TOKYO (Reuters) &#8211; Japan will offer enhanced trade insurance to boost private sector investment in Africa, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday as his country competes with rival China for influence in the resource-rich continent.



 “Let me make a promise,” Abe told the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) attended by a few dozen African leaders and representatives of international organisations such as the World Bank.



“The Japanese government will do its utmost so that our private-sector investment in Africa, which came to $20 billion over the past three years, will be expanded continuously,” Abe added.



The enhanced insurance would fully cover loans to African governments, their affiliated institutions or private companies buying Japanese goods for infrastructure projects in Africa, according to government briefing materials and a state-run firm offering trade insurance.



“For example, our cooperation with local financial institutions will create a new trade insurance that could cover 100% of your transactions,” Abe said in his speech.



He did not make a major funding announcement at the Tokyo meeting.



At the last TICAD conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in 2016, Japan pledged $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare in Africa over three years.



Foreign investment in sub-Saharan Africa rose 13% last year to $32 billion, bucking a global downward trend and reversing two years of decline, according to a United Nations report published in June. [nL8N23K3T7]



Last September at a summit with African leaders in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion in financing for Africa and wrote off some debt for the continent’s poorer nations. [nL3N1VP28R]



Western critics say the Chinese funding is saddling the continent with unsustainable debt, but Beijing denies it is engaging in “debt trap” diplomacy. [nL3N1VQ2CD]



Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; editing by Darren Schuettler

Here’s how Japan plans to drive Africa investment

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; The South African government may be forced to inject more money into state power firm Eskom by the end of March next year, should the struggling utility fail to meet its borrowing plan, a National Treasury presentation to parliament said on Wednesday.



Treasury has already earmarked 59 billion rand ($3.9 billion) to Eskom over the next two financial years as part of a special appropriation bill, with 26 billion rand allocated until the end of March 2020.



“Failure to execute its funding plan may result in Eskom experiencing liquidity shortfalls at 31 March 2020 and require additional funding in addition to funding provided through the Special Appropriation Bill,” National Treasury’s director general, Dondo Mogajane, told lawmakers.



($1 = 15.2369 rand)



Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Alexander Winning

South Africa’s power utility Eskom may need more bailouts by the end of March 2020

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ernest-yeboah-acheampong-790269">Ernest Yeboah Acheampong</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-education-4021">University of Education</a> 

African footballers – like other players from developing countries – invariably earn sums of money far greater than their contemporaries back home.

On average, some African players in the elite leagues can <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2018.1551367">earn</a> between €15,000 and €100,000 or more as salaries. Those in leagues one, two and three can also earn around €10,000–50,000, €5000–20,000 and €2000–10,000. A few high-profile players earn more than €150,000 per month in prestigious European clubs.

As a result, there’s a great deal of pressure on players to show that they are spending some of what they earn back home. Some <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w14592">authors</a> have asserted that these professional footballers spend their earnings on conspicuous consumption, such as high-end imported goods. 

To get to grips with this perception I <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2018.1551367">examined</a> the effects of African migrant players’ “giving back” behaviour. I did this by analysing the various socioeconomic projects that they invest in in the communities they come from. 

As part of my study I interviewed former and current professional footballers in Europe to understand the rationale behind how they used their earnings and what investments they made in society. 

I found that some players invested in valuable projects like hospitals, schools, education, oil and gas businesses as well as football academies. This reflected what they termed as “giving back to the society”. 

My findings suggest that players who make investment contributions are demonstrating their social and cultural ties with families, relatives, friends, teammates and the communities where they might have started their football careers. 

<h2>The research</h2>

I developed a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2018.1551367">database</a> of 1084 African professional players who are playing or had played in 30 different European leagues and other parts of the world. 

Most were from West Africa (58.3%), followed by North Africa (17.9%), Central Africa (17.34%), Southern Africa (4.7%) and East Africa (1.8%). 

The overseas leagues covered 44 African players for the 2012/2013 season. 

Five countries each from Southern and East Africa did not have professional players. This means that at the time of the research, they did not have any players plying their trade outside of their territories. These countries were Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Seychelles, Sudan, Eritrea, Tanzania, Djibouti and South Sudan. 

The interviews I conducted included speaking to former and current African professional players who have played in Europe and other parts of the world. Among them were Abedi Pele Ayew (Ghana), Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast), Marcel Desailly (Ghana), Mike Alozie (Nigeria) Bouna Coundoul (Senegal), Samuel Eto&#8217;o (Cameroon), Reuben Ayarna (Ghana), Victor Wanyama (Kenya), Stephen Appiah and Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), and Chivuta Noah (Zambia). I interviewed 30 former and current African professional players that covered a period over five years – 2013 to 2018. 

The questions I asked were aimed at understanding how players used their resources from football, including money, and the rationale behind their decisions.

<h2>Where players came from</h2>

Most of the players I spoke to set out to pursue opportunities abroad because they had limited opportunities at home to support their professional aspirations and expectations. Nearly all came from financially deprived areas. This meant that they had to mobilise resources to support their careers at a formative stage.

This involved strategising to overcome the challenges with the contributions from significant others in the communities to become successful professionally abroad.

The study showed that players were able to mobilise resources from their families, friends, relatives, team mates and club officials. They had also been able to mobilise other kinds of support such as documentation, money, sport kits and gear. In addition, they had built social relations and networks via the societal support and contributions to help them achieve their professional status abroad. 

Eventually, when players became professional abroad and were being rewarded financially, some remitted in various ways to the country they came from. All of them remitted money which, according to the players, can be termed as an African culture.

<h2>Time to pay back</h2>

Players’ investment behaviour was classified according to the
type of projects they got involved in within the communities. This led to an appreciation of how and why they choose to do certain projects based on the support and resources they might have received from their communities. 

Players took very different investment initiatives. Some were purely economic; others had a more social dimension. Contributions from the players could be categorised into private investments, social enterprise investments and economic investments.

Contributions and assistance that constituted a form of “giving back” did not necessarily connote gifts and <a href="https://libcom.org/files/Mauss%20-%20The%20Gift.pdf">counter-gifts</a>. Instead, they served as a potential complement to support the efforts of local and regional growth. 

When deciding how to give back, the players considered those who had significantly contributed to their professional football careers. These included their families and extended families. Other factors that played a role were inter-generational obligations and non-familial actors. 

These investments into valuable social and economic initiatives in communities fulfilled two important functions. First, they enhanced local and regional developmental activities. Second, they helped safeguard the athletes’ post-playing career.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122414/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ernest-yeboah-acheampong-790269">Ernest Yeboah Acheampong</a>, Lecturer, Health,Physical Education,Recreation and Sport (HPERS), <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-education-4021">University of Education</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-african-footballers-who-play-in-europe-spend-their-money-122414">original article</a>.

Here’s how African footballers who play in Europe spend their money

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The Mozambican government formally launched an exchange offer for its defaulted 2023 Eurobond on Tuesday, seeking the consent of bondholders for a restructuring that would ease pressure on its strained public finances.



Mozambique said in May it had agreed a restructuring deal “in principle” with the majority of the holders of the dollar-denominated bond, one of the instruments at the centre of a hidden debt scandal that triggered a currency collapse.



In the exchange offer, Mozambique said settlement of the restructuring of the bond was expected to occur on Sept. 30, if the offer was approved by at least 75 percent of bondholders.



Reporting by Alexander Winning and Karin Strohecker; Editing by Alison Williams

Mozambique launches restructuring offer for 2023 Eurobond, what you need to know

LUSAKA (Reuters) &#8211; Zambia has introduced a cap on the price of maize to keep the staple food affordable, sparking protest from commercial farmers who accused the government of bringing back price controls.



Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo said on Sunday that millers, stockfeed manufacturers, chain stores and grain traders agreed in a meeting with the government to peg the price of maize at a maximum of 2,600 kwacha ($198.93) per tonne.



The price of maize meal, Zambia’s staple food, has in some cases doubled to 150 kwacha per 25 kg bag from 75 kwacha early this year.



Zambia’s 2019 maize production is expected to fall 16% to about 2 million tonnes from 2.39 million tonnes last year largely due to prolonged dry weather, Katambo said in May.



Katambo said on Sunday that the private sector panicked and rushed into the market thinking that there was not enough maize and this pushed up prices.



“Maize prices were rising every week because of this panic and the implication was that the mealie meal price was getting higher,” Katambo said, referring to maize meal.



Katambo said Zambia still had sufficient maize stocks and indications were that less than 1 million tonnes of maize had been bought from the 2 million tonnes the country produced.



“This price is not coming from the government but the private sector players who attended the meeting,” Katambo said.



In a statement on Sunday, the Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU), which represents commercial farmers condemned the cap, saying prices should be left to market forces.



ZNFU said its members were not invited to the gathering where the price was agreed and had called for an urgent meeting this week to discuss the decision.



($1 = 13.0700 Zambian kwachas)



Reporting by Chris Mfula; editing by Jason Neely

Here’s why Zambia has introduced a cap on the price of maize

<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ndlovu-757x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-343606" width="406" height="549"/><figcaption> Dr Thandi Ndlovu 26 December, 1954 – 24 August, 2019 </figcaption></figure></div>



Various business leaders and organisations have paid tribute to construction entrepreneur Dr Thandi Ndlovu, who tragically passed away following a car accident that claimed four lives on Saturday. Dr Ndlovu was a woman who <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2019/08/24/pioneer-for-women-in-construction-thandi-ndlovu-has-died/">dared to challenge the status quo</a> venturing into industries that have been male dominated. 



She was a medical doctor turned businesswoman. In 1999, she entered the construction industry, setting up The Motheo Construction Group, which became one of the industry’s most respected players.  



The Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa describes Dr Ndlovu as &#8220;a true inspiration to many who had the privilege to know and work with her. A fearless business leader, social activist and a champion for the empowerment of women, amongst others&#8221;. 



The Black Business Council’s (BBC’s) President Sandile Zungu says of  Dr T, as she was affectionately known, that she was “a patriot, trailblazer, business leader who was adored, revered and celebrated beyond our shore”.



The South African Housing and
Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF) CEO, Rali Mampeule, called her &#8220;a heroine, a
dedicated businesswoman and a selfless leader. 
 
&#8220;Dr Thandi paved a way for a lot of women in the industry and she was on a
mission to unlock more opportunities for others. She was one of the shining
stars in the construction industry, thanks to her 20 years’ experience in the
sector.” 



Her family this evening issued the following statement about this extraordinaire women, excerpts from which have also been used above:



Dr T left
South Africa in 1976 to join the liberation movement &#8211; she was an established
member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).&nbsp; She
was also a member of the executive of the ANC Womens Section in Lusaka, Zambia.&nbsp; Post liberation, she served in the SANDF as a
reserve in the South Africa Medical Health Services. 



She
distinguished herself in this field, despite the fact that she had entered it
with little knowledge of the sector, armed only with her towering intellect,
dogged determination and staggering work ethic – amongst her accomplishments
was being the president of the Black Business Council for the Built
Environment, a Council Member at South African Federation of Civil Engineering
Contractors, as well as being on the board of several companies.&nbsp; 



Ever
the community builder, Dr T established a foundation, the Dr. Thandi Ndlovu
Children’s Foundation, which dedicates itself to supporting orphaned and
vulnerable children through providing resources for school fees, accommodation
and meals. Her preoccupation with the well-being of children was inspired in
part by the untimely demise of her brother Hastings Ndlovu, who was one of the
young children gunned down in the infamous 1976 Soweto Student Uprising.&nbsp; 



Dr T
was a trailblazer in every field she entered, and a fierce advocate for women,
who she supported at every opportunity, making her passing this August,
National Womens Month, that much more poignant. Dr. Thandi Ndlovu was an
extraordinary woman whose legacy will surely live on through her work and deeds.




Funeral
arrangements will be announced at a later stage.

Business leaders pay tribute to construction entrepreneur Dr Thandi Ndlovu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &#8211; The U.S. Export-Import Bank said on Thursday its board intends to vote on a $5 billion direct loan for the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, the bank’s biggest export financing deal in years.



The government export lender said it has notified the U.S. Congress of the transaction, which will be ready for a final board vote in 35 days.



If approved, the transaction would support U.S. exports of goods and services for the engineering, procurement and construction of the onshore LNG plant and related facilities on the Afungi Peninsula in northern Mozambique.



EXIM said over the five-year construction period the financing could support 16,400 American jobs among suppliers in Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York, Tennessee, Florida and the District of Columbia.



It estimated interest and fee income from the transaction of more than $600 million from a consortium led by Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s recently acquired Anadarko Petroleum Co.



U.S. exports to supply the project, however, face competition from financing offered by foreign export credit agencies.



The project would be the single biggest financing deal since EXIM’s full lending powers were restored in May with the confirmation of three new board members. That ended a drought of nearly four years in which the bank could not approve loans and guarantees of more than $10 million due to a protracted fight in Congress over its future.



The bank, seen by some conservatives as providing taxpayer-backed “corporate welfare” and “crony capitalism,” was unable to finance major infrastructure projects like the Mozambique LNG plant and commercial aircraft built by Boeing Co. It needs Congress to renew its charter before Sept. 30 to keep operating.



U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration views the bank as a tool to boost U.S. exports in an increasingly competitive trade environment.



“This critical project is not only a win for American companies and workers, supporting over 10,000 jobs in the United States, but also for the people of Mozambique as well,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.



EXIM said the Mozambique LNG project would begin to develop the Rovuma Basin, one of he world’s most extensive untapped reserves of natural gas, with a major impact on Mozambique’s economy.



Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Dan Grebler

What you need to know about U.S. EXIM Bank seeking vote on $5 billion loan to LNG project in this African country

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Phelekezela Mphoko, a former deputy to ousted Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, was charged on Wednesday with criminal abuse of office, his lawyer said, in the latest move by the new anti-corruption commission.



The court freed Mphoko on bail. He denies all the charges, his lawyer Zibusiso Ncube said.



Mphoko lost his vice presidential post when a military coup forced Mugabe to resign in 2017 after 37 years in power and led to presidential elections won by longtime Mugabe associate Emmerson Mnangagwa.



Ncube said Mphoko was being accused of using his position to force police to release from their custody suspects who were facing corruption charges in 2016. The ex-vice president also faces a lesser charge of obstructing justice, Ncube said.



A new Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission appointed in July was given the power to arrest suspects, but critics question whether it will be effective.



A previous anti-graft agency failed to tackle corruption among the political elite and many Zimbabweans believe those behind corruption are politically connected and may not be touched.



The commission last month charged a sitting cabinet minister, Prisca Mupfumira, with corruption involving $95 million. Mupfumira was early this month fired from her tourism ministry job.



Mupfumira was the first senior government official to be interrogated by the commission, which was appointed by Mnangagwa after he promised tough action against graft.



Mphoko could be jailed up to 15 years, with an option of paying a fine, if found guilty of criminal abuse of office.



He was granted 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($98) bail and ordered to surrender his passport with the court. He will return to court on Sept. 4 when state prosecutors will decide whether they are ready to proceed to trial.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mark Heinrich

Zimbabwe charges former Mugabe deputy, here’s why

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sam-jones-195757">Sam Jones</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/united-nations-university-694">United Nations University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/inge-tvedten-805051">Inge Tvedten</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/chr-michelsen-institute-3056">Chr. Michelsen Institute</a>

What does it mean to be poor? On the face of it, this may not sound like a very difficult question. In developed countries, almost all official and everyday definitions refer to poverty in income terms. In this sense, low consumption power (income) and poverty are essentially synonymous.

Outside of developed countries, a similar view of poverty frequently gets headlines. In its global comparisons, the World Bank has adopted the (in)famous poverty line of <a href="https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/746163-what-is-the-1-90-poverty-line-and-based-on-this">US$1.90 a day</a>. So, people with daily real incomes below this amount form part of the global poor – thankfully, now a diminishing group. 

One might dispute exactly how and where such a poverty line should be set. But the idea that being poor means not having an adequate income often seems uncontroversial.

Of course, among academics things are rarely so settled. Between economists, there is <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/1813-9450-5432">disagreement</a> about whether poverty should be measured only in monetary terms. In other areas of social science, there is a tradition of scepticism that suggests standard quantitative definitions of poverty can be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380600884068">misleading</a>. 

Representing poverty as a kind of well-defined objective condition, like an infectious disease, focuses attention on the symptoms and immediate consequences of poverty. It risks diverting attention away from the underlying structural causes and diverse experiences of the poor.

<h2>Challenging official narratives</h2>

In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19300117">recent paper</a> we explore contrasting views of well-being in Mozambique. Our interest reflects the country’s controversial track record. From the early 1990s until recently, Mozambique achieved one of the strongest sustained periods of aggregate economic growth of any country. Yet <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10220461.2012.707791">some</a> argue this growth has largely not trickled down, leaving many behind. 

Official poverty estimates undertaken by the government are of the classic quantitative or economic kind. Here a set of basic needs is identified and costed. Households consuming goods worth less than the cost of a minimal basket are deemed to be “poor”. Applying this definition, data from national surveys shows consumption poverty has declined over the past two decades at a steady, but not especially rapid, pace. 

Today, almost half of all Mozambicans continue to live in absolute poverty. There are also large spatial gaps in well-being. For example, there is much lower poverty in the south of the country, around the capital city, reflecting widening levels of consumption inequality.

To provide perspective on this official narrative, a range of <a href="https://www.cmi.no/publications/6161-reality-checks-mozambique-final-report-2011-2015">bottom-up studies of poverty</a>, including our own, have been conducted by anthropologists in different parts of the country. These diverge in both form and content from the economic approach. 

Indeed, the very starting point of this research has been distinctive. The intention was not to apply a pre-given or conceptually static definition of poverty, from which a count of the poor could proceed. Instead it was to probe local perspectives on well-being, the diverse forms of disadvantage, and the kinds of social relations in which disadvantage arises.

A main finding that emerges from the anthropological work is that we cannot see the poor without seeing the better-off. Local grammars of poverty – namely, the terms used to describe who are better- or worse-off – consistently distinguish between socially marginalised individuals and those with strong local social connections. 

Perceptions of deprivation do highlight material deficiencies, such as a lack of food or clothes. But social relationships are vital to cope with vulnerability (shocks) and to facilitate social mobility. Being poor is intimately connected to one’s perceived “position” in a wider society and, through this, one’s scope for upward movement.

<h2>Self-reinforcing disadvantage</h2>

The anthropological view highlights the complex and often fairly localised ways in which the powerful, sometimes politically-connected, hoard opportunities for development. This reinforces existing divides and limits the social and economic mobility of the most disadvantaged. 

For instance, the National District Development Fund in Niassa, Mozambique’s northern province, was seen as a main source of money for investment in (rural) economic activities. Formally, in allocating the funds, priority was to be given to agriculture rather than businesses, women rather than men, and associations rather than individuals. 

But we found that the funds had been systematically co-opted by local influentes. These included traditional authorities, male entrepreneurs and the governing party elite through an intricate system of social relations of exclusion and bribes.

Other vignettes from the lives of the poor point to the diverse mechanisms through which disadvantage is reproduced. This is often linked to specific cultural practices that empower certain groups above others. They also point to the self-reinforcing nature of social and economic disadvantage. 

For example, we met a single mother who had lost large parts of her harvest to drought two years in a row. She had struggled hard to put all her three children to school, but with no crops to sell and no well-placed family to support her, she could no longer pay the bribes necessary for her children to move up classes. We also encountered instances where people cut themselves off from vital relationships to avoid exposing themselves to the embarrassment of having failed and so as to preserve their dignity.

<h2>Making sense of disciplinary divides</h2>

How can we make sense of different disciplinary perspectives on poverty? On the one hand, it is tempting to seek some reconciliation. Surely, metrics of social capital or even subjective well-being can be added to existing measures of consumption power to provide a more complete characterisation of the poor? Or perhaps qualitative follow-ups among the consumption poor could be used to add local context? 

Certainly, combined qualitative-quantitative approaches to poverty research have become popular and often yield richer insights than any one method on its own. Yet, as we elaborate in our paper, this somewhat misses the point. 

There are fundamental philosophical differences between standard quantitative (economic) and qualitative (anthropological) traditions, which do not admit any easy fusion. These include differences in understandings about the form of social reality, what can be known about poverty, and how poverty is produced and reproduced.

For this reason, it is vital to allow separate and diverse perspectives on poverty to flourish. Each methodological approach has distinct strengths, limitations and policy uses. 

The economic approach is essential to track economic progress over time on a consistent basis and identify households at greatest risk of consumption poverty (for example, to target social policy). But to uncover – and even resist – the inherently relational and often political ways in which poverty emerges and is reproduced requires a deeper, local, ethnographic touch. 

Bringing these different perspectives into a meaningful dialogue with each other remains the next challenge.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121639/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sam-jones-195757">Sam Jones</a>, Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/united-nations-university-694">United Nations University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/inge-tvedten-805051">Inge Tvedten</a>, Anthropologist and senior researcher, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/chr-michelsen-institute-3056">Chr. Michelsen Institute</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambique-case-study-shows-that-poverty-is-about-much-more-than-income-121639">original article</a>.

This Mozambique case study shows that poverty is about much more than income, here’s why

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s headline consumer inflation slowed to 4.0% year-on-year in July, its lowest in seven months, from 4.5% in June, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday.



On a month-on-month basis prices rose 0.4%, the same as the previous month.



Core inflation &#8211; which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, petrol and energy &#8211; was at 4.2% year-on-year versus a 4.3% increase in June, and was at 0.4% month-on-month, the same rate as in June.



Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Toby Chopra

South African headline consumer inflation slows to 4% in July, lowest in seven months

One-on-one with Discovery CEO Adrian Gore

(Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand was flat early on Monday, holding on to its brief recovery from last week as traders and investors continued to weigh heightened global growth risks against local uncertainty.



At 0740 GMT the rand was 0.1% weaker at 15.3050 per dollar versus a close of 15.2900 on Friday in New York, treading water as risk aversion linked to fears of slowing global growth and a crisis in Argentina lured investors to safe-haven assets.



The rand has fallen more than 6% since the beginning of August, pressured by the rising likelihood of a credit ratings downgrade by Moody’s linked to a massive, additional bailout for state power firm Eskom and signs of slower global growth.



The inversion of the U.S. Treasury bond yield curve &#8211; widely viewed as a sign of looming global recession &#8211; for the first time since 2007, also put pressure on the rand last week, but by Thursday some short-covering had seen it pullback from 11-month lows.



Traders said the rand is likely to remain in a narrow range ahead of Wednesday’s release of local consumer price inflation for July, with the rand’s attraction as a carry yield target the key focus.



Bonds were a touch weaker, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 adding 0.5 basis points to 8.39%.



Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Toby Chopra

South Africa’s rand flat as investors weigh heightened local, global risks, what you need to know

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African mobile phone operator Vodacom Group will spend more than 9 billion rand ($589 million) this year on network enhancements particularly in rural areas in its home market, its Chief Technology Officer said on Thursday.



Vodacom, majority-owned by Britain’s Vodafone, invested 9.6 billion rand in 2018, Andries Delport said during a media briefing.



The investment will be spent on the firm’s rural coverage acceleration programme, replacing and modernising base stations and digital services.



Vodacom has grown its South African rural network coverage significantly over the past six years, covering over 16 million people with 4G/LTE services.



Its 3G network is now available to more than 97% of the South African population living in rural areas and 4G is available to 75%, Delport said.



“Despite the lack of available spectrum, Vodacom has made substantial progress in improving network coverage in both rural and deep rural areas of South Africa,” he said.



“With rural land making up 98.6% of the total land area in South Africa, Vodacom has prioritised connectivity in these regions, facilitating access to the digital resources which many of us take for granted in cities.”



Vodacom has been battling with vandalism and theft at its base stations, where as many as 500 towers out of the 14,000 have either been vandalised or had batteries stolen every month.



“This year alone the investment is about 250 million rand to 300 million that we’ll invest just in batteries,” said Delport.



($1 = 15.2734 rand)



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by David Holmes

South Africa’s Vodacom to invest more than $589 million on network enhancements, what you need to know

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s public debt, which is approaching rating agencies’ red line of 60% of economic output, is reaching uncomfortable levels, an IMF official said on Thursday.



Public finances in Africa’s most industrialised economy are under strain as growth has proved weaker than expected and a clutch of state companies have needed large cash injections.



In July, the government said it would give power utility Eskom 59 billion rand ($4.1 billion) of additional financial support over the next two years, on top of an already-promised bailout of 230 billion rand spread over the next decade.



That spooked investors and credit agencies.



Finance Minister Tito Mboweni warned shortly afterwards that this and other bailouts for state firms would almost certainly push up the budget deficit as well as state borrowing, raising the prospect of emergency external loans.



“South Africa has not requested an IMF-supported programme. We do not see a balance of payments need &#8230; so as far as we are concerned there’s no need for South Africa to approach the IMF,” the lender’s senior resident representative in South Africa, Montfort Mlachila, told a conference in Johannesburg.



Mlachila, however, said the debt trajectory, forecast at 55% of GDP in February by treasury but likely to be revised upwards at the October mini-budget, was worrying.



“South Africa has the highest level of debt in its history,” he said. “This is actually quite concerning without a doubt &#8230; The public debt trajectory is not favourable and becoming uncomfortable.”



Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrew Cawthorne

IMF says South Africa’s debt is “becoming uncomfortable”, but no bailout requested, what you need to know

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African private education firm Curro Holdings will invest 223 million rand ($14.66 million) in opening four new campuses, it said on Wednesday, after reporting a 44% rise in half-year headline earnings.



Founded in 1998, Curro, which runs schools and tertiary institutions in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, has been growing at a lightning rate as parents frustrated with under-resourced, over-crowded state-run schools splash out on private education.



For the six-months ended June 30, Curro’s pupil numbers increased by 13% to 57,173, increasing revenue by 19% to 1.48 billion rand.



Besides opening the new campuses, Curro also has major expansion and replacement projects underway, with an estimated investment of 1 billion rand in 2019, it added.



“The board believes Curro is positioned for growth and will focus on increasing utilisation of the existing school infrastructure capacity in the short to medium term,” it said.



“Curro will also reduce capital outlay on Greenfield schools over the medium term.”



Headline earnings, the main profit gauge used in South Africa that strips out some one-off items, increased by 44% to 50 cents from 34.8, whilst recurring HEPS rose by 7%.



Group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, amortisation and head office expenditure (EBITDA) rose by 21% to 415 million rand.



At 1125 GMT, shares in Curro were 7.98% firmer to 17.99 rand.



($1 = 15.2119 rand)



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Alexandra Hudson

This African education firm is investing $14 million in 4 new campuses

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-nwabueze-okonkwo-790726">Patrick Nwabueze Okonkwo</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/stellenbosch-university-1439">Stellenbosch University</a>

Construction is tough, sometimes dangerous work. Globally, the construction industry accounts for <a href="https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0000482?src=recsys">about 7%</a> of employment. But it’s responsible for between <a href="https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0000482?src=recsys">30% and 40%</a> of all work-related fatalities. The figure is at its highest in developing countries. This is because contractor organisations in those countries tend to lack a safety culture. Health and management systems are also less robust there than in developed nations.

This is obviously a huge problem. First, of course, there’s the loss of human life. But there’s an economic effect too. Accidents disrupt site activities. Projects can then run behind schedule, leading to cost overruns. This affects productivity and the industry’s reputation as a whole.

In South Africa, the construction industry accounts for around <a href="http://www.cidb.org.za/publications/Documents/Construction%20Monitor%20-%20October%202018.pdf">8%</a> of total formal employment and around <a href="http://www.cidb.org.za/publications/Documents/Construction%20Monitor%20-%20October%202018.pdf">17%</a> of total informal employment. It is also the <a href="http://www.cidb.org.za/publications/Documents/Construction%20Health%20and%20Safety%20in%20South%20Africa.pdf">third most dangerous</a> sector for workers after the transportation and fishing industries.

In a recent <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/105803">study</a>, I tried to find out why health and safety performance is not up to standard in South Africa’s construction industry. I looked at how contractor organisations manage health and safety. I also compared the effectiveness of different management arrangements. This is important: there’s no uniformity around health and safety management programmes and practices within the construction industry.

What emerged was that health and safety management within the construction industry has not developed at the same pace as in other industries. Additionally, it hasn’t kept up with technological advances like robotics, 3D printing and data analytics. These innovative technologies have been well adopted by the automobile and manufacturing industries – and have reduced employees’ exposure to dangerous tasks.

However, in a country beset by <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-08-05-unemployment-in-south-africa-is-worse-than-you-think">high unemployment</a> and inequality, automation can be a sensitive subject.

Another problem I found is that legislation governing health and safety management in the construction industry focuses on individual projects. It doesn’t place any obligation on contractors to implement health and safety management systems, nor to maintain these competencies within their organisations in the long-term. 

<h2>Several problems</h2>

One of the issues I identified was how South Africa’s medium and large contractor organisations manage their own health and safety systems. In some cases, they outsource this work to health and safety management consultants who provide advisory and administrative support. But such arrangements focus on legislative compliance. They don’t do much to drive continuous improvement in the organisation’s health and safety performance.

In other instances, safety management happens internally through contractors’ own organisational structures. This approach also has many problems. Companies just don’t allocate enough resources for proactive health and safety management. Accountability mechanisms are few and far between. There aren’t many incentives for employees to get involved in health and safety management activities. Health and safety training aren’t a priority, either.

Some of the other issues I identified related to the business environment. These included the widespread practice of subcontracting and price-based competition. Both have a negative effect on the industry’s safety performance.

There are critical deficiencies in the management of subcontractors. And the absence of a uniform basis for costing health and safety when tendering for a project means that contractors often under-budget for this crucial aspect of their work.

The country also doesn’t have enough suitably qualified health and safety professionals who are registered with the <a href="http://sacpcmp.org.za/">South African Council for Project and Construction Management Profession</a>. This body is statutorily mandated to regulate the practice of health and safety professionals within the construction industry. I was told by several interviewees that there just aren’t enough registered health and safety professionals for the number of ongoing construction projects. 

So how can the country’s construction industry become a safer place to work in?

<h2>Potential solutions</h2>

First, specific policies are needed that will improve health and safety leadership by top management, safety professionals and operational managers within contractor organisations. Policies like this should provide guidance on the minimal requirement for systematic health and safety management to be voluntarily adopted by contractors. The country could draw from the European Union’s <a href="https://osha.europa.eu/en/legislation/directives/the-osh-framework-directive/1">framework directive</a> on occupational health and safety.

There should also be an industry-wide framework for pricing the cost of health and safety. Employer associations such as the <a href="https://www.safcec.org.za/">South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors</a> and the <a href="https://www.masterbuilders.org.za/">Master Builders Association</a> should collaborate with industry regulators and clients’ organisations to develop a framework for the just and efficient costing of health and safety management requirements in tender documents. 

Subcontractor organisations should provide for the cost of health and safety management in their rates to principal contractors. They should also employ the services of a full-time health and safety management professional. Studies have found that several functions performed by such internal safety professionals promote <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022437510000794?via%3Dihub">safety culture within organisations</a>.

Stakeholders like the Department of Labour, employer associations, labour unions, tertiary institutions and industry bodies will need to come together to address the lack of suitably qualified and registered health and safety professionals. These bodies can facilitate the necessary training and accreditation to meet the construction industry’s needs. 

Organisations which regulate the construction industry and labour unions must also work to limit the number of precarious short-term employment contracts within the industry.

<h2>Effective interventions</h2>

There’s also a lot of work to be done by principal contractors. These organisations need to introduce mechanisms that will manage their subcontractors’ health and safety more efficiently.

Such mechanisms need to do two things. First, they must satisfy legislation mandated documentation and audits. Second, they must track and demand demonstrated improvements in health and safety performance. 

Contractor organisations should also have an annual budget that funds proactive health and safety management interventions.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120913/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-nwabueze-okonkwo-790726">Patrick Nwabueze Okonkwo</a>, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/stellenbosch-university-1439">Stellenbosch University</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-construction-industry-could-become-safer-heres-how-120913">original article</a>.

Here’s how South Africa’s construction industry could become safer

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; Steinhoff will struggle to turn a profit in coming years despite strong turnover as it restructures following an accounting scandal, the South African retailer said in a presentation to investors on Tuesday.



Steinhoff in July reported a 356 million euro ($401 million) half-year loss from continuing operations.



Since flagging holes in its accounts in December 2017, estimates of losses stemming from alleged accounting fraud are now as high $7 billion.



Reporting by Wendell Roelf; writing by Mfuneko Toyana; editing by Jason Neely

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