<h2> Migrant businesses have become an integral part of the economic ecosystem.</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32098 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-042-1024x681.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="681" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-042.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-042-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-042-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-042-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
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In the bustling heart of Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD) lie a stretch of migrant economies. Microcosms of China, India, Egypt, Turkey, Somalia and Ethiopia have popped up with the smell, sound and feel of home.
As you walk down Commissioner Street, under the highway and past columns of graffiti, The Oriental Plaza comes into view. Designed like a souq, the traditional meandering Arabic market, the plaza sells everything from saris and suits to curtains, pots and incense. The aroma of piping hot samosas hits you as you walk through the gates, the sizzle of hot oil permeates the walkways and there are stains of bright red chilli sauce on the al fresco tables. The savouries are the best in town and the perfect start before you bargain your way through the stalls.
Out of the gates and a street away, Mint Road is an informal extension of the plaza. Stalls selling hot chilli bites and fresh juice border the market. Bollywood heartthrob Shah Rukh Khan and his latest swooning heroine play on small television sets. It’s like stepping into a market in Mumbai or Delhi where Hindi, Urdu and Bengali converge.
The last census conducted in 2011 put the number of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, in South Africa, at just over two million. While some acquired citizenship on arrival, over one million were not citizens in 2011. Immigrants made up 4.2% of the entire population, which stood at roughly 51 million at the time. Of the 4.2%, 71% of the immigrants were from other African countries. Immigrants have created economic hubs across the country.
In a study conducted by the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town in 2015, migrants and refugees in Cape Town and Johannesburg have pinpointed the gap in the informal market. By providing cheaper goods and services for the poorer segments of the population and monopolizing niche demands, migrants have made a significant contribution to the population. Most of these migrant businesses also support South African factories, wholesalers and supermarkets and are subject to value added tax. They have become an integral part of the economic ecosystem.
From Shanghai to Mogadishu via Mumbai, it’s an economy built on the search for the African dream in the City of Gold, but it may soon become a nightmare.
Early 2016, Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba proposed a host of new policies to clamp down on economic migrants. The proposed policy would see those like the Somali traders in Mayfair or the Pakistani shop owners in Fordsburg lose the right to work, trade and study in the country. If it all goes through, asylum-seekers could be confined to processing centers near the border, where “their basic needs will be catered for” while they are kept from “integrating into communities”.
For the traders along Johannesburg’s migrant mile, the future is somewhat dim and uncertain. In the pages that follow, FORBES WOMAN AFRICA focuses on the migrants who became entrepreneurs despite all the odds they faced.
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<h2>The Chaudry Women</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32094 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-053-681x1024.jpg" alt="" width="681" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-053.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-053-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-053-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-053-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" />
The once lively market on Mint Road in Johannesburg now houses stalls selling DVDs and sunglasses stacked next to each other like clones. The smell of fried corn in butter wafts through the streets even as competing Bollywood beats drown each other out. In a small corner of the market, the Chaudry family are an unusual sight. Aisha Chaudry and her sisters Asimah and Amina own one of the only stalls run by women.
Kaniz-Fatima and her husband Yawar-Abbas Chaudry came to South Africa in 1991 on their honeymoon and decided to stay for good. The couple from Karachi, Pakistan, started their business in Fordsburg 15 years ago as one of the first stalls in the square.
“My parents would come here at five after work. It was full and crowded, it was just like a playground for us,” recalls Aisha.
With rows of Basmati rice, snacks from India and Pakistan and spicy corn, the Chaudry family set themselves apart from the rest. After starting as an informal market, the City of Johannesburg decided to build a structure around the market in the late 2000s. For a year, business was impossible. The stress of trying to make ends meet took its toll and Yawar-Abbas died before the business could bounce back.
“Before, we didn’t have to work hard, business just came. Now we work twice as hard for half the money. Things changed and all the stall owners weren’t a family anymore,” says Aisha.
For the daughters on Mint Road, things are changing and everyday life has become a struggle.
“We’re here every day and every evening. My sisters are still in school and I want to be a teacher. Who knows how long we’ll be here,” says Aisha.
It’s not uncommon in migrant economies for children to man stalls.
For these families, it’s all about survival and making it to the end of each month.
They maintain a cheery disposition but business has certainly taken a dive in the last decade. What once were great economic hubs are now plagued by crime and urban decay. On either side of the square, people are closing up shop.
“Business is okay,” says Aisha, unconvincingly.
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<h2>The Last Brothers On Commissioner Street</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32095 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-074-681x1024.jpg" alt="" width="681" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-074.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-074-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-074-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-074-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" />
Commissioner Street is the former China Town. As you walk down the deserted street with locked doors and bright red signs, there are two shops at the end. The Pon family has run a supermarket for 73 years and a firework shop for 20. The brothers, Walter and King, work across the road from each other. For a fleeting moment, until a taxi blasting the latest Cassper Nyovest song zooms by, you’re transported out of Johannesburg.
You’re in Mainland China adorned with Chinese lanterns, families chatting in fast-paced Mandarin, aisles lined with noodles and dried oyster mushrooms, and shelves stacked with fireworks and laughing Buddhas.
Steel bars cover the windows and security guards man the doors.
One ring of the bell gets you past the first gate, another ring gets you past the second. But the business’ longevity is a big question mark.
“I’m the oldest man to live and work here,” says Walter Pon with a cheeky smile. In its peak days, Chinatown was bustling. Births, deaths and everything in between would be discussed over jasmine tea and prawn crackers. Shops would stay open long into the evening before the men would retreat upstairs to play poker into the wee hours.
“We were the biggest gamblers. We would start these gambling joints every night and play until we were called to bed. Everything was here with some Chinese muti [medicine] for luck,” says Walter.
In the throes of apartheid, the Chinese were in no man’s land.
“Not black enough, not white enough, we were in limbo,” says Walter.
The Group Areas Act passed by the apartheid government in 1950 placed different racial groups in certain residential and business areas. With a tiny population of 10,000, the act didn’t account for the Chinese.
“The Chinese were in small numbers so they didn’t know where to send us. Landlords wouldn’t rent to us so we would get white nominees to rent the shops and we would work for them,” says Walter.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the economy opened up for the Chinese and they were allowed to buy property.
“Apartheid did a lot of damage to the country but what it did was hold the Chinese together,” says Walter.
At the helm of the brothers’ stores is their 103-year-old mother, Shue Chee Pon, who rules with an iron fist and keeps a watchful eye on Walter, 76, and King, 66. Her picture lies above their desks and she checks in with her sons every morning.
They’re the last of their family on Commissioner Street but they have an impressive track record. They boast big names like Winnie Mandela and Jessie Duarte as regulars.
“My kids left. Getting degrees, going overseas – that’s how you make your money now. My mother phones me and asks me ‘who’s going to take over’ and the truth is that there is nobody,” says Walter.
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<h2>The Little Coffee Shop In Little Mogadishu</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32097 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-019-1024x681.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="681" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-019.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-019-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-019-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Refugee-economy-019-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Further up from Johannesburg’s CBD towards Mayfair, a once predominantly Indian area, a new economy is just beginning to take shape.
The women man the stalls, taking time out to chat amongst themselves or to kneel on mats and recite from the Holy Quran. Questions are met with cold stares unless you’re asking for the price of their goods. Rows of shawls and handicrafts are stacked alongside traditional garments in every color with bejeweled scarves to match.
Just past the Shoprite supermarket is Little Mogadishu, three roads of Somali-owned shops and flats. It’s late on a Saturday afternoon and the azan, the call to mosque, fills the air as people hastily finish the rest of their coffee before rushing to pray.
The men convene daily over coffee at Ebrahim Ali’s Qaxwo Coffee Shop. His shop is named after the Somali word for coffee. Heated discussions about sport are conducted in Arabic and Somali over steaming cups of the dark and bitter qaxwo and sickly-sweet coconut biscuits.
In 1991, the Somali central government collapsed when the capital Mogadishu was captured by the rival militia. A power battle began, plunging the country into a 20-year civil war. More than half a million Somalis were forced to leave their country and live as refugees in others.
The Ali brothers ran a panel-beating business in Kismaayo in Somalia. When the civil war hit, they fled to Tanzania.
“I came through the border 16 years ago. My brother and I left Tanzania for a better life when Somalis were being attacked,” says Ali.
With a large local Muslim population and a human rights-based constitution, South Africa seemed like the best option.
“Somalis came here three times. First there was a small community of 400, then more came in 1992 and the rest of us came in 2000,” says Ali.
There are now around 80,000 Somalis in South Africa. It took the brothers four years to get their panel-beating business off the ground again. Although they had made Johannesburg their home, the spate of xenophobic attacks in 2008 hit hard.
Early on a Monday morning that year, Ali returned to his workshop and found everything still locked up.
Frantically, he banged on his brother’s door. There was no reply. When he eventually broke through, he found his brother’s body. He had been strangled and the business looted. With a loss of $57,500 and a heavy heart, he walked away and laid charges against a homeless community who lived near the building.
“Eight years later, the case is still pending. I’m still waiting,” says Ali.
Ali decided to start over but opening another panel-beating shop proved too expensive on his own. Instead, he started small, selling one flask of coffee every morning on the side of the road.
“People were coming here just for my coffee. One flask turned into a big shop,” says Ali. His shop is an ode to Somalia. The walls are covered in traditional artefacts and Somali shillings. Business is a struggle but Ali keeps reminders of home close.
“You must never forget the path you’ve walked,” he says.

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The  Migrant Mile

In Ajegunle, a neighborhood located in the heart of Lagos, Nigeria, Tunde Amaechi is readying for an audition. This will be his 20th in a month and today’s audition is on the other side of town in Victoria Island. The trip will cost him two weeks’ wages but the potential gain is worth it.
“I am auditioning for a role in Desperate Housewives Africa. I get to say three lines, which is very good for me. When you get a speaking part, it means you are moving up and I think I will get this one by God’s grace,” says Amaechi.
Nigeria’s growing movie industry, known as Nollywood, is the third largest in the world following Hollywood and Bollywood.
Its growth has spawned a generation of young people desperate for the limelight and a chance to make it big in the movie business. For Amaechi, it is the only way he can help his mother and two sisters escape poverty.
<div id="attachment_32086" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32086" class="wp-image-32086 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/93Days-credit-Toronto-Film-Festival-1024x512.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="512" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/93Days-credit-Toronto-Film-Festival.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/93Days-credit-Toronto-Film-Festival-300x150.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/93Days-credit-Toronto-Film-Festival-600x300.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/93Days-credit-Toronto-Film-Festival-768x384.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Cast from 93 Days</div>
“I lost my father at an early age and since then I have been the main breadwinner of the house. Making it in Nollywood means my family will be taken care of and my little sisters will have a chance at a better life. It is also my dream to make it and be as big as Ramsey Nouah [popular Nigerian actor],” he says.
With no acting background, Amaechi, like millions of young struggling actors, is looking for that life-changing role and no distance is too far to travel for that break.
Chuks Amaka is an actor and entrepreneur living in Lekki, Victoria Island. He has featured in a number of roles including M-Net’s flagship daily soap Tinsel as well as some local productions and also played the role of executive producer in his own movie. For him, the movie industry, like any other, is a business and the end game is money.
“The goal is to cross over from Nollywood into Hollywood. That is where most actors want to go and that is where the money is. They believe if you build a strong enough brand in Africa’s largest economy, then America will come knocking,” says Amaka.
That belief is not far-fetched. In 2015, American actor Danny Glover starred in 93 Days, a film on the deadly Ebola virus in Nigeria. Acting with the veteran Hollywood star were some of Nollywood’s finest, all vying for international recognition. Beasts of No Nation, the Netflix-distributed civil war movie starring another Hollywood bigwig, Idris Elba, was also shot in Nigeria and Ghana with actors queuing up for hours for a part in a big Hollywood production.
“The natural evolution for any Nollywood actor is to make a name in Africa and then hit the big leagues in Hollywood. These type of blockbusters are hotly-contested and every actor knows this is a potential golden ticket,” says Amaka.
For Amaechi, however, that dream is too big to comprehend. Making a name in Nollywood is already a tall order. He has been auditioning for roles for the past year and is yet to secure any paid work. He supplements his income by working as a waiter at the local Bheerhugz Cafe in Ikeja, Lagos. The Desperate Housewives Africa role will be the first time he may be paid for his work. He is optimistic his fate will change.
“This means everything. I love acting and all I need is the opportunity for the world to see my talent. I know I can be one of the biggest in Nollywood then the rest of the world,” says Amaechi.
Austin Abolaji is a Nollywood actor from Imo State, Nigeria. In 2012, he starred in the action drama film, Black November, with an ensemble cast of international stars including Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Vivica Fox and Wyclef Jean. The movie premiered at the Kennedy Center in the United States.
<div id="attachment_32088" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32088" class="wp-image-32088 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Omoni-Oboli-1024x615.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="615" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Omoni-Oboli.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Omoni-Oboli-300x180.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Omoni-Oboli-600x360.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Omoni-Oboli-768x461.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Omoni Oboli</div>
“Nollywood is still growing and there are massive opportunities in this sector, however it will take a long time before actors are paid properly for their craft. When you look at the average Hollywood actor, they get paid a lot better for the same roles we are doing here. This is one of the reasons why people want to make it in Hollywood,” says Abolaji.
Another reason is the acclaim.
“After Lupita Nyong’o won the Oscar, we all now believe it is possible. We saw her acting in MTV Shuga and to see one of us from Africa succeed in Hollywood is motivation for all of us. She is probably the biggest African actress in the world right now,” says Abolaji.
Nyong’o’s Oscar win has been the catalyst for a new lucrative career ranging from roles in Star Wars to brand endorsements with Lancome to being on the cover of Vogue magazine. Her success has opened up the once forbidden Hollywood dream to the rest of Africa and Nollywood’s elite is looking to follow suit one role at a time.

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Non-Stop  From Lagos To LA

When does a country become synonymous with its community?
Just visit Rwanda on the last Saturday of any month, and you will see it here, in this hilly East African country, where the masses – from ministers to farmers, shopkeepers to entrepreneurs – rub shoulders to become one harmonious, homogeneous entity, laying roads, digging the earth, planting trees, and cleaning gutters and drains, holding broom, shovel and spade.
The only thing that counts is the richness of the earth, the fresh mountain air and a united mission to keep the streets green and immaculately clean as a contribution to nation-building and improving the living conditions of the country’s 11.5 million citizens.
It’s on one such Saturday that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is invited to travel upcountry to Rwanda’s verdant Rulindo district, past Kigali’s bustling traffic and up the winding roads when the city’s modest skyscrapers appear no match for the country’s magnificent hills.
It’s the day the country observes Umuganda, a home-grown initiative that requires people from all walks of life, villagers and city-folk, to congregate for community work, once a month, from 7AM to 11AM.
Today, most of the action is in this northern province, where schoolgirls in blinding yellow and pink uniforms, rural women in colorful African dresses, and men in gum boots, form neat lines to take their turn planting saplings in the fertile earth.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32082 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-684x1024.jpg" alt="" width="684" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-600x898.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" />
Today, they are also awaiting a special visitor, who will dig the earth with them, under the hot mid-morning sun.
The earth is an apt way to introduce Imbuto Foundation – the word ‘Imbuto’ meaning ‘seed’ or ‘fruit’ in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda’s local language. And the special guest is none other than the President of this foundation, Jeannette Kagame, also the nation’s much-loved First Lady, wife to the country’s dynamic President Paul Kagame.
There is collective silence and adulation when she arrives, wearing denim pants and shirt and a yellow cap, getting to work right away with the shovel. A stone’s throw away, in a classroom, young girls aged 10 to 12 are seated in a circle on straw mats, ready to welcome her.
They call this ‘the circle of friendship’, and around them are their mentors, young women themselves, aged 18 to 25.
Today is also the launch of the third year of Imbuto Foundation’s successful 12+ program in the area.
The program, in line with the national plan under the Ministry of Health, has achieved significant milestones, reaching 52,000 girls nationally over the last two years.
The girls are taught about savings, discipline and confidence, in tandem with Imbuto’s motto to ‘engage, educate and empower’. The 10- to 12-year-olds are also taught about sexual health, ground-breaking by itself, as sex is still a taboo topic in the communities, and the girls are equipped with the knowledge about their bodies early, before they transition to adolescence.
In the classroom, the girls pass around a ‘speaking ball’ to each other, taking turns to voice their opinions in Kinyarwanda. They speak with supreme confidence – unfaltering even in the presence of the First Lady – drawing their hands on the charts in front of them, promising to never break their circle of friendship. Her Excellency listens to them keenly, before they pass the ball to her, and she politely introduces herself.
Her next stop is further down the dirt road, for a community gathering after Umuganda, where she is expected to speak to the thousands gathered on the hills, patiently waiting under cheerful umbrellas for a glimpse of their First Lady.
Greeted with music, ribbons and flowers, there is rapturous applause from the crowd when she arrives. The cool country breeze complements the convivial mood. The district mayor speaks about how the previous phases of the 12+ program have influenced the girls to open bank accounts, start kitchen gardens, and importantly, stay in school.
A 10-year-old girl, Amina Merci Dieu, steps up to the podium to speak about how she built a vegetable garden, sold the vegetables she planted and persuaded her parents to open a savings account. She speaks without fear, walking up to hug the First Lady when she is done.
I am seated next to Assumpta Ingabire, Director General in charge of Local Government Inspection, who was formerly with Imbuto.
“Our First Lady is such an inspiring role model. You can share your problems with her and she always sees things in a positive way,” she says, smiling.
Such memories and milestones are significant as Imbuto celebrates its 15th year in 2016.
“Imbuto does not work in a vacuum, it works in line with national priorities, working with communities. Without our communities, things would have taken forever [to rebuild],” says Sandrine Umutoni, Acting Director General of Imbuto Foundation.
It’s a pertinent point, as the country has had to reconcile and persevere to rebuild itself after the horrific genocide against the Tutsi that killed a million of its people in 1994. The only way it could turn around was by involving its communities.
Imbuto was initially launched as PACFA (Protection And Care of Families against HIV/AIDS) working to help families and genocide survivors with AIDS. It changed its name to Imbuto at the end of 2007 incorporating a holistic model for individual development, focusing mainly on educational projects.
One of Imbuto’s flagship programs is a girls’ education campaign called Best Performing Girls (BPG).
“The girls who graduate from high school get training in IT, and also get laptops, which the First Lady hands out every year in March,” says Umutoni.
“They call her ‘mother’,” she adds. “In Kinyarwanda, when they call a person that, it means the person has accompanied you through difficult challenges, guiding you, counseling you, and providing support at specific moments in your life.”
Imbuto also organizes a Youth Forum Series every year. In addition, the foundation works with 22 cooperatives across 13 districts, introducing women to income-generating vocations. With the money, they pay for school fees and medical insurance and enter new entrepreneurial activities.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32083 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-1024x684.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="684" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-600x401.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-768x513.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
The week that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is in Kigali to follow the First Lady’s activities, is when the King of Morocco is also visiting, to sign an MoU with Rwanda on specific health and education projects. The Princess of Jordan, Sarah Zeid, is also visiting this week.
In between her packed schedule, the First Lady also attends a meeting with members of the 20-year-old Unity Club that she heads. The club brings together current and former members of cabinet and their spouses to promote unity and reconciliation in Rwanda. They also honor the country’s ‘torch-bearers’ every year in November, for outstanding social service.
The meeting with the Unity Club members, which I am also invited to attend, is at Imbuto’s temporary office in the President’s office complex in Kacyiru. Their office on the same grounds is being renovated. The complex is in a stunning manicured setting with frangipani trees, hibiscus flowers, ferns and foliage.
The First Lady is dressed in a smart beige and black suit and sits at the head of the mahogany table in the meeting room. She listens patiently and intently, speaking softly in Kinyarwanda as the ladies consult the files in front of them. She offers solutions and better approaches for some of the issues raised. It’s an in-depth discussion that goes on for over two hours, the seriousness interspersed at times with jokes by the First Lady – she clearly has an effortless sense of humor.
One of the ladies at the meeting is Radegonde Ndejuru, the First Lady’s advisor, who has been with Imbuto for 10 years now.
“We have a family spirit at Imbuto. Her Excellency is always so respectful. Her text messages to everyone starts with ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’. We put passion in everything we do as that is the way she does it. She also has a phenomenal memory and shows great attention to detail&#8230; I always ask her: ‘do you sleep enough?’ She is here in the morning, reads a lot and what I admire is she always follows through projects,” says Ndejuru.
In March 2016, at the 5th Kigali International Conference Declaration General Assembly in Algeria, the First Lady was presented an award along with United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in recognition of their contribution to women’s empowerment and their fight against gender-based violence.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32084 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-684x1024.jpg" alt="" width="684" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-600x898.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" />
Rwanda is a global model for gender equality. The World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2016 ranks Rwanda fifth globally for closing the gender gap in various spheres. The country has the highest representation (64%) of women in Parliament.
As part of gender mainstreaming, there is a Gender Monitoring Bureau in every institution in Rwanda, as the country works towards achieving a middle income status by 2020.
The First Lady works with a team of young, spirited, hard-working women, who exemplify the qualities of their leader. It is clear they have a great admiration for her work.
Before we settle for the interview, Mrs Kagame, as she is also called, begins by asking how I am, with a disarming smile. And that aptly sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. It’s easy to see how this mother of four has won the hearts of Rwandans.

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A Day In The Life Of A First Lady

Naked, shackled and suffering from severe head injuries is how South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died in a prison cell. It was a death that changed South African politics forever.
The Steve Biko Foundation says it was at this moment, on that cold Sunday on September 12, 1977, the country was robbed of its “foremost political thinkers”.
Kwandiwe Kondlo, a Professor of Political Economy at the University of Johannesburg, says that South Africa would be a different place if Biko was still alive. He says Biko would have made President Nelson Mandela reconsider his approach to introducing democracy to South African.
“If Steve Biko did not die, there is a probability that he would have actually forced and influenced the African National Congress (ANC) to change their approach. He would have been a factor that compelled the ANC to rethink its strategy of national liberation,” says Kondlo.
“Biko was not ANC, he was not PAC (Pan Africanist Congress), but he was standing for a movement of black solidarity. He sought to make known the deliberateness of God’s plan of making black people black,” says Kondlo.
Biko was one of the founders of the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO), a body for black, Indian and colored students in the country. SASO evolved into the anti-apartheid Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in the early 1970s. Biko’s ideologies were instrumental in people rekindling their pride in being black, and culminated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976. The student riots against Bantu education led to other protests spreading across South Africa and greater pressure on the government to end apartheid.
Now, almost 40 years since Biko’s tragic death, his philosophies could be as important as they were then.
Strike Thokoane, Deputy President of the Azanian People’s Organization (Azapo) – a political party formed out of the ashes of the BCM – believes that if Biko was alive today, South Africa would not be struggling to curb racism.
“If Biko was alive today we would not have [Economic Freedom Front leader Julius] Malema saying black people must occupy land, instead we would have transformed the question of the country’s economy and not have the Ruperts and the Guptas running our country. We would definitely have a transformed society but more so, a transformed leadership,” says Thokoane.
Biko was often jailed and in 1973 he was forbidden from writing or speaking publicly because of his ideologies rejecting apartheid. He was also restricted to King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape. The arrest that led to his death came because he was stopped on his way to Cape Town. Despite this oppression, Biko continued to rally for black solidarity and a self-reliant black nation.
His son, 45-year-old Nkosinathi Biko, recalls a conversation he had with an elderly woman who described his father as a “warm feeling”. Nkosinathi says this is the most accurate way to describe not only what Biko means to him, but to others around the world.
He says that warm feeling is the core of Biko’s teachings; it is a strong sense of self.
“Once you have that, you have won 90 percent of the struggles that you face because hopefully with that sense of self you can then organize yourself as an agent of change,” he says.
Biko’s belief in black consciousness could be as important today as it was in the 1960s and 1970s.
“I think the young people of today, particularly the university students, are now seeing the benefits of the philosophy of black consciousness because while those who went to what we’d call ‘black universities’ think that things are better, the ones who went to the lily-white universities of Cape Town and Wits, have come to realize that the teachings of [founder of PAC] Robert Sobukwe and Steve Biko are actually needed,” says Thokoane.
“They are saying ‘I have access to Wits and UCT, but when I step outside and I go to my hostel room, I am in a room that is filled with the trappings of poverty, and when I go home I am immersed in poverty’,” adds Nkosinathi.
“No struggle in the world is not born out of people’s lived reality, and no struggle disappears unless those conditions are changed,” he says.
Biko’s rise to prominence started in student politics. What he fought for is being resurrected by South African university students today.
“Not so long ago, we were defining our young people as a lost generation; I guess we were saying they don’t care about anything of substance. Now the young people have woken up,” says Nkosinathi.
In 2015, students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) led the #RhodesMustFall movement which campaigned for more transformation at the institution and for the removal of a statue of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes. That was followed by another nationwide student campaign, #FeesMustFall, where students are demanding free education.
The students at the frontline of the protests often wear Steve Biko and Robert Sobukwe t-shirts.
Kondlo says they connect with black consciousness after realizing the ideological bankruptcy of today’s politics.
“We say we are liberated but at the level of ideas, we are so bankrupt, much more bankrupt then before 1994,” he says.
Nkosinathi was six years old when his father died. He says he is inspired by his father’s legacy.
“It was most embodied in what would become known as the Black Community Programme, which was the community development arm of the Black Consciousness Movement. So he and his colleagues would take these ideas they were talking about and give them a practical expression, like with health and education projects, as a way of demonstrating it isn’t just pie-in-the-sky ideas,” he says.
Biko rallied to bring tangible change to black communities. Before his death, he was to meet with then ANC President Oliver Tambo to discuss uniting the ANC, the PAC and the BCM, to promote black South Africans without isolating white South Africans.
This was difficult as both the ANC and PAC were competing to be regarded as the voice of black people in the country.
“The problem they had is Biko never wanted to define himself as ANC or PAC, but he defined himself as ‘the people’ and was saying they want one united voice of the liberation struggle. Both parties actually had a lot of headaches over how to relate with Biko,” says Kondlo.
The police headquarters at the Sanlam Building in Port Elizabeth, where the activist was assaulted before being transported to Pretoria where he died, is now called Steve Biko House. The abandoned and dilapidated building is a poor attempt to remember a man who gave his life trying to gain freedom for his people.
After a visit to the Sanlam Building, Professor Bill Rolston writes that “as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission confirmed, Biko’s head was rammed into the wall of the interrogation room by the security police who then manacled him to the metal grill of the door and left him there, unconscious and foaming at the mouth. They then tried to revive him by putting him in a bath of cold water…”
The government then lied to the world by saying Biko died from a self-imposed hunger strike. Helen Zille, the former leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, exposed the truth while working as a journalist for the Rand Daily Mail.
“I just knew a very great injustice had been done and I shared my commitment with my editor, Allister Sparks, to get to the truth of the story and I was pretty much driven by that. There were moments of great trepidation when I would go and confront the doctors but I was determined to get the story,” says Zille.
Biko’s murder might have silenced him but it could not silence the world. English musician, Peter Gabriel, wrote the song Biko for his self-titled album in 1980.
“I think it’s a song that was able to capture the imagination of audiences that would have otherwise perhaps not been interested in the plight of the South Africa,” says Nkosinathi.
Thokoane believes that South Africa’s politicians should embrace black consciousness.
“Black consciousness is about a self-love towards a society of black people. As a leader, you won’t only bring those who are in the same political group as you, or who carry your surname, black consciousness would say, ‘let’s stand together and fix things’. They had an approach to reject the white man’s crumbs that are falling from his table,” he says.
There are some populist politicians emerging in South Africa that are influenced by Biko. The founder of Black First Land First, Andile Mngxitama, says the members of his movement call themselves Bikoists. During a lecture titled How Biko Helps Us To Think Black, member of Black First Land First movement Neo Mokatsanyane says, “Biko might have suffered a physical death but his spirit, through his liberating ideas, have become immortal.”
Kondlo says with poverty, unemployment and inequality rife in South Africa, black consciousness isn’t being fully realized.
“We still feel we need leaders who are not only politically bold but also theoretically and intellectually,” he says.
Almost 40 years since his death, it’s intriguing to imagine what South Africa would be like if Biko was still alive. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

Steven Biko

If Steve Biko Were Still Alive…

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane took over as South Africa’s new Public Protector on October 14, the day her predecessor Thuli Madonsela famously ended her seven-year term.
Although Mkhwebane describes her first day in office as one of her best, she says she was thrown in the deep end when she had to present the State of Capture report compiled by Madonsela.
We visit Mkhwebane on a rainy day in Pretoria in the office of the Public Protector, where, on the wall now is a framed photograph of Mkhwebane, alongside South African President Jacob Zuma and his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa.
She appears wearing a charming smile and a red dress with a leopard print blazer.
Mkhwebane grew up in Kwaggafontein, a dusty village in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, born to a farmworker who was an unskilled laborer for Sasol; her mother was a housewife.
When only 17, Mkhwebane became a mother, and had to go in and out of court to seek child support from her then boyfriend.
She had initially wanted to become a social worker, but the courtroom visits actually influenced her to study law.
“It exposed me to another element of assisting, at first I wanted to work in court and be a judge. Having my first child at a young age encouraged me to be educated,” says Mkhwebane.
After obtaining a degree in law from the University of the North, she followed it up with a Diploma in Corporate Law and Higher Diploma in Tax Law from Rand Afrikaans University. She has worked as a Director of the Country Information and Cooperation Management Unit for the Department of Home Affairs.
Today, as the new Public Protector, she is in the media glare. She has big shoes to fill.
“We had Pastor At Boshoff of the Christian Revival Church welcome the staff, so for me that was the highlight. It was like homecoming because I had worked for the office before and [was] meeting old colleagues,” says Mkhwebane, who in 1999 had worked at the Public Protector’s office as a Senior Investigator and Acting Provincial Representative.
Just before taking over, Mkhwebane says she only met Madonsela for a brief 20 minutes, although, she wishes she had more time with her because she had to present the State of Capture report in Parliament the following week.
“I dealt with it, because I never prepared that report but I owned it. It’s one of the performances which the former Public Protector has achieved.  She was excellent in that and whatever was in the annual report I had to present it as my own,” she says.
One of the most high-profile cases in recent history was Madonsela’s investigation of Zuma’s estimated R246-million (approx. $17.3 million as per current exchange rate)public spending on the security upgrades of his home in Nkandla in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.
“I met her only once on her last day, I was supposed to receive the handover report unfortunately she had slept in the office busy preparing it and in the morning when I arrived, she wasn’t here so I only met with the CEO and other senior managers,” she says.
“I’ve got nothing against her; she’s got nothing against me. When we met, I thanked her and told her that I will take over from her and [take] the office to greater heights.”
Mkhwebane’s appointment came with its share of controversy when the Democratic Alliance (DA) claimed she was a spy for Zuma. Mkhwebane denies this.
“I’ve never had an interaction with President Zuma besides meeting him when he visited China for a state visit; I was responsible for communication when we were arranging the local media for interviews, that’s when we were in the same room but not even interacting. The DA is making a frivolous allegation that I’m a spy and they are not bringing any proof after I indicated several times that they need to disclose their sources who are lying to them.” Despite the unsubstantiated claims, she is pressing on with her work, tackling criticism head on.
“It sometimes builds you as a person. I’m not one to act out of that and be emotional and angry. I analyze what I’m criticized for and what I can learn from it. And you won’t satisfy every person,” she says.
The first thing she noticed after assuming office was staff morale was an issue.
“There are people who haven’t signed their performance agreements for the past two years and some have taken the institution to the CCMA, what do you call that?” says Mkhwebane.
The next seven years in office, she hopes to empower ordinary people to stand up for what is right and hold leaders to account.
Madonsela will be remembered for her fight against corruption. Time will tell if Mkhwebane will live up to the admiration many hold for the Public Protector’s office.

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‘Criticism Sometimes Builds You As A Person’

My last day in office as Public Protector in South Africa was difficult. That Friday, October 14, it was difficult for me to focus on any feeling because we had not slept the night before. My focus was on finishing the editing of the [State of Capture] report in the morning.
And then rushing home to freshen up and then get back on time to meet the new Public Protector and take her through some of the things with the team. That would be our first meeting and we would schedule more when I am out of the office.
Nonetheless, that Friday was like a fast-forwarded movie, everything was fast, and every minute just disappeared.
Unwisely, we also had arranged a media briefing for that day, which just made it very complicated. Because I often found myself in a fast-paced situation that day, having little time, I had no time to reflect how blessed I had been. I think that is something I did on Saturday after the 14th when I just reflected.
Firstly, to be given this opportunity to be the Public Protector and secondly, to work with people who shared the same vision, and worked with me understanding the purpose of the office while defining our purposes as individuals within that.
That really was the focus of my reflection, the role became very, very distant, but at the end of it really it seemed to me that most of the things that had happened were extraordinary, things that I am really thankful to be a part of.
I really think that it was such a remarkable journey with remarkable people. Members of our team who were working with limited resources but keeping their eyes on the ball, and people in government who, besides all the noise, the majority of them really just focused on doing it right.
Late at night [Friday], when everyone else was gone, there was a team of staff members that volunteered to come and clear the office, fitting things in boxes, which was really kind of them and it wasn’t just those that had been working closely with me in the public office.
It was really a touching moment.
Over time, I have been totally surprised by the reaction of people because you and I know that we all just [were] required to do our job. The attention and accolades sometimes confuse me, though it’s something I am obviously grateful for because when you are doing a job, you [are] worrying that ‘let me not do it wrong, let me not drop the ball’, and of course I noticed that there were balls that we dropped.
Especially when it came to doing work in a timely manner because we had to catch this ball and catch that one and in every multi-tasking, some balls were dropped. But the generosity of the people, in focusing on only the good that we did, has been amazing.
I am just like any other person doing my work with a team of people. The difference between me and the team is the title, I have been given the title of Public Protector and the team was working as hard.
There was nothing special about me, other than the fact that I had a title and in terms of brains and commitment, the men and women I worked with were equally talented colleagues and worked hard.
I am not remarkable beyond other females, I am just blessed in that people seem to focus on the good I do.
Thinking of South Africa after my term is that it’s such a beautiful and  remarkable country, there is so much to do in this country.
It has come this far, but today is better than yesterday and tomorrow is certainly going to be better than today. Chin up and focus on the dream, the dream that’s been captured in the Constitution.
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– As told to Thandi Xaba

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‘That Friday Was Like  A Fast-Forwarded Movie’

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Kenya is rallying behind Ambassador Dr Amina Mohamed to be the next Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, and Africa has warmly received her nomination. Elections are set to be held in January.
With a stellar diplomatic career of over three decades, Mohamed, a Kenyan, is known as an excellent strategist with proven negotiation and managerial skills, having demonstrated solid leadership in every domestic and international post she has held.
She is the serving Chair of the 10th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference which is the topmost decision-making body of the WTO.
Mohamed rose through the ranks in Kenya’s diplomatic service from legal advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kenya’s Missions to Geneva and New York, to the highest level of Ambassador/Permanent Representative, Kenya Mission, to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva from 2000 to 2006.
She served as Director, Europe and the Commonwealth and Director Diaspora from 2006 to 2007 and was Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs in 2008.
In July 2011, she joined the UN as Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) based in Nairobi.
In April 2013, she was appointed by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta as Cabinet Secretary (Minister) for Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Kenya.
Weeks before the AU Commission elections, Mohamed spoke to CNBC Africa. Excerpts from the interview:
Q: You’ve had many firsts as a woman in leadership in Africa; just walk us through your journey?
A: The first time I did something that I guess laid the road-map for whatever else came after was when I was elected to chair the International Organization for Migration Conference which is a council for migration. At that time, Kenya was actually the only African country that was a member of the International Organization for Migration. And when I was approached, I told them that the only reason I would agree to be put up as a candidate for the chairmanship would be if they would open up the organization for Africa, and would be able to attract more countries into the organization.
So we reached an understanding and I chaired it and during my chairmanship, that one year, I brought in a few African countries, and the rest is actually history, because now I think the largest group of countries that are members of the IOM are African countries, and from then on, I think in especially the kind of job that we do as ambassadors, you are called upon to show your commitment to the continent by agreeing to chair different bodies.
And so I was fortunate, I was privileged that the African group in the cities that I served in saw it fit to elect me over and over again, and so it’s something that I enjoyed doing, I was committed to doing and I think the record is not a bad one.
<div id="attachment_32061" style="width: 692px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32061" class="wp-image-32061 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/041©Thomsonphotography-Amina-WTO.jpg" alt="" width="682" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/041©Thomsonphotography-Amina-WTO.jpg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/041©Thomsonphotography-Amina-WTO-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/041©Thomsonphotography-Amina-WTO-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/041©Thomsonphotography-Amina-WTO-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" />Dr Amina Mohamed</div>
<h3>Q: You are now running to be chairperson of the AU Commission, tell us about the drive behind this decision?</h3>
A: Kenya has put up my candidateship for the position of Chairman of the African Union Commission. Why am I running? I think we have a lot of value that we can bring to the table; we are also at a good time in the history of this continent. The first thing that comes to mind is the framework that we have. We have a framework that was agreed on by all African countries that needs a faithful implementer to put in place.
It’s a framework called Agenda 2063, for inclusive growth and sustainable development and it has a number of amazing aspirations for the continent. I think it’s actually time for East Africa because of the track record we have also set as a community, as an East African Community in what we have done.
We created a model for others to emulate and so there’s just a feeling that it was time for us to run for this position and I would be a good candidate for that because again I can bring people together, I have never come across a challenge that cannot be resolved, I look at challenges actually as opportunities. And I believe that we all know what we need as a continent to move us forward. One should look at the leaps we have made.
We are a young continent, we have done amazing things, we – many of us – have come up with new constitutions, constitutions that are based on our own realities, not on realities that come from elsewhere, also we look at our own specificities, our own individualities as countries.
For us as a continent, it’s actually excellent that we have such a young population.
It’s a young population that’s creative and innovative that are drivers of the economy and they are also the future and the present and therefore whatever they do, they know what they would like to put in place, for themselves and for their own children and for posterity I guess.
So we actually are in a situation where we can lead and not follow, because the problem is ours, the challenge is ours and it’s a wonderful opportunity to use, to propel the continent to the greatest possible heights.
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<h3>Q: Briefly take us through what an AU Commission led by you will focus on, looking at the challenges Africa is facing…</h3>
A: I think industrialization, without any doubt. It is the only one that has the ability to reduce poverty, create the jobs that we need and to move the continent [forward]. And I think following that, trade, because trade brings us together, which is a unifier if you like.
We need to make sure that our infrastructure, whether it’s land, sea or air, is seamless. It doesn’t take a day, it’s a process but we need to get on with it. We need to remove the obstacles that are low-lying fruit… they can be removed easily.
One of those is allowing the easier movement of people, business people, of capital, services and goods. There is no reason why Kenya should import; and I am using as an example, if we did not have the dairy sector and we needed butter, milk or cheese, there is no reason why we should import that from 10,000 miles away; if we can just go across the border, into the next country and import from our neighbors.
The only reason why that has been difficult is because of the infrastructure deficit that we are faced with and we need to address that and address it quickly.
In this country we have tried to do it, in the region we have tried to do it with the SGR, with the road infrastructure that we have put in place, with the modernization with the port that has been done over the last few years, with the modernization of our airport, so those are the things we need to do across the continent so that our young people can move from one country to another, bring ideas, bring creativity, bring innovation, but also find jobs.
So apart from industrialization, and obviously there you have to address the infrastructure deficit, trade and the need to trade amongst ourselves; the intra-Africa trade is at 13%, and there is no reason for that. It should actually be at least at 30%; we should, eventually have 60% of trade within the continent.
This is where the population is, this is where the fastest growing middle-class is, and obviously with that, you have a consumer market, so this is where most of the trading should actually take place.
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<h3>Q: The outgoing AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been very vocal about peace and security. Share with us your vision…</h3>
A: She’s also been very passionate about agriculture, because agriculture has the ability to transform communities and societies very quickly and there’s a need therefore again as a reason of the youth to make agriculture trendy and productive for the youth.
But you know you cannot undertake development unless you actually have a peaceful, stable and predictable environment. You must have peace and security, without it you can’t have growth.
And so it’s been actually a rallying call of Madam Zuma, to silence the guns and we’ve agreed that we would try to do that at least by 2020, if we can’t do it sooner. I believe that if we all came together and are always committed as she is, we should be able to do that before the 2020 deadline.
Africa does not manufacture ammunition except for a few countries. Africa is resolving most of its conflicts and there are very few countries today, of the 54, that are still engulfed in conflict, in fact there are probably less than five that are engulfed in active conflict, and therefore we are at a place where we should be talking about a peaceful Africa, a secure Africa, a growing Africa, a resilient Africa.
So it’s one of the priorities. We actually addressed most of the issues that were connected to decolonization, that peace and security became a big issue and we started addressing it.
I think if we are focused we can actually deal with it, it’s been successful in the majority of countries and of course there will be hiccups, back and forth, but I think a majority of the countries have gone beyond the stage where conflict is a daily affair, so we need to continue working on it and I think we should be able to get it done.
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<h3>Q: What’s your vision on driving governance?</h3>
A: We have a very comprehensive and all-inclusive agenda. And that is also an issue that is in our Agenda 2063; we are more transparent, we are more open. Again, we are a young continent, the youth is very demanding, we are involving more and more people in leadership – apart from the youth, the women that are coming in jobs now.
So I think today Africa is at a better place, in terms of the rule of law, in terms of governance than it has ever been, and I think the only way forward is to keep improving that.
And as I said before, we [Kenya] enacted our constitution in 2010. Immediately after its enactment – I was in Justice, Permanent Secretary there – we got a dozen requests from countries that wanted to come and look at our constitution and see whether there was anything they could borrow from there that would fit their own circumstances. Because at the end of the day, the instrument is only as good as its implementation.
And you will only implement something that you are really comfortable with, and so the whole purpose of coming to study and look at what we are doing is, ‘will this fit into my own circumstance, is it something I can do now, is it something that can be delayed a bit’.
As you know, our own constitution had transitional clauses, what we needed to do now, what we could a little later; some of the provisions could only actually be fully implemented in five years, six years, and 10 years. So we had actually time periods in the constitution for implementation of different provisions.
So I think it’s the same everywhere, but the governance situation on the continent is better than it’s ever been and I know it’s going to continue improving.
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<h3>Q: Your bid has been warmly</h3>
accepted across a good number of countries, over 25 African countries. What are your expectations as we head towards January 2017?
A: We are campaigning, I was told by one of our leaders that campaigns are personal, you must ask for a vote and that if you don’t ask for a vote, even your own brother can vote against you, so we are going across the continent asking everybody for their support and trying of course to obviously convince them that we have a good candidate. They have been very receptive, very warmly received, wonderful arrangements put in place for us… we are encouraged by the reception and the support that seems to be coming across as well.
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– Gitonga is a news producer at CNBC Africa and interviewed Mohamed at the CNBC Africa studios in Nairobi, Kenya; for the full text of the interview, visit
www.cnbcafrica.com.

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‘Our Strength Lies In Coming Together

Fadumo Dayib has led a remarkable life. She mourned the loss of siblings, fled her country, was deported, and then became just another number among the many refugees in Europe. Despite these obstacles, Dayib went on to get a Master’s degree at Harvard and work for the United Nations. Having already achieved more than expected, Dayib is looking to beat even slimmer odds by running to be Somalia’s president.
Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous places; it’s even worse if you’re a woman.
The strife began in the 1980s when opposition regimes started an uprising against Somalia’s dictatorial president, Siad Barre. Although Barre is dead, the conflict never ceased. Terrorist groups, such as Al Shabaab, have emerged and piracy around the horn of Africa is rampant.
Dayib is one of millions who have had to flee the conflict. The 43-year-old was born in Kenya where her mother moved to after losing 11 children to treatable illnesses. But the family’s stay in Kenya was short-lived as the country began forceful deportations in 1989.
Her mother sold all her possessions for Dayib and her two siblings to seek asylum in Finland. After only learning to fully read and write at the age of 14, Dayib proceeded to get two Master’s degrees in public health and nursing. She later got another Master’s from Harvard in public administration.
Dayib has worked for prestigious institutions, including the United Nations. Not content, she walked away from the safety and relative comfort of Finland to the gunshots and grenade attacks of Somalia.
“It is because I love Somalia. I have lived in the diaspora since 1990, but I knew my roots were in Somalia. I moved to Finland as a refugee and I was sure that one day I would go back to Somalia. To me, being a refugee didn’t mean I should never go back to my homeland,” she says.
She returned home to be a part of the change she hoped to see.
“I watched from the sidelines as the country lost it, women died unnecessarily, children died of treatable diseases, elders were neglected, among other injustices. I thought that I did not need to do this but it was my moral obligation and civic duty.”
Since announcing her intention to run, Dayib has received death threats.
“If we all give up, what will become of our country? I am compelled to choose between death and life, if need be, so that at least we can have a peaceful country,” she says.
“I would like to go home, over 1.2 million Somalis would like to go home from the diaspora, there are one million people who are internally displaced and they all want a dignified existence in their own country. I believe if one dies fighting for something they believe in, that’s the most dignified death,” she says.
She does not see herself as a politician.
“I am a layperson who feels that the time has come for us to take power and responsibility from politicians because they are not doing what they set out to do. Rather than sit and complain, I am of the opinion that we need to take charge,” says Dayib.
In Somalia, many believe that women hold no place in leadership. From the onset, political pundits have shrugged her off, saying the odds are stacked against her.
Her humility and grace means she doesn’t take offence to this. As others campaigned against her, Dayib knew she had already won.
“My ultimate goal is to instigate social change by challenging the current status quo. In a country, continent and society like mine, where a woman’s space is mostly considered to be in a private place, at home, my candidacy inspires a lot of women, young girls as well as the youth. I am a catalyst; my aim is to open doors for my children and their children for social change,” she says.
In that regard, whatever happens at the poll, she has already won.

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The Woman Changing The Status Quo

December 25, 2011, a scorching summer’s day in Zwelitsha, a small township in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, is a day I’ll never forget; I was going to become a man.
After months of preparation – buying a cow to slaughter, blankets, traditional surgeon fees, overseer fees and building a reed hut – the day had finally arrived.
On this day, I woke up at the crack of dawn, my heart pounding heavily, nerves and fears of the unknown crept in. The elders came to fetch me at 5AM. I was stripped off my clothes, as I left everything behind, and covered in a white blanket with red stripes. We walked barefoot for about an hour to the mountain and my reed hut. This was home for the next three weeks.
Back home, my mother was as an emotional wreck. Who could blame her considering that almost all the news publications ran stories about the alarming death toll among initiates? Her son was going to spend three weeks in the rough bush after all. She prayed hard for a safe return.
I remember asking myself ‘what if I never return home?’. Having read so many stories about initiates dying, I thought it could happen to me. But it was all in the mind.
In isiXhosa we call it ulwaluko, a rite of passage to manhood. It’s a journey that is not easy.
It is done in two seasons, winter and summer, and it can be deadly. The first week is by no means easy, especially in summer, where initiates only eat half-boiled maize with no salt and no water. Dehydration is one of the reasons initiates die.
At the mountain, a surgeon, there for the removal of foreskins had a spear with sharp blades in hand. He tells me it won’t hurt if I cooperate.
“Sit down and open your legs apart,” he said, as a quick single cut from the spear removed my foreskin. I wasn’t allowed to make a sound, nor flinch, otherwise I’d be seen as a disgrace to the family.
As if this was not enough, more pain was in store.
Here, wounds are covered with a medicinal plant and bound with a leather thong around the waist. If I knew what I was getting myself into, I probably would have run.
The first seven days were hell; it was pain and hunger. I was so weak I could barely stand. I was given a stick and my body was smeared with wet clay and covered with a blanket. But the idea of being a man, kept me going.
The second week I began feeling better and getting used to life in the bush. I was even allowed to walk around and go to the river to get rid of boredom.
On the eve of my return home, friends came to visit.
In the morning, I had to run to the river to wash the clay off my body for the last time.
My brother covered my body in butter and blankets, leaving a hole for me to hold my stick. As my reed hut was set alight, I was not allowed to look back. I was told if I did I would have picked up all the bad luck.
Almost everyone was gathered at my house, as women ululated and beat corrugated iron with sticks. The celebrations carried on for two days.
After three weeks of pain, loneliness, and finally getting used to life in the bush, I was now a man. The seclusion and suffering taught me how to persevere in the face of hardship.

It’s Hard To Be  a Man In Africa

Sirdic Grant has been here before. Top of the league, historic cup success and facing the boot in a few months. It’s as emphatic and simple as that.
He did it all with Hereford FC in a 2015-16 season that included a championship triumph and a Wembley appearance in front of 46,000. Now he is on a similar journey with Westfields, a club submerged even deeper in the backwaters of English football and, intriguingly, just down the road.
So what is a boy from Accra, Ghana, doing on this unusual odyssey and why the certainty of having to say another sad goodbye in May if he becomes a title winner for the second year running?
The answers are wrapped up in bureaucratic red tape. This unfailingly polite 20-year-old is a sports business management degree student at Hartpury College, 30 miles away in Gloucester, and, under the terms of his work permit, barred from playing higher than the fifth tier of the country’s non-league pyramid. That’s eight levels below the Premier League.
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Hereford won the Midland Premier League in 2016 and Grant, whose late-season goals included one as they thrashed Coventry Sphinx 4-0 to become champions, was reluctantly cast aside after appearing in the FA Vase final defeat against Morpeth – a sort of amateur clubs’ FA Cup which commands a Wembley final.
It’s barely 300 yards through the trees from Hereford’s Edgar Street home to Westfields’ allpay.park Stadium – a much humbler base overlooked behind one goal by the giant vats of a cider factory. So, amid interest from similar-sized clubs, it was predictable that the tricky winger, who doesn’t sample the local ‘nectar’ or any other tipple for that matter, moved in with the neighbors last July.
The winning feeling remained. His new club started with 17 successive victories and have strong title aspirations if they can cope with the fixture backlog caused by reaching round one of the FA Cup for the first time. And that could be the cue for him to decamp again.
“It is an unusual situation,” he smiles, recognizing the irony of, in effect, being too successful. “I will have to find a club who won’t get promoted! It’s frustrating but that’s how it is.”
“I just love playing and to enjoy those great times with Hereford and now be part of Westfields’ tremendous season has been so exciting. I have had an unbelievable first year at this level.”
Typically for someone more used to the heat and dusty pitches of Ghana’s capital city, Sirdic (pronounced Se-deek) has struggled with the cold and rain.
‘Shy’ is one word that comes to mind from initial phone contact. He is quietly spoken and acknowledges that his accent is difficult to pick up for the folk 15 miles or so from the Welsh border, where the immigrant population is by no means sizeable.
But his girlfriend Livi, a Hereford-supporting childcare worker, who has now also bought a season ticket at Westfields, heads the support network. She and his Hartpury and Westfields colleague Anderson Ongono provide the ‘wheels’ as Grant doesn’t drive and reveal how he is sometimes late emerging from the dressing room after games because he treats team-mates to some dance moves and singing.
“No singing today,” Grant smiles as we meet for the first time. We are pitch-side, 10 minutes after the final whistle at the 1-1 home Cup draw with Curzon Ashton that is off the scale as the biggest match in Westfields’ 50-year history. The BBC cameras are in attendance, partly to present from the ground the flagship Football Focus program.
No longer does the connection between this lovely cathedral city and the FA Cup finish with Hereford’s Ronnie Radford, a wonder goal against Newcastle United on a mudbath pitch and a sharp rise in commentator John Motson’s voice. But, today, Bonfire Night afternoon, the player is adamant: “I only sing when we have won.”
‘Sid’ is a product of the Ghana-born Right to Dream (RTD) Academy, which now has countless dots on the world map. He was very close to Abdul Majeed Waris, a forward the country took to the 2014 World Cup and is with Lorient in France. Another RTD and Hartpury graduate, David Accam, also a full international, plays for Chicago Fire.
The academy, which has reached out to talented youngsters elsewhere in West Africa, has a tie-up with Manchester City and Grant was thrilled to be whisked there in 2011 and introduced to one of Accra’s finest exports, Michael Essien. The midfielder is one reason he supports Chelsea – he has even played there in a charity game.
Sirdic found things tougher back home but not as tough as they might have been. He has one brother and one sister, his retired father having worked as a personal assistant in the Ghana Supply Company.
“We always had a meal on the table but you had to find a way of affording boots,” he says. “England has a better standard of living and football, with more privileges. I would probably have been at university and playing in the second or third division of the national league if I’d stayed in Ghana. There isn’t enough spent on football for youngsters there.”
Westfields, for whom Grant scored an early-season hat-trick against Highgate, were averaging crowds of 155 before 1,178 flocked to the Cup game. Hereford routinely pull in two to three times that latter number.
Sirdic will complete his second year of his degree course before considering a break in order to follow the path of his former Hereford team-mate, Mustapha Bundu from Sierra Leone, who is now playing in Denmark.
“I want to play as high as I can,” he adds. “The aim would be the Premier League but getting a team in Europe, maybe Scandinavia, would be a step. The work permit situation might be easier then.”
Westfields’ replay at Curzon was their eighth FA Cup game of the season. Manchester United played seven in winning the 2015-16 competition.
Westfields lost the replay 3-1 on November 14. An injury meant Grant didn’t even make the bench. That’s how cruel the FA Cup can be.

The Gifted Ghanaian Stranded In  Middle England

It is noisy and crowded at the 155th birthday of Dale College in King William’s Town. Everyone, even people who never went to school here, are dressed in red and black school colours. The school army cadets march through the crowds with a clatter of boots. All, from toddlers to old men leaning on sticks, head for the CB Jennings rugby field; a sacred place at this school, affectionately known as ‘The Graveyard’ for it is where opposition teams are buried.
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The noise around the field is deafening as the lean and lithe players jog slowly out onto the green grass. This weekend revolves around rugby and this pitch is a cradle of champions. Some of the biggest names in rugby cut their teeth – and probably a bit of flesh – on this ground: All Black Greg Somerville; Springbok wing Bjorn Basson; former Springbok and Blue Bulls hooker Bandise Maku; the first black captain of the Sharks Lubabalo Mtembu; former Proteas bowler Monde Zondeki; Sharks looseforward Keegan Daniel. Makhaya Ntini – the record holding South African test cricket player – also sprinted down the wing on this ground.
Steve Biko – the Black Consciousness Movement leader who grew up in Ginsberg a few kilometres down the road – would have been proud. Biko, who died in police custody just over 40 years ago, was also a rugby player as well as an idealist and activist.
It is likely even Biko would have been surprised by the slow, but sure transformation at this former whites-only elite school.
As the first team prepares for the kick off, Hennie Otto is the only white player. The other 14 are all black. Even the heaving stands that rise up around the pitch are a sign of the times. Each group of reunited former pupils sits together in the same row according to school year. The stands used to be all white. With every passing year a white row is replaced by a black one.
“Out of 550 odd learners, there are about 25 white, colored, Indian and other races. The rest of the learners are all African black, which is a fair representation of the town they come from and the country as a whole,” says Dale College Headmaster, Mike Eddy.
According to Eddy, Dale College took the lead in accepting black African learners in former Model C schools during the early 90s. While the school’s racial demographics may have changed over the years, the first team coach, Grant Griffiths, maintains that the school’s traditions and values have not.
“We’ve kept all our traditions when it comes to sports, especially rugby. The jersey hand out, the sing-songs, the slapping, initiation, and all those things. The learners and players want to keep it from A to Z,” says Griffiths.
Griffiths too was at Dale College. He captained the last unbeaten rugby team in 1993.
This year’s team has beaten all their rivals in the province, and is number one in the Eastern Cape and sixth in the country.
Dale’s coach says while not much has changed in the style of play, compared to the team he captained, the biggest challenge comes with culture.
As a predominantly Xhosa province, the boys have to undergo a month long initiation in the mountain, as part of their rite of passage to manhood.
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“It’s always difficult with the boys having to go to the mountain for initiation school but we’re working around that. The six weeks straight after coming back is the most important. Diet wise, nutrition, gym. We’re never going to be the biggest side in the world but as long as we’re strong and fit, we’ll be able to keep up with the big boys,” says Griffiths.
“People go, they come back and they change. For example, if you are a new cap, when you come back from the mountain you’ll have that mentality of ndingu bhuti ngoku [I’m a man now] so I can’t go around picking up cones. We always manage to work around that though,” says Kwanda Dimaza, who has also been to the mountain and is set to go to one of the country’s top rugby unions, the Sharks, next year. He made the SA Schools under-18 team last year when he was still in grade 11.
Another hindrance to Dale College’s abilities is students choosing more prestigious high schools after primary school. South Africa’s 200-meter national record holder and one of the fastest men in Africa, Anaso Jobodwana, is one of the many who left for the college’s fierce rival, Selborne College in East London. Stormers hooker, Siyabonga ‘Scarra’ Ntubeni, is another who left for King Edward VII School in Johannesburg.
“It’s been difficult over the years but we’ve managed to hold on to more now,” says Griffiths.
Dale Junior headmistress, Patricia Thatcher, the first woman to head Dale’s primary school, says the learners are taught to be the best.
“It is about the commitment and the passion of the staff first of all. With them on your side, you start instilling the discipline and commitment in the kids from grade ‘R’ and once they’ve got it, it’s there,” says Thatcher.
Interestingly, Thatcher doesn’t even know the racial demographics of Dale Junior.
“It’s not even an issue of transformation anymore, it just is. A lot of people ask ‘how do you get it right?’ It’s not a case of getting it right, it’s what comes natural to us,” says Thatcher.
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While transformation remains a thorn in the side of South African rugby, Dale’s first team coach says it has hampered the future of some players he has coached. Griffiths says rugby unions often take players from Dale College and those players, more often than not, spend their time at those unions on the bench.
“A player like Ace Joe for example got lost in the Blue Bulls set up for two years, which is a hell of an important two years for him. I think he got 20 minutes of game time that whole season which basically cost him his career,” says Griffiths.
He says the unions now guarantee the players game time when signing the youngsters.
He hopes to see players like Aphelele Fassi, who has already been offered a contract by the Sharks while in grade 11, Dimaza, who is also set to join the Sharks, and many others with offers at various unions, one day don the Springbok jersey.
“I’ve never seen that being hard. I think the players that come through, if they get looked after, after school like we do at Dale College, with the rugby and the players managed well, as well as given opportunities, I don’t see that ever being a problem.”
So while South African sport struggles against the twin problems of transformation and creating excellence, it could perhaps learn something from Dale College.
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Red, Black  And Covered In Glory

If there is a football hell, this could be it. The sky, looking gloomy and ominous, is laden with soaking drizzle on what was supposed to be a summer’s day. With thunder rumbling in their ears and forked lightning slashing down from the heavens, poor Moroka Swallows found themselves flapping haplessly into the eye of the storm in the depths of the third tier of South African football.
From the first minute, Swallows were outmuscled, outplayed and outthought at the Italian Club in Germiston, Johannesburg.
Their heads dropped at 1-0 and didn’t come up again. African All Stars – who missed out narrowly on promotion from the ABC Motsepe Gauteng League last season– made it 2-0 at half time and 3-0 by the final whistle. It could have been six; Swallows retained merely three of their players who were relegated from the National First Division last season and all of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) players are long gone. This has left a vulnerable and inexperienced side taking on the physical rigours of the third division.
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Swallows are dejected, demoralized, often defeated, and down among the dead men of the lower leagues; boys against men. On this day, the men playing for African All Stars earned a R700 ($50) win bonus; by the look of it, Swallows may not get one for a long time yet.
The second half was better from Swallows, but a wasted afternoon was summed up after a flowing move down the right ended in a wild shot into the middle of nowhere.
“We should take him off and not replace him with anyone,” says one diehard Swallows supporter.
The defeat left Swallows languishing one point above the relegation zone with one win in eight games. Where they go down to from here is anybody’s guess. A few days later, under even gloomier skies, Swallows played league leaders Maccabi FC. In Africa, rain is meant to bring good luck. It seemed to come this night as Swallows, against the run of play, scored a last-minute goal to seal a 2-1 victory, only their second win of the season. Will the win, and the rain, open the floodgates on a successful season? It’s unlikely.
It is incredible to think Swallows, founded in 1947 and one of the oldest clubs in Africa, won the MTN8 Cup final just four years ago and was considered one of the top three clubs. Gordon Igesund, one of South Africa’s best coaches who went on to manage his country, was at the helm in those days of plain sailing.
Sadder still is that a handful of Swallows loyalists turn up every week, dressed in their maroon robes and hats of homage – largely for old time’s sake – with enthusiasm for a cup final rather than a football wake.
One of them is a man the fans call Spikiri, from Alexandra, a driver for one of the cinema companies. He is dressed from head-to-toe in maroon with sunglasses under his sun hat. Spikiri, born in 1968, has supported Swallows since he was five and shakes his head at half-time as he tells FORBES AFRICA of his pain over two relegations in three seasons.
“Tjo, my man I was crying. I could not believe it. I felt sick. I didn’t eat for a week. My family and friends laughed at me. I couldn’t even perform in bed for my lady,” he says. “I couldn’t believe my team was gone.”
Even the African All Stars players, who were paid to pour on the pain on this afternoon, can’t believe the fall of Swallows.
“It’s a South African shock, they shouldn’t be here,” says 22-year-old striker Siphiwe Simelane.
The downfall of Swallows has many fathers: the death of a chairman, who loved the club, mismanagement and disastrous deals.
The team manager, Power Makhura, feels the current chairman shouldn’t be running the club from Cape Town. He isn’t “hands on,” he tells me.
In August 2016, FORBES AFRICA reported on a desperate last-ditch bid to buy the club’s way back into the PSL by taking the place of Free State Stars. It was far too late and the PSL said no.
The word among the faithful few on the terraces suggests that this self-same deal may be back on.
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“There is a 100 percent a deal in place to buy Free State Stars next season and use the current side as the development team,” says Spikiri who claims to have the ear of the committee. “We pay for the thing we love, it’s a small price to pay.”
Maybe, but one Swallow doesn’t make a PSL return.
At the final whistle, the hunched youngsters of Swallows trudge to their coach as if they were on the way to the headmaster’s office.
“It can’t get any worse than this, which is probably the upside of the situation,” chuckled the substitution advisor in the clapboard stand.
What is certain is that Swallows are likely to have to swallow a lot more pride before this football hell freezes over.

Wounded Swallows  Roast In Football Hell

Tanzania’s reluctance to adopt a joint tourism visa arrangement with its East African neighbors offers an opportunity for the scheme’s proponents to rethink underlying challenges of security and illegal immigrants.
Since 2014, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have implemented a joint $100 tourist visa. Tanzania, though, instead demands its own $150 visa fee for visitors entering its borders.
Having a joint visa arrangement is a no-brainer for the East African Community (EAC) bloc that is trying to increase earnings from visitor bookings and attract foreign investment into its budding tourism industry. A seamless visa boosts the attractiveness of a bloc because visitors are spared the hustle of having to make multiple arrangements to enter each of the partner states.
Dar es Salaam however maintains that there are always two sides of a coin and will not jump onto the bandwagon until it conclusively assesses the impact of the scheme.
Because of this, there is bad blood between the EAC partners and Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s neighbors see it as standing in the way of a potential game-changing concept.
Kenya’s Tourism minister Najib Balala recently kicked up a fresh storm when he claimed that Tanzania had pulled out of the joint EAC single tourist visa pact because it was dissatisfied with the manner in which it was ratified. Tanzania denies this and maintains it has never been part of the deal and would only join if there was deeper consensus on security and revenue sharing formulas.
Dar es Salaam’s concerns, especially that of security, must be taken seriously by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, rather than just focusing on tourism and investment.
It’s not new for some members of economic blocs to reject seamless travel arrangements with other partners. The UK and the Republic of Ireland opted out of the EU’s Schengen visa scheme over concerns on the security risks of seamless travel by visitors to member states. The UK opted to maintain its own borders, and Ireland preserved its free movement arrangement with the UK rather than join Schengen.
This issue has recently featured in key debates in the wake of terror attacks in France and Belgium, with some analysts linking the attacks to the lax border scrutiny that comes with the seamless border arrangement.
Similar challenges are present in East Africa where Islamist militants continue to pose a threat from their hideouts in the lawless parts of Somalia. Kenya and Uganda have borne the brunt of the militant groups, such as al-Shabaab, and the question of border security and immigration should be an obvious concern.
Kenya has also become a major transit route for illegal immigrants heading south in search of jobs, thanks to a raft of poorly implemented regional agreements that allow for the free movement of people.
For example, although Ethiopia isn’t a member of the EAC, its citizens are allowed visa-free travel to neighboring Kenya. This scenario has inadvertently seen Kenya become a transit route for illegal immigrants from Ethiopia looking for jobs as far as South Africa. Hundreds of Ethiopians and Eritreans have been arrested on Kenyan soil for being in the country illegally as they try finding their way to southern Africa.
This poses a serious security risk because militants can sneak into Kenya and onward to other countries in the region. The illegal immigrations also pose a challenge to the targeted countries because of the disruptions caused to their economies, exacerbating the scramble for jobs and housing and other basic amenities.
Countries targeted by the illegal immigrants that pass through Kenya, such as South Africa and Zambia, have witnessed xenophobic attacks due to pressure caused on resources by the uninvited guests.
The EAC partners need to then find workable solutions to keep out any cross-border security threats and illegal immigrants, even as they pursue a dream of a common tourism industry which has its obvious benefits.
On a visit to Kenya in mid-October, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma raised this issue with immigration controls in Kenya and said they posed challenges.
“We have to ensure that there are no loopholes for criminals to take advantage of,” he said in response to a request by his host President Uhuru Kenyatta to review visa conditions for Kenyans.

Secure Borders Before Making Them Seamless

Nigerian domination, presidents under fire, a controversial voting system, a prophecy foretold, tension over a last-minute switch. The African Union? No, the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) 2016, at the Dome in Johannesburg, heavy with the heaviest music in Africa and laden with controversy.
Before a note was played, the first controversy struck. Rising African star Trevor Noah – who is tripping the light fantastic on The Daily Show in New York – pulled out from fronting this shimmering night in the country of his birth. He was ill.
In stepped Bonang Matheba, for a whispered R500,000 (about $36,000), with just 24 hours to go, to become the first African woman to present the event in its nine-year history. Founder of the MAMAs, Nigerian Alex Okosi, claimed it was “exciting” and “it’s girl power tomorrow”. You can only imagine how chuffed he was to lose his host 24 hours before the awards and how stressful the last-minute rehearsals must have been.
Women took center stage on the night and were outspoken. Co-host Nigerian Yemi Alade retorted to her President Muhammadu Buhari over his comments on a visit to Germany recently along the lines that a woman’s place was in the kitchen and the so-called “other room”.
“Women, don’t forget! We are not only good in the kitchen and good in the living room and good in the other room; we are also good anywhere we want to be,” snapped back Alade from the stage.
This drew rapturous applause from the thousands in the crowd.
When the awards came, it was women again to the fore. One touching moment amid the glitz was the awarding of the Africa Re-Imagined Award to Mary Taedzerwa who is fighting in Zimbabwe against the marriage of children. She was married off at the age of 15. Her efforts helped persuade Zimbabwe to increase the legal age for marriage to 18 in January. According to UNICEF, 34% of girls in Zimbabwe, aged 20 to 24, were married by the time they were 18.
<div id="attachment_5555" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5555" class="wp-image-5555 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-617684068-300x230.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="230" />Wizkid (L) and Emtee perform during the 2016 MTV Africa Music Awards</div>
As the awards were handed out, there were questions in the audience about the Google voting system. Many claimed it didn’t reflect Africa. The system allows every person five online votes a day and they can return to the system the next day. This means people can easily pile up the votes, making it more of a popularity contest than an appreciation of music on the continent.
On top of this, a mere 28% of the population are on the internet meaning most Africans can’t vote.
More than half of Nigerians are on the internet – about 100 million users, 60 million more than anyone else – and that could explain why, yet again, the West African nation did well.
It also may be that Nigeria has the second-fastest growing music industry in the world, after Indonesia, and is getting stronger every year. According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, it will be worth $86 million by 2020.
Maybe the self-proclaimed South African Prince of Hip-Hop, from the other end of the continent, knew what he was talking about. Love him or loathe him, AKA made a sidewalk prophecy in FORBES AFRICA (December/January 2015) saying Nigerians have attitude to burn.
“Nigerians are told to be great,” he says. “In South Africa we are told to be humble.”
On this night he was right. Nigerian artists stole the show winning both Male and Female of the Year awards, Best Song as well as the outright Artist of the Year. The big winner of the night was 26-year-old Wizkid who released his first album at the age of 11, under the name Lil Prinz, at a time of life when most of us were learning how to ride a bike. He is taking the continent by storm, making music with Drake, Chris Brown and Tinie Tempah.
As the crowds melted away into a night full of insects and summer rain, they reflected on the band of talented Nigerians who came to South Africa’s city of gold and shone.

No Humility As Nigerians Prove They’re Great

These are the words from the chorus of Uber dadi, a hip-hop song written for Uber by Fuzile Nhlapo, one of thousands of Uber drivers across Africa.
On a hot afternoon in Johannesburg, Nhlapo walks into our offices in Sandton and, like most taxi drivers, he’s talkative and has many stories to tell.
He grew up singing in a boys’ choir in high school, in Tweeling, in eastern Free State. His love for music grew. After matriculating he moved to the Vaal to seek greener pastures.
“I had to hustle. My first job when I came to Vaal was as a storeman at a supermarket, then I became a merchandiser and then got a modelling job in Bloemfontein,” says Nhlapo.
The 30-year-old rapper did a series of studies, eventually earning a certificate in media studies, marketing and sports administration, before working for the South African Football Association (Safa).
In 2008, luck was on his side, when a friend didn’t pitch for work at Safa. The company offered him the job instead.
“I did sports administration and coaching courses. I was responsible for the Northern Cape regions until after the World Cup in 2010 and then I was without a job again,” he says.
Nhlapo desperately wanted to be an entrepreneur in music. He got his foot in the door by landing a job as a marketer at South African producer, Arthur Mafokate’s production company. Here, he got to learn the music industry.
“I was searching for a job but I was ready to go for my passion. It happened that I met Chomee, Arthur’s artist and we exchanged contacts. I then got Arthur’s number from his website and called him, I approached him as a groupie, but I knew I had a mission to work for him. But then one day Chomee called me and said Arthur was looking for a marketer.”
He applied and got the job.
“What I can tell you about Arthur is that he’s a great mentor. He hired me for a marketing job but taught me the ins and outs of entertainment. He played a big role in my entertainment career,” says Nhlapo.
He left to start his company, Black Excellence, with the aim to produce his own music. This wasn’t easy.
“I decided to open my own company, thinking that now I’m groomed enough, I can do this. I obviously made a premature decision and money was wasted because there were other aspects of business I didn’t take into consideration. I ended up getting deep into debt.”
He had to sell his car to pay off his debts.
“I was penniless and unemployed. A friend then got me a job as a merchandiser again, [but] I was not making enough money, I decided to quit.”
He ended up washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant for a small pay. Here, he met his future wife, from Zambia, who worked as a cashier.
Because life was hard in Johannesburg they returned to Tweeling.
“I was at home and someone called me and asked if I had a professional driving permit and license, and she said there’s a job for a shuttle driver and host at Emerald Resort &amp; Casino.”
He had to use his last penny to return to Johannesburg. While working at the casino, he heard, by word of mouth, about Uber, a technology company connecting riders with drivers, through a smartphone app. Nhlapo says being a part of the Uber network gives him the opportunity to be the CEO of his own cab.
“I started to research Uber and after a few weeks a cousin called to tell me about a guy who wants a driver. Since then, I have never been this happy and financially secure,” he says.
Nhlapo says he joined Uber because he could work according to his own schedule. It has also afforded him the chance to connect with people in a way that neither of his other jobs really had.
“There is more to Uber than transporting people from A to B. It gives us the chance to network and acknowledge other cultures because as black people we only know of our culture,” he says.
He jokingly says his communication skills have also improved, especially his English. He’s planning to release three songs; a hip-hop song for Uber and others, Kwaito and house.
“I’m mostly gonna play the songs in the car because I also want our riders to enjoy it,” he says.
This ambitious lad believes his songs will top the charts.
He says Oliver Mtukudzi is his favorite African musician. Like Mtukudzi, Nhlapo loves playing the guitar.
Unlike Mtukudzi, you can summon Nhlapo with an app.

Tag: December 2016

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

The Migrant Mile

Non-Stop From Lagos To LA

A Day In The Life Of A First Lady

If Steve Biko Were Still Alive…

‘Criticism Sometimes Builds You As A Person’

‘That Friday Was Like A Fast-Forwarded Movie’

‘Our Strength Lies In Coming Together

The Woman Changing The Status Quo

It’s Hard To Be a Man In Africa

The Gifted Ghanaian Stranded In Middle England

Red, Black And Covered In Glory

Wounded Swallows Roast In Football Hell

Secure Borders Before Making Them Seamless

No Humility As Nigerians Prove They’re Great

Rapping On A Rough Road