By Francois Conradie, Head of Research, NKC African Economics
Tunisia held municipal elections on Sunday, May 6. The fact of the elections’ occurrence is notable in itself, because these were the first municipal elections since 2010, and so the first since the Arab Spring upheavals that started in Tunisia in December 2010.
The municipal authorities that result from the vote complete Tunisia’s transition to a fully mature constitutional democracy, entrenching its reputation as the Arab country to have emerged from the Arab Spring in the best shape. (More pessimistic commentators describe it as the only Arab country to have improved its situation since then.)
It is true that the elections are a milestone in Tunisia’s consolidation of its democratic governance, but they are also a barometer with which to evaluate the state of party politics, and politics more generally, just over seven years after the autocratic President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee his country on a private jet after his people and his apparatus of authoritarianism had turned on him, and three years since the secularists of Nidaa Tounes and the Islamists of Ennahdha struck a grand bargain to put an end to serious social strife.
The elections were delayed several times before they finally took place on Sunday – the original date for them had been October 2016. The main questions about the election beforehand were how big turnout would end up being, and, of course, which parties would do best.
The Higher Independent Instance for Elections (Isie) published its provisional results from every constituency on Tuesday, May 8, and although the results are not final, we do not expect them to change much by the time the final ones are announced on Wednesday, May 9, so we are comfortable commenting on them.
On turnout, firstly, the result was poor: at the national level turnout was only 33.7% of 5.4 million registered voters. In Tunis the figure was only 26%. No prominent parties or civil societies called for a boycott but there was a widespread perception in Tunisia before the vote that the exercise was a useless one – many Tunisians who spoke to journalists on voting day spoke to a theme of betrayal by the corrupt political class.
Prime Minister Youssef Chahed called the high abstention rate a “negative sign, a strong message to political leaders,” although he himself has been less than enormously forceful in cracking down on the kind of corruption people are fed up with.
Also, his policies have contributed to the very worrying price inflation levels currently eating away at Tunisians’ living standards. Consumer price index inflation hit 7.7% y-o-y in April, the highest level since 1991, and we expect consumer price inflation to increase further as Mr Chahed’s government looks to boost revenues by raising taxes as well as reducing energy subsidies, instead of trimming the massive public sector wage bill, which would make the biggest difference but which would trigger a showdown with the powerful labour unions.
Nor have people seen enough action on tax-dodging importers with links to the political class.
The broader theme of betrayal also results from the grand bargain between Nidaa and Ennahdha, which did improve stability in Tunisia, but also resulted in a crisis of political legitimacy. The political class lost much of its credibility in the deal, and Nidaa lost the most: many who voted for the party in 2014 did so to push back against political Islam and subsequently felt betrayed by President Beji Caid Essebsi’s chumminess with the bearded Muslim Brothers of Ennahdha.
The grubby and self-serving factionalism in the party, where Mr Caid Essebsi was seen as backing his son Hafedh for the party leadership, prompting a split, would not have helped.
The table below summarises the preliminary results the Isie was publishing on Tuesday evening:
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Given the factors outline above, Nidaa’s relatively poor performance makes sense. So does Ennahdha’s strong showing: the Islamists have the most disciplined and organised (and, we suspect, best funded) political machine in the country, and its religious reference has a strong appeal for many. Of the 100 municipalities it won, many are in the south, where piety is more important.
We were slightly surprised by the strong showing by independent lists, which won 91 municipalities, and a greater share of the vote than either of the ruling parties – another sign of general mistrust of the political class. The hard-left Popular Front (FP), which has been implementing the electoral strategy of painting itself as the champion of workers against the neoliberal Nidaa-Ennahdha coalition, did dismally, winning only 70,000 votes, and smaller parties did worse still. Ennahdha won most of the municipalities in the Greater Tunis area, apart from the well-heeled Sidi Bou Saïd (Nidaa) and a few constituencies that went independent. In Sfax, Ennahdha did best, and on preliminary results the parties have the same number of seats in Sousse.
The municipal councils are supposed to elect mayors by the middle of June.
We had always considered the danger of extremists disrupting the vote a small threat, and the only incident was in Mdhilla, near Gafsa in the restive phosphate mining country, where voting was postponed at 24 polling stations because of a mix-up with ballot papers.
The existence of a municipal level of government should lead (as it was intended to) to a greater degree of decentralisation of power, which will be risk-positive, but it remains to be seen how much freedom Nidaa and Ennahdha, two parties with strongly conservative instincts, will give mayors.
The good showing by independents will be positive by creating space for potential new leaders, but the disgust with politicians that prompted it, and also led to the low turnout, is risk-negative. It makes us expect a more feverish social environment, especially if, as we expect, prices keep going up and unemployment remains high.

Why Tunisia’s municipal elections are significant

Almost four years after <a href="http://cnbc.africa/tag/african-bank/page/2/">African Bank</a> was placed under curatorship, another bank has followed suit.
VBS Mutual Bank established in 1982, was placed under curatorship from 5pm CAT on Sunday.
The bank which is registered with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) as a mutual bank shot to fame after <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/02/02/vbs-mutual-bank-chairman-speaks-on-zumas-nkandla-loan/">providing a loan to South Africa&#8217;s former President Jacob Zuma for Nkandla</a>.
SizweNtsalubaGobodo will be the curator of VBS Mutual Bank and will be represented by Anoosh Rooplal.
The Reserve Bank has guaranteed retail deposits amounting to R50 000 per depositor and said VBS remains open for business. According to SARB “the curator will ensure that all loans due are collected as part of the normal collections processes, but also importantly that lending and transactional banking services continue”.
VBS’s main clientele comes from Limpopo. It has 22 051 deposit and 1 105 loan accounts.
The bank has no bondholders. Only instruments qualifying as primary equity.
The decision to place VBS under curatorship was taken due to its increasing liquidity challenges over the last 18 months emanating from a failure of the board of directors and executive management to manage the mutual bank&#8217;s rapid growth and the funding of its liquidity, SARB revealed at a press conference held at its headquarters.
In a statement read to journalists at the conference, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago, dressed casually, said “the liquidity challenges emanated from the concentration of deposits from municipalities and was exacerbated by the termination of other sizeable deposits and the inability to source sufficient funding timeously. It was highly risky for VBS to take sizeable municipal deposits that were short-term and lend them long term.”
It was also in breach of the Banks Act which forbids mutual banks from taking deposits from municipalities, only commercial banks can, revealed Kganyago. The breach was picked up 18 months ago and despite warnings for SARB – VBS continued to take deposits from municipalities. Only on the 26th February did it decide to apply for a commercial bank licence, a process that could take between 12-18 months.
Three years ago, when VBS started accepting deposits from municipalities, it had a balance sheet of about R200 million. This rapidly grew to R2 billion.
The liquidity challenges faced by VBS made it difficult for it to settle obligations in the National Payments System on several occasions. This came to a head on the 16th February when the bank failed to honour its obligation. At this point SARB started engaging with VBS and its two largest two shareholders (the Public Investment Corporation and Vele) on a way forward, after an exhaustive process no solution was found and the decision was taken to place VBS under curatorship, says Kganyago.
Kganyago said banks are placed under curatorship if you believe it might be salvageable and to prevent a run on the bank.
According to National Treasury the aim of curatorship is ultimately to turn the mutual bank around and nurse it back to health. “This is in contrast with liquidation, where the mutual bank is closed down”. Treasury cites African Bank as an example of a bank which emerged stronger after curatorship.

Why black-owned bank VBS was placed under curatorship

PRETORIA) The words that best describe South Africa’s Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s Budget Speech and Treasury’s review came straight from the man himself: “This is a tough, but hopeful budget”.
His speech reveals the economy is in a much better shape, but significant risks remain to economic and fiscal projections These are the key economic takeaways from Treasury’s Budget Review: 
• Budget 2018 moderates spending &amp; raises revenues required to contain the growth in national debt, whilst trying to minimise negative effects on growth. 
• Over the next 3yrs, the spending framework includes: 
&#8211; Expenditure reductions amounting to R85bn 
&#8211; R57bn allocated for fee-free higher education &amp; training 
&#8211; Additions to the contingency reserve amounting to R10bn 
• SA’s economic growth outlook has improved. Its 2017 GDP growth projection revised upward to 1% vs 0.7% forecast. 2018 growth expected to be 1.5%; rising to 2.1% in 2020. 
• The economy has benefited from strong growth in agriculture, higher commodity prices and, in recent months, improving investor sentiment. 
• In 2017, gross fixed-capital formation continued to decline and unemployment reached the highest level recorded since 2003. . 
• Combined profitability of state-owned companies, measured by return on equity, fell from 0.8% in 2015/16 to 0.3% in 2016/17. Several are in financial distress. 
• Capital spending by the major state-owned companies is projected at R368.2bn over the medium term. 
• The three largest development finance institutions held assets totalling R258.9bn at the end of 2016/17. Their loan book totalled R140.5bn. 
• The overall solvency of social security funds weakened, largely as a result of the liabilities of the Road Accident Fund. If the fund is excluded, their position has improved. A new road accident benefit arrangement was approved by Cabinet and tabled in Parliament in June 2017. 
• The public-sector borrowing requirement is expected to be R329.1bn in 2017/18, R77.4bn higher than projected in the 2017 Budget, mainly due to a larger consolidated deficit. 
• Compared with the 2017 Budget projection, the gross borrowing requirement for 2017/18 increased by R25.1bn to R246bn. 
• Demand for government debt remains robust, despite two sovereign credit-rating downgrades during 2017. 
• Net debt is expected to be R2.28trn in 2017/18, or 48.6% of GDP, increasing to R3.03trn, or 52.2% of GDP in 2020/21. Net debt is expected to stabilise at 53.2% in 2023/24. 
• Debt-service costs have increased to an estimated R163.2bn in 2017/18, or 3.5% of GDP, and are projected to increase to R213.9%, or 3.7% of GDP, in 2020/21. 
• Deep and liquid domestic capital markets will remain government’s main source of borrowing.. 
• Eskom, independent power producers and the Road Accident Fund account for the majority of government’s contingent liabilities. 
• The 2018 Budget proposes major spending adjustments and tax measures in response to the unsustainable debt 
• The consolidated deficit is projected to narrow from 4.3% of GDP in 2017/18 to 3.5% in 2020/21. 
• The main budget primary deficit will close over the medium term, helping to stabilise the gross debt-to-GDP ratio at 56.2% of GDP in 2022/23. 
• Public spending is expected to be R1.67trn in 2018/19, R1.8 trn in 2019/20 and R1.94trn in 2020/21. 
• Departmental budgets have been reduced by R85.7bn over the medium term. Cuts at the provincial level mainly affect conditional infrastructure grants. 
• Spending on staff and salaries, which absorbs 35% of expenditure, is expected to grow at 7.3% per year.

SA’s #Budget2018: The economic takeaways

(PRETORIA) South Africa’s Budget 2018 speech and review was an uplifting read unlike Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s 2017 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), which led South Africa down a spiral characterised by slow economic growth, recession, ratings downgrades, and heightened concerns regarding the governance and sustainability of key state-owned companies.
FOR MORE VISIT <a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/budget-day/budget-2018-sa/">BUDGET 2018 &#8211; SA</a>
Even Gigaba’s Budget lockup press conference on Wednesday was more upbeat than last year’s MTBPS’s. He had the confidence and swagger of man who believes he has averted further downgrades for South Africans. But for the wealthy and lovers of the finer things in life from smartphones to Gucci handbags &#8211; Budget 2018 makes for sombre reading.
If you’re wealthy or love the finer things in life this is how you’ll be impacted
<ul>
<li>VAT rate to increase from 14% to 15%. The wealthiest 30% of households contribute 85% of VAT revenue.</li>
<li>Products such as rye or low GI bread which are more expensive will not be zero-rated. This type of bread tends to be consumed by richer households.</li>
<li>There’ll will be no adjustments to the top four income tax brackets</li>
<li>Ad-valorem excise duty rate on luxury goods to increase from 7% to 9%.</li>
<li>Effective 1 April 2018, the maximum ad valorem excise duty for motor vehicles will increase from 25% to 30%.</li>
<li>Classification of cellular telephones will be updated to include “smartphones” to ensure they attract ad valorem excise duties.</li>
<li>Government will consult on a proposal to replace the flat rate for cellphones with a progressive rate structure based on the value of the phone.</li>
<li>From March 1 a higher estate duty tax rate of 25% for estates greater than R30mn will be introduced. To limit the staggering of donations to avoid the higher estate duty rate, any donations above R30mn in one tax year will also be taxed at 25%.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;

SA #Budget2018: A tax on the wealthy, and smartphones

By Hassan El-Houry, Group CEO, NAS
Africa is a single continent, comprising of 54 separate countries. Trade with the rest of the world can often be difficult and complex. Thirteen of the countries are landlocked, making air travel the best mode of transportation &#8211; especially considering the poor land infrastructure and terrain.
High population with low international movement
Africa is going through an economic boom and tourism in Africa grew by nine percent in 2017, the highest increase of any region. However it is interesting to note that even though Africans total 12 percent of the world population, they make up only three percent of the world’s travellers.
There are many factors influencing this gap. The lack of domestic flights causes significant issues, with stopovers causing double or triple the journey times on many routes. For example, when traveling from Abidjan to Kampala, both notable economic powerhouses, you have to fly via Istanbul and reconnect because there are no direct flights.
High-ticket prices also cause complications for Africa’s aviation industry. It’s expensive traveling to and from Africa, but it’s also expensive to travel within Africa, a factor driven by lesser competition and local airlines.
Non-African carriers currently cover eighty percent of the African market. While there is a steady increase in the number of African carriers like Ethiopian Airlines, South African, Kenyan Airways, Air Cote d’Ivoire, Royal Air Marco and Egypt Air, they still cannot fully compete with the likes of European or Middle Eastern carriers.
Disparity in quality
Intra-region visa restrictions are another major impediment to travel and economic prosperity in Africa. According to the Africa Visa Openness Index, on an average, Africans need visas to enter 55 per cent of states within the continent.
The African Union (AU) has attempted to address this issue of free movement within the region for the last 30 years by introducing a common African passport in 2016, with a goal to distribute them to all citizens by 2020.
While the number of countries becoming more liberal has increased, a visa-free Africa still seems like a dream for the continent’s entrepreneurs, doctors, aid workers, college professors and reuniting families.
Nonetheless, figures show that aviation in Africa has evolved significantly. Thirty or forty years ago, most of the traffic from the continent to other areas of the planet was to Europe or the United States. Now, there’s a lot of traffic between Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as between Africa and the rest of the world. For airports in Africa, this has meant that hubs serving all these destinations have grown and improved considerably due to increases in footfall and therefore income.
The future of Africa’s aviation industry
Relationships between African cities and countries, and their Asian and Middle Eastern counterparts have strengthened and deepened. As intra-African trade has increased and visa restrictions have decreased, travel within the continent will also continue to grow significantly.
Aviation impacts all our lives, on both a macro and micro level. A lot of products that are integral parts of our lives come to us through air travel, including food, electronics and medicines.
The ability to travel freely has dramatically changed our understanding of life as it enables a high level of mobility. By making air travel easier and accessible, we are encouraging more and more people to travel and increase interpersonal interactions across multiple borders.
By bridging geographic gaps, removing complexity and bringing people closer, aviation will boost the creation of shared value in our fractured world.

Africa’s aviation industry has a problem, but this could be the future

Aspen has been in the spotlight on speculation that it could be the next victim of <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/financial/2018/01/12/viceroy-research-hits-back-sas-critics/">short-sellers Viceroy Research</a>. Aspen’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/aspen-ceo-defends-earnings-amid-post-steinhoff-market-jitters">shares fell 10% in early January</a> on the back of these rumours.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC Africa, Aspen’s CEO Stephen Saad  revealed that Shoprite’s Chairman and Steinhoff’s former Chairman  Christo Wiese’s dumping of between 4-5 million shares may have led to the panic selling of Africa’s biggest generics drugmaker on 9th January 2018. The share price opened the day at R262.08 and closed at R250.13. Taking the average price on the day Wiese sold shares worth over R1 billion (over $82mn).
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Wiese, whose liquidity has been squeezed following the <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/12/11/behind-the-steinhoff-struggle/">obliteration of retailer Steinhoff’s share price</a> on accounting irregularities, has been selling shares in various listed companies.
Read: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/insights/steinhoff/2017/12/21/shoprtie-share-sale/">Billionaire Christo Wiese sells over $80mln in Shoprite shares </a>
Saad also told CNBC Africa’s Bronwyn Nielsen that there is no price sensitive information that management of Aspen Pharmacare Ltd is holding back from the market.
“The only information we have now that the public don’t have is really our results,” said Saad.  Our trading update – we half year December – so our trading update will be in February as it has always been and results will be out on 8th March, he added.
Saad also shed light on his relationship with Jooste. He dispelled rumours that he has bought Jooste’s horses.   “I didn’t even know Markus Jooste had horses,” he said.
“Anyone who knows me well knows there is far more chance of me buying a rhino than there is of me buying a racehorse, Saad added.
He revealed that he and Jooste had sat on the same board for Investec related company – IEP from which Jooste resigned from in December.
IEP is an investment holding company with controlling and strategic scalable interests in a number of companies, such as Assupol and Vumatel.
“I met Markus Jooste twice in those board meetings, and Markus Jooste was actually chairman of those meetings. It is a completely independent investment. It is a personal investment,” said Saad.
“I thought he was really smart, very charming and very down to earth and is charismatic”. I have got nothing negative to say about him out of the two meetings I met Markus Jooste.&#8221;

Billionaire Christo Wiese may have caused the selloff in Aspen: Saad  

If one word dominated South Africa’s markets this week – it was Viceroy.
The short sellers, based in New York, who describe themselves as a “group of individuals that see the world differently”, have been blamed for <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2018/01/09/why-aspen-is-not-the-next-steinhoff/">driving down the share price of Aspen</a>, Africa’s biggest generics drugmaker and that of real estate investment trusts such as <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2018/01/11/resilient-falls-victim-to-viceroy-expose-rumours/">Resilient Reit</a>, Nepi Rockcastle, Fortress Reit A and B.
Viceroy Research shot to fame in South Africa <a href="https://viceroyresearch.org/2017/12/06/steinhoffs-skeletons-off-balance-sheet-entities-inflating-earnings-obscuring-losses/">over its report on Steinhoff’s accounting irregularities</a>. It then sent the rumour mill to spin when it revealed it would release another report on a South African company in 2018.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Viceroy will be flying out the gates in 2018, and we won&#8217;t be slowing down.
We are working on European, South African, and US names for Q1 2018, while continuing to expose <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24MDXG&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$MDXG</a> lies. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/staywoke?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#staywoke</a> <a href="https://t.co/8sUhnLwsgx">https://t.co/8sUhnLwsgx</a>
— Viceroy (@viceroyresearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/viceroyresearch/status/946709350554488834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The plunge in the share price of <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/healthcare/2018-01-09-aspen-says-it-has-nothing-in-common-with-steinhoff-as-share-price-slumps/">Aspen resulted in its CEO Stephen Saad calling for an inquiry</a> into market manipulation. The Financial Services Board’s Tembisa Marele in an emailed statement to CNBC Africa confirmed that it is engaging with the country’s bourse – the JSE &#8211; on this matter.
The JSE is “reviewing trading activity and will refer any concerns to the FSB for its consideration. The specific mandate of the FSB in this area, according to the FMA (Financial Markets Act) is to investigate cases of insider trading; price manipulation; and false reporting. This engagement with the JSE will determine what case, if any, the FSB ought to look into,” says Marele .
In response to emailed questions from CNBC Africa Viceroy has hit back:
<h3>Q&amp;A With Viceroy</h3>
CNBC AFRICA Question: Following news that Viceroy plans to release a report on another SA company rumours have surfaced that it could be Aspen or several listed property companies such as NEPI or Resilient. Our financial regulator and bourse are now investigating alleged market manipulation. How do you respond to allegations that you are behind the market manipulation?
Viceroy Answer: Viceroy encourage [sic] people not to speculate on the identity of any companies we are researching &amp; we advise caution in trading on gossip. Viceroy complies with the laws and have not released research or discussed our focus prior to publication.
We will not provide any further details on our focus as, without our full report, this may constitute market manipulation.
Frankly, the speculation of widespread fraud on the JSE is reflective of a system where regulators are struggling with a lack of funding, allowing bad people to abuse the system, the people and the government. We are most willing to assist regulators in this regard where we can.

Viceroy Research hits back at SA’s critics

By Rofhiwa Madzena
The <a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/steinhoff/">Steinhoff saga</a> could not have unfolded at a better time, for the African National Congress (ANC).
It is being used as means for the ANC to drive the narrative that monopoly capital is not colourless as previously stated but is ‘white’, and goes against all that the ANC looks to achieve in South Africa in terms of social and economic transformation.
Speaking at the <a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/anc-elective-conference/">54th National Conference of the ANC</a>, President Jacob Zuma did not hold back any punches against corporate South Africa as he delivered his Political Report.
“The private sector is treated with kid gloves, and is referred to in softer terms such as collusion, accounting irregularities or lapses in corporate governance. Theft and corruption in the private sector is as bad as that in government and must be dealt with decisively by law enforcement agencies,” he said.
President Zuma went on to highlight that “corporate greed is a threat to the organisation- corporates looking to garner influence within decision making structures of the ruling party. “We need to protect the organisation from corporate greed.
He went on to say that the movement is 105 years old with experience to match and does not need to utilise corporate South Africa as crutch to manage the social and economic constraints the country currently faces.
He went on to highlight that the ruling party has received numerous threats that the economy will collapse if there is an outcome that the markets do not want and added that the direction of the ANC would not be determined by the private sector.
President Zuma did however recognise that the economy is in dire straits.
“The economy remains fragile. Economic growth of 1.3 per cent is projected for 2017, reaching 2.2 per cent by 2019, supported by global growth, stabilising commodity prices and a modest recovery in business and consumer confidence.  Improved policy implementation, which must be a key focus area in this conference, will improve the employment and investment outcomes.”
Opposition which has been following the National Conference described the president’s views on economic transformation as a veiled swipe a presidential hopeful, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa who is known to be the preferred presidential candidate by corporate South Africa.

The ANC’s direction will not be determined by corporate SA: Zuma

BERLIN, Oct 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; As a child during Ethiopia’s deadly famine of 1984, Asfawossen Kassaye remembers watching people from the countryside flock to his town, desperately looking for food after a drought devastated their fields.
He knows first-hand how much damage climate change has done to his region of East Africa, where scientists say it is making droughts worse, longer and more frequent, putting millions at risk of hunger.
Watch: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/09/14/is-climate-change-the-culprit-behind-natural-disasters/">Is climate change the culprit behind natural disasters?</a>
“Climate change is something that is part of the life of the people there” said Kassaye, a geology professor at Addis Ababa University.
The growing risks are driving a small but increasingly vocal group of researchers to explore using technology to reduce the threats, in essence by re-engineering the climate.
Such “geoengineering” proposals include large-scale, controversial projects that aim to dim sunlight or capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The proposals &#8211; some of which sound like science fiction &#8211; are for the most part still in early stages of testing. But campaigners say poor countries might, once again, suffer the most devastating consequences if some of the technologies are used.
Poor countries have disproportionately born the brunt of climate change even as they had little to do with causing it. In 2015, the United States alone emitted more planet-warming carbon dioxide than the African continent’s 54 countries.
The build-up of climate-changing gases in the atmosphere has driven unusual and extreme weather linked to climate change across the globe, bringing record floods and droughts and more severe storms.
But poor countries have suffered the most serious economic damage and loss of lives, in part because they have limited resources to prepare for and cope with the changes, experts say.
“This is something that we haven’t caused, that we are paying a bigger price for,” Kassaye, of Ethiopia, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at a climate conference in Berlin.
The question scientists are now trying to answer is: Could geoengineering methods leave people in poor, climate-vulnerable countries better off than unabated climate change?
“What the African farmer wants it to know is if there will be rain next year, if that rain is going to come at a predictable time, and if it’s going to be enough for the crops,” Kassaye said.
HACKING THE CLIMATE
Worldwide, rising temperatures are now on track to exceed goals set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Those excess emissions are blamed for stoking heatwaves, downpours, more powerful storms and a rise in sea levels.
As a result, research into geoengineering is ramping up and scientists say large-scale projects to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere will be needed by the 2030s to hold the line against climate change.
If geoengineering solutions fulfill their promises, they could reduce global warming, limit sea-level rise, and make extreme weather events such as hurricanes and droughts less frequent.
But there is little research about the potential effects of some of the technologies on poor countries.
Some studies have suggested, for instance, that spraying sun-dimming chemicals into the upper atmosphere could affect global weather patterns and shift monsoons that are vital for millions across Asia and Africa.
“Geoengineering is a humanitarian concern,” Pablo Suarez, a researcher for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Berlin. “It is not only about degrees Celsius and global temperature. It is about people.”
Other ideas for easing climate impacts include planting carbon-absorbing forests across large areas of the world, then harvesting the wood for energy, with the emissions produced pumped into storage underground.
Such a process could suck carbon out of the atmosphere and is likely to feature in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report next year.
But scientists say planting forests on the scale needed to limit global warming could take up to a third of the land that can be used to grow crops, threatening food security and land rights, particularly of poor people.
Some climate change-related problems also are left unresolved by climate engineering, experts say.
Dimming sunshine to cool the planet, for example, would not reduce the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, something that is making oceans more acidic and threatening sea life that millions rely on for food.
LEAP IN THE DARK
While many scientists have studied the potential for engineering solutions at a global level, models used to predict climate change and weather patterns in the future are not precise enough yet to predict regional changes accurately, experts say.
And different regions have different priorities when it comes to fighting climate change. Scientists in east Africa, which often struggles with long droughts, for instance, are worried about the impact that efforts to reflect more sunlight away from the planet could have on rainfall.
In the Caribbean, just battered by a series of deadly hurricanes, the focus is on the potential for geoengineering making extreme weather events less &#8211; or more &#8211; frequent.
South Asian researchers, whose home countries saw over a thousand die this year after the worst flooding in a decade, are interested in the impact of the new technologies on monsoons.
But those involved in studying geoengineering have predominantly been from rich countries in Europe and North America, rather than from poorer countries.
Last week, a new research fund aimed at scientists from developing countries was launched to help them study the impact of “solar radiation management” &#8211; or reflecting away more sunlight &#8211; on their regions.
“Developing countries are typically on the frontline of climate change. They are more vulnerable to environmental change &#8211; change caused by global warming or by geoengineering,” said Andy Parker, a project manager at the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative, which launched the fund.
Voices from poor countries have to be more central to discussions about geoengineering, he added.
“Nobody likes to be a rat in someone else’s laboratory,” Suarez, of the Red Cross’s Climate Centre, said at last week’s Climate Engineering Conference 2017 in Berlin.
“There is a symbolic difference between (change) happening as a by-product of people using their cars, heating their homes or chopping their trees versus someone intentionally changing the climate,” he said.
A WELCOME DISTRACTION?
One thing many campaigners and scientists agree on is that they don’t know enough about the potential impacts of geoengineering.
But some fear that pinning hopes on technology to fix the climate is a distraction from making needed emissions cuts and could divert funding from pressing efforts to adapt to the changes underway.
“To prevent more droughts, you need to think about alternatives, about solving the causes of the problem with agriculture, restoration of forests,” said Silvia Ribeiro, Latin America director at environmental group ETC, which opposes the use of geoengineering technology.
&#8220;That doesn&#8217;t only provide environmental benefits, it also provides food and employment for many people,&#8221; he said. (Reporting by Anna Pujol-Mazzini @annapmzn, Editing by Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit news.trust.org)

Why Africans are wary of re-engineering the climate

Nelspuit born Ray Phiri (70) a South African jazz legend has died after suffering from lung cancer. Born on 23rd March 1947 Phiri shot to fame in 1985, when Paul Simon asked him and Ladysmith Black Mambazo to join his Graceland project. Phiri,  who was a founding member of the Cannibals and the world celebrated group &#8211; Stimela, penned the piece below for <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/">Forbes Africa</a> in April 2015 on his deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley. Forbes Africa asked him to write it in commemoration of Zimbabwe&#8217;s 1980 independence day.
Bob Marley’s song Zimbabwe has a deep spiritual connection with me. I fell in love with Marley’s music in the late 1970s as a producer on the RPM label that distributed his music in South Africa.
Zimbabwe, though set to a laid back groove, is a potent, revolutionary and uplifting piece of poetry that I can never tire of hearing. It is a call to action for Africans to liberate themselves. Zimbabwe was host to me and many South Africans in exile and a champion for our own independence in South Africa. When Marley brought these elements together, live at Rufaro Stadium in Harare in 1980, it was inspirational.
Bob Marley opens and closes with the line Every man got a right to decide his own destiny. What a powerful statement for a black man to make in 1980. Back then, Cold War politics saw major powers pay little attention to the right of the African to exercise proper self-determination. It was a time of puppet masters, mercenaries and assassinations. In one line, Marley asserts a notion similarly enshrined in the 1776 American Declaration of Independence – ‘that all men are created equal’ and whose rights include ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. When Marley says in this judgement there is no partiality and brother you’re right, you’re right, you’re right, so right he is affirming the concept that the African not only has inalienable rights but is justified in the right to determine and assert them as he sees fit – even if it means fighting back.
I love Marley’s use of Jamaican patois in the chorus to toast Zimbabwe’s independence. I can see the African in him digging deep within the soul of his vernacular to express himself beyond the confines of the English language. Lively expressions like Natty Dread it (let your hair down/shake those locks free – be black and proud of it), set it up (live it up), mash it up (raise the roof), and dub it (get down), all conjure up images of people having a good time, united in a colorful celebration. It is not just celebrating Zimbabwe’s independence but celebrating that Africans have brought that liberation about. Marley’s wit and optimism shines in the repetition of the oxymoron little trouble/little struggle – almost poking a finger up at the establishment by demeaning the barrier they represented to African independence.
Marley does not shy away from the sobering realities of the struggle for independence. We gon’ fight, we have to fight, fight for our rights resonates strongly with me as this became our reality in South Africa. By 1980, many young people in apartheid era South Africa and Ian Smith’s Rhodesia had answered that call to go arm in arm with arms to fight this struggle. When many of our leaders were imprisoned or gagged by the state, we as artists and civic leaders stepped up and became the inspirational voices and ‘real revolutionaries’ Marley is referring to. Our words became metaphoric arms, arming our people’s consciousness to fight back. When I say, Don’t be afraid, don’t whisper in the deep. Speak out your mind, stand up! and I’m inspired. I cannot understand hate in Whispers in the Deep I am channeling Marley’s call to action. I am encouraging our people to take a stand against everything apartheid stood for.
Marley also sketches a blueprint for post-apartheid South Africa with the call to come together to overcome, challenge the divide and rule legacy and find humanity in each other (in every man’s chest there beats a heart). We could not be passive, hoping naively that apartheid would end. We took Marley’s inspiration to fight, and then cast aside our internal power struggles to build a new society founded on peace, love and harmony. We wrote songs to encourage our people to examine themselves, unite, keep fighting and awaken the world to our plight – songs like Singa Jindi Majita by Stimela, Asimbonanga by Johnny Clegg and Savuka, and Weeping by Bright Blue. When we took our music abroad, we gave a voice to the anti-apartheid movement and challenged the propaganda war of Pik Botha’s government. We encouraged boycotts and protests. We united across racial lines to form plural organizations like the UDF in 1983 and, as artists, the South African Musicians Alliance in 1986. These movements crystalized social reform, contributing to the end of apartheid and laying the foundations for the democratic South Africa we live in today.
[bc_video video_id=&#8221;5503874306001&#8243; account_id=&#8221;1571595826001&#8243; player_id=&#8221;default&#8221;]
I believe Bob Marley’s messages in Zimbabwe of African emancipation, self-determination and renaissance are still relevant 35 years later. At a forum at the African Union in Addis Ababa, I worked with other African artists to forge the vision of an African Renaissance by 2063. Echoes of I don’t want my people to be contrary and Every man got a right to decide his own destiny were in the dialogue and actions of these determined and united Africans.
That spirit lives on. Marley was truly a prophet of our time.

Jazz legend Ray Phiri’s deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/177123/width754/file-20170706-5026-qkev0u.jpg" alt="File 20170706 5026 qkev0u" /><figcaption>Tropical forests in the Congo for example have exceptionally high animal and plant species. 
Shutterstock</figcaption></figure>
Tropical Africa has two distinct features – rain forests which are dominated by trees and savannas which are dominated by grasses. Both depend on rainfall quantity and seasonality. Seasonality measures how constant the distribution of rainfall over the course of a year is – in other words how long the dry season is.
Forests located close to the Equator receive lots of rainfall constantly <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0005/000580/058054eo.pdf">over the year</a>, while savannas receive less rainfall and only during the wet season.
Forests and savannas are expected to be strongly affected in the coming decades by changing rainfall patterns, including increased dry periods and decreasing annual rainfall. These changes are already being felt. In some areas of Burkina Faso <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02560.x/abstract">desertification is increasing</a>, while <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0081">in Chad</a> rainfall is increasing. These changes are being linked to climate change <a href="https://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v3/n4/full/nclimate1716.html">across the world</a>.
Forests and savannas are expected to be affected greatly by these changes because they depend heavily on rainfall quantity and seasonality.
<h2>Forests and savannas are important ecosystems</h2>
Savannas and forests function very differently but they are important ecologically and economically. They sustain a lot of plant and wildlife. Tropical forests have exceptionally high animal and plant species. They also play a crucial role in regulating the global climate, for example by storing <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/333/6045/988">lots of carbon</a>. And people make a living off forests.
Most of sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture takes place <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.28.1.517">in savanna areas</a> which support most of the continent’s cropland and pasture areas. Importantly, savannas such as <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/156">the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania</a> are also home to the largest animal populations on Earth.
But future changes in the climate could have an impact on these symbolic landscapes. For example, decreasing rainfall in forest areas, and increasing number of droughts, may cause <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037811270900615X">trees to die</a>. In savanna areas, more rain may increase <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0081">tree growth and cover</a>.
The way people are using the land can also have a big impact on forests and savannas. For example changing agricultural practices toward intensification and conversion of <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3242e/i3242e.pdf">very large areas to cropland</a> has been shown to have a major impact. Thus, conservation efforts need to start taking into account the effects of climate change as well as the potential impact of agricultural conversion to target forests and savannas that are at greatest risk.
<h2>The ecological importance of fire</h2>
The Congo Basin is Africa’s main tropical forest block covering more than <a href="http://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/">178 million hectares</a> – a third of the size of the Amazon. Tropical forests are also present in East and West Africa but in smaller areas. Trees in these tropical forests are very sensitive to disturbances such as fires which are exacerbated by droughts. Indeed, increasing drought can enable fires to spread from savannas into the adjacent forests. This is what happened during the massive wildfire in the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/massive-wildfire-rips-through-congo-rainforest-is-logging-to-blame/">Congo Basin in January 2016</a>.
<figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/177121/area14mp/file-20170706-26465-udypdd.jpg"><img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/177121/width754/file-20170706-26465-udypdd.jpg" alt="" /></a><figcaption>savannas need [disturbances like fire. 
Shutterstock</figcaption></figure>
For their part, savannas need <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7069/abs/nature04070.html">disturbances like fire</a> but repeated fires limit the number of trees, and thus the tree cover, and <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6269/120">promotes biodiversity</a>.
<h2>Responding to climate change and land use</h2>
The prediction is that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13299/full">rainfall will increase</a> in some savanna areas of Central African Republic. This will lead to an increase in tree cover <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13299/full">within savannas</a>. If not compensated by fire landscape opening, this tree cover increase could be an issue because it would limit the quantity of grasses accessible for livestock and wild herbivores.
The predictions for the drier regions are more variable. In some areas of the Sahelian region, like Chad, it’s predicted that rainfall will increase, similarly leading to an <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13299/full">increase in tree cover</a>. But this is likely to have a positive effect because it will mean more productivity for grasses and trees. In other areas, like in Burkina Faso, the length of the dry season may increase which could <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02560.x/abstract">drive desertification</a>.
In the case of the Congo Basin, an increase in seasonality could lead to a decrease in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13299/full">tree cover</a> because it’s likely to limit tree growth and increase tree mortality.
But climate change is not the only threat that forests and savannas are facing. The way people are using these two ecosystems is also having an impact. For example, new development policies suggest that more savanna areas should be targeted <a href="https://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/Rising-Global-Interest-in-Farmland.pdf">for biofuel production</a>.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/78421/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13299/full">Future simulations</a> suggest that increasing cropland and pastureland by 2070 will modify tree cover in both forests and savannas more than climate change. Environmental policies are crucial because they have the power to influence where large conversions to agriculture take place. This is particularly important for areas of low population densities and where agricultural practices are still traditional, as <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep41393?WT.feed_name=subjects_ecology">in the Central African Republic</a>.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/julie-c-aleman-380148">Julie C. Aleman</a>, Postdoctoral research associate working on savanna and forest distribution, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/yale-university-1326">Yale University</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="http://theconversation.com/why-the-future-of-africas-forests-and-savannas-are-under-threat-78421">original article</a>.

Africa’s forests and savannas are under threat, ignore it at your on peril

Making economies work for more people is a political task, not a technical exercise. The <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/">World Bank</a> has just conceded this – without meaning to do so.
The bank has taken a <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/world-bank-president-kim-calls-for-a-different-and-difficult-conversation-about-development-finance-90043">new direction</a> which, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-world-banks-efforts-to-marshal-private-capital-wont-reduce-poverty-80348">its critics say</a>, means that it has given up on making economies work for the poor.
In theory, they are right. In practice, the bank may be recognising that the politics which shape it made it impossible for it to achieve the development which it promised for the poor.
The change was outlined in an April <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2017/04/11/speech-by-world-bank-group-president-jim-yong-kim-rethinking-development-finance">speech</a> by bank President <a href="http://president.worldbankgroup.org/home">Jim Yong Kim</a>, and is discussed in a recent <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEVCOMMINT/Documentation/23745169/DC2017-0002.pdf">document</a> spelling out the bank’s vision for 2030. It’s meant to change it from a lender for development into a broker which will unlock “trillions” of dollars in private investment. It will seek to help countries by advising them on the policy and governance changes they need to make to attract the money. So the Bank will become a conduit for private investment, not public development funding.
The Bank does not say it is giving up on public funding. But its document declares that:
<blockquote>Only where market solutions are not possible … would official and public resources be applied.</blockquote>
So public development funding will be used only where it cannot attract private investors to poorer countries. Since Kim insists it can unlock “trillions” of dollars which can transform developing countries, it seems unlikely to reach for public funding in a hurry. So it seeks now to act as a broker for private investment, not public development.
<h2>Increased poverty and conflict</h2>
The bank’s critics point out that private funding wants returns, not less poverty. They warn that relying on it for development will increase poverty and conflict. Ironically, they are repeating <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/11/world-bank-jim-yong-kim">criticism</a> that Kim made when he was a development practitioner – that development was being shaped by the agendas of private funders.
In principle, the shift does abdicate the World Bank’s mandate. It was a product of the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7725157.stm">1944 Bretton Woods conference</a> where its <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24563251">architects</a>, John Maynard Keynes, Henry Morgenthau and Harry Dexter White, all saw an important public sector role in correcting some of the market’s impact. The bank was an instrument of that public role &#8211; <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-new-global-agenda-implications-for-the-role-of-the-world-bank/">one of its functions</a> was “counter cyclical” public funding to stimulate economic activity when dips in the business cycle depressed markets.
The bank’s shift abandons this role and places the fate of the global poor largely in the hands of private wealth. It seeks not to find ways in which private money can serve public needs but how public needs can shift to meet the demands of private money.
It could be seen as the final abandonment of wealthy countries’ obligation to the rest of the planet, US President Donald Trump’s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-38698654/donald-trump-america-first-america-first">“America First”</a> translated into a development strategy.
But in practice, it’s debatable whether the shift will change much in the life of the world’s poor.
<h2>A role to markets</h2>
The role the World Bank’s architects had in mind may describe what it did at the beginning when it funded the revival of war-torn Europe. But, when it <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/history">began to fund </a> development in poor countries, it gave a role to markets well beyond anything its inventors would have endorsed.
In Africa, it demanded <a href="http://www.globalissues.org/article/3/structural-adjustment-a-major-cause-of-poverty">Structural Adjustment Programmes</a> which cut back sharply on public welfare and, in the view of critics (such as Kim in his previous incarnation), caused great suffering. Its determination to ensure that funds went only to the most desperate (cutting the funding burden) once prompted it to recommend, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/25/imf-arab-spring-loans-egypt-tunisia">in Tunisia</a>, a biscuit so unpleasant that only the very hungry would eat it. The World Bank’s private finance arm, the <a href="http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/corp_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/home">International Finance Corporation</a> (IFC), whose role will be strengthened by the shift, was fingered as the chief cause of that suffering.
So the bank behaved in much the same way and for much the same reasons as its critics fear it will behave now.
It and its supporters insist it made a <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=A6HKcmoJixIC&amp;pg=PR23&amp;lpg=PR23&amp;dq=the+world+bank+says+International+Finance+Corporation+had+a+positive+impact&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=WbH1DrvtXq&amp;sig=5vixu7qUpi1pGi7DhMyO3GQnkPU&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiMtdet5vbUAhVrJ8AKHUZyCrsQ6AEIQDAF#v=onepage&amp;q=the%20world%20bank%20says%20International%20Finance%20Corporation%20had%20a%20positive%20impact&amp;f=false">positive impact</a>: they cite data showing a marked drop in global poverty and say it contributed to this. But the figures are hotly debated. Even if they are accurate, there is no clear evidence that the bank helped make them happen. Nor has it created a world in which many more people find a settled role in the economy.
So the bank’s new role may, therefore, be simply its old one, but now with an accurate product description.
This may overstate the case: the bank has, at times, made a serious attempt to listen to critics and to become a conduit of development, not pain. But it was never able to adjust as an organisation – it would often endorse criticisms in theory but not translate them into practice. And so it did not become an effective development engine. The bank’s current shift has probably been prompted by its declining role as a development funder, as poorer countries discover other sources of finance.
READ: <a class="l _PMs" href="http://cnbc.africa/news/2017/06/20/world-bank-reinvents-puts-poverty-reduction-risk/">The World Bank reinvents itself – and puts poverty reduction at risk</a>
<h2>More finance, but more expensive</h2>
The bank failed to do what it promised because it reduced development, a political task, to a technical exercise. It did this because its own political constraints ruled out an effective role.
Effective campaigns against poverty and inequality happen for one of two reasons. Either elites decide it’s in their interests to fight them or, in democracies, poorer citizens use their vote and their rights to achieve change.
Neither condition applied to the World Bank. Its decisions are not made democratically because votes are allocated in proportion to capital invested, not the number of people a government represents. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/apr/16/jim-yong-kim-world-bank-president">America always appoints</a> the bank president because it provides most of the capital and has most of the votes.
The Bretton Woods trio did not see that the <a href="https://livingnewdeal.org/what-was-the-new-deal/">New Deal</a>, the US programme in response to the Great Depression in 1933, had worked partly because it had a solid base of democratic support and that democracy was essential to the development they sought. In the absence of democracy, the elites have decided what the bank should do. Since the focus shifted from Europe to the rest of the world, they have shown little interest in changing a state of affairs from which they benefit.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/80630/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />It’s this political context which has caught up with the bank, first reducing its role and then forcing it to give up on public funding to fight poverty. Ironically, the critics who insisted that it take politics seriously have been vindicated in a way they did not intend or expect. Challenged to recognise politics’ role in development, it has done so by concluding that the politics which govern how it works make an effective role in development impossible.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/steven-friedman-297963">Steven Friedman</a>, Professor of Political Studies, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-johannesburg-1275">University of Johannesburg</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-world-banks-shift-from-public-to-private-funding-means-for-development-80630">original article</a>.

What the World Bank’s shift from public to private funding means for development

This year’s G20, led by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, should be commended for prioritising African development. 
The G20 Africa Partnership conference this week in Berlin marked a significant moment to focus on what both African and G20 governments can do to address economic and political challenges in one of the world’s most vibrant continents ready to overcome its challenges along with its partners who have often promised prosperity. 
Having shown their serious intent at the lectern and on panels, the G20 and African leaders must now move beyond speeches and pledges and take concrete, demonstrable steps to help the African continent harness its full potential. 
France, Germany, Italy and the UK have &#8211; as key European G20 members &#8211; the opportunity to do just that in the coming days as the EU moves to finalise its Anti-Money Laundering Directive. 
These countries could demonstrate a real commitment to help curb corruption in African and other countries (not to mention their own) by ensuring that the beneficial owners of companies, trusts and similar legal mechanisms are made publicly available. Nigeria is already leading by example with our current efforts at ensuring that there is no hiding place for corrupt individuals and corporations. 
This common sense measure would ensure that legal and tax authorities in Nigeria and elsewhere have rapid and easy access to this information &#8211; bypassing the myriad, complex and bureaucratic information-sharing agreements that currently impede investigations. 
Putting this information in the public realm would also ensure that African journalists, civil society organisations and ordinary citizens can analyse this information, helping to identify corruption and establishing trust in a global system that many currently feel is rigged against them. 
The Anti-Money Laundering Directive would also be a deterrent, forcing the would-be criminal and corrupt to think twice before engaging in illicit activity. 
Curbing corruption and illicit deals would help African governments secure much-needed revenues. According to a High-Level Panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Africa is estimated to be losing more than $50 billion each year in illicit financial flows. My country has worked for years to recover billions of dollars of assets stolen, much of it secreted away to Europe. 
Anonymous shell companies and trusts, the 21st century’s ‘getaway cars for the corrupt’, have often facilitated these illicit flows and stolen assets. That money could help finance infrastructure and social programs in Nigeria and other African countries. 
That is more important now than ever. Africa is home to all ten countries with the highest fertility rates in the world and this population boom will further strain governments already struggling to meet the needs of their people. 
An estimated 22.5 million jobs per year will need to be created to meet the demand of this African youth explosion, a demographic with the same energy, dynamism and ambitions as their peers in developed nations. 
But our efforts to create sustainable economic growth are undermined by corruption facilitated by the legal and financial systems of G20 countries. 
If the Governments fail in this endeavour to provide for their youth, the likely political instability and massive population displacements could dwarf the refugee crisis currently impacting Europe. 
So if European countries sincerely want to help Africa succeed, they must help African governments curb corruption. They can show their commitment to a true partnership with Africa by delivering game-changing EU anti-money laundering regulations that prevent the criminal and corrupt from hiding behind anonymity and stealing Africa’s future from its people. Because failure to do so could undermine all their other efforts to help Africa prosper.

Op-ed: Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to G20: It’s time to move beyond pledges to back Africa’s future

For 24 hours rumours swirled through Zambia that President Edgar Lungu <a href="https://www.zambiawatchdog.com/lungu-likely-to-sign-state-of-emergency-tonight/">planned to initiate a state of emergency</a>. When he finally took to the airwaves to <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-05-zambia">make a special announcement</a> he did something different. Invoking <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/07/05/article-31-declaration-relating-threatened-emergency/">Article 31</a> of the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/26620/90492/F735047973/ZMB26620.pdf">constitution</a> – Declaration Relating to Threatened Emergency – rather than Article 30 – Declaration of Public Emergency – the president requested extra powers to prevent a state of emergency rather than actually declaring one.
In practice, the difference between the two is slim. If, as expected, parliament approves his request he will have been given considerably more powers. He will be able to restrict movement of assembly, implement a curfew, curtail parliament, ban publications, order detention without trial, and search any property without a search warrant. As respected Zambian commentator Sishuwa Sishuwa has put it, this is effectively a “State of Threatened Emergency”.
The president’s decision to go with Article 31 is significant for a number of reasons. The first is that it allows the Zambian government to ward off criticism by being able to argue that it has not <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/07/06/president-lungu-not-declared-state-emergency/">declared a state of emergency</a>. This is important because the Patriotic Front regime is in the process of negotiating a much needed <a href="https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/05/02/imf-bail-will-not-bring-untold-misery-zambia-mutati/">economic bail out with the International Monetary Fund</a>.
Presenting its authoritarian backsliding in a more palatable way is therefore extremely valuable. By opting for Article 31, Lungu hopes to have his cake and eat it. He will have secured powers to consolidate his political control while generating “plausible deniability” to whether or not he has fatally undermined Zambian democracy.
To some extent this strategy has been successful. Initial Facebook and twitter <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nic.cheeseman/posts/1301668219959781?pnref=story">conversations</a> about how the measure could be reversed quickly gave way to confusion and arguments about what the president had actually declared, and what it meant.
<h2>Why did Lungu do it?</h2>
The official reason behind the president’s request for extra powers is a spate of civil disobedience and arson that has seen a number of markets burnt down. The immediate trigger was a fire that destroyed the country’s largest, the <a href="http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00053416.html">City Market in Lusaka</a>.
But the president’s claim to simply be acting in the interests of law and order has been fiercely contested by critics. Instead, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-zambia-politics-idUSKBN17Q0W8">opposition leaders allege</a> that the government has been either taking advantage of natural fires or deliberately starting them to justify the extension of authoritarian control.
This claim is lent credibility by the fact that the investigation of the City Market fire had only just begun when the decision to expand the president’s powers was taken. Rumours circulating in Zambia suggest that in fact it resulted from an <a href="http://zambia24.com/news/2017/07/04/city-market-fire-resulted-from-an-electrical-fault-onlookers/">electrical fault rather than sabotage</a>.
If this is true, it raises the question of what lies behind Lungu’s increasingly aggressive strategy. Three overlapping explanations are circulating, all of which have a degree of plausibility.
The first is that it’s simply another way of intimidating the opposition. In addition to <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-talk-about-zambia-as-it-falls-from-grace-under-president-lungu-77520">arresting United Party for National Development leader Hakainde Hichilema</a>, popularly known as HH, the government has tried various ways to clamp down on opposition to its rule. This has included the <a href="https://theconversation.com/zambia-slides-towards-authoritarianism-as-imf-props-up-government-79533">suspension of 48 opposition MPs</a>. And fears that Hichilema might be acquitted by the High Court, and subsequently released, are said to explain the timing of the president’s statement.
The second is that the president faces serious challenges within the Patriotic Front, where some question his suitability to lead. In addition to rumours that he is in <a href="http://www.zambianobserver.com/edgar-lungu-gets-more-sick-stops-talking/">bad health</a>, this makes him potentially more <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-05-zambia">vulnerable to internal opposition</a> than to the challenge of the main opposition party. On this interpretation, Lungu’s appropriation of extra powers is designed as a warning to his rivals within the party to back off.
Finally, some see his decision as being motivated by his desire to secure a <a href="http://democracyinafrica.org/zambia-president-lungu-third-term/">third term in office</a> when his current term ends in 2021. The legality of this is questionable, and the move is fiercely opposed by opposition parties.
On their own, none of these claims fully explains why Lungu has opted for such a controversial move when IMF negotiations are at a delicate stage. In reality it may be that the president’s actions are explained by some combination of all three – or indeed, an alternative explanation that has not yet come to light.
<h2>What happens next?</h2>
There’s <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-05-zambia%20%22%22">confusion</a> about exactly where Lungu intends to go from here. In a presidential address in the last hour his stance appeared to harden, rejecting international criticism and <a href="https://www.themastonline.com/2017/07/06/imf-can-go-lungu/">stating that:</a> “If they [IMF] think I am going astray, let them go.”
According to <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-05-zambia">Nicole Beardsworth</a>, a senior researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Lungu’s declaration will give him <a href="http://www.parliament.gov.zm/sites/default/files/documents/acts/Preservation%20of%20Public%20Security%20Act.pdf">additional powers</a>. Moreover, if his statutory instrument is approved by Parliament, it can be extended for a period of months.
This would seem to give the president all the time and powers he would need to further cow internal and external opposition, although it’s still possible that he will seek to apply a full state of emergency.
What may prevent this from happening is concern within the cabinet that such a move would be unnecessary and counterproductive. Not all leaders of the Patriotic Front agree with the direction that Lungu is taking his country in. Push back in a cabinet meeting is said to have prevented an even more forceful declaration.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/80628/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />Given the president’s new found capacity to control the media and intimidate the opposition, these internal constraints may prove to be Zambia’s best hope of avoiding dictatorship.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nic-cheeseman-180800">Nic Cheeseman</a>, Professor of Democracy, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-birmingham-1138">University of Birmingham</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lungu-tries-to-have-his-cake-and-eat-it-a-state-of-emergency-in-all-but-name-80628">original article</a>.

Zambia: A democracy thrown over the edge

Global law firm Baker McKenzie’s latest Cross Border IPO Index shows that there were no cross-border Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) from African companies in the first six months of 2017, the first time in five years this has happened.
The Index also shows that five companies in Africa have raised a total of USD 512 million so far in 2017 from domestic listings, up from the eight companies that raised USD 492 million in H1 2016, but down from the USD 596 million raised from seven domestic deals in H1 2015. Three of five the companies that went public in H1 2017 are South African, while the remaining two are Egyptian and Tanzanian.
The fact that there were no cross-border IPOs in Africa in H1 2017 clearly shows that political and economic instability in Africa has affected the volume of cross-border IPOs on the continent.
Businesses simply do not carry out IPOs if they are unsure of the investment environment.
In 2016 there was one cross-border IPO in Africa valued at USD 130 million, and in 2015 there were four IPOs, which raised a total of USD 825 million.
The largest deal in H1 2017 was Vodacom Tanzania Ltd., which raised USD 213 million. This was the first Tanzanian company to go public over the last five years. This IPO comes after the <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__allafrica.com_stories_201706230264.html&amp;d=DwMF-g&amp;c=ptMoEJ5oTofwe4L9tBtGCQ&amp;r=rivlfh8QWsf-8Yj-9mcVikrxMXP0eooUKpECxJY0iAk8l88oLzSwOTP5bMAqYboM&amp;m=7J5UUUnU9MFscGes3A7X1ij8SWQys-0pPsiVVo5vPOM&amp;s=RQ3WG8zheXlsdiXiZACubEnY9pfpHRSpzdq0m0su35U&amp;e=">government amended the Electronic and Postal Communications Act (Epoca)</a>, stating that investors are allowed to take part in IPOs for telecommunication companies.
The IPO in Tanzania points to a future trend in the East African region, which is looking interesting in terms of the possibility of future IPOs. Although Kenya is going through election, we hope to see increased activity in the region once they have worked through this political uncertainty.”
The largest IPO from a South African company was from Sea Harvest Holdings Ltd., a deep-sea fishing, fresh and frozen fish and processing and marketing of fish products, raising USD 149 million. The company had <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.businesslive.co.za_bd_companies_retail-2Dand-2Dconsumer_2017-2D03-2D24-2Dsea-2Dharvest-2Dcasts-2Dits-2Dnet-2Dback-2Donto-2Djse-2Dafter-2D17-2Dyears_&amp;d=DwMF-g&amp;c=ptMoEJ5oTofwe4L9tBtGCQ&amp;r=rivlfh8QWsf-8Yj-9mcVikrxMXP0eooUKpECxJY0iAk8l88oLzSwOTP5bMAqYboM&amp;m=7J5UUUnU9MFscGes3A7X1ij8SWQys-0pPsiVVo5vPOM&amp;s=r8FkDncMozqiazVbMoBWyxMFzRPx4md9XV1jFxqAdoA&amp;e=">delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange</a>  (JSE) 17 years ago. Sea Harvest is the second fishing company listing on the JSE in recent weeks. A few weeks before its listing, Premier Fishing made its debut on the same exchange to raise USD 41 million. The other South African IPO was private equity fund Long4Life Ltd’s listing on the JSE in April. These three domestic listings raised a total of USD 250 million. This is the highest amount of capital raising by South African companies recorded during the first half of any year since 2012.
Historically, South African companies are not actively listing outside their jurisdiction. The last time a South African company listed in a stock exchange outside of the country (cross-border listings) was in H2 2013, when MiX Telematics Ltd. went public on the New York Stock Exchange and raised USD 116 million.B
Two IPOs in South Africa’s fishing sector point to a readjustment and consolidation in the sector after recent woes.
Further, the Long4Life IPO shows that there is private equity money available for investment in Africa. If a fund can identify sufficient assets to invest in, then an IPO is a good way for them to raise capital. We haven&#8217;t seen a lot of these kinds of IPOs in Africa recently, possibly because the funds have been struggling to find assets to invest in.
Globally, IPO activity rebounded in H1 2017 compared to the same period last year as economic fundamentals in major developed markets such as the EU and US stabilized and some political uncertainties settled.
The value of issuance rose by 76% to USD 89 billion and volume increased to 728 deals, up 53% from the first half of last year. As Baker McKenzie predicted last June, domestic deals outpaced cross-border IPOs in H1 this year, rising 93% in value compared to a 41% increase in cross-border deal values. The greater popularity of domestic issuance was largely driven by the comfort of home markets and the protection against currency volatility provided by listing in companies&#8217; functional currencies.
That said, deal making has not quite returned to the levels of 2015 – total capital raised being 24% lower in the first half of 2017.
Average deal size globally (domestic and cross-border combined), has increased by 15% to USD 122 million. However, the first half of 2016 marked the lowest average deal size in more than six years at just shy of USD 100 million, so the increase is off a low base.
Baker McKenzie’s Cross-Border IPO Index dropped to 12.6, reflecting that capital raising from cross-border IPOs accounted for barely 14% of the value of global equity capital raised, the lowest level since the first half of 2012.
The London and New York Stock Exchange however, both saw more capital from cross-border IPOs than in H1 2016, with values of USD 3.9 billion and USD 1.3 billion respectively. These two exchanges, along with Hong Kong and NASDAQ, accounted for over 90% of all cross-border IPOs by value.
Although political uncertainty remains a key concern for potential issuers, the absence of blockbuster votes of the magnitude of the Brexit referendum and the US elections have made the timing of IPOs in 2017 much easier than in 2016. Meanwhile, business imperatives are driving companies to proceed with listing plans for deals that have
Koen Vanhaerents, global head of capital markets at Baker McKenzie, said: &#8220;Markets have performed well, with key indices rising to record levels. Political stability in many markets, strong performance of IPOs and sound economic fundamentals are the forces driving investor demand, while investors have also learned to live with unpredictable political developments.&#8221;
There is a correlation between global IPO predictions and African IPOs, and so the current global recovery is expected to influence a recovery in Africa as well. However, Africa tends to lag behind the rest of the world so it might be some time before we an improvement the volume and value of IPOs on the continent.
The five African IPOs for H1 2017
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<td width="164">Issuer</td>
<td width="164">Sector</td>
<td width="164">Capital Raised (in USD million)</td>
<td width="164">Exchanges</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="164">Vodacom Tanzania Ltd</td>
<td width="164">Telecommunications</td>
<td width="164">213</td>
<td width="164">Dar es Sal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="164">Long4Life Ltd</td>
<td width="164">Financials</td>
<td width="164">149</td>
<td width="164">Johannesburg</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="164">Sea Harvest Holdings Ltd</td>
<td width="164">Consumer Staples</td>
<td width="164">104</td>
<td width="164">Johannesburg</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="164">Raya Contact Center CO</td>
<td width="164">Consumer Products and Services</td>
<td width="164">49</td>
<td width="164">Egypt</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="164">Premier Food &amp; Fishing Ltd</td>
<td width="164">Consumer Staples</td>
<td width="164">41</td>
<td width="164">Johannesburg</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;
Methodology
Baker McKenzie’s Cross-Border IPO Index is calculated as a weighted average of three components based on IPO activity data: the amount of capital raised, number of IPOs and number of issuer home jurisdictions involved. Each component is calculated as the quotient of the component’s value when considering cross-border IPO activity divided by that component’s value when considering overall IPO activity. The population of data underlying each calculation is based on aggregate data of IPO transactions completed on all stock exchanges and is grouped by region. IPO activity includes priced IPO and IPOs expected to price in H1 2017 correct to 23 June 2017. All data underlying the calculations is sourced through Thomson ONE.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

What Africa’s 2017 IPOs say about investment on the continent

The Public Protector released her report on the Bankorp “bail-out” on 21 June 2017. Many among us will have something to say about the remedial action she proposes on this specific issue, in essence that Absa repays the “government” an amount of R1.125 billion.
However, we confine ourselves here to her rather startling recommendation that the mandate of the SARB [South African Reserve Bank] should be changed &#8211; a matter that she was not asked to consider. One of her remedial actions is an instruction to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services to “initiate a process that will result in the amendment of Section 224 of the Constitution”. She then even more remarkably goes onto suggest what the new mandate should be:
224 (1) The primary object of the South African Reserve Bank is to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth in the Republic, while ensuring that the socio-economic well-being of the citizens are (sic) protected.
While this is an unexpected (and unwarranted) recommendation, it does raise the very interesting question about what mandate is appropriate for the central bank of an emerging economy such as South Africa. Those of us with research expertise and direct experience of monetary policy and central banking matters will acknowledge the complexities of these debates at both a theoretical and practical and policy level. Some academics economists will be pleased with the exclusive price stability mandate of the SARB as per section 224 (1) of the 1996 constitution. Others will argue for a broader mandate including growth and employment, alongside price stability. Some combination of price stability, growth, employment are in the mandates of the US Fed, the Reserve Bank of Australia, and Canada, and even the EU.
[bc_video video_id=&#8221;5493051555001&#8243; account_id=&#8221;1571595826001&#8243; player_id=&#8221;default&#8221;]
The academic debate over central banks’ mandate is an international one and has been going on in one way or another for most of the 20thC. It became especially tense and complicated in the context of the growing dominance of new neo-classical economic thinking associated with Robert Lucas and his research collaborators since the early 1980s. Although there has been some convergence around a narrow price stability mandate in practice since then, there are also many examples of central banks which have a statutory or legal mandate that includes either growth or employment or some combination of these three elements. In NO case that we are aware of is a central bank’s mandate spared the responsibility of price stability (however phrased), whatever other objectives are included. To exclude price stability from a central bank’s objective in favour of some poorly conceived reference to ‘socio-economic well-being” is incomprehensible and plainly irresponsible.
We are not against, and many of us would positively welcome and support, the opening up of a well-informed, properly constituted and transparent debate about the mandate of the SARB at some appropriate time, and through the proper institutions, e.g. through a parliamentary enquiry at which expert testimony and international experience are solicited. Indeed, it is important not to conflate a defence of the proper process by which such debates should be constituted, with a defence of the current mandate of the SARB. It is quite possible to defend the independence of the SARB while questioning how appropriate its current mandate is to the challenges facing the country.
The crisis of low growth and high unemployment coupled with growing inequality suggests that this and other aspects of our economic policy stance should be debated in a responsible manner, designed to bring about a much needed improvement in the quality of life and work among our people, a majority of whom have not yet witnessed the dividends of democracy. There is no reason why the inclusion of growth and employment, together with price stability, cannot be an intrinsic part of such a public engagement. But uninformed and rash statements, especially ones that carry the power and binding nature of the PP, do not assist us at all. Threats to the operational independence and constitutional mandate of the SARB that come about in this manner represent a grave threat to an economy already crippled by a number of serious problems.
The likelihood that the PP’s analysis and remedial actions are designed, not as arguably well-intentioned even if plainly wrong interventions, but rather as part of the assault against the remaining institutions in the state sphere that stand for good governance is very, very high. That is why those who are opposed to such state looting, as we all are, must stand in defence of the SARB, even if we may differ on some aspects of the theoretical and policy debate about the role and mandate of central banks such as SARB in today’s world.
That was also our collective and publicly articulated view on two previous occasions over the past 18 months when two respected Ministers of Finance were unceremoniously dumped by the President.
*Signatories (alphabetical)
Matt Andrews 
Christo Auret 
Haroon Bhorat 
Derick Blaauw 
Anthony Black 
Ilsé Botha 
Danny Bradlow 
Adele Breytenbach 
Philippe Burger 
Rulof Burger 
Le Roux Burrows 
Marianne Camerer 
Daniela Casale 
Ivor Chipkin 
Nico Cloete 
Johan Coetzee 
Kenneth Creamer 
Stan Du Plessis 
David Everatt 
Olivia Ezeobi 
Frederick Fourie 
Pieter Fourie 
Steven Friedman 
Alison Gillwald 
Jannie Rossouw 
Amanda Gouws 
Duncan Hodge 
James Hodge 
Hylton Hollander 
Clare Hofmeyr 
Petronella Horn 
Gilad Isaacs 
Faizel Ismail 
Rachel Jafta 
David Kaplan 
Richard Ketley 
Murray Leibbrandt 
Anthony Leysens 
Elsabe Loots 
Neva Makgetla 
Stephen Malherbe 
Julian May 
Lumkile Mondi 
Jabulile Monnakgotla 
Mike Morris 
Eldridge Moses 
Bokang Mpeta 
Liezl Nieuwoudt 
Morné Oosthuizen 
Vishnu Padayachee 
Brigitte Pegado 
Marinda Pretorius 
Vimal Ranchhod 
Monique Reid 
Gareth Roberts 
Simon Roberts 
Ayesha Sayed 
Maxi Schoeman 
Collette Schulz-Herzenberg 
Krige Siebrits 
Simone Smit 
Mark Swilling 
Christopher Tapscott 
Nicola Theron 
Amy Thornton 
Imraan Valodia 
Theo van der Merwe 
Piet-Hein van Eeghen 
Lize Van Robbroeck 
Corne Van Walbeek 
Cobus Vermeulen 
Dieter von Fintel 
Marissa von Fintel 
Merle Werbeloff 
Martin Wittenberg 
Ingrid Woolard 
Uma Kollamparambil 
Andries du Toit

Open letter from South African academics and economists: Hands off the Reserve Bank

The fundamentals of social entrepreneurship are built on a foundation of positive shared growth and sustainability. The Venture competition aims to encourage business with purpose, and challenge the forward-thinkers of the world to promote their start-ups. Over the last 12 months Chivas searched the globe for passionate and generous individuals who echo the profit with purpose message – three of the finalists originate from Africa and are in the running to win a share of the $1 million grand prize. It has been an ongoing journey fuelled by the spirit of shared success and inclusion. Voting will open from May 8 2017. Vist chivas.com to see who will win the grand prize. 
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/sponsored/2017/07/03/nigeria-turning-one-mans-waste-another-mans-treasure/">Chioma Ukonu</a> (Nigeria) is a people-oriented businesswoman who values integrity, success and family. “I strongly believe that one has to be surrounded by people who are committed to delivering the same objectives,” she says. RecyclePoints operates as an incentive-based structure that collects recyclable materials from consumers and then rewards them with ‘points’ that they can accumulate and use to redeem or shop for household items offered through the iRecycle store. Her passion and strive is built on enabling community members, in particular women, to work for themselves while building a strong and dependable future for their family and community, while renovating the environment around them. 
James Steere (South Africa) has a passion for equality and driving change through innovation in Africa. With over 16 years of experience in drinking water purification technologies, strategy consulting, renewable energy consulting and entrepreneurship, I-Drop Water units encapsulates what James and his team stands for – positive change. I-Drop Water installs purification and dispensing units at the point of sale. Shoppers refill water containers, which means that they reduce plastic waste, while the water supply comes at no cost to retailers. They monitor the units remotely to keep maintenance costs low and split the revenue with the shop owners, which drives economic activity in communities. 
Dickson Ochieng (Kenya) previously founded an IT company and has a passion for first class customer service. Dedicated to improving people’s lifestyle and overall health and environment of urban communities, Sanivation was created to deliver clean, safe and efficient sanitation services. Just like Chioma’s recycling business, Dickson and his team are treating waste as a resource. “In urbanising communities we install modern container-based toilets in people’s homes for free and charge a small monthly fee to service them. Then, instead of dumping the waste, we transform it into a clean burning alternative to charcoal,” he says. Furthermore, by displacing charcoal, the briquettes combat deforestation and erosion, saving 88 trees for every ton sold.

Monique Vanek

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Open letter from South African academics and economists: Hands off the Reserve Bank

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Monique Vanek

Why Tunisia’s municipal elections are significant

Why black-owned bank VBS was placed under curatorship

SA’s #Budget2018: The economic takeaways

SA #Budget2018: A tax on the wealthy, and smartphones

Africa’s aviation industry has a problem, but this could be the future

Billionaire Christo Wiese may have caused the selloff in Aspen: Saad

Viceroy Research hits back at SA’s critics

The ANC’s direction will not be determined by corporate SA: Zuma

Why Africans are wary of re-engineering the climate

Jazz legend Ray Phiri’s deep spiritual connection with Bob Marley

Africa’s forests and savannas are under threat, ignore it at your on peril

What the World Bank’s shift from public to private funding means for development

Op-ed: Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to G20: It’s time to move beyond pledges to back Africa’s future

Zambia: A democracy thrown over the edge

What Africa’s 2017 IPOs say about investment on the continent

Open letter from South African academics and economists: Hands off the Reserve Bank

Success tastes better shared

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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