Sam Nzima was an African photojournalist that anyone who ever picked up a camera in search of truth and justice in this continent should aspire to be – fearless, smart and dogged. He took a picture that shocked the world and inspired a generation &#8211; yet he paid a terrible price for taking it.
Like many understated heroes he was a mild-mannered gentlemen who wore his eminence lightly. Not for him the bitterness of old age or bombastic pride about the brave exploits of his youth amid the fire and fury of Soweto.
In December 2014 I chatted to him and returned his warm handshake, as editor of Forbes Africa, as he told our magazine his engrossing story of the day he took the picture of the dying Hector Pieterson in the heat of the Soweto uprising on June 16 1976. “I got out from the house, the police had ceased firing, and I saw a little child falling down. There comes this tall boy Mbuyisa [Makhubo] and picked him up. As Mbuyisa picked him up, I went with my camera. I was also shooting with my camera, under the shower of police bullets. Mbuyisa was running to the nearest car, the nearest press car was our Volkswagen Beetle. I managed to shoot six sequences of him carrying Hector. My colleague Sophie Tema opened the door and they put Hector inside. Hector was certified dead upon arriving in Phefeni Clinic,” says Nzima recalling the harrowing scene as if it were yesterday.
Nzima risked his life to smuggle the picture out in his sock through angry police lines. He was even mindful to fill his camera with empty film so the police would tear it out thinking they had put a stop to his spreading of the truth.
His newspaper, the World in Johannesburg, didn’t even want to run it fearing it would spark a civil war; editors relented and put it on the front page. The shot captured succinctly the pain and terror of the day armed police gunned down teenage schoolchildren. It was a picture that swayed world opinion against the brutal apartheid regime. On the anniversary, every year, Nzima told us how he would kneel and pray for the lost young souls of Soweto.
The shot also wrecked Nzima’s life and put his life in danger.
“After two days I received a call from the station commander at John Vorster Square, he wanted to have a cup of coffee with me. Percy Qoboza was my editor at The World. He advised me to stay away from the police if I don’t want to come back as a corpse,” said Nzima.
[bc_video video_id=&#8221;5784467128001&#8243; account_id=&#8221;1571595826001&#8243; player_id=&#8221;962b8774-5f97-47fd-81a6-837da7aecf49&#8243; embed=&#8221;in-page&#8221; padding_top=&#8221;56%&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;&#8221; min_width=&#8221;0px&#8221; max_width=&#8221;640px&#8221; width=&#8221;100%&#8221; height=&#8221;100%&#8221;]
Police effectively banished Nzima to his homeland in Mpumalanga in north eastern South Africa where he was to eke out a bleak living for decades. It took him 22 years to get the copyright of his famous picture back. Even then, there are photographers around the world, who have never set foot in Africa, who are doing good business selling copies of the shot for hard currency.
Awards came in, in latter years. In April 2011, South Africa’s then President Jacob Zuma awarded Nzima with the Order of Ikhamanga for excellence in liberal art. Yet Nzima was never lauded like many of his colleagues across the continent.
Nzima – despite lucrative offers – clung on to the ancient camera that took the historic shot that wrecked his life. He went to his grave in hospital in Nelspruit, in Mpumalanga, on May 12, with no intention of selling it, nor his soul.
&nbsp;

This is why African photojournalists should aspire to be like Sam Nzima

LUANDA, May 11 (Reuters) &#8211; Angola plans to privatise 74 state companies over the next few years, predominantly those in the industrial sector, according to the prospectus sent to investors as part of the country’s Eurobond issuance.
Africa’s second-largest crude producer has been battered by a fall in the price of oil over the past four years and President João Lourenço, who took office in September, has pledged to reduce state interference in the economy, which remains centrally controlled after years of civil war and Soviet influenced state building following independence from Portugal in 1975.
“Generally, the government intends to sell its entire interest in these companies, the majority of which operate in the industrial sector,” the prospectus, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said.
The prospectus does not list the companies or say how much the privatisations could raise, but a government source told Reuters that Angola’s ports, national carrier TAAG, BCI bank, and insurer Ensa were all being considered for full or partial privatisation.
“The government’s long-term policy is that companies which, in the government’s view, are not required to remain under public ownership as a matter of policy should eventually be privatised,” the prospectus added.
Lourenço aims to revive growth by opening the economy to foreign investors and diversifying away from oil, which currently accounts for 95 percent of exports.
Angola is in the process of raising $3 billion through two Eurobond issues, launching $1.75 billion in 10-year notes at 8.25 percent and a $1.25 billion 30-year tranche at 9.375 percent.
In the prospectus, Angola also said it saw its total debt – excluding that held by state oil firm Sonangol – reaching $77.3 billion, or 70.8 percent of GDP, by the end of 2018. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer Editing by Ed Stoddard and Susan Fenton)

This is what Angola is telling investors to get them to invest in its Eurobonds

<div id="attachment_306274" style="width: 706px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-306274" class="wp-image-306274 size-large" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Durban_beach1-1110x569.jpg" alt="" width="696" height="357" />Picture: Wikimedia Commons</div>
By Unathi Sonwabile Henama
Tourism is a growing sector in many African economies. The sector is highly competitive and Western countries continue to dominate trade in tourism, whilst Africa receives less than 10% of global tourism receipts.
The largest travel exhibition in Africa, Africa Tourism Indaba started on the 8 May 2018 at the ICC in Durban. It provides a meeting space for travel buyers and product owners to sell destination Africa.
Given political will and political support, tourism can succeed in a country. Durban is a model city. The 100% political support it received ensures that tourism succeeds in driving the economy of the city.
Durban undertook an in-depth analysis of its tourism performance, to identify weaknesses, and to mitigate the decline in tourism. Durban learnt from this exercise, by reflecting on the successes and failures of its tourism plans.
<h4>Analysis of tourism red tape</h4>
As we attend the Indaba, there must be an analysis of tourism red tape. International tourism in SA has grown above 12%, whilst the decline in domestic tourism, reflect on a poor economy.
South Africa will need more international tourists to mitigate the decline of domestic tourism. The celebrated 12% growth of international tourism remains an underachievement when one analyses the potential of South Africa.
The country has the potential to achieve 50% year-on-year growth if tourism red tape is addressed. Tourism red tape includes visa regulations and airlift and air access to South Africa. The vision of the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) was that South Africa must be a Top 20 tourism destination by the year 2020. The NTSS was an inclusive contract between the state and the tourism industry for growth.
<h4>5 Million tourists in 5 years</h4>
In 2017, the language at the Indaba was different. The NTSS was declared an amnesia item, and the term &#8220;5 in 5&#8221; was the new rhetoric. This implied that South Africa should seek 5 million more tourists in 5 years.
It is  important to identify the visa regulations and airlift and air access as the stumbling blocks limiting tourism and the attainment of the NTSS vision. The attention of the tourism industry has been squarely on the visa regulations, which shall be finalised soon. The resolution of the visa regulations is a foregone conclusion, but the tourism trade had failed to raise the equally important issues of airlift and air access.
The Department of Transport is the new turf ground, where the tourism industry must lead the process of persuasion and diplomacy for open skies. The democratic state must test open-skies just like it persuaded South Africans to try out the e-tolls.
<h4>Open skies, competition &amp; lower prices</h4>
Open skies mean greater frequency, more competition, and lower prices, which will benefit both tourists and citizens. As South Africa experiences a decline in mining, manufacturing and agricultural production, tourism is emerging as a reliable economic messiah.
Tourism has been acknowledged as the new gold, and if it is the new gold, tourism must be assisted to succeed driving South Africa’s economy.
The structural challenges of unemployment, poverty, inequality, and pedestrian economic growth are too pressing for us to ignore the untapped potential of the tourism industry in SA. The South African tragedy is that poverty coexists with wealth and opulence, to an extent that poverty is normalised, and we have become oblivious to its existence.
It means we may be contributors to the spread of poverty, through our unconscious actions. The aviation committees at the Department of Transportation have unfairly targeted Comair, one of the most successful companies in the tourism industry. These unfortunate actions must be raised by the travel trade at Africa’s Tourism Indaba, to ensure that the Minister of Transport Minister Blade Nzimande is made aware of the unfortunate conduct of officials within his Department that threaten the attainment of tourism growth as detailed by President Ramaphosa during SONA.
<h4>Tourism needs a supporting public service</h4>
Tourism more than any other sector needs a supporting public service in order to succeed. The World Economic Forum Travel &amp; Tourism Competitiveness Index Ranking, ranked SA 53rd, 5 points below its ranking in 2015. SA lags its BRICS partners, China (15th), Brazil (27th), India (40) and Russia (43rd). Mauritius is ranked 55th, and this small island country is two places below South Africa.
Considering that South Africa has a far superior tourism than Mauritius, these rankings should be sobering for the country as a destination. South Africa can improve its ranking to be in the Top 20 destinations by the year 2020, if the spirit of collaboration succeeds to reducing red tape limiting tourism growth.
Before that is achieved, the economic race to tourism growth must be confronted within the state apparatus. Maybe let’s learn from Durban by facing the demons that limit tourism growth in SA, located within the Department of Transportation. It won’t be an easy conversation, but it’s a conversation that is long overdue.
Unathi Sonwabile Henama teaches tourism at the Tshwane University of Technology and writes in his personal capacity

Op-Ed: Tourism Indaba – Focus on tourism red tape

Graça Machel has been awarded the 2018 World Prize for Integrated Development for her significant social justice achievements and tireless work on behalf of women and children.
According to a statement from the sponsors NIRAS, an international multidisciplinary consultancy, &#8220;Machel is recognised for her leadership of the Graça Machel Trust, a Pan-African advocacy organisation focused on child health and nutrition, education, women’s economic and financial empowerment, leadership and good governance&#8221;.
&#8220;Graça Machel is a remarkable human being and an outstanding example of the impact of integration in international development ,” says Lindsay Falvey, Chair of the World Prize Selection Panel. “ In addition to her humanitarian work , the Committee was impressed by her leadership of the trust in integrating nations, programmes and people while fulfilling its mission of ‘multiplying the faces and amplifying the voices of African women and children’. In particular, the support given to women entrepreneurs and their Pan-African networks has delivered significant contributions to social and economic change across the continent.”
The World Prize is awarded to individuals or organisations exemplifying an outstanding integrated approach in the field of international development. Machel is the second Laureate, after the late Dr Hans Rosling, founder of Gapminder.
Machel will receive her accolade and its €20,000 purse on the 12th of September at the South African Innovation Summit where the best of African and global innovators will showcase their exceptional talents, innovations and ideas.

Graça Machel awarded  World Prize for Integrated Development

By Gary van Staden, Senior Political Analyst, NKC African Economics 
The unceremonious dismissal of yet more of former President Eduardo Dos Santos’ loyalists by President Joao Lourenco, including top brass in the military and intelligence, suggests the new president has been emboldened by his successes so far and the lack of resistance within the old Dos Santos empire and that more heads are going to roll.
While the actions taken against the Dos Santos family – daughter <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/political/2017/11/16/angola-dos-santos-removal-sonangol-political-strategic-move/">Isabel Dos Santos was removed as head of the State-run oil company Sonangol</a> and his son, <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2018/03/26/angola-charges-son-ex-president-dos-santos-fraud/">José Filomeno Dos Santos, was charged with fraud</a> – raised little resistance, it was assumed that the old president had shored up his support in the military and dismantling that power base would be significantly more difficult. That was not the case.
Reuters reported this week (Monday April 23) that Lourenco had sacked the chief of staff of the armed forces, General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, and the head of the foreign intelligence agency, André de Oliveira Sango, in what was described as the latest moves against officials tainted by graft allegations or links to his predecessor.
Reuters stated that General Nunda had been named by prosecutors last month as a suspect in an investigation into allegations of fraud. Mr De Oliveira Sango, a Dos Santos loyalist, had been head of foreign intelligence for over a decade.
The next and most obvious goal for the new regime would be to remove Dos Santos from his position as leader of the ruling People&#8217;s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), but that may prove more difficult and we expect Lourenco to further dismantle the old president’s power base outside of the ruling party before making that final assault.
But it does appear to be inevitable that at some point his leadership role in the ruling party is going to come under attack.
While we remain uncertain of his ultimate agenda, the new president can be expected to continue to mobilise against the Dos Santos empire on all fronts using allegations of graft, corruption and fraud as weapons of choice as well as the politics of renewal and improved governance.
While significant economic or political reforms have yet to make an appearance, it is likely that such reforms would have been hindered by the continued presence of Dos Santos power structures and that it probably makes sense that those be tackled first.
The new broom has yet to make any fundamental policy shifts that would likely improve the lot of ordinary Angolans, but there is for the first time in many years the prospect of such improvement – time will tell.
We do not expect any significant resistance to the sweeping changes and consequently no deterioration in the country’s overall political stability.

Op:Ed: Why Angola’s President Lourenco is likely to intensify purge of Dos Santos loyalists

<div id="attachment_305308" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-305308" class="wp-image-305308 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Robben-Island1.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="793" />Picture: Flickr</div>
By Mzi Khumalo
The conditions and circumstances that shaped leaders like Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada do not exist anymore. A new world has emerged with different dynamics and new struggles. Our modern world dictates a new path and a specific kind of leadership. Struggle veteran Mzi Khumalo looks back at his time on Robben Island and decodes lessons for Africa’s new generation of leaders.
I was the 27th prisoner of the year 1979 on Robben Island. My prison number was 2779 and I was 24 years-old when I was sentenced to 26-years behind bars for treason by South Africa’s apartheid government. It was a time of daily atrocities against black people, many of whom lost their lives in the fight for freedom. When I arrived on the island, I found fellow comrades who had been incarcerated for a long time. Among them were Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada and many others who were all part of the struggle and were jailed for standing up for freedom.
All of them were inspirational leaders of their time because they displayed the kind of leadership and qualities that are rarely seen or heard of today. They were not only motivated and decisive, but they understood the ins and outs of their plan and the execution of it. The conditions and dynamics that shaped people like Walter and Ahmed were different back then. Times have changed.
How we identify, nurture and promote leadership in Africa today is of deep concern, and for good reason. Smart leadership is crucial for economic growth, social stability and a political landscape that enables African citizens to achieve their full potential.
As I look back at my time on Robben Island, I can identify lessons that I believe are applicable to the new generation of leaders on the rise.
Leadership requires a clear purpose and long-term planning
Prison life was designed to be hard, but despite this, we had a clear sense of purpose and knew why we were there. As freedom fighters, we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what needed to be achieved. We had a long-term plan and understood the building blocks to realise our objective. We were strong-willed, determined and passionate about what we were fighting for. We didn’t just get out of bed one day and decide to protest. Our resistance was not haphazard, it was carefully planned. We all knew there was a fairly good chance we would not live to see a free South Africa and that our dreams may not be realised in our lifetime.
Today, we live in the digital age and despite its undeniable benefits to society, it negatively impacts the minds of our youth, who live in a snap chat culture. This new revolution lives for instant information and instant gratification. “Long-term planning” to them signifies a period of 5 years or less. The youth of today have overwhelmingly short attention spans, and in my experience, nothing great has ever been achieved overnight. Without a clear purpose and long-term approach, the contribution of Africa’s youth to the development of the continent will be minimal.
Leadership means decisions based on convictions and assessments
In business today, we need to make decisions based on assessments, not on Internet searches. If somebody is recommended to me for a job or business venture, I will not browse the internet for answers. My approach would be to meet that person, look them in the eye, talk to them and get the answers I need to make an assessment. Only if I am left with doubts will I conduct reference checks or commission a report. This approach has led me to do business in what some regard as Africa’s most volatile markets including Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
One also cannot formulate an opinion on a person or country based on what journalists write. I see many of our young leaders today making political, business and personal decisions based on what the media reports. It is difficult for people to provide leadership and make decisions on sustainability this way. Our continent and the wellbeing of our people requires them to do more. They must scratch the surface and take decisive actions based on convictions and first-hand assessments.
Leadership must fit the purpose
I grew up in KwaMashu, a township north of Durban in South Africa. It was a rough place. We lived in abject poverty in a country that had denied us any hope of a better future. I was raised by my mother, a single woman, and widow. I was the sixth child of ten. My father died before my ninth birthday. I experienced beatings and bullying while growing up, and my attitude was shaped by my circumstances. My love for business was born early on in life when I realised there is much power in money.  As a young boy, I started collecting oil cans to sell to the ladies who sold sorghum beer in the township. I soon made a fair amount of money.
In 1994, there was an energy crisis in South Africa. Fuel was rationed so I bought fuel and sold it for a margin.  When I came out of prison, I started building the ANC structures and was elected treasurer of the KwaZulu-Natal branch. Then, I decided to go back to my business roots. My contribution in both business and politics was as a result of the circumstances surrounding black people under apartheid’s oppressive regime. The conditions and dynamics that shaped South Africa’s previous leaders were specific to the times in which they lived.
Today’s leaders must remember that those conditions have changed. We are not fighting the same fight, and therefore the type of leadership that is required is different. They must adjust accordingly. Today’s fight is about economic freedom, social cohesion, and continental unity. We need to understand what our circumstances are now and promote leadership that fits the purpose. I know that Africa’s current young leaders have a long, bumpy road ahead of them but I am hopeful that they will achieve their objectives with time, conviction and an unshakeable sense of purpose.
&nbsp;

Op-Ed: Decoding lessons from Robben Island for Africa’s emerging leaders

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe is considering issuing between $2.5 and $3.5 billion in sovereign bonds after elections set for July and will use some of the money to clear arrears to foreign lenders, Deputy Finance Minister Terrence Mukupe said on Tuesday.
Mukupe, whose comments were broadcast on state television, said the southern African nation would use export receipts from tobacco, gold and horticulture to repay the bond.
“The position that we have is that post election we should be able to put in place a sovereign or export-related bond and we think we should be able to raise between $2.5 to $3.5 billion,” Mukupe said.
During a speech in London on Monday, Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo said his country was committed to clear about $1.8 billion in arrears with the World Bank and the African Development Bank before it taps other sources of financing.
<div>
<div class="container_2dHIN dp-slot-inline_eUPBt"></div>
</div>
Zimbabwe has not received funding from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank since it defaulted on its debt in 1999.
Under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who succeeded Robert Mugabe last November, Zimbabwe is trying to mend ties with the West, including rejoining the Commonwealth.
<div class="container_28wm1">
<div class="attribution_o4ojT">
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Stoddard
</div>
</div>

Why Zimbabwe plans to issue sovereign bonds

<div id="attachment_304820" style="width: 1060px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-304820" class="wp-image-304820 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mahikeng1.png" alt="" width="1050" height="576" />Picture: CNBC Africa</div>
By Unathi Sonwabile Henama
Violent and deadly protests occurring in Mahikeng last week have captured national attention. President Cyril Ramaphosa cut short the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting in London, to attend to the protests that had engulfed the North West Province.
President Ramaphosa was leading Invest SA to London, to woo investors and sell South Africa as an investment destination. Foreign direct investment is important as a driver of economic growth. The absence of Cyril Ramaphosa would be felt in London, as the global media followed his hurried departure back to South Africa.
Protesters have clashed with police, participated in public violence, looted shops and disturbed traffic on major highways. There was the destruction of public property, which has become institutionalised within the protest culture in South Africa. This led to the torching of the Mmabana Cultural Centre, which showcases the arts and cultural practices of the Batswana.
Mahikeng, which is the provincial capital city, has been at the epicentre of the protests, with sporadic disruptions also occurring in Klerksdorp.
Police dispersed protestors with rubber bullets. There were several arrests and two fatalities have been reported. Police resources were stretched to the limit, as the number of protestors far outnumber police personnel.
Tensions remain high as the top 6 of the African National Congress (ANC) on the 20th of April 2018 met Premier Supra Mahumapelo. The protestors have demanded that Premier Mahumapelo, should resign as Premier.
The ANC found itself in a tight corner, as the protestors happened to be voters who might dump the ANC in the general elections in 2019, should a resolution remain deferred.
The ANC would recall that residents in Tshwane voted against the ANC. This led to the ANC not achieving more than 50% in the local government elections for the first time, and the ANC was dislodged after opposition parties formed a coalition government.
The violence in Mahikeng led to neighbouring country Botswana closing its border with South Africa. This might negatively affect religious tourism to Tshwane, as thousands of Batswana regularly cross the border to attend church services at Enlightened Christian Gathering, hosted by Prophet Bushiri. Botswana has declared Bushiri as an undesired visitor to Botswana.
The closure of the border must be one of the reasons that led President Cyril Ramaphosa to become pro-active in trying to resolve the issue in Mahikeng, by returning home from an international commitment. The unrest in Mahikeng occurred concurrently with the World Travel Market (WTM) Africa hosted in Cape Town from 18-20 April 2018. This trade show is important to exhibit travel products and is a marketing platform for travel destinations.
The events in Mahikeng have done a disservice to brand South Africa generally, and the North West specifically. Tourism is very sensitive to external events and shocks such as protests, crime, acts of terror and political unrest. The violence that is associated with service delivery strikes in South Africa can be regarded as a form of home-grown terrorism.
South Africa already suffers from a poor image because of low levels of personal safety and security. In the tourism industry, perceptions and image trump reality. Tourism requires a favourable destination image, in order to grow. South Africa has capitalised on the successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and this reality must be replicated daily in South Africa.
Tourism is the new gold and it must become everyone’s business if it is to succeed. Tourism growth in the past 24 years has surpassed the national growth rate, which has been pedestrian. The ability of tourism to grow with jobs is unparalleled, due to its labour intensive nature.
For many localities, tourism has emerged as the only economic sector that can restore human dignity through jobs and entrepreneurial activities. Because almost all countries have jumped onto the tourism bandwagon, this has meant that competition amongst destinations has increased.  South Africa must improve its tourism competitiveness.
This, therefore, means anything negative that occurs in South Africa might have an impact on tourism. This makes the business of tourism everyone’s business. Tourism more than any other sector demands a responsible and responsive public service. If tourism can ensure that the public service is more responsive to the needs of the citizens, then tourism will continue its human rights dividend.
I wish President Ramaphosa well in trying to find a resolution to the crisis in the North West. A speedy resolution could be the best dividend for his Presidency, that he is a pro-active President that is Mr. Fix-It.
Unathi Sonwabile Henama teaches tourism at the Tshwane University of Technology and writes in his personal capacity

Op-Ed: #Mahikeng – a tourism perspective

By Jacques Nel, Chief Economist: Southern and East Africa, NKC African Economics 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report for April 2018. Entitled “Cyclical Upswing, Structural Change”, the largely positive report notes that global economic growth has not been this strong and broad-based since the sharp 2010 bounce-back following the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Global real GDP growth is projected to reach 3.9% this year, which is slightly higher than the October projection of 3.7%. The Fund’s growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains at 3.4% for this year. This reflects a notable improvement from the 2.8% growth estimate for 2017. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is also projected to grow by 3.4% this year, which is markedly higher than the 2017 growth estimate of 2.6% and slightly stronger than the October projection of 3.2% for 2018.
The latest update includes some notable revisions to individual country growth projections for this year.
Algeria saw the largest upward revision to its 2018 growth forecast from a projection of 0.7% made in October to the latest figure of 3.0%. The oil exporter continues to struggle to adapt to structurally lower energy prices, but higher oil- and gas-related fiscal revenue is expected to support the government’s planned increase in capital spending this year.
Zimbabwe is another country that saw a sizeable upward adjustment in its 2018 growth forecast (from 0.8% made in October to the current figure of 2.4%), with the IMF evidently giving newly installed President Emmerson Mnangagwa the benefit of the doubt over whether his promising rhetoric will be converted into action.
Furthermore, most of the continent’s economic giants also saw upward revisions to their 2018 growth projections, including Nigeria (due to an improved outlook for oil revenue and the introduction of forex measure to ease liquidity constraints), Angola (due to stronger oil prices), Egypt (due to stronger domestic demand and the effects of structural reforms), and South Africa (due to ‘Ramaphoria’).
At the other end of the spectrum, some countries saw notable reductions in their 2018 growth projections.
Libya saw the largest downward revision, from an October projection of 31.2% to the latest figure of 16.4%. The IMF made significant downward revisions to its historical estimates for Libya’s GDP in 2015 and 2016 while increasing the estimate for real GDP in 2017. This led to an estimate of 71% real GDP growth for 2017 compared to the 55% growth forecast made in October. These wild revisions in estimates speak to the difficulties involved given the scarcity of solid economic data for the country and its total dependence on oil exports.
A notable downward revision in Ghana’s 2018 growth projection saw the West African nation conceding the title of the fastest-growing SSA economy to its East African counterpart Ethiopia – these were also the two fastest growing economies in the region in 2017, according to IMF estimates. A slowdown in industrial output due to maintenance work at the Jubilee oil field coupled with indications of a smaller cocoa crop this season have resulted in a 2.6 percentage point reduction in the country’s 2018 growth forecast, now set at 6.3%.
Mozambique saw its growth projection drop from 5.3% in October to the latest figure of just under 3%. The country continues to struggle with elevated real interest rates, while the decision by creditors to reject all the government’s debt restructuring proposals in March has sustained a smog of uncertainty over the country’s economic future.
Sierra Leone, Lesotho and Namibia all saw notable downward revisions in their 2018 growth forecasts.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-304778" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Africa-IMF.png" alt="" width="416" height="227" />
Stronger growth in Africa’s largest economies bodes well for the continent’s economic prospects as a whole.
South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are regional growth drivers for Southern, West, and North Africa, respectively, and the health of these larger economies has direct bearing on growth prospects in their smaller neighbours.
It should be noted that the improvement in growth prospects for Nigeria and Angola is largely due to stronger oil prices, while South Africa’s expected recovery is still largely based on sentiment.
Nigeria still has much to do to diversify its economy away from its oil sector to improve economic resilience. In turn, South Africa’s political landscape has undoubtedly seen some improvement of late, but this positive sentiment still has to translate into actual progress on the economic front.
&nbsp;

The IMF has altered its outlook on Africa, this is what’s changed

Nyshka Chandran 
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/south-africa-reserve-bank-governor-lesetija-kganyago-on-new-president-cyril-ramaphosa.html">South Africa&#8217;s new president is lifting investor sentiment: Central bank chief</a>
<ul>
<li>Investor sentiment and financial markets in South Africa have strengthened under the leadership of new President Cyril Ramaphosa, said the country&#8217;s Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago.</li>
<li>That lays the basis for a cyclical economic recovery, he told CNBC at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. </li>
</ul>

South Africa investor appeal is experiencing a robust recovery under the two-month old government of President <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105031500?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
Cyril Ramaphosa 
</a>, the country&#8217;s Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Thursday.
Since Ramaphosa took power, both business and consumer confidence have improved, Kganyago told CNBC&#8217;s Joumanna Bercetche at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC.
The positive momentum is also reflected in financial markets. &#8220;We saw bond yields decline, the currency strengthen so there is positive investor sentiment in South Africa and that, of course, lays a basis for a cyclical recovery,&#8221; Kganyago said.
Ramaphosa, the successor to <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105071221?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
embattled former leader Jacob Zuma 
</a>, is widely regarded as a pro-business politician committed to fighting graft and boosting foreign investment. Once a top performing emerging market, the economy took a hit under Zuma, who was criticized for heavy <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/104382516?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
government interference in business affairs 
</a>.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/14160235/101587040-107233710.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Getty Images"/>
Also encouraging was the government&#8217;s tabling of a budget, which is setting <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105019755?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
a path for fiscal consolidation 
</a>, and the fact that Moody&#8217;s revised its credit outlook to stable from negative last month, Kganyago continued.
Ramaphosa this week announced a drive to attract more than $100 billion in foreign investments — a target that Kganyago called &#8220;aspirational.&#8221;
While the country has been enjoying steady portfolio investment, foreign direct investment will take longer, the central bank head said, adding that once a suitable domestic environment is created, Ramaphosa&#8217;s goal will be achievable.

South Africa’s new president is lifting investor sentiment: Central bank chief

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kealeboga-j-maphunye-171061">Kealeboga J Maphunye</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-africa-1951">University of South Africa</a>
Some African countries have recorded democratic victories in the past 12 months. Ethiopia has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-ethiopias-new-leader-could-be-a-game-changer-94424">new leader</a> whose ascent holds great promise for change, despite the country’s <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/article/ethiopia-100-election">problematic 2015 election</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/30/liberia-george-weah-salary-change-constitution-racism">Liberia</a> and <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/sierra-leones-new-leader-bio-starts-work-as-president-20180405">Sierra Leone</a> have new leaders.
But elsewhere on the continent, leaders continue to disregard their countries’ own constitutions and laws governing presidential tenure. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila has been in power <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/07/joseph-kabila-will-not-stand-in-next-drc-elections-aide-says">since 2001</a>. He refuses to go even though he was meant to step down in December 2016. In Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has clung to power since <a href="http://www.africareview.com/news/UG-lawmakers-pave-the-way-for-Museveni-stay-in-power/979180-4093204-ug1sqi/index.html">1986</a>. Denis Sassou Nguesso has ruled Congo for <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14121193">almost 30 years</a>.
Their refusal to step down at the appointed time flies in the face of several governance blueprints adopted as African countries shifted away from liberation politics to the new post independence <a href="https://theconversation.com/democracy-in-africa-the-ebbs-and-flows-over-six-decades-42011">struggle for democracy</a> in the early 2000s.
The <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/organisation-african-unity-formed-and-africa-day-declared">Organisation of African Unity</a> was transformed into the <a href="https://au.int/">African Union</a> in 2001 with this shift in mind. The continent adopted progressive governance tools like the <a href="https://au.int/en/organs/aprm">African Peer Review Mechanism</a>. This was spearheaded by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki as a tool for African countries to review one another’s performance.
Numerous African countries adopted and agreed to uphold the terms of the African Union Charter on Democracy, <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/7790-treaty-0034_-_african_charter_on_democracy_elections_and_governance_e.pdf">Elections and Governance</a>. It came into force in 2012 and was designed to guard against undemocratic governance.
These plans promised a great deal. They were designed to usher in good governance, democracy and security. It was hoped Africa’s image as a continent of ignorance, poverty, disease, misrule and corruption could be erased.
The rhetoric pointed in the right direction. But not all African leaders were willing to be swept by this wave of democratic reforms. Some are quite simply addicted to power, as shown by their reluctance – if not outright resistance – to leave at the end of their legal terms.
Leaders continuing to overstay their welcome undermines Africa’s attempts at overhauling its leadership and negates the noble intentions of the AU’s founders.
<h2>Term limits</h2>
Term limits regulate leadership succession. They are meant to counteract leaders’ temptation to overstay their welcome. This helps to consolidate and legitimise democratically elected leadership.
Of course, they’re not enough. Regular transfer of power as seen in countries like Mauritius, Ghana, Botswana and Zambia, among others, cannot guarantee political and socio-economic stability. Other ingredients such as accountable, legitimate leadership are critical.
The benefits of frequent power transfers are evident in African countries that have them, such as <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/electoral-commission-confirms-senegal-ruling-coalition-landslide-20170805-2">Senegal</a>; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-botswana-politics/botswanas-khama-steps-down-as-president-after-a-decade-at-helm-idUSKBN1H70DO">Botswana</a> and <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/mauritius-gets-new-pm-opposition-demands-new-election/">Mauritius</a>. Incumbents are kept on their toes because there’s a real chance they can be removed from power if they fail to govern properly.But regular transfers of power give citizens hope that new policies, programmes and approaches will be adopted by the new leadership. In turn, this could overturn numerous political, social, economic impacts of uninterrupted strangleholds on power in Africa.
Term limits have recently become controversial and divisive. Some leaders have used dubious constitutional amendments to extend their stay in power. Usually, governing parties and their leaders almost exclusively pass such amendments with minimal or no opposition participation. That’s what happened in Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Congo Republic.
Similarly, despite constitutional provisions and regular elections, countries such as Angola, Togo, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea are virtually de facto one party or one leader repressive states wherein resignation, retirement and term limits are meaningless.
Leaders have different reasons for refusing to leave office. In some countries, the answer lies in a lack of succession planning to transfer power. In others, leaders blatantly refuse to resign because of their despotic and kleptocratic tendencies. They abuse their states’ minerals, oil and money with their <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/african-leaders-take-the-blame-for-the-continents-resource-curse">families and friends</a>. Stepping aside would cost them these “benefits”.
For instance, the eventual departure of Angola’s Eduardo Dos Santos from office after decades in power has <a href="https://theconversation.com/stability-in-southern-africa-hinges-on-how-leaders-gain-and-lose-power-89980">left his family exposed</a>. His children stand accused of amassing billions during their father’s many terms.
Without strong constitutional safeguards and a democratic culture to counter the negative consequences of the <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-13-anc-must-renew-itself-and-root-out-sins-of-incumbency">“sins of incumbency”</a> – as corruption associated with state power is often described by South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress – can be menacing. It breeds <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Big-Men-Little-People-Leaders/dp/081477542X">“Big Men, Little People”</a>, to borrow a phrase from the title of a book by journalist Alec Russel.
<h2>Weaning leaders off power addiction</h2>
Perceptive leaders know when to leave office, whether through resignation or <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/03/31/botswana-president-ian-khama-steps-down-after-end-of-tenure//">retirement</a>. Botswana’s past and current presidents have established this practice despite the country’s continued <a href="http://www.thepatriot.co.bw/analysis-opinions/item/3585-single-party-dominance-not-good-for-democracy.html">one-party domination</a>.
With the emergence of a strong democratic culture, South Africa has experienced the opposite of such presidential power mongering. Two presidents were recalled by their political party the ANC, albeit for different reasons. Thabo Mbeki readily <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2008-09-21-mbeki-resigns-before-the-nation">accepted his fate</a> when he was told to pack up and go, although he was not accused of any specific wrong doing. Jacob Zuma remained defiant and only stepped aside when faced with the very real prospect of a vote of <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-02-13-anc-want-motion-of-no-confidence-against-zuma">no-confidence</a>.
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/nana-akufo-addo-sworn-ghana-president-170107124239549.html">Ghana</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37086365">Zambia</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/namibia-grown-up-after-a-generation-into-independence-but-not-yet-mature-74571">Namibia</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/buharis-victory-in-nigerian-election-has-global-significance-39416">Nigeria</a>, <a href="https://www.constitutionnet.org/news/presidential-elections-malawi-towards-majoritarian-501-electoral-system">Malawi</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/magufuli-has-been-president-for-two-years-how-hes-changing-tanzania-86777">Tanzania</a> are other African states where regular transfer of power has occurred.
African voters are not blameless. They habitually relax their vigilance on leaders and fail to hold them to account after elections. This, coupled with winner-take-all election systems, renders some African countries vulnerable to autocratic, despotic and non-accountable leaders who would rather die in office than leave.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94196/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />What, then, is the solution? It may be time for ordinary voters across the continent to begin to collaborate through non-governmental organisations and other cross-border institutional mechanisms to share experiences and begin to enforce durable continental democracy. Africa needs democracy from below.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kealeboga-j-maphunye-171061">Kealeboga J Maphunye</a>, Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-africa-1951">University of South Africa</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/weaning-african-leaders-off-addiction-to-power-is-an-ongoing-struggle-94196">original article</a>.

Why it’s impossible to wean African leaders off their addiction to power

LUANDA (Reuters) &#8211; Angola’s finance ministry said it had requested non-financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund to help it implement economic reforms, as Africa’s second-largest crude producer continues to suffer from a lower oil price.
The agreement, known as a Policy Coordination Instrument, “will help to improve the external credibility of our country with positive impact on the ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment,” the finance ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The ministry said it wanted help in implementing the Macroeconomic Stabilisation Plan, which is effectively the economic policy of the new Angolan government, but did not say what form this should take.
President João Lourenço, who took over last September after 38 years of rule by José Eduardo dos Santos, has said he wants to bring about an economic miracle in Angola by opening up to foreign investment and diversifying away from oil which accounts for over 90 percent of exports.
Lourenço is trying to resolve a dollar liquidity squeeze that has made it difficult for foreign companies to repatriate profits and discouraged many from investing in sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy. On the streets of Luanda, a dollar goes for nearly twice the official rate.
A devaluation of around 30 percent to the dollar this year has gone some way to closing the gap with the street rate.
<div>
<div class="container_2dHIN dp-slot-inline_eUPBt"></div>
</div>
Angola has been trying to persuade international banks to rekindle dollar correspondent relationships with the country, which were cut over the past few years due to perceived compliance risks in doing business there.
<div class="container_28wm1">
<div class="attribution_o4ojT">
Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Alexander Winning and David Stamp
</div>
</div>

In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) &#8211; Global growth will keep a steady pace this year and next, buoyed by stronger trade and U.S. fiscal stimulus that will fade by the early 2020s, while increased tariffs could damage market confidence and output, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.
<div class="container_2pnvl">
<div class="container_1tVQo" tabindex="-1">The IMF, in its latest World Economic Outlook, kept its 2018 and 2019 global growth forecasts unchanged at 3.9 percent for both years after upgrades in January.
</div>
</div>
The projections were released as thousands of global finance officials were gathering in Washington for the IMF and World Bank spring meetings this week.
The IMF said it raised its U.S. growth forecast by 0.2 percentage point for both years, to 2.9 percent for 2018 and 2.7 percent for 2019. It said lower U.S. corporate income tax rates and accelerated investments due to a temporary tax break would boost U.S. growth through 2020, but these effects would then reverse quickly, causing a slowdown.
Ghana has lost its pole position as the fastest growing economy in Africa to Ethiopia. The IMF expects the West African nation&#8217;s economy to grow 6.3 percent this year, whilst Ethiopia&#8217;s growth is forecast at 8.5 percent.
Africa&#8217;s largest economy Nigeria, is expected to expand 2.1 percent this year whereas the continent&#8217;s most advanced economy, South Africa&#8217;s growth is expected at  1.5 percent, from 0.9 percent forecast three months ago.
“Global growth is projected to soften beyond the next couple of years,” the IMF said in the report, adding that advanced economies would be “held back by aging populations and lackluster productivity.”
The Trump administration has maintained that Republican tax cuts passed last year would allow the United States to maintain sustained gross domestic product growth above 3 percent for years and defy forecasts that U.S. budget deficits will balloon over the coming decade.
For now, the IMF said increased export demand was contributing to slight growth forecast upgrades for the euro area and Britain for 2018, while the IMF kept its forecasts unchanged for Japan, China, India, Russia and Mexico.
Forecasts were cut slightly for Canada, the Middle East and North African countries, as well as a number of low-income developing countries.
The IMF said prospects for developing economies to grow per-capita incomes face difficult prospects over the next five years, especially in commodity-exporting countries in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Risks to the global growth forecasts were broadly balanced for the next few quarters, with the potential for stronger business profits to increase hiring and investments that could boost productivity, the IMF said.
But trade tensions, such as the United States and China’s recent dueling tariff announcements, could take a direct toll on trade and economic activity and also cause financial market turmoil that would tighten financial conditions and hurt confidence.
“An increase in tariffs and nontariff trade barriers could harm market sentiment, disrupt global supply chains, and slow the spread of new technologies, reducing global productivity and investment,” the IMF said. “Greater protectionism would also lower consumer welfare by making tradable consumer goods more expensive.”
Research from 2016, the IMF said, showed that tariffs or other barriers that led to a 10 percent increase in import prices in all countries would lower global output and consumption by about 1.75 percent after five years and close to 2 percent in the long term. Global trade would fall 15 percent after five years and 16 percent in the long run under such a scenario, it said.
<div class="container_28wm1">
<div class="attribution_o4ojT">
Reporting by CNBC Africa and David Lawder; Editing by Leslie Adler
</div>
</div>
<div class="trustBadgeContainer_1gqgJ">Our Standards:<a href="http://thomsonreuters.com/en/about-us/trust-principles.html">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a></div>

Ghana has just been knocked out of pole position as Africa’s fastest growing economy

Port Louis, April 11 (Reuters) &#8211; Mauritius has frozen bank accounts and suspended business licenses linked to Quantum Global Investment Management, a firm through which Angola’s sovereign wealth fund invests much of its cash, according to a court document and a regulatory source.
Quantum Global, which said it was cooperating with authorities, is run by Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, a business partner of Jose Filomeno dos Santos. The son of José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola’s former president, Jose Filomeno dos Santos was until recently the head of the national sovereign wealth fund.
The younger dos Santos has been charged with fraud against Angola’s central bank, involving the transfer of $500 million in the United Kingdom. The funds were frozen and then returned to Angola’s central bank.
The moves at Quantum Global came after Angolan officials visited Mauritius last week, a regulatory source on Mauritius told Reuters.
Following a Mauritius Supreme Court ruling, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, the island’s Financial Services Commission suspended the licenses for seven Quantum Global funds, according to the source, and froze 25 of its bank accounts.
On Monday, the Mauritian newspaper Le Mauricien reported that a further 33 bank accounts had been frozen, bringing the total to 58.
“There was a reputational risk on our jurisdiction, therefore we had to act promptly,” the Mauritian regulatory official told Reuters, adding that the steps had been taken in collaboration with investigations by Angolan authorities.
In a statement, Zurich-based Quantum Global said it was cooperating with the relevant authorities. “We remain confident and resolute in our ability to defend ourselves vigorously against the unwarranted attacks on our reputation,” Quantum said in the statement.
It has denied any links to the $500 million transfer that was frozen in Britain.
Angola’s Finance Ministry, which has led previous investigations of financial malpractice, did not respond to a request for comment.
Dos Santos is the highest-profile figure to be investigated for corruption since President Joao Lourenco took power last September, vowing to combat years of endemic graft in Africa’s second-largest oil producer.
His half-sister, Isabel dos Santos, has also been removed as chair of state oil company Sonangol. (Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff in Port Louis, additional reporting and writing by Stephen Eisenhammer in Luanda, editing by Larry King)

Mauritius freezes funds linked to Angola’s sovereign wealth fund

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe has bought two Boeing 777 aircraft and an Embraer plane from Malaysia, the finance minister said on Wednesday, adding the planes would be leased to a new local airline until national carrier Air Zimbabwe returned to profitability.
Patrick Chinamasa said Harare had agreed with an unidentified Malaysian firm to buy four Boeing 777 planes for $70 million but had so far paid for two.
The government had also paid for a small Embraer plane and plans to add five more such aircraft.
The new planes are owned by a state-owned special purpose vehicle called Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company.
During a ceremony to receive the first Boeing 777 in Harare, Chinamasa said the aircraft would be used by Zimbabwe Airways, a new carrier whose ownership was not immediately disclosed.
Local media reports had linked Zimbabwe Airways and the new planes to former president Robert Mugabe’s family, but Chinamasa said that was false.
Chinamasa would also not comment on speculation the government could be the owner of the new airline and would ultimately dissolve the troubled Air Zimbabwe.
He said, however, the government could not continue supporting loss-making Air Zimbabwe because it was like “putting resources into a bottomless pit.” Air Zimbabwe has debts of more than $300 million.
“Air Zimbabwe must put their house in order and as long as they don’t put their house in order, these planes I can lease to any third party who can pay treasury the lease fees for the utilisations of the aeroplanes,” Chinamasa said.
Chinamasa said the Boeing planes had a lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
<div class="container_28wm1">
<div class="attribution_o4ojT">
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Mark Potter
</div>
</div>
<div class="container_2pnvl">
<div class="container_1tVQo" tabindex="-1">
<figure class="zoom_3dvHA">
<div class="container_1Z7A0">
<div class="image_1KsYy cover_3hgft fallback_2kFne"></div>
</div>
<div class="expand-button_KC-tD"></div>
</figure>
</div>
</div>

Why Zimbabwe just bought two new planes, and plans to buy two more…

Andrew Wong 
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/cape-town-water-crisis-cities-should-prepare-for-water-scarcity.html">Cities around the world should prepare for running out of water, experts say</a>
<ul>
<li>Cape Town&#8217;s recent water shortage crisis has raised global concern about the threat of water scarcity.</li>
<li>The increasing risks have cast a spotlight on the issue of water theft and mitigation efforts.</li>
</ul>
It&#8217;s called <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105045796?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
&#8220;Day Zero&#8221; 
</a>: when Cape Town, South Africa&#8217;s bustling port city, sees its water taps run dry, and its population thrust into a perilous situation.
Originally projected for this year, the impending crisis has been delayed in part by severe measures — the city instituted restrictions that amount to less than one sixth of an average American&#8217;s water consumption. Yet despite that effort, &#8220;Day Zero&#8221; is still projected to <a href="http://coct.co/water-dashboard/">arrive next year</a>.
And when it comes, the crisis will see the government switching off all the taps and rationing the resource through collection points.
That future isn&#8217;t just Cape Town&#8217;s. It&#8217;s a scenario cities around the globe may face, experts say.
It may be hard to fathom just how cities could be at risk of a water scarcity crisis when approximately 70 percent of the world is made up of the resource. The stark reality, however, is that the percentage of fresh water probably only amounts to about 2.5 percent, according to often-cited assessments.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/15010226/105110468-GettyImages-929526210.1910x1000.jpg" alt="A public swimming pool, in a suburb of Cape Town has been emptied due to local water restrictions on March 6, 2018." height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Morgana Wingard | Getty Images"/>
Even then, a significant supply is locked up in ice and snow, which means just 1 percent of all fresh water is easily accessible to the global population.
Inequality in access to water is also quickly becoming a problem. While the affluent can find ways to get access to water— through deliveries or in-built tanks — poorer populations are left to their own devices.
That situation oftentimes leads to water theft — for profit, for survival, or for both.
<h4>A &#8216;wake-up call&#8217;</h4>
A nation&#8217;s development has frequently come at the cost of undercutting its sources of clean water, Betsy Otto, director of the World Resources Institute&#8217;s global water program told CNBC. 
&#8220;For example, quite a bit of scientific evidence has shown that deforestation changed the hydrological cycle in the Amazon,&#8221; she said.
Although water scarcity is a very real and pervasive problem, experts said most cities are not immediately at risk of running out of water.
Still, it is extremely important that water scarcity is acknowledged as a global problem because cities should begin working on unique solutions to local problems now, according to Rebecca Keller, a senior science and technology analyst at intelligence firm Stratfor
&#8220;It won&#8217;t be the same exact scenario that Cape Town is facing,&#8221; Keller said. &#8220;It might be pollution, drought, drier climates or significant population growth.&#8221;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/15010231/105110477-GettyImages-630128764.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="NurPhoto | Getty Images"/>
The troubles faced by Cape Town should serve as a &#8220;wake-up call&#8221; for other countries about the realities of increasing <a href="http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/aqueduct-water-stress-country-rankings-technical-note.pdf">water stress</a>, Otto said.
Water stress occurs when demand for the resource exceeds the available supply. It taxes the reserves and may lead to deterioration of fresh water resources.
In recent years, California <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/104243226?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
faced a drought 
</a> that lasted years, Australia survived the <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/25617864/ns/us_news-environment/t/australias-decade-long-drought-likely-worsen/#.WsWeZcNuZhE">millennium drought</a>, and Sao Paulo faced a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/sao-paulo-worries-grow-serious-drought-grips-brazils-largest-city-n385136">water shortage crisis</a> in 2015 due to both drought and inefficient infrastructures.
Otto summed up the global state of preparedness for water scarcity, saying: &#8220;We&#8217;ve either under-invested in measures or allowed existing structures to fall apart.&#8221;
<h4>Water theft</h4>
The <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000938?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
United Nations&#8217; 
</a> 2010 recognition of water as a human right has complicated the issue of water theft, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in the foreign policy program at think-tank the Brookings Institution.
&#8220;The right to water does not mean the right to free water,&#8221; Felbab-Brown explained, saying many people had misunderstood the UN. &#8220;In the same manner that people have to pay for food, they should expect to pay for safe water.&#8221;
That sentiment hasn&#8217;t stopped outright water theft on a large scale in countries like Brazil, India and Mexico. Companies and individuals illegally tap into pipelines and reservoirs, or they find other ways to avoid water meters.
There&#8217;s no single solution to the issue, however, as the context of water theft varies between places, Felbab-Brown said. But, she pointed out, better law enforcement, water monitoring, and creating comprehensive databases, are good starting points for governments.
&#8220;Governments need to recognize that they can&#8217;t just apply law enforcement without providing legal alternatives,&#8221; she added.
As of now, water smuggling mostly operates within countries&#8217; borders, but it will eventually occur on an international scale, Felbab-Brown said. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/15010235/105110470-GettyImages-468262202.1910x1000.jpg" alt="Ethiopian construction workers working on the Grand Renaissance Dam near the Sudanese-Ethiopian border on March 31, 2015." height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Zacharias Abubeker | AFP | Getty Images"/>
That could become a point of geopolitical tension between countries dealing with transboundary water issues, Keller said.
For an example of international water tensions, take the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam in the Nile, a $4 billion hydroelectric project financed by Ethiopia . It&#8217;s left Egypt fearing <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/58f66390-dfda-11e7-a8a4-0a1e63a52f9c">a potential disruption</a> to its fresh water supply.
<h4>Controling demand</h4>
Mitigating water scarcity has proven to be a tricky political subject because, in many countries, environmental or climate solutions tend to have a hard time gathering enough political support to become a reality.
It is also extremely expensive to build out new water supplies, dams and desalination plants.
&#8220;Unless there is an acute event — a severe drought for example — it is the [political] constraints that play out in a long time frame,&#8221; Keller said.
Consequently, many governments have done little to guide their citizens on water-efficient behavior. That can be implemented through price controls, Otto said, but it&#8217;s rarely a popular measure.
&#8220;There should be two tiers of pricing. Conservation pricing, which charges the minimum amount for water that is sufficient for basic needs, should be provided at low rates. Discretionary water use, which is anything beyond the necessary amount, should be charged more,&#8221; Otto said.
On a national level, she said, governments should encourage conversation about conservation issues. That is, saving water will always be cheaper than building or drilling for new sources, Otto added.
The good news, experts said, is there will be time for governments to start preparing for a Day Zero scenario.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not going to be a surprise. The city is not going to run out of water suddenly,&#8221; Keller said.
<h4>WATCH: Michael Phelps on the quest to &#8216;Save Water&#8217;</h4>

Cities around the world should prepare for running out of water, experts say

By Momentum Securities 
According to The Herald, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has renewed his interest in pursuing his USD 1.5bn investment in Zimbabwe and on the 9 April, dispatched an advance team comprising geologists. The team will be in Zimbabwe for 10 days.
The delegation is expected to meet President Mnangagwa and Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando. Mr Dangote visited the country in 2015 and expressed interest in power generation, coal mining and cement production.
He was then frustrated by the previous administration of Mr Robert Mugabe. In an interview at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Dangote Industries’ senior geologist Dr Norash Kumar said they were interested in mining coal. &#8220;It depends on the mineral potential that we are looking for,&#8221; he said.
Dangote Industries local representative Josie Mahachi said they were hopeful things would work this time around. &#8220;The technical group is back in the country,&#8221; she said. &#8220;With the new dispensation, things are going to move on smoothly”, she added. This is the team that the president of Dangote Holdings, Dangote, has sent to Zimbabwe to do the groundwork before his major visit in the few weeks to come. &#8220;They are here in the country for 10 days and looking for an investment of USD 1.5bn.&#8221;
Buy Zimbabwe chairperson Dr Anxious Masuka said the visit by the Dangote team presented an opportunity for the country to create market linkages for the creation of wealth and jobs. &#8220;This investment fits into our narrative &#8211; the use of local resources to ensure that there are jobs,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The investment by this group will surely ensure that jobs are created”. He also added: &#8220;We are also looking into export opportunities out of those investments. I urge Zimbabweans to embrace this and (reduce) the bureaucracy to quicken the pace so that we can realise this investment sooner than later.&#8221;
Dangote Industries recently invested UDS 400m in a cement manufacturing plant in Zambia. The firm is importing coal from Zimbabwe. According to the Zimbabwe Investment Authority, a total of 162 investment projects valued at USD 1.52bn were approved in 2017 compared to 164 projects valued at USD 2.3bn in 2016. Zimbabwe expects approved investment proposals to reach a record USD 2.5bn in 2018, on the back of growing positive investor sentiment and interest following political changes that took place in November 2017. Zimbabwe expects to grow its foreign direct investment portfolio to generate more jobs, create wealth and contribute significantly to its GDP as part of efforts to revive the economy. Of course much of this will depend on the assessment of the presidential election due mid-2018, with many using this as a benchmark for whether or not the country has indeed moved into a more democratic and investor friendly phase.

Southern Africa

This is why African photojournalists should aspire to be like Sam Nzima

This is what Angola is telling investors to get them to invest in its Eurobonds

Op-Ed: Tourism Indaba – Focus on tourism red tape

Graça Machel awarded World Prize for Integrated Development

Op:Ed: Why Angola’s President Lourenco is likely to intensify purge of Dos Santos loyalists

Op-Ed: Decoding lessons from Robben Island for Africa’s emerging leaders

Why Zimbabwe plans to issue sovereign bonds

Op-Ed: #Mahikeng – a tourism perspective

The IMF has altered its outlook on Africa, this is what’s changed

South Africa’s new president is lifting investor sentiment: Central bank chief

Why it’s impossible to wean African leaders off their addiction to power

In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF

Ghana has just been knocked out of pole position as Africa’s fastest growing economy

Mauritius freezes funds linked to Angola’s sovereign wealth fund

Why Zimbabwe just bought two new planes, and plans to buy two more…

Cities around the world should prepare for running out of water, experts say

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote is eyeing Zimbabwe

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Southern Africa

This is why African photojournalists should aspire to be like Sam Nzima

This is what Angola is telling investors to get them to invest in its Eurobonds

Op-Ed: Tourism Indaba – Focus on tourism red tape

Graça Machel awarded World Prize for Integrated Development

Op:Ed: Why Angola’s President Lourenco is likely to intensify purge of Dos Santos loyalists

Op-Ed: Decoding lessons from Robben Island for Africa’s emerging leaders

Why Zimbabwe plans to issue sovereign bonds

Op-Ed: #Mahikeng – a tourism perspective

The IMF has altered its outlook on Africa, this is what’s changed

South Africa’s new president is lifting investor sentiment: Central bank chief

Why it’s impossible to wean African leaders off their addiction to power

In search of an ‘economic miracle’ Angola taps into the IMF

Ghana has just been knocked out of pole position as Africa’s fastest growing economy

Mauritius freezes funds linked to Angola’s sovereign wealth fund

Why Zimbabwe just bought two new planes, and plans to buy two more…

Cities around the world should prepare for running out of water, experts say

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote is eyeing Zimbabwe

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters