JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African retailer Steinhoff International Holdings, battling to recover from a massive accounting fraud, saw its first-half loss more than double as a coronavirus lockdown towards the end of the period weighed on sales.



The company’s loss for the six months ended March 31 widened to 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) from 571 million euros in the same period last year.



It reported a small rise in sales to 6.2 billion euros from 6.1 billion euros a year earlier, held back by fewer stores and shoppers.



The COVID-19 lockdown had an impact on the group’s retail businesses from mid March.



“As a result, turnover reduced, particularly in general merchandise, for the duration of these restrictions. The performance of the group’s fast-moving consumer goods-focused businesses has been more resilient, partially offsetting this impact,” the retailer said in its 85-page half-year results report.



Steinhoff said trading after lockdown restrictions were eased had been better than expected thanks to pent-up demand, but it was unclear whether this would be was sustained.



Apart from dealing with the pandemic, the retailer, which is also listed in Frankfurt, is trying to settle about 90 legal claims from shareholders who lost money when the company revealed holes in its accounts in 2017. These were the initial signs of an accounting fraud since estimated at $7 billion.



On Monday, the company proposed to pay around $1 billion to settle outstanding claims totalling over 9 billion euros ($10.6 billion).



The group’s net debt remains high &#8211; at 9.7 billion euros in the first half, up from 9.6 billion euros last year.



By 1308 GMT, Steinhoff’s shares were down 2% in Johannesburg, and down 3.4% in Frankfurt.



($1 = 0.8510 euros)

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Steinhoff’s first-half loss more than doubles to $1.7 bln

At a signing ceremony in Harare on the 29th July, the Commercial Farmers Union President, alongside other former Commercial Farmers signed a deal with the Zimbabwe Government to say that a compensation amount of 3.5 billion US dollars would be sought to pay compensation to commercial farmers who had been evicted from their farms.



 On the face of it, it all sounds quite hopeful; except for the fact that the Zimbabwe Government hasn’t got any of the 3.5 billion to pay.&nbsp; &nbsp; There is a solution here though: a joint team of Commercial Farmers and the Zimbabwe Government is launching an offensive to head off to raise the money from wherever they can. Zimbabwe commercial farmers, now spread across the globe, are itching to get sight of the agreement.&nbsp; Only a few have so far been allowed to see it, despite many calls for it to be scrutinised independently.&nbsp; This has created a high degree of mistrust as to what is really happening.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="834" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-1110x834.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-377703" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-1110x834.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-768x577.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-1536x1154.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-2048x1539.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-696x523.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-1068x802.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-1920x1442.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_0910-1-600x451.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /><figcaption>Ben Freeth</figcaption></figure>



 One lawyer I spoke to did manage to go around to the Commercial Farmers Union and look at the agreement.&nbsp; He came away shaking his head.&nbsp; He told me that the agreement [that has subsequently been signed] was outside the framework of the Zimbabwe Constitution and Zimbabwe law.&nbsp; The laid down procedures for compensation in Zimbabwe’s own Constitution have been bypassed. Secondly the exchange control act doesn’t allow money to be paid in US dollars, particularly of its paid outside the country to farmers scattered far and wide.&nbsp; There have many cases already where contracts in US dollars have been converted to Zimbabwe currency at hugely prejudicial rates.&nbsp; Thirdly, parliament hasn’t given any assent to seeking a loan agreement of this magnitude;&nbsp; and fourthly the agreement seems to lock the title deed owner in to just getting money for improvements and nothing for the land or stolen crops, livestock, machinery or other losses associated with the forced evictions.



 Assuming these legal aspects are able to be sorted out, what about the amount being agreed?&nbsp; Under international law it is unquestionably a very poor deal.&nbsp; Heinrich Von Pezold did a full claim under international law due to a bilateral investment treaty and was awarded a sum of close to 200 million US dollars.&nbsp; Admittedly he was a large Investor,&nbsp; but if the same criteria of international law were used for the rest of the farmers, the bill would be at least 5 times the current amount &#8211; and probably considerably more. &nbsp;



 So what are the chances of money being able to be raised?&nbsp; Zimbabwes foreign debt stands at 7 billion &#8211; but perhaps quite a lot more. Our credit rating is down with the very worst of the defaulters.&nbsp; All recent attempts to borrow more money have been a failure.



 On top of that there is the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.&nbsp; This is Marshall type plan to rebuild Zimbabwe; but the plan needs Zimbabwe to put the right foundational rule of law parameters in place.&nbsp;



One of these is following the international law judgments of the Southern African Development CommunityTribunal.&nbsp; This lays down how property rights should be respected &#8211; and that fair compensation should be paid according to international law. &nbsp; In a country where the people are hungry, the economy is collapsing and the army and the police are on the streets committing human rights violations against the people, there will be precious little appetite to put money towards compensating a bunch of white farmers.&nbsp; If there was a real will to restore property rights,&nbsp; come back to the rule of law and utilise the skills base that’s currently dormant, it might well be a different story;&nbsp; but it seems that this is simply another propaganda exercise by the Zimbabwe Government to have people believe that all is now well in Zimbabwe. &nbsp;

IMG_0910

OPINION: Inside Zimbabwe’s $3.5 bn deal for farmers- Ben Freeth

COVID-19 will come and go, yet other global problems, such as climate change and extreme poverty, will persist in its wake.



The African Development Institute (ADI), was founded by the African Development Bank to be a focal point for capacity building in order to tackle such challenges. Prof. Kevin Chika Urama is its senior director.



Under the auspices of its Global Community of Practice (G-CoP) platform, the ADI brings together global experts to develop evidence that can inform policy, strategies and technical assistance for African countries to arrest the COVID-19 pandemic and cushion their economies against its impacts.



In this interview, Urama explains why G-CoP matters.



Can you give us a brief overview of the Global Community of Practice (G-CoP) initiative and main objectives?



The G-CoP was established to inform short, medium and long-term policy responses to global policy challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.



This platform is a partnership between member institutions and government agencies that participate in and host webinars, and policy dialogues on subjects that are of interest to the Bank’s regional member countries.



All webinars are moderated in consultation with dedicated ADI staff members who manage the G-CoP platform and help to produce relevant knowledge products that respond to the unprecedented impact of the pandemic on global, regional and national health systems and economies. Our objective is to build more resilient African economies in the post COVID-19 world.



To date, the ADI has hosted three G-CoP policy webinars. The first focused on macro-economic policies; the second on food systems and agricultural value chains; and the third on inclusive health systems. In total, the webinars brought together more than 1,500 global experts, including current and former policy practitioners, academics, private sector leaders and civil society, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Economic Research Consortium, Murdoch University in Western Australia, the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Harvard University in the United States, and many African universities and think tanks.



One of the platform’s most innovative features is an interactive virtual marketplace that enables policymakers to access technical advisory services in real time.



What are some of the key takeaways from your recently concluded G-CoP seminars?



Some key policy options and recommendations include:



· Implement social distancing and personal hygiene, including frequent hand washing and wearing face masks,



· Engage with local experts to garner context-relevant social protection policies and strategies to protect vulnerable households and small businesses from collapse.



· Scale up the capacity for community testing, contact tracing and isolation of COVID-patients to prevent community spread of the virus.



· Invest in inclusive health and food systems, water and sanitation facilities, especially for vulnerable households where lockdown policies are needed.



· Public and private debt restructuring, structured debt relief and targeted debt forgiveness. Short-term debt moratoriums are helpful. However, considering the pandemic’s massive impact on countries’ already constrained fiscal balances, debt forgiveness would be ideal.



· Scaling up investments in centres for disease control to strengthen their capacity for early warning systems and pandemic risk mitigation.



How different are the G-CoP’s deliberations from those of other forums?



Our deliberations take the form of African fireside discussions that cover matters of grave importance; key implementable decisions are collectively owned by the elders.



By bringing together global experts from around the world on the same platform, the G-CoP offers reality checks for each policy option proffered. Many of the policy questions that face humanity today, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty alleviation, climate change, terrorism and global insecurity, are trans-disciplinary, trans-sectoral and transnational.



Most of these policy questions touch on problems around the so-called global commons. Policy options conceived by a single sector, discipline or even nation are often suboptimal and may lead to more systemic challenges. Global collaborative platforms, such as the ADI G-CoP, are required to address these challenges holistically.

Kevin Urama

OPINION: World experts gather for African ‘fireside chats’ to tackle humanity’s challenges

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya’s central bank governor Patrick Njoroge on Thursday said that underlying economic numbers pointed to strong growth this year.



“All these point to strong growth in 2020 despite COVID,” Njoroge told an online news conference, citing higher production of tea, maize and cement.

Macro Fifty Dollar Bill Currency Close Up Kenya

Kenya’s underlying economic numbers point to strong growth -central banker

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday its second-quarter writedowns include the OPL 245 licence for an offshore oilfield in Nigeria which it holds alongside Eni and which is at the centre of an ongoing corruption court case in Italy.



Italian prosecutors have asked for oil majors Eni and Shell to be fined and some of their present and former executives, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, to be jailed in a long-running trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria. All the defendants have denied any wrongdoing. 



Shell said a post-tax impairment charge of $4.658 billion was “mainly related to unconventional assets in North America, assets offshore in Brazil and Europe, a project in Nigeria (OPL245), and an asset in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.”

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Shell writes down Nigerian licence at heart of Italian bribery trial

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LONDON/CHICAGO (Reuters) &#8211; It’s dog eat dog in the world of COVID-19 vaccines.



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That’s the fear of global health agencies planning a scheme to bulk-buy and equitably distribute vaccines around the world. They are watching with dismay as some wealthier countries have decided to go it alone, striking deals with drugmakers to secure millions of doses of promising candidates for their citizens.



The deals &#8211; including those agreed by the United States, Britain and the European Union with the likes of Pfizer (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/PFE.N">PFE.N</a>), BioNtech (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/22UAy.F">22UAy.F</a>), AstraZeneca (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/AZN.L">AZN.L</a>) and Moderna (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/MRNA.O">MRNA.O</a>) &#8211; are undermining the global drive, experts say.



“Everybody doing bilateral deals is not a way to optimize the situation,” said Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI alliance which co-leads the scheme called COVAX designed to secure rapid and fair global access to COVID-19 vaccines.



Pfizer said this week it was in concurrent talks with the EU and several of its member states on supplying them with its potential vaccine.



And in the latest swoop, Britain announced a deal on Wednesday to secure advanced supplies of potential COVID-19 vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/GSK.L">GSK.L</a>) and Sanofi (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/SASY.PA">SASY.PA</a>).



This, according to global health charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), will further fuel “the global scramble to hoard vaccines by rich countries” and feed “a dangerous trend of vaccine nationalism”.



The concern is that vaccine supply and allocation in this pandemic will echo the last &#8211; caused by the H1N1 flu virus in 2009/2010 &#8211; when rich nations bought up the available supply of vaccines, initially leaving poor countries with none.FILE PHOTO: A scientist prepares samples during the research and development of a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a laboratory of BIOCAD biotechnology company in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 11, 2020. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File Photo



In that instance, since H1N1 turned out to be a milder disease and the pandemic ultimately petered out, the impact on infections and deaths from vaccine imbalances was limited.



However COVID-19 is a far greater threat, and leaving swathes of the world’s people vulnerable will not only harm them, but also extend the pandemic and the damage it can cause, health experts say.



“There is a risk that some countries are doing exactly what we feared &#8211; which is every man for himself,” said Gayle Smith, former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development and CEO of the One Campaign, a non-profit aimed at ending poverty and preventable disease.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘I AM WORRIED’</h3>



More than 75 wealthier countries including Britain have expressed interest in the COVAX financing scheme, which is also co-led by the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, joining 90 poorer ones who would be supported through donations.



But the United States, China and Russia are not among countries expressing interest in COVAX, according to GAVI.



And an EU source said last week that the European Commission, which is the bloc’s executive arm and leads EU talks with drugmakers, has advised EU countries not to buy COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX.



“I am worried,” said Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations. “What is happening with the handful of nations that are locking up supply of vaccine competes with the multilateral supply deals.



“At the end of the day, vaccine manufacturing is a finite resource. You can expand it, but only so much.”



Experts estimate the world can reasonably hope to have around 2 billion doses of effective COVID-19 vaccines by the end of next year, if several of the leading candidates prove effective in expedited late-stage trials currently underway. COVAX’s aim is to distribute doses for at least 20% of its signed-up countries’ populations.Slideshow&nbsp;(3 Images)



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">ANOTHER TWO YEARS?</h3>



Berkley of GAVI said, however, that if self-interested countries or regions snapped those up to cover their entire populations &#8211; instead of sharing them across nations and protecting the most at-risk people first &#8211; the pandemic could not be controlled.



“If you were to try to vaccinate the entire U.S., (and) the entire EU, for example, with two doses of vaccine &#8211; then you’d get to about 1.7 billion doses. And if that is the number of doses that’s available, there’s not a lot left for others.”



If a handful, or even 30 or 40 countries have vaccines, but more than 150 others don’t, “then the epidemic will rage there” Berkley said.



“This virus &#8230; moves around like lightning. So you’ll end up in a situation where you will not be able to go back to normal. You won’t be able to have commerce, tourism, travel, trade, unless you can get the whole pandemic to be slowed down.”



He and Smith and other health experts said ending the pandemic meant ending it globally.



“It’s the difference from a pandemic (for) another two years as opposed to one year,” Smith added. “The economics and health consequences of that are enormous.”

Clarification on COVID-19 “hotspots” as SA moves to level 3 lockdown

‘Vaccine nationalism’: Is it every country for itself?

LAGOS/ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; As women in hairnets and anti-coronavirus masks sort through folded nappies coming off a conveyor belt, the head of the Nigerian firm they work for wonders how much longer he can afford to keep them in employment.



Around 80% of the materials that go into Lagos-based diaper and sanitary towel manufacturer Wemy’s products are imported. To buy them, Paul Odunaiya needs dollars, which he can no longer find.



“We’re pleading with our suppliers to wait a bit longer so that we can source dollars and pay them,” Odunaiya told Reuters.



With the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, depressed and foreign exchange reserves dwindling, its central bank is hanging on to its dollars to support the local naira &#8211; leaving a dwindling supply of hard currency to buy the imports that are the bedrock of Africa’s largest economy.



Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, said that, like Odunaiya, the dollar shortage is hitting most of its 2,000 members hard.



“If the situation persists it will lead to lay-offs,” he said. “If you are not producing, there will be a shortage of goods in the market, prices will go up.”



Inflation has risen for 10 straight months, hitting a two-year high of 12.56% in June, piling on greater economic hardship for a population of whom 40% already live below the official poverty line of 137,430 naira ($382) per year.



Added to that, there have been two devaluations of the naira’s official rate this year.



With the oil market depressed by a producer price war and the pandemic-induced global recession, central bank reserves have fallen 20% in the past year to $36.1 billion, around five months of import cover.



The bank initially sought to stem the decline by suspending dollar auctions in March and continues to severely ration their supply.



“It’s been excruciating,” said Fred Ameobi, executive director of Coscharis Group, a conglomerate whose businesses include automobile assembly.



The government says the economy could shrink by up to 8.9% in 2020, while many of the local banks that Nigerian companies rely on have seen their dollar credit lines halted by international lenders who fear they won’t be paid back.



Many firms have resorted to the black market, where the naira trades at around 20% below the official rate, making dollar purchases even more expensive.



For now Odunaiya, whose firm had year to March turnover of 2.5 billion naira, sees only hard times ahead. “It’s going to be a tough year &#8230; Some businesses will die.”

Why Printing Trillions of Dollars May Not Cause Inflation

Starved of dollars, Nigerian businesses struggle for survival

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator Safaricom has chosen its former chief executive, Michael Joseph, as board chairman, it said on Thursday.



He replaces the long-serving Nicholas Ng’ang’a, who has retired.



The move is part of a shareholder deal reached last year.



Under it the government, which holds a 35% stake in the company, won the right to pick a Kenyan as CEO, while the other major shareholder, Vodacom, got to pick the chairman, sources told Reuters last year. Vodacom is part of Britain’s Vodafone Group.



Peter Ndegwa, a Kenyan national, took over as chief executive in April, joining from Diageo, where he was the managing director of continental Europe.



Joseph, a dual American-Kenyan national, was Safaricom CEO until 2010 and has been a board member of the company since then. Ng’ang’a had been chairman since 2007.

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Kenyan telecoms operator Safaricom picks ex-CEO Joseph as chairman

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd fell deeper into a half-year loss as demand for steel dropped due to the new coronavirus and output declined after operations were shut during a lockdown, the company said on Thursday.



Africa’s biggest steel producer, which is majority-owned by ArcelorMittal SA, said its headline loss had increased to 2.613 billion rand ($157 million) for the six months to June 30 from a loss of 638 million rand a year earlier.



ArcelorMittal South Africa said some parts of its business would remain idle until demand recovered, including placing the melting operations at its Vereeniging Works on care and maintenance from the third quarter.



The company said it expected steel demand to be at between 70% to 75% of pre-lockdown levels for the foreseeable future.



“On the back of a demanding 2019, the first half of 2020 proved to be incredibly difficult with the widespread health, social and business impact brought about by the global COVID-19 pandemic,” ArcelorMittal South Africa Chief Executive Kobus Verster said.



The steel producer, which has long battled against cheap imports, rising costs and a flagging local economy, said last month it had begun talks to cut an unspecified number of jobs as it slashes costs to deal with the impact of the pandemic.



Job cuts are politically sensitive in a country where unemployment stands at a record high of about 30%.



During the period, liquid steel production fell 54% to 1.1 million tonnes and sales volumes dropped 47% to 1.1 million tonnes.



The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) fell from a profit of 167 million rand to a loss of 1.256 billion rand

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ArcelorMittal South Africa falls deeper into half-year loss as steel demand falls

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Diversified miner Anglo American said on Thursday first- half profits fell 39% as coronavirus-related lockdowns hit production and it said it was halving its interim dividend.



The London-listed miner posted underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $3.4 billion for the six months to June 30, beating a consensus of $3 billion from nine analysts compiled by Vuma.



Anglo declared an interim dividend of 28 cents per share, down 55% from a year earlier but in line with its 40% payout policy.



“The year has been like nothing I have ever seen in my 43 years in the industry,” CEO Mark Cutifani said on a call.



This month, Anglo stuck to most of the full-year production targets it set in the spring after lockdowns hit its output of diamonds, iron ore, coal, platinum and palladium.



Anglo also suffered operational incidents at its platinum unit in South Africa and in its Australian metallurgical coal mine which were partially offset by a good performances in Brazilian iron ore and its Chilean copper operations.

Anglo American lowers dividend after 39% profit fall from lockdowns

I never knew that our entire healthcare infrastructure was in such a bad state. Those were the sentiments expressed by Nigeria’s Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, as he updated leadership of the National Assembly on the fight against the pandemic. This virus provides an opportunity to examine our national health system in dire need of reforms and funding; the Chairman pointed out to the lawmakers.



Conspicuously absent from recommendations for legislative reform was a key issue highlighted by COVID-19: mental health. Government-mandated social distancing and the implementation of other public health guidelines have led to emotional anguish and psychological challenges amidst restrictions on public life, economic hardship, and illness. Rather than mental health being at the periphery, a robust national response to this novel virus mandates the issue takes front and center stage.



A lack of research on Nigeria’s mental health demographics has contributed to it being a low priority among policymakers and inadequately funded. The largest nationally representative study on general mental health in the country was published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004 — over 15 years ago! The research found that one in eight Nigerians would develop a mental health condition during their lifetime and that fewer than 10% have access to the care they need. Recent investigations are even more sober. According to the 2018 Nigeria National Depression report, produced by Joy, Inc., in partnership with NOI Polls, a leading polling organization in West Africa, and research partners at Yale, one in three Nigerians are experiencing depressive symptoms. In a country that surpasses 200 million, it means over 60 million Nigerians are at risk of depression. As isolation intertwines with mortality and hunger, these individuals could be pushed over the edge.



The country does not have nearly enough resources to tend to this impending crisis. Infrastructure is deficient with only eight federal neuropsychiatric hospitals in Nigeria, and three operating at the state level. Mental health workers have complained that these facilities are too few, face strained budgets, poor work conditions, staffing issues, and residents experience abuse. At the community level, mental health care is limited, which falls short of the global standard set out by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Human capacity is also a challenge. The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria has only 250 psychiatrists registered to it when millions potentially face mental health challenges. Nigeria’s poor mental health infrastructure is currently governed by a framework that has roots that date back to 1916. Starting as an ordinance in the British colonial era, the statute became codified as a law called the Lunacy Act of 1958. To put the law in perspective, it was adopted two years before Nigeria’s independence. In 2003, the Nigerian Mental Health Act was proposed to replace the Lunacy Act. It failed to pass and was eventually withdrawn from the Senate in April 2009. It was reintroduced in 2013, but also did not make it through the legislative process.



Recently, there has also been movement on mental health legislation. In November 2019, the Senate passed a mental health bill for second reading. Progress continued in February this year, when the upper chamber held a public hearing on the proposed law. If the history of failed efforts is to be our guide, however, there is little reason to think there will be passage of the legislation.



Though the proposed mental health bill may seem like progress, it still fails to adequately address key issues of quality care, comprehensive community response, funding, and respecting the human rights of those with psychological conditions in Nigeria. As policymakers are planning a comprehensive approach to this virus, mental health and its governing architecture must be part of the package.



Those debating macroeconomic interventions from stimulus funds to conditional cash transfers should take heed as well. As we deliberate the best way to reignite growth, understanding the profound link between mental health and economic development is crucial. A 2016 WHO led study quantified the impact, estimating that for every $1 put into scaled up treatment for common mental health conditions, there is a return of $4 in improved health and work productivity. Demonstrating how promoting mental health serves as a fiscal enabler.



Narrow understandings of epidemiological responses also lead to public health blind spots. For instance, the most notable exchange of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19’s discussion with the National Assembly concerned hazard pay to frontline health workers. Reducing the issue of support to simply cash.



Medical workers need more than finances. Their mental health is at risk as they endure long hours, bear extreme isolation, cope with dwindling medical supplies, and are in constant proximity to death. Research published by the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the psychological fallout. The study examined the mental health outcomes of 1,257 health care workers attending to COVID-19 patients in 34 hospitals in China. Many experienced symptoms of depression (50%), anxiety (45%), insomnia (34%), and psychological distress (71.5%). Nurses and women were the hardest hit, reporting especially severe symptoms — modeling other polls which show COVID-19 has had a negative impact on women and mothers at higher levels — demonstrating that suffering has been disproportionate along gender lines. Additionally, Frontline workers in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, exhibited a greater psychological burden than Chinese health care workers father away. Meaning our most critical lines of defense, those health officials engaged day-to-day against the virus, are the most psychologically at risk. This could result in more mistakes on the job and burnout, leading to worse outcomes for patients.



A comprehensive public health response to COVID-19 should include mental health preparedness. The United Nations recently sounded the alarm to the international community to do more to protect those with increased mental vulnerabilities during this period. Policymakers in Nigeria need to continuously elevate mental health as a vital part of the national discussion. The first place they could start is by prioritizing passage of mental health legislation that is more human rights centered and updating the national mental health policy. Nigeria needs a new regulatory framework that eschews colonial origins and supports those with mental health conditions during this pandemic.



By Chime Asonye and Hauwa Ojeifo

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Mental health legislation could help Nigeria survive COVID-19

ABIDJAN (Reuters) &#8211; Ivory Coast’s electoral commission promised a fair election on Wednesday as the ruling RHDP party asked President Alassane Ouattara to stand again, defying opponents who say he does not have the constitutional right to a third term.



The election is seen as the biggest test yet of the tenuous stability achieved since a brief civil war killed about 3,000 people in 2010 and 2011.



The election commission’s role is particularly sensitive.



A dispute over Ouattara’s 2010 poll victory sparked the conflict and opposition parties suspect local election offices favour Ouattara.



The national election commission plans to reform these offices and consult all parties in the run-up to the vote, its president, Ibrahime Coulibaly Kuibert, told Reuters.



“Our primary objective is to make our process credible and transparent,” he said.



The presidential race was upset earlier this month by the death of the preferred successor of Ouattara, after the 78-year-old economist had said he would not stand again.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">“I HAVE NEVER DISAPPOINTED”</h3>



Responding to a formal request from his party on Wednesday to run for re-election, Ouattara asked for some time to consider, but added: “You know I have never disappointed you.”



Addressing party members, he said he would announce his decision in a speech to the nation.



He is due to make a public address on Aug. 6.



Opponents say the two-term limit in the constitution bars him from standing again, but Ouattara has said his first two mandates do not count under the new charter from 2016.



The other main confirmed candidate is Henri Konan Bedie, who was president from 1993-1999 and leads one of Ivory Coast’s largest parties, the PDCI.



Bedie told France 24 television he had agreed with former president Laurent Gbagbo that their parties would back the other’s candidate in the event of a second round run-off against Ouattara.



Gbagbo, who resides in Belgium and was acquitted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court last year, has not yet confirmed he will run as candidate of his FPI party. But his application for travel documents to return to Ivory Coast has raised expectations an announcement could be imminent.

shutterstock_393043678-Roman Yanushevsky Shutterstock

Ivory Coast pledges fair vote, Ouattara asked to run again

SEATTLE (Reuters) &#8211; Boeing Co (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/BA.N">BA.N</a>) is winding down production of the 747 jumbo jet, which democratized global air travel in the 1970s but fell behind modern twin-engine aircraft.







Here are some key facts and milestones regarding Boeing’s “Queen of the Skies,”



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The 747 had its maiden flight on Feb. 9, 1969, and entered service with Pan American World Airways in January 1970. It allowed more affordable air travel due to its size and range.



Dubbed “the Incredibles”, some 50,000 mechanics and engineers built what was then the world’s largest civilian airplane in roughly 16 months.



The current version is the 747-8, a 410-seater with a range of 8,000 nautical miles (14,815 km), launched in 2005.



The 1,500th 747 was delivered to Lufthansa (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/LHAG.DE">LHAG.DE</a>) in 2014, becoming the first wide-body jet to reach that milestone.FILE PHOTO: An Evergreen 747 Supertanker makes a flame retardant drop in the Acton area in California August 31, 2009. REUTERS/Gene Blevins/File Photo







The 747 is the world’s most easily recognized jetliner with its humped fuselage and four engines.



The fuselage of the original 747 was 225 feet (68.5 meters) long, its tail as tall as a six-story building, and its wing area larger than a basketball court.



With an 8-foot-wide hinged nose able to swallow outsize cargo, the freighter version can carry more than 128 tonnes.



A British Airways (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/ICAG.L">ICAG.L</a>) 747 boosted by strong tailwinds broke the subsonic speed record for a transatlantic crossing between New York and London in February, completing the trip in just under five hours, according to Flightradar24.



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Passengers included John Paul II who staged the first visit to Ireland by a pope in 1979, arriving on an Aer Lingus 747, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who returned from exile to Iran on an Air France jumbo during the same year’s Islamic Revolution.



The 747 has known its share of tragedy in a career spanning the end of the Cold War and the rise of attacks on aviation.



In 1983, a Soviet fighter shot down a Korean Air Lines 747 that was off course and in 1988, Pan Am flight 103 was blown up by a bomb over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.



Modern twinjets are displacing older four-engined jets like the 747 and the soon-to-be-axed Airbus A380. Boeing had already told suppliers that the last 747-8 would roll off assembly lines in around two years.



Boeing said in 2016 it could end 747 production amid falling orders and pricing pressure, while major U.S. carriers like United Continental Holdings Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/UAL.O">UAL.O</a>) and Delta Air Lines Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/DAL.N">DAL.N</a>) have already said goodbye to their 747s.



The jet bounced back from near death to mark its 50-year flying anniversary in February 2019, propped up by a cargo market boom fueled by online shopping.Slideshow&nbsp;(10 Images)



But its extended lifespan was cut short by weak demand exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and U.S.-China trade tensions.



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The last order for a passenger version came in 2017, when the U.S. government asked Boeing to repurpose two 747-8 jetliners for use as the U.S. president’s Air Force One transport plane. After customisation and installation of classified systems, the two aircraft are due to be delivered by December 2024, painted red, white and blue.



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NASA once used a modified 747 to carry the 68-tonne Space Shuttle piggyback style from landing sites back to the launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center.



Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit uses a modified 747 nicknamed Cosmic Girl as the centerpiece of its high-altitude launch system for its satellite-carrying LauncherOne rocket.







Another modified variant is the Dreamlifter which transports sections of the 787 Dreamliner between factories in Everett, Washington and Charleston, South Carolina

Comair CEO on COVID-19 impact on business

No longer going like a Boeing

GENEVA/BRUSSELS (Reuters) &#8211; Eight candidates from Mexico to Moldova are bidding to become the next director-general of the World Trade Organization to replace Robert Azevedo, who steps down at the end of August.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CHALLENGES</h3>



The next chief would broker international trade talks in the face of widening U.S.-China conflict, protectionism increased by the COVID-19 pandemic and pressure to reform trade rules.



U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies have upended the global trading order and presented an existential threat to the WTO, which the president has described as “broken” and “horrible”. Washington has blocked appointments to the WTO’s Appellate Body that settles trade disputes, which now no longer has the minimum number of judges to convene.



HOW THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL IS CHOSEN



The candidates have been given two months to campaign until September 7. Normally this would involve trips to national capitals, but with the COVID-19 pandemic much of that is being done in a virtual format.



The next phase involves whittling down the field, most likely first to five, then two before a final decision is taken.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="228" height="221" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Amina-Mohamed.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-376640"/></figure>



The WTO is a members-driven organisation with decisions reached by consensus among 164 countries. Three WTO ambassadors who chair leading committees will lead the process, seeking to establish which candidates have the widest support.



In so-called “confessionals”, members will tell this “troika” their preferences, without ranking them and without vetoes in a process expected to last two months. Voting on the next director-general is seen only as a last resort if consensus cannot be reached.



The process does not always work smoothly. In 1999, former New Zealand prime minister Mike Moore and Thailand’s Supachai Panitchpakdi divided WTO members, with a compromise finally found to give each a term, shortened to three years from four.



Because Azevedo’s term will finish before his replacement takes office, members must also agree on a temporary caretaker director-general from among four of his deputies.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MORE SOFT THAN HARD POWER</h3>



The Marrakesh Agreement that established the WTO in 1995 does not give a detailed description of the director-general role. The responsibilities should be “exclusively international in character”.



The incoming chief would be expected to appoint four new deputies, present budget proposals, and chair the trade negotiations committee which oversees multilateral accords such as on fishing subsidies.



The director-general can also intervene in trade disputes, in very rare cases offering mediation, more often by appointing people to adjudicating panels when parties cannot agree.



Otherwise, the director-general does not forge global trade policy, but is meant to act as a neutral broker: part administrator, part peacemaker.

WTO.

Explainer: How the next WTO chief will be chosen and the task ahead

Zimbabwe finance minister Mthuli Ncube has told sceptical farmers that his government will pay them out in hard currency for farms taken by violent mobs 20 years ago.



Speaking to CNBC Africa from Harare, Ncube confirmed that the government was negotiating with more than 4,000 dispossessed farmers to pay compensation for improvements to their erstwhile &nbsp;&nbsp;land after a referendum gave the green light to the idea. Many farmers fear that the government will try to pay them out in discredited bonds. &nbsp;&nbsp;



“I can assure you that this agreement is in US dollars &#8211; it will be honoured in dollars, no other currency. In terms of the process of approval there was a referendum of 4,000 plus farmers around the globe who accepted this deal,” says Ncube.



“A lot of this money will make its way back into farming. &nbsp;It is a constitutional requirement the supreme law of the land Zimbabwe wants to follow the law that is what this agreement is going to do.”



Yet many former Zimbabwean farmers remain sceptical, including veteran farmer Ben Freeth. Privately, farmers feel that this is a way Zimbabwe is trying to ingratiate itself with the international finance community by giving the impression that property rights have been restored.



“It is a pie in the sky scheme as far as I am concerned. The government doesn’t have the money. The idea is to portray this as the government and farmers kissing and making up leaving Zimbabwe looking like a great place to invest – it is just an illusion,” says Freeth.



“There is a lot of concern out there no one has actually seen the agreement there is a great deal of secrecy around the deal it is all a bit mysterious.”



Farmers have also questioned the 99-year lease on farms that government is offering in a bid to kick start what was once the bread basket of Southern Africa. Ncube tried to reassure farmers.



“In terms of 99 year leases that is a different matter..the way we will do it is working with farmers &nbsp;and provide a guarantee to banks&nbsp; extending loans &nbsp;to farmers , but we understand it take time for banks to accept 99 year leases,”says Ncube



“It is a big step in the right direction 20 years after the land acquisition was carried out. We will work together to deal with our issues.”

Finmin Ncube on who will fund Zim’s $3.5bn compensation to white farmers

EXCLUSIVE: “I can assure you that this agreement will be honoured in dollars” Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube on the $3.5 billion deal with farmers

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe agreed on Wednesday to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.Zimbabwe&#8217;s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks during his meeting with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko (not pictured) in Minsk, Belarus January 17, 2019. Natalia Fedosenko/REUTERS/File Photo



But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to raise funding, according to the compensation agreement.



Two decades ago Mugabe’s government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 Black families, arguing it was redressing colonial land imbalances.



The agreement signed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House offices in Harare showed white farmers would be compensated for infrastructure on the farms and not the land itself, as per the national constitution.



Details of how much money each farmer, or their descendants, given the time elapsed since the farms were seized, was likely to get were not yet clear, but the government has said it would prioritise the elderly when making the settlements.



Farmers would receive 50% of the compensation after a year and the balance within five years.



Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and acting Agriculture Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri signed on behalf of the government, while farmers unions and a foreign consortium that undertook valuations also penned the agreement.



“As Zimbabweans, we have chosen to resolve this long-outstanding issue,” said Andrew Pascoe, head of the Commercial Farmers Union representing white farmers.



The land seizures were one of Mugabe’s signature policies that soured ties with the West. Mugabe, who was ousted in a coup in 2017 and died last year, accused the West of imposing sanctions on his government as punishment.



The programme still divides public opinion in Zimbabwe as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself. But its supporters say it has empowered landless Black people.



Mnangagwa said the land reform could not be reversed but paying of compensation was key to mending ties with the West.

Emmerson_Mnangagwa_(2019-01-15)

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

WINDHOEK (Reuters) &#8211; The Namibian government has approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a 4.5 billion Namibian dollars ($274 million) emergency loan to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, a Ministry of Finance spokesman said on Wednesday.



“We submitted an application to IMF last week. We will assess the terms and conditions to see if they are favourable to Namibia,” the ministry’s spokesman Tonateni Shidhudhu told Reuters.



Namibia had previously avoided loans from the IMF since becoming a member in 1990, but the coronavirus pandemic has seen many nations seek assistance from the lender in recent months.



The IMF on Monday approved $4.3 billion in emergency financing for South Africa to help address the “severe economic impact” and health challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.



In Namibia, confirmed COVID-19 cases have surged in recent weeks after a slower infection rate at the start of the outbreak in the country in March.



So far, Namibia has 1,917 cases and has recorded eight deaths.



Its budget deficit for the current fiscal year is seen widening to 68.7% of gross domestic product, from an estimate of 54.8% in the previous year.



($1 = 16.4130 Namibian dollars)

Newsletter

Steinhoff’s first-half loss more than doubles to $1.7 bln

OPINION: Inside Zimbabwe’s $3.5 bn deal for farmers- Ben Freeth

OPINION: World experts gather for African ‘fireside chats’ to tackle humanity’s challenges

Kenya’s underlying economic numbers point to strong growth -central banker

Shell writes down Nigerian licence at heart of Italian bribery trial

‘Vaccine nationalism’: Is it every country for itself?

Starved of dollars, Nigerian businesses struggle for survival

Kenyan telecoms operator Safaricom picks ex-CEO Joseph as chairman

ArcelorMittal South Africa falls deeper into half-year loss as steel demand falls

Anglo American lowers dividend after 39% profit fall from lockdowns

Mental health legislation could help Nigeria survive COVID-19

Ivory Coast pledges fair vote, Ouattara asked to run again

No longer going like a Boeing

Explainer: How the next WTO chief will be chosen and the task ahead

EXCLUSIVE: “I can assure you that this agreement will be honoured in dollars” Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube on the $3.5 billion deal with farmers

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

Namibia seeks IMF funding to help fight COVID-19

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Advertise With Us

Newsletter

Steinhoff’s first-half loss more than doubles to $1.7 bln

OPINION: Inside Zimbabwe’s $3.5 bn deal for farmers- Ben Freeth

OPINION: World experts gather for African ‘fireside chats’ to tackle humanity’s challenges

Kenya’s underlying economic numbers point to strong growth -central banker

Shell writes down Nigerian licence at heart of Italian bribery trial

‘Vaccine nationalism’: Is it every country for itself?

Starved of dollars, Nigerian businesses struggle for survival

Kenyan telecoms operator Safaricom picks ex-CEO Joseph as chairman

ArcelorMittal South Africa falls deeper into half-year loss as steel demand falls

Anglo American lowers dividend after 39% profit fall from lockdowns

Mental health legislation could help Nigeria survive COVID-19

Ivory Coast pledges fair vote, Ouattara asked to run again

No longer going like a Boeing

Explainer: How the next WTO chief will be chosen and the task ahead

EXCLUSIVE: “I can assure you that this agreement will be honoured in dollars” Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube on the $3.5 billion deal with farmers

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers

Namibia seeks IMF funding to help fight COVID-19

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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