Oakbay Investments has responded to the affidavit filed by South Africa’s Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan earlier on Monday.
Mr Gordhan&#8217;s affidavit said he did not believe there was any bona fide opposition to his application for a declaratory order confirming that he could not intervene in a dispute between Oakbay Investments and the four banks, and that this was supported by the banks, the registrar of banks, the Reserve Bank and the Financial Intelligence Centre.
The Minister considered Oakbay&#8217;s opposition to the application &#8220;unreasonable&#8221;, and indicated that the company had used &#8220;many months to construct a far-ranging accusation&#8221; against him.
In a press release issued today, a spokesperson for Oakbay Investments said: “Today&#8217;s affidavit is a case of reverse victim syndrome. The applicant proactively came after us and smeared our name with a flawed list of transactions &#8211; that he used his unique executive power to obtain &#8211; and then questions the manner of our response to him. All of this changes nothing. Our bank accounts remain closed and no evidence exists to prove why that is the case. We look forward to clearing our name in Court.”
On January 20, 2017, Oakbay Investments submitted an affidavit in response to Minster Gordhan’s application where he sought a declaration from the court to confirm he has no legal responsibility to intervene in the matter of the closure of Oakbay’s bank accounts by South Africa’s four biggest banks: Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank and FNB.
Oakbay’s responding affidavit said that the Minister’s superfluous application was riddled with factual and legal errors; that the Minister’s reliance on the list of 72 purported “suspicious transaction reports” wass misplaced and the Minister’s application was supported by a flawed analysis and a faulty factual record.
 Oakbay said it has never suggested that the Minister was required to intervene in the bank-customer relationship. It saw no contested legal issue and no reason for the Minister to bring this application.
The company described the application as an abuse of court and an effort to involve the independent judiciary to settle political scores. Oakbay said the Court should therefore decline to grant the relief sought by the Minister and dismiss the Minister’s application with costs.﻿

Oakbay Investments responds to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s affidavit

Retailers today are continually looking for ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their sales promotion efforts. According to data released by Stats SA last week, retail sales for November 2016 were up by 3.8% mainly driven by Black Friday sales.
From an overseas perspective, more than three-quarters (76%) of U.S. consumers spent money on Thanksgiving and Black Friday (25 November 2016), averaging approximately $373.30 on goods (excluding groceries), dining and entertainment.  Roughly 76% of shoppers purchased more than, or the same amount, as they did last year. Shoppers 18-34 years old spent the most ($407), while those 65 and over spent about half as much as all other groups ($212).
Retailers in South Africa have always done a lot of research on customer buying patterns with respect to holidays and consumption. In fact, there have been numerous research on the consumption patterns that span a wide array of holidays, however, the holiday that has been examined the most in the by retailers in South Africa has been Christmas.
Christmas is possibly the most studied shopping season because it has become the occasion for acknowledging important social bonds. Based on the Stats SA data, it seems that a new shopping ritual has emerged in the form of “Black Friday”.
The term Black Friday is known to shoppers and retailers in the USA as both the day after the Thanksgiving holiday and as one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The South African incarnation of Black Friday sales is a distinct phenomenon for retailers﻿, representing a clear shift from what happened in the country before. Of course, South African consumers have always queued round the block for promotions, music band ticket sales and sporting events such as the World Cup.  
However, the chaotic scenes of shoving, trampling and fighting that emerged on Black Friday in some of the malls are indicative of the sharp end of consumer capitalism. It seems that South African retailers have caught on to the new concept of Black Friday and the customers seem to love it.
So what do retailers gain from promoting products, in some cases at prices below the cost that they sourced them? Researchers have found that about 75% of shoppers who visit a store specifically to purchase promotional items also end up purchasing regular priced items. Thus, promotional pricing pays off in increased sales of non-promotional merchandise.
Consumers prefer paying prices which are lower than the reference price and respond to sales promotions due to the positive experience and perceived customer value. Looking through some catalogues for the offers put forward by some retailers on Black Friday, one could see that, while some retailers went all out to get feet into their stores, some retailers went in half-heartedly.
Comparing what happened in South Africa on Black Friday and real United States Black Friday, one can observe that South Africa is still far off from this real “Black Friday”. In the USA where the idea originates, retailers offer ridiculous discounts which make a mockery of the 10-30% off that was offered by some retailers on Black Friday. Black Friday is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving in the USA, allegedly the first day of the year when many US retailers begin to make a profit (i.e., operate in the black). In recent years, retailers have begun to open early for this event, sometimes as early as 10 p.m. on the day before or at midnight, and some before sunrise. Retailers offer deeply discounted merchandise to attract consumers. The deals are heavily advertised in the media including through the internet.
Black Friday deals seen in South Africa offered both monetary and non-monetary gains and losses. For example, the purchase of promoted items for some consumers may have resulted in a monetary gains, such as when they saved money. However, the increased time and effort required to locate and purchase the items that were on promotion could have been considered as a non-monetary loss incurred by consumers.
Black Friday’s shopping behavior showed that a large number of South African shoppers did not seem to care about the non-monetary losses. The fact that most deals were kept secret from consumers until the Friday morning made the Black Friday shopping even more time consuming, but however the consumers did not seem perturbed by this.
In conclusion, retailing in South Africa is packed with competitors, it is therefore imperative for retailers to continue providing promotions that attract customers. While international retailers racked in most of their sales through online shoppers, research shows that a majority of Africans still do not trust online shopping with e-commerce making up 1-3% of GDP in some African countries. This means that there is still a huge potential in future Black Friday sales especially for those businesses that are investing in their online infrastructure.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Girland Chibaya is a retail professional with vast experience in retail management, supply chain management, strategic planning and general management spanning over 18 years. ﻿He has also worked for some big companies in South Africa such as Woolworths, NIKE SA, Edcon and currently Pick n Pay﻿. ﻿

Black Friday: South African retailers pushing consumers to shop till they drop

The heavily contested battle to chair the African Union Commission has been won by Chad&#8217;s Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Moussa Faki. The 56-year-old beat two strong women contenders to replace South African-born Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the first woman to lead the continental organisation﻿. The Chadian was voted for at a summit of the 54-nation body in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.﻿
Faki beat four other candidates to the post. Among them <a href="/news/east-africa/2017/01/30/african-union-to-choose-new-leader/">Amina Mohamed</a>, Kenya&#8217;s foreign minister who has had a diplomatic career of over three decades, Abdoulaye Bathily, Senegalese diplomat and politician, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Botswana&#8217;s Minister of Foreign Affairs﻿ and Equatorial Guinea&#8217;s Mba Mokuy, the third contender that is a foreign minister and the youngest contestant.
Faki’s main rival in the last round of voting at summit was Mohamed.﻿﻿
READ: <a href="/news/east-africa/2017/01/30/african-union-to-choose-new-leader/">Could this be the African Union&#8217;s next Chairperson?﻿</a>
<a href="/news/east-africa/2017/01/30/african-union-to-choose-new-leader/"> </a>

African Union Commission's new Chairperson is from Chad

Many investors and small business owners are being caught unawares when trying to access additional capital through their home loans. Not only is the age of the access bond over, but they may trigger changes which result in new, unattractive rates from their bank. 
 Many South African entrepreneurs used to rely on their access bonds to fund new ventures, new investment properties and, sometimes, as short-term operational capital when cash flow was tight.
 Post 2008, central banks reigned in lenders and we saw both the National Credit Act and Basel III put a serious crimp on banks’ ability to offer these open ended loans.
 Basel III requires banks to meet two key ratios: the liquidity coverage ratio and the net stable funding ratio.
 The liquidity coverage ratio is aimed at ensuring that banks have a stock of high-quality liquid assets that can meet a 30-day cash outflow in the event of a run on a bank – as we saw internationally in 2008.
 The net stable funding ratio, meanwhile, is there to ensure banks have enough long-term stable funding to protect against an extended period of stress.
 This is prudent and ultimately, protects the consumer against reckless lending and a potential banking crisis.
 What many entrepreneurs don’t know, however, is that this has all but eradicated the traditional access loans. What’s more, if any kind of change is made to existing contracts, banks will apply new credit rates.
 We still have people who think they can capitalize on their homeloans for new investment opportunities. However, while their original bonds may have been at prime minus two percent around three years ago, the current lending rate sits closer to prime.
 This is clearly very expensive money. It places an excessive risk burden on investors and should be avoided if possible.
 More than this, investors should be aware that they may not even be looking for additional credit and any changes to their loan facility with the banks will still trigger new rates.
 Examples of this could be a change in suretyship, withdrawal of a share portfolio as security, or even an addition to the deal that would logically seem appealing such as the addition security to the facility.
 Rather than trying to re-engineer their loan facilities, investors should start the process of looking for capital by approaching an alternate lender. Having an independent organisation, which is not tied to the same regulations as banks, and which has access to hundreds of traditional and non-traditional lenders, can assist in finding the best deal available, without compromising what might be you biggest asset – your home.﻿

S.A investors in for nasty surprise if they try make changes to loan facilities

A larvae outbreak which has damaged maize in South Africa&#8217;s Limpopo and North West provinces is &#8220;strongly suspected&#8221; to be the invasive armyworm that has attacked crops in neighbouring countries, a scientist said on Monday.
The infestation of fall armyworms &#8211; an invasive Central American species that is harder to detect and eradicate than its African counterpart &#8211; has erupted in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi and follows a crippling El Nino-triggered drought which scorched much of the region last year.
Countries with confirmed outbreaks can face import bans on their agricultural products because the armyworm is classified as a quarantine pest.
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Johnnie van den Berg, an entomologist at South Africa&#8217;s North-West University who has collected samples from affected farms, said taxonomic tests were being done for confirmation.
&#8220;It needs to be identified by a taxonomist but we strongly suspect it is the fall armyworm &#8230; Visually, it looks 100 percent the same,&#8221; he told Reuters in a phone interview.
&#8220;It may be confirmed by the end of this week,&#8221; he said.
Van den Berg said coverage in South Africa was not &#8220;blanket&#8221;, with outbreaks reported many kilometres (miles) apart in some places, but northern Limpopo province, bordering Zimbabwe, seems to be the epicentre.
The impact varies: some farms have had minimal leaf damage, others have been devastated.
&#8220;On some farms, there has been 90 percent damage and nearly all the leaves have been stripped from the plant. It looks like a row of broom sticks,&#8221; he said.
South Africa is expected to have a maize surplus this season after a deficit last year when 7.5 million tonnes of maize was produced against national demand of 10.5 million tonnes. [nL5N1F21E0]
Industry sources have said while an armyworm outbreak would be unlikely to push the crop into deficit it could reduce the size of the expected surplus.
&#8220;This fall armyworm is a Central American pest. Here we will need to do more research to see where and how it establishes itself,&#8221; Van den Berg said.
He said the continental invasion began in July with outbreaks in Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe. It remains unclear how it jumped across the Atlantic.
But the moths can be carried long distances by wind and may have winged across central Africa that way.
The moths lay eggs in maize plants and the caterpillars have also been known to march en masse across the landscape &#8211; hence the name.﻿

Pests in South Africa maize strongly suspected to be armyworms

South Africa&#8217;s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in court documents on Monday that the Gupta brothers were carrying out an &#8220;organised campaign&#8221; against him and the Treasury.
Gordhan also denied in the affidavit that he had a vendetta against the Guptas as claimed in court documents filed by the Gupta family on Jan. 20. The Gupta brothers had accused Gordhan of planning to diminish their business.
This affidavit had been filed in response to one issued by Gordhan in October linking them and their firm to suspicious transactions made by Indian-born Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta. The Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.
The Gupta brothers&#8217; lawyer were not available to comment on Monday.﻿

S.Africa's Gordhan alleges campaign by Guptas against Treasury

It is often said that there are no right or wrong investments but rather appropriate and inappropriate investments. Much has been written about Tax Free Savings and Investment Accounts (TFSA) and there was considerable excitement when these vehicles were first launched. While they do offer novel benefits, as with any other investment vehicle, they are designed for a specific purpose and should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all solution. 
As a brief reminder, in terms of TFSA, you are entitled to invest up to R30,000 per year and  your contributions are capped at a lifetime limit of R500,000 (which will be reached in just under 17 years if you invest the maximum of R30,000 per year). 
WHEN NOT TO USE TFSA?
TFSA’s are not intended for short terms savings. You would only benefit meaningfully from the tax free treatment of money in the TFSA once the value of the investment is sufficient to exceed the annual interest exemption and capital gains exclusion.
For instance, the current capital gains tax exclusion is R40,000 per year. If you chose investments with strong capital growth it could potentially exceed the capital gains exclusion within five years. Thereafter, you would be better off having this money in a TFSA than elsewhere.
Consider that the current annual interest exemption for people below age 65 is R23,800 per annum and that this is not going to be increased in the future. If you are younger than 65 and select only interest-bearing funds earning, say, 6% per annum, the fund would have to be worth R396,667 before the interest exemption is exceeded. It would take you just over 10 years to reach those levels of investment in a TFSA if you invested R30,000 per year into interest bearing assets earning 6% pa.
WHEN TO USE TFSA?
The use of tax free savings and investment accounts is appropriate in the following circumstances:
<ol>
<li>Achieving long term investment goals</li>
<li>Saving for retirement when your income is below the income tax threshold, and you’ll consequently not enjoy any personal income tax relief from contributions made to retirement funds</li>
<li>Topping up retirement savings over and above the maximum amount per annum (namely R350,000) that one can receive tax breaks on. Given that most South Africans are under-funded for retirement, there is a need for most working people to play catch up and contribute more than the deductible limits in retirement funds. It is generally recommended that investors make use of all the tax breaks available for retirement funding investments before using TFSA. This is in line with the government’s objective to “complement initiatives and incentives to promote retirement savings”</li>
<li>Saving for retirement when you are uncertain about your long term income or job security and therefore may need to access the capital if you become unemployed</li>
<li>Save for retirement if you are uncertain as to whether or not you will emigrate, in which case you may want to realise the investment to expatriate your capital should you leave</li>
</ol>
In short, income tax payers will benefit from this “mini tax haven” in the long term as it will dilute their overall tax rate over their lifetime. Couples stand to gain a double benefit as a household if they both invest in TFSAs for the long term. This same principle applies to families: each member of a family (including children) can invest up to R30,000 per year, meaning that parents can invest in their children’s names for the long term. Consider, though, that each child has a R500,000 lifetime limit and if the parent uses some of the child’s lifetime limit then the child is denied the opportunity as an adult him/herself. A minor or adolescent child is likely to be below the income tax threshold. This means that an investment in the child’s name is likely to be tax free anyway. In this case, then, there would be no additional advantage to using a TFSA. If the child withdraws the investment before he/she starts to pay tax then some of his/her lifetime limit has been wasted in a season of life when he got no additional tax benefit out of having the money in a TFSA. 
High Net Worth (HNW) investors may find this especially beneficial should any additional wealth tax on investments be introduced in the future. Even though a fully utilized TFSA (due to the annual and lifetime contributions limits) may only form a small proportion of a HNW portfolio, it would still dilute the HNW individual’s &#8211; or their family’s &#8211; overall tax rate somewhat and contribute to a tax saving nonetheless.﻿

Tax free savings accounts – when are they appropriate?

The African Union’s (AU) 28th summit meeting in Addis Ababa began on Wednesday, January 25, with a meeting of foreign ministers, and will conclude tomorrow. The first days of the conference will be concerned with the many peace and security issues plaguing the continent.
The almost painless expulsion of President Yahya Jammeh from The Gambia (when he was threatened with an intervention by a multilateral force from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) will be discussed as a model for future instances of handling heads of State proving reluctant to leave office. But many other issues remain unaddressed.
The most murderous conflict in Africa is still that in South Sudan, and the summit will discuss collaborating with the United Nations (UN) on deploying a regional protection force in line with a UN resolution. Trickier still will be handling rebel leader Riek Machar – conflict has eased since he has left his country for South Africa, so some diplomats reportedly want to find a way to keep him out of the country permanently.
The slow-burning crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) still threatens to turn into extensive conflict. As of writing, President Joseph Kabila was dragging his feet on a political settlement – apparently in order to once again find a pretext to push back elections now supposed to take place before the end of the year.
The illness of his main opponent, the octogenarian Etienne Tshisekedi, who is in Europe on a medical visit, appears to have motivated the president to hold back on forming transition institutions to which he agreed on December 31.
Our baseline expectation is that he will again try to stay in power and will use force against protests, when those happen again, and we do not think entreaties from the AU (which we expect to be half-hearted anyway) will result in any fresh enthusiasm on his part to set up a transition government.
The security situation in Mali has been deteriorating in recent weeks, with terrorism by jihadist groups in the north of the country returning to levels not seen for a few years.
Libya is even worse, but the UN has taken the lead in that country by pushing hard for – essentially installing – a ‘Government of National Accord’ under the unpopular Fayez Al-Serraj, while in the east Khalifa Haftar keeps scoring successes against the jihadists of Islamic State (IS). We think the AU will follow the UN’s lead on this, but think it will ultimately be relieved when, as looks likely, Egypt and Algeria back Mr Haftar more openly and force an agreement that is more to the benefit of the latter and the secularists in the House of Representatives government.
As to Somalia, finally, the summit will discuss the eventual withdrawal of the AU mission there, Amisom. The plan is for the force to start being drawn down in 2018 and to exit by 2020. If this optimistic calendar (Amisom was created in 2007 with an initial six-month mandate) is to be respected, much more will need to be done to increase the legitimacy of Somalia’s putative government, which effectively governs a part of Mogadishu – and that only thanks to Amisom’s arms.
More purely political questions will be treated on Monday and Tuesday, January 30 and 31, with the heads of State summit. The most important of these are progress towards Morocco’s return to the AU and the election of the AU Commission chair to replace the South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is set to return home to play a greater role in domestic politics.
The two dynamics will overlap, as the Moroccans not only want to rejoin the AU, but want to work in the longer term to expel the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the putative government-in-exile of the Western Sahara. To this end, Morocco will seek to have a friendly figure chairing the AU Commission which is in charge of the day-to-day management of the union and so has substantial influence on what the body does.
Observers expect the vote on Morocco’s admission to take place on the first day of the heads of State summit, on Monday. It seems clear that the vote will be for readmission, as the kingdom seems to have decided to postpone addressing the really thorny issue – that of the AU membership of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
Some friends of Morocco will back it on that initiative; most countries in the AU will welcome it back as long as it is prepared to share the assembly with the SADR, and the strongest backer of the SADR, Algeria, may think that Morocco’s joining means that it has accepted the SADR’s membership, which it certainly has not.
Even more optimistic is Brahim Ghali, president of Polisario (the movement that constitutes the SADR government), who told reporters that Morocco’s acceptance of the AU’s Constitutive Act means that the kingdom “respects the borders” of the SADR.
The matter of the AU’s Constitutive Act will be the subject of some interesting diplomatic and legal manoeuvring in coming years.
The relevant clause here, and the reason why the AU recognises the SADR, is one of the principles in Article 4: “Respect of borders existing on achievement of independence.”
For the SADR and the AU, this means the line drawn by agreement between the Spanish and the Moroccans in 1969, which was the border when the Spanish left the territory in 1975. The Moroccans will no doubt argue that the territory is still not independent and attack the SADR as an illegitimate representative of the Sahrawi people anyway.
To advance its interests in this complicated debate, Rabat will want a friend as Chair of the AU Commission. There are five candidates in the running to replace Ms Dlamini-Zuma:
1.         Amina Mohamed, 55, Kenya: currently Foreign Cabinet Secretary, Ms Mohamed was educated at Oxford, entered the diplomatic service in 1985, was Head of Mission to the UN in Geneva from 2006 to 2013, and was named to cabinet in 2013. Relevant to the Morocco-SADR issue, she visited the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria which Polisario runs.
2.         Abdoulaye Bathily, 69, Senegal: also a career diplomat whose recent experience has been in the UN, in Mali and as special representative of the secretary-general for Africa. He started his career as a university lecturer and was engaged in politics under presidents Abdou Diouf and Abdoulaye Wade who both named him to cabinet. He has run for president twice, but supported President Macky Sall in the 2012 election. He has the support of most Francophone countries who are friendly to Morocco.
3.         Pelonomi Venson-Motoi, 65, Botswana: also currently Foreign and International Co-operation Minister. Ms Motoi studied in the US and worked as a journalist before entering politics as a member, then Member of Parliament (MP), of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). She was first named to cabinet in 2001 and has held six portfolios including her current one. She looked like a strong contender to win the chair in July 2016 in Kigali when the election was suspended because of the abstention of a number of West African countries. At the time, some thought that the abstention was a reaction to the unpopular positions of Ms Venson-Motoi’s boss, President Ian Khama, in support of the International Criminal Court (ICC), but we think the abstention was strategic in order to allow Senegal’s President Sall to name Mr Bathily as a candidate.
4.         Agapito Mba Mokuy, 51, Equatorial Guinea: the third foreign minister on the list, and the youngest contender. He has spent the past two decades at Unesco. He is generally considered very unlikely to win given that his government is practically a global pariah.
5.         Moussa Faki Mahamat, 56, Chad: The fourth foreign minister on the list: he has held that portfolio in Chad since 2008. He has been working in the civil service for almost 30 years and served as prime minister from 2003 to 2005. His nomination was puzzling, as it seemed timed to block that of Mr Bathily who had been counting on Chad’s support.
Ms Venson-Motoi and Mr Mba are highly unlikely to win. As of writing it looked as though there will be a deadlock between supporters of Ms Mohamed and those of Mr Bathily (winning the vote requires a two-thirds majority), and it is here that Mr Faki might slip through as an acceptable candidate.
There is always much negotiation in these races – a country might agree to vote for another’s candidate for the presidency, for instance, in exchange for its support in the election for the chair of the Peace and Security Council. Furthermore, a principle of rotation between regions exists.
We will not speculate over the probable winner and will reserve comment for when the new chair will have been elected.
The return of Morocco to the fold will be welcome. The kingdom was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 and left in 1984 when the SADR was admitted (Morocco’s army was fighting a gruelling ground war against Polisario at the time).
Not least relevant is that Morocco will contribute about $1.5m a month to the AU’s budget.
Morocco already has strong ties across West Africa and is improving those in the east. When looking at the Western Sahara issue specifically, it is uncertain whether its membership will make a resolution more or less likely. We do not think the Moroccans will make any concessions, so the status quo will persist.
If they press too hard for the SADR’s expulsion, some risk will result.
Commentators have been talking about the risk of a return to full-blown war in the Western Sahara – we see this as extremely unlikely. Polisario cannot do anything much against the Moroccan army in the Sahara and knows it. It is more likely that more angry young Sahrawi men will join jihadist networks (something that has already been happening) and contribute to terror risk in Morocco.﻿

Op-Ed: Morocco and the AU summit

The head of the 54-member African Union said on Monday that a U.S. travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries including three in Africa heralded &#8220;turbulent times&#8221; for the continent.
AU commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma made the remarks in a speech to open an AU summit, after U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s executive order halted travel by people with passports from Libya, Somalia, Sudan and four other Middle East nations for 90 days, and stopped refugee resettlement for 120 days.
&#8220;We are entering very turbulent times. The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries. What do we do about this? Indeed, this is one of the greatest challenges to our unity and solidarity,&#8221; she told African leaders in the Ethiopian capital.﻿

U.S. travel ban heralds turbulent times for Africa: AU chief

The African Union is due to choose a new leader on Monday in a vote more likely to expose differences over the International Criminal Court and other issues than reaffirm the continent&#8217;s solidarity and common purpose.
In a clear split, three of its four major regions – the south, the east and the largely Francophone west – are supporting their own nominees to head the bloc, making deadlock followed by horse-trading likely.
Leading candidates to replace South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the first woman to serve as the continent’s top diplomat, are Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohammed and Senegal’s Abdoulaye Bathily, analysts say.
In another potentially divisive move, the 54 heads of state gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, will have to decide whether to approve the re-admission of Morocco.
The North African kingdom quit the AU’s predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, three decades ago amid a dispute over the body&#8217;s recognition of Western Sahara, most of which has been controlled by Morocco since 1976.
However, King Mohammed VI has been on a diplomatic charm offensive in the last year to try to win Rabat’s readmission.
Continental heavyweights Algeria and South Africa have been backers of the Sahrawi Republic, the domestic political movements that lays claim to the territory along the northern Sahara’s Atlantic seaboard. Neither has said explicitly it will oppose Morocco&#8217;s re-entry.
Preliminary meetings have also been dominated by disputes over the International Criminal Court (ICC), which countries such as South Africa and Kenya say is a tool of Western imperialism that unfairly targets the continent.
Conversely, Nigeria, Botswana and other states say the Hague-based court is an important legal backstop for countries whose domestic justice systems have been compromised by civil conflict.
“You have all these calls for unity but actually if you look at the AU now, it is more divided than ever – over Morocco, the regional divisions and the ICC,” said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, an AU expert at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. “It’s unprecedented.”
Dlamini-Zuma, who is tipped as a replacement for her ex-husband, Jacob Zuma, at the helm of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) this year, was due to end her term in July last year but had to extend her time when the AU failed to reach agreement on a successor.
Her election 4-1/2 years ago after intense lobbying by South Africa rankled many countries because it breached an unwritten rule preventing major states holding the AU chair.
During her time in charge, the medical doctor has focused on reforming the AU’s dysfunctional internal bureaucracy and drawing up a long-term for improving the lives of Africa’s marginal citizens, especially women and children.
However, she has been criticized for failing to heal the rifts created by her election and not doing more to prevent conflict in countries such as South Sudan, which the United Nations says is tilting towards genocide.﻿

African Union to choose new leader

Two military helicopters crashed in a strife-torn part of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with at least four crew members on board, authorities said on Monday.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende told Reuters it was not clear what brought down the helicopters on Friday in North Kivu province near the borders with Rwanda and Uganda.﻿
Over the weekend, U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi cited military sources as saying that the helicopters crashed while pursuing fighters from the former Congolese rebel group M23. An army spokesman declined to comment.
The M23 was the largest of dozens of armed groups in the country and controlled huge swaths of eastern Congo in 2012 and 2013 before it was defeated by Congolese and U.N. forces.
Reports of a possible M23 revival by former fighters held in camps in Uganda and Rwanda have surged in recent weeks. On Monday, Rwanda&#8217;s defence ministry said in a statement that a group of about 30 unarmed people claiming to be M23 and fleeing combat with Congo&#8217;s army crossed the border at the weekend.
Mende said he had not yet seen the statement.
Earlier this month, Uganda&#8217;s government said it had detained more than 100 former M23 rebels trying to return to Congo from camps in Uganda where they have been awaiting amnesties. Congo said the fighters had encroached onto Congolese territory.
Radio Okapi also reported that five crew members &#8211; three Russians and two Congolese officers &#8211; were rescued and brought to hospital. Mende said he could not confirm that information.
Millions died in regional conflicts in eastern Congo between 1996-2003, most from hunger and disease, and dozens of armed groups continue to fight over natural resources and prey on the civilian population.﻿

Military helicopters crash in eastern Congo

South Africa&#8217;s rand weakened more than 1 percent early on Monday in what one trader said was fresh risk aversion amid rumors of a cabinet reshuffle.﻿
At 0800, the local unit traded 1.13 percent weaker at 13.6175 against the dollar.
&#8220;Risk sentiment is taking a bit of a knock following the latest political developments on possible cabinet reshuffle on the domestic front,&#8221; Jana van Deventer, a trader at ETM said.
The rand weakened on Friday, hurt by media reports that President Jacob Zuma was considering firing ministers who backed calls for his resignation in November.﻿

South Africa's rand weakens on cabinet reshuffle reports

President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration on Sunday tempered a key element of his move to ban entry of refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries in the face of mounting criticism even from some prominent Republicans and protests that drew tens of thousands in major American cities.
Trump signed the directive on Friday, but the policy appeared to be evolving on the fly. Democrats and a growing number of Republicans assailed the move and foreign leaders condemned it amid court challenges and tumult at U.S. airports.
The president&#8217;s critics have said his action unfairly singled out Muslims, violated U.S. law and the Constitution and defiled America&#8217;s historic reputation as hospitable to immigrants.
In a fresh defense of the action on Sunday, Trump said his directive was &#8220;not about religion&#8221; but keeping America safe. Trump has presented the policy as a way to protect the country from the threat of Islamist militants.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said in a statement that people from the seven countries who hold so-called green cards as lawful permanent U.S. residents would not be blocked from returning to the United States from overseas, as some had been after the directive.
All green card holders who were detained at U.S. airports had been admitted into the country by late Sunday, a U.S. official familiar with the process told Reuters. The source could not provide a figure of how many people whose re-entry had been delayed, in some cases for hours.
Outside the White House, where some viewing stands from Trump&#8217;s Jan. 20 inaugural parade still stood, several thousand protesters denounced him, carrying signs such as &#8220;Deport Trump&#8221; and &#8220;Fear is a terrible thing for a nation&#8217;s soul.&#8221;
Protests also were staged in cities and airports in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, Dallas and elsewhere. [nL1N1FJ0HH]
The Republican president on Friday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a three-month bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Border and customs officials struggled to put Trump&#8217;s directive into practice. Confusion persisted over details of implementation, in particular for the people who hold green cards.
Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Trump supporter, said the president&#8217;s order had been poorly implemented, particularly for green card holders.
&#8220;The administration should immediately make appropriate revisions, and it is my hope that following a thorough review and implementation of security enhancements that many of these programs will be improved and reinstated,&#8221; Corker said.
Trump defended his action.
&#8220;To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,&#8221; Trump said in a statement on Sunday. &#8220;This is not about religion &#8211; this is about terror and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most secure policies over the next 90 days.&#8221;
The department said on Saturday Trump&#8217;s action did apply to people with green cards who were returning to the United States from the seven nations, while a White House official said green card holders who had left the United States and wanted to return would have to visit a U.S. embassy or consulate to undergo additional screening.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus then went on the Sunday morning news programs to say those people would not be blocked.
&#8220;As far as green card holders moving forward, it doesn&#8217;t affect them,&#8221; Priebus said on the NBC program &#8220;Meet the Press.&#8221;
Priebus added that these green card holders would be subjected to &#8220;more questioning&#8221; by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents when they try to re-enter the United States &#8220;until a better program is put in place over the next several months.&#8221;
In an apparent indication that Kelly&#8217;s instructions were being implemented, some green card holders arriving in the United States said they had no trouble clearing customs.
Mahdi Tajsarvi, an engineer who lives in Virginia, said he and his wife, Arezoo Hosseini, both Iranian citizens with U.S. green cards, were asked a few routine questions by authorities at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Sunday evening and let through within a few minutes.
 
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Priebus also said Customs and Border Patrol agents would have &#8220;discretionary authority&#8221; when they encountered someone arriving who they suspect &#8220;is up to no good&#8221; from certain nations.
Asked why Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt were not included on Trump&#8217;s list, Priebus said that &#8220;perhaps other countries needed to be added to an executive order going forward.&#8221;
U.S. judges in at least five states blocked federal authorities from enforcing Trump&#8217;s directive, but lawyers representing people covered by the order said some authorities were unwilling on Sunday to follow the judges&#8217; rulings. [nL1N1FJ0D8]
U.S. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, prominent Republican foreign policy voices, said in a joint statement Trump&#8217;s order may do more to help recruit terrorists than improve U.S. security.
&#8220;Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism,&#8221; they said, adding the United States should not stop green card holders &#8220;from returning to the country they call home.&#8221;
&#8220;This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,&#8221; the added.
Trump blasted the two senators in a Twitter statement, calling them &#8220;sadly weak on immigration.&#8221;
In a another Twitter message earlier on Sunday, Trump said the United States needed &#8220;strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW.&#8221;
&#8220;Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!&#8221; added Trump, who successfully tapped into Americans&#8217; fear of attacks during his election campaign.
Trump&#8217;s tweet did not mention that many more Muslims have been killed in the bloody Syrian civil war and other violence in the targeted countries.
Condemnation of Trump&#8217;s action poured in from abroad, including from traditional allies of the United States.
In Germany, which has taken in large numbers of people fleeing the Syrian civil war, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for the measures and &#8220;does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion,&#8221; her spokesman said on Sunday. [nL5N1FJ0DF]
Canada will offer temporary residency to people stranded in the country as a result of Trump&#8217;s executive order on immigration, Canadian Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said.
Briefing reporters at the White House on condition of anonymity, a U.S. administration official rejected criticism of the way Trump&#8217;s plan had been carried out, saying: &#8220;So it really is a massive success story in terms of implementation on every single level.&#8221;
Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Republican-led U.S. Senate, had a different view, calling Trump&#8217;s administration incompetent.
&#8220;One hand doesn&#8217;t know what the other is doing,&#8221; Schumer said.
&#8220;I think banning refugees, banning immigrants, banning religions like Islam or any other religion, is un-American,&#8221; said Will Turner, 42, draped in a U.S. flag among a crowd of several thousand people in front of the White House chanting: &#8220;No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here.&#8221;
An official of the conservative billionaire industrialist Koch brothers&#8217; political network of donors criticized Trump&#8217;s immigration order at the donors&#8217; winter gathering in Indian Wells, California.
&#8220;Our country has benefited tremendously from a history of welcoming people from all cultures and backgrounds. This is a hallmark of free and open societies,&#8221; Brian Hooks said in a statement.
Civil rights and some religious groups, activists and Democratic politicians have promised to fight Trump&#8217;s order and Schumer said his party would introduce legislation to overturn it. Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Priebus said that of 325,000 people who arrived from foreign countries on Saturday, 109 people were detained for further questioning, and most of them were moved out, with just a &#8220;couple dozen more that remain&#8221; detained.
&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t chaos,&#8221; he said.
Judges in California, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington state, each home to international airports, issued their rulings after a similar order was issued on Saturday night by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York&#8217;s Brooklyn borough in a case involving two Iraqis caught by the order as they flew into the country. [nL1N1FI09T]
Attorneys general from California, New York, 13 other states and Washington, D.C., condemned and pledged to fight what they called Trump&#8217;s &#8220;dangerous&#8221; and &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; order.﻿

U.S. tempers part of Trump travel ban amid big protests

In the wake of President <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s executive order barring immigrants from seven predominately Muslim countries, <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/SBUX" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="31126" data-inline-quote-symbol="SBUX">Starbucks</a> CEO <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/howard-schultz/" target="_blank">Howard Schultz</a> vowed to hire 10,000 refugees globally.
&#8220;We will neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new administration&#8217;s actions grows with each passing day,&#8221; Schultz said in a message to employees posted on the company&#8217;s website on Sunday.
&#8220;There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business.&#8221;
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Schultz said the effort would begin in the U.S., focusing hiring efforts initially on people who served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday to block refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.﻿
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Syrian refugees were indefinitely banned. Passport holders of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen faced a three-month hold, while refugees from those countries faced a four-month ban. 
Attorney generals from California, New York, Washington DC and 13 other states have condemned the move and pledged to fight the &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; move, Reuters reported.
&#8220;Green-card&#8221; holders, or those already granted the right to live in the U.S., were not exempted.
The executive order set off large-scale protests across the U.S., particularly in places where immigrants were detained as they tried to enter the country.
Schultz added that his company was planning to take other actions to counter Trump policies.
With the new administration planning to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Schultz said he reaffirmed the company&#8217;s commitment to providing employees with health insurance.
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&#8220;If the recent executive order related to health care remains in place and the Affordable Care Act is repealed causing you to lose your healthcare coverage, you will always have the ability to return and can do so within 30 days of losing that coverage rather than having to wait for an open enrollment period,&#8221; Schultz said.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order authorizing the dismantling of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also colloquially referred to as Obamacare. Congressional Republicans have also been meeting to discuss ways to repeal the act in its entirety.
Schultz also noted that Starbucks would continue to invest in Mexico amid Trump&#8217;s calls for both to build a wall along the around 3,000 km (2,000 mile) U.S. border with its Southern neighbour and for introducing trade tariffs.
&#8220;We will continue to invest in this critically important market,&#8221; Schultz said. &#8220;We stand ready to help and support our Mexican customers, partners and their families as they navigate what impact proposed trade sanctions, immigration restrictions and taxes might have on their business and their trust of Americans.&#8221;﻿
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Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz: We will hire 10,000 refugees

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Asian shares were lower on Monday as investors eye the international backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s immigration policy, which has added pressure on the dollar.
<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/28/trumps-refugee-order-sows-anger-legal-action-in-its-wake.html" target="_blank">Several countries have criticized President Trump&#8217;s latest executive order</a> to block refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for a four-month period. Several attorney generals from California, New York, Washington DC and 13 other states have pledged to fight the &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; move, Reuters reported.
Trump defended his actions late Sunday, saying that it <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/29/trump-america-proud-nation-of-immigrants-says-this-is-not-about-religion.html" target="_blank">was about national security and not religion</a>.
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The <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/%3DUSD" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="588746" data-inline-quote-symbol="=USD">dollar index</a>, which tracks the greenback against a currency basket, was at 100.18 versus levels above 100.50 seen late last week after the Dow Jones industrial average rose above 20,000.
&#8220;Whether the markets start to price in a stronger Trump risk premium is yet to be seen, but the S&amp;P 500 rallying 1 percent last week in the face of various protectionist measures suggest this premium is not yet in the market,&#8221; said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at spread-better IG, in a note on Monday.
U.S. futures were all in the red during Asian trade. Dow Jones futures were down 0.23 percent, Nasdaq futures slipped 0.3 percent and S&amp;P 500 futures were off 0.31 percent.
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<div class="flex_chart embed-container storyChart" data-quote-type="quick-quote">Japan&#8217;s <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.N225" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="576473" data-inline-quote-symbol=".N225">Nikkei 225</a> closed down 0.51 percent or 98.6 points at 19,368.85, after data showed that December retail sales rose 0.6 percent from the previous year, weaker than an expected 1.3 percent increase, Reuters reported.</div>
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<a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/6502.T-JP" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="6084" data-inline-quote-symbol="6502.T-JP">Toshiba</a> fell 3.69 percent to 250.3 yen per share, after an earlier drop of as much as 5.8 percent, on an Asahi Shimbun report that several trust banks will sue the company over management missteps. Several media reports also reported that Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga and Toshiba&#8217;s U.S. nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse President Daniel Roderick will both step down.
In other Japan-related news, the Bank of Japan began its two-day monetary policy meeting and is <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/29/boj-to-keep-policy-steady-seek-to-allay-tapering-fears.html" target="_blank">expected to keep policy steady and assuage fears that it may taper off its massive stimulus program</a>.
Down Under, the <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.AXJO" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="583954" data-inline-quote-symbol=".AXJO">ASX 200</a> closed down 0.92 percent or 54.5 points at 5,661.5, seeing broad based losses across all sub-indexes except for its gold sub-index, which was up 1.2 percent.
Gold miner <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/NCM-AU" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="26243" data-inline-quote-symbol="NCM-AU">Newcrest Mining</a> shares were up 1.27 percent at A$21.45 a share, after it released its production report for the December quarter.
&#8220;Newcrest Mining had a solid production report this morning, which leave it on track to achieve production guidance for the current financial year,&#8221; said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a note on Monday.
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Other Australian gold miners were in the green, with <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/EVN-AU" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="36617" data-inline-quote-symbol="EVN-AU">Evolution Mining</a> up 1.42 percent at A$2.15 per share and <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/29/boj-to-keep-policy-steady-seek-to-allay-tapering-fears.html" target="_blank">Alacer Gold</a> higher by 2.58 percent at A$2.39.
Australian insurer <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/QBE-AU" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="29675" data-inline-quote-symbol="QBE-AU">QBE Insurance</a> was up 0.15 percent at A$12.35 after news that it was approached by Allianz for a potential takeover deal although no acquisition price has been proposed to QBE as of yet, an anonymous source told Reuters.
In the broader currency market, the <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/OSEJPY%3D" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="21725151" data-inline-quote-symbol="OSEJPY=">yen</a> strengthened 0.32 percent against the dollar at 114.34, while the <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/AUD%3D" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="612460" data-inline-quote-symbol="AUD=">Australian dollar</a> was trading at $0.755.
Markets in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are shut for public holidays.
Major U.S. indexes closed mixed after the initial fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) read missed expectations. The <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.DJI" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="599362" data-inline-quote-symbol=".DJI">Dow Jones industrial average</a> was down 0.04 percent at 20,093.78, <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.SPX" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="593933" data-inline-quote-symbol=".SPX">S&amp;P 500</a> was down 0.09 percent at 2,294.69 and <a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.IXIC" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="579435" data-inline-quote-symbol=".IXIC">Nasdaq</a> was up 0.1 percent at 5,660.78.﻿
 
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Asian shares drop after global backlash against Trump immigration policy

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Newly elected President <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s &#8220;America first&#8221; policies were likely to be an overall negative for emerging markets, but not all will be hit equally, Nomura said in a note on Friday.
While Trump&#8217;s plan to boost U.S. fiscal stimulus might provide an economic fillip to emerging markets, that&#8217;s unlikely to be felt before late 2017, Nomura said.
But it pointed to two other, stronger forces set to batter emerging markets, which tend to be more trade-oriented and geopolitically delicate, before then.
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&#8220;One is a faster Fed hiking cycle and a strengthening of the U.S. dollar, which exposes emerging markets – many of which have become heavily indebted since 2008 – to capital outflows and credit defaults,&#8221; it said. &#8220;The other is what is shaping up to be at the heart of team Trump&#8217;s &#8216;America First&#8217; policies and negotiating strategy: the triumvirate of rising U.S. trade protectionism, tougher immigration rules and a reassessment of U.S. foreign policy positions.&#8221;
Nomura&#8217;s note was published before Trump signed an executive order on Friday to block refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.
Syrian refugees were indefinitely banned. Passport holders of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen faced a three-month hold, while refugees from those countries faced a four-month ban.
Attorney generals from California, New York, Washington DC and 13 other states have condemned the move and pledged to fight the &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; move, Reuters reported.
&#8220;Green-card&#8221; holders, or those already granted the right to live in the U.S., were not exempted.
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In its note, Nomura added that the &#8220;America First&#8221; policy wasn&#8217;t likely to strike all emerging markets equally, with some countries even potentially set for benefits.
&#8220;Emerging markets&#8217; economic starting positions already vary greatly and Trumponomics stands to further widen this chasm,&#8221; Nomura said, adding that while Mexico was most vulnerable, Hungary, Israel, Russia and Peru were least vulnerable.
&#8220;Mexico is singled out as the most exposed but, over time, we believe U.S. trade protectionism could be strongest against Asia,&#8221; it said, noting the U.S. trade deficit with China, which dwarfs the one with Mexico.
&#8220;China also masks Asia&#8217;s massive supply chain: a large share of the value-added in China&#8217;s exports come from other Asian countries, which is reflected in the high share of China&#8217;s imports in other Asian countries&#8217; gross domestic products (GDP),&#8221; it said.
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In a downside risk scenario of tougher policies, faster U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and additional U.S. dollar appreciation, &#8220;Turkey&#8217;s already very fragile economy is hit hardest and the wind is also taken out of the sails of the Latin American recoveries,&#8221; Nomura said.
But the bank noted that there were some likely beneficiaries.
&#8220;Trump&#8217;s warmer tone towards Russia has increased expectations that sanctions may be lifted or relaxed, but we do not expect it to happen this year. India too could benefit as President Trump seems to believe that a nuclear India is the real check to Pakistan,&#8221; it said.
While Nomura noted that India was vulnerable to the Trump administrations&#8217; new immigration restrictions, it added that the sub-continent&#8217;s economy was driven by internal factors, with less exposure to trade.
—By CNBC.Com&#8217;s Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/LeslieShaffer1" target="_self" class="inline_asset">@LeslieShaffer1﻿</a>
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Nomura: 'America First' means emerging markets last

Donald Trump’s <a style="font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 400;" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/20/trumps-inaugural-address-was-demonstrably-bleak/">bleak inauguration speech</a> has attracted attention for, among other things, employing the phrase “America first”.
The term was popularised by the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/america-first-for-charles-lindbergh-and-donald-trump">famed aviator Charles Lindbergh</a> and is associated with anti-Semitic and Nazi sympathisers who sought to keep the US out of World War II.
But <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-america-first/514037/">Lindbergh and the America First Committee</a> are not the only 20th century white nationalists to use the term. The small band of racist whites in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, employed a version of it as protest against the onset of decolonisation and the spread of black rule across Africa.
In the late 1950s, <a href="http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Harper.htm">William J. Harper</a>, who was also known for his daring aviation exploits in World War II, made waves by using the slogan
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Rhodesia first, last, and always.
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A few years later, Harper struck one of the most dramatic blows for white supremacy as a signatory to Rhodesia’s <a href="https://global.britannica.com/topic/Unilateral-Declaration-of-Independence">Unilateral Declaration of Independence</a>. He served as Minister of Internal Affairs in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Ian Smith. Smith famously vowed that the tiny white minority would rule for <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1569980/Ian-Smith-Man-whose-folly-unleashed-Mugabe.html">1 000 years</a>.
But when Harper first popularised the slogan, which was generally shortened to “Rhodesia first”, he was leading the opposition Dominion Party. The party sought full independence from British rule. It was also at the vanguard of resistance against any movement for reform or genuine integration between settlers and colonial subjects.
The term was particularly controversial as Southern Rhodesia was then governed within the larger <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/federation-rhodesia-and-nyasaland-collapses">Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland</a>. This also included contemporary Zambia and Malawi. By advocating for Southern Rhodesian primacy, Harper not only made it clear that he was opposed to majority rule, but also to the federal structure of governance to which Southern Rhodesia was constitutionally bound.
The slogan prompted a split in 1960 between the territorial branch of the Dominion Party, of which Harper was the leader, and the federal branch, led by Winston Field, who became Southern Rhodesia’s prime minister two years later. Field was subsequently booted aside in 1964 for being too moderate.
<h2>Echoes of an inglorious past</h2>
Harper and his far-right allies sought to appeal to the white Rhodesian electorate by taking a stand against African liberation and the winds of change sweeping into the colony. Similarly, Donald Trump has appealed to an American electorate that feels overwhelmed by the forces of globalisation. The Trump administration’s <a href="https://kenopalo.com/2017/01/14/answers-to-some-of-team-trumps-questions-on-foreign-aid-to-africa/">sceptical approach to aid</a> in Africa and antagonism of China is a throwback to the Dominion Party’s protest against providing social services for Africans and its strident warning of a communist onslaught in newly independent countries.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/rhodesia-central-african-federation.htm">inaugurated in 1953</a> with the encouraging, albeit vague goal of promoting <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1405201">racial partnership</a> enshrined in its constitution.
The same year, the moderate, albeit highly paternalistic missionary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/oct/14/guardianobituaries.obituaries1">Garfield Todd</a> became Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia’s territorial government. (The Federal government was led by the vastly more conservative Godfrey Huggins who reportedly defined “partnership” in the sense of a <a href="http://www.thepatriot.co.zw/old_posts/godfrey-huggins-partnership-of-horse-and-rider-zimbabweans-must-be-vigilant/">horse and its rider</a>.)
The country’s violent liberation struggle of the 1970s, which saw about 20,000 deaths as the whites refused to accept majority rule, seemed a distant prospect at the time.
But the Federation dissolved in 1963 and the southward march of independence, particularly the chaotic transfer of authority in the Belgian Congo, rapidly radicalised the small white population. Much as Trump promised to his followers the security of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38740717">a wall on the Mexican border</a>, whites in southern Africa saw the Zambezi river on Zimbabwe’s northern border as <a href="https://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/the-1962-state-department-paper-the-white-redoubt-demonstrates-myriad-of-problems-with-crafting-policy-towards-apartheid-era-south-africa/">a fortress</a> to protect what they called “responsible government” and <a href="http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/23rd-august-1975/9/rhodesia-1%22">“civilised standards”</a>.
In 1962 the Dominion Party merged with several smaller conservative parties to form the Rhodesian Front. In the elections that December, the Front, like Trump, defied popular predictions and emerged to <a href="https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Southern%20Rhodesian%20general%20election,%201962">form the next government</a>. The Front set about increasing its stranglehold on the government and engaged in widespread censorship of the media. No candidate running on the all-white voter’s roll was ever able to defeat it.
Its key strategy was to position itself as the lone guarantor of white security. A propaganda pamphlet – Rhodesia and You in the Super 70s, available at the University of York’s <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/borthwick/holdings/what-we-hold/southern-african/">Borthwick Institute</a> – proudly stated,
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In 1962 the people of Rhodesia made their historic decision to stand and fight on the Zambezi; this was in contradistinction to existing trends of surrender and appeasement to the evils of pan-Africanism.
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In 1965 the small band of Rhodesians defied world trends and declared their <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11/newsid_2658000/2658445.stm">own independence</a> from British rule. Harper, Smith and 10 other white men signed the declaration. Its opening lines contained many similarities of both syntax and content to that of the United States’. Both referred to an “entitlement of separate and equal” rights that were in reality only accorded to a minority.
<h2>The past in the present</h2>
While Trump may not be directly inspired by white Rhodesian political strategy, many white American nationalists are. The Charleston church shooter, Dylann Roof, a young white supremacist, posed for pictures while <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dylann-roof-charleston-shooting-suspect-had-rhodesia-south-africa-apartheid-jacket-1506881">wearing apparel</a> with the Rhodesian flag. He <a href="https://news.vice.com/article/website-surfaces-with-disturbing-photos-and-manifesto-purportedly-written-by-dylann-roof">owned a website</a> with the url lastrhodesian.com. According to the <a href="http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=801">historian Gerald Horne</a>, hundreds, if not thousands of white Americans, served as mercenaries in the Rhodesian military in the 1970s.
Harper and Trump’s political careers share another crucial similarity. Both were dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct. While The Donald has been able to deflect the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/20/donald-trump-sexual-misconduct-tenth-woman-accuser">claims against him</a>, Harper was forced to resign from the Rhodesian cabinet in 1968 over claims of an affair with his secretary, a reputed British agent.
As Trump tweets with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/822502450007515137">#AmericaFirst</a>, he may not be aware of the Rhodesian antecedent of the term. But it seems to be no coincidence that his campaign tone is not out of line with the sentiments of Harper and Rhodesia’s white nationalists.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/71815/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" height="1" alt="The Conversation"/>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brooks-marmon-315654">Brooks Marmon</a>, PhD Student, Centre of African Studies, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-edinburgh-905">University of Edinburgh</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-america-first-pledge-has-echoes-of-rhodesias-racist-white-nationalists-71815">original article</a>.

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