A string of fresh piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia spells uncertainty for commodity dealers and consumers in East Africa.
The shock hijacking of a commercial oil tanker, the MT Aris 13, in March ended a five-year lull in piracy on the key Indian Ocean route around the Gulf of Aden. In early April, it is suspected Somali pirates seized an Indian dhow, Al–Kausar, on its way to the port of Bosaso in northern Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, while another bulk carrier, OS 35, was hijacked a few days later. It has sparked fears of a return of the menace the caused global concern at its peak between 2011 and 2013.
In 2016, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recorded two incidents of failed attacks off Somalia. Pirates attempted to attack a container vessel in the Gulf of Aden in May, and fired on a product tanker in the Somali basin 300 nautical miles from shore in October. The attempts showed that the threat of piracy had not disappeared.
The latest back-to-back attacks have prompted an EU naval force operating on the sea route to urge “for vigilance to all ships transiting the piracy high risk area”.
Commodity dealers and consumers in East Africa should pray that these are isolated incidents rather than a precursor to the return of piracy on this key sea route that links eastern Africa to the Arabian Gulf, Europe and beyond.
At its peak a few years ago, securing captured vessels, cargo and crew off the coast of Somalia cost the global shipping industry billions of dollars in ransom pay-outs. The menace also led to increased operational costs due to higher insurance premiums and the use of longer alternative routes around the coast of South Africa. The shipping lines also had to incur the extra expense of hiring security personnel to escort vessels through the troubled route around the Gulf of Aden, as well as other pre-emptive measures, such as installing watchtowers and razor wire.
Shipping lines did not absorb the heat alone. The pain of inflation trickled down the supply chain, causing the prices of basic industrial and household items to rally sharply.
With East Africa’s huge dependence on import commodities, such as farming and industrial machinery, vehicles, clinker, steel and petroleum, the return of piracy on Somali waters means consumers will be squeezed even more. The booming infrastructure and housing projects in East Africa would also suffer a jolt of higher implementation budgets, reflecting the cost variations attributable to the piracy.
Exporters from East Africa will then face the challenge of keeping their commodities competitive in markets abroad due to the higher cost of shipment.
Ship owners have no doubt been blinded by the lengthy lull in attacks and even began taking on very risky routes to save of costs and time. Some shipping lines have returned to the extremely vulnerable route between Somalia and Socotra Island, in the Arabian Sea, that is commonly known as the Socotra Gap. In fact, the MT Aris 13 was seized by pirates as it attempted to sail through the Socotra Gap at low speed.
It would be in the interest of global forces to reinvigorate patrols on this key route to prevent a fresh escalation of piracy. This has been done before with wonderful results.
Military incursions in the Somali region have helped stem piracy attacks on key shipping routes around the Gulf of Aden since 2012, bringing hope for efficient freight services and the lower cost of goods entering and leaving the East African market.
More effort must also be made on land to weed out militant groups that may be using piracy to bankroll their activities. Almost two decades of lawlessness in Somalia, without a substantive government, provided a breeding ground for extortionist groups that resort to illegal means to stay afloat. With Somalia’s economy still in ruin, the urge for militant groups to take up activities such as piracy to make ends meet remains high.
Troops, backed by the United Nations and African Union, battling the Al-Shabaab militants should be supported to end the despair caused by these crooks.
Until they are stopped, East Africans will feel the pain.

Fishing Trawlers Released From Pirate Control

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water

No doubt, African nations and institutions remain resolute in their quest for peace and prosperity.
As the African Development Bank (AfDB) takes ownership of this grand mission through its High 5 development priorities, the West Africa sub-region, host to the bank’s headquarters and the location of Africa’s poorest, largest and fastest growing economies, continues to be a source of cheer and sobriety in equal measure.
West Africa’s political, economic and investment climate has been inundated lately with news of the new government in Ghana settling down to the business of governance; the inglorious exit of Yahya Jammeh, the Gambian politician and former military officer who ruled The Gambia from 1994 to 2017; Cote d’Ivoire’s modest macroeconomic achievements, now hinged on its 2016-2020 National Development Plan; Liberia’s preparations for presidential elections in October and Nigeria’s ongoing struggles with the health of its inflation-prone economy.
Equally distressing for Nigerians is the deteriorating health of President Muhammadu Buhari, as they marked two years of his administration last month. While economic stagnation and inertia were the dominant features of Buhari’s first year in office, his second year has been riddled with political and policy spats between the legislature and executive. Buhari’s recurrent disappearing acts have also not helped matters. For the second time this year, he had to be flown to London for urgent medical attention at the beginning of May, heightening fears of his incapacity to lead and govern Africa’s largest economy by GDP ($594.28 billion as at 2016).
Sadly, it is difficult not to connect Buhari’s private and personal struggles with the economic and public affairs of the nation. His physical and cognitive absence from the administration and shenanigans of governance has turned out to be the defining character of his tenure so far. It is also a symbolic reflection of Nigeria’s inability to lead the rest of Africa as the continent pursues social and economic rejuvenation.
To attain its numerous lofty goals for the continent, the rest of Africa and the AfDB will need the democratic engine of the Nigerian nation firing on all cylinders. Ghana’s former president John Dramani Mahama once said if Nigeria sneezes, the rest of West Africa catches a cold. With approximately 184 million inhabitants, Nigeria accounts for 47% of West Africa’s population, and has one of the largest populations of youth in the world, according to the World Bank, which also expects 1% and 2.5% growth for Nigeria’s economy in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Clearly, harnessing the energy and creativity of Africa’s youth will be key to transforming the continent’s fortunes over the next several decades. Also crucial is intra-Africa trade, currently at 12%. Africa needs to trade with Africa, increasing the exchange of goods, services and investment across our fragmented borders.
Linked to trade and Africa’s youthful population is bio-technology and Africa’s capacity to feed itself. When African heads of state gathered in the Indian city of Ahmedabad during the 17th annual general meeting of the AfDB last month, the future of agriculture in Africa was top of the agenda. While the continent is hoping to feed itself and eradicate malnutrition by 2025, the average age of farmers on the continent is currently 60 years.
AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina says: “There are opportunities to empower the youth at each stage of the agricultural value chain as ‘agripreneurs’. Young people are doing new and amazing things in the agricultural space all over the continent but need to be motivated.”
The Bank sought to showcase young African Agripreneurs during its week-long Indian meetings, hoping to prove the point that Africa’s youth can be catalysts for job and wealth creation. Between 2010 and 2015, it had deployed $5.5 billion in agriculture sector investments, covering a portfolio of 6,000 projects and youth operations in agriculture and allied industries in Cameroon, Sudan, Nigeria and several other countries. It is working with scientists at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, to empower young farmers under the Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment (ENABLE) youth program.
Keen to replicate the trailblazing works he did as Nigeria’s agriculture minister between 2010 and 2015 across Africa, Adesina once told this writer, “My vision for Nigeria’s agriculture sector is that we will use agriculture to produce stupendous amount of wealth&#8230; and become an agriculturally industrialized economy.”
Let’s hope this vision comes true.

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Agriculture Behind Africa’s Health

Can you name all the motorbike makes that have won the Dakar Rally since 2000? Let me make it simple. In fact just three letters… KTM.
From the late Fabrizio Meoni in 2001 to Sam Sunderland this year, the Austrian “Ready to Race” bikes have been the steeds of choice. The legendary Fabrizio died in the Dakar four years later – just one day after fellow KTM rider Manuel Perez lost his battle to survive internal injuries sustained on the seventh stage.
And at this stage you may be thinking that off-road riding – let alone the Dakar – is not for you. But there is a galaxy of difference between tackling the Dakar dunes and taking a rambling ride through the rocky ridges of the Cederberg mountains with the Cape Floral Kingdom as your backdrop.
<div id="attachment_31436" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31436" class="wp-image-31436 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S_Action-02-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S_Action-02.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S_Action-02-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S_Action-02-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S_Action-02-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ready to race</div>
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Off-road biking can take you to the most isolated and beautiful places on the planet – and the good news is that KTM is not all about leaving rivals in the dust. The latest machines have taken safety to a new level with magic mechanisms that enable a novice to ride like a superstar.
Taking to the two-wheel challenge was a daunting prospect when Austrian engineer Hans Trunkenpolz bolted together his R100 prototype in 1951. Two years later, businessman Ernst Kronreif threw in a few bags of schillings, the serial production of the R100 started, and Kronreif &amp; Trunkenpolz Mattighofen (thankfully abbreviated to KTM) was born. Twenty enthusiastic and dedicated staff managed to turn out three motorcycles a day.
They were no doubt inspired by the first race win shortly thereafter – the 1954 Austrian 125 national championship.
Expansion was relatively rapid – racing bikes, scooters, mopeds and even bicycles rolled out of the Mattighofen factory. But then one of those blips that have blighted the motor industry over the decades. Sales of the smaller models faltered, the Trunkenpolz dynasty had passed away, and in 1991 KTM hit the dirt with a thud.
They applied for insolvency and management was taken up by banks which split the company into four new entities – radiators, bicycles, tooling and, of course, motorcycles.
The bankers may not have known much about bikes, but a series of partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions, primarily by Bajaj Auto Limited of India, have seen KTM AG rise to be Europe’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer with a trophy cabinet of more than 270 world championship titles –including South Africa’s Brad Binder, on two wheels since the age of 10, sealing the 2016 Moto3 title on his Red Bull KTM.
This is indeed the KTM decade. Sales have tripled to well over 200,000 units (including Husqvarna) since 2010, passing the billion-dollar revenue milestone in 2015.
The brand was first imported into South Africa in 1974 and became a full subsidiary of KTM in 2008.
“We are a dominant player in the adventure segment, thanks to a rich history in rally racing and our ‘ready to race’ philosophy throughout the range,” says Managing Director Franziska Brandl, whose vigor and love of the sport have seen KTM thrive locally.
It seems that, globally, an essential ingredient in the winning formula of daring dirt bikes, naked sportbikes and adventure bikes for the track less travelled came from a small design studio at the foot of Mount Untersberg.
Gerald Kiska has headed up the blueprint of every KTM since 1992, from the original Duke onwards. The legend goes that whenever the order goes out for a new orange and black model, his design company, KISKA, holds an internal design competition between a half dozen top creatives and the best idea wins the deal!
From there designers turn the basic drawings into 3D models which, in a strange reversion to days gone by, are then printed in clay to give a real life look. It is that look, along with an intimate understanding of traction, terrain and power that has seen Hans Trunkenpolz’s vision rise from the ashes.
But the new-age Austrians are not satisfied in merely catering for the adrenalin demands of ultra-competitive rough and ready bikers and professional racers. Their aim is to attract a new class of adventurer – the easy riders who put safety before white knuckle fever. Those who want to learn the skills of staying in the saddle on tar and secluded trail without a 10-year hard-knock course of bumps and bruises.
<div id="attachment_31437" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31437" class="wp-image-31437 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-S-ADV-R_-KTM-1090-ADV-R_Action-05-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-S-ADV-R_-KTM-1090-ADV-R_Action-05.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-S-ADV-R_-KTM-1090-ADV-R_Action-05-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-S-ADV-R_-KTM-1090-ADV-R_Action-05-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-S-ADV-R_-KTM-1090-ADV-R_Action-05-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ready to race</div>
So the obvious idea is a de-tuned and safety-first motorcycle which will take you to utopia but at a leisurely pace. No, the obvious doesn’t seem to be on the drawing board in Mattighofen.
Enter, dustbowl left, the groundbreaking KTM 1290 Super Adventure S, recently launched on the scenic and testing Kogelberg mountains surrounding the Arabella Hotel and Spa in the Cape.
Once again the KISKA design team has created a 215-kilogram beast of breathtaking rugged beauty. The surprisingly compact 1301cc, two-cylinder, four-stroke engine is ensconced in an ultra-light tubular trellis frame. The sculpted bright orange and white tank flows onto the stylish saddle atop a silver silencer aimed at the heavens.
A staggering 160 horses and six gears make it one of the most powerful adventure bikes on earth. As a rookie rider, you feel that it may be a shame to cover this engineering marvel with dust and mud. But that’s when they look at their best!
But why is the Super Adventure S also heralding a new era in biking? And how can it appeal to such a wide cross section of rider demands?
In essence, this is a bike that not only thinks for you in every situation, but you can dial in the ride you are personally looking for and the computer takes over. As they say, all you have to do is focus on the road ahead – and hold on tight!
But you will have to select your mood and mode on the brand new LCD dashboard display with an anti-glare surface so you can glance at all the vital info in all conditions – even direct sunlight.
The ace in the pack is the Motorcycle Stability Control or MSC.
For the tenderfoot, like myself, braking sharply when your high revving machine is not in a straight line can have disastrous consequences. An elementary error is to grab the right-hand brake lever in a panic. It landed me in hospital with a broken collarbone when I braked and swerved to avoid a cyclist on the way to school in Bulawayo on my sixties Triumph Speed Twin. And again in Johannesburg when I braked at speed on a Honda CB900F in front of a roving pedestrian and ended up doing alternate somersaults with the bike along what seemed the length of Corlett Drive.
Where was MSC when I needed it? They claim you can “whack the throttle full on in a nasty corner. Brake hard while fully leant over. No harm is done – just grin and rocket on!”
Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) have been a feature on top-line bikes for many years – but MSC takes forgiveness to a new strata by understanding the safe braking parameters while the bike is inclined. A blessing for beginners.
<div id="attachment_31435" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31435" class="wp-image-31435 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S-orange_ri-front-1024x819.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="819" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S-orange_ri-front.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S-orange_ri-front-300x240.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S-orange_ri-front-600x480.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/KTM-1290-SUPER-ADVENTURE-S-orange_ri-front-768x615.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ready to race</div>
But that clever MSC fellow is also in touch with the two LED lights at the bottom of the striking new headlight set – and they gain intensity according to the lean angle to give you outstanding visibility at night.
If using the clutch is too much of a hassle, the Super Adventure, with a basic price tag of $16,000, can be fitted with a Quickshifter for up and down gear changes with any load and at virtually any speed.
And that is just the start of a long list of safety and convenience features – like keyless start and a compartment for your cellphone to reside and catch a charge at the same time.
So, are you ready to reconnoiter the far flung gems of nature around Africa? Because, the truth is, KTM bikes may be “ready to race”, but they are now also more than ready to ramble.

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Ready To Race

Africa mourned the death of one of its leading boxing trainers, Nick Durandt, who produced an extraordinary 95 South African champions, in 17 weight divisions, and 38 world champions through the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, WBF and IBO organizations.
The champions Durandt guided spanned generations; from Gerrie Coetzee, Brian Mitchell, Sugar Boy Malinga, Phillip Ndou, Cassius Baloyi, to Moruti Mthalane. Durandt took pride in turning ghetto boys, with few prospects, into world champs.
In April, the 53-year-old Durandt died in hospital in Bethlehem, in South Africa’s Free State province, after a motorbike accident. He was the president of Crusaders Bike Club at the time.
Durandt, who was recognizable by his blonde locks flowing out of a black beanie or bandana, was born on Boxing Day in 1963, in Wolverhampton, England. His South African father, Cliff Durandt, was a professional footballer, in South Africa and player for Wolverhampton Wanderers in England. Durandt, before he immersed himself in boxing, played football for the University of the Witwatersrand under-21s, coached by the late full-back Eddie Lewis.
“Many people talk about things larger than life, really to me Nick Durandt was larger than boxing. He produced so many champions that no one can compare [to him] in this country&#8230; He has done it all,” says Peter Leopeng, a boxing analyst and commentator.
The uncompromising Durandt was a tough negotiator who always put the best interests of his fighters first. Mthalane pulled out of the mandatory title defence against Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng and relinquished his IBF flyweight title after Durandt refused the R60,000 ($4,400) purse.  He later negotiated a R1–million ($75,000) sum in Durban.
<div id="attachment_31463" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31463" class="wp-image-31463 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_0488-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Farewell The Man Who Called Mayweather A Coward</div>
“Nick fought against any promoter who thought he could swindle his boxers out of the purse, that’s why he was unpopular. For a long time he didn’t get along with Rodney Berman for that same reason. He was passionate about making sure he got sponsorship and endorsement for his charges. All his boxers were dressed up in Kappa gear,” says Leopeng.
Durandt’s colorful lifestyle and relentless pursuit of improving life for his boxers made him popular outside the ring as well. Before his untimely death, he fought tirelessly with national broadcaster SABC to televise boxing. He was also a fervent critic of former sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, whom he accused of forsaking the dying sport. When Mbalula brought Floyd Mayweather to South Africa in 2012, in what they called ‘The Reawakening of the Giant’, to revive boxing, Durandt refused to endorse the project and likened it to a tour for Mayweather to view African animals and the picturesque Table Mountain.
When FORBES AFRICA interviewed Durandt in 2014, he pulled no punches.
“In order to build more and more superstars, the television coverage is very important. People need to see the fighters live when they fight. Can you imagine; I arrive at the OR Tambo International Airport with the world champion and the people don’t know or don’t recognize him,” he said.
Leopeng had his own embarrassing encounter with angry Durandt in 2003. A high-spirited Durandt flew his African champion Ndou to the US to fight Mayweather. Days before the fight in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Durandt referred to Mayweather as a coward and promised his fans a knockout.
“Mayweather retorted that he would fight like a crocodile, he would take Ndou to the deep waters and see if he can swim out of the river. Durandt said that Ndou could swim breaststroke and backstroke. Mayweather pulverized and knocked out Ndou in the seventh round. Now back in South Africa, in a radio interview, I asked Durandt which stroke Ndou was doing while lying on the ground. Durandt swore at me and never spoke to me for six months,” recalls Leopeng.
Another memorable fight – billed as ‘Thunder in Africa’ – was between unheralded American Hasim Rahman and England’s WBC, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis at Carnival City, in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg, in 2001. Durandt was in Rahman’s corner when he knocked out Lewis in round five.
Although well-known for his bad temper, controversial character and tattoos, Durandt was a family man who was inseparable from his sons. When he retired in May 2016, he handed over the two gyms to his first born Damian, 26, whom he groomed from the age of 14. He also owned a tattoo shop across the road from his gyms.
To go with the many awards Durandt won as a trainer and manager in almost three decades in boxing, in January he received a Lifetime Achievement award from Boxing South Africa.
Durandt, known as Mthakathi, Zulu for wizard, will go down in history as the first trainer to be red carded for insulting the referee in Nasrec, Johannesburg. Boxing is duller without him.

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Farewell The Man Who Called Mayweather A Coward

Entrepreneurship leads to a robust economy as it creates jobs and contributes to a country’s GDP. Entrepreneurs are brave people that influence a stable and growing economy. For this reason, it is essential to ensure that entrepreneurship is on the rise.
To promote growth, it is vital for government to provide assistance to established and emerging entrepreneurs.
To ensure that entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful, and subsequently influence job creation, it is important that they have access to the markets in which their goods and services will get the most benefit from. Currently, in South Africa, the government has a hand in the main challenges entrepreneurs face when trying to access markets – inflexible and unaccommodating taxes and bureaucracy, as well as a lack of entrepreneurship programs.
Business owners will only thrive in an environment that recognizes the need for entrepreneurs to be supported and nurtured. In South Africa there is a desperate need to teach entrepreneurship at an early stage of education.
With this promotion, and increased knowledge, youth will view entrepreneurship as a viable option for themselves rather than getting a conventional education so that they can be an employee. Furthermore, once someone has made the decision to pursue entrepreneurship, they need to be nurtured. This will allow them to use their knowledge and hone their skills to develop a viable and structured business venture.
Another challenge faced by South African entrepreneurs is getting finance to turn their ideas into a transacting business. It is also important to note that one can curb this by offering your service or product to other businesses, which will get some money flowing in. This revenue can be used to build a reserve and grow the business.
Cultural and social norms are also a contributing factor to the unwelcoming environment that entrepreneurs find themselves in. The ability of SMEs to penetrate existing and monopolized markets is hampered by internal market burdens as well as entry regulations.
Adding to this is the notion of established businesses that SMEs are not able to provide desirable goods and services due to the lack of experience they have. The government needs to promote the SMEs to established companies in accordance to the level of service that they are capable of providing. This will allow entrepreneurs to showcase their skills and products, which will change the perception that they are too amateurish to make an impact in business.
In our personal journey through entrepreneurship there are a few lessons that come to mind in relation to how others can thrive in South Africa today.
There is a lot to be gained from remaining focused on your goal.
Your success stems from relentlessly trying different avenues to expose your business and making the necessary sacrifices.

Tech scene in Cape Town, South Africa

The Relentless  Journey Of Entrepreneurship

I had to wake up early for the long walk and leave the warmth of my three-star room in Queenstown, Eastern Cape. Getting up this early on a Saturday morning wasn’t helped by a little hangover left from the welcoming of athletes in a guest house for the Chris Hani Freedom Marathon the previous night. This was where I met the town’s flamboyant politicians who spoke proudly and loudly of their hero, Hani, and Lungile Gongqa, the champion of the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town.
The early start gave me just enough time to rinse my face. The five-kilometer race was set for 6.30AM, in rural Cofimvaba, an hour’s drive from Queenstown. We went up and down the hills before dawn, before joining a convoy of about 15 buses.
We hoped the buses would lead the way – they didn’t, the convoy got lost and we had to make a turn and follow Google Maps which landed us about three kilometers off the tar road in Sabalele, Cofimvaba. Fortunately, a speeding taxi arrived behind us and told us the race was nearby. We sped off thinking we must be late.
By the time we found parking at 6.45AM, the race hasn’t started. People were still collecting their race numbers and some were even registering at the Chris Hani Community Centre for the race. People had stayed the night there; mattresses and food parcels were everywhere and a foul smell was in the air.
We received our numbers and walked to the starting point, stretched and waited for the race to start. There were 1,000 of us.
It was now 8:30AM. “African time is an issue,” I thought to myself. Despite this, the participants were patient and relaxed.
Finally, at 9:30AM, the first whistle went for the 25-kilometer race; at 9:45AM, the second one blasted for the 10-kilometer race and finally the five-kilometer walk – my walk – started at 10AM.
I walked with the councillor from the local Chris Hani municipality and the chief whip. Both ladies couldn’t wait to turn back after two kilometers.
I asked what the walk was about while walking uphill. The councillor, breathing heavily, answered, “the walk is for their fallen hero, Chris Hani, who walked that route daily to school.” It wasn’t easy walking on gravel. But I believe I spurred them on because I was photographing them all the way.
Once we finally finished the race, got our medals, mingled and hugged, it was time to drive back to the cosy rooms in a small town. It was a long drive. Cows, sheep and goats were all over the road. Children were also playing on the newly tarred road which meant we had to slow down even more. To make the arduous drive worse, my room didn’t have electricity. With no hot water, I couldn’t shower nor bathe; but almost two hours later the electricians sorted my wiring and I could refresh myself for the first time since arriving from Johannesburg.
Although my feet were sore, I was happy I had walked in the footsteps of one of the great South African struggle heroes. I slept knowing that Hani walked 25 kilometers to school; became leader of the South African Communist Party; Chief of Staff for uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) opposing the apartheid government; but sadly got gunned down in his driveway in 1993.
This is a journey that would have never happened without the struggle of the hero, Chris Hani.

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Dusty Walk For A Hero

You would be hard-pressed to find a cricketer who does not see the five-day format as the ultimate test of skill in the game, but despite this status it is also beginning to lose its luster to the high-octane, and high-money stakes, of limited overs cricket.
AB de Villiers’ decision to ditch the longer format, for now, in search of limited overs glory says much about where his priorities lie. He has other career objectives away from Test cricket, which is fair enough, but where players previously did everything possible to play the longest format of the game, that is now palpably no longer the case in many parts of the world.
Challenges to Test cricket are not new; there was a time when One-Day Internationals (ODIs) were thought of as the future of the game, before its smaller cousin, Twenty20 cricket, was born and has now placed the 50-over format under threat.
In our pursuit of cramming more action into a shorter period of time, as attention-spans wane and we have ever more entertainment buzzing about to distract us, five days of cricket can seem just too long, for players and fans.
And therein lies the danger for Tests, even as the ‘purest’ form of the game. It is a format that is fighting to hold attention as we are bombarded with more convenient entertainment choices.
And it is not just the fans who feel that way. De Villiers earlier this year became the latest cricketer to put a halt to his Test career in favor of the shorter formats.
<div id="attachment_31459" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31459" class="wp-image-31459 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506413576-1024x727.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="727" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506413576.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506413576-300x213.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506413576-600x426.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506413576-768x545.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />AB de Villiers of South Africa walks off at close of play during day two of the 4th Test at Supersport Park on January 23, 2016 in Centurion, South Africa. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)</div>
Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, to name just a few, are other big-name players who quit Tests to concentrate on the shorter format and they continue to feature in lucrative leagues around the world.
Gayle was earning $100,000 per year playing for the West Indies when he retired from Test cricket in 2014. It is estimated, as no official figure exists, that he earns up to $3.5 million per annum playing the Twenty20 circuit that these days includes the Indian Premier League (IPL), as well as tournaments in Australia, England, Pakistan (hosted in the UAE), West Indies and Bangladesh, as well as a new competition to be staged in South Africa this November and December, for which Gayle is a marquee player.
Much more money for much less work, less strain on the body and less time away from home sounds like a no-brainer and as precedents continue to be set, the genuine fear is that Test cricket may battle even more to hold onto the game’s star names in the future.
De Villiers was paid $1.1 million for playing in the IPL in 2017, and he can look forward to more of that in the future if he can stay fit.
Is it worth it for him to risk another serious injury like the elbow problem that kept him out of the game for seven months in the second half of last year and put that income in jeopardy?
We can stand on our perches and suggest allegiance to the country’s flag should come first, but that is unrealistic with the amount of money floating about the Twenty20 circuit, and possibly unfair on De Villiers.
The swashbuckling batsman says he will be back for the home Tests against India and Australia in the 2017/18 season, but cynics have suggested that has more to do with his commercial obligations than any real desire to keep playing the five-day format.
That is also perhaps harsh. De Villiers has stated openly that beating Australia in a home Test series, something South Africa have failed to do since 1970, remains a career goal, though perhaps not one at the top of the list.
Whether he does return or not, De Villiers has now entered a stage of his career where he can cherry-pick his assignments based on financial considerations and career goals.
Test cricket has become, for him, too hard on the body, too much time away from family and, it would appear, too much hassle. The lure of a potential Test century at Lord’s, which might have captivated him as a youngster, is simply no longer there. And he makes no bones about it.
But there is a goal that De Villiers does still have that appears to have consumed him – winning the 50-over World Cup in 2019.
De Villiers took the semifinal defeat to New Zealand in 2015 hard and while his legacy as one of South Africa’s greatest ever cricketers is secure, to bow out by lifting the trophy in England in two years’ time would be the defining moment of his incredible career given the disappointments South Africa have endured in the competition in the past.
“Over the last few years something has come to mind, which is the fact that we haven’t won a World Cup yet. And for me to make it to the 2019 World Cup, I can’t really be serious in every format,” De Villiers admitted earlier this year.
“I’m definitely not retiring from Test cricket because I have plans to come back at some stage. For me, for now the most important thing is the 2019 World Cup. I want to make sure we get there. I want to make sure we lift that trophy.”
“Obviously there are other factors that play a role, like family and time away from home, but the main reason for me is that World Cup and I feel that if I play all formats all the time, then mentally and physically I won’t be at my best.”
<div id="attachment_31458" style="width: 669px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31458" class="wp-image-31458 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506228672-deep-etch-659x1024.jpg" alt="" width="659" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506228672-deep-etch.jpg 659w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506228672-deep-etch-300x466.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506228672-deep-etch-600x932.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506228672-deep-etch-193x300.jpg 193w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-506228672-deep-etch-768x1194.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px" />AB de Villiers of South Africa walks off after Stuart Broad of England took his wicket during day one of the 4th Test at Supersport Park on January 22, 2016 in Centurion, South Africa. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)</div>
That World Cup is the reason why South Africa’s, and De Villiers’, participation in the ICC Champions Trophy in England this June is so important.
Even two years out, it is the perfect preparation for the South African side to hone their game-plan in those almost unique English conditions, for the bowlers to learn their line and lengths, and for the batsmen to be able to counter prodigious English swing.
The South African ODI side is unlikely to change much between now and the World Cup, injuries aside, and so it is a dry run as they meet the sub-continent trio of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in their first round pool phase that starts with a match against the latter on June 3.
But having given up Tests to follow his dream of the World Cup, there is perhaps now even more pressure on De Villiers to perform and lead from the front. He has put his eggs in the ODI basket and South Africa will expect a return.
“It’s not easy for me. I have always been the go-ahead guy, the team man who never wants to miss a game for South Africa. But [with] the schedules these days, it’s really tough to play all formats, especially at the age of 32, when most cricketers don’t go past the age of 35.”
“If you do the math, it takes to me to 2019, 2020 at the most. Hopefully by then I will still be fit and be there to lift the trophy with the boys.”
De Villiers has royally entertained in his career, has played a major role in Test series wins in England and Australia, and generally been a superb advert for South African cricket.
Maybe he has earned the right to prolong his career in the way he sees fit.

CRICKET-SRI-RSA

In Pursuit Of Gold

A colorful display of Simply Green Juices’ latest products, arranged neatly in the fridge, is hard to miss at the company’s store in Victoria Island, Lagos.
As the May sun streams through the balcony, a gleaming display of the popular juice – with the names Funky Beet, Pick Me Up, Cleanse Intense, Refresh and Get Naked –sparkle in the light. As a leader in Nigeria’s cold pressed juice market, Simply Green is a story born of tragedy.
“When I lost my brother, I told myself ‘you need to go back and do what you love doing’. I said to myself ‘why do you have to do something just for money, why don’t you do something you enjoy?’ I know a lot about farming so I thought to myself, ‘what is the one thing that you cannot find in Lagos?’” says Adeshola Ladoja, the Chief Executive Officer of Simply Green Juices.
The answer came from Ladoja’s childhood dream of being in the field.
“I always wanted to retire as a farmer on a rocking chair, just chilling. I went to my dad’s farm, which was rundown and had been closed, and I got some seeds and planted them and it started growing after some weeks. I said ‘ok, this is what I would like to do at 50 so why not start now’,” he says.
Ladoja’s journey has taken him on many paths. At the New York Institute of Technology he studied aeronautic engineering after which he worked as a systems integrator with Nortel Networks in New York. Following a four-year stint working with his dad on his farm, Ladoja decided to part ways to cut his teeth in yet another field.
“My dad and I didn’t have the same goal or plan towards the farm. He wanted something different from me; I got very frustrated and I decided to leave. I had nothing to do and became very broke and then I got a job at Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company. At this point I was thinking this is not my life. I want something better for my future,” says Ladoja.
It is this eye on the future saw hi buy his own farm in Ido, Oyo State, that has seen Simply Green Juices grow from a one-man business to a leader in the cold pressed juice market. From near anonymity two years ago when Ladoja started out, to a strong presence in Nigeria’s cosmopolitan city of Lagos, Ladoja will never forget the hard work it took to build his brand.
“I started off with a juicer that I used my dad’s credit card to pay for. It was $300.
I would wake up early in the morning to get the fruits, then I would use the juicer to blend it and by 6AM it’s in my trunk driving around Lekki ready to be dropped off for customers. Then I would go back and do the next shift. So I would do the morning shift from 12 midnight and then the afternoon shift will start from 2PM to 6PM.”
Traditional centrifugal juice extractors typically use a fast spinning metal blade, which generates heat and destroys some of the enzymes in the fruits and vegetables. Ladoja opted for cold pressed juicers, which first crush and then press the fruit and vegetables for the highest juice yield. According to him, Simply Green Juices was the first to market with this new trend.
The early days were full of ups and downs. Firstly, there was the issue of manpower.
“Staffing was a big problem. I had a challenge finding the right team. There were a lot of financial problems also because I had no money and I had to really grow the company from scratch.”
Then came battling Nigeria’s erratic power supply.
“There was no power to produce my juices so I had to use the little money I had to buy fuel to turn on my generator so I could work. Without money, it was very difficult also trying to push the product into the market. We were competing with 5Alive juice and other well-known brands already in the market with bigger budgets.”
“I started to understand why most farmers do not have money and why most farmers in Nigeria are broke and I knew the only way I could be successful was to add value and show how to make money from farming,” says Ladoja.
Ladoja decided to buck the trend. Instead of focusing on profits he turned his attention to expansion.
“I never thought about the money, I just thought I need to give my clients what they wanted until one day I realized that we had money in the bank account to actually expand. So we decided to expand, I got one staff member and I got a bike for delivery so I didn’t have to do it myself and then it just grew from there,” he says.
When Simply Green Juices started, it produced six bottles a day. By the end of the first month of business, that figure had increased to over 100 bottles. The company averages about 60 bottles a day and has launched a new range of products called Today’s Harvest. Ladoja isn’t resting on his laurels though; he wants to change Nigerian agriculture.
“We plan to reduce the importation of greens we bring into the country. The reason we import a lot of things, like vegetables, into Nigeria is because we don’t add value to what we grow and that is a big problem. So we are starting with vegetables and also milk, cheese, butter and everything to do with dairy. We are creating the first organic farm-to-table concept in Nigeria,” says Ladoja.
Ladoja is finally realizing his purpose, quenching the thirst of Nigeria while spending his days in the fields of his farm.

YJ1A0760

A Bitter Vine Bearing Fruit

Matime Nchabeleng’s business helps patients with burn wounds, but there is no bandage to heal the pain of not being paid on time by its biggest client, the government.
Nchabeleng is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Maisha Medical at a small industrial park within the busy Gateway Industrial Park, in Centurion, near Pretoria.
This is where he stores his product, Drawtex, a hydroconductive wound dressing that is supplied to most South African hospitals and exported to 11 countries.
His office has pictures of patients with terrible burn wounds that are not easy on the eye.
“My heart sinks when I see others suffering; I always want to help where I can. I care about others security so that they could live better lives,” says Nchabeleng.
Nchabeleng, a husband and father of four daughters, founded Maisha Medical in 2013. He has no medical background but his strategy in life is to broaden his knowledge in a field that interests him.
<div id="attachment_31427" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31427" class="wp-image-31427 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0042-1024x678.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="678" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0042.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0042-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0042-600x397.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0042-768x508.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />The Bandage Business Waiting Game</div>
“The key, is working very hard. I don’t have a medical background, but I have employed people with a medical background. What I thought I needed to do was to read and educate myself so that when I talk to a CEO of a hospital or a doctor, I at least make sense and  have some understanding of their language,” he says.
While growing up in Thabampshe Village, in South Africa’s northern Limpompo province, becoming the CEO of a R20-million ($1.5-million) company was a far-fetched dream.
Maisha Medical negotiated and acquired the rights to manufacture, market, sell and distribute Drawtex globally in 2012. Nchabeleng identifies distributers for his product outside of South Africa.
“I believe the nationals understand their government and challenges, much better than I do,” he says.
When Maisha Medical started, it was worth R38 million ($2.8 million), but the value has decreased annually.
He blames this on the government which 80% of his business caters for.
“[There are] a number of businesses like us, which 80% of its business depends on the government and they go down, because the government fails to pay on time,” says Nchabeleng
“It’s not good. Sometimes I have to pick up the phone and call the MEC or the Premier of the [province] and that is not good, because you are not in business because you know the MEC or the Premier. What about those people that are not Matime, who don’t have their numbers to call and say: ‘Hey look, the Gauteng Government has not paid me since November and they owe me millions and I have 22 [salaries] to pay?’ he says.
“There are also the wrong people appointed in wrong positions. There are procurement problems as well, where buyers will exclusively look at the cost or price of the product, to the exclusion of the value of the product.”
“I believe that government must protect South African manufactured products, as these companies add value to the South African economy.”
He calls on other black entrepreneurs with pharmaceutical and medical companies to work together and have a stronger voice in the sector. This will give them a better chance of fixing what his bandages can’t.

DSC_01111

The Bandage Business Waiting Game

The toughest day in her entrepreneurial journey – inspired by the large number of travelers passing through the numerous police roadblocks she manned in and around Kariba, Zimbabwe – is the day Patricia Mazvidza’s guest lodge opened its doors.
A veteran of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, Mazvidza shrugged off the comfort of government employment as a police officer. She had risen to the commissioned rank of inspector and later on to superintendent.
“The idea to start a guest lodge initially came in 2002 while I was working at the roadblocks as a police officer here in Kariba,” says Mazvidza at her business, Dzimbabwe Lodge, in Kariba. “Most of the cars you would stop at the police roadblocks were carrying tourists and other travelers to Kariba.”
She always wondered where these people would sleep and if they were comfortable during their visit.
Roadblocks are a topical issue in Zimbabwe, but the police deny that it sets targets for each team manning the numerous blockades in Harare. On the day of the interview with Mazvidza, there were nine police roadblocks between Harare and Kariba.
At each roadblock, police officers flag you down, ask for your driver’s licence and check for front and back reflectors, vehicle licence and ask you to open your trunk to check the spare wheel, breakdown triangles and serviceable fire extinguisher.
If you don’t have any of the required equipment, they book you and ask you to pay on-the-spot fines, which range between $10 and $20. If you don’t pay the fine, your vehicle is impounded.
In addition to burning a hole in tourists’ pockets, the roadblocks are hurting Mazvidza’s business. She thinks they deter tourists from traveling to Zimbabwe. She tells FORBES AFRICA that the roadblocks are being handled differently to when she was a police officer.
“When we did our training for law and policing, we were always told and we always observed the importance of warning – you don’t just rush to book and fine just for the sake of collecting a fine,” she says.
Apart from the guest lodge, which has 16 rooms and which is in the process of expanding to 35 rooms, Mazvidza also runs a thriving petrol and diesel filling station under a franchise agreement with Zuva Petroleum.
At the filling station, which opened in 2014, and where profit margins are 6 cents per liter, Mazvidza has opened the Zuva Restaurant and is working on adding a vehicle servicing station.
“I saw that if I put all my eggs in one basket, you will be left with nothing if the basket breaks up. We did not have the experience to run a fueling station and at first I hesitated but it is doing fairly well, but you have to supplement it with other businesses such as the restaurant and servicing garage that we are setting up,” she says.
Mazvidza’s husband is a civil engineer working for the Zambezi River Authority which oversees the Lake Kariba. He encouraged her to soldier on with the business and he also did the design for the guest lodge.
“My best day in the office is actually the day we started the guest lodge business. I was hesitant and thinking ‘what if people do not come and it becomes idle’. Yet, when we opened doors in 2002, there was so much demand and now we are not afraid of even the big lodges and hotels here in Kariba because I believe in the services we offer and the smartness and relaxed nature of our services,” she said
She has no worst day in her entrepreneurial journey but she wishes she had started the hospitality business earlier. The guest lodge – which has presidential, executive, family and single rooms – is complemented by two boathouses on Lake Kariba.
Her business is a world away from where the 53-year-old Mazvidza started. She was born in Mutoko, in eastern Zimbabwe, and crossed over into Mozambique for liberation war training while she was still in primary school. She returned to Zimbabwe in 1980 and later enrolled for the police force.
“I joined the police force in 1983 after undergoing police training at Tomlinson Depot in Harare and was stationed at Mbizo in Kwekwe. I was then posted to Kariba in 1989 which saw me promoted from constable to sergeant and then to inspector in 2000,” says Mazvidza.
“I was then further promoted, in 2002, to the rank of superintendent. We had bought a piece of land here in Kariba and we thought of using it as a guest lodge after carefully thinking about the potential opportunities in the hospitality industry here.”
If starting her business was tough; deciding to retire from the police force was more difficult.
“I retired on October 21, 2002 after making one of the toughest decisions of my life. But I had to decide after considering that if you run your own business full time, it is always better. Frankly speaking, I never thought I would be able to run a business as I always thought it was good just to be employed but today I now know that it can be done because I have done it.”
It was one of many tough decisions along a hard road but Mazvidza is not looking back.

Patricia-2-

No Roadblock Can Stop This Business

A sixty-five-year-old Cape Town antique furniture maker, Pierre Cronje, guarded his business and worked his guts out for three decades, but he now lives to convince his children to take over when he retires.
At his time of life, most of his fellow entrepreneurs are taking it easy. Cronje still wakes up in the early hours to open his 4,000-square-meter workshop of about 200 workers. FORBES AFRICA went to see Cronje in the workshop, nestled in the heart of the crime-ridden suburb of Lansdowne, on the outskirts of Cape Town.
<div id="attachment_31420" style="width: 691px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31420" class="wp-image-31420 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-972-681x1024.jpg" alt="" width="681" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-972.jpg 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-972-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-972-600x902.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-972-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" />Pierre Cronje. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
We found grey-haired Cronje, in a short sleeve shirt and khaki chinos, perambulating amid his men in blue overalls, working on expensive furniture. It is a noisy workshop with heavy machinery. Just before the tea-bell rang at 10AM, Cronje ushered us to his corner office a floor above the business he has loved since he was a boy.
“I loved woodwork at school, which was an unusual thing in those days, so throughout school I studied woodwork. I waited for the whole week for the double lesson. But I had to study at university, so I went to study for civil engineering but I was so fixed up to furniture, especially Cape furniture. While studying I restored old furniture for people, it paid for my fees,” says Cronje.
Cronje qualified as an engineer in the 70s, but he lasted only four years. Woodwork beckoned. He said he could not spend the rest of his life without making furniture. Soon after meeting his wife, Frances, they both worked briefly for the same company in Johannesburg. The Cronjes returned to Cape Town to establish a furniture restoration business in the snooker room of his Victorian house. Ten workers helped him with stripping and collecting antique furniture for restoration.
“We started as a restoration company because I knew restoring, I knew the trade and the dealers and could get as much work as I wanted. But slowly, about six years, we moved from restoration to manufacturing. So, we have a big base of reproducing antique furniture because I know Cape furniture and antique furniture very well, we do some European or English antique reproduction. We stopped restoring 20 years ago.”
From the humble backroom, Cronje has moved his expanding business a few times until he bought the land where he built the workshop a decade ago. He employs 140 artisans and 40 administrators.
<div id="attachment_31419" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31419" class="wp-image-31419 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-961-1024x681.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="681" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-961.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-961-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-961-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-961-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Pierre Cronje&#8217;s factory. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
“Restoring is very difficult; you cannot easily teach people what you can teach them to manufacture. To restore you must have the love for antiques. If a client brings a 200-year-old table with patina on top and someone who doesn’t know would sand it off and your client will get very, very angry,” says Cronje.
“I am now 65 years and I should retire. But on my 60th birthday I promised the floor I won’t retire for 10 years. So, I still spend a lot of time on the floor looking for mistakes. Just like you saw me, they have a little job sheet, they showed me where they are going to cut, I said to them that’s perfect. I look for mistakes, I say that won’t work, the color isn’t nice or the finish isn’t nice, whatever. I spend a lot of the time on the floor and in the drawing office because I am teaching them my 30 years of design,” he says.
Every piece of furniture that leaves Cronje’s workshop goes to either a client or the two showrooms in Cape Town and Johannesburg. It has to bear the famous signature of the founder himself. He says that is the way to maintain the high standard.
But the business has not always been afloat.
“We had cash flow problems for most our life. There are times which are easy where there’s money at the bank but most of our lives cash has been tight. It’s not a highly lucrative business, a lot of people see the furniture, see what we’re charging for it, see a brand name and they think he’s very wealthy and he has a holiday house in the Seychelles. We’ve got nothing, we’ve only got our main house,” Cronje says.
Despite the humble life of Cronje, he has made some extravagant pieces. The company manufactured a R1-million ($74,000) table for Brett Kebble, the controversial mining magnate who was murdered in Johannesburg in 2005. He says it was the most expensive piece of furniture they manufactured.
“Now, we are doing a lot of floors that cost R1 million but furniture doesn’t come close to that. The most expensive furniture is probably R150,000 ($11,000) for a really nice cabinet. There’s one on Wolfe Street in Wynberg,” he says.
<a class="yoast-link-suggestion__value" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/technology/2017/06/01/bandage-business-waiting-game/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Bandage Business Waiting Game</a>
Family has always been at the heart of his business.
“I was lucky in two things, my father had a bit of money I could borrow when I was about to go bankrupt when I started. I had to phone him in Joburg and ask for R100,000 ($7485.71) to pay wages. And he did help me many times. My other luck was that when I was studying I was a keen collector of Cape furniture. Every time I really needed money I would sell things. I sold nearly all the Cape furniture,” he says.
His father, Frans, who was the chairman of South African Breweries and Nedbank, wanted his four sons to follow him in business.
“He had aspirations for us. He also wanted us to play golf but none of us did. When he got used to what I was doing, he loved it. At the beginning he thought ‘he has a degree in engineering but he loved working with his hands fixing furniture’. But we started getting a name in making good furniture. He saw that I was passionate, I could see he accepted it fully,” he says.
All these years his wife Frances has been the low-profile partner who looked after the two family furniture shops.
“Our clients want to be fashionable; they don’t want something that was popular 20 years ago. I discuss with Frances what comes next. We made a lot of prototypes together, borrowing from her ideas what is trending or not,” says Cronje.
Now his children are his problem.
Cronje says he never ran Pierre Cronje furniture as a business, but he saw it as a hobby. Of his three children, only his firstborn son, Taillefer, has so far been convinced to work in the family business. On the day of our visit, Taillefer couldn’t come speak to us as he had a string of meetings with clients in his tiny corner office.
“Although Taillefer is not interested in furniture itself, he loves running the business. He’s actually the person who introduced the staff complement. He said ‘you have too many staff for the amount of work. You just hire as you please’. He’s so strict with the staff and timekeeping. He brought a very good HR team. He wants to carry on with the business but I think he needs an artistic person to work with,” he says.
<div id="attachment_31417" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31417" class="wp-image-31417 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-967.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="479" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-967.jpg 720w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-967-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pierre-Cronje-967-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" />Conje says he&#8217;s always loved working with his hands fixing furniture. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
Now Cronje has to convince his daughter. Unlike his own father, who initially disapproved of his furniture restoration penchant over engineering, Cronje says he will stop at nothing to convince Antonia. He says her background in arts is needed by the company.
“Just like Taillefer, she refused to come work for the family. Taillefer also said he was not going IDB (into daddy’s business), he wanted to start his own business. But he saw how hard it is. Anyway, he joined us and he’s enjoying it. It might take me another five years to convince her, but I always win,” he says.
Without his children, Cronje wonders who else can match his passion for working with wood.
“It is very difficult to find people who are passionate about wood, but it’s not impossible. I think he can find somebody. There are a number of people in the organization that are learning well. But a problem is when they are not family, they can leave easily,” he says.
Cronje laments that training people, who are not family, doesn’t guarantee loyalty for the business. But he says he doesn’t see that as betrayal as he himself would also encourage his own children to start on their own rather than spending many years working for other families.
For now, Cronje will keep getting up at dawn and dreaming of a win: all three of his children working at his side.

Pierre-Cronje-947

Not So Cosy

WEF Africa 2017 was a story of foreign investors, growth and grey business suits. It also held the tale of two finance ministers. Rarely have the economic politics of the host nation loomed so large over one conference.
The reshuffling of steady-as-she-goes Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for young, untested, Malusi Gigaba prompted a downgrade to junk status for South Africa and reverberated throughout the conference in Durban.
“I am young, I have energy for days,” says the younger of the two as he strides confidently down the walkway. Forty-five-year-old Gigaba almost shines when you look at him, like has been varnished. He has his skinny suits made for him – for about $1,600 a pop – by Johannesburg designer Linda Makhanya and wears snazzy glasses. He may have a long way to go to become the greatest finance minister South Africa ever had, but is certainly the most snappily dressed from day one.
Gigaba, fresh from an investment roadshow to New York, Washington and Boston, faces another long haul to drag South Africa clear of damaging junk status and economic decay that will drive capital away from the country.
“He is a bright guy, give him a chance,” says Maria Ramos, the CEO of Barclays Africa.
The man himself bridles at the suggestion that he is too inexperienced for the job. He says, with 13 years under his belt, he is one of the most experienced in cabinet who served in the economic cluster when public enterprises minister.
“I think as soon as he can be on top of the numbers and speak the language of the numbers he will be able to work with a very good team at Treasury,” says Lesetja Kganyago, the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank.
It is Gigaba’s difficult job to stave off another downgrade by the ratings agencies, which could come in a matter of weeks, restore confidence, promote investment and create what he calls inclusive growth – fashionable buzz words in cabinet right now – at a time when any kind of growth would be welcome.
“You need to change the patterns or structures of ownership, of the South African economy, so that black people don’t become only employees and get limited to being a middle class, but you create asset owners,” he says.
<div id="attachment_31403" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31403" class="wp-image-31403 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/06/GettyImages-661435026-1024x684.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="684" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GettyImages-661435026.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GettyImages-661435026-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GettyImages-661435026-600x401.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GettyImages-661435026-768x513.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Former Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan</div>
Nationalization – a word that sends foreign investors running for the hills – is off the table for now.
“You don’t nationalize shrinking economic sectors in a shrinking economy. We are not talking about that. The ANC itself, as the ruling party, has been clear on that; South Africa is a mixed economy.”
With corruption allegations swirling around government, the new minister’s public position on it could be seen as comforting.
“If we allow corruption to become rampant it actually creates a trust deficit between the public representatives as well as the public. And it makes it difficult for us when we have to take tough decisions to earn loyalty and support from the public. And so I am committed in doing everything that we have to do and can to fight corruption and ensure that we are running a clean country.”
Also at WEF Africa was the more soberly dressed Gordhan who looked a little down and had every right to be. He had worked tirelessly for 14 months to put the economy back on to an even keel before being dragged back from an investment roadshow in London to be reshuffled ruthlessly; he found out he had been fired in the newspapers.
“What has happened has happened we can’t mourn over those things. There could have been a more dignified way in which some of those ways could have been done and it was not just me, many  colleagues were part of this process as well and if we begin to lose our sense of dignity and decorum that is not a very good sign,” he says.
It did not rob him of all hope.
“We have had assurances that the policy framework that the government has adopted will remain in place. The world of course is still an uncertain place and whilst there were still green shoots in our economy and globally there is an element of uncertainty that come in either of geo-politics on the one hand or domestic politics and economics on the other hand as well. I am not apprehensive, I am hopeful but hope must be based on some real actions that are taken,” says Gordhan.
“We have to all focus our attention on our best to get the country going, not in the interest of a few individuals, but in the interest of the 50 million people we are here to serve.”
Gordhan had a rough ride as finance minister after climbing back into the saddle in December 2015 following a clumsy reshuffle that saw three finance ministers in four days. He spent most of his second stint in the shadow of the sack or trumped up charges in court.
Even outside cabinet he was under unfriendly fire. Hotheads from the ANC youth league heckled him at a memorial service – yes, I said memorial service – for party stalwart Ahmed Kathrada in Durban. Catcalls from youths for a man who spent the best part of a year in solitary confinement for their freedom to do so.
“I think if you lack a sense of history, if the younger people are not educated about the past and don’t wish to be educated. Thirdly if you practice the politics of renting a crowd you will end up with that sort of denigratory behavior and you have to just forgive them for their ignorance,” says Gordhan before giving a warning.
“Many of us have said that if you carry on at the current rate then the ANC will lose the 2019 elections and we don’t want that to happen.”
A dignified political epitaph for a man likely to end nearly half a century of fighting the good fight by quitting politics. He says he will discuss this with his family and surely they’ve had enough by now.
As for Gigaba; people can often become what the times demand. Many expect him to do what he is told, but maybe the unexpected power bestowed upon him could see him make landmark decisions for the good of the economy with insight as sharp as his tailored suits. If only.

SAFRICA-ECONOMY-WEF

A Tale  Of Two Ministers

As a fellow human being, I hated watching President Robert Mugabe shuffle to the umpteenth world stage for his umpteenth appearance in his 94th year. It seemed to take an age for the ruler of Zimbabwe, for more than 37 years, to struggle to his seat; it looked painful.
In my mind was the President Mugabe, then 72, who bristled physically and verbally in a tough interview I held him to at State House, in Harare, in 1994, when Zimbabwe had a thriving  economy. On that long sunny autumn day he had the clipped eloquence and mental agility of a university professor. Even as an open-minded new arrival, it was clear he was spinning his answers to questions about the economy and opposition, but at least he did it with polish and a dash of mischief.
“Who told you that?” he asked professorially whenever I caught him out.
<div id="attachment_31381" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31381" class="wp-image-31381 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-631829258-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-631829258.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-631829258-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-631829258-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-631829258-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />US actor Forest Whitaker (R) delivers a speech, flanked by Chairperson of the Schwab Foundation Hilde Schwab, during the Crystal Award ceremony on the eve of the opening day of the World Economic Forum, on January 16, 2017 in Davos.</div>
For a moment forget the criticism surrounding Mugabe; here was an elder of Africa, who spent 10 years in prison, dropping off now and again, before a thin crowd at WEF Africa on an early panel on fragile states.
First question: did he consider troubled Zimbabwe a fragile state? Mugabe mentioned his country’s vast resources, 14 universities and a 90% literacy rate.
“Zimbabwe is one of the most highly developed countries in Africa… We are not a poor country, you can’t call us fragile, I can call America a fragile state,” says Mugabe to chuckles from the audience.
“And yet my people back home are crying!” says one of the hundreds of Zimbabweans working in Johannesburg’s petrol stations when we discussed the story a few days later.
Mugabe blamed rival political groups for conflict in his country and had sharp words for Islamic states.
“If you look into the Islamic world and talk about Isis and various other groups, it will appear the belief is the more violence you inflict on the population the greater the people will listen to you and join your side. That is a dangerous one and I do not know how it is still to be remedied.”
At the other end of the age spectrum was idealistic fellow panellist 35-year-old Victor Ochen, the youngest African nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The former cobbler and charcoal burner grew up amid war in Lira, in northern Uganda, a fiefdom of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army.  In FORBES AFRICA, in April 2015, the year he was nominated, Ochen told us how he wept and threw stones at soldiers as they tore up charcoal beds that he hoped were going to pay for his education. The shocked guerrillas let him live to speak truth to power at WEF Africa 2017.
“When young people complain it is called a protest; when leaders speak it is called an excuse,” he says.
<div id="attachment_31380" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31380" class="wp-image-31380 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HMcClintock_VU0D13181-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HMcClintock_VU0D13181.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HMcClintock_VU0D13181-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HMcClintock_VU0D13181-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HMcClintock_VU0D13181-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Victor Ochen</div>
“Every year, hundreds of Africans die in the Mediterranean Sea trying to escape Africa. Why do they leave, what is wrong? It is because of the lack of integrity of power.”
Sharing the stage was Hollywood star Forest Whitaker, a UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation,  who played former Uganda President Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. Unlike other Hollywood stars, he helps African children on the ground, rather than adopt them.
“The people of South Sudan are resilient, they want to stay in their country, they don’t want to leave but they are forced to leave their crops because of the conflict.”
Whitaker, born in Texas and bred in California, has been working quietly in the dust of warring South Sudan where 50,000 have been killed and more than half the people have no food. No one knows him there, he says, which helps in his work. This includes helping child soldiers lay down their weapons, giving them a sense of purpose, by teaching them how to deal with conflict instead of perpetuating it.
“The youth are now negotiating conflicts in their communities. They are dealing with everything from negotiating with the army to stolen cattle,” says Whitaker.
Many African leaders could do well to listen to the passionate voices of Ochen and Whitaker.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe

The Pain Of Mugabe

In these trying financial and debt-ridden times, any money-making scheme sounds better than it should.
The purveyors of Ponzi schemes step in and millions of Africans hand over their savings. In a Ponzi scheme, Peter is robbed to pay Paul. It promises a return on investments, with a claim it is secure; but there is no real investment.
The operator of the scheme uses the money deposited by early investors to pay the first dividend, until investors feel comfortable and decide to invest more. Eventually the scheme falls apart as more cash is taken out and fewer people join.
Yoliswa May (not her real name), of Johannesburg, regrets the day she heard the word Ponzi.
“I should have listened to my inner voice,” she says after R30,000 (around $2,200) went down the drain.
“It’s upsetting to think of how much money I threw away. I lost more than I gained, because I reinvested my returns. I am like a person who walked out of their house with money and got mugged.”
Encouraged by family, she fell into the trap and joined MMM – a worldwide Ponzi scheme run by a convicted Russian fraudster Sergey Mavrodi, who swindled 10,000 Russians out of 110 million roubles ($4.3 million at the time).
“My sister told me of MMM [South Africa], because she had invested with it and received money back. The second time her investment matured, she showed me and said ‘join man, this thing works,’” she says.
<div id="attachment_31374" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31374" class="wp-image-31374 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-514978632-1024x703.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="703" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-514978632.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-514978632-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-514978632-600x412.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-514978632-768x527.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Mugshots of Charles Ponzi</div>
May, in a heartbeat, cashed in her savings and invested R20,000 ($1,520) in MMM and a month later had about R26,000 ($1,900) in her bank account.
“I was excited after I received the money. I believed that it works. If I didn’t receive the R26,000, I would have never invested again. I chose to invest more money because I was told the more you put in the more you get. So I did just that,” she says.
It promises 30% returns in a new world order with its own currency – the mavros – making it harder for law enforcement to pin it down. It works on a “get help and give help system”.
There is no centralized bank; one member transfers money to another.
May topped up her investment to R30,000 ($2,200). Then things got ugly.
“Two weeks later, our mavros were frozen. They still are. Apparently there was a panic, and a lot of people were withdrawing at the same time so there needed to be a restart,” says May.
“When everything was happening, at the back of my mind I knew that we were warned that things would end this way. The authorities warned us to stay away from MMM because once our money is gone, it would be untraceable, but we didn’t listen. However members remain positive that we will get our money back. It’s a lesson learned. I will never get involved with Ponzi schemes again.”
While May has her head in her hands, Sifiso Sithebe, of Durban, is on his way to the bank with a smile on his face.
“It changed my life. My life has just never been better,” he says.
Sithebe is a breadwinner for his wife and three children but was drowning in debt before he invested R1,000 ($78) in MMM.
“I needed to settle my debt. My family and I were struggling financially. But when I became a member, money was no longer a problem. I could do more than I had planned to with the money I received,” he says.
“I renovated my house and even bought myself a second-hand car. If I never joined, I would have never been able to do any of that; that is why I don’t regret joining.”
Loyiso Heart, a businesswoman from East London, went into MMM with the same hope.
Tired of low returns from the bank, she invested R20,000 ($1,500) in MMM and her confidence in the system grew.  Her next attempt, however, was disastrous.
“My mother and I got together and invested R50,000 ($3,900). Two months later our money went down the drain. The stupid thing that I did was to move to MMM Nigeria after the MMM South Africa saga… I was devastated.”
Heart says, for a long time after both systems collapsed, she had hope it would recover.
“I don’t think they will ever return,” says Heart now.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-31375 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-599310874-copy-1024x681.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="681" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-599310874-copy.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-599310874-copy-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-599310874-copy-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-599310874-copy-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
National Consumer Commission (NCC) spokesman, Trevor Hattingh, says Ponzi schemes are popular because the returns on investment are high, but so is the risk.
“Investing money in a pyramid scheme is a risk because such schemes do not offer any guarantee that you will get your money back. The returns are also not guaranteed, and because the scheme is not registered as a business, or have physical offices, you will not easily be able to track them down if they do not pay you out,” he says.
They are also illegal.
“You run the risk of being prosecuted by law enforcement and other regulatory authorities in South Africa because pyramid schemes are prohibited in terms of Section 43 of the Consumer Protection Act… Consumers should note that they have no legal recourse when a pyramid collapses and they run a risk of losing all their invested money. A pyramid scheme is essentially a get-rich-quick scheme and people join it to make a quick buck. In doing so they obviously do not consider the risks involved,” says Hattingh.
Hatting warns consumers to be cautious with their money.
“Consumers looking to invest money should do due diligence on schemes before deciding to invest in them. Do research about companies and most importantly establish if they are registered to offer financial services. The objective of [Ponzi schemes] is to defraud participants. People are drawn into participation and end up losing their money. There are always more people that lose money than those who gain or benefit from the scheme,” he says.
The problem is so widespread that African governments are discussing working together to get rid of the illegal schemes.
On its website, MMM claims that it is a “community” of people that are simply assisting each other when in need.  It claims it’s a stokvel. A stokvel is an investment society to which members regularly contribute an agreed amount and from which they receive a lump-sum payment.
Worryingly, MMM has all the signs of a Ponzi scheme but its participants are adamant it’s a stokvel.
Miziyonke Mtshali, COO of the National Stokvel Association of South Africa (Nasasa), says this is common.
“We have seen Ponzi schemes that pose as stokvels in order to gain acceptance and support in the communities. We usually learn of new schemes through customers who contact our call center to verify the registration of the schemes they have been approached to join,” says Mtshali.
“In order to gain the trust of the public, these schemes claim that they are members of Nasasa.”
Mtshali warns people to be vigilant as they work with the National Prosecuting Attorney (NPA) to fight such schemes.
Despite these investigations, Mavrodi warns his participants on the MMM South Africa website not to pay attention to ‘negativity’.
“We’re fighting against the world financial system, helping ordinary people, breaking the rules and declaring it expressly – what is to be expected then? It’s only natural they are going to throw all kinds of obstacles our way. Have you seen what happened during Trump’s election campaign when he decided to go against the rules? Have you seen the river of lies and slander the “fair and independent” media poured down on him? It’s about the same thing,” he says.
While Mavrodi claims that all MMM participants have a good story to tell, May is still waiting for her money.
<h3>The Godfather Of The Ponzi Scheme</h3>
Charles Ponzi is the Italian father of Ponzi schemes. He swindled about $7 million, in the early 1900s, from new investors to existing ones. 
Born in Italy in 1882, he moved to Boston, United States, in 1903 and worked as a clerk. He was no stranger to fraud and corruption. He scammed people by promising them a whopping 50% interest in 45 days, or 100% in 90 days. He earned $15 million and became a millionaire in just six months. 
His scam was based on the purchase of International Reply Coupons (IRC), which postal senders provide to receivers to pay for the cost of a reply. 
Justice eventually caught up with Ponzi and he was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud and faced a lifetime in jail. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud and spent 14 years behind bars. 
He died on January 18, 1949, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

GettyImages-87252136-copy

I’m Like A Person Who Walked Out Of My House And Got Mugged

It was David and Goliath. With sling shot in hand, two tiny human rights groups, Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA) and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI), stood in the way of the Goliath that is the deal to build nuclear that could cost more than a R1 trillion ($73 billion).
It was a court battle that raged for a year and a half. On April 26, the ELA and SAFCEI lawyers stood face-to-face with government counsel in the Western Cape High Court, Cape Town. The ELA and SAFCEI disputed the costly procurement process, saying it was illegal and nontransparent.
On this day, Goliath crumpled and activists danced and sang in victory on the sidewalk outside the court. The celebration was blessed by a downpour in this drought-ridden city.
Judge Lee Bozalek declared the South African government’s nuclear deal to be unlawful and unconstitutional. Most important was the scrapping of secret intergovernmental agreements with Russia, the United States and South Korea, which the activists argued was the right of the public to know.
“Victory for justice and the rule of law and the people of South Africa,” says Makoma Lekalakala, ELA branch coordinator.
Other key decisions made by government were found to be illegal, including its decision to hand over procurement of nuclear to Eskom, South Africa’s state power utility, rather than the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.
“All the information that people have been requiring on affordability etc. must come into the public realm. We need to know exactly what is going on with the deal and it needs to happen in a transparent and open process as the government has repeatedly said it would do, but keep not doing,” says Adrian Pole, lawyer for SAFCEI and ELA.
<div id="attachment_31370" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31370" class="wp-image-31370 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Koeberg_JC-4-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Koeberg_JC-4.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Koeberg_JC-4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Koeberg_JC-4-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Koeberg_JC-4-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Koeberg Nuclear Power Station</div>
It means back to the drawing board for nuclear energy in South Africa. From now on any nuclear proposals will need to be passed in Parliament and opened up to the public, which could take years.
“It’s been a long hard struggle. We are only two small organizations but this is really a victory for democracy. It means the people of South Africa can now participate in their future. There is no more nuclear deal, there is no more Russian agreement. Parliament has to step up. If the president wants to push any more deals it has to go through Parliament properly and any idea we might go nuclear is off the table,” says Liz McDaid, SAFCEI spokesperson.
McDaid has more reason to celebrate than most. She was there from day one, when the human rights groups announced they would take down the deal in court from a small room in a backstreet office with a handful of journalists in Newtown, Johannesburg.
Another organization standing against the deal is the Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA). Ted Blom, OUTA’s Energy Portfolio Director, believes the expense alone could have crippled the country.
“We are tired of government’s approach that runs roughshod over the need for meaningful public engagement and due process. The pro-nuclear lobbyists and government officials arrogantly ignore their need to be accountable and to provide detailed explanations to the public on why we need new nuclear plants, or what the true costs of these will be,” adds Wayne Duvenage, OUTA Chairperson.
Studies showed the nuclear deal to be unaffordable, despite what government believes, argues David Fig, a Political Economist and Honorary Research Associate at the University of Cape Town. He notes that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) developed models showing that new nuclear is likely to be much more expensive than coal or renewable energy.
“The price ticket for nuclear – which some estimates put at more than R1 trillion – doesn’t take into account the costs of operation, fuel, insurance, emergency planning or the regulation or decontamination at the end of the life of the reactors,” he writes in The Conversation.
The nuclear deal, overseen by South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, is also muddied by allegations of corruption, according to Fig.
“A more likely reason for Zuma’s zeal is the involvement of the Gupta family with whom he has close ties. The family’s web of interests around the nuclear deal is complex. What is known is that the Gupta family controls South Africa’s only dedicated uranium mine. The family has developed close relationships with key individuals at Eskom,” says Fig.
On the other side of the argument, there is a claim the ruling is an overstatement. Kelvin Kemm, Chairperson of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), called for caution when interpreting it. The nuclear physicist argues that the court ruled on an administrative process, not on the wisdom of nuclear power.
“A false impression has been created that this judgment is anti-nuclear. It is not and comment to that effect is premature and regrettable,” says Kemm.
“One positive aspect of this ruling is that it presents the opportunity for the facts and truth to be fully aired and debated so that rational people can think and decide on realities not hearsay. The anti-nuke lobby has had the platform to themselves, not least because the nuclear industry has been quiet. This will change. Necsa and the nuclear industry intend to step up efforts to put the facts before the court of public opinion and to present a balanced and evidence-based case for nuclear energy as the right energy option for South Africa.”
“The nuclear industry in South Africa operates to the highest global business and ethical standards and applies world best practice to planning and operational procedures. To suggest that those working within it adhere to anything less is at best inaccurate and a great disservice to a highly professional body of experts.”
Government says it will look over the judgment before it decides whether to appeal.
The battle over nuclear is far from over, but the victors are likely to redouble their campaign after they have dried off from their dance in the rain.

Tag: June 2017

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA