By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-calland-182127">Richard Calland</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
The latest World Bank <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/publication/developing-an-inclusive-equal-south-africa">report on South Africa</a> is not only remarkable for the collaborative method it employed, but also for some of the conclusions it reached on issues like land redistribution.
The report, which includes contributions from a long list of external consultants including myself, the National Planning Commission 
and Statistics South Africa, is the platform for further engagement between the World Bank and South Africa.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the World Bank earned a justifiably bad reputation for seeking to impose solutions cooked up in Washington DC. Now, the bank takes great care to work in partnership with the country to figure out solutions to economic challenges.
This approach seeks to identify the underlying systemic constraints and not just the symptoms such as unemployment. The bank set out to get to the root causes of what it calls the twin challenges of poverty and inequality which characterise South Africa as an “incomplete transition”.
Interestingly, the bank – hardly known for being radical – identifies the skewed distribution of land and productive assets as one of the five key constraints. The other four are skills, low competition and economic integration, limited or expensive spatial connectivity, and climate shocks. 
I spoke to Paul Noumba Um, the World Bank’s country director for South Africa, about the report.
Your views about land are interesting in coming when populist movements in South Africa are calling for radical solutions. What informed your view?
We have made a significant effort to understand South Africa’s history. Our report acknowledges that efforts to overcome the legacy of segregation and apartheid was bound to take a long time, even though much progress has been made.
The economic structure that was engineered during the apartheid era remains largely in place even though political power has been democratised. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-south-africa-needs-fresh-ideas-to-make-land-reform-a-reality-60076">Land reform</a> is part of addressing this legacy and the government has long stated the goal of redistributing 30% of land to the dispossessed communities.
Admittedly, it has been a relatively slow process but this is not surprising given that it can be legally and administratively challenging process, especially when restituting land to South Africans whose families were dispossessed a very long time ago. We do not think that a lack of funds was a major reason for slow progress.
That’s why we argue for strengthening the administrative capacity for land reform, including restitution, redistribution and tenure reform. Our understanding is that tenure reform in the former homelands is particularly important for reducing poverty. Many poor South Africans live in their former homelands where land is still communal.
There are concerns that the noises around the land issue will undermine property rights and investor confidence. What do you think?
Many countries have successfully implemented land reform, in some cases with support from the World Bank.
Whether land reform deters investment depends on the way it is implemented. In our understanding, the South African land reform process has thus far not deterred investment. But policy uncertainty around expropriation without compensation could change this, as it makes it riskier to invest in land.
Our report also draws attention to the property security of poor South Africans. Many poor South Africans are still trapped in informal settlements and there is a huge backlog in issuing title deeds to households who were denied ownership during the apartheid era. Tenure security in the former homelands needs to be addressed. Addressing these tenure issues will unlock economic value for many households as they can make effective use of their assets, be it land for more productive agriculture or their homes for backyard rentals or starting a small business.
The report brings climate shocks back into the mix. Are you concerned that in all the talk about radical economic transformation and rolling back “State Capture” climate change will be neglected?
Not at all. The emphasis on overcoming the legacy of exclusion and rolling back “State Capture” is important. We think that the South African government is strongly committed to tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions. In fact, the government is a pioneer in the area, of progressing toward introducing a national <a href="https://www.thesouthafrican.com/carbon-tax-sa-budget-speech-2018/">carbon tax</a>.
<a href="https://probonomatters.co.za/2018/01/maimane-on-cape-town-drought-a-natural-disaster-of-immense-proportions/">Drought</a> in the southern part of the country has also been a stark reminder that South Africa is a highly water insecure country, particularly vulnerable to climate shocks. Strong efforts are underway, in some areas in partnership with the World Bank, to raise water and climate-resilience in South Africa.
Climate change is certainly an area that is not neglected. Recent developments around renewable energy is inspiring. These include the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/04/04/r56bn-contract-a-milestone-for-renewable-energy-independent-power-producers-in-sa-radebe_a_23403384/">signing</a> of 27 renewable energy independent power producer contracts. And there was the launch of round five of renewable energy independent power producer contracts.
Why is partnership with your host government important to you, and what exactly does that partnership entail?
The World Bank is made up of 189 member states, including South Africa. These member states gave the World Bank Group the <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2017/03/21/ending-poverty-the-road-to-2030">mission</a> to eliminate poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity. These twin goals cannot be achieved unilaterally. They require a strong partnership between the government, the World Bank and many other stakeholders.
The better we understand the challenges to the twin goals, the more constructive a partner we can be. That’s why we conduct these <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23099?locale-attribute=en">Systematic Country Diagnostics</a> before preparing any new country strategies.
The five constraints we identified in our diagnostic have come out of broad consultations. What may surprise South Africans is what we consider to be root causes versus symptoms of poverty and inequality in South Africa. This is a discussion we seek with South Africans, but it is not up to us to decide how South Africa decides to accelerate progress on its <a href="https://nationalplanningcommission.wordpress.com/the-national-development-plan/">National Development Plan</a>.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97543/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />But depending on where our partnership is sought, we stand ready to support South Africa in this progress through a variety of development solutions: evidence based analytical work, convening power around specific themes and financing.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-calland-182127">Richard Calland</a>, Associate Professor in Public Law, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cape-town-691">University of Cape Town</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-bank-is-finding-new-ways-to-understand-south-africas-issues-97543">original article</a>.

Why the World Bank is viewing SA differently

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Insurer Liberty Holdings faced questions from South Africa’s Information Regulator on Monday, a day after the company said it had become the victim of a cyber attack.
The regulator said it was concerned about the data breach and wanted to meet the insurer to get more details.
Liberty’s shares fell 5 percent on Monday, after the company said on Sunday that an external party claimed to have seized data from the firm and demanded payment.
Liberty said it made no concessions to the hackers and that there was no evidence that any of its customers had suffered any financial losses.
On Monday it said its IT specialists and security personnel had worked around the clock to ensure the protection of its customers and their details.
The regulator said it had written to Liberty’s Chief Executive David Munro requesting information on the extent of the data breach and security measures taken by the company.
“The Information Regulator has noted with concern various media reports regarding a material data breach at Liberty Holdings,” Pansy Tlakula, chairwoman of the regulator, said in a statement.
Shares in Liberty later pared some losses but still closed 4.03 percent lower at 119 rand, their worst daily fall since April 4.
Traders said the market had not panicked over the attack.
“The management did very well to come out and explain their side of the story,” said Cratos Capital trader Greg Davies.
“What they need to do now is assure the market that they’ve spent enough on their defences and that there won’t be a repeat of this.”
Liberty’s biggest shareholder Standard Bank, which has a 53 percent stake, said in an emailed response to questions it was supportive of the measures that Liberty has taken.
However, in neighbouring Namibia, Marieta le Roux, a Liberty Life client since 2011, told Reuters that she had not been informed of the data breach.
“I feel exposed because they have a lot of confidential information about me,” she said.
Additional reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa in Windhoek; Editing by James Macharia and Susan Fenton

Why regulator wants answers from South African insurer Liberty following cyber attack

Natasha Turak
Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/south-africa-will-avoid-a-knee-jerk-reaction-to-currency-weakness.html">South Africa will avoid a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to currency weakness, central bank deputy says</a>
<ul>
<li>Emerging markets have been under pressure as a result of a strengthening dollar and trade war fears, and central banks in turn are facing tough decisions on monetary policy.</li>
<li>But despite trade fears and a severely weakened currency, the bank is not rushing to raise interest rates, its deputy governor said 
Tuesday.
</li>
<li>Nonetheless, escalating trade tariffs between the world&#8217;s two largest economies and declining low confidence within the country will keep pressure on the bank&#8217;s policy makers.</li>
</ul>
Emerging markets have been under pressure as a result of a strengthening dollar and trade war fears, and central banks in turn are facing tough decisions on monetary policy.

South Africa central bank has plenty on its plate, especially within the context of a new president and unenviable credit ratings following years of corruption and economic mismanagement.
But despite trade fears and a severely weakened currency, the bank is not rushing to raise interest rates, its deputy governor told CNBC&#8217;s Annette Weisbach in Sintra, Portugal, on Tuesday.
&#8220;We are concerned — we are a small open economy, and conditions in our economy depend on the global economy, on trade conditions, on a strong demand for our goods. If there is to be a trade war, a slowdown in the global economy, that will affect us,&#8221; Kuben Naidoo said during the global summit for central bankers.
But despite the South African rand hitting a six-and-a-half-month low against the dollar, the bank is still taking a &#8216;wait-and-see&#8217; approach. The rand on Tuesday was at 13.8550 to the greenback at 2:09 p.m. local time. 
&#8220;So we don&#8217;t really act in a knee-jerk reaction to a currency weakness,&#8221; Naidoo said. He described what he saw as sound fundamentals in South Africa compared to other emerging markets that have had to hike rates, like Argentina and Turkey, adding that inflation is currently within range and the budget deficit, while high, is projected to decline.
Still, escalating trade tariffs between the world&#8217;s two largest economies and declining low confidence within the country will keep pressure on the bank&#8217;s policy makers, leaving the door open for future rate rises in response to the ongoing rand selloff.
&#8220;If there is persistence in that currency weakness and it feeds into other prices, we would have to act. It&#8217;s not an immediate response, we will wait — because the economy is weak we can afford to wait and see,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That may be a few months, maybe a few quarters.&#8221;
South Africa in March cut interest rates to their lowest in two years, down 25 basis points to 6.5 percent after judging that inflation would remain low and within the bank&#8217;s target of between 3 and 6 percent. Inflation in April jumped to 4.5 percent from March&#8217;s seven-year low of 3.8 percent.

Challenges ahead
The election by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of 
pro-business President Cyril Ramaphosa 
 in December saw 
 business and consumer confidence improve 
, as well as a boost in the rand, following several years of damaged trust between investors and the government.
But the &#8220;Ramaphoria effect,&#8221; as many have called it, has faded alongside global trade worries and a depreciation in both the currency and domestic confidence, which has dipped to a seven-month low.
South Africa&#8217;s fairly new leadership faces a plethora of challenges, not least crippling unemployment at more than 26 percent, debt-ridden state-owned enterprises, high crime and poverty, and one of the highest inequality levels in the world.
The country&#8217;s government in late May passed a bill to 
 establish a minimum wage 
, meaning that millions of people will now earn 20 rand ($1.58) per hour, equivalent to 3,500 rand ($277) per month. South Africa&#8217;s main opposition party and several unions have opposed the bill, demanding a higher figure, and 
protests 
 surrounding the issue are set to continue.

South Africa will avoid a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to currency weakness, central bank deputy says

His face contorts slightly as he, slowly, but painfully, returns through the murky mist of 42 years. His hands tremble with emotion as he relives horrific images lodged in the corners of his mind. The birds singing in the blue sky over the idyllic garden of his family home in Roodepoort, Johannesburg, contrasting with the moody, mean, streets of Soweto of yore.
Eighty-three-year-old Enoch Duma lived the slaughter of scores of schoolchildren on that fateful winter’s day in Soweto in 1976. It was his job to be there as a reporter for a Johannesburg newspaper and had his own car. He knew serious trouble was building. Many of the schoolchildren involved used to call him “Bra E” and held him in high esteem.
“I just knew the previous night the people were uneasy as if something was going to happen, some people didn’t go to work. You had people like Tsietsi Mashinini, Seth Mazibuko and other student leaders coming to your house.  I was always ahead of what was happening, “says Duma.
On the morning of June 16, Duma was out driving through the tense streets of Soweto and saw a big crowd approaching.
“They ran to my car Tsietse said: Hey! Soweto is burning – is it bad, it is very bad just stay ahead of things. Hide if you can hide because there is going to be trouble tonight. If the police shoot we are going to answer with petrol bombs. This was something new in Soweto.”
The mood turned ugly when news filtered through the crowd in Orlando that police had shot dead Hector Pieterson. A bloody killing captured for eternity by the famous photograph by <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2018/05/14/this-is-why-african-photojournalists-should-aspire-to-be-like-sam-nzima/">Sam Nzima</a> that he smuggled out through police lines to make the front pages everywhere from New York to Sydney the next day.
“When people heard it was Hector they were very angry. They armed themselves with Molotov Cocktails and started throwing these petrol bombs recklessly. They were just mad,” says Duma.
The birds outside tweet, incongruously, as Duma’s face darkens with the deepening story.
“I can still see the madness in their faces and their anger. They didn’t know what to do,” he says.
“I saw a burning body thrown into a dustbin. I couldn’t stand it I had to drive through. There were moments when I thought I wasn’t going to make it. It was difficult to see where the students were coming from. They were coming out of buildings with Molotov Cocktails and some carried dustbin lids as shields. Among the leaders were very young people. The real fighters were the little girls – they were ready to die.”
Among them, Susan Shabangu who spent months on the run in the clampdown that followed; like many of the survivors, she escaped into exile to fight the struggle and ended up as her country’s mining and social development minister.
It was an horrific chapter of a rich career that saw Duma the son of a Baptist minister, born in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, work his way from reporting the courts in his hometown to working on a national newspaper.  He joined the Post in Durban through a friend, who was a reporter on the paper, called Duke Ncobo.
“The newspaper wanted a young cub reporter and suggested I should write two stories for the editor. He read them looked at me and read them and looked at me and said did you write this or did someone write this for you? I said: no. He said go to Mr Ncobo and he said; who said: I think the editor likes you!”
His first arrest came in bizarre fashion. Ncobo invited the young Duma to a party in a block of flats in downtown Durban to leading lights of the African National Congress including Fatima Meer and journalist GR Naidoo. An elderly woman living below called the police complaining of the noise; the police, who suspected the party was a front for a political meeting among people of colour, encouraged her to press charges. They arrested 27 partygoers including Gama and threw them in the cells.
The court case turned into farce. The elderly lady, in her 70s, complained that the partygoers had banged the floor above her as they danced. In court, the judge asked the lady to demonstrate the dance. There were titters in court as ushers cleared the chairs away and the lady did a high-stepping dance. The judge ruled she hadn’t made sufficient noise to convince him, yet Duma and his colleagues were held to have been a public nuisance.
Duma secured a job on the City Post, amid the bright lights and jazz of 1950s Johannesburg and arrived at Park Station with nothing but a suitcase. A van from the newspaper picked him up to take him to the newsroom buzzing with young journalists.
“You must pretend to be one of them, otherwise they will give you a hard time,” chirped the driver.
These were colourful and chaotic times for young black journalists at the City Post. A regular caller with stories was a young and vivacious social worker called Winnie Mandela.
“<a href="http://cnbc.africa/category/insights/winnie-madikizela-mandela/">Winnie Mandela</a>, she was very young used to come to the office and was very friendly with reporters . The gangsters respected Winnie,” says Duma.
Gangsters and guns were another part of newsroom life at the City Post. Gangs ruled many of the Johannesburg streets in the 1950s – the Spoilers, the Americans and the Msomi gang. Their leaders used to waltz in off the street with wide brimmed hats and long fine coats looking more Chicago than Sub-Saharan Africa. Often they carried small “baby brown” pistols, sometimes concealed in a bandage, to intimidate journalists for a number of sins. It could be to force them to stay away from their girlfriends or stop writing about them or start writing about them. Often a gun up the nose proved mightier than the pen, until one day.
“One day they came and they found the deputy editor having a meeting with the reporters. The gangsters introduced themselves and the deputy editor Henk Margolis, an American brought in to work on the paper, says: “Gentlemen can I help you?”
“They pointed a gun at him, Henk noticed this and was not scared. ‘If you think you can intimidate me you are wrong I was born in Chicago, so I have no time for small fry.’ That day we thought there was going to be a showdown. Henk grabbed hold of the leader and pushed him outside. That was the last time the gangs came to the office,” says Duma with a smile.
It turned out that gangsters with police uniforms on proved to be Duma’s downfall. He was arrested numerous times and ended up spending nine months in prison. He went into exile in the United States and with his wife of 56 years, Kitty, he was a prime mover in the divestment campaign – encouraging US firms to pull out of South Africa – that helped usher in the end of apartheid.
A system that stoked the fiery horror of June 16 that people who were there will never forget.

Soweto Burning, June 16: Enoch Duma recounts that fateful day spent in the eye of the fire and fury

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand firmed in early trade on Monday, recovering some of the losses from last week, as the dollar softened ahead of central bank policy meetings and the U.S.-North Korea summit this week.
Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

Recovery for the South African rand following losses

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s net foreign reserves fell to $42.872 billion in May from $43.115 billion in April, the Reserve Bank said on Thursday.
Gross reserves rose to $51.146 billion from $49.539 billion, the central bank data showed.
The forward position, which represents the central bank’s unsettled or swap transactions, declined slightly to $1.918 billion from $1.933 billion in the previous month.
Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by David Goodman

The Reserve Bank announces fall of $42.87 billion in month of May for South Africa’s net foreign reserves

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/01/south-africa-minimum-wage-the-beginning-of-a-difficult-process-finance-minister-nene.html">South Africa&#8217;s new minimum wage is the &#8216;beginning of a long, difficult process&#8217;: Finance minister</a>
<ul>
<li>South Africa&#8217;s introduction of a minimum wage marks &#8220;the beginning of a long, difficult process,&#8221; Minster of Finance Nhlanhla Nene has told CNBC.</li>
<li>Africa&#8217;s most industrialized economy introduced a minimum wage of 20 rand ($1.58) per hour earlier this week. The change was originally intended for May 1 but was delayed over adjustments made to the legislation.</li>
<li>South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world, and infamously suffers from high unemployment. This was 26.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/30103531/105165163-GettyImages-951075784.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>

 The introduction of South Africa&#8217;s new minimum wage is the start of a &#8220;long, difficult process,&#8221; the country&#8217;s minister of finance said Thursday.
South Africa&#8217;s parliament passed a minimum wage bill by a large majority on Tuesday, meaning that millions of workers will now earn 20 rand ($1.58) per hour. This is equivalent to 3,500 rand ($277) per month.
&#8220;It&#8217;s the beginning of a long, difficult process, because at the end of the day we&#8217;ve never had (a minimum wage),&#8221; Nhlanhla Nene told CNBC on Thursday at the OECD conference in Paris.
The minimum wage was due to be introduced on May 1 but was delayed due to government bodies redrafting legislation. South Africa&#8217;s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, opposed the bill. The country&#8217;s second-largest trade union, unhappy with the proposed wage, 
organized a strike in April 
 calling for a higher figure.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/10125923/105244966-GettyImages-931267604.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images"/>
South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. According to the 
World Bank 
, the poorest 20 percent of South Africans consume less than 3 percent of the country&#8217;s total expenditure. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 20 percent account for 65 percent.
Introducing a minimum wage could help alleviate this, and also stimulate much-needed economic growth by boosting consumer spending. South Africa&#8217;s consumer price inflation has been on a largely downwards trajectory since early 2016, hitting a seven-year low of 3.8 percent in March. But, in April it rebounded to 4.5 percent as a result of price rises in product groups that are specifically taxed, according to Statistics South Africa.
But, some fear that a minimum wage could lead to a rise in unemployment, already at 26.7 percent for the first quarter of this year.
While Nene acknowledged that laying off workers could be an &#8220;unintended consequence,&#8221; he argued that the new legislation has provisions to &#8220;protect&#8221; jobs, allowing for businesses struggling to pay their workers to submit to the government for an exception.
Establishing a minimum wage has been a key proposal of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa since he took power in February. Appeasing the country&#8217;s electorate may be on his mind as he faces election in 2019.
Mixed reaction from major trade unions
South Africa&#8217;s largest trade union group, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), welcomed the news.
The minimum wage means that the incomes of 6.4 million South Africans will rise, Matthew Parks, COSATU&#8217;s parliamentary coordinator, said in a statement reported by Reuters. &#8220;This is equal to 47 percent of workers and will directly benefit half the nation.&#8221;
But the second largest trade union bloc, the South African Federation of Trade Unionists, said that it was &#8220;disgusted&#8221; by the news, adding that the government had bowed down to &#8220;white monopoly capitalists.&#8221;
It is pushing a living wage of 12,500 rand and has said that more protests are planned.

South Africa’s new minimum wage is the ‘beginning of a long, difficult process’: Finance minister

HARARE, May 30 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe will hold a general election on July 30, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday, a vote he has pledged will be free and fair with international monitoring after the ouster of 94-year-old strongman Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa, who took power after the November military coup against Mugabe, counts on the election to bolster his legitimacy as he pursues a promised break with Mugabe’s repressive policies while urging foreign investors to return to Zimbabwe.
Missing from the July ballot for the first time in 20 years will be Zimbabwe’s foremost political gladiators, Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the longtime opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader who died of cancer in February.
Mnangagwa has invited the Commonwealth to monitor voting in Zimbabwe for the first time since 2002 when Harare was suspended from the group over accusations of rigged elections. He has applied for Zimbabwe to rejoin the Commonwealth. [
Should the election be certified by international monitors, it could be a key step to a resumption of financial aid by foreign lenders for the first time in two decades.
The vote is being cast as a fight between the old guard of Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war and a younger generation.
Mnangagwa’s main challenger is 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa from the MDC, who has energised the party, drawing huge crowds at rallies in some of the ruling ZABU-PF party’s rural redoubts.
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Sixty percent of the 5.4 million voters on the new register are under 50 years old, according to official data.
Separately, the Constitutional Court dismissed an application by Zimbabweans living abroad to be allowed to vote. The court did not immediately give a reason.
In a brief statement in an official government gazette, Mnangagwa said that he had fixed July 30 “as the day of the election of the president, the election of members of the national assembly and election of councillors.”
Prospective candidates will be registered on June 14.
A presidential run-off vote is set for Sept. 8 if no candidate gets the 50-plus-one percent mark required to win.
For the 75-year-old Mnangagwa, victory would accord him democratic legitimacy after taking power following the coup.
Nicknamed “Crocodile” for his secretive and insular demeanour, Mnangagwa goes into the election with the advantage of incumbency, allowing him access to state resources for his campaign.
Crucially, Mnangagwa enjoys the backing of the army, which analysts say remains averse to a leader lacking a pedigree from the independence war against Britain.
“Though the election looks like it will go to the wire, the greater likelihood, based on cold-blooded analysis, is that experience, depth and state incumbency will triumph over youthfulness,” said Eldred Masunungure, a professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe.
Critics say Mnangagwa was Mugabe’s most loyal acolyte and blame him for a government crackdown on rebels loyal to political rival Joshua Nkomo in the mid-1980s that rights groups say killed 20,000 civilians.
Mnangagwa has denied the charges and says political freedoms have improved under his short tenure and that he is repairing frosty relations with the West. (Editing by James Macharia and Mark Heinrich)

Zimbabwe’s election date announced, here’s what you need to know…

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/25/south-africa-ramaphosa-says-state-owned-firms-to-re-invest-billions.html">South Africa&#8217;s ailing state-owned firms set to invest billions in dramatic reform program</a>
<ul>
<li>South Africa&#8217;s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced in a major speech that some of the country&#8217;s largest public companies will invest 420 billion South African rand back into the national economy over the next five years.</li>
<li>The news follows major upheaval this week on the boards of struggling state-owned enterprises including utilities firm Eskom and airline SA Express.</li>
<li>Since taking office Ramaphosa has tasked himself with attracting investments worth 1.2 trillion South African rand in an attempt to revive economic growth.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/25180230/105231791-GettyImages-923088916.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Marco Longari | AFP | Getty Images"/>
South Africa&#8217;s President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that some of the country&#8217;s largest public companies will return billions to the economy, potentially reviving industries that are renowned for their financial troubles.
In a major speech this week, the country&#8217;s president claimed that they are expected to invest a total of 420 billion South African rand ($33.7 billion) over the next five years. He said that after &#8220;several meetings with the CEOs of some of this country&#8217;s larger state owned companies &#8230; they have given us an indication of their investment plans over the coming years.&#8221;

&#8220;They have informed us that over the next five years, they expect to invest a total of 420 billion (South African rand) into the South African economy,&#8221; he said Thursday in Cape Town.
Ramaphosa added that his government was &#8220;seeking investment that expands the industrial capacity of our economy,&#8221; as well as creating jobs to help address South Africa&#8217;s rampant unemployment.
&#8220;Investment in itself is not a guarantor of growth, nor of job creation,&#8221; he warned. &#8220;But without investment, neither of these will be possible.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/25180235/105231795-GettyImages-960128424.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rajesh Jantilal | AFP | Getty Images"/>
According to Ben Payton, head of Africa at risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft, the speech signified Ramaphosa&#8217;s most important parliamentary appearance since his State of the Nation address in February. &#8220;It came just before the president&#8217;s 100th day in office, with Ramaphosa eager to demonstrate momentum in his drive to implement badly-needed reforms,&#8221; Payton added.
In the State of the Nation speech, Ramaphosa spoke of the need to &#8220;confront the reality&#8221; that South Africa&#8217;s state-owned enterprises simply were not making enough money to cover their costs.
Ramaphosa was sworn in as South African president in February after former leader Jacob Zuma stepped down amidst political pressure. He has pushed a pro-business agenda.
Land reform and implementing a national minimum wage are among the economic issues on Ramaphosa&#8217;s agenda as South Africa, the continent&#8217;s most industrialized economy, struggles with below-average economic growth ahead of elections in 2019. Ramaphosa has tasked himself with attracting investments worth 1.2 trillion South African rand.
Major investment from public companies is not unexpected, Payton explained, given South Africa&#8217;s need to upgrade its infrastructure. &#8220;But Ramaphosa provided very little detail around SOEs&#8217; investment plans, suggesting that the headline figure has come before a credible plan to determine its realism.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/25180240/105231807-GettyImages-960049174.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Gulshan Khan | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Ramaphosa appointed two-time former finance minister and investor favorite Pravin Gordhan as chief of the Department of Public Enterprises, tasking him with cleaning up the country&#8217;s inefficient and loss-making state-owned firms.
Earlier this week, the South African cabinet approved new boards for several public companies including SA Express, an airline which saw all of its flights suspended by the aviation authority just hours afterwards on safety concerns. Gordhan described the grounding as &#8220;a classic example of the impact of corruption.&#8221;
Eskom, the state-owned utilities company which holds a monopoly over South Africa&#8217;s energy market despite its heavy indebtedness, also saw a new chief executive appointed this week.
Credit ratings agency S&amp;P Global is to publish its rating of South Africa after the market close on Friday. It is currently a middling &#8220;BB&#8221; with a &#8220;stable&#8221; outlook. In March, S&amp;P Global said that South Africa would only be upgraded if Ramaphosa could push through meaningful reforms. In November last year, the ratings agency downgraded South Africa&#8217;s local currency debt to &#8220;junk&#8221; status.

South Africa’s ailing state-owned firms set to invest billions in dramatic reform program

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/24/zimbabwe-mugabe-misses-diamond-loss-parliament-hearing.html">Mugabe misses Zimbabwean parliamentary hearing on $15 billion diamond loss</a>
<ul>
<li>Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe did not attend a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday investigating a claim that he made in 2016 that the country had lost $15 billion in diamond revenue.</li>
<li>At the time, Mugabe blamed corruption and foreign involvement for the missing billions, but has since dismissed the figure as &#8220;urban legend.&#8221;</li>
<li>The lawmaker leading the inquiry tweeted that Mugabe has now been summoned to appear on May 28.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/24220230/105228529-GettyImages-141692761.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe failed to attend a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday that is investigating his claim that $15 billion of the country&#8217;s diamond wealth is missing.
Temba Mliswa, the Zimbabwean lawmaker leading the inquiry, tweeted later on Wednesday that, &#8220;We&#8217;ve considered that 9 a.m. may be rather early for Mr. Mugabe to appear,&#8221; adding that the investigatory body had written to the former leader asking him to appear on May 28 at 2 p.m. instead.
Mugabe&#8217;s appearance in front of lawmakers has been postponed multiple times, and would mark his first public appearance since losing power in a coup in November last year. His then-deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa has since become president of Zimbabwe. Mugabe, 94, is understood to be in frail health.
&#8220;This isn&#8217;t a witch hunt or to seek to cause embarrassment,&#8221; Mlisawa wrote. He described the summons as a &#8220;quest for answers,&#8221; adding that &#8220;We remain respectful whilst we exhaust all options.&#8221;
The inquiry reflects a claim made by Mugabe in 2016 that Zimbabwe has lost $15 billion in diamond revenue. Mugabe blamed corruption and foreign involvement for this. But, he has since dismissed the figure as &#8220;urban legend.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/24220235/105228564-GettyImages-954653724.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/>
In March 2016, Mugabe announced that the Zimbabwean state would take control of all diamond operations in the country. &#8220;Companies that have been mining diamonds have robbed us of our wealth. That is why we have now said the state must have a monopoly,&#8221; Mugabe said at the time, as reported by Reuters.
<h4>Mnangagwa&#8217;s &#8216;no-brainer populist strategy&#8217;</h4>
The investigation is part of Mnangagwa&#8217;s broader political strategy, Charles Laurie, director and head of politics at consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC via email.
&#8220;Mnangagwa&#8217;s efforts to reign in off-the-books practices are another strong signal to Western governments that he is serious about engendering a credible and plausible investment environment,&#8221; Laurie said. &#8220;The move is also a risk-free political objective supported by all Zimbabweans and international observers, a no-brainer populist strategy in the run-up to the election.&#8221;
Laurie also noted that Mnangagwa stood to gain should Mugabe&#8217;s authority be further discredited. This important for the current president, &#8220;who wants to snuff out lingering claims by Mugabe that he was removed from power improperly.&#8221;
Zimbabwe&#8217;s Marange diamond fields, located in the east of the country, are thought to be among the biggest reserves in the world. But their discovery has served as a poisoned chalice for the nation.
In 2006, upwards of 20,000 illegal diamond diggers descended on the Marange fields. Reports have since surfaced of atrocities committed by the army and police in their crackdown on the smuggling.
Ahead of elections expected in July or August of this year, Mugabe has backed a splinter group of his original ZANU PF party. The New Patriotic Front was formed in March, and represents lawmakers and voters &#8220;outraged by the unconstitutional and humiliating manner in which President Mugabe was criminally ousted from leadership.&#8221;
Mnangagwa&#8217;s tenure so far has been characterized by his promotion of a pro-business agenda in an attempt to resurrect Zimbabwe&#8217;s basket case economy.
Following months of speculation, it was announced earlier this week that Zimbabwe had applied to rejoin the Commonwealth, a 53-nation bloc comprising of the U.K. and its former colonies. Mugabe withdrew Zimbabwe from the group in 2003 in a row over sanctions.
At the ZANU PF manifesto launch on May 4, Mnangagwa said that Zimbabwe had secured $11 billion in investment commitments. &#8220;We need FDI (foreign direct investment) to catapult our economy. We will continue to create a conducive environment for investors in our country,&#8221; he said.

Mugabe misses Zimbabwean parliamentary hearing on $15 billion diamond loss

By Chris Bishop, in Gaborone
What do you do when a company asks you to recruit an “excitement supervisor”?
This was the question that faced Jimmy Samuels, the country manager for Botswana and Namibia for South African black-owned labour brokers Workforce. He was speaking at the first day of a two day Strategic HR Conference in Gaborone.
“We went down to see the company to try to find out what these guys wanted. They said the excitement coordinator should be a person who livens up the workplace,” says Samuels.
“We went through hundreds of CVs and couldn’t find anyone and then we found a guy from KwaZulu who had won a wooden mike on the pop talent show Idols.”
The wooden mike is the booby prize for the worst candidate on the TV pop talent show.
“We got the guy in and we watched the Idols clip as part of the job interview. Gareth Cliff asked the guy what he did for a job and he said he sold drinks and sweets by the road in KwaZulu-Natal. So Cliff says: Are you a vendor?’ To which the guy replied:’ No I am a Zulu.”
It was that answer that clinched the candidate both the wooden mike and the post of excitement coordinator.
“We spoke to the company Shoprite the other week and they said the guy was doing really well and had livened the place up,” quipped Samuels.

How to hire an excitement officer

KAMPALA, May 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Uganda has invited bids from private investors to develop and operate a new 95km highway between its capital Kampala and a town in the country’s east to ease congestion on the ageing existing road.
The estimated $1 billion project is part of the so-called northern corridor, a crucial East African transport artery that connects Kenya’s coast to a vast hinterland including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the tender documents published on Friday, state-run Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) said the private developer will be “expected to design, build, finance, operate &#8230; and transfer the project back to government at the conclusion of the operational period.
In recent years the government of President Yoweri Museveni has been pumping huge amounts of money into roads, energy and other infrastructure projects, mostly financed by China, to boost the economy.
The country’s first expressway, built at a cost of $500 million, is due to be opened next month between the capital and its sole international airport, Entebbe.
The 95km toll road, packaged as a public-private partnership, will connect Kampala and Jinja, an industrial town in the country’s east, also famous as the source of River Nile. One section of the motorway will have eight lanes, another six lanes and a third will have four lanes.
The European Union, the French Development Agency and the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) have said they could offer funding for the project in a mix of credit and grants.
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Reporting by Elias Biryabarema Editing by David Goodman
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Uganda is spending $1bn to build 95km highway, this is why

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, May 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe needs up to $11 billion to modernise its mines and boost production to maximum capacity over the next five years, the head of the country’s Chamber of Mines said on Friday.
Foreign investor interest in the southern African nation is growing after the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe following a de facto military coup last November but projects are still constrained by lack of funding.
Batirai Manhando, Chamber of Mines president, said with the exception of platinum producers, all other mines, including those of gold, nickel, cobalt and coal were operating below their installed capacity.
Mining generates more than half of Zimbabwe’s export receipts — last year it earned $2.8 billion — but industry executives say it has the potential to earn more with increased investment.
“The local mining industry is currently operating below capacity on the back of capital shortages,” Manhando told an annual meeting of the mining chamber.
“At the beginning of the year the capital intensive industry required $7 billion for both ramp-up and sustenance capital. The figure has lately been revised upwards to $11 billion with renewed interest in our sector,” Manhando said.
Zimbabwe holds the second largest deposits of platinum and chrome after South Africa and has lately seen increased interest from lithium investors, who however say funding still remains a hurdle.
Manhando said mining companies in Zimbabwe faced problems that included high costs of electricity, labour and royalty fees when compared to other jurisdictions. There had also been little exploration in the country since 2000, he added.
Equipment at most mines was more than 50 years old, severely undermining efficiency and cost effectiveness of the sector, said Manhando.
Mines Minister Winston Chitando said the government would announce a new “mining vision” at the end of June and projected that the output of gold could rise to 85 tonnes in five years.
Output of gold, the biggest mineral by earnings, is expected to rise to 30 tonnes this year from 23 tonnes in 2017, according to Ministry of Mines data. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Keith Weir)

Why Zimbabwe wants $11bn for its mines

Karen Gilchrist
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/17/billionaire-population-grows-faster-in-asia-than-us-europe-wealth-x.html">Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America</a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/105213585-GettyImages-514475757_1.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="elwynn1130 | Getty"/>

Central Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America, according to the latest study from ultra high net worth research firm Wealth-X.
The region&#8217;s billionaire population shot up by almost a third last year (29.2 percent) to 784 individuals, <a href="https://www.wealthx.com/report/the-wealth-x-billionaire-census-2018/?utm_campaign=billionaire-census-2018&amp;utm_source=press&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_term=bc-2018-press&amp;utm_source=press&amp;utm_medium=referral"> Wealth-X&#8217;s Billionaire Census 2018</a> found. North America, meanwhile, experienced more modest gains of 11.2 percent, taking the number of billionaires who reside there to 727.
The uptick marks the first time Asia&#8217;s billionaire population has exceeded that of North America.
To be sure, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105209356?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
 the U.S. remains the country with the greatest number of billionaires 
</a> – 680 individuals – but the increase in Asia marks a broader shift in regional wealth trends.
Asia is now home to 28.5 percent of the world&#8217;s 2,754 billionaires, slipping in just behind Europe , which is top with 29.8 percent.
North America now ranks as the world&#8217;s third most populous continent for billionaires — moving down from second place — staking claim to 26.4 percent.
The Middle East is home to the fourth largest proportion, with 6.9 percent, while Latin America and Caribbean house 5.7 percent. The number of billionaires in Africa and the Pacific both fall under 2 percent.
<h4>China leads the way</h4>
In the past year, the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105164386?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
total amount of wealth in Asia 
</a> also shot up by a greater degree than any other region in the world.
Wealth in the region grew by 49.4 percent in 2017 to $2.3 trillion, well ahead of the gains of North America&#8217;s 22.8 percent and Europe&#8217;s 14.9 percent.
The sudden surge was led largely by China, which alone saw its billionaire wealth swell by 61 percent to $1.1 trillion.
However, India and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, also saw noticeable gains over the period.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America

LUANDA, May 16 (Reuters) &#8211; Angola’s sovereign wealth fund has applied to a UK court to order banks to reveal information, another move in its dispute with its former boss, the son of long-serving ex-leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos, and the asset managers hired under him.
President Joao Lourenco, who took over when dos Santos stepped down last year after nearly 40 years in power, has swiftly moved to push aside relatives and allies of dos Santos from positions of power and influence over the economy.
READ: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2018/05/11/angola-telling-investors-get-invest-eurobonds/">This is what Angola is telling investors to get them to invest in its Eurobonds</a>
The $5 billion sovereign wealth fund has been embroiled in a dispute with its former boss, the ex-president’s son Jose Filomeno dos Santos, and the Swiss-based asset manager contracted to invest money for the fund, Quantum Global.
READ: <a title="In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF" href="http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2018/04/18/angola-taps-imf/" rel="bookmark">In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF</a>
The fund is trying to sack the fund manager, accusing it of mismanagement. Quantum Global denies wrongdoing and says the fund has violated its long-term contractual obligations.
A source directly familiar with the matter told Reuters the sovereign wealth fund had sought a so-called “Norwich Pharmacal order” to oblige banks to share information with the fund, including data about any accounts held in its name or on its behalf.
Such orders, named for a legal case from the 1970s, can be used in British court to force third parties to reveal information.
A hearing was held earlier this month at the Rolls Building, a tribunal in London which deals with international disputes, a separate source said.

Angola sovereign wealth fund takes battle to UK court -source

LUSAKA, May 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Faced with longer droughts and growing water demand, the Zambian government has introduced fees on groundwater use.
Under a new executive order that came into effect in March, owners of domestic boreholes are for the first time required to pay a one-off fee of 250 kwacha ($25) to have their well licensed.
There will be no monthly or annual fees for domestic water users, but those who consume more than 10,000 litres per day will be charged a commercial fee of 5 kwacha for each additional 30 cubic metres they extract, according to the government-run Water Resource Management Authority (WARMA).
Emmanuel Mumba, a legal counsellor at WARMA, said that the utility has long been concerned about how groundwater and surface water were being managed, and prolonged droughts linked to climate change have made the situation worse.
Population growth and growing water use by farming and industry also are putting pressure on the country’s dwindling water resources.
“We are going to be monitoring groundwater use now, because as long as it is not managed well we will run out of it,” Mumba said in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The utility says that 60-70 percent of water consumed in Zambia comes from groundwater.
WARMA inspectors will install devices to measure water consumption and pollution levels in each borehole visited. Wells found to be leaking will be decommissioned, Mumba said.
The agency already has set up observation boreholes to judge how much groundwater levels are decreasing and to measure water contamination in parts of Lusaka, he said.
The Zambian government has placed water management on its economic and sustainable development agenda in its seventh national development plan, for the period 2017 to 2021, according to the Ministry of Energy and Water Development.
The ministry’s permanent secretary, Ed Chomba, said at a press conference that the borehole charges would cover administrative costs and help regulate water use in the face of climate change.
The new rules allow a domestic household to use an average of 10 cubic metres (10,000 litres) of water a day.
Failure to register a borehole can result in a maximum fine of 30,000 kwacha ($3,000) or imprisonment for up to 12 months, according to the new rules.
But an international charity working on water issues in Zambia says more steps need to be taken to regulate consumption and reduce pollution.
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Pamela Chisanga of WaterAid Zambia said contamination of water is as big a problem as lack of it in parts of Zambia.
“For us, the challenge is water contamination before we talk of how much water each household can use,” she said.
Mike Zulu of Lusaka, who owns a borehole, said that when his water was tested it was found to be polluted.
Zulu, who said his household uses considerably less than 5,000 litres of water per day, believes that income from the well licensing programme should be used to address increasing levels of water contamination, rather than simply being spent on administration of the programme.
“It would have been better if the funds raised were used to assist borehole owners to deal with polluted water,” he said.
<h3>FEWER DRILLERS, FEWER WELLS?</h3>
Christopher Chilongo, secretary of the Drillers Association of Zambia, said that the new regulations will help set standards for the construction of new boreholes.
Only registered firms with qualified staff are now allow to drill wells.
“Clearly the groundwater table level keeps on dropping, and we cannot keep on (drilling) holes,” Chilongo said. “Twenty years from now it will be a huge problem if the issue is not addressed now.”
Chilongo said that according to a survey by his association last year, the temperature of groundwater is rising, while the water level is falling in most parts of the country.
The Zambian government reported in 2015 that 11 percent of urban residents lacked access to safe drinking water, while almost half the rural population lacked access.
“As the means of (conserving) groundwater, we are encouraging communities to use communal boreholes in most residential areas. For example, six to nine households can have one borehole to use,” Chilongo said.
WARMA officials similarly said they hope most domestic boreholes used by single households will eventually be decommissioned in favour of shared wells.
This will improve conservation of water and also raise funds, since under the new regulations boreholes used by more than one household can be charged commercial rates, WARMA officials said. (Reporting by Danstan Kaunda ; editing by James Baer and Laurie Goering : (Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org/climate">news.trust.org/climate</a>)

How Zambia is dealing with its water problem

BURGERSFORT, South Africa, May 16 (Reuters) &#8211; Technologies used to carve subways and clear landmines are being retooled to mechanise South Africa’s platinum mines, where an unforgiving geology has stymied such efforts at a huge cost.
The technologies may make new mines profitable and could provide a lifeline for some loss-making shafts in a sector battered by low prices and social unrest, but there are limits.
Innovations include a 60-cm-high bulldozer built by private Croatian landmine clearance company Dok-ing that can reach narrow reefs, and a machine engineered by Atlas Copco unit Epiroc to replace blasting.
The stakes are high in the world’s top producer of the metal: most of South Africa’s platinum shafts are losing money, while the handful of mechanised ones are profitable.
Used for emissions-capping autocatalysts, the price of platinum remains pinned below $1,000 an ounce, less than half the lofty peaks it scaled a decade ago. Little upside is seen with diesel car sales falling.
An unpublished report by South Africa’s Chamber of Mines says: “Under current price and cost forecasts, conventional (platinum) mining ceases to be economically viable in 2024.”
This risks tens of thousands of jobs on South Africa’s platinum belt, a flashpoint of social strife.
<h3>LANDMINES TO PLATINUM MINES</h3>
The South African platinum reef is generally too narrow and steep for machines to access, sparking a race to shrink machine size.
At Anglo American Platinum’s Twickenham R&amp;D mine, an operator with a videogame-type controller recently manoeuvred the Dok-ing bulldozer that sweeps away ore.
Dok-ing began by building robust dozers that cleared landmines &#8211; compact beasts with tank-like tracks.
Tom Sertic, managing director for Dok-ing Africa, said it caught the eye of Anglo engineers. In 2003, at Anglo’s request, Dok-ing built an 83-cm-high dozer and has since cut the size.
The dozers’ tank-like treads help to resolve a key mechanisation challenge: the inability of machines with traditional tyres to mine steep gradients.
“Most machines &#8230; cannot work above 14 degrees because their wheels simply cannot generate power at such steep gradients,” said Declan Vogt, a lecturer in mining automation at Britain’s University of Exeter.
The Dok-ing dozer’s design enables it to work on reefs at gradients of up to 22 degrees or more.
Amplats plans to use the equipment to boost the profitability of shafts at its Amandelbult and other mines &#8211; ironic, because it is a battery-run electric vehicle and Amplats has bet heavily on fuel cells in the EV revolution.
Lonmin Chief Executive Ben Magara told Reuters his company was using three of the dozers at its Saffy shaft.
But costs are a concern.
“The up-front capital is the challenge and given the constraints in the industry, that is not small,” Magara said.
Bringing the technology to loss-making shafts also depends on how long they are expected to produce.
“It is a complicated process to switch to mechanisation. You need to cut jobs, bring in new skilled workers, set up workshops, and make other adjustments,” said Johan Theron, spokesman for Impala Platinum.
Theron said Implats wanted to mechanise where it could but the time and investment would not be worthwhile in older shafts.
<h3>NO BLASTING</h3>
Another innovation is to dispense with blasting, allowing for continuous work as mines must be emptied for detonations, disrupting work.
At Twickenham, the Rapid Mine Development System (RMDS) designed by Epiroc churns the rock-face with a steel disk. Cutting technology has been deployed in coal mines for decades using mechanical picks, but this is the first used in a hard-rock platinum mine.
Walking through the tunnels, you see the difference.
The sides and the roof of the blasted area are jagged, presenting hazards including loose rocks. Where the cutter has been, everything is smoother, with just grooves &#8211; not unlike a subway, for which the technology was originally designed.
The RMDS also has a mechanical roof bolter &#8211; in conventional mines, a miner with a jackhammer-like device drills and inserts the bolts &#8211; and it carries the ore on a conveyer system.
<h3>MECHANISE OR DIE</h3>
“If you look at the bottom end of the cost curve, it is dominated by mechanised mines. Machines do the heavy lifting so productivity is significantly different,” Northam Platinum Chief Executive Paul Dunne told Reuters. Northam’s mechanised Booysendal mine is ramping up production.
Implats’ annual results show its conventional Rustenburg operations last made a profit in 2014 and have since lost around 14 billion rand ($1.12 billion). By contrast, mechanised Two Rivers is Implats’ lowest-cost operation.
Sibanye-Stillwater has acquired Amplats’ labour-intensive Rustenburg mines and its mechanised Bathopele mine. The latter generates over half its platinum profit in South Africa.
Amplats, now firmly focused on mechanisation, paid a dividend this year for the first time since 2011, underscoring the benefits of its pivot from conventional mining.
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$1 = 12.4963 rand Editing by Veronica Brown and Dale Hudson
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Southern Africa

Why the World Bank is viewing SA differently

Why regulator wants answers from South African insurer Liberty following cyber attack

South Africa will avoid a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to currency weakness, central bank deputy says

Soweto Burning, June 16: Enoch Duma recounts that fateful day spent in the eye of the fire and fury

Recovery for the South African rand following losses

The Reserve Bank announces fall of $42.87 billion in month of May for South Africa’s net foreign reserves

South Africa’s new minimum wage is the ‘beginning of a long, difficult process’: Finance minister

Zimbabwe’s election date announced, here’s what you need to know…

South Africa’s ailing state-owned firms set to invest billions in dramatic reform program

Mugabe misses Zimbabwean parliamentary hearing on $15 billion diamond loss

How to hire an excitement officer

Uganda is spending $1bn to build 95km highway, this is why

Why Zimbabwe wants $11bn for its mines

Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America

Angola sovereign wealth fund takes battle to UK court -source

How Zambia is dealing with its water problem

Could this be the solution for SA’s ailing platinum mines?

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Southern Africa

Why the World Bank is viewing SA differently

Why regulator wants answers from South African insurer Liberty following cyber attack

South Africa will avoid a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to currency weakness, central bank deputy says

Soweto Burning, June 16: Enoch Duma recounts that fateful day spent in the eye of the fire and fury

Recovery for the South African rand following losses

The Reserve Bank announces fall of $42.87 billion in month of May for South Africa’s net foreign reserves

South Africa’s new minimum wage is the ‘beginning of a long, difficult process’: Finance minister

Zimbabwe’s election date announced, here’s what you need to know…

South Africa’s ailing state-owned firms set to invest billions in dramatic reform program

Mugabe misses Zimbabwean parliamentary hearing on $15 billion diamond loss

How to hire an excitement officer

Uganda is spending $1bn to build 95km highway, this is why

Why Zimbabwe wants $11bn for its mines

Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America

Angola sovereign wealth fund takes battle to UK court -source

How Zambia is dealing with its water problem

Could this be the solution for SA’s ailing platinum mines?

News Tips

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