Eleven villagers sit under the shade of a marula tree, in the heat of midday, deep in the KwaZulu-Natal bush in a village called Gazini. They have been up since 4AM to tell their stories in search of a small solution to a large problem.
A week before, a herd of elephants trampled through the vegetable patch. Villagers woke to see an elephant in their backyard peering through their door. The backlash has been violent and bloody &#8211; earlier this year, villagers killed an elephant and stripped it to the bone.
Gazini is a scatter of farms two kilometers from the South African border with Mozambique; electricity or cell phone reception is unheard of. The villagers here live hand-to-mouth deep in the bush.
The villagers complain the elephants emerge from the bush in the dead of night, to strike terror into their homes. The reason the elephants roam is because their home in the bush is getting smaller by the year.
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Listening patiently to the villagers are two entrepreneurs, Mmabatho and Desmond Morudi, in white overalls, who believe their business can help the villagers sleep easy.
“The thing that made [the threat] clear to me was when we did a trip along the border fence. There you can see exactly where the fence has been broken and where the elephants cross over. We could see the broken poles snapped in half like twigs,” says Desmond.
The entrepreneurs believe that building 200 beehives, in a two-kilometer barrier will not only fend off the elephants but also make money. The villagers could be forgiven for being sceptical.
“I don’t think they are convinced, it’s still a test to see if it

really, really works to deter the elephants,” says Mmabatho.
“It’s [understandable] why they would believe such a large creature wouldn’t be scared of something so small,” says Desmond.
The Morudis have been working around this village since October. They start work early; the bees get aggressive as the day wears on. The hives hang on wooden poles, 10 meters apart, linked by barbed wire. If touched by an elephant, the hives swing and stir up the bees.
“So far we’ve put up a fence with 40 hives. Two hundred will be the final amount. The challenge is 200 hives is quite a stretch, it means they have to run through other villages of people who don’t even know that the project is going on. There is also the issue of leaving space for cars driving past as well as border patrols. You don’t want to cut the elephants off totally. You just want to cordon off the sensitive areas and leave behind a path.”
The buzzing beehive fence is the brainchild of Lucy King in Kenya, Head of the Human-Elephant Co-Existence Program for Save the Elephants, where she realized that elephants are scared of African honey bees and will avoid beehives at all costs. The bees sting the elephants’ soft skin, eyes, face, trunk and mouth.
The fences have an 80% success rate. They are made from local materials and are cheap, costing $150 to $500 per 100 meters, says King from her headquarters Nairobi.
The beehive fences have been so successful with human-elephant conflict (HEC), 13 countries have adopted similar projects, one of them being the Morudi’s growing business, The Village Market.
“We’ve obsessed over [King’s] manual and her work in Kenya… At the same time we were trying to find villages that we could work with. We had the skills, we had the knowledge, we needed the natural vegetation,” says Mmabatho.
In the shade of the marula tree, they have taken King’s research one step further. They want to use beehive fences as part of a R2.5-million ($180,000) dream to harvest, bottle and deliver wild, high-quality honey to suburban shopping aisles.
“In general our jars sell for R55 per 375g. Then we have Mmabatho’s baby, the raw high quality, for R75 per 375g. We aim to develop a luxury brand, bringing more orders to a premium market. We work on 35kgs per hive per harvest, which is once every three months,” says Desmond.
This means, by January, 11 bee keepers of Gazini could have yielded R49,000 ($3,500).
It’s been a long journey to this odd business for Desmond and Mmabatho. They come from modest homes in Kimberly and Pretoria.
“Our desire was to develop communities we grew up in, providing help for people and business opportunities.”
The idea was born in the home of Mmabatho’s grandfather in Winterveld, a rural town 68 kilometers northwest of Pretoria, in 2012.
“Bees would get into our ceiling and produce so much honey that the ceiling would cave in. Like every other family, we would try and smoke them out and kill them. But they would always come back,” says Mmabatho.
Instead her grandfather took the family on a beekeeping course and Mmabatho was hooked. She started her own company called Iliju Bee Farm.
Her work with Iliju Bee Farm led to Mmabatho shaking hands with ministers and members of the top 100 entrepreneurs of Europe. She also dined with Richard Branson. In 2013, Mmabatho was selected as one of the brightest young minds in South Africa, and again as one of the emerging changemakers by Spark International.
Things got even busier and Mmabatho’s husband, Desmond, left the comfort of corporate accounting to help manage the business. But success proved to be a devil in disguise. The business grew too quickly and couldn’t cope. They took on a bee expert who left a year and a half later and Iliju collapsed.
Then they started The Village Market at the end of 2014.
“As we learned more about bees, and their plight, that’s when it all came together. Lucy King’s study came after we had established Winterveld. Nora Taiga, of the Peace Foundation, now Elephant, Rhinos &amp; People (ERP), paid Mmabatho a subsistence salary of R10,000, then introduced us to the people of Gazini,” says Desmond.
“At the beginning of the year the crossings were getting quite significant. Previously it had just been bulls, but then we started seeing breeding herds coming through,” says Nonceba Lushaba, KZN Coordinator of ERP.
“From the elephant’s point of view they have realized that there are easy pickings here. It’s kind of like a naughty child who goes to pick sweets.”
In Gazini, finding the bees is half the battle. Once the hives are built, the beekeepers take the hives to their homes in Gazini and attempt to colonize them.
Bees are fussy dwellers; they need water, plenty of flowering plants, protective vegetation and far from direct sunlight. Once the bees have moved in, the keepers close the entrances at night and then transport the colony to the beehive fence. Work starts before dawn. In their bee suits they walk with the hives on their heads to this farm. It is so remote you need a 4&#215;4 to navigate a maze of bush trails to find it.
“Another important issue is researching bee diseases. Bee health is important if we want to conserve them. Research needs to keep track of these growing issues.”
Threats, like the varroa mite that attacks bees in the hive and contributes in part to colony collapse, are global concerns. This is why the couple have teamed up with the University of Pretoria (Tuks) Zoology and Entomology department’s Bee Group that will add valuable research to elephant behavior, bee repopulation and disease control.
Even though US and Europe honey bee colonies were under threat from Colony Collapse Disorder for almost ten years, the African honey bee  was safe from the impact of industrialized apiculture. This according to research by Robin Crew,  professor of Entomology and leader of the Social Insects Research Group in the University of Pretoria’s Department of Zoology and Entomology.
In Crew’s book “A World Without Bees”, the fact that Africa has the largest number of wild honey bee swarms in the world has contributed to wider genetic diversity and therefore populations are not as severely affected by diseases.
The beepocolypse, as it was called, could even be resolved with recolonization with the African honey bee because of its resilience.
Their Gazini project has even caught the eye of the African Union which granted $15,000 to the bee research at Tuks.
“It’s not just the sake of doing research for the sake of research, but using it to solve community problems. To help developed communities,” says Desmond.
On the morning of inspection, Mmabatho finds suspicious larvae in one of the hives. It turns out to be waxworm. These pests eat cocoons, pollen, the shed skins of bees, and chew through beeswax.
“We need the bees to focus all their energy on making the honey. As soon as invaders enter the hive they expend all their energy getting it out, which of course affects production,” says Desmond.
The couple believe that deforestation, pesticides and insecticides also affect the bees. They instead plant strong smelling plants and herbs, like spring onions, to discourage pests and also plant flowering vegetables like tomatoes to encourage pollination.
“We are trying to encourage our farmers to use organic methods so they don’t affect the bee populations. That is why, in addition to this, we sell veggies to markets,” says Mmabatho.
Once the honey is ready it its transported 600 kilometers to their bottling plant at the Riversands Incubation Hub that opened in September in Fourways, north of Johannesburg.
“The problem we have with honey in South Africa is a lot of it is imported. Because of important laws we need to irradiate it. You will see in the shops it will say it’s ionized by radiation in order to increase shelf life. The impact of that is that it takes away the good qualities from the honey.”
“There is also a lack of variation of honey in the market. We introduce some product differentiation;  infusing honey with lemon or cinnamon.”
Raw honey is murky and beige in color, a completely different experience from what you see in the shops.
“People are used to seeing this brown liquid here on the shelves that’s what they associate with honey. They don’t appreciate the real raw product will crystallize,” says Mmabatho.
Honey also can be used in health and beauty products and is a natural anti-inflammatory. Scrubs, moisturizers and masks can all be made from the by-product of the comb.
This is one business that is helping a tiny village sleep at night and got a couple of bright African entrepreneurs buzzing.

The Stings That  Make Elephants Fly

Walk around any major city in Africa and you’ll see billboards. They’re hard to miss. Apparently, they also make the perfect outdoor sleeping bags.
“The wind can blow as much as it wants, and it can rain, it’s no problem. I can sleep at night, and in the day I can work,” 31-year-old Zota Atiwa, or ‘Alvis’ as he calls himself, says to FORBES AFRICA in the city center of Cape Town, South Africa.
The man behind the idea of making sleeping bags from billboards is 32-year-old Capetonian Oliver Brain. Today, he is handing out bags, exactly as when he started the company, Street Sleeper, two years ago.
After five years abroad, Brain brought back an engineering degree from Oxford University, experience in strategy consulting, and a determination to find a sustainable business model for a social business.
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Today, Street Sleeper has distributed more than 6,000 sleeping bags, made from billboards, to homeless people in the city, says Suzette Little, Councillor and Mayoral Committee Member in Cape Town.
Street Sleeper is not a charity, it is a social business, says Brain.
“We don´t rely on donations. We provide a product, and that enables us to do what we do.”
According to Rachida Justo, Professor of Entrepreneurship Management at IE Business School in Madrid, Street Sleeper is part of a global trend of upcycling, or turning a used product into a different product.
“Everything related to upcycling is something that fits fantastically to our time, given the issues that we have with garbage, plastic and environmental issues. The upcycling is becoming a trend,” she says.
A bag costs R150 ($11), which funds the production and distribution in Cape Town.
“If you want to gift to another place, you pay for the shipment,” says Brain.
Earlier this year, Street Sleeper received some unusual help.
“We got an advertising grant from Google in the amount of $10,000 a month, which is great for connecting to an international audience,” says Brain.
The international connection is going well. Right now, an international shipment of bags is on its way to New York.
“Just in time for the cold east-coast winter in America,” says Brain.
The billboards have all the characteristics perfect for outdoor sleeping bags.
“They are made of PVC, polyvinyl chloride, a sort of plastic. It’s perfect because it is water and windproof, thin enough to act like a fabric, and highly wear resistant, and you can sew it,” says Brain.
So far, Street Sleeper has used approximately 24,000 square meters, or 12 tons, of material that was destined for a landfill.
While Brain started out sewing the bags himself, he now leaves that to the head of production, Oled Borris, a Burundian refugee. Borris learned to sew in Burundi at the age of 12, but after quitting a government job which led to incarceration, he had to flee the country.
“I can relate to the people we give the bags to, because in a way I am homeless too,” he says.
The company is growing and moving to a bigger location. In addition to Borris, Street Sleeper has so far employed eight disadvantaged people.
Down the road from the current workshop, we meet 39-year old Helga, one of only 21% of female homeless people in Cape Town.
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Helga is distressed; her bag was stolen while she was asleep.
“Now sometimes I get wet,” she says.
Brain presents her with a new bag and her eyes water.
“I am going to cut this up on the one side, so it can be used as a blanket for me and my husband,” she says.
As Street Sleeper has supplied most of Cape Town’s homeless with sleeping bags, the company is now branching out.
“We’ve been sending bags all over the country,” says Brain. “We’ve realized that in all major cities, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, and even New York, there are a lot of likeminded people, so we want to help them get started.”
New York is not a one-off; in Stockholm, Edinburgh and Dublin, people have received Street Sleeper bags.
“We’re not afraid of letting go of control,” says Brain.
That seems to work, 90% of the bags are picked up by buyers and distributed autonomously, freeing up time for Brain to develop new products.
“We want to branch out and use the same material to make everyday stuff, like beach bags and raincoats,” says Brain.
A smart move, according to Justo, who says that being a social business is not enough to lure customers.
“We’re not there yet, where upcycled products are prioritized. There are still necessary conditions that need to be fulfilled, you need design, convenience and price,” she says.
“You need to take a very honest look at what you do, whether it’s functional or not. We’re very proud of the fact that we’re profitable,” says Brain.
The young entrepreneur has plenty of goals with his business, stretching far beyond the borders of South Africa.
”Every city has these problems, and every city has advertising billboards, so there is a market and supply everywhere.”

No More Pain From Wind And Rain

A British citizen of Nigerian origin is providing a voice for Africa in Brussels where few are heard.
Uzo Madu left her consultancy job to launch a program called What’s in it for Africa (WIIFA) in 2015.
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“What really spurred me to create WIIFA was that there were communication gaps when it came to talking about African interests in the EU context,” she says.
Madu says that managing the European Union (EU)-Africa relationship effectively will shape how foreign direct investments are made on the continent, the extent of trade preference for African countries to enter the EU and the protection African states may get in terms of competitiveness.
WIIFA is a useful information resource for Africans to gain a better grasp of the opportunities and challenges posed by EU policies.
“The central focus of the online program and blog is to produce an African narrative around what is occurring around the EU. Not only to feed into debates taking place in Brussels, but to inform an African audience about the policy landscape playing out in that city which can have economic and political implications for them.”
However, Madu’s rewards come with challenges.
“The biggest issue I have faced was getting the buy-in from potential interviewees. If you are not a big media outfit, people tend to approach you or react to you with a fair amount of caution.”
“Because WIIFA is still building a name for itself, it made it difficult to push the boundaries in approaching a topic, for fear of alienating a potential interlocutor or partner in the future.”
Although the project has received positive feedback, it operates without any external funding. This limits her content to one or two videos a month.
This hasn’t diminished Madu’s belief in the project.
“I am very excited about what is yet to come, which is much more in-depth policy analysis, upfront debates tackling the tough questions and events.”
Madu might be the only person who presents Africa’s concerns in the EU environment. This is one of the reasons she is becoming a recognized figure in the heart of Europe. Will WIIFA become known in Africa? Time will tell.

A Voice For Africa In The EU

Edose Ohen had an unconventional childhood. By elementary school, he was given a programming book by his father and told to study it, sparking an interest in information technology (IT) and robotics. Entrepreneurship was also in his blood. By the age of 12, Ohen was selling sweets to his classmates to make extra money. By the time Ohen got to college, he started a marketing company to promote events at the school, which progressed to organizing high-end events for his fraternity.
“My father has always been an entrepreneurial man and I believe the lessons he taught me earlier on in my life was my foundations for my entrepreneurial paths. He shifted me towards IT at a very young age, so I always knew I would be in IT. I also always knew I was going to be in oil and gas because I idolized my father and he was an oil and gas man,” says Ohen.
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After graduating at the University of Houston with a degree in management and information systems, Ohen’s prediction came true. His first job combined his IT skills with his passion for the oil and gas industry.
“I graduated in 2009, which was the height of the economic recession in the States, so I sent out my resumes to hundreds of companies and I did not receive any feedback. Finally, there was a mid- to large-sized international oil and gas company, and it just so happened that the hiring manager went to my university and we had some synergies. So I started working as a system administrator and four years later I worked my way up to an IT manager.”
Ohen began to feel like he had reached a glass ceiling. It was time to do something different.
“In 2013, I started my MBA, concentrating on supply chain and operation management. When I was doing my MBA I was watching a show on CNBC called ‘How I Made My Millions’ and it was one of my favorite shows. There was a segment about these guys who opened a gourmet doughnut shop. I was like why would you open a gourmet doughnut shop?”
“I watched them and I was like these guys had a plan. So I said let me go to the top 10 doughnut shops out there and every single one of them had a line outside the door. I looked around and I couldn’t find anybody that did it in my area, so I said why not?” says Ohen.
Ohen got some close family and friends together and raised $300,000 to start his new dream, Glazed The Doughnut Cafe.
“It took about two years to get it off the ground. We had about 2,000 people come to the grand opening and the first six months was a total disaster. We could not keep up with demand and we could not create enough products.”
“I had this perfect staffing plan and perfect projection and it was absolutely terrible. It stabilized after year one and we just recently opened our second location which is also growing,” says Ohen.
The biggest challenge for Ohen was managing his own expectations.
“I was so adamant about my business plan. I had all this predictive analysis saying we anticipate we are going to need flour because we plan on selling so many doughnuts a day and trying to force that to happen. But the thing is, you don’t know, you can’t tell. Somebody can wake up and say I want a doughnut today or not, so just trying to understand that there is a complete difference between what you think can happen and what actually happens was difficult.”
With his doughnut business set up, Ohen was ready for his next move.
“One thing I learned from my father was that he always preached diversification. Mitigation from the effects of the economic cycle was how he survived for so many years and thrived in business,” says Ohen.
That sparked the move into IT infrastructure and services. Ohen set up Alfa Dando, which is the parent company to his internet business. The first brand under that portfolio is Wireless NG.
“We have a company called Wireless NG that we are looking to roll out in Abuja and Benin City. It is focused on information technology solutions, network engineering, procurement, design, wireless communication, and radios,” he says.
For the past three years, Wireless NG has provided communication platforms for the Nigerian Gas Pipeline and Transportation Company and Ohen hopes to create a nationwide network soon.
Ohen is building a diversified empire and, unlike his doughnuts, there doesn’t seem to be any holes in his plan.

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From Gourmet Doughnuts To Grand Deals

At the age of 17, Gorgui N’doye, left home in Senegal to be an engineer in New York, but he ended up selling make-up to actors and opening the first Senegalese-French restaurant in Harlem. These days, in his late forties, the unlikely entrepreneur is back in Africa exporting peanuts to Asia.
In 2001, N’doye, who qualified as an electrical engineer from the City College of New York, worked as a salesperson in a company selling make-up to actors in the Big Apple.
“As I travelled Harlem to work there weren’t good restaurants around. I saw a business opportunity and decided to sell my shares at the company. I had contacts here and there, people know people, I worked with them in the build-up and opening of Patisserie des Ambassades in what we call Little Africa. It has been 16 years of hard work since then,” says N’doye.
“This business was needed; there was a demand for it from the African community. The Federal Government contributed 30 percent into the business.”
Many cast doubt on N’doye’s venture except his wife Ken Alice N’doye, who was a caterer making Senegalese food platters for birthdays and weddings.
“Of course people questioned my judgment but I just focused on my work because I believed it was a good thing. Now they know I am a hardworking person,” he says.
It took N’doye two years to get the restaurant at full steam. It was difficult.
“When we first came here in Frederick Douglass Boulevard, Harlem, in 2001, this area was bad, we were the first African restaurant in a gangster’s paradise,” says Ahmadou Ndiaye Jean, the restaurant’s manager who’s also Senegalese.
“In the seventies, Senegalese were the first Africans to land in downtown Manhattan. Most were taxi drivers; they were almost the only daring ones to move into Harlem, then undermined by drugs and criminality. But the rent was cheap. In the late nineties a new wave of other nationalities joined in. At the end of the decade federal authorities revitalized Harlem by renovating the buildings and strengthening law enforcement. The neighborhood is again dynamic and attractive to the middleclass,” says Ahmadou.
“We started the business with less than 10 people and these days we have about 50 staff, a majority of whom is from Senegal. We are open 20 hours. Basically, we just close to clean up. This place is so busy that we don’t have time to close. This is a Little Africa.”
“If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger,” says N’doye about his survival in the crime-ridden Harlem.
“South of Harlem has majorly changed over the years. Now we are living in a gentrification that is better than before 2000. It is now called an entrance to Manhattan. After 16 years we have built very diversified customers. We have been blessed,” says N’doye.
In 2005, N’doye was the entrepreneur of year with the Small Business Administration (SBA) in New York.
In 2009, N’doye returned to Senegal where he explores other business opportunities.
“Since I returned back to Senegal I ventured into a different business of exporting peanuts to Asia and South Africa,” says N’doye.
“I learned a lot from the restaurant business, the interactions I had with African customers helped me with other business ideas back home. There’s a lot to explore in Africa,” he says.
So, the life of this former expatriate entrepreneur took a big circle from Senegal and the Big Apple.

A Little African Dream In Gangster’s Paradise

Arun Chadha has done well for himself far from home. He overcame racism, built a company from the ground up and now runs a steel exporter that employs 300 people and turns over billions of rands, in a cutthroat business, in Johannesburg.
It all began in India, 7,559 kilometers from Johannesburg. It was humble fireside teachings from his father, who worked for the government, that led him to a career that took him to Africa 28 years ago.
“The one thing my father gave us was good education. I did my chartered accountancy, took up a job in the Middle East and then moved to Zambia in 1988,” says Chadha.
He was poached by another company and transferred to South Africa as an expatriate. It was here where trouble began.
“I came and took over as the Chief Executive of a British company. I faced a lot of problems because people refused to come and meet me because I am Indian. I used to get phone calls from people threatening me because of the color of my skin or cars following me,” he recalls.
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It was hard but Chadha was harder. It took him just three months to show people skin didn’t matter to him.
“Surprisingly these same white guys became some of my closest friends as soon as they realized that our blood is all red, it’s not the skin that makes the difference, what makes the difference is the approach to things and the important thing is work.”
In 1994 he was transferred to New York. He decided South Africa was a beautiful country and he came back, became a permanent resident and Allied Chemicals and Steel, a general export business, was born.
“I had no problems setting up the company, getting a VAT registration or opening a bank account, none at all. I got all my approvals within three weeks,” he says.
Running his own business wasn’t easy. The first year’s turnover was R9-million ($656,000) but profit was a mere R20,000 ($1,500). This wasn’t enough to sustain the comfortable life he was used to as an expatriate.
“Life as an expatriate is very cushy because your house, car, furniture, children’s education and everything is paid for by the company. All of a sudden when you resign and start your own company, you have to pay for everything yourself,” says Chadha.
Expenses rose. He had to cut back. With his wife, they moved to a small rented flat for R3,500 ($250) where they stayed until the year 2000 when they bought their first home.
“Everything that was earned went back to the company to grow the company. What you see today is from those beginnings. The one [thing] that was there, which was on my side, was education… You might not use your education but it’s a stepping stone towards your next level,” he says.
In 1996 the company focused on its core product, steel. The business grew at a rapid rate. From the year 2000 to 2008, they touched a turnover of over a billion rand ($73 million).
“The problem thought though was always that I am a trader and not manufacturer. Sooner or later, someone will override me or overstep me and I will not be able to compete with them.”
In 2010, Chadha bought a piece of land, near Vereeniging, south of Johannesburg, to build a steel factory.
“That’s when I met Warne Rippon, he used to have a company called Steelrode and we decided to merge the two companies because we were not conflicting with each other. One was exporting into Africa and the other was focused on South Africa,” he says.
It was a long process. It took six months for the merger to be approved.
“From the days of 1994 where it took me 24 hours, it took us six months to get a VAT registration. That’s some of the frustrations new business people are facing now. I do not understand why it takes so long…,” he says.
The merger was finalized on March 1, 2013, giving birth to Allied Steelrode, which employs 300 people. The company has tripled its turnover in the last three years; but not without problems.
As an export company into Africa, it deals with emerging markets, some suffering from a cash crisis and others with unstable politics which weakens the economy.
“In Zimbabwe we are facing problems because the people we export to have the money in the banks but the banks can’t remit the money to us. We now have to accept money in pounds, euros, US dollars, and whatever is available… The devaluation in Zambia has been great. But after the elections are over and [President Edgar] Lungu has come in, it has been fairly stable.”
For Chadha, the biggest problem in Africa is the falling commodity prices.
“We hope the commodity prices start looking up in 2017. We see that oil has gone up, gold prices have gone up and that’s why steel prices are shooting up at the moment. I have a feeling 2017 is going to be a better year than 2016.”
It is optimism, steadfastness and kindness that led him to the top at the end of a 7,559-kilometer journey.

‘People Refused To Come And Meet Me Because  I Am Indian’

This zinc enclosure, hidden between two shacks in a South African township, is a hot little corner of hell. The dog inside, a powerful pit bull, cowers as the door is broken open and the torches of the raid team shine on him. He’s one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dogs kept in hiding, chained and neglected, to serve an explosion of dog fighting across the country.
It’s a crime which occurs far from middle-class homes and businesses – yet it serves as both an indicator and predictor of crime that looms over them. Where dog fighting flourishes, drugs, gambling, organized crime, thievery, assault and murder march in lockstep.
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“Dog fighters are violent criminals that engage in a whole host of peripheral criminal activities. Many are heavily involved in organized crime, racketeering, drug distribution, or gangs, and they arrange and attend the fights as a forum for gambling and drug trafficking,” wrote Hannah Gibson, in a study published by the College of Law of Michigan State University in 2005.
But why has this crime taken off in South Africa?
Twenty years ago, in a Gauteng study of complaints registered at major branches of the SPCA (the local arm of the animal welfare organization NSPCA), dog fighting didn’t even feature, says Wendy Willson, Manager of NSPCA’s Special Investigations Unit – there was just one report where two dogs jumped their walls and mixed it up. But “in the 2014-2015 statistics, there were over 1,290 reports of dog fighting to the NSPCA.”
These ballooning stats are just the tip of the iceberg; dog fighting has almost no recognition among the public and police in South Africa. Most people have no idea that it is a crime and police have been known to laugh in disbelief when animal welfare organizations report incidents.
The same applies to the rest of Africa. Dog fighting as a crime is almost unheard of, although it has leaked out into surrounding Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, such as Namibia, to a limited extent. But the SPCA in Kenya, for example, says there is no dog fighting there, while Uganda’s SPCA “suspected but could not confirm” some isolated incidents.
However, Amina Abaza, Chair of the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt (SPARE), says dog fighting is an issue in Egypt.
“It is becoming more and more popular, especially in the lower class of the society,” she says.
In Egypt, it’s not yet against the law and videos of fights are often posted online. People import dogs from Eastern Europe.
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“Each litter will bring them money,” says Abaza.
“It’s a symptom of an economic time and of a defiant and desperate youth,” says Willson.
Dog fighting occurs worldwide, especially where young men have little prospects and feel emasculated, as shown in a 2008 study of dog fighting among low-income youth in London. But, in South Africa, it has an added layer of ferocity and is largely driven by bloodlust, says Willson.
It’s a perfect vicious circle: exposure to dog fighting at a young age reduces empathy. Older boys and young men maintain the circle by inducting a new generation of children into this secretive world.
In Duduza, a township east of Johannesburg, the NSPCA were approached by a school concerned at the behavior of about 20 pupils, who were mimicking dog fights in the playground – biting, growling and attacking each other, and even playing out the mating of dogs. These boys, aged between nine and 13, had been introduced to dog fighting by an older boy or man whom they looked up to. School records show behavior changes over six months: “Elevated aggression levels, bullying and violent outbursts,” says Willson, noting that one child attacked his teacher with a six-inch nail.
In the hyper-stimulating and ‘fraternal’ atmosphere of a dog fight, these boys are exposed to unbelievable brutality. It is an introduction to a network of criminality that drives an inability to understand another’s pain and fear. Often violence becomes part of the thrill.
Fortunately, the criminal justice system and communities are beginning to take this issue seriously. In 1995, an early dog fighting bust netted several people who were fined (the wider group all chipped in to pay the fines). Today, dog fighters go to jail.
The NSPCA Special Investigations Unit gathers evidence patiently, over many months, and keeps the identities of informants safe, to construct a strong case in court. They’ve developed an ability to forensically examine dog carcasses and bones and determine what kind of fighting the dog has been forced into from the lesions on the bones.
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“It’s important that communities, especially parents, understand [that] when their children get involved in dog fighting, they risk criminal records – which means they’ll probably never work,” says Cora Bailey of Community Led Animal Welfare (CLAW), an organization that is trying to educate people on the dangers of dog fighting in townships west of Johannesburg.
“Communities know how dangerous dog fighting is, to them and their children,” says Bailey. “They don’t want this going on next door. They know it ups the violence quotient considerably.”
The violence of dog fighting is not only felt by the dogs, the community is also being hurt, despite being unaware that a cruel blood sport is becoming rampant near their homes.

The Criminal World Of Dog Eat Dog

As early as 8AM on December 8, in the farming town of Middelburg in Mpumalanga, a province in north east South Africa, a portion of Beyers Naude Street, near the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court was cordoned off. A heavy group of armed police guarded a huge crowd marching up and down and shouting political slogans.
Inside the court two men, Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Jackson, stood in the dock awaiting their fate on a plea for bail before their trial for assault and kidnapping. Before 11AM, Magistrate Jongilizwe Dumehleli dismissed the application. As the news reached the crowd outside, a celebration erupted and cheers and clenched fists were raised in song. A hero’s welcome greeted Victor Rethabile Mlotshwa, a plaintiff, as he emerged from the court surrounded by African National Congress regional leaders.
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“I am grateful of the judgment today, I hope the justice will be served and these people get what they deserve,” says Mlotshwa.
Dressed in a baseball cap, golf shirt and pair of blue jeans, Mlotshwa and his mother were ushered to the back of a big truck, stationed outside the court, where politicians delivered speeches condemning racism in the divided town of Middelburg.
In November, video footage emerged on social media showing Oosthuizen and Jackson forcing a crying Mlotshwa into a coffin and threatening to pour petrol on him to burn him alive. The video sparked widespread outrage and the two were locked up.
“Thanks to technology, we would not have known about the video. Now, there’s concrete evidence against these racists. These days we are even afraid to send our children to work on farms because they suffer the same fate as the young Victor. If you can go to the farms and dig you will probably uncover skeletons of black people they are killing,” says Patricia Shongwe, a 50-year-old protester.
Thembi Magubane is a restaurant worker in Witbank, a 30-minute drive from Middelburg.
“I dropped everything to be here. This is the same treatment we get at the restaurant where I work. They force us to speak Afrikaans [which] we don’t understand and when something goes wrong we are to blame. We are treated like animals by these racist whites all the time,” says Magubane.
The only white person in the crowd supporting Mlotshwa was an ANC supporter who introduced herself only as Rose.
“I want to go in there and bliksem (hit) those guys, racism has no place in this country,” she says.
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But not everyone was in a celebratory mood; six white farmers who supported the accused were peeved. They accused the presiding magistrate of bias and indecisiveness.
“No, we are not their family members, we are here to support our community members. Farmers are killed every day but you don’t see us forcing judges to make decisions. This is appalling,” says one of them.
Tessa Riekert, leader of National Conservative Party in Mpumalanga, says she believes the accused deserved bail.
“I don’t think this was a fair judgment. Our famers are being killed daily, two or three or four famers. We have one farmer who was stabbed 49 times and killed, but the suspect was set free on a bail of R2000 ($145). So, is he not a danger to society?” says Riekert.
“What they have done is wrong, I absolutely don’t agree with it. They haven’t proven guilty but don’t we all make mistakes? This guy walked away with his life but our farmers don’t, they gang up on them and they kill them. [The crowd] forced this judge to get to this decision, by being here, by shouting political slogans. I am very disappointed murderers are walking in the street right now and they are carrying on with what they are doing. Honestly, I don’t think the court will give them a fair trial. We are in a minority, we cannot pull out a crowd like the ANC is doing right here. White genocide is ongoing every day,” she says.
The accused were to reappear on January 25.
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MIDDELBURG, SOUTH AFRICA NOVEMBER 2016: (SOUTH AFRICA OUT): Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen during their appearance at the Middelburg Magistrates Court for allegedly assaulting and forcing a farm worker, Rethabile Victor Mlotshwa into a coffin on November 16, 2016 in Mpumalanga, South Africa. There has been an uproar after a viral video showing Jackson and Oosthuizen assaulting and forcing Mlotshwa into a coffin. The two accused abandoned their bail applications sighting security concerns. The case was postponed to January 25, 2016. (Photo by Alon Skuy/ The Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The Coffin Shame Of A Land Where Racism Lives

It was just a few days before Christmas, but any feelings of goodwill in Maputo were smashed by the news that 36-year-old Valentina Guebuza, the daughter of former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, died after being shot. The alleged perpetrator of the shots was her husband, Zofimo Muiuane.
The daughter of the former president was allegedly shot and died on her way to the Heart Institute hospital on December 14. After Guebuza was killed, Muiuane handed himself in at a police station in Maputo and was arrested the following day.
&#8220;The first indications we have is that this was an authentic case of domestic violence which ended, sadly, in the death of the citizen Valentina Guebuza,&#8221; says police spokesman Inacio Dina.
In 2013, Guebuza was listed as one of the 20 most powerful young women in Africa by FORBES. As a civil training engineer, Guebuza held prominent positions in the telecommunications and banking sectors and led several family businesses, namely Focus 21, Gestão e Desenvolvimento, Lda, a family investment holding company. She was also involved in fisheries, transportation, mines and real estate, and with significant participation in operations at the Port of Beira Terminal and the subscription TV company, StarTimes.
Guebuza’s rise in business was fast between 2005 and 2015 while  her father was president.
In 2007, Guebuza became a shareholder of Beira Grain Terminal. She was also a partner in the following companies: Railways of Mozambique (CFM), Cornelder de Moçambique, Nectar Mozambique, Sonipal, Seaboard Moz, Rainbow International, CFI Holdings and Merec Industries.
As chairman of the Board of Directors of StarTimes Media, a joint venture between China&#8217;s StarTimes and Focus 21, Guebuza was intrinsically involved in digital migration in Mozambique.
Civil society and private operators questioned the ability of StarTimes to carry out the work, as well as the procedure involved in awarding the company the tender.
Guebuza leaves behind a young daughter. She married Muiuane on July 26, 2014, in what was described as the ‘marriage of the year’. The wedding was attended by 1,700 guests, including the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, Swaziland’s King Mswati III, and the daughter of the Angola’s president, Isabel dos Santos. One year later, on July 2, 2015, they were the proud parents of a girl.
This supposedly happy story came to a tragic end on December 14.

The Sad End Of The Millionaire Princess

With a single tweet Donald Trump carved $4 billion off the market capitalization of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor. “The F-35 program and cost is out of control,” Trump grumbled on Twitter at 8:26 a.m. on December 12, attacking the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which at more than $1 trillion is the biggest defense project in history. Lockheed shares plunged 5% as investors fretted Trump would kill or maim the effort. Lockheed hopes to make more than 3,000 F-35s, at $100 million each, in the next 30 years.
Investors needn’t have worried. That 5% decline was a blip in comparison with the 170% gain in Lockheed’s share price since chief executive Marillyn Hewson took over in January 2013. During that period the company, based in Bethesda, Maryland, has delivered consistently higher profits and given back $12 billion to shareholders, despite declining defense budgets.
Trump will soon learn that the bullying tactics he uses at real estate closings don’t work so well with defense contractors. The F-35 was engineered not just for stealth but for congressional support. Assembled at a 14,000-employee complex in Fort Worth, Texas, the fighter draws 300,000 parts from suppliers in 45 states, with a total estimated economic impact of almost 150,000 jobs.
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Even if Trump cancels the program – about as likely as his nominating Hillary Clinton to the Supreme Court – it would be painful but hardly fatal for Lockheed, whose 2016 revenues will likely exceed $46 billion. The taxpayers have already covered some $45 billion in development costs on the F-35, and Lockheed sells billions of dollars’ worth of other gear to the government, from Trident ballistic missiles to helicopters to highly classified spy satellites. Trump can tweet his displeasure, but Lockheed is one of a handful of companies on Earth that can both invent an entirely new defense technology – say, radar-evading stealth – and then mass-produce it on an assembly line.
“Our business is not all around who is the president of the United States,” says Hewson, 62, who’s the daughter of an Army hospital manager and worked her way through the University of Alabama as a night telephone operator. “We’re managing a huge supply chain, we have international partners around the world, and we expect a fair return for that.”
Hewson, who started at Lockheed in 1983 working on C-130 cargo turboprops in Marietta, Georgia, has long since mastered the vagaries of doing business with the government. For instance, Congress likes to break contracts into bite-size annual chunks, obscuring the total cost of huge weapons programs like the F-35, even though that makes them more expensive and less efficient in the long run. Lockheed’s internal systems are optimized to deal with this sort of governmental nonsense.
Hewson is all in on defense, which accounts for over 90% of sales. One of her boldest moves was the $9 billion purchase of the Sikorsky helicopter unit from United Technologies in 2015, securing the $3.9 billion contract for Marine One (the president’s personal fleet of 23 helicopters), which Lockheed had lost a few years before. That program is ripe for an outraged Trump tweet, but Sikorsky also helps president-proof the company: Sikorsky helicopters are popular with foreign governments as low-cost weapons platforms and should help push overseas sales to 30% from around 25% today.
Sikorsky also allows Lockheed to display some of its Skunk Works-bred technical prowess. Take autonomous flight. Lockheed engineers are masters at the technology. The pilotless K-Max helicopter, for example, has hauled more than 4.5 million pounds of cargo to remote military posts in Afghanistan since it was deployed in 2011. In a few years most of Lockheed’s helicopters could be pilot-optional.
R&amp;D is another defensive strategy. On average, Lockheed spends $700 million a year to come up with technology the Pentagon can’t afford not to buy. The company’s Silicon Valley presence dates to the 1950s, when its engineers were pioneering the ballistic missile technology designed to deliver nuclear warheads. Now engineers in Palo Alto and elsewhere are working on hypersonic aircraft that could traverse the country in less than an hour, as well as on directed-energy weapons to blast incoming missiles apart with laser beams and a compact fusion reactor that can fit in the back of a pickup truck and power a city of 100,000. “My job is to make sure that as our customers’ priorities change, as the environment changes, we shift that portfolio of products to meet them,” Hewson says.
But Lockheed isn’t just a massive research lab; it’s also a manufacturing giant, producing not only sophisticated aircraft like the F-35 at scale but also robotic submarines and high-speed combat ships for the Navy. It built the Patriot missile, the Aegis antimissile system and the Viking rovers still cruising around Mars. Trump will discover that if he wants programs like these, he has few other options.
The Pentagon can buy Sidewinder missiles from Raytheon and nuclear subs from General Dynamics, but Lockheed is probably the only contractor that can pull together a project the size of the F-35. Hewson’s biggest challenge is persuading Congress – and the Donald – to place larger orders so Lockheed can wring costs out of its immense supply chain and bring the price down to between $80 million and $85 million (less than the cost of Trump’s personal 757 jet).
“If you look at the global security environment and how challenging and crazy that is, and it’s our products that are going to help with that, I think we’re a great growth story,” Hewson says. “As I look at companies in our industry, I’d bet on us.”
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Hardened Target

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 were set to be held on January 31.
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?
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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.
Q: You are now running to be chairperson of the AU Commission, tell us about the drive behind this decision?
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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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Q: Briefly take us through what an AU Commission led by you will focus on, looking at the challenges Africa is facing…
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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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Q: The outgoing AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been very vocal about peace and security. Share with us your vision…
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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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Q: What’s your vision on
driving governance?
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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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Q: Your bid has been warmly
accepted across a good number of countries, over 25 African countries. What are your expectations as we head towards January 2017?
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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 in November, Kenya; for the full text of the interview, visit
www.cnbcafrica.com.

‘Our Strength Lies In Coming Together’

It is a hot, windy summer’s day in Road Port, Harare. A Coca-Cola can blows merrily down the street. The can has freedom many others here envy. This place is seized by an oppressive gloom. It is filled by a crowd of people pushing, shoving, shouting, buying and selling. There is dirty water flowing down the street and litter fills the potholes. Yet, this grubby place is seeing more trade than Zimbabwe’s biggest banks. Here, the black market is king and the new bond notes are pawns that can be sacrificed.
“The bond notes came recently and we are business people so we have already seen an opportunity to make a bit of money. We don’t see bond notes as having any sort of value, if you have 100 bond notes, I will give you US$70,” says Tapiwa Makoni, an informal money trader.
The Reserve Bank may say bond notes are 1:1 to the US dollar; the free market says no.
“People are already getting desperate for US dollars, especially when they are traveling out of the country. They are happy to get any real currency from us at whatever rate,” he says.
It all began in May, when the Reserve Bank Governor, John Mangudya, announced the bond note. Mangudya argued the notes would ease the cash crisis that saw the US dollar become scarce. It was going to come in gradually.
“The Reserve Bank has established a US$200 million foreign exchange and export incentive facility which is supported by the African Export-Import Bank to provide cushion on the high demand for foreign exchange and to provide an incentive facility of 5 percent on all foreign exchange receipts, including tobacco and gold sale proceeds,” says Mangudya.
The bond notes don’t seem to be helping much; as they too are restricted. The withdrawal limit of bond notes is $50 per day and a $150 per week.
Despite the introduction of the bond notes – that were touted by authorities as a solution to the liquidity crisis – there seems to be little improvement.
“There is a shortage of bond notes and there seems to be less US dollars on the streets. We used to get US$100 a day, but now my bank gave me only US$50 and 25 bond notes. The money is not enough because I need cash for my buying and selling business,” says a Harare trader who refused to be named.
Neville Mandimika, Africa Strategist at Rand Merchant Bank, says the bond notes are non-convertible.
“It is by decree that it is 1:1. The problem we are facing now is that because of the misunderstanding, fear and mistrust currently circulating in the economy, the US dollar is beginning to trade against itself because actual cash is more valuable than money in the bank because of the cash shortages. So [1:1] is of theoretical value but on the street, the market is saying otherwise,” says Mandimika.
According to Mandimika, the panic and kneejerk reaction has seen people holding on to their US dollars and moving it out of the country, which mitigates against the cash crisis being eased.
“That’s why the campaign by the authorities has been to reassure the market that this is not a fully-fledged return of the Zimbabwe dollar… The bond notes will spur inflation but not hyperinflation; at least we are not there yet… Everyone is trying to adjust.”
People have to adjust to it. If you have banked money in US dollars, you may get it in bond notes. This is not a currency and can’t be traded for another currency. Mandimika says Zimbabwe is likely to continue decelerating on a multi-quarter basis because of the debilitating liquidity crisis that continues to grip it.
“The continuation of the liquidity crunch has fueled the rise of the parallel market (US dollars are trading at a premium to the bond notes) which will likely add to the inflationary pressures. Although the latest inflation prints (November 2016), shows the year-on-year figure is still negative but month-on-month numbers suggests renewed inflationary pressure. This will likely be the trend for this year in the absence of a more permanent solution to the liquidity crisis,” he says.
It means the bond notes have been met with mounting anger and questions of legality. The city is full of protest banners mounted on brick walls, advertising billboards have #NoToBondNotes plastered all over them. Peaceful protesters are thrown into jail. One of them was Fadzayi Mahere, an advocate of the High Court and Supreme Court of Zimbabwe.
“Peaceful demonstrations are a constitutional right under Section 59. A demonstration had been organized by another entity, we believed in the cause. Unfortunately the organizers got abducted so the demonstration couldn’t happen,” says Mahere.
Once Mahere and her friends got news of the abduction, they decided to sit peacefully in the park. A handful of police came and ordered her and seven others into police vehicles.
“[Our rights weren’t read to us] in fact, we weren’t informed of the charges we were facing at that time. As citizens we are required by the law not to resist arrest so we went with them to the police station&#8230; We weren’t told about what charges we were facing until later on in the evening. We were asked to pay an admission of guilt fine and as a matter of principle, I was not prepared to admit guilt… the charges we were faced with were unfounded and trumped up,” says Mahere.
This meant spending the night in a filthy cell at the Harare Central Police Station. The tiny cell is cold and dark. There are no mattresses and blankets are infested with insects. The toilet is broken and water and urine floods the floor where some have to sleep, and no sanitary towels available.
“This is degrading to anyone. No one should be subjected to such conditions, even if you are held in cells pending trial. It was a long night. I am grateful I was in a group so there were moments of humour,” she says.
Mahere says, as unlawful as their arrest was, so are the bond notes. She says the term “bond note” is not defined anywhere in the Reserve Bank Act or the Banking Act.
“Bond note is not a term of conventional economics but an invention on the part of the Governor. It is clear that the law does not empower the Governor to create this, with respect, fictitious money,” says Mahere.
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However, Patrick Chinamasa, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, argues, in a statement, that under existing legislation, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has the power to issue bond notes.
“I need to highlight that under existing legislation the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has power to issue Bond Notes in terms of the provisions of Section 7 of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act Chapter (22:15). The Export Incentive Scheme could also have been introduced through Section 2 of the Exchange Control Act (Chapter 22:05) which empowers the President to make regulations relating directly or indirectly to exchange transactions and the control of imports into and exports from Zimbabwe, and payments,” says Chinamasa.
Mahere, however, argues that the Reserve Bank Act authorizes issuing Reserve Bank vouchers, not bond notes, when there is a shortage of currency of any denomination to pay civil servants or employees of the state.
“The shortage must be shown to require urgent action in the interests of public order or the economic interests of the state. The justification given by the Governor for the creation of bond notes is, therefore, inconsistent with section 42B of the Reserve Bank Act. The Governor’s justification for the curious move relates to foreign exchange stabilization and an unsatisfactory attempt to ease the cash crisis.”
“Within a few months, because we are such an import driven economy, when people are trying to replenish their stock, we will see what happens, we will see what our government does when it has the scope of printing money. We have seen that in 2008,” she says.
Mahere adds that her problem is not the bond note itself but the refusal by government to address issues at their root and attend to the fundamental causes to economic problems in Zimbabwe.
According to the Reserve Bank, the Retailers Association of Zimbabwe, fuel companies, representatives of the various business associations and the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe agreed on the use of bond notes as a medium of exchange in the country. Most traders are accepting the bond notes but worry about their future.
“I hope this will not be a repeat of 2008 where government will start printing money that is actually worthless. I have to buy my stock in South Africa because no company makes the hardware I sell here. I heard some petrol stations are already rejecting it,” says Clive Moyo, a cabinet and coffin handle trader.
The argument goes on. What is clear is people are buying and selling pieces of paper they aren’t sure about.

It Is Bond Belief

The chairman of VBS Mutual is a tall, dark and imposing chartered accountant; on this late summer’s morning he is fed up. Tshifhiwa Matodzi and his shareholders suffered slings and arrows when they opted to loan President Jacob Zuma millions to refund the taxpayer for Nkandla. At the time politicians were baying for the bank&#8217;s blood and media was digging for dirt.
Soon after it was announced that the president paid the money through VBS Mutual in September, a small bank founded in Venda in 1982, in northern South Africa, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) issued a statement demanding disclosure.
“While both Zuma and VBS Mutual Bank claim a home loan agreement or mortgage does exist between the two parties, there’s no evidence of such a bond registered in the deeds registry, raising the question as to whether a home loan indeed does exist,” says the DA.
It was a deal that the press and opposition in Parliament thought fishy; they thought the loan was funded by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a retirement fund that has a 25% shareholding in VBS Mutual. Eight months later, Matodzi, suited and booted in a Melrose Arch hotel in northern Johannesburg, was indignant, but composed.
“There were no underhand dealings. They all said go find out if there’s bribery involved. If you do things right, these things fall out. People realized that we are not interested in politics, I have never met the president. They came with their corruption accusations, but they found nothing. There were racism undertones,” says Matodzi.
On December 14, the DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s spokesman, Mabine Seabe, said neither the office of the president or VBS Mutual complied with their demand to see the proof of payment.
“It is in the public interest to ascertain whether a loan exists; what the conditions of the loan are; whether Jacob Zuma has personally signed surety on the loan, and not any of his cronies; and what effect, if any, does this have on the court’s finding that the president must personally pay back the R7.8 million determined by the National Treasury,” says the DA.
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“We cannot provide the DA or anyone with a proof of payment of the President&#8217;s loan or any of our clients&#8217; because of the confidentiality rule and agreement that governs the relationship between the bank and its clients. It is important to note that the National Treasury did make it publicly known and confirmed that the President has honored the said payment through a loan from VBS Mutual Bank. This confirmation was made public to the DA and everyone that the President has paid through a loan from VBS Mutual Bank,” says a response from VBS Mutual.
Matodzi decries controversial stories around the President’s loan, questioning the bank’s funding of rural homes without title deeds. Cynicism emerged on radio stations, in particular Power FM, where the bank was discussed. One online response said: “What are the odds that within a year this little mouse of a bank will have to be bailed out by the PIC because of a cashflow problem due to a certain big lender not honoring his commitments?”
Again Matodzi was indignant.
“It was not the biggest loan, it was not even in our top 50, but it was the biggest profile simply because it’s the president. The bank has the assets of R1.2 billion ($87.5 million), so you may understand that a R7 million ($500,000) is a drop in the ocean. The original name was Venda Building Society, so our main core business was funding homes in traditional Venda where other banks didn’t want to go,” he says.
City Press’ investigative and award-winning journalist, Sipho Masondo, was one of the journalists Matodzi claimed to have written hearsay about VBS Mutual. In one of the articles entitled ‘What is VBS Mutual Bank? Everything you need to know’, the newspaper alleged Matodzi and Robert Madzonga, the Chief Operating Officer, ran the bank with impunity. Masondo said the bank’s board didn’t approve of a R136-million ($9.9-million) loan for the two to buy a 54% stake in Afric Oil but they took the loan anyway. Masondo further alleged Zuma intended to crown the Venda king, a VBS shareholder, around the same time the loan was awarded. But when FORBES AFRICA asked Masondo to reiterate his claims in December, he was uncooperative.
Matodzi denies any wrongdoing.
“Whether it was in Nkandla or Venda, to us it was not a problem. I think it was the lack of education and a political issue that created the talk about the President’s loan. Countries should be built from their rural areas, and that’s what VBS has been doing better than any other bank. As a business we are exploiting the vacuum that has been created by mainstream banks,” says Matodzi.
Matodzi was still in primary school when the bank was formed by the Venda Bantustan government and traditional leaders. He says in the 1980s it was a go-to bank for the local people. It was during those early days he had the epiphany that when he finished university he would help the bank grow.
VBS Mutual became a mutual bank in 1990. Now it is one of three in the country, along with Ithala Development Finance Corporation and Finbond Mutual Bank.
VBS Mutual, which has only four branches in South Africa, including the headquarters in Johannesburg, was in the red until 2013 when Dyambeu Investments acquired a majority stake. Dyambeu partners, including Matodzi, property magnate David Mabilu, telecoms businessman Maanda Phalanndwa, and the Venda King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, own 26% of the shares.
Matodzi, who served as an IT auditor at various South African banks while doing articles at KPMG, says one of the pillars of their turnaround strategy was the repositioning of the bank as a small- and medium-enterprise (SME) bank. In a year, more than R450 million ($32.8 million) was advanced to SMEs. He claimed 99% repayment from rural clients.
It may be a small bank but it will be remembered for lending always to the big man.

Bank On Us  Mr President

Africa’s Billionaires

It was a touching story, even inspiring; the sad part, most of it wasn’t true.
Thirty-year-old Thulani Khoza told FORBES AFRICA, plus a clutch of television shows, radio and national newspapers, his plausible story of building a smartphone in Africa. He even had a snappy name for it, T-Touch Mobile. His former partner alleged that he bought the phone at a shop in downtown Johannesburg.
At our offices in Sandton, Khoza said he would be on the cover of FORBES AFRICA one day.
Khoza told us of his transition from Bushbuckridge, a small town in Mpumalanga, to obtaining a degree in computer science from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2006 and earning honors in software engineering from the University of Nottingham, in Britain, and a master’s in business administration at Baker University in the United Sates.
“The university can find no record on its database of a Mr Thulani Khoza having graduated from the university with a BSc degree in 2006,”says Carol Crosley, the Registrar at the University of the Witwatersrand.
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Emma Rayner, a Media Relations Manager at the University of Nottingham, said: “I can confirm that our alumni team and our student services department can find no record of Thulani Khoza ever being a student at the University of Nottingham.”
Khoza said he worked as a systems analyst for South Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC. But the SABC’s human resources confirmed it doesn’t have a Thulani Khoza in its records as an employee or even a freelancer.
In his company profile Khoza claims to have registered with Neotel, a national operator for fixed-line telecommunication services.
“Neotel is unaware of, and cannot locate, any records relating to Thulani Khoza or the company, Thules Communications,” says Sandra Sowray of Neotel.
It also appears that Thules Telecoms, a company Khoza claims to be his, belongs to his ex-girlfriend Beatrice Mashego who grew up with him.
“We attended the same primary school in Bushbuckridge Shatale Township. In 1998, we were doing grade six, he left to stay with his mother in Vosloorus until he invited me on Facebook in November 2015.”
According to Mashego, the company was registered in September 2016, under her name, but no more.
“It was registered under my name until I approached the CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) to deregister after hearing that he used me to get government funds.”
Mashego says the company wasn’t registered with any trademark association.
“I am not sure if the phone is there or not but I can confirm that there are no technicians whatsoever. I only know the one phone he’s been showing everyone.”
Khoza told us that he has 89 employees and has received orders from as far as the United States, Britain, Mexico, Portugal, and Ghana. His former business partner, Karabo Masenyadiloana, says no.
“He’s been promising jobs; that once this factory is up and running he’s going to employ 2,500 people. Thulani is too calculated to be mentally sick because someone who is mentally sick would have dropped the ball but this guy is always on his game. It is deliberate,” says Masenyadiloana.
According to Masenyadiloana, there is no such thing as T-Touch Mobile that was supposed to be registered with the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
“I was submitting paperwork for my phone at ICASA, so I was having a conversation with the staff so I was like, ‘have you guys ever heard of T-Touch?’ They searched their system and there was no record of T-Touch. I then asked about Thulani Khoza, they searched again and there was no Thulani Khoza in their system. This guy doesn’t even know where ICASA is and what the paperwork looks like,” says Masenyadiloana.
“Thulani’s phone is cracked, don’t you think that if he really had a phone company he would have fixed that crack or got himself a new phone? &#8230;For him to go to a shop and buy a phone and tell media that he manufactured it himself shows that he has a skill in lying,” he says.
In November, Khoza received the government’s SA Man of the Year for Science &amp; Technology award that &#8220;acknowledges an individual that has played a significant role in ensuring community development in science and technology&#8221;. Khoza was going to be handed a R15,000 ($1,100) cash prize, but not anymore.
“He did lie to us. We withdrew the award in December as he failed to come forward to explain himself. We have also decided not to act in a way that would destroy him but to rehabilitate him,” says Bongani Ngomane, Chairman of the awards.
When FORBES AFRICA called Khoza on January 12, he said: “I’m in Mpumalanga and I cannot respond to your questions right now because you’ve caught me off guard. I will ask my PR company to send a statement and I have addressed everything in the statement.”
We phoned him repeatedly and, at the time of going to press, nothing, not a call nor a statement.

Tag: February 2017

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