would have been understandable and even widely condoned by most people in Africa. Instead, the disarming process went about peacefully and by that gesture of extraordinary humaneness and reconciliation alone, Sierra Leone was able to put the decade of violence and unspeakable suffering behind it. Only the person and character of Tejan Kabbah, an earnest and reasonable man, could have made this possible, and thus warranting his listing as the runner-up on the Africa Almanac year- end list of Top 100 Africans for 2001.
	3. Eugene Van As (South Africa), CEO, Sappi. Van As featured on the 2000 list of the Top 100 Africans and it was inevitable that he would remain on the list for a second year. Sappi is the world's largest producer of the glossy paper used in the world's major high quality magazines. On October 15, for the second time in four years, Sappi was voted the Most Global South African Company, at a ceremony of the South African Global Company Awards. Eugene Van As, who is set to retire at the end of 2002, remains one of the country's most respected chief executives, a self-made man who has kept Sappi ranking as one of Africa's most prestigious and profitable corporations.
	4. Pieter Cox (South Africa), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sasol, one of Africa's largest energy companies and one of the most successful companies in Africa in 2001, involved in vital energy exploration on the continent. A gas exploration project to build a pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa is underway. On October 5, Sasol --- the oil and integrated chemicals company based in South Africa --- was named the second strongest performing stock in the annually reviewed Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) for the year up to September 30, 2001, an increase of more than 50 percent. An incredible performance for a company based in Africa. Sasol also won a Gold Award for the Best Sustainability Disclosure in the industrial category in the annual report Sustainability Reporting in South Africa conducted by the accounting consultancy firm KPMG. Cox has been at Sasol for the past 30 years.
	5. Lt-General Christon Tembo (Zambia), vice president, opposition politician. Lt-General Tembo sparked off a political crisis in Zambia when he openly opposed attempts by President Frederick Chiluba to amend the constitution and seek a third term as president. Tembo was later joined by a group of other rebellious cabinet ministers. President Chiluba eventually relented in August, saving Zambia from a political crisis and proving that cabinet ministers and presidential appointees in Africa need not be predictable sycophants.
	6. Edith Nawakwi (Zambia), opposition activist. As the Minister of Labour, she became one of the most vocal opponents of president Frederick Chiluba after he attempted to run for a third, unconstitutional term in office. She was arrested and interrogated for several hours after being accused of defaming president Chiluba, when she alleged that he had organized thugs to rape her. "This is about the country. No one is attacking the president personally," she told the BBC on May 24. "We are calling on our president to stand down and keep his word." That word, she said, was the principle on which the Movement for Multi-party Democracy campaigned and came to power in October 1991.
	7. Graham Mackay (South Africa) CEO of South African Breweries, Africa's largest and most successful industrial group in 2001, a company that expanded its flavour to China, Romania, Angola, the Czech Republic, Uganda, and further. The contribution of these South African companies to Africa in 2001 was to demonstrate that ideology and politics alone could not raise the continent's standards of living. It will also require hands-on technical and managerial competence to deliver multiple millions of Africans from extreme poverty and deprivation.
	8. Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), president. The Ugandan leader --- very popular with journalists and enthusiastic crowds across Africa for his peculiar personality, an almost C-drive mental database of facts and figures on economics, and his sarcastic humour --- on November 11 delivered one of the most acclaimed and enthralling speeches to the United Nations General Assembly in its 56-year history. The speech became the highlight of such news agencies as CNN, the Voice of America, Radio France, the BBC, it was published as a special feature on the AllAfrica.com web site, and other major news organisations. In it, Museveni delivered a reasoned and detailed review of 20th century history and the main geo-political themes that informed the world order, attempted to put the terrorist attacks on the United States in September in proper context, with Museveni clarifying the differences between a terrorist and a freedom fighter, urging a re-dress of the international trade and economic order which has inhibited the development of the world's poorest nations. In 2001, Uganda was one of Africa's six best-performing economies and the country has been projected by the International Monetary Fund to be one of the African nations --- the others are Tanzania, Cameroon, and Ghana --- which will register growth of between four and six percent in 2002. In 2001, Uganda also continued to lead the Third World as the most successful case study on the fight against AIDS, with HIV infection rates continuing to drop for the second consecutive year, while the infection rates exploded in countries with more advanced healthcare systems in southern and West Africa, eastern Europe, and Asia with more advanced healthcare systems. In 2001, Uganda continued to be perceived by many Africans as one of the freest and most vibrant countries in Africa, with parents from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Congo, Ethiopia, and Somalia sending their children to primary and secondary schools in Uganda, a country with probably the most fiercely competitive educational systems in East and Central Africa.
	9. Strive Masiyewa (Zimbabwe), CEO, Echonet Wireless. It does not often happen that a Black African company is granted a license to provide sophisticated services in an advanced economy. That rarity happened in 2001 when the Zimbabwean mobile phone company, Echonet Wireless, won a license to provide GSM mobile phone services to New Zealand, of all countries. By 2001, Echonet Wireless was the third largest mobile phone company in Africa --- and growing. We have set our eyes [on] other countries in Africa," Masiyewa told the BBC's weekly business programme, Global Business on October 13.
	10. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi (Libya), head of state. Pushed through an new African Union to replace the OAU, and by his almost single-handed, almost frantic efforts, the concept of African unity was given the impetus it lost during the 1970s. Gaddafi also put his words into action in diverse ways, spreading Libyan aid across Africa and the Caribbean, pouring millions of dollars into crisis-ridden countries, sending relief food supplies to West African countries faced with famine and donated equipment to build a new national television and radio station in Somalia; single-handedly restored diplomatic relations between Sudan and Uganda, and negotiated the release of western hostages held by Philippines Islamic gunmen. And as if to complete a remarkable year of re-invention for Colonel Gaddafi, in June the annual United Nations Human Development Index report listed Libya as Africa's most developed country, in terms of health, education, sanitation, and other indicators of standard of living. Colonel Gaddafi would have ranked higher on this list of the Top 100 Africans of the year, were it not for the fact that his African unity initiatives seemed somewhat whimsical, more one man's idea than a coordinated and sustainable effort and after July 2001, all talk of African unity appeared to fade from the news, almost as if it had not been well thought out in the first place.
	11. Sean R. Summers (South Africa), CEO of Pick 'n Pay, the South African supermarket chain, which in 2001 bought 80, stores from Australia's chain store Franklins, for 66 million dollars. It was one of several South African firms which in 2001 spread out and either bought out companies in the developed world, or expanded to create a significant foothold in those advanced markets.
	12. Theonest K. Mutabingwa (Tanzania), malaria researcher. He led a team from the National Institute of Medical Research at Amani-Tanga in Tanzania that tested a new combination of anti-malarial drugs, Chlorproguanil and Dapsone. The tests were to prove highly successful against resistant strains of the disease. Mutabingwa told the BBC on October 13 that 93 percent of the 360 children aged below five years tested with the new drugs, recovered from the malaria they had contracted. The children had first been given a standard treatment and when it failed, they were either given a second dose of that treatment or the chlorproguanil-dapsone combination. Only 39 percent of the children treated with the standard drug were recovered from malaria. However, 93 percent of those who were given chlorproguanil-dapsone recovered. Although AIDS is the most serious health crisis facing Africa, the number one killer on the continent remains malaria.
	13. Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), president. Having raised an international storm over his insistence that he saw no link between HIV and AIDS, but that poverty was the main, ignored factor, Mbeki persisted with his single-handed effort to persuade the major pharmaceutical companies to cut drastically the price of anti-retroviral AIDS drugs. Mbeki's stance on the AIDS crisis might have been controversial enough; but there was no question of the validity of the role of poverty in the spread of AIDS and in access of millions of poor people to the new antiretroviral drugs. On April 19, the 39 leading international drugs companies succumbed to South African pressure and gave up a court case in which they attempted to sue South Africa for planning to produce generic AIDS drugs. The unexpected victory paved the way for a worldwide, drastic lowering of the cost of AIDS drugs. It proved that even the powerful international multinationals could have their arms twisted --- by persistent pressure. For the 25 million and more Africans infected with HIV, this was the year's most significant news development.
	14. Nawal el-Saadawi (Egypt), feminist, author. In an interview in March, El-Saadawi said she did not believe it was obligatory for women to wear veils and that the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca is "just a vestige of pagan practices." For her daring opinions, she came under the wrath of the conservative Islamic clergy of Egypt --- but stood her ground. It was a particularly risky for el-Saadawi to openly challenge what many regard as the basic tenets of Islam, in a period of rising Islamic militancy worldwide. Nawal el-Saadawi, 70, a leading Egyptian sociologist, medical doctor and defiant writer on Arab women's problems, has had her writings translated in twelve languages.
	15. Agbani Darego (Nigeria). Beauty pageant winner. On November 16 in the South African resort city of Sun City, Darego made history by becoming the first black African woman ever to win the prestigious Miss World beauty title. Dressed in an olive green evening gown, Darego --- the reigning Miss Nigeria and a computer science student from the southeastern city of Port Harcourt --- beat 92 other contestants to win the title. Darego's victory was nothing short of dramatic proof of the magic of persistence and that evasive and hard-to-define factor called luck. Earlier in the year, she had been eliminated from the Nigerian qualifications for the M-Net Face of Africa modeling contest. She would later become the Miss Nigeria, but only after the original winner was disqualified, leaving the title open for the first runner-up, Agbani Darego --- and a chance at the Miss World title. A tall, slender girl with warm, empathetic eyes, a wide, glistening smile and a cool detached manner, Darego made the self-referring understatement shortly after she was crowned: "Black is beautiful". Photographs of this pretty Nigerian girl were triumphantly published on the front pages of numerous newspapers across Africa the next day. Darego's triumph was another chip away at the notion that beauty was to be defined by classic Caucasoid features --- thin lips, high cheekbones, and a thin, pointed nose. Her historic win of the Miss World title also set off a sudden rise in tourism in southern Africa, with bookings coming from Europe, Japan, Latin America, and Australia.
	16. Robert Mwananchu (Tanzania), researcher. Professor Mwananchu, in 2001, headed a team of researchers involved with an unusual project. They experimented with using rats as mine detectors and detonators. Rather than risk the limbs and lives of personnel involved in the destruction of the hundreds of thousands of land mines that lie buried in several African countries like Angola and Mozambique, the team under Robert Mwananchu used rats to sense the presence of the mines.
	17. Gideon Byamugisha (Uganda), Anglican priest. The Reverend Byamugisha was honoured by many in Europe and Africa in 2001 for becoming the first religious leader in Africa to come out publicly and declare that he was HIV-positive. In much of Africa, it is taboo enough for ordinary people to come out and make public the fact that they are HIV-positive. Much more so, it would go without saying, would it be for a priest, usually held up as the custodian of morals, to accept to make public his HIV status, and by implication, the fact that priests too are human and fallible. While the Roman Catholic church remains in denial regarding the use of condoms as a protective device, bold action by clergymen like Reverend Byamugisha make the compelling case for a new openness by people from all walks of life, including the religious leadership.
	18. Benjamin William Mkapa (Tanzania), president. 2001 was one of the most successful years in Tanzania's history, with the economy experiencing something of a boom. Most of the economic news out of Tanzania in the year was positive, indicating what the International Monetary Fund forecast for 2002 --- that Tanzania would continue to be one of Africa's four fastest-growing economies. A crisis developed in October 2000 following the general elections, which threatened to end Tanzania's long period of stability. Riots broke out on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar, where the opposition Civic United Front claimed the election had been massively rigged. But midway into 2001, the crisis has been settled, at least for the time being, under the watch of the country's gentlemanly president, Benjamin Mkapa. Tanzania was one of Africa's leading recipients of Direct Foreign Investment, rivaling its northern neighbour Uganda. Free primary school education was re-introduced, and Tanzania was the only country in the Great Lakes region unaffected by and uninvolved in the political instability in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo, although it was the host of the largest refugee population in Africa. By late 2001, Tanzania was Africa's fourth-largest gold producer, behind South Africa, Mali and Ghana. It was a sign of an interesting turn of events that competition in economic growth in East Africa would be between Tanzania and Uganda, and with Kenya --- the largest economy in the East and Horn of Africa --- watching helplessly by the sidelines.
	19. Geoffrey Nyarota (Zimbabwe), journalist. If there is one thing that is certain, it is that 2001 was a difficult year for journalists in Zimbabwe, particularly the private, independent media. The government of President Robert Mugabe moved to clamp down on the press, as it did on other institutions of the country. As the editor of Zimbabwe's only private daily newspaper, the Daily News, Geoffrey Nyarota, was left with the burden of publishing news of a rapidly deteriorating country, amid regular harassment and intimidation by police and the state security services. In August, Nyarota and three staffers were arrested for publishing a story alleging police involvement in looting of white-owned farms in one of Zimbabwe's volatile rural areas. In November, Nyarota won the World Association of Newspapers press freedom award, in recognition of his steadfast reporting of the crisis involving the government's forcible takeover of white-owned farms.
	20. Adujasi Babayala (Nigeria), Naval officer. Adujasi Babayala and Ekosi Ayekopo became national celebrities in Nigeria after an accident in which a bullion van carrying money for AfriBank was involved in an accident that left the driver dead. When they came onto the scene, they discovered the equivalent of 100,000 dollars in Nigerian Niara, the national currency. Although they had postponed their wedding in 2000 for lack of money, they decided to hand the money to the police. The heroism of their act, which won them endless national attention, awards, and unrelenting media coverage, was that they were Nigerians, the one African country that has become almost a legend in its own right for corruption and theft.
	21. Ekosi Ayekopo (Nigeria), Police officer. ( See number 20).
	22. Yazmin Nanji (Kenya), Internet Entrepreneur. The CEO of the Nairobi-based MailAfrica, the world's first African language e-mail engine, which in 2001 continued to create e-mail databases for various African languages. By October, among the languages taken into the Internet era were Oromo from Ethiopia, Hausa, Ibo, and Yoruba from Nigeria, and Ewe from Ghana. Nanji was, at year's end involved with a new, non-profit web site called AfricaLive, intended to create a virtual community across Africa. This was more than just a business investment --- it is the first serious attempt to adapt African languages and the African heritage to the 21st century world of information technology.
	23. Ismail Omar Guelleh (Djibouti), president. President Guelleh was selected by Africa Almanac as the African of the year 2000, for his key role in bringing about a settlement to the Somali civil war, when all other major international organisations, from the United Nations to the Organisation of African Unity, had failed. In 2001, the Djibouti leader continued to seer his country along a steady path, even as political instability and military conflict threatened to severely destabilize all of Djibouti's Horn of Africa neighbours, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. It was a mark of his leadership that Djibouti managed to remain insulated by and large from the political instability plaguing the rest of the Horn of Africa.
	24. Brian Joffe (South Africa), CEO of the Bidvest Group, an investment holding company with interests in freight management, office products, packaging and labeling, hygiene services, leisure and hospitality and food processing. Among other moves in 2001, Bidvest bought the Australian food company John Lewis Foodservice for over 16 million dollars. Joffe took the company on a buying and acquisition spree in 2001, maintaining the unusual strategy of somehow becoming the number one group, but without necessarily becoming the dominant player in any given field. It seemed to work for Bidvest in 2001. It has branches in New Zealand, Luxembourg, Australia, and Britain.
	25. Nkosi Johnson (South Africa), AIDS activist. The 12 year-old boy who did much to break the taboo on AIDS in South Africa, finally succumbed to the deadly disease with which he was born. He first came to international prominence when he delivered an emotional appeal against discrimination of AIDS victims during his appearance at the international AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2000.
	26. Jeremy Ord (South Africa), chairman, Data Dimension. South Africa's largest computer and data firm set its eyes on the United States market, announcing plans to buy into America's Proxicom Internet consultancy firm. "This marks a significant milestone in our global expansion policy of creating a new category of systems integrator, as we provide total integration and connectivity services and solutions to our customers worldwide," Ord said, in reference to the merger deal worth $448 million. It was another example of those rare --- but when they occur, encouraging ---instances of an African firm coming up with the temerity to take over a majority stake in an American company. This moreover, taking place in the one field that is almost regarded as the hallowed ground of late 20th century American ingenious and business acumen --- the Internet.
	27. Jose Tiburcio (Angola), former guerrilla leader. As head of the Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front-Renewed (FLEC-R), Tiburcio struggled for an autonomous status for the oil-rich province of Angola. However, in October, he announced that he was abandoning armed conflict as a means of resolving political disputes. He said armed conflicts only harmed the more vulnerable sections of society. "The times we are living in demand greater awareness on the part of mankind. Above all, man must look for more expeditious ways to find peace, notably through dialogue, which must be seen as one of the priority ways to settle problems," Tiburcio said.
	28. Yash Ghai (Kenya), constitution reform commission chairman. Ghai left a lucrative job in Hong Kong to return to Kenya and take up the thankless --- and sensitive --- position at the head of the constitutional review commission, and becoming one of Kenya's most respected officials. In June, Ghai found himself embroiled in an effort to prevent his commissioners from placing an order for luxury cars, in what would have been a major dent in the commission's budget. Ghai said he would prefer to resign "rather than head a corrupt commission".
	29. Brahim Selgue (Chad), murdered opposition activist. Seluge protested the irregularities in the Chadian presidential elections --- and was killed in unexplained circumstances by security forces, for allegedly inciting violence after the controversial elections.
	30. Joachim Alberto Chissano (Mozambique), president. In 2001, several African leaders began to clamour for amendments of their constitutions to permit the leaders to stand for third terms in office. The best known of them were in Zambia and Namibia. In May, Mozambique's president, Joaquim Chissano, his FRELIMO party delegates that he did not intend to seek a third term in 2004. Many leaders in the opposition RENAMO party greeted the announcement with skepticism, saying Chissano simply wanted to set in motion a bid to seek a third term. Whatever the truth of Chissano's stand, it would be hard to disbelieve him. Few leaders there are in Africa who exude an air of genuineness as does Chissano.
	31. Vincent Florens (Mauritius), botanist. Discovered the existence of a tree which had until now been believed to have been extinct for more than a century. The small tree, called the trochetia parviflora, had not been seen in the wild since 1863 until Florens and Jean-Claude.
	32. Jean-Claude Sevathian (Mauritius), botanist. Co-discoverer, with Vincent Florens, of the long-lost tree species, trochetia parviflora. "We both knew the plant very well from old herbarium samples and knew what it was immediately," Florens said. Sevathian found one clinging to a rocky slope in Mauritius in April.
	33. Bruno Werz (South Africa), archaeologist. Werz discovered a Stone Age axe in sediment around a 17th century wreck in South Africa. It is believed that the axe was dropped into the sea between 300,000 and 1.4 million years ago. Bruno Werz, a native of Cape Town, told the Cape Times newspaper: "It came as a bit of a shock, because I was focused on finding historical artifacts, not anything prehistoric. "I came to the surface very excited, but the other divers didn't understand what I was going on about." He also discovered fossil rhino bones and a rhino tooth near the axe in the Table Bay area of Cape Town.
	34. Ronald Clarke (South Africa), archaeologist. He headed a team of archaeologists from the University of Witwatersrand, which discovered an early human limb and skull fragments dating back 3.5 million years ago, at the Sterkfontein Caves near Johannesburg. They are the oldest known hominid fossils ever discovered in the region. A statement issued by Dr. Clarke and his colleagues said that the remains were about 200,000 years older than a similar find in 1996 and they could be from the genus Australopithecus, although it was not certain whether they are from one or more individuals. 35. Yohanes Haileselasie (Ethiopia), paleontologist. A doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, Yohanes discovered bones and teeth of the earliest creatures on our branch of the family tree, in Ethiopia's Afar rift, in Ethiopia's middle Awash study area. The fossils date to between 5.2 and 5.8 million years ago.
	36. Ramatoulaye Diallo (Senegal), M-Net Face of Africa winner. One of the most popular winners ever of the M-Net Face of Africa title, Diallo charmed millions of television viewers in Africa, Europe, and America with the force of her dashing personality, beauty, and putting on one of the most original performances since the M-Net Face of Africa contest began in 1998, to win Africa's most prestigious modeling title. The shaven-headed 18 year-old immigration officer said she would use her newly found fame to promote the image of her country Senegal and all of Africa.
	37. Michael Jensen (South Africa), Internet researcher. Jensen, more than anyone in Africa (or anywhere in the world) has kept an eye on the growth of the Internet in Africa, conducting research into trends, number of users, and creating an overall picture of the technology which Africa needs the most to close, if at all, the vast gap that separates it from the advanced West.
	38. Rashid Diab (Sudan), artist. He left a life of relative comfort in Spain to return to Sudan to discover and promote the latent artistic talent in the war-torn country. "We were living very nicely in Madrid," Diab says. [But] '"Africa needs Africans to develop." Diab became the first foreigner to teach at Madrid's San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Spain's most prestigious art school. His work has been widely exhibited in Europe, and his semi-abstract works often sell about $20,000 each.
	39. Ivan Epstein (South Africa), CEO, Softline, one of South Africa's leading software companies. In October 2000, he told the South African business his strategy for business success: ""Remain focused and apply a strong vision. Don't be too broad-based. Put your head down and go for the top. And you have to set yourself very high goals. If you set yourself low goals - that's what you'll achieve!" In the October 2001 South African Global Company awards, for the companies that best represent South Africa's global corporate reach, Softline was one of the nominees.
	40. Raymond Akwule (Nigeria), information technology specialist. His brainchild, a forum called AFCOM, is an annual conference, which brings together African telecommunications ministers, telecommunications regulatory officials, and businessmen. His goal is to try and narrow the gap between the developed and developing nations, especially Africa. "Africa has so many problems. And it is clear to everybody who has been following the trends that communication technology today helps us really to facilitate problem solving," Akwule told CNN in July.
	41. Nee Bonnie-Andrews (Ghana), medical doctor. Dr Bonnie-Andrews, along with a team of doctors, set up the Tema International Medical Centre in the Ghanaian town of Tema. The Tema International Medical Centre offers the latest techniques in brain surgery, at a fraction of the cost it would have required. Many ordinary Ghanaians went for years without the critical brain surgery, which was unavailable and out of reach of their incomes. Bonnie-Andrews was once based in New York but gave up the relatively lucrative New York job to attend to the needs of his people. As he explained to the BBC radio on October 30, to whom much has been given, much is expected. He argued that Africa needs its own people to solve its problems, an act and argument that were reason enough to merit a listing on the Top 100 Africans for the year 2001.
	42. Chukwudifu Oputa (Nigeria), High Court Judge. As the chairman of Nigeria's special human rights commission investigating the record of the various past military leaders, Justice Oputa's patience with former leaders, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdusalam Abubakar, finally ran out in October, after they refused to appear before the commission. His tough tone and no-nonsense firmness opened the way for Nigerians to witness that which they were not familiar with --- a civilian law-enforcement officer bearing down on once all-powerful military leaders. A sign of the times, it surely was.
	43. Nelson Mandela (South Africa), peace negotiator. Despite being diagnosed with prostate cancer and undergoing exhausting treatment, the former South African president in his advanced years doggedly continued to pursue prospects for peace in one of Africa's major trouble spots, the central African nation of Burundi.
	44. Mohammed Ibrahim (Egypt), chairman, mobile phone company, Mobile Systems International (MSI). One of Africa's largest mobile phone companies, MSI entered the Tanzanian market in 2001 and became one of the strategic partners selected by the Tanzanian government for the state-owned Tanzania Telecommunications Company. MSI, together with another firm Detecon, offered US$ 120 million for a 35 percent stake in an expanded Tanzania Telecommunications Company, and made a commitment to increase the number of phone connections from the present 162,000 to 810,000 within four years. Detecon and MSI are already operating telecommunications networks in 13 African countries.
	45. Beverley Naidoo (South Africa), writer. Her book, The Other Side Of Truth, won the 2001 Carnegie Medal, the world's most prestigious children's book awards. Her book examines the plight of people seeking asylum in the country through the eyes of a 12-year-old who is smuggled out of Nigeria under dictatorship after her father is shot.
	46. Graeme Kerrigan (South Africa), CEO of Alexander Forbes, the South African financial and risk services company. In 2001, Alexander Forbes bought the U.K's Alfred Blackmore insurance Group for 37 million dollars.
	47. Susan Valentine (South Africa), Internet website editor. The South African health web site, Health-e.org.za won the Highway Africa 2001 Award for its innovative use of the Internet to address some of Africa's most pressing problems. The award is given annually by Highway Africa and South Africa's Rhodes University to the people or group who are using the new medium of information technology in news journalistic ways.
	48. Matthew Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), president. Continued his programme to restore Nigeria's internationally tarnished image. He appointed a commission to investigate previous human rights violations under the various military regimes. And unlike two previous military leaders, he accepted to appear before the commission, just like any other Nigerian. General Obasanjo was also a major voice in the drive toward African unity. At the United Nations anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa in August, Obasanjo --- understanding the value of reconciliation over bitter haggling over history that could never be undone --- said an apology from the West, rather than monetary reparations, was sufficient as recompense to the injustice suffered by Black Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
	49. Margaret Kigozi (Uganda), Investment authority director. Through much of 2001, the Uganda Investment Authority was getting professional appraise from within the country and from overseas investors, as one of the best national investment agencies in Africa. By December 2001, up to 104 foreign investment projects worth one billion dollars had been authorized by the UIA and more were set for 2002. Margaret Kigozi, a medical doctor and a former national Squash rackets champion, epitomized the warm, open and easy-going attitude of Ugandans, in person and in her promotion of Uganda as a free-for-all investment destination. By October, Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa was reporting that it had recorded its highest volume of cargo ever, with over 35 percent alone being headed for Uganda. Construction and the opening of new businesses in Uganda reached their highest levels since 1965, with the hand of the Uganda Investment Authority visible in the economic boom.
	50. Keith Rumble (South Africa), CEO of Impala Platinum Holdings, which produces and supplies platinum group metals to industrial economies. In 2001, Impala Platinum bought Zimbabwe's Platinum Mines for 46 million dollars, in two deals.
	51. Moses Katjiuongua (Namibia), commercial farmer. The chairman of a committee of Black and White Namibian farmers who came together to help the Namibian government resolve the "unfinished land question" without the upheavals of the kind seen in Zimbabwe. "Although many of our people, especially those disadvantaged in the past, need land to improve their living condition, political anarchy, violence, land grabbing and farm invasions and mismanagement should be avoided at all costs," he said.
	52. Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal), president. One of the three leading proponents of the African Union, Wade unveiled his Omega Plan for African development. He called for a summit meeting of African leaders to discuss the financing of the African Initiative, which is a major development plan for the continent, in Dakar, Senegal, in November. The African Initiative is a merger of the Millennium African Recovery Plan devised by South African President Thabo Mbeki and the Omega plan, formulated by Wade.
	53. Baffour Ankomah (Ghana), editor, New African magazine. This London-based magazine is doing more than most publications to feature some important themes and currents of contemporary Africa, notable newsmakers, and highlight the fact that Africa is not all aflame and collapsing.
	54. Kofi Annan (Ghana), United Nations Secretary General. He pressed for international help for Africa's AIDS crisis. The United Nations, under Annan's watch, won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001, the first time ever that the entire organization had won the prestigious award as one body.
	55. Ian Kerkhof (South Africa), film director. His new film Nice to meet you, please don't rape me, about the violent sexual side to the post-apartheid South Africa, was screened along with many of his other works at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July. The Sunday Independent newspaper of July 15, quoted Kerkhof as saying: "I wanted to look at things nobody else was going to look at in post-apartheid South Africa. I was horrified by the false, fake euphoria promulgated in the media."
	56. Baba Maal (Senegal), musician. The widely popular and charismatic singer released a new album in 2001 and in an interview with BBC radio, spoke of his mission to make Africa count on the world scene. "In certain parts of Africa, music is still the most important way of communication," Maal told the BBC on May 24. He said his music would now be geared to reflecting the new Africa, where many countries have held multi-party elections and where democracy is now taking root.
	57. Helon Habila (Nigeria), short story writer. Winner of the 2001 Caine Prize for African writing, for his short story Love Poems. The story, set during military rule in Nigeria, is about a poet detained in jail, whose poetry is falsely claimed by the jailer as his own.
	58. L.E.O. Braack (South Africa), park warden. Braack coordinator a project to establishment a 100,000 sq.km. park, the Gaza-Kruger-Gonerezhou Trans-frontier Park (GKG), a joint effort by South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The home to 147 species of mammals, 116 reptile species, 505 birds species, and over 2,000 plant species, the GKG will become Africa's biggest transnational park and bring together some of the most established wildlife areas in the subcontinent.
	59. Mohammed VI (Morocco), monarch. King Mohammed VI in 2001 indicated that his reign would be a moderate one, and moved to introduce reform in the country that would grant more civil liberties to the population, especially the women. In 2001, Morocco was also one of Africa's boom economies. Hardly a week went by without some major international business, tourist company or computer manufacturing firm establishing a franchise or processing plant in Morocco.
	60. Lucilla Booysen (South Africa), organizer, South African fashion week. The show, which took place in Johannesburg, attracted some of the best designers and models from South Africa. "I think that there's a great place in the world for South African fashion. I think the world is very interested in South African fashion. And I think locally, we are ready to burst," she told CNN in September. Commented CNN, on the fashion show: "Analysts say South African fashions will catch on overseas. This year, they say designers are copying overseas ideas less. And with unique African creativity, have started to export."
	61. Samantha Mumba (Zambia), Pop singer. The Zambian-born, Ireland-based teenager rose in 2001 to occupy the position once held by the Nigerian-born Pop star Sade in the mid 1980s, as one of the most successful African-born Pop music stars. In 2001, Samantha Mumba's debut album rocked Europe, with the first single Baby Come On Over entering the British Top 40 Pop charts at number five. By mid year, the song had become the second most requested single in America.
	62. Zacarias Kamuenho (Angola), Roman Catholic Archbishop. Rt. Rev. Kamuenho in 2001 was nominated for the European Union's award, the Sakharov Prize for human rights. The nomination was in recognition of his role in leading efforts by church and civil leaders in the war-torn Angola to persuade the Angolan government and the UNITA rebels to return to negotiations as a way out of the civil war, which began in 1975 shortly after independence.
	63. Bahle Sibisi (South Africa), Chief Director, foreign trade relations, Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa. Sibisi was the unassuming, behind-the-scenes architect of important trade and investment talks and deals between South Africa and the European Union.
	64. Rindi Scheepers (South Africa), farmer. Won the prestigious award of South Africa's Female Farmer of the Year Award in the exporter category. The award is sponsored by Land Bank, South Africa's leading agricultural bank. Rindi's main business is her Ile de France sheep, which she hand, rears for stud, meat and wool purposes.
	65. Bakili Muluzi (Malawi), president. Muluzi was unusually firm against corruption in government and other public offices in Malawi, with few people being spared. A former cabinet minister, Cassim Chilumpha, resigned from his parliamentary seat and the ruling United Democratic Front party, where had been publicity secretary, after the president dismissed Chilumpha in November 2000 over a allegations of corruption involving two million dollars. Chilumpha was arrested in February this year to answer to the alleged corruption charges, but was acquitted by a court on legal technicalities. The anti corruption bureau in Malawi also investigated the information minister, Clement Stambuli, and other officials for buying lucrative public telephones at prices below their market value. Later in the year, Muluzi also got involved in the process of trying to secure peace in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo.
	66. Javed Jafferji (Tanzania), photographer. It never ceases to disappoint: almost every time one picks up a tourist book on most African countries, one is confronted by the irony that these books and brochures are actually written by White Europeans or Americans. So too are the photographs. Are Africans, more than 40 years into independence, still incapable of portraying their own countries and conveying their perceptions of their own people and surroundings? Only South Africa seems to produce its own photographers and text writers, in the books published on the land and its people. In a new work published in 2001 titled Tanzania, African Eden, the Tanzanian photographer Javed Jafferji, at least went halfway in redressing this embarrassing situation. Although the text was written by Graham Mercer, the photographs are by Jafferji, who is based on Tanzania's Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar.
	67. Eric Wainaina (Kenya), musician. Used his music to campaign against corruption in Kenya. Wainaina, at 27 and already a seasoned musician, will complete a degree at Boston's Berkeley School of Music in the United States, next year. His corruption song, the lead number on his U.S.-produced album, Sawa Sawa (It's OK), was the most-requested tune on Nairobi's five private FM stations in 2001, an indication that it had struck a chord with Kenya's disgruntled population, tired of rampant corruption.
	68. Arthur Mafokate (South Africa), record label owner. In July, Mafokate launched a new record label, called 999 Music, which immediately began to cause major waves in South Africa's recording industry, which is Africa's largest music market. Among the notable singers that 999 Music drew away from other labels, were Speedy Matlhaku, the former lead singer of the kwaito group Bongo Maffin, which brought their South African fusion of hip hop, reggae, and township jive to New York's Summerstage Festival this year. Also on the new label are Ishmael Morabe, formerly of the Ghetto Ruff label, and Tebogo "Zombo" Ndlovu, a former soccer player who turned into a well-known Master of Ceremonies.
	69. Marie-Elise Akouavi Gbedo (Benin), politician. Gbedo, a lawyer and a divorced mother of two, became the first woman to contest presidential elections in the male-dominated Benin, when she took part in the March 4 vote in which the incumbent Mathieu Kerekou was elected for a further five-year term. Her candidacy was a rare occurrence in West Africa, where politics is traditionally male-dominated. The other exception was Ellen Johnson of Liberia. "I'm an upright woman, an honest mother with children who is going to work with you and for you," Akouavi Gbedo said, during her campaign.
	70. Eriq Ebouaney (Cameroon), actor. Acted the lead role of the late Congolese nationalist leader, Patrice Lumumba, in the new Raoul Peck film Lumumba. Wrote film critic Nick Carter of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in its October 5 edition: "In the title role, Eriq Ebouaney conveys both the folk charisma and leadership qualities that made Lumumba such an imposing political force."
	71. John Kufuor (Ghana), president. Took office in January, the first Ghanaian leader to assume power after a peaceful election, since independence in March 1957. Kufuor set about tackling Ghana's economic stagnation and addressing the country's tarnished international image. He invited opposition politicians for a discussion of ways in which the country's democracy could be strengthened, following its many failures. The International Monetary Fund forecast Ghana to be one of four African countries, which would likely register a 4-6 percent economic growth rate in 2002.
	72. John de Wit (South Africa), director, Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF). This non-governmental organisation represented a new effort to deal with the unemployment crisis facing Africa's largest economy. In South Africa, where approximately one out every four people is unemployed, John de Witt headed an agency, which focused on giving poor people a chance to start their own small businesses. De Wit said SEF targets poor rural women because they are the most vulnerable economic group in South Africa. "We believe that all people have a fundamental human right to have access to credit and the Tshomisano Project targets those who need it most," he said. As a result of the reluctance by major banks to grant credit to start-ups with little or no collateral backing, micro lending has become a whole new and thriving business in South Africa. Most if the SEF's funds are from the U.S government and are channeled through the US Agency for International Development. The efforts of SEF are not too different from the much-praised K-Rep Bank in Kenya, which has also become famous for giving loans to small businesses, which would otherwise have had no way of raising capital.
	73. Fred Turok (South Africa), fitness club owner. Turok, who founded the fitness club LA Fitness in 1996, opened 13 city centre or residential area clubs in London, expanding the LA chain to 37 and sending membership numbers up 79 percent to 88,630. In April, in response to about the "economy class syndrome" on long-distance flights, L.A Fitness came up with a flying fit fact sheet intended to reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis, as the syndrome is known. The sheet covers exercises to do before, after and during the flight, as well as what to do the night before a flight, packing tips, what to wear and what to drink and eat during the flight.
	74. John Halamandaris (South Africa), CEO of Steers, Africa's pizza largest pizza company. The aroma was felt across southern and East Africa in 2001. Turnover for the food and restaurant company was up 44 percent in 2000.
	75. Ousmane Sembene (Senegal), film director. Sembene has often been termed the Godfather of Black African cinema. In 2001 came a new feature film Faat Kine, an examination of modern life in the Senegalese capital Dakar through the experiences of an educated, westernized single mother the eighth feature. His smart, sure, politically charged comedy, a spirited look at modern day Dakar through the experiences of a liberated, independent single mother, combines the social satire and cultural commentary of his past films with a confident, sassy role model in his heroine. His first film in 1964, Borom Sarratt, took a realistic look at the grinding poverty of Senegal's urban slums through a day in the life of a poor cart driver. Sembene, 78, rather than follow the western film doctrine, prefers to let his films echo the traditional storytelling style of rural Senegal. A tribute to Sembene's works was screened in New York City in August. "I know the Africans are conscious of their own problems, but they are the only ones who can resolve their own cinema graphic problems," he told CNN in July.
	76. Retief Goosen (South Africa), golfer. Won the U.S Open Golf title in a play-off, in one of the most sensational finishes in recent years. He became only the third African after South Africa's Gary Player in 1965 and Ernie Els in 1994 and 1997 to win the U.S Open. Goosen also won the Scottish Open in 2001. Goosen became only the second non-American to win the U.S Open since 1981.
	77. Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia), track and field athlete. Derartu in 2001 added the World 10,000-metre title to her Olympic 10,000 metre title as well as winning the London Marathon crown. Remarkably, she first won an Olympic gold medal at the age of 20 at the Barcelona Olympic games in August 1992, which would make Derartu Tulu --- in terms of longevity and the number of victories scored --- the most successful African female athlete in history.
	78. Charles Kamathi (Kenya), track and field athlete. Upset the previously unbeaten Haile Gebreselassie in a stunning World Championships 10,000-metre final in Edmonton, Canada. It was billed as one of the greatest 10,000 metres races of all-time.
	79. Catherine Ndereba (Kenya), track and field athlete. On October 7, Ndereba set a new world record in the women's marathon, with a time of 2hrs. 18min. 27sec., to win the Chicago marathon. She beat the previous best time of Japan's Naoko Takahashi, set just a week before on September 30, when the Japanese won the Berlin marathon in 2:19.58.46 and became the first woman to run the marathon below 2hr 20sec.
	80. Brahim Boulami (Morocco), track and field athlete. Set a new world record in the 3,000 metres steeplechase of 7:55.28, in August, to become the first non-Kenyan to hold a world record in this event in living memory. He broke the record of 7:55.72 set by Kenya's Bernard Barmasai in Cologne, Germany, in August 1997.
	81. Jacques Kallis (South Africa), Cricket player. Set a new world record in Test Cricket for the longest time in history that a player has batted without being dismissed; in a South Africa vs. Zimbabwe match in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in September.
	82. Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia), track and field athlete. Became the first athlete in history to win both the Olympic and World Championship Marathon titles.
	83. Hossam Hassan (Egypt), footballer. In January, Hassan officially set a new world record as the player to make the most international appearances for his country.
	84. Hamilton Masakadza (Zimbabwe), cricket batsman. At the age of 17 years and 354 days, Masakadza became the youngest player to score a century on his Test debut, to lead Zimbabwe's bid to save the second Test against West Indies. "I had no idea of the records I was breaking," said Masakadza. "When I went out this morning I just thought, this is third day and there was no way we were going to beaten by the end of it. I wanted to take responsibility and bat the whole day." The previous record was held by Pakistan's Salim Malik, who scored his debut century against Sri Lanka in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1982, at the age of 18.
	85. Natalie du Toit (South Africa), swimmer. She is determined to take part in the 2004 summer Olympic Games in Athens, despite having only one leg. It was amputated after she was involved in a car accident, having been until then one of Africa's best swimmers. If one of sport's most attractive qualities is the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity, du Toit was one of the most exemplary athletes of the year in Africa.
	86. Hestrie Cloete (South Africa), track and field athlete. Won the World Women's High Jump title, at 2.00 metres, the first High Jump title ever for an African at the World Championships.
	87. Sorious Samora (Sierra Leone), documentary film director. His somewhat over hyped documentary Exodus From Africa, which aired on the U.S television news network CNN in August, attempted to reveal that side to African immigration to Europe that is often not seen, much less talked about --- the risks on the high seas, deaths, arrests, the extreme despair and most of all, the awakening to disillusionment which awaits would-be treasure seekers from Africa, when they get to Europe.
	88. Charlize Theron (South Africa), actress. The brightest African star to burn in Hollywood, Theron was also a vocal advocate for the animal rights, representing an organisation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which condemns "canned hunting" as a cruel blood sport that should be banned.
	89. Ibrahim Bakayoko (Ivory Coast), football striker. The top scorer in the Africa qualifying rounds for the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.
	90. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco), track and field athlete. Retained his World 1,500 final metres title and ended the athletics season as the world's number one middle distance runner.
	91. Haile Gebreselassie (Ethiopia), track and field athlete. World Championship Bronze medallist in the men's 10,000 metres. Switching over to the marathon, Gebreselassie won the world Half-Marathon title in Bristol, England, in only his second race ever over the distance.
	92. Sami Kuffour (Ghana), football player. The Ghanaian defender of the German premier league club, Bayern Munich, played a significant role in the championship success of the club in the 2001 league. The club's vice-president and former German international, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said of Kuffuor in May: ""His recent performances have impressed us. He has proved we can rely on him and so we decided to start talking to him the day after the final in Milan." Kuffuor was the target of acquisition by the big-league European teams Barcelona and Lazio, both of whom were said to have offered Kuffuor a large contract.
	93. Nezha Bidouane (Morocco), track and field athlete. Regained her World 400 metres hurdles title in 53.34 sec. At the World athletics championships, a title she first won at the World Championships in Athens in 1997.
	94. Amy Thiam Mbacke (Senegal), track and field athlete. Beat a strong field to achieve a surprise win in women's 400 metres title at the World Championships.
	95. Reuben Kosgei (Kenya), track and field athlete. Added the World title to his Olympic title, after only two years competing as a senior.
	96. Maria Mutola (Mozambique), track and field athlete. Added the World title to her Olympic title, after defeating her great Austrian rival Stephanie Graf.
	97. Flavio (Angola), football striker. As of October 4, Flavio, a striker with the Angolan team Petro Atletico, was the top scorer in the African champions League.
	98. Richard Limo (Kenya), track and field athlete. Won the men's 5,000 metres title at the World Championships, beating, among others, the defending Olympic champion Million Wolde of Ethiopia.
	99. Thembi Nyandeni (South Africa), dramatist. Creator, with Todd Twala, of the South African musical Omaja, one of the year's most successful theatre shows, which traces 50 years of South African music and dance. These theatre veterans created it to reflect the new, post-apartheid South Africa.
	100. Todd Twala (South Africa), dramatist. Co-creator, with Thembi Nyandeni, of the South African musical Omaja. In 2001, it became one of the most popular arts events in the country and toured London to equally critical acclaim.

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The 700 best-known Africans, all-time