By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gaathier-mahed-185827">Gaathier Mahed</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/nelson-mandela-university-1946">Nelson Mandela University</a>


When you think of a country’s water resources, you may not realise that there are many kinds. Some is surface water, such as dams and rivers. There’s also groundwater, which includes aquifers and, in some places, artificial recharge schemes that transfer surface water below-ground to store it.

Ideally, countries should take an integrated approach to water resource management to help reduce strain on specific water resources while also extending the lifespan of a region’s water supply. Crucially, it involves efficiently managing surface and groundwater resources in tandem.

Many African countries tend to mismanage their groundwater resources. In many instances it’s over exploited and heavily contaminated and in other situations it is merely considered an emergency resource. Instead of managing their aquifers, they advocate for the <a href="http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2017/05/10/kenya-launches-national-program-to-harvest-rainwater/">construction of dams to capture surface water</a>. 

This approach might work in wealthier countries that can afford to invest in massive infrastructure. It might also be viable in places that don’t record such high rates of surface water evaporation. But it’s not ideal for African countries. 

Some years ago, my colleagues and I set out to see whether Southern Africa was ready to shift its focus towards groundwater and, ultimately, to integrated water resource management. To do this, <a href="https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=m6uqRGMAAAAJ&amp;hl=en#d=gs_md_cita-d&amp;p=&amp;u=%2Fcitations%3Fview_op%3Dview_citation%26hl%3Den%26user%3Dm6uqRGMAAAAJ%26citation_for_view%3Dm6uqRGMAAAAJ%3Au5HHmVD_uO8C%26tzom%3D-120">we assessed</a> how countries in the <a href="https://www.sadc.int/">Southern African Development Community</a> were managing their ground water resources. 

We found that the majority of the countries, have poor governance and record keeping of groundwater resources. Widespread degradation and groundwater contamination were also among the major issues. And, though a few years have passed since this work was done, there have been no real improvements. This is worrying, since the continent’s water problems are <a href="https://thewaterproject.org/water-crisis/water-in-crisis-rural-urban-africa">only getting worse</a>.

These countries and others like them need to develop policy and legislation that stops treating groundwater like an afterthought. Countries must also invest in developing people with the technical skills needed to manage all elements of a water plan, whether that relates to surface water or groundwater. And more public education drives are needed so that ordinary people start understanding the value of groundwater, and protecting this precious resource accordingly.

<h2>Creating a protocol</h2>

Our first step in <a href="https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=m6uqRGMAAAAJ&amp;hl=en#d=gs_md_cita-d&amp;p=&amp;u=%2Fcitations%3Fview_op%3Dview_citation%26hl%3Den%26user%3Dm6uqRGMAAAAJ%26citation_for_view%3Dm6uqRGMAAAAJ%3Au5HHmVD_uO8C%26tzom%3D-120">this study</a> was to create a framework for assessing the status of countries’ groundwater management. We drew a number of insights from the <a href="http://www.amcow-online.org/">African Ministerial Council on Water</a>; examined countries’ available documents related to groundwater; assessed scientific literature on the subject and weighed this all up against generally accepted “best practice” in the field of water management.

The <a href="https://www.gwp.org/">Global Water Partnership’s</a> integrated water resource management <a href="https://www.gwp.org/en/learn/iwrm-toolbox/About_IWRM_ToolBox/">toolbox</a> provided a useful benchmark for our work. We drew from its parameters to give countries a rating of “good”, “limited” or “below expectation” in different categories related to water management.

Some countries performed reasonably well. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Mauritius, for instance, have functional groundwater databases. This means that they are keeping records of what is occurring in terms of groundwater projects, such as boreholes drilled, as best as they can.

But we identified major shortcomings, too.

Most countries in our study didn’t have any proper plans in place for managing their groundwater resources. Almost all were either over exploiting their groundwater or contaminating it.

<a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Groundwater-Pollution-in-Africa/Xu-Usher/p/book/9780415411677">Groundwater pollution</a> was among the big issues we identified. For example, people in villages often build pit latrines close to the wells from which they extract potable water. This is probably partly because people don’t know about the risks involved – but it’s also evidence of governments not doing enough to protect groundwater sources. 

These findings suggest that there’s much more to be done in terms of integrated water management in these countries. And groundwater management must be prioritised as part of this integrated approach. 

<h2>Plans and policies</h2>

Countries must develop policies and plans that include the management of existing dams and aquifers; offer guidelines for rainfall harvesting and outline effective irrigation strategies that don’t deplete groundwater resources.

One approach which could work particularly well is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40899-017-0212-6">banking water in aquifers</a>. It involves inserting water from multiple sources into groundwater reservoirs so it can be tapped at a later stage. This method is already used in various parts of the world and is known as Managed Aquifer Recharge. 

Audits of water use, especially among industrial users, can be helpful in determining where wastage is happening. 

Governments can also develop educational interventions to teach people about different kinds of water resources and how to protect them from misuse, pollution or over use. This approach has been <a href="http://waqfacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SaniBook_Draft_2Aug09_1c_Part2_chapter13.pdf">very effective</a> in parts of the Middle East, where mosques and schools have been used to educate communities about water resources and proper use.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107614/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/gaathier-mahed-185827">Gaathier Mahed</a>, Geohydrologist Department of Geosciences, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/nelson-mandela-university-1946">Nelson Mandela 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/southern-african-nations-need-to-up-their-groundwater-management-game-107614">original article</a>.

Are Southern African nations doing enough to manage their groundwater resources?

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What does it take to become a great leader? Lebawi Academy shows that the journey of being a great leader starts from your foundation and by providing building blocks to young Africans, the school is at the forefront of mentoring Africa’s next generation of leaders.



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What it takes to become a great African leader

Robert Mugabe’s name is <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/robert-mugabe">synonymous</a> with both Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle and its post-colonial politics. His role and that of his Zanu-PF party have been central to the country’s dynamics since the early 1960s – and could well set the tone for the foreseeable future. 

For much of his political life Mugabe has often been viewed, in the words of one of his biographers <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=vQY4DgAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT23&amp;lpg=PT23&amp;dq=Martin+Meredith,+Mugabe+%22secretive+and+solitary%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=DmCK97xurM&amp;sig=PymYcd-DCAyFl-2WFRS18fAIbao&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwijmNmroPneAhWQsKQKHZANDhAQ6AEwAnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=Martin%20Meredith%2C%20Mugabe%20%22secretive%20and%20solitary%22&amp;f=false">Martin Meredith</a>, as “secretive and solitary”, an “aloof and austere figure”.

However he is described, there’s no doubt that Mugabe’s political legacy is highly contested. To understand how this happened, it’s necessary to examine his personal history; his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/17/its-been-one-year-since-zimbabwe-toppled-mugabe-why-isnt-it-a-democracy-yet/?utm_term=.11c978401892">political demise</a> in 2017; and Zimbabwe’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/19/zimbabwe-needs-aid-to-prevent-further-crisis-warns-ruling-party">deepening political and economic crisis</a> more than a year after Mugabe’s ouster.

For the faction that has succeeded Mugabe, led by President Emmerson Mnangagawa, moving beyond the highly problematic legacy that they helped to create remains a daunting task.

<h2>Early life</h2>

Robert Mugabe was born 94 years ago at Kutama Mission in Zvimba District, west of what was then called Salisbury, the capital of then <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Southern-Rhodesia">Southern Rhodesia</a> (today’s Zimbabwe). He received a <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/africa/robert-mugabe">Jesuit education</a> and was by many accounts an exceptional student.

In 1945 Mugabe left Kutama Mission with a teaching diploma. He won a scholarship to South Africa’s Fort Hare University in 1949. There he met other emerging nationalists and was <a href="http://www.channelafrica.co.za/sabc/home/channelafrica/news/details?id=7aa25498-9448-4324-89c2-e4f62a324e17&amp;title=The%20rise%20and%20fall%20of%20Mugabe">introduced to Marxist ideas</a>. 

Armed with a BA degree in history and English Literature, Mugabe returned to Southern Rhodesia in 1952. He soon moved to the Northern Rhodesia (today’s Zambia) in 1955 to take up a teaching post. In 1958 he moved again, to a teacher training college in Ghana. There, a year after Ghana’s independence in 1957, he experienced the thrill and sense of possibility of a newly independent African state. It was a seminal political moment for him.

<h2>Making of a revolutionary</h2>

Mugabe returned home in 1960 on extended leave to introduce his new wife <a href="https://www.zambianobserver.com/the-forgotten-story-of-sally-mugabe-the-beloved-mother-of-zimbabwe-robert-mugabes-first-wife-and-true-love-the-woman-whose-death-changed-president-mugabe-forever/">Sally Hayfron</a> to his family. Instead of returning to Ghana, he became entangled in nationalist politics. This included the turmoil that the two major nationalist parties, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30035743?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) and Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu)</a>, split. 

In 1963 he was arrested, along with many other nationalists. He was <a href="https://www.thezimbabwean.co/2011/10/dtente-the-release-of-nationalist/">released</a> after 11 years. 

Mugabe and his colleague <a href="https://pindula.co.zw/Edgar_Tekere">Edgar Tekere</a> escaped to Mozambique in 1974 to join the liberation war against the regime of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ian-Smith">Prime Minister Ian Smith</a>, conducted from bases in that country. There have been different accounts of Mugabe’s rise to the top of the leadership in Mozambique. As liberation war veteran <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/a-real-zimbabwean-war-veteran-speaks-97206">Wilfred Mhanda tells it</a>, their support for Mugabe was premised on his commitment to building unity between the rival nationalist movements. 

But he reneged on this, instead pursuing the supremacy of his own party Zanu.

Following the Lancaster House settlement and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40395186?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">1980 elections</a>, Mugabe’s Zanu emerged as the dominant party. He set out his policy of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt24hd4n.7?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">reconciliation with the white population</a>. This allowed the existing property and economic relations from the Rhodesian period to continue, while the politics of state control was transferred to Zanu. 

This period witnessed the consolidation of Mugabe’s control of both his party and the state. The massive violence committed against the competing party of liberation, <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Zimbabwe_African_People's_Union">Zapu</a>, through the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=zi-tWekXbD8C&amp;pg=PA19&amp;lpg=PA19&amp;dq=%22the+early+rain+which+washes+away+the+chaff+before+the+spring+rains%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=dWX2SIUj7r&amp;sig=0aDLpmmQfN93e_RNJuKcBmGGEYI&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwioi-joj6LWAhWE7hoKHRF_C7wQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&amp;q=%22the%20early%20rain%20which%20washes%20away%20the%20chaff%20before%20the%20spring%20rains%22&amp;f=false">Gukurahundi massacres</a>, signalled Zanu’s violent intolerance of opposition. 

However, the 1980s were also evidence of Mugabe’s commitment to social policies such as health and education. Mugabe’s government greatly expanded the state expenditure in these areas in the <a href="http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/zimbabwe.-the-political-economy-of-transition-1980-1986">first decade of independence</a>. 

The hostilities between Zapu, led by Joshua Nkomo, and Mugabe’s Zanu officially ended with the signing of a <a href="https://pindula.co.zw/Unity_Accord">Unity Accord</a> by the two leaders on December 22, 1987. Zapu was effectively swallowed by Zanu PF. The ruling party had used the acronym since the end of the brief Patriotic Front coalition (1976-79) between the two liberation parties, on the eve of the 1980 elections. 

<h2>Things go south</h2>

During the 1990s, opposition to Mugabe <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300366769_The_Movement_for_Democratic_Change_MDC_and_the_Changing_Geo-Political_Landscape_in_Zimbabwe">grew</a> in size and influence. Faced with the real possibility of political defeat – and dissent from the war veterans – Mugabe drew on <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/zimbabwe/ZimLand0302-02.htm">longstanding land grievances</a> to reconfigure the politics of the state and Zanu-PF. 

His <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00358530500082916">Fast Track Resettlement</a> programme radically reconstructed the land relations from the settler colonial period. There is a continuing debate about the effects of the land redistribution exercise. It resulted in the violent allocation of land to a combination of large numbers of small farmers and the ruling party elite, and its long term impact on the country’s economy remains problematic.

The process also created a massive rupture between <a href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/111691/P202.pdf">human and redistributive rights </a>. By legitimising the Fast Track programme, Zanu-PF emphasised economic redistribution and settling the colonial legacy around the land question. 

But in doing so, the ruling party opportunistically labelled the fight for human and democratic political rights – which had long been central to the anti-colonial struggle – as a foreign <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/sunday-times/20180218/282342565314857">“regime change agenda”</a> pushed by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civic movements. 

The politics of the land reform process unleashed many questions around citizenship, belonging, and assertions of identity. Mugabe’s often valid critique of imperialist duplicity was accompanied by an unacceptable authoritarian intolerance of dissent within Zimbabwe. 

The armed forces were <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-mugabe-why-the-role-of-zimbabwes-army-cant-be-trusted-87872">central to his stay in power</a>. The push in his final years to have his wife Grace succeed him heralded a <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/mugabe-announces-appointment-of-controversial-wife-grace-to-a-key-post-20170915">longer term reign for a Mugabe dynasty</a>. To further his wife’s ambitions, Mugabe first moved against Vice President Joyce Mujuru, the favoured contender to succeed him, in <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/clues-to-successor-as-mugabe-names-vice-president/a-18122886">2014</a>.

Next, the Mugabes, with the support of a faction of Zanu-PF known as the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-politics-g40-factbox/factbox-key-figures-in-zimbabwe-first-lady-grace-mugabes-g40-faction-idUSKBN1DF1DX">G40 group</a>, took on another potential successor, Vice President Mnangagwa. He was dismissed from his state and party positions in <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/mnangagwa-fired-disloyal-disrespectful-deceitful2/">early November 2017</a>.

This set off a dramatic series of events. In mid- November 2017, following military chief Constantine Chiwenga’s warning of <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/counter-revolutionaries-want-to-destroy-zanu-pf-army-chief-tells-mugabe-20171113">“counter-revolutionaries”</a> in the ruling party, the armed forces <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-military-coup-is-afoot-in-zimbabwe-whats-next-for-the-embattled-nation-87528">effectively took power</a> away from the executive. 

This was followed by the initiation of an impeachment process against Mugabe. But, on the day the process began, in November 2017, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42071488">he resigned</a>. 

<h2>End of an era</h2>

For many Zimbabweans Mugabe remains a contested figure. For those who lived through the humiliations of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/720978?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">settler colonialism</a>, his strident critique of its legacies still ring true. But others will find it impossible to accept his exclusivist assertions of <a href="https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-opinion-sc-columnist-byo-129803.html">national belonging</a> and authoritarian intolerance of dissent.

When combined with the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249599119_Zimbabwe_Now_The_Political_Economy_of_Crisis_and_Coercion">deep economic crisis</a> over which he presided, it is little surprise that the end of Mugabe’s rule was greeted with such momentous national celebration.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107840/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">

By<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brian-raftopoulos-100177">Brian Raftopoulos</a>, Research Fellow, International Studies Group, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-free-state-1944">University of the Free State</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/liberation-hero-mugabe-evokes-polarised-emotions-among-zimbabweans-107840">original article</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"></h2>

Why Mugabe’s political legacy is highly contested

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The chairman of KPMG South Africa on Monday appealed for the firm to be seen as a changed business, following months of efforts to regain public trust after becoming embroiled in major corruption scandals.



In an open letter published in South African newspapers, KPMG South Africa’s executive chairman Wiseman Nkuhlu said the local unit of the audit giant was “very different” from 18 months ago, after a period of significant introspection and change.



“I would like to make an appeal to South Africa-business, government and the public,” he wrote, asking for recognition of its efforts, patience and the chance to play a positive role in South Africa.



“KPMG has nothing to hide,” the letter also said, adding the firm had cooperated with inquiries and would accept responsibility for its misdeeds.



KPMG has apologised repeatedly for its role in some of South Africa’s largest corruption scandals, which have damaged the reputation of one of the world’s biggest audit firms at a time when it is also facing criticism for its practices elsewhere.



Its South African unit lost several major clients and had to overhaul its leadership over work done for the Gupta family, friends of former president Jacob Zuma who were accused of unduly influencing the awards of billions of rand in government contracts. Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.



It also audited the results of VBS Mutual Bank during a period when almost 2 billion rand ($141 million) was looted from the lender, with the unit reporting a former partner to the police as a result, and came under fire over a report into the South African Revenue Service.



Nkuhlu pointed to a number of things the firm had done to regain trust, including appointing a new chief executive and agreeing to repay 47 million rand in fees earned from Gupta companies, but acknowledged this would not happen quickly.



“We failed by our own standards and we let the country down,” he wrote.



($1 = 14.1565 rand)



Reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Mark Potter

Should KPMG South Africa be given a second chance following corruption scandals?

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Major chocolate companies have failed to keep a promise they made a year ago to stop forests in West Africa being destroyed for cocoa production, a campaign group said on Friday.



Companies from Mars to Hershey to Barry Callebaut joined the governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana to launch the Cocoa and Forests Initiative last year, pledging to eliminate the production and sourcing of cocoa from protected forests.



But satellite images of Ivory Coast’s southwest cocoa-growing region showed about the same amount of forest had been lost in the 12 months since the pledge was made as in the previous year, campaign group Mighty Earth said in a report.



“I would have expected to see some deforestation continue, because it’s very hard to transform an entire industry overnight, but I did not expect to see it continue exactly the same as before,” said the report’s author, Etelle Higgonet.



If deforestation continues unabated, Ivory Coast &#8211; the world’s top cocoa producer &#8211; risks losing all its forest cover by 2034, environmental campaigners say.



But stopping it is a challenge since the cocoa grown on that land provides livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of farmers and their families.



Land is scarce, so poor farmers often expand into forests or parks to raise their incomes, experts say.



Mighty Earth recorded 13,748 hectares of deforestation &#8211; equivalent to 15,000 football fields &#8211; in Ivory Coast’s southwest region between Nov. 2017 and Sept. 2018.



This put it on track to reach about the same figure as last year &#8211; 14,827 ha &#8211; by November, Higgonet said.



The group was not able to obtain data as precise from Ghana, but observed a similar lack of change there, she added.



The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), the industry group behind the Cocoa and Forests Initiative, said recent reports show there has been progress in national parks and classified forests.



“Our immediate priority has been to stop deforestation in the most ecologically important and environmentally sensitive areas, and we are encouraged to see positive results in less than one year,” said WCF president Richard Scobey.



Most of the recent deforestation hotspots are in rural areas outside protected forests, which is legal but still environmentally damaging, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.



Mighty Earth also accused companies of not upholding their pledge to stop buying cocoa from national parks.



Ivory Coast has estimated 40 percent of its cocoa comes from protected areas.



“I feel like people are taking me for a fool. Because if you do the math &#8230; somebody’s buying it,” said Higgonet.



Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit&nbsp;<a href="http://news.trust.org/">news.trust.org</a>

Why cocoa companies failed to keep promise to stop Africa deforestation

By Chris Bishop.
Business and households were given a pre-Christmas shock with a frank disclosure of the ruin of Africa’s biggest power generator amid claims of sabotage, corruption and decay where those who try to fix it are swept aside or forced out of their jobs. The only crumb of comfort is that the government promises to shake up South Africa’s power generator Eskom and has cancelled their Christmas holidays for its senior executives so they can tour the ageing power stations of the country to find out what is wrong.
“We have reshuffles in cabinet we are going to be reshuffles here as well,” says Pravin Gordhan, the public enterprises minister.
Gordhan and Eskom chairman Jabu Mabuza were called back from a road show for an emergency press conference at Eskom’s Megawatt Park in Sandton, Johannesburg. They painted a bleak picture of the failing national grid, supplied by Eskom, that has left many businesses and homes in the dark over the last few months. The grid of 47,000 MW is running on a mere 29,000 MW because of maintenance and breakdowns in the ageing power stations on the country, most of which were built in the 1970s. Eskom didn’t even know where the next break will be, he said.
“For business, we want to ensure by the time you get back to work in January we have a better situation,” says Gordhan.
But Gordhan acknowledged it was likely to be a grim fight against years of corruption and decay that has seen the pride of Africa’s power generation reduced to a load shedding shell.
“There has been declining production, the growing need for repairs, the lack of attention, we are not sure yet whether there is an undermining of the system, as well, let’s call it sabotage,” he says.
“Some of the problems can be ascribed to the age of the plant, but from about 2010 the investment in maintaining, repairing and big scale repairs were not done adequately. Enough money was not put into big repairs and mid-term repairs.” 
“ Often things were fixed with a very lousy old band aid supposed to last a week that comes unstuck in a few days, then you haven’t fixed it .We are looking at contactors not doing what they were supposed to do.”
Experts in Eskom who tried to fix the mess were either swept aside or forced to leave, Gordhan said.
The minister even admitted that his department was also a step behind what was going on at Eskom. It had merely on energy expert.
“The public was told we have a world class operation, but in the meantime all the malfeasance and mismanagment has gone on,” says Gordhan.
Eskom hopes to report back within ten days and plans to set up a team of experts to assess the damage to the power generation system.

Lights out, game on- No Christmas of rest and turkey for the bosses in a dingy tale of decay

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-elizabeth-gannon-601360">By Kate Elizabeth Gannon</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science-1219">London School of Economics and Political Science</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/declan-conway-434384">Declan Conway</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science-1219">London School of Economics and Political Science</a>
Climate change is going to have huge consequences all over the world, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">especially in Africa</a>. Harvests will be affected, threatening agricultural outputs. This could hurt farmers and lead to greater food insecurity.
But there hasn’t been much discussion about what effects climate change will have in other areas – like in the continent’s small and medium business sector. This is a worrying oversight.
Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability/article/business-experience-of-floods-and-droughtrelated-water-and-electricity-supply-disruption-in-three-cities-in-subsaharan-africa-during-the-20152016-el-nino/4E87FAB6F1703FB2558CB2D0EE9845E2">research</a>, conducted in Zambia and Botswana, revealed that businesses activities faced major disruptions during the 2015/2016 El Niño event. This was a result of drought-related water supply disruption in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, and disruption to hydroelectricity supplies in Zambia’s capital Lusaka.
<a href="https://www.livescience.com/3650-el-nino.html">El Niño</a> is one of the key drivers of variations in global climate conditions between different years. It recurs every two to seven years and it’s typically associated with reduced rainfall and drought conditions in southern Africa.
Reflecting this trend, the 2015/2016 El Niño was one of the <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0009.1">strongest on record</a>. It brought widespread drought conditions and heat waves to the region.
By impacting urban water and hydroelectricity supplies, this had major consequences for business activities in Gaborone and Lusaka, as our research shows. These cities’ experiences should serve as a warning for others across the continent, and systems should be put in place to protect particularly small businesses from the worst realities of a changing climate.
<h2>Under pressure</h2>
In Botswana, as lake levels in the Gaborone Dam dropped to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017EF000680/full#">historical lows</a>, businesses in Gaborone experienced decreased water pressure. In some cases businesses were completely cut off from piped water supply.
Lack of water for food preparation, butchery, irrigation, laundry, cleaning and sanitation had dire consequences for businesses such as hotels and guesthouses, restaurants, food businesses and other service industries. Hairdressers and car washing enterprises, for instance, came to a standstill as they struggled to provide services to customers or to maintain hygiene standards.
In Zambia’s capital Lusaka, where hydropower accounts for <a href="https://www.hydropower.org/country-profiles/zambia">94%</a> of the country’s electricity generation capacity, low lake levels in Lake Kariba contributed to unprecedented electricity blackouts, often lasting for eight hours at a time.
In Lusaka, activities reliant on electricity such as manufacturing, processing and communications were interrupted as equipment was immobilised. Assets were lost because they couldn’t be reliably heated or refrigerated. In both cities, supply chains were disrupted.
<figure><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nu5pjijFFa4?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>A video explaining the authors’ findings.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Infrastructure issues</h2>
Towards the end of 2016, as El Niño drew to a close, more than half of the 135 micro, small and medium enterprises we surveyed in Gaborone and Lusaka told us their profits would be lower than previous years. Almost a third believed that their business was at risk of closing down. Business owners said disruptions to water supply and power outages, in Gaborone and Lusaka respectively, were the greatest obstacles to them doing business.
The two cities’ experiences, alongside the widely reported “<a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/will-day-zero-loom-again-for-cape-town-20181005">Day Zero</a>” water situation in Cape Town, South Africa, should sound a warning for businesses elsewhere on the continent. Water shortages in Cape Town began during the El Niño, but extended into 2018 as drought conditions persisted.
<hr />
 
 
Read more: 
<a href="http://theconversation.com/day-zero-is-meant-to-cut-cape-towns-water-use-what-is-it-and-is-it-working-92055">Day Zero is meant to cut Cape Town&#8217;s water use: what is it, and is it working?</a> 
 

<hr />
Climate change events like droughts are only going to get worse – and urban centres where many small, medium and micro enterprises thrive will be in the eye of the storm. The 2015/2016 El Niño highlighted that even fairly moderate changes in rainfall can have major consequences for businesses in African cities.
<a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/urbanization-sub-saharan-africa">More people are moving to cities</a>, setting up businesses and connecting, often for the first time, to water and electricity grids. This increases demand and places pressure on existing water and energy infrastructure.
At the same time, a complex set of factors has limited the development of new infrastructure and the effective management of existing resources. This means cities are struggling to keep up with the increased demand.
These factors, which include under-investment in infrastructure, policy uncertainty, governance challenges and poor municipal service provision, exacerbated the effect of drought in Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.
<h2>Preparing for a new reality</h2>
So what can be done to address these realities?
First, action is needed across sub-Saharan Africa to increase understanding of the vulnerabilities in existing water, energy and urban infrastructure – alongside the effects of increasing urbanisation and a changing climate.
And, second, small and medium sized businesses, which are <a href="https://www.norfund.no/getfile.php/133983-1484571386/Bilder/Publications/SME%20and%20growth%20MENON%20.pdf">key drivers of economic growth across sub-Saharan Africa</a> and provide many people with a livelihood, need more support from governments and policy makers to help them cope with disruption.
This should include better access to information about the timing and severity of anticipated disruption to water and electricity supplies, as well as support to invest in coping strategies such as alternative sources of energy.
Patrick Curran, a policy analyst at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, also contributed to this article.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" 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;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107373/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-elizabeth-gannon-601360">Kate Elizabeth Gannon</a>, Postdoctoral researcher, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science-1219">London School of Economics and Political Science</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/declan-conway-434384">Declan Conway</a>, Professorial Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/london-school-of-economics-and-political-science-1219">London School of Economics and Political Science</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/small-businesses-in-africa-will-be-on-the-frontline-of-climate-change-107373">original article</a>.

What are the consequences climate change will have on small businesses in Africa?

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s struggling state-run power firm Eskom wants the government to take on 100 billion rand ($7 billion) of its debt as part of a turnaround plan to shore up its balance sheet, Eskom Chairman Jabu Mabuza told the Business Day newspaper.
Cash-strapped Eskom is struggling to emerge from a financial crisis characterised by declining electricity sales, ballooning debt and liquidity problems.
Mabuza made the comments to Business Day as Eskom was meeting investors on a roadshow to London and the United States this week.
A financial market source in London confirmed to Reuters that Mabuza had told investors about moving 100 billion rand of Eskom’s debt onto the government’s balance sheet during the roadshow.
Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe declined to elaborate on Mabuza’s comments, saying the company’s turnaround plan was still the subject of discussions with key stakeholders in government.
Mabuza told a news conference last week that asset sales could not solve Eskom’s problems and that a bailout or debt relief were preferable. The utility expects to make a loss before tax of more than 11.2 billion rand this financial year.
($1 = 13.8394 rand)
Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by James Macharia

Why South Africa’s state-run power firm Eskom wants government to take on $7.2 billion of its debt

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Armed with low-cost operating models, three South African digital banks are betting on aggressive pricing and data analytics to attract tech-savvy, price-conscious consumers when they launch next year in a rare challenge to the old guard.
It will be first time the $30 billion industry has faced competition since the early 2000s, when Capitec Bank muscled into a sector dominated by Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
The mobile banking newcomers, Discovery Bank, TymeBank and Bank Zero, all expect to have substantially lower cost-to-income ratios than the big five lenders, giving them scope to disrupt the pricing of retail banking products in South Africa.
“We are here to shake up the status quo. Much the same as Uber did in the taxi industry,” Sandile Shabalala, chief executive of TymeBank, a financial technology company controlled by tycoon Patrice Motsepe, told Reuters.
While the newcomers’ focus is South Africa, Bank Zero, for one, said it may look at other emerging markets in due course, and investors say because all three have strong IT platforms and use digitalisation, it should be easier to expand.
The challenge in South Africa is to make inroads in a market where over 80 percent of the population already have bank accounts. Elsewhere in Africa, 350 million people have no form of bank account and lenders such as Standard Chartered and Ecobank are testing the waters with digital banks.
With fewer employees, lower administrative expenses and less need for costly back-office technology, the South African challengers hope they can woo customers with fees as low as zero, higher rates on savings and cheaper credit.
While all three declined to put a figure on their expected cost-to-income ratios, four industry executives who spoke on condition of anonymity said they had worked out efficiency ratios of 25 percent to 30 percent.
That compares with nearly 60 percent for the incumbents.
“I have been dumbfounded at how low the cost can be,” said Bank Zero’s co-founder Michael Jordaan, best known for turning FirstRand’s retail banking operation into the most profitable in South Africa. “Our technology cost is 1 percent of 1 percent of the annual tech budget at one of the big banks.”
ENTRENCHED RIVALS 
Jordaan’s comments were largely echoed by senior executives at TymeBank and Discovery Bank, which is part of insurance company Discovery Ltd.
The major banks have taken note.
“There’s anxiety in executive committee meetings about what’s about to happen,” an executive at one of the big banks said. “Your regular bank will be happy with a cost-to-income ratio of 50 percent.”
Nevertheless, customers have proved reluctant to switch banks in South Africa in the past. Standard Chartered, for example, tried and failed to take on the big banks in the early 2000s with online lender 20Twenty.
Improvements in technology since and a wider acceptance of online services, however, mean the challengers may have a better chance this time. Similar ventures in markets such as the United Kingdom are slowly making inroads.
More than a million people now use Monzo’s current account and money management mobile app while money transfer firm Revolut has 3.2 million customers across Europe &#8211; and both have broken through the billion dollar valuation mark.
Still, luring customers away from a deeply entrenched South African banking sector will be a major challenge, and the big banks are unlikely to cede customers without a fight.
South African banks escaped the global financial crisis partly thanks to regulations that stopped them buying the U.S. mortgage-backed assets that triggered the meltdown, as well as a more cautious approach to borrowing.
Headline earnings, the main gauge of profitability, have increased more than two-fold at the big five banks since 2011 to a combined $5 billion.
Their average return on equity, a measure of income generated with shareholders’ money, stands at 18.6 percent, nearly double global peers &#8211; many of which are already cutting costs as they grapple with digital newcomers.
South African banks have also been cutting jobs, closing branches and encouraging customers to use digital channels as part of their efforts to lower cost-to-income ratios.
&#8220;These banks have got established customers on their books right now, so they are going to do the best to retain these customers,&#8221; said Costa Natsas, partner at auditing firm PwC www.pwc.co.za/en.html in South Africa.
FIERCE COMPETITION 
Worrying for the incumbents, though, is the fact Capitec’s success was based on aggressive pricing. After a slow start, it has more than doubled its client base in the past five years and has an industry-leading return on equity of 27 percent.
According to a survey by consultants McKinsey &amp; Company www.mckinsey.com published in February, pricing was the primary reason nearly 60 percent of Capitec&#8217;s 10 million customers switched.
“While we haven’t disclosed yet what our pricing structure will be, the name Bank Zero should give you a very strong hint of what the banking fees should be,” Jordaan told Reuters.
“Once we launch, there will be many more things that we think we can do to revolutionise banking, not just in South Africa, but also other emerging markets,” he said.
Fees at the main banks for deposits, withdrawals and transfers have for years largely ranged from 100 rand to 250 rand a month, but can rise as high as 450 rand &#8211; a sizeable sum in a country where the minimum wage is 20 rand per hour.
“Is the competition going to be fierce? Of course, it’s all about the value customers perceive they will get when considering whether to switch banking providers or not, and this will largely determine whether inroads are gradual or accelerated,” said PwC’s Natsas.
The other battlefield will be in the pricing of credit and interest on savings accounts. With rates now on basic savings accounts ranging from 2.6 percent to 5 percent, traditional banks might have to offer at least double to compete.
“We’re paying roughly up to 10 percent interest in our savings account, that’s something we’ve never heard of in this country,” said TymeBank CEO Shabalala, who previously worked for Nedbank.
DATA ANALYTICS 
TymeBank has said it will launch officially next year, Bank Zero is aiming for early 2019 and Discovery Bank is due to launch in March.
Discovery is pinning its hopes on a data programme called Vitality that helped Discovery Ltd’s health insurance business overtake rivals such Liberty Health. Vitality is a behaviour tracking programme that rewards health insurance clients for healthy lifestyles, such as by paying for gym memberships.
“We followed our purpose in making people healthier but in a financial sense,” said Adrian Gore, founder and chief executive Discovery Ltd, referring to the new bank’s business model.
Discovery Bank will target the group’s 2 million health insurance clients, rewarding them with lower rates on loans and higher rates on saving accounts &#8211; provided they achieve targets such as saving for retirement, paying down a mortgage or having short-term insurance.
Discovery, which is considering giving 10 percent of the bank to black investors, is not the only one relying on data analytics.
TymeBank, which is majority black-owned, has teamed up with South Africa’s second largest supermarket chain Pick n Pay to roll out a money transfer service for the retailer’s 10 million loyalty programme clients.
The partnership also gives TymeBank a pool of potential customers to target and would give clients a point of contact at Pick n Pay’s more than 700 branches, Shabalala said.
TymeBank is also in advanced talks about joining forces with companies that could provide insurance for customers who take out loans, he said, declining to give further details.
Two sources said TymeBank was seeking partnerships with retirement funds firm Alexander Forbes and insurance giant Sanlam &#8211; companies that could provide a pool of potential customers and data.
Sanlam told Reuters it would team up with a bank if the alliance supported its strategy and was mutually beneficial. “Any potential opportunities to collaborate with Tyme would be evaluated accordingly,” Sanlam said.
Alexander Forbes did not respond to requests for comment.
($1 = 14.2352 rand)
Additional reporting by Ian Withers in London; editing by David Clarke

How banking in South Africa is being disrupted by digital newcomers

PRETORIA (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s economy expanded 2.2 percent in the third quarter in quarter-on-quarter terms, snapping out of recession after a revised 0.4 percent contraction in the second quarter, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Tuesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had predicted a 1.6 expansion for the third quarter.
The data also showed economic output rose 0.5 percent on an unadjusted year-on-year basis in the third quarter, in-line analysts’ predictions.
Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia

South Africa out of recession as GDP grows by 2.2 percent in Q3

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa faces more power cuts, electricity utility Eskom warned on Monday as it sought to prevent the collapse of its power grid in a test for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reforms.
Eskom implemented a fifth day of controlled power cuts on Monday, putting more strain on an economy already mired in recession only months before a national election.
“The entire week could be severely constrained if we are unable to replenish the diesel and water reserves, and reduce the high unplanned outages,” Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said.
Eskom, which is battling a severe financial crisis, coal shortages and breakdowns of its power plants, said it would cut up to 2,000 megawatts of power from the grid on Monday.
The utility, which last week called for a bailout or debt relief, began the controlled cuts, known as load-shedding, on Thursday as demand for power outstripped available capacity.
“Eskom teams are working hard to salvage the situation but the process is going to be hard, long and costly,” Phasiwe said.
Ramaphosa has made reforming Eskom a priority, but he has been hampered by fiscal constraints in a blow to his plan to woo investors who can help grow the economy ahead of an election likely to be held in May next year. nL8N1X61GL]
“Eskom as an institution and its ability to provide stable power supply is the single biggest risk to @CyrilRamaphosa’s investment drive and the South Africa fiscus,” Isaah Mhlanga, executive chief economist at Alexander Forbes Investments said on Twitter.
BNP Paribas South Africa senior economist Jeff Schultz said prolonged power cuts would likely hurt economic growth in the first quarter of 2019, although a slowdown in manufacturing over the Christmas period will buy Eskom some time.
“But come mid-January, if we are still facing load-shedding, that is when it is going to be a much more pressing issue for the economy,” Schultz said.
South Africa entered recession in the second quarter for the first time since 2009. Third-quarter gross domestic product numbers are due out on Tuesday, with analysts polled by Reuters predicting quarter-on-quarter GDP growth of 1.6 percent.
($1 = 13.6396 rand)
Editing by James Macharia and Alexander Smith

More power cuts for South Africa could raise Ramaphosa reform risk

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has identified intra-African trade as a critical factor for unlocking Africa’s trade potential. Ms. Kanayo Awani, Managing Director of the Bank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative, says a lack of access to trade and market information is one of the key reasons for the low level of intra-African trade. Although the share of intra-African trade as a percentage of total African trade has increased from 10% in 1995 to around 15% currently, it remains low compared to the levels in Europe (59%), Asia (51%), and North America (37%). Historically, African countries are more familiar with markets in Europe and America than they are with those in neighbouring countries, resulting in the all too common phenomenon of manufacturers sourcing materials from outside the continent when they could access the same materials more cheaply from within.
The inaugural Intra-African Trade Fair 2018 is a key intervention aimed at boosting regional trade in Africa and will be the biggest gathering of buyers and sellers on the continent, with 1,000 exhibitors and more than 70,000 visitors expected. One of the key objectives of the IATF is to provide a platform for exchange of trade information. To facilitate this, a Trade Finance Conference will run parallel to the trade fair. Experts from across the continent and beyond will be speaking at the conference, which will bring stakeholders from industry and government agencies together to find solutions to the obstacles hampering regional trade. The Conference will also provide a platform for networking and setting up of strategic partnerships.
The IATF is, essentially, a gateway into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which heralds what will be the biggest free trade area in the world. The first ever Intra-African Trade Fair, will provide direct access to the lucrative market created by the AfCFTA, which boasts over 1 billion people and a combined GDP of over US $3.4 trillion, making it an unprecedented platform for businesses to grow their interests exponentially into Africa. The trade fair will also provide opportunity for the presentation of bankable proposals for funding, and access to US$25 billion in trade finance for deals concluded at the event. Business-to-Business Exchanges will also be facilitated at the trade fair. According to Ms. Awani, Afreximbank is working actively with the African Union(AU) to implement the AfCFTA.
The IATF 2018 is being organized by Afreximbank in partnership with the AU and will be hosted by the Egypt’s Export Development Authority. Themed “Intra-African Trade for a Transformative Africa”, the IATF will take place from 11 to 17 December 2018 at the Egypt International Exhibition Centre in Cairo. The trade fair will be convened biennially. You can register as a visitor/delegate on our website at: www.intrafricantradefair.com. We look forward to seeing you in Cairo.

How IATF aims to boost regional trade in Africa

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s cash-strapped state airline will need a total of 7.5 billion rand ($540 million) from next month to fund day-to-day operations into 2019, a presentation to a parliamentary committee by the airline showed on Tuesday.
SAA, which has not generated a profit since 2011, survives on state guarantees and is regularly cited by credit ratings agencies as a drain on the government purse.
It has drawn up an austere turnaround plan that includes cutting jobs and routes in effort to turn a profit by 2021 and convince lenders to restore credit lines.
The airline said lenders have refused to lend the company 3.5 billion rand to plug a liquidity hole from December unless they received additional commitments from the government, the presentation showed.
In addition, the national carrier will need 4 billion rand ($288 million) from March next year, the presentation showed.
“Currently we don’t have an optimal capital structure and as a result of that we are dependent on debt which is not good&#8230; the banks are pushing now for much more better support from the shareholder to put in place for us,” said Deon Fredericks, SAA’s interim chief financial officer.
SAA is expected to make a 5.2 billion rand loss in the 2019 financial year and another 1.9 billion in 2020 before swinging into profit a year later, the presentation showed.
($1 = 13.8763 rand)
Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia

SAA needs $540 million from next month to fund day-to-day operations

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242751/original/file-20181029-76384-1torm2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="File 20181029 76384 1torm2j.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" /><figcaption>High magnification view of mosquito pupae and larvae underwater. 
<a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-mosquito-pupae-larvae-underwater-134180195?src=FIzxvIwFKsqKs5Wq0P2SbQ-1-51">7th Son Studio/shutterstock</a></figcaption></figure>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wei-chiao-huang-580146">By Wei-Chiao Huang</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-at-buffalo-the-state-university-of-new-york-925">University at Buffalo, The State University of New York</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-lovell-588898">Jonathan Lovell</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-at-buffalo-the-state-university-of-new-york-925">University at Buffalo, The State University of New York</a>
Is it possible to eradicate malaria?
It is a question with which many researchers have grappled, and many ideas have been proposed. The reason malaria has garnered so much attention is that it is one of the deadliest diseases, infecting 200 million people and killing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/malaria/index.html">more than 500,000 annually</a>, with infants in Africa suffering the majority of fatalities.
The disease is a huge burden for humanity, damaging economies and social development. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/malaria/index.html">According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, malaria treatments cost Africa nearly US$12 billion per year. Reports have shown that nearly <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/malaria/index.html">1,700 cases</a> are diagnosed annually in the United States, usually in people who have recently traveled to regions of Asia and Africa where the disease is endemic.
For some decades, researchers have being working on a novel idea called a “transmission-blocking vaccine.” This vaccine is different from traditional vaccines that protect the recipient from getting the disease. Here, the vaccine blocks the transmission of the parasite that causes malaria from an infected human host to mosquitoes.
When a human receives such a vaccine, specific antibodies are generated in the blood. When a mosquito bites and ingests the blood of an infected human, both the parasite and antibody are taken up into the mosquito’s stomach. Once inside the mosquito, the antibody attaches to the parasite and inhibits its development. This prevents the mosquito from transmitting the disease to another person.
The concept is bold but has not yet been tested in large-scale trials.
<figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=460&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=460&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=460&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=578&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=578&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243740/original/file-20181103-83626-1g5m9ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=578&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption>How the transmission blocking vaccine works. The cycle of disease begins when a mosquito carrying the malaria parasite bites the first individual, infecting him with the disease. The paracite then replicates in the liver and spreads into the blood. When the vaccine is injected into the infected person, it stimulates the body to produce antibodies that then attach to the new parasites. When another mosquito feeds on the infected individual, it slurps up the malaria parasite and the antibody. The antibody prevents the immature parasite from developing, which means that this mosquito is unable to transmit the disease. 
Wei-Chiao Huang, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></figcaption></figure>
<h2>Liposomes: A vaccine carrier</h2>
A vaccine works by showing the body a piece of the disease-causing microbe. The part itself doesn’t cause disease but gives the body a preview of the invader so that it can prepare antibodies that will tag the microbe and label it for destruction.
To develop a potent vaccine that induces a strong antibody response, the choice of protein from the disease-causing organism is critical. Scientists home in on particular proteins that the microbes produce to spike the vaccine. For our work, we chose a well-studied protein called Pfs25, which is found on the surface of the malaria parasite.
The parasite displays this protein on its surface when it is developing in the midgut of the mosquito. Pfs25 as target protein for transmission-blocking vaccine has been clinically <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02013687">tested</a> <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02532049">in</a> <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01867463">Phase</a> <a href="https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02334462">I</a> <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02942277">trials</a>; however, progress has been limited. That’s because, by itself, the Pfs25 protein triggers only weak production of specific antibodies.
In other approaches, researchers have taken steps to genetically engineer a modified and more potent Pfs25 for <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02013687">other</a> <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/results/NCT02532049?view=results">clinical</a> trials. In general, such approaches are promising, but there is some potential risk that the target protein does not exactly mimic the natural protein on the parasite.
We believe that a new type of vaccine that incorporates liposomes may be a promising candidate for a transmission-blocking vaccine adjuvant. An adjuvant is another vaccine component that potentiates the immune response. Liposomes are hollow spheres made from fat molecules.
The advantage of the liposomes, compared to just the Pfs25 protein alone, is that they can help deliver more parasite protein to immune cells. These cells uptake the liposomal vaccines and trigger the production of more antibodies which then target the parasite for destruction and block the disease.
<a href="https://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/%7Ejflovell/people.html">Jonathan Lovell’s</a> team has developed a liposome as a vaccine to fight against malaria. In 2015, Dr. Lovell’s team figured out how to anchor proteins to the liposome by attaching them <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2236">to a string of amino acids called a histidine tag</a>. The tag works like an anchor which attaches the protein to the liposome.
Adding a cobalt-containing molecule, with a structure similar to vitamin B12, made the liposome-protein structure stable.
<h2>Eliminating the spread of malaria</h2>
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0271-3">The Lovell lab developed</a> a cobalt-laced liposome-based vaccine that displays the parasite proteins on its surface.
<figure class="align-center "><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=221&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=221&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=221&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=277&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=277&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243731/original/file-20181102-83635-1rcyw17.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=277&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Making a liposome vaccine: The Pfs25 protein is tethered to a histidine tag (green) and mixed together with a cobalt-containing liposome. The two parts combine to make a vaccine that is injected into the mouse. The insert shows how the histidine tail interacts with the liposome to keep the proteins firmly attached. 
<a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></figcaption></figure>
Making this vaccine is simple. Once we have the cobalt liposomes and the Pfs25-histidine molecules, we simply mix these parts together, and the structures form spontaneously. When this Pfs25 liposome is injected into mice, it triggers high quantities of antibodies.
The antibodies in the mice blocked development of parasites in the gut of the mosquito. So we expect that when an uninfected mosquito bites a person infected with the malaria parasite, the blood it sucks up will carry the parasite and the human antibodies that will prevent the parasite from multiplying in the insect’s gut.
When we tested this vaccine in mice, the animals continued to produce antibodies for more than 250 days. These antibodies produced throughout this period prevented the development of the malaria parasite throughout this period.
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<figure class="align-center "><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=294&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=294&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=294&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=369&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=369&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242747/original/file-20181029-76399-1tylcyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=369&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /><figcaption>Malaria disease around the world, 2014. Warning map for travelers with high risk of contracting malaria. 
<a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/malaria-disease-around-world-2014-warning-235538464">Peteri / Shutterstock.com</a></figcaption></figure>
Another valuable feature of the cobalt liposome is that we can attach a variety of proteins from different stages of parasite development to create a particle that triggers the production of many types of antibodies – each targeting a unique part of the parasite. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0271-3">Our results showed</a> that five distinct malaria proteins could be attached to the liposome surface.
The antibodies from mice immunized with liposomes carrying multiple proteins recognized many stages of parasite development. The results seem promising. In the future we plan to explore the safety of this vaccine and whether it will work for different species of malaria.
Our next step is to test our vaccine in other animals. Eventually the aim is to translate this technology to human clinical trials and assess whether the liposome technology and the transmission blocking vaccine strategy is an effective tool for preventing the spread of malaria.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" 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;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105553/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/wei-chiao-huang-580146">Wei-Chiao Huang</a>, Ph.D. Candidate in the Biomedical Engineering Department, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-at-buffalo-the-state-university-of-new-york-925">University at Buffalo, The State University of New York</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-lovell-588898">Jonathan Lovell</a>, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-at-buffalo-the-state-university-of-new-york-925">University at Buffalo, The State University of New York</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/a-vaccine-that-could-block-mosquitoes-from-transmitting-malaria-105553">original article</a>.

Malaria treatments cost Africa nearly $12bn per year, this vaccine can help eradicate it…

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Rio Tinto will sell its 69 percent stake in a Namibian uranium mine to China National Uranium Corp (CNUC) for up to $106.5 million, it said on Monday, as China seeks to bolster supplies and Rio offloads less-profitable assets.
Analysts said that China, which is targeting nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels and already owns stakes in Namibian uranium production, was an obvious buyer of the shares in the Rossing mine.
Rossing is the world’s longest-running open pit uranium mine, operating since 1976, and has produced more uranium than any other mine.
The Iranian Foreign Investment Company holds a legacy 15 percent stake that goes back to the original funding of the mine, which could have been a problem for some potential buyers.
An industry source close to the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been interest from private equity and from China.
The other shareholders are the Namibian government (3 percent), the Development Corporation of South Africa (10 percent) and individual shareholders (3 percent).
Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said the company would work closely with CNUC “to ensure a smooth transition and ongoing sustainable operation at Rossing”.
No one from CNUC was immediately available for comment, though an executive at China National Nuclear Corp said in October it was looking to secure supply for an expected ramp-up in China’s nuclear power generation.
The sale is also in line with global miner Rio Tinto’s disposal strategy, following on from its exit from thermal coal this year. It is also trying to sell some of its aluminium assets.
Monday’s binding agreement comprises an initial cash payment of $6.5 million, payable at completion, and a contingent payment of up to $100 million following completion.
The contingent payment is linked to uranium spot prices and Rossing’s net income during the next seven years.
The transaction is subject to merger approval from the Namibian Competition Commission, with expected completion in the first half of 2019.
Rio Tinto’s London share price eased 0.3 pecent on Monday, against a 0.5 percent gain for the sector index.
The mining sector as a whole has weakened this year as the recovery of 2016-17 has faltered and doubts have surfaced about Chinese demand in the face of trade tensions with the United States.
Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Barbara Lewis and Clara Denina in London; Editing by David Goodman

China buys Rio Tinto’s stake in Namibia uranium for $107 million

Press release
26 November 2018, Johannesburg: According to data from instant EFT payment provider i-Pay, the Rand value from Black Friday sales this year grew by more than a thousand percent over 2016 figures.
“At face value, e-tailers have experienced the highest volume of sales on record for Black Friday in South Africa. More significantly, the completed transactions on the day increased by close on 700% when compared to last year,” says Thomas Pays, CEO of i-Pay.
However, Pays believes that the uncertain economic environment of the past year has contributed to how much consumers have been willing to spend online.
“Our data shows that the average EFT transaction value decreased by 19% from last year. It highlights the importance of e-tailers being able to process every transaction reliably and securely. Irrespective of the value of the sale, transactions add up and could mean the difference between reporting a profit and having to retrench staff,” says Pays.
He says that while e-tailers invested heavily to ensure their sites stay online, they were frustrated by traditional online payment services being unavailable.
“People could browse online stores but could not checkout and pay for their orders. This resulted in consumer frustration and merchants losing out on sales. However, with alternative payment solutions such as Instant EFT through i-Pay, this was mitigated.”
Thirty-five percent of consumers using i-Pay were using it for the first time. Pays says this is evidence that people are willing to embrace digital payment solutions. At one point during Black Friday, i-Pay was processing 438 concurrent transactions, with the fastest recorded transaction taking a mere 13 seconds.
“Being online is no longer good enough. You must empower merchants and consumers with digital payment solutions that are secure, do not require credit cards or customer registration, and are available no matter the traffic volumes. This year has shown the importance of this and made people aware of the need to use Instant EFT systems for their online purchases,” he concludes.

#BlackFriday sales up, but transaction value down

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the national minimum wage bill, his office said on Monday, part of efforts by the government to tackle wage inequality in Africa’s most industrialised economy.
The National Minimum Wage Act sets South Africa’s minimum wage at 20 rand ($1.45) an hour, equal to 3,500 rand per month. The law will come into force on a date to be determined by Ramaphosa, the presidency said.
Supporters of the minimum wage say it will reduce inequality and stimulate economic growth as workers spend more.
But critics say it could lead to increased unemployment, already at record highs, because some employers won’t be able to afford higher wage bills.
Thousands of union members protested against the proposed minimum wage in April, saying it was too low. [nL8N1S23R9]
Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement that while the national minimum wage will not end income inequality, it was a first step towards adressing the clamour for a living wage.
($1 = 13.8072 rand)
Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia

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Southern Africa

Are Southern African nations doing enough to manage their groundwater resources?

What it takes to become a great African leader

Why Mugabe’s political legacy is highly contested

Should KPMG South Africa be given a second chance following corruption scandals?

Why cocoa companies failed to keep promise to stop Africa deforestation

Lights out, game on- No Christmas of rest and turkey for the bosses in a dingy tale of decay

What are the consequences climate change will have on small businesses in Africa?

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South Africa out of recession as GDP grows by 2.2 percent in Q3

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SAA needs $540 million from next month to fund day-to-day operations

Malaria treatments cost Africa nearly $12bn per year, this vaccine can help eradicate it…

China buys Rio Tinto’s stake in Namibia uranium for $107 million

#BlackFriday sales up, but transaction value down

South Africa’s minimum wage bill signed into law by Ramaphosa, what you need to know

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