Kristin Mmari | Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine
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A team of international experts have just published the most comprehensive analysis to date of how children on the cusp of adolescence perceive growing up as a boy or girl. The Global Adolescent Study involved a series of interviews conducted over the last four years with hundreds of early adolescents and their parents in 15 countries. These included Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa. We asked lead researcher Kristin Mmari to explain the significance of the study
What did the 15-country global study set out to establish?
Our overarching question was to explore how boys and girls from diverse cultural settings experience their transitions into adolescence. Questions we were interested in finding answers to included: what changes? How do these changes vary by boys versus girls? How do these changes vary by geographic and cultural location?
We wanted to address these questions because the way in which adolescents experience biological and social changes differ. Factors that play a role include gender, cognitive abilities, educational, emotional, life experiences as well as cultural and social contexts. Yet information on how these factors manifest and inform gender differences across contexts is quite limited, particularly from low and middle-income countries.
A particularly interesting, yet unknown aspect of early adolescence, is how boys and girls establish relationships that ultimately shape their sexual and overall health from early to late adolescence.
What are the most important findings from African countries involved in the study?
So far, only Assuit in Egypt, Nairobi, Kenya, and Ile Ife, Nigeria have been involved. Another four countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Malawi, and South Africa, will be included in future products and analyses.
The key takeaways from the study so far are:
<ul>
<li>First global study to demonstrate that we can measure gender norms around the world among this young age group ages 10-14 years old. Before this study, it was not known whether adolescents in this age group would be able to accurately provide information about what it meant to be an ‘adolescent’ and the attitudes and beliefs about gender that influenced their transition into adolescence. Not only did we learn that it’s possible to collect data from this age group across multiple cultural settings, but that in fact, adolescents are astute observers.</li>
<li>There are consistent forms of patriarchy around the world: girls are perceived to be vulnerable and in need of protection to preserve their sexual and reproductive health. Their mobility and social space is greatly reduced and often enforced by parents to “preserve their reputation”. Girls who are observed to be seen with boys are automatically assumed to be in romantic and sexual relationships with them, and this can often ruin their reputation or their families.</li>
<li>Boys expand their social space and are given much more freedom and independence. But they also face increased risks related to the environment, such as increased engagement in violence and/or substance misuse.</li>
<li>There were more similarities than differences between the sub-Saharan African contexts and the other sites included in the study. However, boy-girl relationships were frowned upon and subjected girls to sexual and reproductive health risks, such as pregnancy and gender based violence; as a consequence, many parents did not want their daughters in the company of boys.</li>
</ul>
The goal of the study was to get insights that could be used to inform policies that promote sexual and reproductive well-being. What insights were gained and what key interventions should follow?
We already know that norms around gender inequitable lead to poor health outcomes among older adolescents and young adults. For example, research has shown that when men and boys adhere to traditional views about masculinity, they are more likely to report having used violence against a partner, to have a sexually transmitted infection, and used substances Pulerwitz and Barker, 2008. Other studies have found correlations between beliefs in gender inequitable norms and HIV transmission rates, contraceptive use, and gender based violence (Barker and Ricardo, 2005).
This study shows that these norms are being solidified much earlier than we thought. Interventions then need to start earlier and should include both boys and girls. They should also address gender as a system that’s made up of multiple actors, ranging from parents, teachers, peers, neighbourhoods, and the broader media and policy environment.
What happens next?
Phase 2 of the study will be a large quantitative survey to examine the extent to which changes in beliefs of gender inequitable norms lead to changes in health outcomes, and the factors that may contribute to these changes.
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This article was first published in The Conversation.

Op-Ed: African boys and girls enter teens with gender stereotypes firmly set

Gold prices were little changed after marking a 7-week low on Tuesday, as equities and the dollar were buoyed in Asian trade by upbeat economic data and strong U.S. treasury yields.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,269.71 an ounce by 0713 GMT, after earlier touching its lowest since mid-August at $1,267.76.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery shed 0.3 percent to $1,272.60 an ounce.
“Gold no doubt is struggling for the moment as at least three variables are arrayed against it, namely, a stronger dollar, a higher rate environment and possibly a reduction in tensions with North Korea if tentative contacts revealed over the weekend amount to something,” INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.
“We see gold possibly getting to a low of $1,245 before running into some credible support.”
The dollar on Tuesday rose versus the yen and climbed to its highest since mid-August against a basket of major currencies, extending gains from the previous session when it rose on higher U.S. Treasury yields and strong manufacturing data. [US/]
Proposed U.S. tax reforms and growing odds of a December interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve have also helped support the greenback.
Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan on Monday said the central bank would need to “look hard” at whether it should raise rates in December, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari earlier that day said he would want to wait on rate hikes.
Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, adding pressure on greenback-denominated, non-yielding gold.
Meanwhile, the White House on Monday ruled out talks with North Korea except to discuss the fate of Americans held there, again appearing to rebuke Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programmes.
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Spot gold may find support in a zone of $1,260-$1,263 per ounce, and then start a decent bounce, Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao said.
In other precious metals, silver had edged down 0.1 percent to $16.53 an ounce after earlier matching its lowest since Aug.9, which it originally hit yesterday.
Platinum and palladium were both 0.2-percent higher at $912.40 and $911.50 an ounce respectively, having hit price parity for the first time in 16 years last week.
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Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford
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Gold falls to 7-week low as dollar firms

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi will run for re-election in 2019, his ruling Frelimo party said on Monday, a step towards a vote meant to end sporadic clashes.
Nyusi is expected to square off with opposition Renamo party leader Afonso Dhlakama, whose supporters have fought with government forces since a disputed election three years ago.
Both leaders met for the first time since 2015 in August, raising hopes of a resolution to the conflict, whose scale is difficult to gauge because fighting takes place mostly in the remote interior.
Nyusi told delegates at the ruling party’s conference he would continue with efforts for peace Dhlakama, who has been in hiding at the Gorongosa mountains with hundreds of fighters.
“It is an urgent task that belongs to everyone, regardless of political affiliation, religious or social position,” Nyusi said.
Competition over natural resources could be exacerbating unrest: Mozambique is on the verge of developing huge offshore gas reserves which could transform one of the world’s poorest countries into a middle-income state.
Members of the current government and Renamo fought on opposing sides in a civil war from 1975 to 1992 that killed an estimated 1 million people.
Nyusi, 57, an engineer, has been in power since 2014 when he was picked by Frelimo to succeed Armando Guebuza. Frelimo has ruled Mozambique since its independence in 1975.
The former guerrilla commander Dhlakama, 64, has lost every major election to Frelimo since the end of the civil war but topped the vote count in several central and two northern provinces in 2014.
Reporting by Manuel Mucari; Editing by Andrew Heavens

Mozambique’s President Nyusi to run for re-election, promises peace

The U.N. World Food Programme is cutting food rations by 30 percent for more than 400,000 refugees living in camps in Kenya due to insufficient funding, it said on Monday.
Dadaab and Kakuma camps in Kenya are primarily home to refugees from neighboring Somalia and South Sudan, both ravaged by wars that have forced millions of people to flee.
The World Food Programme said it needed $28.5 million to cover the food assistance needs of the 420,000 refugees living in the camps for the next six months.
“An abrupt halt to food assistance would be devastating for the refugees, most of whom rely fully on WFP for their daily meals,” said Annalisa Conte, the top WFP official in Kenya.
The funding shortfall comes six months after the United Nations warned that the world was facing its greatest humanitarian disaster since World War Two because of the threat of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen. It said in March that 20 million people risked starvation in what it called largely man-made hunger crises in addition to drought.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network said in a report last month that risk of famine persists in parts of Somalia due to the extended drought and disease outbreaks.
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Reporting By Maggie Fick; Editing by Janet Lawrence
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World Food Programme cuts rations for refugees in Kenya

Luke Messac | University of Pennsylvania
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In the Western press, the legacies of African leaders tend to hinge on their respect for term limits, property rights, and fiscal restraint. Since his death in June 2017, the late Quett Ketumile Masire, Botswana’s former Minister of Finance and Development Planning (1966-1980) and President (1980-1998), has been remembered largely in these terms.
A Washington Post obituary quoted former US President Bill Clinton, who in 1998 called Masire “an inspiration to all who cherish freedom.”
Even before Masire’s death, the literature on Botswana’s economic history was filled with praise for his leadership. A 1999 World Bank report hailed his government for its “fiscal discipline.” A Harvard Business School case study described Botswana under Masire as a stalwart of “prudent social and macroeconomic policies.”
All of this is quite true. But there is more to the story. Masire was also original and daring. While international financial institutions now praise his careful economic management, they often disagreed with his decisions and denied his requests. One of the most important (but little-mentioned) parts of Masire’s legacy was his commitment to invest in health and education programs even when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised against it.
<h2>Fiscal prudence</h2>
Careful planning and hard work were central to Masire’s identity. With both his parents dead by the time he was 21 years of age, it fell to Quett Masire, the eldest son, to look after his siblings. He admitted to being a tough disciplinarian as manager of the family farm. As Botswana’s Minister of Finance and, later, as President, he made fiscal prudence a central tenet of policy making.
When diamond deposits were discovered shortly after Botwana’s independence in 1966, Masire insisted the government save a significant portion of its diamond revenues. He later wrote:
<blockquote>As farmers we have always known the importance of saving for a rainy day, or in our case for a dry day.</blockquote>
Development economists have applauded this practice, which allowed Botswana to escape the “resource curse” that has left many governments at the whim of volatile mineral prices.
But even the fiscally conservative Masire thought development institutions often took a too-narrow view of the determinants of growth. In the late 1960s, before Botswana was able to draw on mineral revenues to finance public spending, the new government sought foreign aid. When I interviewed Masire in November 2015, he recalled that while the World Bank would provide concessional loans for roads, bridges, power plants and factories, they would not finance health and education. Investments in social services, bank officials told Masire, could not provide a sufficient “rate of return.”
By the mid-1970s, World Bank President Robert McNamara and bilateral aid agencies showed greater enthusiasm for health and education. Breaking into a grin during our interview, Masire suggested that African leaders could claim some credit for this shift saying,
<blockquote>We would like to think we educated them. Because we said to them, look, without health, people cannot be productive. Without education, people cannot improve their production…It’s a long-term investment…So slowly, slowly, slowly, the penny dropped.</blockquote>
<h2>Health and education</h2>
Botswana, though, did not wait for this about-face. By the 1970s the government was collecting diamond revenues and, less reliant on donors, it steadily expanded access to health and education.
In 1968, Botswana’s government ran 12 hospitals, 16 health clinics, and no health posts. By 1998, it operated 30 hospitals, 222 clinics, and 330 health posts. The number of public secondary schools increased from 9 in 1966 to 261 in 1996.
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The real test came in the early 1980s when demand for commodities (including diamonds) plunged and interest rates soared. The IMF demanded its developing country borrowers adopt fiscal austerity.
Masire remained committed to fiscal prudence, but he disagreed with the IMF’s one-size-fits-all approach. He was, he later wrote, “determined” to use his government’s hard-won savings so that “development efforts should proceed and not be seriously interrupted.”
During the global debt crisis of the early 1980s, when diamond sales fell, Masire demonstrated why he had saved so diligently. Though Botswana was still poor enough to be eligible for an IMF loan, Masire declined the offer, and instead used the nation’s own reserves to successfully weather the downturn. Thanks to the government’s continued spending on social services, health and education outcomes continued to improve. The literacy rate rose from 34% in 1981 to 86.5% in 2014.
While numerous studies have demonstrated an adverse impact on maternal and child health following IMF programs, Botswana’s independent course allowed it to achieve sub-Saharan Africa’s second-lowest under-5 mortality rate by 1990.
<h2>The Masire legacy</h2>
What led Masire to depart from the prescriptions of the World Bank and IMF? In addition to framing health and education as integral to economic growth, Masire told me he was deeply affected by the poverty he witnessed during his childhood saying,
<blockquote>Some people suffered from malnutrition…and other people were sick but could not go to hospitals because of their dire poverty…We felt that whatever we did, we must factor in social justice.</blockquote>
President Masire’s tenure was not without failure. He came to openly regret his administration’s delayed response to HIV and Aids. By the mid-2000s, Botswana had one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates. Botswana remains a nation with tremendous income inequality, and the San people of the Kalahari Desert have long complained of mistreatment by the government.
Despite these profound challenges, Masire should be remembered for his courage as well as his prudence. He was eager to hear advice from near and far, and he helped Botswana to blaze an independent path. Today, the nation he led is the better for it. Long before academic economists and epidemiologists detailed the adverse health outcomes of IMF austerity policies, Masire understood – and avoided – the deadly consequences of slashing social services. In doing so he left an inspiring example not only for Africa, but for the world.

Masire: the president who left Botswana and the world an enduring legacy

South African mining company Sibanye-Stillwater said on Monday production has started three months ahead of schedule at its Montana-based Blitz project, boosting its platinum group metals (PGM) production in the United States.
The project is expected to produce approximately 300,000 ounces annually by late 2021/early 2022, increasing total PGM production from Sibanye’s U.S. operations by more than 50 percent to around 850,000 ounces.
“The operations continue to deliver as anticipated and first production from Blitz is more than three months ahead of schedule,” CEO Neal Froneman said in a statement.
Work on the Blitz project, which began in 2010, is adjacent to the Stillwater mine and is expected to extend that mine’s underground infrastructure to the east of the current operations, the company said on its website.
Sibanye acquired sole U.S. platinum miner Stillwater, the largest primary producer of PGM’s outside South Africa and Russia, in May 2017 in a $2.2 billion deal.
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Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; editing by Ed Stoddard and Jason Neely
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Sibanye to boost PGM production as U.S. project comes online

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said on Sunday he would not allow the country to be dismembered as it faces calls for secession in a region formerly known as Biafra and the Niger Delta oil hub along with a separatist insurgency by Boko Haram.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and has the continent’s largest economy but it has struggled for unity among its 180 million inhabitants who include Christians and Muslims. Its 250 different ethnic groups mostly co-exist peacefully.
In the last few months calls for a separate southeastern state known as Biafra have grown louder, evoking memories of a conflict there that killed around 1 million people in the 1960s. Militants in the restive southern Niger Delta have also called for independence in the last year.
“Highly irresponsible groups” were calling for the “dismemberment of the country,” Buhari said in a televised speech to mark the anniversary of Nigeria’s independence. “We cannot and we will not allow such advocacy.”
His comments come against the backdrop of a military deployment to the southeast and a crackdown on the region’s best known secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which was last month labelled a terrorist organisation.
The group’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has not been seen since Sept. 14 when IPOB says his home was raided by soldiers. The military on Friday said it did not raid Kanu’s home and was not holding the IPOB leader.
Buhari also said the government continued to hold talks with communities in the Niger Delta to maintain a ceasefire which halted attacks on oil installations which last year cut the OPEC member’s crude production by over a third.
“We intend to address genuine grievances of the communities. Government is grateful to the responsible leadership of those communities and will pursue lasting peace in the Niger Delta,” said Buhari, a former military ruler.
The broadcast was aired on Sunday shortly before the presidency said Buhari was travelling to the northeastern city of Maiduguri, epicentre of the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency, to celebrate the independence anniversary with soldiers fighting Boko Haram.
The jihadist group is seeking a separate state in the northeast adhering to a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in the insurgency since 2009 and at least 10.7 million people in the northeast need some form of assistance, according to the United Nations which says it is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
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Nigeria’s Buhari says will not allow state to be dismembered by secessionists

Kenyan authorities should take a closer look at the impact of a cap on lending rates imposed a year ago, to determine if its intended purposes are being met, the chief executive of Standard Chartered Kenya said.
The government capped commercial lending rates at four percentage points above the central bank’s benchmark rate, which stands at 10 percent, and put a minimum deposit interest rate of 70 percent of the benchmark.
It argued that lenders had failed to lower costs of credit to consumers, despite enjoying some of the highest rates of return on equity on the continent.
Lamin Manjang, the head of the Kenyan unit of Standard Chartered, said some borrowers, such as small and medium enterprises, had been locked out of the credit market, while overall lending growth had ground to a near halt.
“With the data that we have got over the last 12 months since the rate cap was implemented, it should give cause for a review,” Manjang told Reuters in a Friday interview.
He said the government needed to consider issues of credit availability to borrowers when it carries out a review of the cap.
“What the bank would like to see is a situation where rates are determined by market forces because that is what is going to be efficient and sustainable in the long run,” he said.
The central bank, which prefers letting lenders lower costs voluntarily, has, jointly with other parties, been carrying out a study on the impact of the rate cap.
Jude Njomo, the legislator who sponsored the rate cap bill, has however warned any move to change the rate cap law will fail, stating there is no evidence banks would lower rates if not compelled to do so.
Manjang said lenders had closed some branches, laid off staff and seen their loan book growth slow in response to the cap.
The situation will become tougher under a new accounting standard due to come into force on January 1 which will require lenders to shift their loss models from incurred to expected.
“When an asset is booked we will anticipate what the loss would be and then take it up front. That change will clearly have an impact across the banking industry,” he said.
StanChart plans to use its reserves for the extra provisions, which will lower its core capital ratio slightly from the current 21 percent but the bank will not need to do extra capital raising, he said.
“We will still be comfortably within the limits that have been set,” Manjang said, referring to the minimum capital requirement of 14.5 percent.
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Editing by Jason Neely
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Standard Chartered Kenya says time right to review impact of rate cap

Steven Friedman | University of Johannesburg
Something is surely wrong when many influential people endorse or reject a document none of them have read. The document is South Africa’s National Development Plan, which was adopted by Parliament five years ago and is the product of a National Planning Commission which was led by former finance minister Trevor Manuel and current deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.
The National Development Plan has become almost an article of faith for business leaders and business friendly commentators. In what has become a knee jerk reaction, they routinely demand that the government “implement it”. In an equally knee jerk reaction, unionists, activists and commentators on the left denounce the plan as a programme to appease business by sacrificing workers and the poor to the market.
But the plan’s praise singers in the market place and its opponents in unions and citizens’ organisations have something important in common: neither has ever read the document which runs to almost 500 pages. If they had, they would know that the label they pin on it does not fit. The plan is not a clear step-by-step programme for change. It is a broad, sometimes internally contradictory, document which is a basis for negotiation far more than a road map.
Those who see the National Development Plan as a coherent document seem to have forgotten the political battle which was triggered when it was initiated by President Thabo Mbeki’s administration shortly before Mbeki was removed from office.
The ANC’s alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, blamed Mbeki and Manuel for appeasing business. As Cosatu noted in a document released in late 2009, they believed that Manuel would use the National Planning Commission to impose a business friendly approach on government and the alliance.
They suspected, probably correctly, that the Mbeki government had wanted the commission to become the centre of government planning. After Mbeki was replaced by Jacob Zuma, they mobilised successfully against this and the result was an agreement that the commission would simply provide support to government and that the NDP would be not a detailed plan but a broad vision for where the country would want to be in 2030. So the National Development Plan is not a firm plan because it was never meant to be one.
<h2>A mixed bag</h2>
Those who see the plan as a route map tend also to forget that the men and women sitting on the commission represented a range of interests and that it was, therefore, a compromise between them. This partly explains why it offers something to everyone – a point which is clear to anyone who takes the trouble to read it.
One who did is former South African Communist Party deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin. In a reply to left-wing unions who saw the plan as the work of the devil, Cronin argued that it was impossible to endorse or reject the entire document because both the opponents and friends of the market could find support for their positions in it.
Cronin rejected the chapter on the economy, which he saw as too friendly to markets, but endorsed the chapter which saw a key role for the state in changing the shape of the cities and sections which suggested a strong government role in development. If Cronin worked for the Chamber of Business, he would no doubt have endorsed the economic chapter and rejected the passages on the state’s role. The key point in his analysis, however, was that, whichever side of the economic debate you were on, you would find passages in the plan to endorse and others to oppose.
The point was illustrated some years ago when organised agriculture denounced a government proposal for regional land redistribution committees. This, it turned out, came not from the left of the union movement or the friends of state capture but from the ‘business friendly’ National Development Plan.
Why do both sides endorse or reject the National Development Plan without bothering to read it? The answer may well lie in the personalised nature of South African politics.
Business and its supporters trust Manuel and Ramaphosa and so they assume that they must have produced a strongly market friendly document. The left distrust them and so they assume the same thing. This might be amusing if it did not prompt a sterile debate which does nothing to focus minds on what needs to change if the economy is to grow and include many more people.
<h2>Useful bits and pieces</h2>
Even if the National Development Plan was a clear map, it contains so many ideas for change that not even the most efficient government in the world could implement it in less than a decade or two. Given this, when parliament – and the government – promised to implement the plan they could not possibly have been committing to implementing all of it. If they were serious about implementing its economic and social proposals, they would have needed to signal clearly which ones they favoured. And, since this would inevitably have affected the interests of key economic interest groups, they would have needed to negotiate the changes with them.
The government has not done this and so it seems likely that what it does mean is that it will seek to implement those sections of the plan which affect it directly.
The plan might offer something to everyone on social and economic issues but it does also have a clear way to improve how government functions. By endorsing the document, the government was surely agreeing to take the steps the plan recommended when it discussed how to build a “capable state”.So it makes sense to hold the government to account for the degree to which it has – or has not – implemented the plan’s recommendations on fixing itself.
For the rest, it would make more sense to insist that the government signal clearly which other sections of the document it plans to implement than to insist that it implement (or reject) all of it.
This offers a key to the role the National Development Plan could play in moving South Africa forward. Business, labour and other interest groups are far more likely to find the plan useful if they identify those sections they would like to see implemented and then pressed the government to act on them, using the fact that they appear in the document as a lever.
They will obviously face opposition from those with differing interests but that is how democracy works. The National Development Plan would then be a catalyst for debate and negotiation on details, not a take it or leave it recipe.
Five years on, the National Development Plan could help focus attention on economic change. But only if both sides stop seeing it as a fetish rather than a way of starting a conversation.
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This article was first pubished in The Conversation.

How to resuscitate South Africa’s National Development Plan

Gold slipped to its lowest in nearly seven weeks early on Monday as the U.S. dollar rose and equities gained, while growing expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December also added to pressure.
Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,274.90 an ounce by 0353 GMT, after earlier touching its lowest since mid-August at $1,273.55.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery shed 0.5 percent to $1,277.80.
The metal recorded its biggest monthly decline so far this year in September, despite netting a quarterly rise of nearly 3 percent partly due to geopolitical tensions including North Korea’s missile tests.
“The dollar is a bit stronger this morning and put gold under pressure first thing this morning so we took out Friday’s low. China’s out for Golden week so it’s just moving on the back of what the dollar yen’s doing,” a Hong Kong-based trader said.
“Gold might just keep drifting lower until the Chinese return. There’s nothing really to excite gold at the moment.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time a day after his own secretary of state said the United States was maintaining open lines of communication with North Korea.
The dollar stood tall against the euro and other major counterparts on Monday and Asian shares rose as investors kept an close eye on an independence vote in Spain’s Catalonia.
The U.S. currency recorded its best week of the year on Friday, despite benign inflation data for August, as expectations that the Fed would raise interest rates again in December loomed large after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank planned to stay on its current rate hike path.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said Friday he still has “pencilled in” a rate hike in December, and three more hikes next year.
Higher interest rates tend to boost the dollar and push bond yields up, weighing on greenback-denominated gold.
Spot gold may drop into a range of $1,261-$1,267 per ounce, as it has cleared a support at $1,277, Reuters technicals analyst Wang Tao said.
Speculators reduced their net long positions in COMEX gold and silver contracts in the week to Sept. 26, U.S. data showed on Friday.
Silver and palladium were little changed at $16.60 an ounce and $934.30 an ounce, while platinum lost 0.2 percent at 907.40 and continued to trade at a discount to platinum for a fourth consecutive day.
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Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford
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Gold drops to lowest in nearly 7 weeks

Gavin Robert Walker | Stellenbosch University
After an absence of over half a century, the courageous musical “King Kong” has smashed its way back into the collective South African consciousness. On tour in South Africa, “King Kong” is one of the most successful and controversial musicals ever to have been produced in the country.
Back in 1959 the jazz musical toured the country’s major cities to, at times, sold out venues. It was seen by roughly 200,000 people before moving to London’s West End. Set to music of composer Todd Matshikiza, it launched the international careers of musical greats, Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, among many others.
The narrative, which does not involve any giant apes (as in the film with the same name), follows the life story of 1950s heavyweight boxer Ezekiel Dlamini, who was better known by his ring name “King Kong”. Briefly stated, Dlamini becomes something of a township hero in the darkening days of apartheid by rising to boxing superstardom.
The story follows the highs and lows of his life, his fall from grace, and eventual suicide in a hard labour camp. Presenting the harsh realities of life in South Africa’s townships, gangsterism and the belligerent indifference of the apartheid state, the production quickly rose to notoriety. It was a collaborative effort that ignored the racial boundaries so vehemently enforced by the apartheid government. It also drew critical acclaim from multiracial audiences.
<h2>Kong in the era of Fallism</h2>
The timing of this latest production is interesting. Aside from a failed revival attempt in 1979, “King Kong” has been absent for almost 60 years. The musical was originally performed within the historical backdrop of the construction of so-called “grand apartheid” under then prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd.
The 1950s saw a flurry of legislative activity on the part of the apartheid government, affecting everything from education to land, labour and love. The decade also saw 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, put on trial in 1956 and charged with High Treason for their alleged actions against the state. The proceedings, which culminated in charges being dropped in 1961, would become engraved into South Africa’s history and known simply as “The Treason Trial”.
With the fall of minority rule, Kong showed no signs of returning throughout the “Rainbow Nation” years of the late 1990s under the moral, political, and spiritual leadership of figures like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. No, Kong has returned at an historical moment of unprecedented social strife in the post-liberation era.
Despite over two decades of democracy, over the past two years South Africa has witnessed protests against colonial and apartheid monuments. Demands for decolonisation across the country’s education system and student protests have been seen unlike anything in recent memory. In the digital age of hashtag student movements and demands for radical transformation, King Kong’s themes of harsh living conditions, socioeconomic immobility, corruption and gangsterism are unsettingly familiar and contemporary for many South Africans.
The country’s relatively peaceful transition from institutionalised racism and disenfranchisement to fully democratic state is often held in high esteem, and rightly so. It was indeed a remarkable achievement, given that many other post-colonial African nations suffered immense turmoil during the colonial withdrawals of the 1960s and 70s.
But South Africans must be careful. In the haste to celebrate the atmosphere of reconciliation, truth and amnesty that largely characterised the transition, the troubling lack of social and economic mobility that the country has experienced since then is often overlooked. Unemployment remains startlingly high, with young black South Africans bearing the largest burden.
Despite a drop in relative poverty in recent years, the country continues to display some of the highest levels of economic and social inequality in the world. What these issues illustrate are the enduring legacies of white minority rule and the lack of socioeconomic transformation in the post liberation era. “King Kong” has come home after an almost 60 year absence to find that the country does not look so different.
<h2>A tale of two South Africas</h2>
“King Kong” embodies the germinating seeds of two potential and mutually exclusive South Africas. Writing about the opening night in Johannesburg, one columnist for the city’s The Star newspaper mused:
<blockquote>All I know is that by the end of the evening every one of us in the audience could have leapt up and danced and sung with the cast, such was the magic of the evening.</blockquote>
This column was not written about the 2017 opening night. It was written in 1959. It shows the extraordinary capacity of the arts to transcend the toxic racial politics of the time.
During its long absence, the production became emblematic of what could be achieved through collaboration across racial lines. In the post-liberation and post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission age, “King Kong” has the potential to help resuscitate debate around the now fatigued rainbow optimism of the late 1990s.
The moral tale of “King Kong” still resonates in contemporary South Africa. As such, the production can just as easily be considered as a poignant reminder that South Africa is still socially and politically fragmented.
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This article was first published in The Conversation.

King Kong: legendary South African musical returns to a fragmented country

A South African High Court ruled on Friday that it could not compel President Jacob Zuma to set up a commission of inquiry into alleged influence-peddling in his government.
The opposition Democratic Alliance had asked the court to force Zuma to establish a commission based on a report last year by an anti-graft watchdog into allegations that businessman brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta had influenced the appointment of ministers.
Zuma and the Gupta brothers have denied the accusations.
Zuma has challenged the report in court, arguing that the Public Protector had no right to ask him to form such a commission, as this was the president’s prerogative.
“To compel the President at this stage will not only be tantamount to denying the hearing or his day in court, but it will also be understood to mean the Public Protector’s powers are unassailable irrespective of the content of the decision, that cannot be correct,” Pretoria High Court Judge Motsamai Makume said.
“It will be in the best interests of justice to grant the President a stay of the implementation of the remedial action pending a decision of the review application.”
New allegations of inappropriate collusion between state-owned companies and the Gupta brothers have put more pressure on Zuma and ministers close to him.
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Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Angus MacSwan
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S.Africa court says cannot compel Zuma to set up influence-peddling inquiry

The 7th All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA™) in Partnership with CNBC Africa announced the winners of the Southern Africa leg at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in Sandton.
VIP guests joined the Southern Africa finalists, as they went head to head for the coveted AABLA™ regional trophy, in their respective categories.
“An entrepreneur and leader has unwavering belief in their vision and their ability to calmly manage through some of the toughest economic conditions &#8211; this is the reason we find ourselves here today celebrating the very best in business,” noted Managing Director of the ABN Group, Roberta Naicker, during her welcome address. “These awards are a tribute to those Captains of Industry who have made a qualitative and quantitative difference, to the companies, industries and communities that they serve.”
The awards were hosted against the backdrop of a stunning white lounge setting thanks to official décor partner, MOOVE Exhibition and Events Supplies, supported by AV and Technical Partner, TCH Bonisa.
AABLA™ Southern Africa Master of Ceremonies, Alexander Leibner looked the part in a tailored blue Tailor Me suit and kept VIP guests entertained throughout the night, as the AABLA™ Southern Africa winners were revealed as follows:
Young Business Leader of the Year Presented by Lancaster University Ghana Sylvester Chauke &#8211; Chief Architect, DNA Brand Architects.
Business Woman of the Year 
Yolisa Phahle &#8211; CEO, M-Net
Innovator of the Year 
James Steere &#8211; Co-Founder, I-Drop Water
Industrialist of the Year Presented by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) 
General Mthembu – Founder, Mthembu Tissue Converting
Entrepreneur of the Year 
Ivan and Lynette Saltzman &#8211; Founders, Dischem Pharmacies
Philanthropist of the Year 
Jannie Mouton &#8211; Founder and Chairman, PSG Group
Company of the Year 
Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd
Business Leader of the Year 
Khalid Abdulla &#8211; Group CEO, African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI)
Lifetime Achievement Award 
Dr Samuel Motsuenyane – Founder, Dr Sam Motsuenyane Rural Development Foundation
The winners will now go on to compete with East and West African winners in the AABLA™ Finale on November 30th in Sandton, which will be broadcast on CNBC Africa on December 7th.
The AABLA™ Southern Africa judging process was done in conjunction with Auditing Partner Grant Thornton and Research Partner Henley Business School. The 2017 AABLA™ Southern Africa judging committee included:
<ul>
<li>Chris Bishop, Managing Editor of Forbes Africa (Head Judge)</li>
<li>Kate Moodley, Franchise Director at Discovery</li>
<li>Jonathan Foster-Pedley, Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa</li>
<li>Cas Coovadia, Managing Director of The Banking Association of South Africa</li>
<li>Khanyisile Kweyama, Chairperson of Brand SA</li>
<li>Prof. Lumkile Wiseman Nkuhlu, Chancellor of The University of Pretoria</li>
<li>Russell Loubser, Director of Strate Limited</li>
</ul>
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The highlights of the Southern Africa AABLA™ will be broadcast on CNBC Africa on October 5th at 9pm CAT.

7th All Africa Business Leader Awards crown winners for Southern Africa

By: Jameel Ahmad | FXTM
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We are all subjected to tests and scorecards as we go through life, literally within seconds of being born we are given the Apgar test to establish our physical condition. As we progress up the age scale, we are scored on academic, athletic and professional levels. Tests and scorecards are useful tools to get a benchmark of standards and expectations of performance and ability. Similarly, the institutions we create to turn the wheels of commerce, are not immune to the rigors of testing, and in order to keep them competitive and accountable, they have to face an enormous amounts of scrutiny from various regulatory and compliance bodies. Perhaps the most deserving of these checks and balances are Governments, especially when they borrow money from other organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
There are three main agencies that run health checks on Sovereign debt and the debt that exchanges hands between large financial institutions and corporations. They are Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch. The outcome of the scorecards have an enormous impact on the prospects of the institution that has been rated, so they wield a lot of influence.
The credit risk of a country or institution is assessed in much the same way as an individual would be, if they were applying for a loan, i.e. income, stability, prospects and past behaviour are scrutinized. If the country being evaluated has fiscal or political challenges, its rating is lowered. The end result is that investors may require higher returns to offset the risk. This is never good news because a high debt repayment burden, impacts cash flow and long term growth.
South Africa has recently had to endure a downgrade by all three agencies within months of each other, but they are not alone, all G7 countries have experienced downgrades of their financial institutions and or Governments in the last 7 years. The most recent countries affected by downgrades, are Canada and Australia, who have weakening credit conditions- due to surge in household debt
Ratings Agencies came about in the mid 1800’s to help investors get insights into the finances of canals and rail roads that were being constructed. There are actually many ratings agencies but the big three make up approximately 95% of the ratings industry. Moody&#8217;s Investors Service and Standard &amp; Poor&#8217;s (S&amp;P) together control 80% of the global market, and Fitch Ratings controls a further 15%.
The reason the big three are the “go to” agencies is largely because of their track record and their standing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In 1975, the SEC acknowledged their status under the Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSRO) banner. An endorsement from an NRSRO means countries and financial institutions wishing to issue bonds can do so efficiently, knowing that the official rating can be trusted. However, this comes with a caveat, the bigger agencies do not charge for information, they get their fees from the institutions that want to be rated. In theory, there could be conflict because there is an incentive to “please” the body that asks for the rating”. However this is unlikely because the reputation of the agency is based on the accuracy of the ratings, inaccurate ratings would canabalise their business.
Even heavy hitters like the big three make mistakes or perhaps get caught in the hype of strong market sentiment. The credit crisis in 2007 is a good example of this. When mortgage-backed securities were booming –they were given excellent ratings, even though the products were actually worthless. When this fact was exposed to the markets, it triggered one of the worst financial meltdowns in recent history.
Incorrect ratings, as we saw from the 2007 credit crunch, have the ability to destabilise a country and it is for this reason that the European Parliament set up a watchdog called The European Securities and Markets Authority and they have been tasked with making sure that agencies conform to a set of protocols that form a firewall between them and the markets. The rules state that agencies can now only issue ratings on a country three times in a year and they have to wait until markets have closed before they release their reports.  Comments and ratings from agencies have a direct and profound impact on currencies, economies and markets, so it is vital that their reports and findings are accurate and well researched.  When a county is downgraded for its sovereign debt, you will almost always see it play out in the currency and stock markets, so getting the rating wrong is not an option
The EU watchdog set up to monitor credit ratings agencies in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis has established good foundations, but significant risks remain to be addressed, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors.
So the regulators need to be regulated too. While the Auditors highlighted some flaws in the watchdog, it has significantly helped to ensure the ratings agencies operate within acceptable boundaries and that their reporting standards are uniform and accurate.
Ratings agencies will continue to provide us with a litmus test on the health of nations and companies for some time. There have been suggestions to take the responsibility of ratings out of private hands and to get all nations to contribute to a central fund that allows a body like the UN to manage the ratings. There is certainly merit in not allowing private entities to make these massive decisions and in a world that has gone a little stir crazy on the political front, anything is possible.

You’re Rated! The good the bad and the impact of ratings agencies

Wessel Lemmer | Absa
As world demand increases, South Africa is stepping up to the plate in meeting the shortage of quality, fresh olive oil. Olive oil is no longer simply used for cooking. Its many and varied uses, including its numerous health benefits, are increasingly known and enjoyed by foodies the world over.
In South Africa, consumers are blessed with a choice of high quality, locally produced olive oils. Southern Europe and the Middle East are synonymous with olive oil production, owning the lion’s share of the global market.
The industry experienced a rocky 2017 with production shortages that resulted in higher prices, driven by widespread drought affecting farmers in the region. One of the most ruthless weather systems also impacted our farmers heavily the past few seasons: the El Niño system caused patterns which produced the driest year in South Africa’s history.
In the last two decades, South Africa has lost close to 30% of its farmlands due to water scarcity.The province of the Western Cape has recently seen the worst drought to hit the region in the last century. Farmers, who are mainly focused on fruit production in the Cape, feel increased pressure to conserve water as rainfall becomes less predictable and other industries demand a greater share of piped water.
Against this backdrop, South Africa has still managed to produce world-class olive oil, which has been recognised on the international stage. Over the past five years, there has been a 50% increase in planting and financing of olive farms, with approximately 95% of olive farmers situated in the Western Cape.
Local production of olive oil only satisfies a third of consumption in South Africa, with the rest needing to be imported. This allows for more players to enter the market and for current players to focus on making quality oils that are among the best on the world stage.
The United States, where SA producers focus the majority of their attention, is the biggest importer of olive oils, and where premium producers focus their markets and product toward. Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and the Nordics are SA farmers’ next target, followed by the Middle East, China and Japan.
In this growing industry, there is also much room for development to harness the potential of young entrepreneurs and farmers. Farmers of olives could play a critical role as creators of jobs and drivers of economic growth within the South African agriculutural sector.
If agriculture is to improve its contribution to economic development and the achievement of sustainable and secure food supply systems in South Africa, key stakeholders have to be more coordinated in their partnerships. Ultimately, new approaches and partnerships among the many but disconnected stakeholders must be encouraged in order to strengthen our farmers’ leveraging power through better quality products and competitive international prices.
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Inside South Africa’s olive oil industry

Nigeria’s next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on Feb. 16, 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission said on its official Twitter account on Thursday.
The date will mark the end of ailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term. He has not said if he will run again.
Buhari came to power in 2015, promising to crack down on endemic corruption, rid the country of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the northeast and kickstart a flagging economy.
Critics say his presidency has been marred by inertia and little progress has been made on those key policies.
Buhari has been absent for much of 2017 because of an undisclosed medical problem, which calls into question whether he will stand next year. It also creates uncertainty for his All Progressives Congress party that was created to elect him.
A presidency spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Buhari’s plans.
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Reporting by Tife Owolabi; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
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Nigeria to hold presidential and parliamentary election on Feb. 16, 2019

François Conradie | NKC African Economics 
There is a growing fear in Cameroon that Sunday, October 1, might see serious violence. The reason for that is that separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions on the Nigerian border have chosen the day to mobilise, because it is the 56th anniversary of the birth in 1961 of the Federal Republic of Cameroon, when French Cameroon united with the formerly British Southern Cameroon.
A fair number of protest events have been planned on the themes that have disrupted life in the region for the past year: greater autonomy for the region, greater respect for English-speakers’ rights, and better opportunities for professionals from the region.
But a few groups want to go further: they intend to use the occasion to declare the full independence of the two regions that make up the Anglophone Cameroon, and have reportedly chosen a national anthem, a flag, a passport and a new currency.
Given the tensions to which the region has been subject over the past few months, people seem to be taking the danger seriously. Many people are leaving the Anglophone region for the weekend, and the government has sent reinforcements of security forces to the region.
There are reports that some radical separatists have threatened people with violence if they do not join protests, leaving people caught between a rock and a hard place. In late August President Paul Biya pardoned a number of Anglophone activists who had been in detention for their role in unrest and dropped all charges against them; this step was welcomed in the region but there is now a risk that, if the weekend is messy, he may be less conciliatory next week.
A return to federalism (President Ahmadou Ahidjo abandoned the federal model in 1972 and imposed centralised rule) would do much to cool tempers in the English-speaking regions, but we see little chance of activists achieving that by means of protest movements, especially if those call for full independence.
It is more likely that renewed protest action will draw the anger of the State and lead to yet more centralisation. The prospects of an opening up of the environment while Mr Biya is in charge are slim. The size of protest events at the weekend, and the government’s response, merit watching.

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