It had been peaceful as thousands of students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) marched down the streets of Johannesburg to shut down UJ. Peaceful, at least, until a rock smashed into someone’s face.
This was the eighth day of the nationwide campaign to scrap university fees. It was gathering pace, as students ran in the spring sunshine you could feel the simmering anger.
Upon their arrival, most of the Wits students retreated and headed to a larger gathering at the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters, Luthuli House, after being refused entrance to UJ. The rest made for the gate – undaunted.
About 20 gigantic security guards, with the bodies of bouncers, stood behind concrete fencing and chained gates.
First words flew; then rocks, then bricks. The students tried to break the chains on the gate. A rock smashed into the face of one of the guards drawing a torrent of blood. The battle raged for 20 minutes, until the chains broke.
The students moved in hesitantly with their hands in the air; the rattled guards, bloodied with bricks in hand, stood by. Their last hope of stopping the students: the small road, over the freeway, that leads to the university.
The guards dashed for the bridge. They blocked hundreds of charging students. Two students fainted in the stampede but the guards stood firm. There was no backing down. Not even pepper spray deterred the determined students.
“They’re throwing stones, they’re hitting us, they’re spraying things on our face. What must we do? Must we look at them and smile?” asks one of the students with tears running down her cheeks.
Eventually, university staff allowed students through; UJ was shut down.
A few kilometers away in downtown Johannesburg, students lay siege to Luthuli House, the offices of the ANC. The ruling party was prepared. It set up a stage and microphone for the protesters; not too surprising for a liberation movement born of protest. But the 103-year-old party, the oldest in Africa, wasn’t prepared for the young fury of 2015.
On this day, even one of the most powerful men in the land couldn’t hold sway. ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, and the President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Sidumo Dlamini, were told to come down from the stage and talk to the students on the streets. Students then told them to sit down on the road, they refused. Mantashe was also refused an opportunity to address the crowd.
“ANC must fall,” were the chants that met the sunset from the mouths of the children and grandchildren of the struggle that put the party in power.

Must We Look At Them And Smile?

One of Africa’s biggest artists walks into the room wearing a shiny black suit, white shirt, bright red socks and, of course, dark-shades. His entourage scurries around to make sure he is comfortable. He steps forward, extends his hand and uses the opening line to all his songs, “I am D’banj”.
It’s an introduction that makes women, from Nigeria to Britain, swoon. But life hasn’t always been easy for the 33-year-old musician. He has come a long way from his days in Zaria, in northern Nigeria, where he found his passion for music in unfortunate circumstances.
“When I was 13, my brother died in a plane crash. At the time, I didn’t fully understand what was happening. Before we left for school, I went into his room and found the harmonica among his belongings and took it with me.”
D’banj spent most of his time playing along to Bob Marley and Céline Dion. The harmonica kept the memory of his brother alive.
At university, he began writing his own songs and it wasn’t long before he produced his first hit single The Koko. The song, a collaboration with producer Don Jazzy, gave them both a taste of success.
“We were like Batman and Robin, it was a great synergy. He knew my style, he knew how powerful my voice was, he knew how much energy I had and how I liked to perform. He studied me well.”
The two have since produced many hits which won D’banj an array of awards including: Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2007, Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards in 2009 and Best International Act: Africa at the BET Awards in 2011.
The pair also created the record label, Mo’Hits Records, which launched the careers of Wande Coal, Dr SID, D’Prince and K-Switch. In 2012, Don Jazzy and D’banj split, sending shock waves through the music industry.
“We just grew apart. Change is the only constant thing and hopefully we changed for the better… Doing music with one producer for eight years, then coming out again, makes you feel brand new. You find skills you didn’t know you had and you find flaws about yourself that you thought you knew…”
It didn’t take long before D’banj moved onto a more lucrative deal under Kanye West’s record label, Good Music. Their partnership began as a case of mistaken identity.
“On my way out of Dubai I stopped at the first class lounge with my entourage. A few airhostesses ran up to me screaming ‘Mr Kanye West’. So I looked at myself, then I looked at them and said ‘I am D’banj. But if I look like Kanye West it means he must be around’”.
They tracked down the American star in the building. West liked D’banj’s fresh Afro-pop sound and they later met in Los Angeles, where D’banj was introduced to some of the industries big names such as Big Sean, Pusha T, Hit-Boy and LA Reid.
Contracts were signed, deals made and in the days that followed D’banj recorded Oliver Twist, the song brought him even greater international success.
“The fans overseas are different. They absorb the music differently and they really want to get to know you as a person, they want to know what you are about. Here, our people are more excited about the music.”
D’banj says getting to the top is the easy part; it’s staying there that’s difficult. Among his biggest competition is fellow Nigerian musicians P-Square.
“If we were in a dance battle they would beat me, I would have to get some help from Chris Brown. But I think overall you would definitely be entertained…”
The African hit maker looks forward to a successful year and the release of his documentary celebrating his 10 years in the music industry. D’banj seemed very confident that he would top the FORBES list of Africa’s 50 Richest, until he realized Aliko Dangote was number one.
“Dangote? Ahhh no, no, no that’s the father… this interview is over. She asks me if my turnover is higher than Dangote… very soon. Maybe in a couple of years,” he jokes while looking at his entourage seated at the back of the room.
I guess we’ll just wait and see.

I Am D’banj  And I Am Going To Be Rich

It was tough on a lonely farm in the tiny town of Molteno in South Africa’s Eastern Cape in 1940. The world was at war and South Africa was staggering from the great depression.
On this windswept property, the farmer’s wife had an idea to make money for her family. Elizabeth Anne Greyvensteyn wanted to bake biscuits to sell to her friends at church and on neighboring farms. The only problem was she didn’t have any money to convert her barn into a bakery.
So the farmer’s wife sought a £1,500 loan from a new unknown government agency. Three quarters of a century later both lender and lendee are household names.
The loan to the farm near Molteno was the first issued by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) that celebrated 75 years of operation in October. From Greyvensteyn’s bakery emerged the huge brand name Ouma rusks. The company expanded down the years into a conglomerate and formed a partnership with Simba, a popular potato chips manufacturer.
For the IDC, this was the first of a multitude of loans that built scores of Johannesburg Stock Exchange companies and created hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“Sasol was established in 1950 with an initial capital investment by IDC of R10 million ($700,000) after many years of research on the viability of using South Africa’s abundant low-grade coal resources as sources of liquid fuels. The company produced its first synthetic fuels and chemicals at its plant in Sasolburg in 1955. The NATREF refinery, a joint venture with Total, started producing fuel in 1971 and Sasol II commenced operation in 1983. The company privatized and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1979,” says Mandla Mpangase, the IDC public relations manager.
Today, Sasol is an Africa-based company leading the technology innovations around the world. This sought after petrochemical giant is actively involved in gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology, using the natural gas to boost innovations and resourcefulness by creating liquid fluids such as diesel and kerosene.  On the FORBES Global 2000 list, ranking the world’s largest public companies, Sasol is ranked 366 and is valued at $21.9 billion.
Over the years, IDC expanded its mandate to lend support to companies beyond South African borders, starting with Mozal, Mozambique’s aluminium smelter, in 1998.
With the 2008/09 global financial crisis, again IDC was prompted to draw up schemes to finance and create jobs for companies in distress.
According to Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Qhena, the aim of the IDC interventions was only to ensure companies stayed afloat, but also that they grew.
A company born during the apartheid regime, IDC has transformed to serve all in business. Qhena highlighted this at the 20 years celebration of South African democracy in 2014.
“The corporation made sure that companies improved capacity levels and become competitive on the world market. We also focused on developing black industrials. So far, we have spent R4.8 billion ($338 million) to fund black businesses in the in the last 20 years… In the last three years, we have approved 22 projects with a commitment of R13 billion ($900 million),” he said.
So what started with a rusk biscuit on a dusty farm 75 years ago is just getting into its stride.

An Investment Story That Took The Biscuit

‘They Keep On Expecting To Get Things  For Free’’

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s words cleanse the mind. They are profound, creative and thought provoking.
Adichie is the fifth of six children born to high achieving parents. Her mother, Grace Ifeoma, was the first female registrar at the University of Nigeria and her father, James Nwoye Adichie, was Nigeria’s first professor of statistics. He later became Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the same institution.
With a power couple for parents, Adichie acquired a reading habit by the age of four.
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After secondary school, Adichie studied medicine at the University of Nigeria, switched to pharmacy, and then gave it up to go to the United States (US), when she was 19, a year and a half into her studies. She obtained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Adichie graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2001. She later completed a master’s degree in creative writing at John Hopkins University. In 2005, she was a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University, and earned a master’s degree in African studies from Yale University in 2008.It was while there that she began writing Purple Hibiscus, published when she was 26. Her work has been translated into 30 languages.
Walk along Fife Street in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and you will see some of the country’s most expensive schools and scores of students sharing a laugh in the blistering sun. Look closely, and you will see many clutching Purple Hibiscus, a work studied in many high schools across Africa.
“Purple Hibiscus is one of the greatest books I have ever read. There is so much struggle and oppression in the book that I can relate to as an African. The ways she writes and describes things like heat in the book is intriguing and make it a good read. To see an African write like this is very inspiring because it shows that we can all tell our stories no matter where we come from. To think she was just 26 years old when she wrote it makes it even more intriguing,” says pupil, Charmaine Hlatshwayo, from Mzilikazi High School in Bulawayo.
Half of a Yellow Sun and the short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, were Adichie’s next great works.
She has won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Orange Prize, the New York Times Notable Book prize, a People and Black Issues Book Review Best Book of the Year prize and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist.
Adichie is often described as the successor of the late Chinua Achebe. It’s a fitting coincidence that she grew up in a house that once belonged to Achebe, Nigeria’s most celebrated writer.
“Because of writers like Chinua Achebe, I went through a mental shift in my perception of literature. I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature. I started to write about things I recognized,” said Adichie at her TEDx 2009 talk, The Danger Of A Single Story.
The talk has drawn almost two million views online.
Born in Nsukka, Nigeria, on September 15, 1977, Adichie encountered injustice as she grew up. As a result, for years, the Nigerian author has inspired many with her written work and become part of pop culture. Her speeches are as powerful as her fiction.
“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls ‘You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful otherwise you will threaten the men.’ Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage; I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important… But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same…”says Adichie at the TEDx Euston talk titled We Should All Be Feminists, in 2012.
This talk made Adichie Beyoncé’s favorite feminist. Beyoncé sampled parts of this speech on her track, Flawless in 2014. The song reportedly topped iTunes charts in 104 countries and sold nearly 850,000 copies in three days.
“I think Chimamanda is the fearless woman’s voice that has become the drumbeat of feminism. She is intelligent, articulate and knows how to use her voice to speak for women on the international stage,” says Zimbabwean author Raisedon Baya.
But that’s not all.
Adichie’s latest book, Americanah, a best-selling novel, is being turned into a movie, with award-winning Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o as lead. Brad Pitt is the producer, through his Plan B production banner along with Nyong’o and Andrea Calderwood.
The founder and treasurer of the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa (ANFASA), Monica Seeber, says “ANFASA is delighted that an author has been selected for the FORBES AFRICA [lifetime achievement award]. This is recognition that authors have the power to influence people, events and thinking far beyond their own personal spheres. The pen is mightier than the sword.”
Adichie is carrying a banner for every woman who has grown up in Africa. In a few years, she has placed African women’s literature on the world map which makes us wonder what she will achieve in the next 20 years.

Adichie Is Africa, Africa  Is Adichie

As chair of the African Union (AU) Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it would seem, far from the politics of her home country South Africa.
But it is now, in recent months, perhaps more than ever before, that her name is ricocheting in the corridors of power. Whilst political observers say she is coming to South Africa more often addressing high-profile meetings, the speculation is if she will be South Africa’s next president in 2017.
Will she be? If she does, it will make her South Africa’s first female president, which will be a political harbinger for the women’s movement.
We posed the question to the sexagenarian and anti-apartheid activist in June 2015 in Johannesburg, a day after the 25th Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government around the theme ‘Women’s empowerment and development towards Agenda 2063’.
“That is not dependent on me,” Dlamini-Zuma had replied with a gentle laugh.
“At the moment, I am working at the AU, and that’s where my efforts should be. Who becomes the president of South Africa is a decision of whichever party wins, it will be the decision of the ruling party. And I have to do my best where I am. If you work for it, maybe it will happen. It is the decision of South Africans, but not my decision.”
A medical doctor, Dlamini-Zuma had been minister of health during Nelson Mandela’s presidency, foreign minister in the Thabo Mbeki government, and home affairs minister in the Jacob Zuma government before becoming the first woman to take on the top job at the AU in 2012.
Dlamini-Zuma’s mandate for now is clear – a united and strong Africa.
The greater financial inclusion of women on the continent, especially in agribusiness, is a subject close to her heart.
“The women on this continent are very unique in many ways. They really are the drivers of communities, of families, they are the curators of our culture, they really are the backbone of our social security as they take care of the elderly and the sick. But they also just make sure the land is tilled, there is food on the table for the children. But we need to empower them to do a lot more.”
Binding a large, heterogeneous continent with similarities rather than differences is challenging, but Dlamini-Zuma stridently believes in the pan-African dream, and the power of the youth to shape Africa.
“What is common is that we are all driven by a pan-African approach, which looks at solidarity amongst Africans, unity amongst Africans, and so I try and use what is common, what can drive all of us to prosperity and peace. And also working around the issues of women, as they are common on the continent and across the globe, and working with youth, which is also a critical part of what we do.”
In September 2015, Dlamini-Zuma received the Gülen Peace Award from the Turquoise Harmony Institute. Previous winners include Graça Machel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
One of her achievements at the AU, she says, has been bringing together Agenda 2063, a development framework and vision for Africa.
“The second thing we have been able to achieve is to get the continent to realize it has to fund its own programs…We want to make sure we are at the forefront and the world should work with us, support us, invest in Africa, but we have to invest in Africa ourselves.”
The management of diversity on the continent is another key focus. And more women in politics, as positive role models, driving the agenda for change. Whether or not Dlamini-Zuma becomes South Africa’s next president, she is certainly only a step away from proving it is possible.

The Pan-African

It was heartening news that gave me hope; an end to a maelstrom of misery that has plagued the land and broken the lives of countless Africans.
I was staggered and relieved to hear that Mozambique has cleared its last landmine after 22 years of hard work by mine lifters – many of whom paid with their lives.
They used to call it the ‘red mist’ in the minefields of Mozambique; the air thick with blood of a brave man who had tried to remove a mine and failed.
Landmines are an evil that the world should be rid of. I saw them all in years reporting from Angola and Mozambique and hated every one: anti-tank mines, black widows, shoeboxes, cake tins, whatever you wanted to call them; they blew people to smithereens and maimed many more. Claymores worked on a tripwire that triggered a flying sheet of shrapnel that cuts you off at the knees. They were one of the biggest problems in the former battlefields of Africa. Troops would set them up around their camps at night to catch raiders; in the morning they would pack up and leave the tripwires, unmarked, for an unfortunate person to stumble to their death years later.
The sickest of them all were the Chinese mass-produced butterfly mines: tiny plastic explosives with wings. Planes used to drop them by the ton and they would flutter down in to bushes and grass. They were made in pretty colors to attract children. When a child grasped at them, the tiny mines would blow off an arm at the shoulder. They were designed to maim, rather than kill, on the grounds that the injured would be a burden on the economy of your enemy.
In the dark days of the civil war in Angola, in 1994, I saw the work of the little plastic mines. One late summer’s day, on the Ilha de Luanda, I took a walk along the spit of sandy beaches just off the coast of the capital. It used to be a tourist trap, but in war the Red Cross had set up huge tents to house hundreds upon hundreds of children without limbs.
As I walked to the tent, a multitude of children hobbled towards me. All were on crutches, one or two looked in pain, all of them tried to smile; strangers were rare in war torn Angola. Some were missing an arm, others a leg, one or two were missing both legs. They crowded around me, clamoring to clutch my hands. One or two brushed their cheeks gently over the back of my hand.
“Amigo (friend in Portuguese),” they said quietly.
I am not sentimental and when I am doing stories I have an objective, professional, detachment; on this day I couldn’t stop myself turning and shedding tears. Those children will be men now; in the dead of night, I often wonder how many had enough strength left to overcome the cruel start to their young lives.
This is just one reason why I celebrate the clearance of these evil devices from the red soil of Africa. I spent many days walking, one foot in front of the other, on the thin path through a minefield. They are dark and depressing places where you can often see the rotting remains of those who stepped astray and perished. Once, in Mozambique, engineers detonated an anti-tank mine, not too far from my left ear, knocking me flat – it hasn’t been the same since, a memory of those terrible places.
On that same tour of duty, we cleared an arms cache and a pile of landmines in a field near Chimoio in the border country in western Mozambique – once one of the most heavily mined strips of land in the world. The mine lifters blew it sky high bringing a shower of red hot fragments down on our heads, sending us diving for cover – they never show that in the movies.
As we drove off the farmer ran to our truck in tears. They were tears of joy; after decades of war he had his field back so he could plant again. In my mind’s eye I see him tilling his land at sunset. It soothes my soul.

Good Riddance  To The Mines Of Death

The idea of the EcoMobility World Festival was an experiment to ease pressure on the hard pressed roads of African cities. So, traffic police bearing fences moved in to seal Sandton, the business district and home to Africa’s largest financial institutions, where 75,000 cars arrive every day. The idea was to keep most of the cars out and push public transport.
This hasn’t gone down well with many motorists, who struggle to find an alternative.
“This is the biggest load of crap,” shouted a lady as she drove by Sandton’s main artery, West Street, which has been reduced to one lane.
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“It’s just not practical. All big businesses are in Sandton and I’ve got to go company to company. I’ve just left Merrill Lynch now and I have to be in Randburg in 20 minutes, which wouldn’t be a problem. Now I just might need to cancel because of this,” says Sharoma Mahal, a consultant working in Sandton.
“It’s our first visit to Sandton during the EcoMobility Festival so far and we’ve come by Gautrain instead of by vehicle for a meeting. There aren’t too many disruptions so far, just that we have to walk 400 meters,” says a passing businessman.
“It hasn’t been too much of a change, traffic has picked up in areas like Midrand but it hasn’t been a huge change,” says Geoffrey Sugden, who works in Sandton.
Business too felt the pinch, as many customers ended up on the other side of the fence. Petrol station owner, Shane Singh, says he has lost money and is considering cutting jobs.
“It’s a real challenge because we need the vehicles. People need to use their vehicles so we can put petrol in them. If that’s not happening then our business really suffers. If you look at my forecourt, I’ve got one car with like four petrol attendants,” says Singh.
The Mayor of Johannesburg, Parks Tau, is behind the idea and thinks it is the future.
“We’ve built relationships with corporates. The role that corporates are going to play relates to, amongst others, introducing incentives for people to use different modes of transport,” says Tau.
True to the entrepreneurial spirit, whenever there’s a hurdle to overcome, you will find an entrepreneur. In the midst of the festival and its challenges, a business has mushroomed near the Gautrain station in Sandton.
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Santa Scheepers hired out motorcycles for short trips around Sandton.
“A shared use system is important, especially having alternative transport which will be eco-friendly as well. That is the motivation behind the electric motorcycles, that and making money of course,” chuckles Scheepers.
If the EcoMobility concept works, it could become permanent in Africa’s golden square mile and maybe spread across the continent. Watch out for fences first thing in the morning.

Good Green Intentions But…

More black industrialists and entrepreneurs are needed to save Africa’s richest province. So says Paul Mashatile, the political head of African National Congress in Gauteng, South Africa.
“We want more black industrialists who will run businesses and factories. We don’t want people who are happy with equity (deals) there and there. We want people who can create employment. Jobs are critical in this country. We need to make sure this empowerment is not just people sitting at home because they own shares in companies,” says Mashatile, the provincial chairperson of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), and former Gauteng premier.
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It has been tough times for Gauteng, the province that is home to Johannesburg. In recent years, it has seen the closure of gold mines, high youth unemployment and service delivery protests.
“In Gauteng province the emphasis is the transformation of the economy through modernization and re-industrialization. For the South African economy to grow, the Gauteng province has to grow faster – above the levels of four to six percent – and then you can drive growth nationally. The focus in the next five years has to be on the transformation of the economy. We want to be part of the re-industrialization on the continent. People are talking about Africa rising and we think Gauteng should be the gateway into the continent, to ensure that we are part of this growth on the continent,” says Mashatile.
With the gold mining prospects in decline in the West Rand region of Johannesburg, Mashatile says alternative economic plans are underway.
“Because mining is on the decline in the West Rand, so we have decided to put more emphasis on the green economy,” he says.
Mashatile says the province has partnered with the private sector and institutions of higher learning to train unemployed youth.
“There are a lot of young people in the townships that are graduates who are unemployed. We are turning them into entrepreneurs; now we start hearing about the township economy that is absorbing a lot of youth,” he says.
David Makhura, the Premier of Gauteng, in his state of the province address in February, said private investment in mixed residential property developments – in places such as Rietfontein, Modderfontein and Midrand – will create about 260,000 jobs in the next 20 years at a cost of $13 billion.
Shanghai Zendai, a Chinese company, in September launched the first phase of the $6.2-billion infrastructure development of residential, industrial and commercial space in Modderfontein, east of Johannesburg.

‘We Can’t Just Sit At Home’

Finally, Nigeria’s ministerial list is out. The four-month-long search for the country’s “impeccable characters” with outstanding records of achievements in business, politics and society came to a quiet end at the end of September.
Senate President Bukola Saraki read out the names of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 21 nominees, the first batch of nominations, for the Senate’s consideration, on October 6.
Constitutionally, the president could end up making more than 2,000 appointments over the next four years of his administration, all things being equal. Every decision, every appointment a Nigerian president makes is subjected to constitutional, political, religious and ethnic scrutiny.
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After a year-long season of political campaigns and elections that left the economy largely unattended to by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Buhari’s decision not to appoint cabinet ministers in the early days of his administration was a hugely unpopular move.
Nigerians therefore realized very early on that this was going to be a new kind of president.
“Nigeria must first put new rules of conduct and good governance in place,” Buhari told Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper in July.
“Integrity and experience will be central to President Buhari’s actions and decisions,” Babatunde Kwame Ogala, a lawyer and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party told FORBES AFRICA. “Beyond the need for a few political compromises here and there, you can see that the president is not someone that can be tele-guided by anyone or any interest group. He’s got a totally independent mindset.”
By delaying and downplaying appointments, the Nigerian leader was not only consolidating his hold on power, he was clearly hoping to replace the profligate culture of the past with a new political ethos. Previous presidents had used these appointments to settle political IOUs, compensating cronies, party chieftains and political sponsors. Consequently, the onerous task of nation building wasn’t always left in the hands of the most capable citizens.
This time around, the Abuja rumor mill was abuzz right after Buhari’s inauguration in May with tales of ministerial nominees failing the president’s integrity test. A glimpse of the first batch of ministerial nominees for Team Buhari reveals what political scientists always said about politics – a game of constantly shifting interests and horse trading.
On the Nigerian leader’s ministerial list were five former state governors, namely, Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola, Chris Ngige, Kayode Fayemi and Ogbonnaya Onu; a former national chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); former state commissioners; seasoned technocrats and the current head of the national oil company. The president didn’t assign portfolios to his list.
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Also on Buhari’s list is Chief Audu Ogbeh, 68, chairman of the PDP between 2001 and 2005. Appointed Minister of Communications in 1982, and later Minister of Steel Development, his term of office was truncated by Buhari’s military coup in 1983.
Another nominee, Emmanuel Kachikwu, was in August appointed group managing director of state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He is a former executive vice-chairman of ExxonMobil Africa. Within 24 hours of his appointment, Kachikwu received the president’s permission to sack all the divisional heads of the NNPC. His place in Buhari’s economic management team is assured.
Oil exports account for 70% of government revenue. With oil prices dropping below $50 and likely to drop even further when Iran resumes supplies, continuous adjustments in budget benchmarks look certain. The Central Bank has announced a temporary ban on local transactions in dollars. Devalued first in November 2014, and again in February 2015, the Nigerian currency, the naira, still remains under immense pressure as the World Bank continues to counsel for more devaluation. An import dependent economy, a weaker naira will certainly make life more expensive for Nigerians. Analysts say Nigeria is likely to record its poorest fiscal performance in decades this year.
Other folks on Buhari’s list are: Lai Mohammed, a lawyer, businessman and stalwart of the APC; Udoma Udo Udoma, a lawyer, two-term senator between 1999 and 2007 and chairman of several entities, including UAC of Nigeria, Union Bank of Nigeria, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Amina J. Mohammed, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning; Kemi Adeosun, a former Commissioner for Finance in Ogun State, western Nigeria; Abubakar Malami; Abdurahman Bello Dambazzau; Aisha Jumai Al Hassan;  Adebayo Shittu;  Solomon Dalong; Dr. Osagie  Ehaneri; Suleiman Adamu; Ahmed Musa Bello; Ibrahim Usman Jubrin and Senator Hadi Serika.
Was the wait for this list worth it? Will this group of ministers, when and if eventually confirmed by the Nigerian Senate, bring a new kind of thinking to the Buhari administration?
Expectedly, the opposition party, the PDP has lampooned the list, saying the president’s proposed cabinet were “a bunch of failed politicians and loyalists who lacked integrity to move the country forward”.
Only time will tell.
<h3>The Faces Of Business</h3>
Babatunde Fashola: The former Govenor of Lagos State did a remarkable job in transforming Lagos over the past eight years. During his tenure, Fashola, a lawyer, boosted infrastructure and made Lagos safer. Based on his track record, Fashola could head the Ministry of Works or the Federal Capital Territory.
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Rotimi Amaechi: The former Govenor of Rivers State was instrumental in getting Port Harcourt back on track during the Niger Delta crisis by securing the city, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and developing infrastructure. While in Rivers State, he made education a priority. The Ministry of Education could be a good fit.
Kayode Fayemi: The former Governor of Ekiti State is considered an expert in policy formulation and will be seen as a great asset regarding policy direction and implementation. Fayemi, who has a doctorate in war studies, has also been seen next to Buhari in recent diplomatic visits. He may be chosen for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Amina Mohammed: She led the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) office in Nigeria. The UN later appointed her in a development capacity role. The Ministry of Health may suit her.
Kemi Adeosun: The former Ogun State Commissioner of Finance made a significant contribution to the development of the region over the past four years. With her background as a banker, she could get a financial position in the next cabinet.
Emmanuel Kachikwu: He was just appointed the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. There is speculation that he will be named as a junior minister for petroleum resources, since Buhari made it clear he will manage the oil and gas sector himself.
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A President’s  Search For Political Saints

It was a strange and unsettling experience on a Thursday night; easier to shrink from than describe.
It was Walter Magaya’s first South African crusade at the Pretoria Showgrounds; 54 kilometers from Johannesburg. The crowd sang and danced as the Zimbabwean founder of Prophetic, Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries took the stage.
As we sat, there was a sudden, soul-rattling chill; accompanied by shrieks. A woman ran through the congregation. Speaking in a strange language no one could understand. She sounded like two different people; one male, one female. She lost control.
“Leave me, Leave me!” she screams, as Magaya’s ushers shepherded her to the front of the stage; closer to the charismatic preacher.
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In a green shirt and jeans, the woman squirmed on the ground; tearing her hair. Her eyebrows knit as she appeared consumed by rage.
“Leave me alone!” she shrieked; trying to bite the ushers’ gripping hands.
From the stage above booms the voice of Magaya.
“Come out, come out,” he says, attempting to command the demons he believes are in the frantic woman. The woman vomits.
There are 50 more people; screaming, rolling on the ground and vomiting.
This is the theater of the faithful on which the curtain went up with the arrival of Magaya, at OR Tambo, two nights before. Hundreds filled the Johannesburg airport to welcome him. They sang, danced and carried large posters like he was a rock star or politician.
This is more than worship. It’s also a thriving business that’s turning over millions every year. People risk their lives to get close to Magaya. Last year, 11 people died in a stampede during a crusade in Kwekwe in Zimbabwe.
“We have put measures in place to make sure something like that never happens again,” says Magaya.
On this night in Pretoria, people ran to the stage to offer cash for the answer of prayers.
This frantic scene is being played out across Africa. The commercialization of churches is arguably one of the fastest growing businesses in the continent.
Magaya claims to pull 200,000 people every week to his Harare church. Many of the faithful dig deep into torn pockets. Most earn about $350 a month; yet they pay handsomely for this spectacular display of power from above.
Money is scarce in Zimbabwe right now. According to independent Harare-based economist, John Robertson, the total workforce in the formal sector is about 700,000 people; out of a population of 14 million.
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“We employed that number in 1968 when the population was one third of its present size. So employment has gone backwards at an alarming rate,” he says.
“Part of our problem is that production workers’ wages are making many of our goods uncompetitive. Wages are lower in China and many other countries, but productivity is higher elsewhere because businesses have been able to keep up with changing technology. Zimbabwean factories have not. So, wages plus productivity are working against us as all imports are now cheaper than local products.”
No matter how hard times are, still they come. Thousands offer money in hope of riches and health. They call it partnerships; giving to receive.
Magaya claims he is a trillionaire in spirit; but is unable to calculate his worth, that could be frowned upon by the scriptures.
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God,” so says Matthew 19, verse 23, in the Bible. Magaya believes people should also live comfortably on earth.
“We all want to go to heaven but we all want to stay on earth. No one wants to die now. Before you go to heaven, what about now? [Jesus] was rich yet he became poor for our riches and we should not only focus on one part. We are underutilizing Jesus. He wants you to go to heaven, but he also wants you healthy on earth. He wants you to be happy, married,” he says.
“I don’t see anything wrong with people in ministry living a good life because they represent the largest corporation (Kingdom of God) on the earth.”
It is wealth that began with 45 followers and now has hundreds of thousands who give. His ministry has no board or clear means of regulation. Many, outside the church, question how he maintains his alleged lavish lifestyle. Word is, Magaya makes around $2 million a month.
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Critics say churches like Magaya’s exist to boost wallets and egos; without transparency, nor accountability. Magaya counters he is accountable to his financial director.
“I created a team which governs me. My wife has a salary and I have a salary. If I go to [the financial director] and ask for $20,000 to give to someone, they know how God speaks, I have trained them, they will give me that money,” he says.
Magaya says his ministry does not depend on offerings and tithes. It is bankrolled by a multitude that understands, have been healed, or merely want to support – the churches call these donations seed.
“The finance team has pushed a lot for me to have nice things. The people that give money actually think my living standards are low and I should upgrade them. Whenever the church and my financial directors decide to get me things; that’s the only time I get them,” he says.
The Financial Director of PHD Ministries, Nelson Marimo, every inch the accountant, says he makes sure every penny given to the church is banked and accounted for.
“Three people in the ministry, including myself, have access to the account. The prophet has no access to it. He doesn’t have anything to do with the money. It’s our decision what he gets. If he needs anything we advise him correctly about the funds available,” says Marimo.
“We cannot put a price on what he is worth or what he should have. He has done so many things for us and the people.”
Brendon Strauss, the Food Distribution Co-ordinator for the Bryanston Methodist Church in South Africa, says prosperity churches give a bad name to other churches. He says the church is not meant to be run as a business.
“The bible says people should give 10% of whatever God blesses them with to say thank you and that’s all God asks for,” Strauss says.
He says his church helps people in the community without demanding money from the congregation.
“We for example get food from shops and give to the needy in shelters and HIV support groups. We don’t subscribe to selling things in the church. Pastors get stipends for their role and it is enough for them to survive.”
Father Xolani Dlwati of St Monnica’s Anglican Church in Midrand, South Africa, says the most import thing is to help people understand that healing comes from God and churches are just vehicles of healing.
“The challenge is our ignorance where we don’t study the bible and see what the bible says. People need knowledge so they can see if they are being taken for a ride. The grace of God is sufficient for all. You cannot be paying back the priest for blessings God has given you. If you want to give, you can do so voluntarily through giving thanks and not because you are being forced to,” says Dlwathi.
Prosperity preachers sometimes find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Many followers give money for results. A problem arises when the promises are not kept. In Magaya’s words, “When people give money, they partner with the vision [of the ministry]”.
It’s not always that simple. Earlier this year, Magaya was hit with a nearly $2-million lawsuit by a Harare couple who allegedly gave him money and cars to fulfil a prophecy that they would own an airline. The Zimbabwean entrepreneurs, Upenyu and Blessing Mashangwa, behind the lawsuit, allegedly also “seeded” $15,000 towards this prophecy.
Blessing says they came into contact with Magaya when they were selling their eight-bedroom house in the Harare suburbs.
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“Magaya requested to see us… about an airline vision he claims he had received from God when he visited the property we were selling. We worship in (UFIC Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s church) and we felt if there was any airline deal then Prophet Makandiwa would tell us, therefore there was no need to meet him and we denied meeting him,” she says.
They eventually sold the house for $450,000 to Magaya.
“At the time we had three offers ranging between $500,000 to $550,000. We sold the house for a lower offer because we felt we were supporting the work of God,” she says.
According to her, Magaya asked them to “seed” for the airline prophecy to come to fruition. The couple seeded a 2014 Land Rover Discovery 4 Limited Edition. Magaya denies this.
So, does Magaya accept gifts from the poor?
“I accept gifts because whoever gives is blessed. If I don’t accept, I will be blocking someone else’s blessings,” he says.
Magaya says that he educates more than 5,000 children each year and passes on 90% of all he receives.
PHD Ministries is not the only church accepting gifts and it can turn ugly.
Zimbabwean single mother, Amanda Tshuma, says she left the Roman Catholic Church in search of miracles. She went to a Pentecostal church in Bulawayo.
“The situation in Zimbabwe is very hard. I was starting a business because I had lost my job. Every Sunday, the pastor would tell us to give money in tithe and offerings and also seed so that God can bless us,” she says.
Because of her search for economic emancipation, Tshuma did what she was told.
“I seeded almost everything I had. I even took the little money I had to start my business and gave to the church.”
After two years of waiting for a miracle, life became unbearable.
“I had debt and couldn’t afford food or a place to stay and I got kicked out,” says Tshuma.
The church, the one place she expected help from, didn’t help.
“The pastor wouldn’t even let me and my children sleep in the church while I thought of a plan. That’s when I saw that he doesn’t care. I left the church and I no longer attend any church because I don’t know who is after my money and who wants to help me go to heaven.”
Tshuma refuses to name the church for fear of retribution.
Like Magaya, many of these preachers are seen to be as much about profit as prophecies. Nigeria’s TB Joshua, Chris Okotie, Matthew Ashimolowo and Chris Oyakhilome live like rock stars and pull large congregations. In South Africa, some pastors have been known to make people eat grass, hair, snakes and drink petrol, all in the name of Jesus.
In the Christian Bible, Jesus turned the money changers out of the temple.
“It is written,” Jesus said to the traders, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers”.
In the 21st century, money has a home in many churches which sell copies of the sermons, gospel music videos and anointing oil. During Magaya’s crusade in Pretoria, worshippers bought both a DVD and anointing oil for R100 ($7.5).
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Like in any business, style and reputation are huge marketing and selling points. This is not just an African thing. In Los Angeles in the United States (US), some pastors flaunt their wealth through a television reality show called Preachers of L.A. These pastors live in mansions, drive expensive cars and wear the latest fashion.
“P. Diddy, JZ, they are not the only ones that should be driving Ferraris and living in large houses,” says Bishop Ron Gibson on the show’s 2013 trailer.
Pastor Jay Haizlip says “the Bible says that those who sow among us should reap from us, that’s implying that preachers should be taken care of.”
“The Bible says I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. I believe that,” declares Bishop Clarence McClendon, one of the stars of the show.
Most of those who believe in these charismatic pastors don’t mind coughing up.
“It is our will as congregants to make sure they [pastors] are safe and all their needs are met. The only problem comes when they get richer and forget the poor. The media is only focusing on one side of the story. A lot of good things are happening in the church but no one is reporting about it. Most of them are rich but they take care of the poor. No one sees that,” says one of Magaya’s followers, Panashe Mandebvu.
These fundraising schemes make religion more emotive and controversial. Governments and religious groups in Africa are taking notice. The State is wading into the realm of prayer.
The government-backed Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, in South Africa, recently launched an investigation into the commercialization of religion.
“We are launching an investigative study on the commercialization of religion and the abuse of people’s belief systems in terms of when these institutions are being run, how are they being run, where is their funding going into, who collects how much and what do they do with the money, where does the money eventually go to, what are the governing principles that are there,” says chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.
Findings will be released in April.
Magaya’s advice?
“If you feel like someone is eating your money, the best thing is not to give them.”
According to Statistics South Africa, based on their 2001 study, almost 80% of South Africa’s population follows the Christian faith. This means about 80% of the population are inclined to give money towards the Christian churches, steering the debate towards church taxation.
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In South Africa, churches are classified under Section 15(1) of the Constitution, one of the most liberal in the world. This means they are registered to provide services without intent to make a profit.
According to the South African Revenue Services (SARS), non-profit organizations take a shared responsibility with government for the social and developmental needs of the country. Preferential tax treatment is designed to nurture non-profit organizations.
“The preferential tax treatment for not for profit organizations is however not automatic and organizations that meet the requirements set out in the Income Tax Act, 1962, must apply for this exemption. If the exemption application has been approved by SARS, the organization is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) and allocated a unique PBO reference number,” says SARS on their website.
A 2012 report by The Economist estimated the annual spending by the Vatican and church-owned entities in the US to be around $170 billion. According to FORBES, Catholic Charities USA has annual revenue of $4.39 billion. According to a 2012 University of Tampa study, not taxing churches is costing US government coffers an estimated $71 billion each year.
Steven Friedman, a University of Johannesburg political scientist, who has specialized in the study of democracy, says governments need to be careful when they come up with ways to curb the rise of churches making money.
“Some churches are exploitative but it’s simply not clever people preying on the poor. We need to be careful with the interventions we put in place. Everybody should pay tax but where do you draw the line? How do you put it into law when there are so many different churches,” he says.
“I am not sure there is a solution beyond encouraging people that are being exploited to stop being exploited.”
Magaya counters that churches are neither businesses nor exploiters.
“It is very wrong to tax churches because churches are not being celebrated enough for the job they are doing. They [authorities] must actually look at areas where they can make sure that they celebrate churches,” he says.
In Kenya, the government has had enough of fly-by-night churches. Last year, it issued a ban on the registration of new churches; following a television exposé of a Salvation Healing Ministries pastor, Victor Kanyari, tricking his followers into donating seed money.
Kenya’s Attorney General, Githu Muigai, said in a press conference early this year, it is not the policy of the government of the Republic of Kenya to interfere with the freedom of religion and worship. The government also called for fresh registration of existing churches. The religious bodies were also required to file details of their financial returns with the registrar of societies.
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world,” so says the Bible. Maybe words worth thinking about if you go to church this Sunday.
<h3>The Day I Was Attacked By Demons</h3>
“If I could hit her with my camera, I would have,” I remember thinking.
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In the midst of Walter Magaya’s service, it was drama. One by one, men and women were flocking to the stage claiming they were possessed by demons. I clicked away.
Suddenly, like a rugby tackle, I felt someone grab me around my thighs; it was a woman. She grabbed me, lifted me, and the next thing I was on the ground fighting. My one hand was in the air to protect my camera and the other was pushing her away to protect the sensitive parts of my body. She was mumbling loudly and crying. It took three ushers to make her let go.
I got up, ran away from the demon zone to where I was seated, checked for vomit, I was clean but felt dirty nonetheless. An usher who saw the attack ran to me and asked if I was okay. I was fine, but I looked back and thought “what the f**k did I just go through?”
For a split second during my ordeal, I thought the demons were coming for me. Had I known the day was going to be dramatic, I would have taken a long lens, worn a pair of work boots and a helmet.
Despite the ‘demonized’ woman, the hospitality shown by one of the members, Jerome Galiao, was great.
All I have now is a cut on my finger as a reminder.

Prophets Of Profit

It’s a cold winter’s night in a little village called Igueden in the Edo state of Southwestern Nigeria where a young girl lies awake, within the dimly-lit red mud walls of her home, dreading dawn.
She recalls a conversation with her mother years ago about this day. The vivid picture her mother had painted about her own experience had left her aghast at the pain and torture she had endured.
Tomorrow, it would be her turn. She was turning 12, and village tradition dictated she be ‘cleansed’ too.
“Today, you become a real woman,” says the young girl’s 90-year-old grandmother as she awakens.
Dawn has come too soon.
With great trepidation, she follows the elderly woman to the hut of the village doctor where 10 other girls are waiting for the same inevitable fate.
The older women in the village are singing and ululating. Inside, the young girl’s friends reciprocate the look of fear in her eyes. As is customary, her mother is not allowed to be around her. No mother can hear the pain of a daughter, nor fight to help her.
As each girl is ushered in, a cacophony of piercing screams follows at decibels louder than the women singing to purposely drown out the cries of pain.
In the middle of the doctor’s room is a cold round slab, smeared with blood. He motions for her to sit on the stone.
It feels wet. Two women proceed to tie a cloth around her eyes while another is stuffed into her mouth so she can bite into it.
Before being blind-folded, she just about glimpses a sharp, bloody metal object in the doctor’s hand. Fear consumes her as the women firmly hold her legs and arms to the ground.
In the background, the singing continues. No one hears the young girl’s muffled screams. She feels an indescribable pain between her legs.
And just like that, Eki Ehizogie went from being a child to ‘a real woman’, 30 years ago.
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The Naked Truth
There is an estimated 125 million girls and women globally living with the effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), reported to be most widespread in Africa and the Middle East.
In a historic move, the Nigerian government has outlawed the practice of FGM. The law, passed by the senate on May 5, a gesture by outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan, bans the practice involving removing a part or all of a girl’s outer sexual organs.
The World Health Organization describes the practice the following ways: Type I (clitoridectomy), which is removal of part or all of the clitoris; Type II (excision), the most common form which is removal of the clitoris and part or all of the labia minora (the inner vaginal lips); and Type III (infibulation), which is removal of the external genitalia and stitching of the vaginal opening.
A very small opening is left, about the diameter of a pencil. The practice attempts to control a woman’s sexuality, and under the pretext of purity, modesty and aesthetics. It is usually initiated and carried out by women, who see it as honor, and who fear that failing to have their daughters and granddaughters cut will socially exclude them.
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The Woman Named Eki
“The pain I felt can’t be described; thinking of it brings cold shivers inside me. I was circumcised, I felt incomplete and completely out of control,” says Ehizogie.
“My life took a complete turn, I felt wasted and hopeless.”
The lasting effects of that day live with her forever.
“I do not feel like a real woman, I feel like I was robbed of something that can never be returned to me.”
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The Nigerian Reality
Nigeria reportedly has the highest number of FGM cases. The country accounts for about a quarter of circumcised females worldwide, according to UNICEF. The damaging effects of this procedure for the women may be infertility, maternal death, infections and loss of sexual pleasure.
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‘I Felt Like A Freak’
For women like Ehizogie, the ban is certainly good news.
“I never thought this day would come. There are thousands of women in remote areas living with similar experiences as me and hopefully with this new law, many innocent girls can be spared this fate,” she says.
Ehizogie’s teenage years were very difficult. She spent most of her time alone, intimidated at the thought of getting close to a boy.
“When I was in boarding school, I saw the other girls in the shower and I knew immediately that I was different. I felt like a freak,” she recalls.
Her’s was a Type II circumcision. Her first sexual experience conjured up memories of that fateful day.
“I felt an excruciating pain which almost made me pass out, I told him to stop immediately as I could not handle the pain. I thought to myself I never want to be with anyone again,” says Ehizogie.
She recalls her village elders calling FGM a legal rite of passage; any mother refusing to let her daughter undergo the procedure was in danger of breaking the law.
Ehizogie has felt different for a long time. She has gone through periods of extreme depression, which have led to suicide attempts.
It was immediately after her first failed sexual experience. The event was a culmination of all the self-hate and negativity she had for years.
“I did not want to live anymore, I could only see one way out,” she admits. She overdosed on painkillers but was discovered on the floor by chance by a neighbor. She was rushed in time to the clinic. Her recovery involved a combination of therapy and support from a new community she found at church.
“The mental consequences after FGM include feelings of incompleteness, fear, inferiority and suppression. Women report chronic irritability and nightmares. They have a higher risk for psychiatric and psychosomatic diseases,” says Dr Asamoah, a clinical psychologist with Lister Hospital.
The move by Nigeria has sparked sentiments from around the world.
“Global experience tells us that ultimately, it’s through changing attitudes, not just laws, that we will end FGM,” said Tanya Barron, chief executive of children’s charity Plan International, in a Reuters report.
Those attitudes are deep-rooted in rural communities. The pressure to be accepted is the main reason women undergo FGM.
“I was told by my grandmother that I was not a real woman until I had been circumcised and that is the only time I will find a husband and not bring shame to the family,” says Ehizogie, who is married with two children. These days, she works in communities providing support for girls with similar experiences.
“The belief that a woman has to be a virgin before she is married to a man in local communities has also led to the increase in FGM,” avers Ehizogie.
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Hope and vindication
According to UNICEF, approximately two million girls are mutilated every year. Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan account for 75% of all cases. The battle to end this practice has raged for years. The United Nations has declared FGM is a violation of the rights of girls and women.
For Ehizogie, the news about its ban brings hope and in a small way, vindication – though delayed – for the atrocity she suffered as a child.

Anna-Omelchenko-Shutterstock.com_

The Children Who Become Women Too Soon

South Africa’s economic hub Gauteng is tapping into healthcare and medical tourism with renewed vigor.
With a R34.2 billion ($2.4 billion) budget and three medical training facilities located at universities and tertiary hospitals, Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu is promoting health tourism and ensuring the province’s hospitals boast state-of-the-art equipment to attract overseas patients.
Mahlangu is spending her resources on HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention and reviving the health economy with R10 billion ($717 million) set aside for primary healthcare services – clinics, community healthcare centers, district hospitals and community health workers – and R10 billion ($717 million) to tertiary services and central hospitals.
“When we went to the World Cup in 2010, one of the things we said in our bid document, we said we have the best infrastructure for everything including healthcare and treatment,  we have healthcare facilities across the board,” says Mahlangu.
With the funds generated from medical tourism redeployed into healthcare facilities, it’s a sound investment for South Africa.
“Medical tourism is important because we have the best trained medical professionals – our nurses are highly sought-after,” she says.
“European and American travelers come in as tourists and then sometimes use our services. We are still affordable and of good quality. The waiting time is longer in many jurisdictions in the world. A lot of people come here to do procedures. We should support and promote it more.”
Promoting country-to-country relationships is part of Gauteng’s plan to market medical tourism. However, the greatest growth in medical travel to South Africa in recent years is from neighboring countries whose public healthcare systems are in a state of crisis.
“Gauteng has a relationship with Katanga Province [in the Democratric Republic of Congo] who pays money to our account at Charlotte Maxeke hospital – almost $500,000 of that is used for treatment. These patients come to us rather than going to Europe,” she says. South Africa’s own public healthcare system is overburdened and under-resourced but it can still deliver quality treatment often unavailable elsewhere on the continent.
“Over the past 10 years, Johannesburg has played host to thousands of visitors seeking health, wellness and medical services – often combined with short holidays either prior to or post their treatments and procedures,” corroborates Laura Vercueil, communication manager at the Johannesburg Tourism Company.
As Gauteng moves towards producing its own healthcare products, Mahlangu is also looking to empower women in the process.
“We’re starting producing on a small scale with products used in hospitals. A number of products used in-theatre are being purchased from women co-operatives. For an economy of our size and located strategically in the African continent, we have to develop the industrial capacity to deliver on these products,” says Mahlangu. Gauteng is on the fast track to becoming a health hub. Hopefully, all of South Africa will soon follow.

Qedani-etch-new-new

Health Hospitality

The daughter of liberation fighters, I was born in Russia, raised in Angola as a refugee, and was blessed to witness the independence of my country Namibia. My parents, both of whom are lawyers, taught me determination and the value of service for the greater good. Their passionate belief in a nation’s right to self-determination imprinted upon me from a young age and they instilled in me the significance of harnessing natural resources as a catalyst for unlocking national development. As a young girl, my late father, Handupula Shimutwikeni, taught me my gender is only a barrier if I chose to see it as thus. My mother, Panduleni Shimutwikeni, by her example, taught me that the world is my oyster and that forging ahead against all odds is the only way forward.
My upbringing influenced my education odyssey across three continents. While in high school, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue a Business Management and Computer Information Systems degree in the United States. After obtaining my Bachelor’s, I returned home and worked in the diamond industry in a public-private partnership, under the pioneering Inge Zaamwani-Kwami, the former MD of Namibia Diamond Corporation. This experience sparked my interest in natural resources. Recognizing the need to bolster the national voice in the international world of negotiations, I went on to attain a LLM degree from Leeds University and a LLM in Mineral Law and Policy at Dundee University, making me one of a handful of Namibians with such a qualification.
However, when I returned home, I was in for a surprise as it was difficult to get a job! I was told I was too young, overqualified and a woman! A ‘triple threat’ as some professionals labelled me. It was discouraging and made me question my purpose. I drew on my mother’s strength and decided to forge ahead, rise above the inequalities and in the process empower others with this truth. Thus I embarked on my entrepreneurial adventure and opportunities opened up in support of my vision. I leapt at the opportunity to consolidate my skills through a contract with the International Telecommunication Union and European Commission to co-draft Namibia’s cybercrime bill under the ‘Harmonisation of ICT Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa’ project.
In 2011, with a fellow Dundee alumnus from Angola, I birthed Rich Africa Consultancy. The Consultancy specializes in natural resources law and policy, and facilitates investment linkages in the sector. A key objective of Rich Africa is to be a trusted advisor and catalyst to unlocking our resource potential. Its creation was inspired by the need to invoke a sense of pride in Africa and its vast natural resources.
Rich Africa launched the Namibia International Oil and Gas Conference in 2012; an initiative I conceptualized and led to fruition with the endorsement of the Namibian government. Themed the ‘Road to Discovery &amp; Beyond’, the inaugural conference brought together decision-makers, and international and national thought leaders to share best practices associated with the discovery of oil in Namibia.
This biennial conference was followed in 2014 with ‘Unlocking and Optimising Our Resource Potential’ which focused on the evolution in the industry. It is a humbling honor that these initiatives have received recognition placing Namibia on the international oil and gas platform.
On this journey, I was often confronted by scepticism because Namibia is considered a frontier territory in the oil and gas arena and such an undertaking was too big for “a petite young woman”. This only strengthened my resolve. I also used this platform to inspire women by presenting a new avenue to transformation through natural resources, a sentiment shared by Bridgette Radebe, one of South Africa’s successful black female mining entrepreneurs, and keynote speaker at our 2014 conference.
Not surprisingly, I do face moments of self-doubt but have been fortunate to have an extensive and supportive network of mentors.
A guiding tenet of my life has been, ‘when writing the story of your life, don’t let someone else hold the pen’. I believe I am here to finish the work my parents started.
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– The writer is one of two mineral lawyers in Namibia, is CEO of Rich Africa Consultancy and an oil and gas entrepreneur.

Selma-etch-1

‘Young,  Over Qualified  And A Woman!’

Nigerian-born model Adeola Ariyo started her career in 2005 in the Nokia Face Of Africa competition and has since graced the runways of some of the world’s most prestigious fashion shows including London Fashion Week. In 2014, she was appointed Elizabeth Arden’s first brand ambassador for the African continent. She currently lives in South Africa but travels between Cape Town, London and Lagos.
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How has the perspective of African beauty changed globally…is it because of icons like Lupita Nyong’o and Alek Wek?
It makes me so happy to see the likes of Lupita, Alek and Liya Kebede take the spotlight and be featured in major fashion and beauty campaigns worldwide. It’s about time that African beauty be recognized and appreciated globally. It’s a trend that I feel started a couple of years ago and it’s evident across industries, not just in beauty but fashion, decor, art and design. It’s great to see. It makes me proud to be African.
I feel African beauty is still not being appreciated in its rawest form. The trend seems to be to “glamorize” it with over-the-top expressions of color, which detract from what it truly is. African beauty also doesn&#8217;t relate solely to skin tone, or hair texture. It&#8217;s about culture, way of life, beliefs&#8230; All of this makes African beauty way more than we see on the surface and in our day-to-day lives. I’d like to see more of that: a complete picture of African women in all their multi-faceted beauty.
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How can a working woman juggle career and life to make time for self?
It is very possible. It’s all about time management and compartmentalization. Women in general are really good at multi- tasking and we also take our appearance seriously. The way I see it, the weekend is family time, friend time and ‘me’ time. I choose a day during the weekend and do nothing but sort out my hair, my nails and book in an appointment at the spa. It is very important do give ourselves a day off. Women are hard workers and hard workers deserve a pamper day a week.
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Any entrepreneurial dreams…?
I started making wigs for myself a few years ago. Being an African model, my hair was constantly under strain and I decided to do this in an effort to look after it and keep it in good condition. I found people constantly asking me where I had gotten my hair done and I would tell them that it&#8217;s a wig and I made it myself. After saying that for several years, I decided to expand and started making wigs.
I am currently working on a business plan to establish this as a business and launching an online website as well as a store. I thought it’d be a great platform to encourage young women who have an interest in hair; teach them how to make wigs and then help them also make money out of it.
Creating jobs for women is something I find important. In this day and age we are independent go-getters and if I can contribute in one way or the other to making a difference in women’s lives, I will.
I am also launching a YouTube Channel (in October) called The A1TV. Media has always interested me and this will be a platform showcasing events and profiling celebrities in South Africa (and later in Africa).
It’s run by females only, which is also another way for me to empower women. Everyone, from the presenters to the crew to the producers, is a woman.
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Your favorite vacation…?
My favorite holiday destination would have to be an island – Mauritius or Seychelles. I fell in love with these places when I visited and would definitely go back without a second thought.
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Where are you headed for the holidays?
Every December, I go home to Lagos and spend time with my family. Family is everything to me and there’s nothing more rewarding and refreshing than ending the year and starting a new one with my family right by my side. Also, my father would have it no other way. Everyone has to be home during the festive season.

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