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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

Zimbabwe charges former Mugabe deputy, here’s why

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

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

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

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

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

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

<h2>Challenging official narratives</h2>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<h2>Self-reinforcing disadvantage</h2>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Ifeoluwa Adenike Alade, PhD candidate,&nbsp;University of Ibadan, Nigeria



Food
and nutrition insecurity
is a chronic problem for Africa. Despite decades of humanitarian and
development efforts, <a href="https://globalnutritionreport.org/nutrition-profiles/africa/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one
in five</a>
Africans remain undernourished and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/05/nearly-half-of-all-child-deaths-in-africa-stem-from-hunger-study-shows" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a
third</a> of
Africa’s children are stunted. 



One little-known
crop that is essential to food security on the continent is amaranth. This
leafy green vegetable is one of the most consumed in Africa and <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/11763/chapter/3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accounts for</a> up to 25 per cent of daily protein
intake in some countries, making it essential to their health and wellbeing.



What’s more,
it is a plant that is quick to grow, thanks to
its highly <a href="https://www.appropedia.org/Original:Amaranth_Modern_Prospects_for_an_Ancient_Crop_5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">efficient
photosynthesis process</a>,
and which &nbsp;thrives on degraded land even in hot
and dry weather, making it an increasingly important crop to mitigate the
impact of climate change on food production. 



But one threat
that holds back amaranth from making an even greater contribution to Africa’s
food security is the amaranthus leaf webber, a species of moth that is commonly
found in the tropics. The webber larvae are voracious pests, and a single leaf webber
infestation can destroy an entire field of amaranth.



To prevent
an infestation and protect their amaranth harvest, farmers rely on pesticides.
However, long-term pesticide use comes with challenges, including the
development of resistance among leaf webbers. 



So, what if
farmers had another tool to stop this pest? 



This
question motivated me to search for new crop protection techniques that could
be affordable, effective, and sustainable, and it turns out that nature may
have already come up with a solution. 



Many plants
have evolved ways to deter pests through releasing biochemicals that repel
harmful insects. By identifying the biochemical that targets leaf webber and
reproducing this as a crop protection product, we can effectively safeguard
crop harvests using the plant’s own biochemistry.



For amaranth
farmers, plant-produced repellents could be valuable new tool in the toolbox,
supported by other strategies such as pest monitoring and surveillance, using
complementary crops to repel pests and using existing pesticides when
necessary.



Taken
together, such <a href="https://croplife.org/crop-protection/stewardship/integrated-pest-management/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">integrated
pest management</a>
(IPM) can dramatically improve yields while also reducing labour and costs, by
ensuring that farmers use the most effective and sustainable combination of
crop protection techniques. 



To progress
this research, I am studying leaf samples of a group of amaranth species to
compare the levels of biochemicals with the abundance of leaf webbers. If leaf
webbers are less abundant on plants with certain biochemicals present, then I
will have detected a possible repellent.



The next
stage involves examining the genetic make-up of the amaranths that produce
these repellents to discover the blueprint for the most pest-resistant variety.




Crop
scientists can then develop a species that is no longer vulnerable to this
pest. This would be a huge boon for Africa’s food security, especially in the
rural areas that rely on amaranth, protecting both nutritious food supplies and
agricultural livelihoods.



Such a
solution is an example of how crop protection can be proactive rather than
reactive when it comes to defending vital crops against pests. 



And as one
of the next generation of crop scientists, my work is just a small part of an
increasingly innovative sector. 



Preventing
crop pests from striking is essential for Africa’s food security. And with new
research, techniques and technologies, we are better equipped than ever before
to do so sustainably.

Op-Ed: Progress in pest prevention offers hope for Africa’s food security

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



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



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



Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Toby Chopra

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

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/annie-palmer/">Annie Palmer</a> 



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=TWTR" class="">Twitter</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>&nbsp;have suspended numerous accounts that they say are tied to a Chinese disinformation campaign against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.



Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html" class="">said Monday</a>&nbsp;it suspended 936 accounts likely related to the activity. The company said the disinformation campaign was designed to “sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the legitimacy and political protest movement on the ground.”



Over the weekend, approximately <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/18/hong-kong-protesters-throng-streets-peacefully-in-heavy-rain.html">1.7 million anti-government protesters</a>gathered in Hong Kong to rally peacefully against the Chinese government, which assumed rule of the former British colony in 1997. Protests erupted in June following a now-suspended bill that would allow criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China.



“Based on our intensive investigations, we have reliable evidence to support that this is a coordinated state-backed operation,” the company said in a blog post. “Specifically, we have identified large clusters of accounts behaving in a coordinated manner to amplify messages related to the Hong Kong protests.”



Following Twitter’s announcement, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/08/removing-cib-china/" class="">said in a blog post&nbsp;</a>that it was acting on a tip from Twitter. Both companies face increased pressure to crack down on fake accounts and false content on their platforms in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, during which foreign actors used the sites to sow division around social issues.



Twitter’s latest move comes after social media site Pinboard warned days earlier that China was using Twitter to distribute posts from state media discrediting the protests.



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Every day I go out and see stuff with my own eyes, and then I go to report it on Twitter and see promoted tweets saying the opposite of what I saw. Twitter is taking money from Chinese propaganda outfits and running these promoted tweets against the top Hong Kong protest hashtags <a href="https://t.co/6Wb0Km6GOb">pic.twitter.com/6Wb0Km6GOb</a>&mdash; Pinboard (@Pinboard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1162711159000055808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



Twitter is blocked in China, but many of the accounts it discovered were using virtual private networks, which encrypt and anonymize web traffic. The accounts it suspended represent the “most active” portion of the broader spam campaign, which it estimates to include about 200,000 accounts.



As a result of the announcement, Twitter <a class="" href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2019/advertising_policies_on_state_media.html">said</a> it would no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news media entities.



The company didn’t call out any specific news outlets in the post, but said it was including any entities that are “either financially or editorially controlled by the state.” The organizations are still able to use the platform for communication, just not for advertisements.



Twitter clarified that the updated policy doesn’t apply to taxpayer-funded entities, such as independent public broadcasters.



Facebook removed seven pages, three groups and five accounts in what it calls coordinated inauthentic behavior targeting Hong Kong. About 15,500 accounts followed one or more of the now-deactivated pages, while roughly 2,200 accounts joined at least one of the groups, Facebook said.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/19/twitter-accuses-china-of-running-disinformation-campaign-against-hong-kong-protesters.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/19/twitter-accuses-china-of-running-disinformation-campaign-against-hong-kong-protesters.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Facebook, Twitter accuse China of running disinformation campaign against Hong Kong protesters

ASSIN MANSO, GHANA (Reuters) &#8211; In a clearing at the turnoff to Assin Manso, a billboard depicts two African slaves in loincloths, their arms and legs in chains. Beside them are the words, “Never Again!”



This is “slave river,” where captured Ghanaians submitted to a final bath before being shipped across the Atlantic into slavery centuries ago, never to return to the land of their birth. Today, it is a place of somber homecoming for the descendants of those who spent their lives as someone else’s property.



The popularity of the site has swelled this year, 400 years after the trade in Africans to the English colonies of America began. This month’s anniversary of the first Africans to arrive in Virginia has caused a rush of interest in ancestral tourism, with people from the United States, the Caribbean and Europe seeking out their roots in West Africa.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Ten years ago, no one went to the slave river, but this year has been massive,” said Awuracy Butler, who runs a company called Butler Tours.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She said business has nearly doubled this year, which has been touted as the Year of Return for the African diaspora tracing their family history. The number of tourists has forced her to hire more vehicles, she said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Everyone wants to add the slave river to their tour,” she said. The coastal forts where they spent their last days in Ghana in suffocating conditions are also increasingly popular, she said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The increase in tourism has been an economic boon for Ghana, which unlike other West African countries has aggressively marketed its “heritage” offerings for the anniversary.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Officials see it as an opportunity to entice some much-needed foreign investment into the economy, dogged in recent years by high inflation and public debt that has needed an International Monetary Fund lending program to fix.



The Ghana Tourism Authority expects 500,000 visitors this year, up from 350,000 in 2018. Of those, 45,000 are estimated to be seeking their ancestral roots, a 42% increase from last year.



On a recent day in the capital, Accra, a delegation of tribal elders and a representative of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre welcomed a tour group at a hotel in the city.



At an event in a low-ceilinged hotel conference room, the tour guide encouraged the visitors to sing a hymn in a local language, gently chiding them for not yet knowing the tune. “You are Ghanaians now,” he said.



Members of the group, who were mostly African American, went up to the front one by one to pose with a smiling tourism ministry official or one of the robe-clad elders as they received an official certificate of participation. The investment representative launched into a lengthy power-point presentation focused on the need for investment in Ghana’s cocoa sector and the minimum capital requirements for joint ventures.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With an average spend of $1,850 per tourist, the tourism authority expects this year’s revenues to top $925 million, a 50% increase from 2018, which it hopes to sustain over the next three years at least.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The amount is dwarfed by Ghana’s $2-billion cocoa industry but is considered essential in a country of 28 million people who mostly live in poverty.



Anthony Bouadi, a tour guide at Cape Coast Castle, a fortress where the captives were kept until they were sent on ships over the Atlantic, said he believes the site will change the lives of those who visit.



“The moment you get to know your history, it is going to change you,” he said. “We are encouraging our brothers and sisters from the U.S., from the Caribbean from Europe to come back to their Motherland Africa to get to know the culture … and whatever the ancestors went through.”



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The surge of visitors is part of a global phenomenon: Airbnb data shows a five-fold increase in people travelling to places connected to their ancestry worldwide since 2014.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;U.S. genetics company African Ancestry says its sales of DNA tests tripled after last year’s release of the superhero film “Black Panther,” an Afro-centric blockbuster with a predominantly black cast. The company is launching an ancestry-based travel service later this year.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To make the most of the moment, Ghana will host a mass “ancestry reveal” on Friday. More than 80 African American participants, including the head of the NAACP, will learn their genetic history, touted as the largest ceremony of its kind in Africa’s history.



Ghana has long encouraged its diaspora to return and has strong links with the African American community. Malcolm X visited in the 1960s and spent time with the American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, who lived there at the time.&nbsp;The prominent black writer and activist W.E.B. Du Bois settled and died in Ghana. Since, many other ordinary African American families have returned.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But questions remain about whether the heightened interest in Ghana can be sustained after the anniversary. Bad roads, a cumbersome visa application process and expensive flights could stem the number of visitors in the long term.&nbsp;



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“The government has a huge responsibility,” said Peter Appiah, head of research and publicity at the Centre for National Culture in Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“If we want to sustain this tempo,” he said, “then we need to do a lot more in terms of social infrastructure.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MASSIVE YEAR</h3>



At Assin Manso, a group of visitors removed their shoes and walked barefoot down a path to the muddy river that runs through a bamboo grove.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Together they placed their hands in the water, then waded in to offer prayers in thanks for the opportunity to return.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “I can’t even get my head around people coming from a land like this and being snatched,” said Miriam Allen, a 62-year-old retired urban planner from New York, clutching a box of tissues and choking back tears.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“This is a good place and a bad place. A good place to know your ancestors, but to know what those white people did to us. I can’t …” she said, breaking off.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On most tours, Assin Manso marks one of the final stops on a country-wide swing in which groups take part in Ashanti rituals, meet local chiefs and trace the gruelling route captured slaves took from the country’s northern hinterland out to the coast.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The forts that still dot Ghana’s coast are a reminder of what slaves endured.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At the Cape Coast Castle, rusted old cannons point out to sea from the ramparts, angled skyward, away from locals playing football on the beach below.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The government is committed to its upkeep &#8211; on a recent visit, workers were repainting the high white walls.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In forts like this one, slaves experienced their last days on African soil crammed in steaming-hot dungeons without light &#8211; and where tourists are now returning in droves.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“I have seen a lot of people &#8211; they really are coming,” said Bouadi, the guide at the castle, who now does up to six tours a day compared with three last year. Each tour has doubled in size, he said, to around 40 people.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He tries to help his family when he can, using the extra money he earns to pay their water and electricity bills.



“Tourism organisations in Ghana are having to hire more people,” he said. “If people earn more, they can pay for school fees; it boosts the local economy and reduces poverty.”



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ghana’s efforts stand in stark contrast to other West African countries with rich histories of their own that are little known outside the continent.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Despite a collection of slave sites, including the picturesque but haunting Goree Island, where tourists can visit old slave quarters and its “door of no return,” Senegal does not appear to have harnessed the potential like Ghana. Neither has Benin or Nigeria.



In Nigeria, the main sites commemorating the slave trade are three small museums along a road in the coastal town of Badagry. Artefacts including chains used to shackle slaves are spread across the museums, two of which are small single-story buildings with corrugated iron roofs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Foreign tourists are rare at the site, and a large proportion of visitors are schoolchildren on tours. The poor state of local roads, dotted with potholes, make it hard to visit Badagry: The 65-kilometer (40-mile) journey from the country’s largest city, Lagos, takes around three hours.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “As far as I know, only Ghana has made such a significant effort in terms of programmes and activities,” said Shanelle Haile, a doctoral student at Brown University in Rhode Island who was in Ghana to study diaspora engagement surrounding the anniversary.



&nbsp;“Now that we’re here and we’ve done the events and the activities, it’s really moving and it’s a powerful experience,” she said. “I just hope that more African Americans learn and hear about it.”



Additional reporting by Edward McAllister in Dakar; Christian Akorlie in Accra; and Afolabi Sotunde in Badagry, Nigeria.; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Kari Howard

How Ghana is cashing in on slave heritage tourism

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) &#8211; The U.S.-China trade war and uncertainty over Brexit pose risks to Africa’s economic prospects that are “increasing by the day,” the head of the African Development Bank (AfDB) told Reuters.



The trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies has roiled global markets and unnerved investors as it stretches into its second year with no end in sight.



Britain, meanwhile, appears to be on course to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 without a transition deal, which economists fear could severely disrupt trade flows.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Akinwumi Adesina, president of the AfDB, said the bank could review its economic growth projection for Africa &#8211; of 4% in 2019 and 4.1% in 2020 &#8211; if global external shocks accelerate.



“We normally revise this depending on global external shocks that could slowdown global growth and these issues are increasing by the day,” Adesina told Reuters late on Saturday on the sidelines of the Southern African Development Community meeting in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam.



&nbsp;“You have Brexit, you also have the recent challenges between Pakistan and India that have flared off there, plus you have the trade war between the United States and China. All these things can combine to slow global growth, with implications for African countries.”



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The bank chief said African nations need to boost trade with each other and add value to agricultural produce to cushion the impact of external shocks.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “I think the trade war has significantly impacted economic growth prospects in China and therefore import demand from China has fallen significantly and so demand for products and raw materials from Africa will only fall even further,” he said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “It will also have another effect with regard to China’s own outward-bound investments on the continent,” he added, saying these could also affect official development assistance.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Adesina said a continental free-trade zone launched last month, the African Continental Free Trade Area, could help speed up economic growth and development, but African nations needed to remove non-tariff barriers to boost trade.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “The countries that have always been facing lower volatilities have always been the ones that do a lot more in terms of regional trade and do not rely on exports of raw materials,” Adesina said.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “The challenges cannot be solved unless all the barriers come down. Free mobility of labour, free mobility of capital and free mobility of people.”



Additional reporting and writing by Fumbuka Ng&#8217;wanakilala; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Potter

Africa development bank says risks to growth ‘increasing by the day’, what you need to know

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/ramit-sethi/">Ramit Sethi</a>



Change is a constant and continuous process in life. As we grow older, we change how we dress, what we eat, where we live and who we become friends with.



Yet when it comes to how we use our time and money ― especially for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/26/money-mistakes-millionaires-like-warren-buffett-bill-gates-google-eric-schmidt-never-make.html" class="">high earners and wealthy individuals</a>&nbsp;― we tend to be more resistant to change.



Here’s a little scenario to illustrate my point: I have a friend who earns more than $750,000 a year. He loves his job, but if you asked him how he’s doing, his biggest complaint would be:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/stop-saying-im-busy-harvard-study-reveals-how-successful-people-say-no-and-protect-their-time.html" class="">“I’m so busy.”</a>



So imagine my surprise when I visited him one day and pointed to the bags sitting on his kitchen counter.



“Oh, I just got back from the grocery store,” he said.



After a quick pause, I asked, “Have you ever considered having someone else do your grocery shopping?”



He looked at me like I was crazy.&nbsp;Pay&nbsp;to have someone do his grocery shopping? What kind of elitist would do that?



Here was an adult earning $750,000 a year, but behaving as if he still earns $50,000.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The hidden paradox of money vs. time</h2>



The concept of buying back your time is one of the most powerful productivity concepts I’ve learned as a business owner.



Buying back your time is all about convenience: By spending on things like Lyft rides, pre-cooked meals or a housekeeper, you’re actually&nbsp;savingmoney because you get back the hours that you’d normally spend doing things that don’t make you happy.



Most high earners fail to recognize the effectiveness of buying back time. Maybe it’s because growing up, their parents didn’t have more money than time, which changes the calculus of how they make decisions. As a result, those high earners never end up changing their approach to work and their personal lives.



This is a huge paradox of earning more money: Many people claim they value time over money, but if you look at their calendars, you’ll find that the opposite is true.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Buying back your time isn’t an act of arrogance</h2>



I used to scoff at people who flew first-class and think,&nbsp;Why would anyone spend an insane amount of money something so pointless? We’re all getting to the same destination.



But more often than not, those people were not stupid. They were high earners who understood value in a different way than I used to.



If you earn $40,000 a year, for example, spending $5,000 on a first-class flight is crazy. But if you’re a CEO who earns $450,000 a year, it makes perfect sense.



In business, misaligned beliefs on time and money can cost you dearly ― while getting aligned can become a force multiplier.



Sometimes, people who buy back their time are seen as showing off. But guess what? Many of us already do it:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Eating at a restaurant instead of cooking at home</li><li>Getting the car oil changed instead of doing it yourself</li><li>Taking an Uber instead of walking or taking public transportation</li><li>Paying retail price instead of looking for a good deal</li></ul>



I’d bet that some of you do these things every week and don’t consider it as “buying back your time.” But you actually are because you’re spending on convenience so you can focus on getting results and move on to more important things.



I’m really into fitness, for example, and Theoretically, I could read a ton of material on bodybuilding, structure my diet and fitness routine ― and stick to it.



But I know I’ll never be as efficient as my trainer, who lives and breathes fitness. By paying him, I can trade money for time and get the best results. (Again, I could be doing it all on my own, but I don’t have to; I’d rather spend that time on my business and with my family.)



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Give it a shot―it might change your life</h2>



I still find it difficult to know when it’s “right” to spend money or time on something ― and I’m not alone.



Think about all the wealthy and successful people, like my friend who earns $750,000 per year, who are uncomfortable with the idea of delegating tasks to others. But if you’re working hard, you should be able to buy back your time.



The key is to ask yourself:&nbsp;What do I get out of it?



What do you get if you got three hours of your time back every week? Do you get to fly your parents out and put them up in an amazing suite? (If you’re Indian like me, the answer is no: They’ll be staying with you.) Do you get to do things you really enjoy, like cooking your own meal or composing music?



If you’re making more money than ever, aim to save at least one hour per week. Think about all the responsibilities that you hate (e.g., doing the laundry, grocery shopping, managing your finances) where there are great solutions available to outsource or systematize the work.



Then, as you get more advanced, you can tackle trickier topics like scheduling, email management and entire project management.



<a href="http://iwillteachyoutoberich.com/" class="">Ramit Sethi</a>,&nbsp;author of the New York Times best-seller&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Will-Teach-You-Rich-Second/dp/1523505745" class="">“I Will Teach You To Be Rich,”</a>&nbsp;has become a financial guru to millions of readers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. He became a self-made millionaire at a young age thanks to his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/" class="">website</a>&nbsp;(which he started as a Stanford undergraduate in 2004), book and personal finance courses.



This is an adapted version of a post that originally appeared on <a class="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.quora.com_What-2Dis-2Dthe-2Dgreatest-2Dparadox-2Dof-2Dbecoming-2Dwealthy-3Futm-5Fsource-3Dquora-26utm-5Fmedium-3Dawareness-26utm-5Fcampaign-3Dcnbc-2Dparadox-2Drepost&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;m=2n9dCazpBKNeP0sZNLEWPLc0xX64x1aJMuex4HNZRU0&amp;s=C44tttzUAhsbXoPxK8ckmvpylc5UfocO2HdM3gtkpaE&amp;e=">Quora</a>.



This adapted version first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/08/self-made-millionaire-this-is-the-greatest-paradox-of-getting-rich-people-fail-to-recognize.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/08/self-made-millionaire-this-is-the-greatest-paradox-of-getting-rich-people-fail-to-recognize.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Self-made millionaire: This is the greatest paradox of wealth—and most people fail to recognize it

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



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



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



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



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



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



Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Toby Chopra

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

LAGOS, Aug 16 (Reuters) &#8211; A judge in London said on Friday he
would grant a firm called Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&amp;ID)
the right to seek to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian
government over an aborted gas project.



The
company was awarded $6.6 billion in an arbitration decision over a failed
project to build a gas processing plant in the southern Nigerian city of
Calabar. With interest payments, the sum now tops $9 billion &#8211; some 20% of
Nigeria’s foreign reserves



The
judge’s decision, issued on Friday, converts the arbitration award to a legal
judgement, which would allow P&amp;ID to try to seize international assets.



Lawyers
representing the Nigerian government argued the award should not be enforced
because England was not the correct place for the case, and even if it were,
the amount awarded was “manifestly excessive.”



Mr
Justice Butcher of the Commercial Court rejected these arguments and said he
would “receive submissions from the parties as to the precise form of order
appropriate.”



A
spokesman for Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari directed requests for
comment to the Ministry of Justice, which did not immediately respond. A
spokeswoman for the law firm representing the Nigerian government in London did
not immediately provide a comment on the ruling.



“P&amp;ID
is committed to vigorously enforcing its rights, and we intend to begin the
process of seizing Nigerian assets in order to satisfy this award as soon as
possible,” said Andrew Stafford, Q.C. of Kobre &amp; Kim, which represents
P&amp;ID.



The
case involves a 2010 deal in which the Nigerian government agreed to supply gas
to a processing plant in Calabar that P&amp;ID – a firm founded by two Irish
businessmen specifically for the project &#8211; would build and run.



In
2012, P&amp;ID took the government to arbitration over the failure of the deal
and won the award, which was based on what it could have earned during the
20-year agreement.



Stafford
said that with accrued interest, the award now tops $9.6 billion.



Legal experts told Reuters previously that assets used for diplomatic purposes – such as the Nigerian High Commission building in central London – are not eligible for seizure, but commercial assets are. 



(Reporting by Libby George, additional reporting by Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Editing by Mark Potter)

UK judge will allow firm to try to seize $9 billion in Nigerian assets in gas dispute, what you need to know

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



($1 = 15.2734 rand)



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by David Holmes

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

KAMPALA (Reuters) &#8211; A forest of slender white poles topped with dark, unblinking eyes is quietly sprouting on the rubbish-strewn, potholed street corners of the Ugandan capital.



Police say the new $126 million closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) system, supplied by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, will slash spiralling violent crime.



Opposition leaders say law enforcement agencies are too corrupt and overburdened to use the footage to identify criminals. They worry police may use the cameras, which have facial recognition technology, to target demonstrators in violent clampdowns as an election approaches in 2021.



“The CCTV project is just a tool to track us, hunt us and persecute us,” said Ingrid Turinawe, a leader in the Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda’s largest opposition party.



Facial recognition technology has become increasingly pervasive around the world, raising concerns about potential abuses. Officials in San Francisco voted in May to ban its use by city personnel.



Huawei technicians have already helped intelligence officials in Uganda and at least one other African country spy on their political opponents, according to an investigation published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.



In Uganda, they helped crack the encrypted communications of popular musician turned politician Bobi Wine; police swarmed a concert that would have featured surprise opposition speakers and arrested him and dozens of supporters, the paper said.



In Zambia, Huawei employees helped the government access the phones and Facebook pages of bloggers critical of the president so they could be tracked and arrested, the paper reported.



Huawei rejected the Journal’s “unfounded and inaccurate allegations”, telling Reuters in an email: “Huawei’s code of business conduct prohibits any employees from undertaking any activities that would compromise the data or privacy of our customers or end users, or that would breach any laws.”



Uganda’s cameras are part of Huawei’s Safe City initiative, which has been rolled out in more than 200 cities worldwide, including in China, Pakistan and Russia.



In Africa, Huawei has sold CCTV systems to countries such as Kenya, Egypt and Zambia where activists have raised similar concerns over privacy and effectiveness. In Europe, France, Germany and Serbia have small projects with Huawei’s initiative.



The U.S. government has restricted trade with Huawei and four other Chinese firms, accusing them of espionage and stealing intellectual property. It is also lobbying to persuade U.S. allies to keep Huawei out of next-generation 5G telecommunications infrastructure, citing concerns the company could spy on customers.



Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government, military or intelligence services.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">SURGING CRIME</h3>



Surging crime in Uganda is fuelling public anger towards President Yoweri Museveni, 74, who has been in power since 1986 and will likely seek another five-year term.



Police in the oil-rich East African nation recorded 4,497 homicides last year, nearly double the number of five years ago. Kidnappings for ransom, once rare, rose to 202 cases in 2018, an eightfold jump from 2017.



In one notorious case, the 28-year-old daughter of a wealthy businessman was kidnapped and killed despite her family paying kidnappers $200,000.



Police investigations currently rely heavily on witness interviews, Charles Twine, a spokesman for the police Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department, told Reuters.



It’s a notoriously slow and unreliable way to build a case. There are not enough detectives and no forensic specialists.



Twine declined to give statistics but said police manpower was “critically wanting.”



The police website said in 2015 the force was 45,000-strong. That’s about half the United Nations-recommended ratio of one policeman per 500 citizens.



A 2015 budget paper for the ministry of internal affairs said there were about 5,500 detectives. Twine said police must turn to civilian experts if they need DNA analysts, toxicologists or fibre experts.



He hopes CCTV footage will be the answer, letting investigators “know who has committed the crime, how did he commit it, which route did he take, and which tools did he have.”



About 2,500 out of a planned 3,200 cameras covering metropolitan Kampala have been installed. Huawei will eventually extend the system to all major towns in the country.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CRUMBLING JUSTICE</h3>



But some current and former law enforcement officials are sceptical that high-tech aids such as CCTV or new forensic tools such as planned DNA and fingerprint databases will have an impact on crime.



Uganda’s police are poorly paid and have little investigative training, said Herbert Karugaba, a Ugandan police investigator for 17 years before he joined the U.N. to probe genocide and war crimes in Rwanda and Cambodia.



“It’s money down the drain,” said Karugaba. “It is the quality of the man and woman in uniform&#8230; that matters.”



Uganda’s Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, an advocacy group, had its own CCTV running in May 2016 when robbers killed a guard and stole computers. The group gave the video to police. Nothing happened.



“After months of investigations they eventually told us our case file is lost. There’s no record anywhere of our case,” said Adrian Jjuuko, the group’s head. “If there’s no political will to investigate or prosecute crime, nothing will change. It’s all nonsense, CCTV or no CCTV.



Police start on a monthly salary of about $150. Most prosecutors earn about $270. Lawmakers take home around $6,500.



Most police barracks have not been renovated or expanded since colonial days. Families live in tiny circular iron cabins, often leaking, overcrowded and dirty, an internal police report said.



Poor pay and living conditions encourage corruption. Ugandans frequently swap stories of police who demand bribes, meaning some crimes go unreported.



At police stations, evidence moulders while cases await trial, said Mike Chibita, a former judge appointed in 2013 as director of public prosecutions.



There are only 400 prosecutors in Uganda, a country of 42 million. It takes an average of four years to get a hearing, Chibita said. Roughly half of the country’s 59,000 prisoners are on pre-trial detention, according to the prison service.



Trying old cases is a “big nightmare” Chibita said. Exhibits disappear or decay. Witnesses disappear or forget. In one case, a blood-stained shirt disappeared in a puff of dust and mould when it was produced in a 2012 murder trial.



“Everybody in court began coughing,” Chibita said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">RAMPANT UNEMPLOYMENT</h3>



Expensive tools also do little to address underlying causes of crime, such as high unemployment or disputes over land, said appeals court judge Geoffrey Kiryabwire.



Four out of every 10 young Ugandans are out of work. Of those with jobs, around 80% work in low-paid informal jobs, the finance ministry said.



They include people such as Aggrey Tugume, a 27-year-old motorbike taxi driver. He thinks the cameras are an expensive election ploy.



“If someone is determined to kill or steal, a camera would be a small obstacle,” he said. “This is a waste of money by politicians &#8230; to create a false perception that government is acting on crime.”



Additional reporting by Georgina Prodhan in London; Editing by Katharine Houreld, Alexandra Zavis and Kirsten Donovan

Uganda’s cash-strapped cops spend $126 million on CCTV system, what you need to know

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



($1 = 15.2119 rand)



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Alexandra Hudson

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

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emad-hasan-773516">Emad Hasan</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aondover-tarhule-773518">Aondover Tarhule</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a>

Today, more than 700 million people around the world <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water">drink water from unsafe or untreated sources</a>, such as wells, springs and surface water. 

About half of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, in more than 30 African countries, fewer than 20% of the people <a href="https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity">have access to safe drinking water</a>. 

<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/climate-change-water-en.pdf">Climate change is likely to worsen the situation</a> by making water less available in some locations and by changing the amounts and timing when water is available. 

Determining whether a region has sufficient water to satisfy the needs of people who live there is a complicated and imperfect process. Our research team has developed a new approach <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080904">to measure water scarcity</a> by using satellites hundreds of miles in space. 

<h2>How to measure water scarcity</h2>

To estimate water scarcity, hydrologists, the people who study the science of water, build what they call a <a href="https://naturalsciences.ch/topics/water/water_balance">“water budget.”</a> 

They estimate all of the water entering the country – from rivers, rainfall, groundwater and man-made sources – and then subtract all of the water exiting the country. This produces an estimate of the available water in the country or region. 

By dividing the available water by the population in the region, hydrologists can tell whether there is sufficient water to meet people’s needs. 

Generally, in the U.S., <a href="https://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html">the average person uses between 300 and 400 liters of water per day</a> for basic needs – like drinking, sanitation, bathing and food preparation. 

Globally, a country is said to experience a serious water scarcity problem if it has <a href="http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/maps/TRWR.Cap_eng.pdf">less than 500,000 liters of water</a> per person per year, to meet both their daily needs and agricultural needs.

This water budget process works if accurate data are available for each source of water. However, in many developing regions, such as Africa, the data required to calculate water budgets are not available. 

Yet Africa critically needs accurate information on its water scarcity status. As the second most populated continent, Africa is projected to have <a href="https://www.prb.org/2013-world-population-data-sheet/">a population of 2.4 billion by 2050</a>, approximately double the current estimated population. Such rapid population growth will exert considerable stress on the continent’s available water resources, worsening the already acute water scarcity situation. 

So, assessing the potentially available water resources is essential for the future.

<h2>Look to the skies</h2>

<a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080904">Our study</a> takes a new approach to assessing water scarcity. 

We used data from two satellite systems. The first is called the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, operated since 1997 by the U.S. and Japan. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission uses several instruments – including a precipitation radar, microwave imager, visible and infrared scanner – to estimate rainfall. Getting the rainfall estimate right is critical, because this is the most important source of water for human use. 

The second type of satellite data is from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, a joint mission between the U.S. and Germany. First launched in 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment is a twin satellite mission that uses the changes in the Earth’s gravitational fields to infer changes in the global water resources, from the Earth’s surface to the deepest groundwater aquifers. 

We combined data from these two satellite systems to calculate the monthly potential available water from all sources of water for each country in Africa from 2002 to 2016. By dividing this value by the population in each country, we obtained a new measurement of available water storage per capita. 

Because the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite data also estimates water in deep groundwater aquifers, which may not be accessible due to technical or economic limitations, we refer to this new estimate as potential available water storage.

<figure class="align-center zoomable">
 <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img decoding="async" alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=241&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=241&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=241&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=303&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=303&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283755/original/file-20190711-173347-18a9z4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=303&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
 <figcaption>
 Potentially available water per capita, for present-day (A) and future estimates for the year 2025 (B) and 2050 (C).
 <a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11080904">Remote Sensing (2019)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>
 </figcaption>
 </figure>

<h2>Measuring water, faster</h2>

We compared our results with the data currently used by the <a href="http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/query/index.html?lang=en">United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization</a>. Their method relies on conventional water budget accounting to estimate the total renewable water resources in a country. It then classifies each country into one of four categories: water-sufficient, vulnerable, water-stressed or water-scarce. 

Of the 48 African countries studied, our method classified 26 in the same category as the U.N.‘s method; 12 were classified as having more water than indicated and 10 as less. 

These differences are not surprising. Our estimate includes also water in aquifers deep underground that the U.N.’s method does not account for. Their method likely underestimates the total available water for countries that have substantial groundwater reserves. 

On the other hand, the accuracy of our method can be affected by the size of a country. Countries smaller than the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment footprint – the approximately 200,000 square kilometer blocks that the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment estimates can be made with confidence – are much more likely to be in error.

By 2050, assuming no change in available water resources, we project that 19 countries in Africa will face water scarcity and another nine countries will be water-stressed. However, if climate change were to cause Africa’s water resources to decrease by 10%, which is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap22_FINAL.pdf">within the range of several climate projections for some African countries</a>, then approximately 85% of Africa’s population will experience a dangerous water scarcity situation. 

In general, we think that our method has several advantages over existing methods. It circumvents many of the limitations related to data unavailability and reliability in Africa. The data are more temporally and spatially continuous, as well as easier for researchers to access. As a result, estimates of water scarcity can be carried out much more rapidly for the entire continent. 

Satellites will gather new data in the coming years. We plan to take advantage of such data improvements as they become available to refine our method in terms of accuracy and water scarcity assessment at the sub-country level, not only in Africa but globally. 

[ Deep knowledge, daily. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120055/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emad-hasan-773516">Emad Hasan</a>, Postdoctoral Researcher in Geography, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/aondover-tarhule-773518">Aondover Tarhule</a>, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/binghamton-university-state-university-of-new-york-2252">Binghamton University, State University of New York</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-use-satellites-to-measure-water-scarcity-120055">original article</a>.

Here’s how satellites are used to measure water scarcity

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Scientists are a step closer to being able to cure the deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever after two experimental drugs showed survival rates of as much as 90% in a clinical trial in Congo.



Two experimental drugs &#8211; an antibody cocktail called REGN-EB3 developed by Regeneron and a monoclonal antibody called mAb114 &#8211; will now be offered to all patients infected with the viral disease in an ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).



The drugs showed “clearly better” results, according to U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in a trial of four potential treatments being conducted during the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, now entering its second year in DRC.



The drugs improved survival rates from the disease more than two other treatments being tested &#8211; ZMapp, made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, and Remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences &#8211; and those products will be now dropped, said Anthony Fauci, one of the researchers co-leading the trial.



The agency said 49% of the patients on ZMapp and 53% on Remdesivir died in the study. In comparison, 29% of the patients on REGN-EB3 and 34% on mAb114 died.



Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of Congo’s Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in DRC, who co-led the trial, said the results meant that “from now on, we will no longer say that Ebola is incurable.”



“These advances will help save thousands of lives,” he told reporters.



Anthony Fauci, NIAID’s director, also said the results were “very good news” for the fight against Ebola.



The agency said that of the patients who were brought into treatment centres with low levels of virus detected in their blood, 94% who got REGN-EB3 and 89% on mAb114 survived.



In comparison, two-thirds of the patients who got Remdesivir and nearly three-quarters on ZMapp survived.



Ebola has been spreading in eastern Congo since August 2018 in an outbreak that has now killed at least 1,800 people. Efforts to control it have been hampered by militia violence and some local resistance to outside help.



A vast Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2013 to 2016 became the world’s largest ever when it spread through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and killed more than 11,300 people.



The Congo treatment trial, which began in November last year, is being carried out by an international research group coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO).



Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s emergencies program, said the trial’s positive findings were encouraging but would not be enough on their own to bring the epidemic to an end.



“The news today is fantastic. It gives us a new tool in our toolbox against Ebola, but it will not in itself stop Ebola,” he told reporters.



Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity, also hailed the success of the trial’s findings, saying they would “undoubtedly save lives”.



“The more we learn about these two treatments &#8230; the closer we can get to turning Ebola from a terrifying disease to one that is preventable and treatable,” he said in a statement.



“We won’t ever get rid of Ebola but we should be able to stop these outbreaks from turning into major national and regional epidemics.”



Some 681 patients at four separate treatment centres in Congo have already been enrolled in the Congo treatment clinical trial, Fauci said. The study aims to enrol a total of 725.



The decision to drop two of the trial drugs was based on data from almost 500 patients, he said, which showed that those who got REGN-EB3 or mAb114 “had a greater chance of survival compared to those participants in the other two arms”.



The two promising drugs are made from Ebola antibodies &#8211; a protein produced by the immune system to defend against infection. Regeneron’s product is a cocktail of three Ebola antibodies, while mAb114 is a single antibody developed by scientists at NIAID.



Reporting by Kate Kelland, additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee and Manojna Maddipatla; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Arun Koyyur and Hugh Lawson

Scientists are a step closer to curing Ebola as Congo trial finds drugs boost survival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<h2>Several problems</h2>

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

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

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

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

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

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

<h2>Potential solutions</h2>

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

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

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

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

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

<h2>Effective interventions</h2>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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



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

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Scientists are a step closer to curing Ebola as Congo trial finds drugs boost survival

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

Steinhoff says it will struggle to turn a profit in coming years

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