South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has revealed in a court affidavit distributed by the Treasury on Sunday that 6.8 billion rand ($490 million) in payments made by wealthy brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, companies they control, and other individuals with the same surname have been reported to authorities as suspicious since 2012.
The three Indian-born businessmen are the subject of an official investigation into allegations that they have had undue influence over President Jacob Zuma. The payments in question, whose destinations were not disclosed in the document provided by Gordhan, were ascribed to the three brothers, their nephew Varun Gupta, numerous companies that they control as well as other individuals named as Chetali Gupta, Shivani Gupta and Arti Gupta. Reuters could not establish whether all these individuals were members of the same family.
Gordhan&#8217;s court submission caps a week of high drama in which he was charged with fraud by approving early retirement for a deputy commissioner in 2010 while Gordhan was head of the tax agency and re-hiring him as a consultant &#8211; a charge that Gordhan said was politically motivated.
Gordhan has for months been at odds with Zuma, not least over the alleged political influence of the Gupta brothers, but is looked to by edgy financial markets as a guarantor of stability.
Gordhan&#8217;s submission, dated Oct. 13, is a request to the High Court in Pretoria for a declaratory judgment that he cannot interfere with decisions by South Africa&#8217;s major banks to cut their ties with businesses owned by the Gupta brothers.
Gordhan&#8217;s submission had the effect of airing what he considered to be evidence supporting his concerns about the Gupta brothers&#8217; political influence.
The Gupta brothers are close to Zuma and the subject of a just-finished report by the outgoing Public Protector, a constitutionally-mandated anti-graft official, into allegations that they influenced the appointment of ministers. It was prevented from being made public on Friday by Zuma&#8217;s application to the High Court to delay its release.
Zuma has denied granting undue influence to the brothers and they have denied seeking it. Nevertheless, they said in August that they planned to exit all of their South African investments.
Several banks and companies have cut ties this year with the Gupta brothers&#8217; investment vehicle, Oakbay Investments, without publicly disclosing their reasons. They included South Africa&#8217;s top four banks: Standard Bank, Nedbank, Barclays Africa&#8217;s Absa and First National Bank (FNB), part of FirstRand.
 
REQUEST TO INTERVENE
Gordhan says in his 96-page submission to the court that Oakbay &#8220;demanded that on behalf of the government I intervene with the banks to achieve a reversal of their decision&#8221;.
Gordhan supported his assertion by attaching correspondence between himself and Nazeem Howa, the chief executive of Oakbay Investments, although the letters viewed by Reuters did not appear to provide evidence of undue pressure.
Neither Howa nor the Treasury responded to requests for comment by phone and email, and an Oakbay spokesperson said the firm would not comment on the issue.
A lawyer representing the Gupta family did not respond to an email seeking comment. However, on Sunday the Oakbay-controlled ANN7 television news network cited unnamed Oakbay sources as rejecting allegations of wrongdoing.
In one of the attached letters, Howa said that 7,500 jobs were at risk as the company could not function without the support of local banks.
&#8220;Given your strong relationship with the captains of industry, I implore you help us save the jobs &#8230; I look forward to hearing from you about any possible assistance you are able to offer,&#8221; Howa wrote in the letter, dated April 17, 2016.
In another letter, dated May 24, Howa said &#8220;we seem to have no options open to us other than our appeal to you for assistance&#8221;.
Gordhan also included in his affidavit advice from his lawyers stating that no minister, nor the cabinet as a whole, had &#8220;any power to intervene in the banker-client relationship&#8221;.
The affidavit includes a report from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), a government anti-money-laundering agency, listing 52 payments worth a total of 6.8 billion rand that were reported to the FIC between 2012 and 2016, presumably by the banks entrusted with them. It also included 20 cases of &#8220;multiple transactions&#8221; with no amounts specified.
The FIC requires banks to notify it of transactions that appear potentially improper. It says the transactions were &#8220;reported or sent to the centre in terms of Section 29&#8221; of the FIC Act, which deals with transactions regarded as &#8220;suspicious and unusual&#8221;.
 
&#8220;SERIOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS&#8221;
Gordhan&#8217;s affidavit says that the FIC report &#8220;reflects the increasingly serious state of affairs which has arisen&#8221;, adding: &#8220;This is illustrated by the number and scale of reported transactions linked to Oakbay.&#8221;
The FIC report did not say why the transactions were regarded as suspicious and did not disclose who reported them or to whom they were directed. Nor did it say whether any had eventually been found to be improper. Reuters was unable to independently confirm any details about the transactions.
A spokesman for Standard Bank said on Saturday that the bank could not comment and the three other major banks did not respond to requests for comment. The FIC also did not respond to a request for comment.
Although the Gupta brothers&#8217; relationship with Zuma has been a source of controversy for years, it burst into the open in March when Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said in a statement that he had been offered his previous boss&#8217;s job as finance minister by unnamed members of the Gupta family.
Gordhan, who had been finance minister from 2009 to 2014, was put back in the job in December after Zuma sacked Nhlanhla Nene and replaced him with the little-known backbencher Des van Rooyen, triggering a crash in the rand currency and sending banking shares sharply lower.
The Gupta family issued an emphatic denial of Jonas&#8217;s allegation at the time.
Zuma told parliament in March that he was not the right man to question on the allegations.
“If Jonas says he was offered by the Guptas, I think you will be well-placed to ask the Guptas, or Jonas. Don’t ask me. Where do I come in?” he said. “I never offered Jonas the ministry. That’s why he is the deputy minister.”﻿

S.A finmin Pravin Gordhan's affidavit shows suspicious Gupta transactions worth $490mn

Family owned Dis-Chem has ended years of speculation. The pharmacy group on Monday announced plans to list on the JSE.
Dis-Chem expects to be listed in the Food and Drug Retailers sector of the JSE.﻿
The move will allow founders to partially cash in on their investment and bring a rival to the sole pharmacy merchant on the bourse.
The company said the South Africa offering will only be made to selected institutional investors who fall within one of the specified categories listed in section 96(1)(a) of the South African Companies Act, 2008 or (ii) selected persons, acting as principal, acquiring offering shares for a total acquisition cost of R1,000,000 or more, as contemplated in section 96(1)(b) of the South African Companies Act and in each case to whom the Offering is specifically addressed. Accordingly: (i) the Offering will not be an offer to the public as contemplated in the South African Companies Act; and (ii) no prospectus has been, or will be, filed with the South African Companies and Intellectual Property Commission in respect of the offering. 
Founded by chief executive Ivan Saltzman and his wife Lynette, Dis-Chem has grown from a start-up in 1978 to a major health products retailer with annual sales of more than 15 billion rand ($1.08 billion).
However, its store network of about 100 is dwarfed by its closest competitor Clicks Group Ltd, which runs more than 700 outlets that bring in around 23 billion rand ($1.66 billion)in annual sales.
&#8220;Our decision to list on the JSE is an important next phase of Dis-Chem&#8217;s growth story,&#8221; Saltzman, a pharmacist, said in a statement.
&#8220;It also facilitates a partial exit whilst allowing existing shareholders and key management to remain materially invested ensuring strong alignment between management, existing and new shareholders.&#8221;
Dis-Chem did not give timelines or the size of the planned offer to selected institutional investors but said the share sale was subject to market conditions and regulatory approvals.
The company&#8217;s existing shareholders comprise the Saltzman Family Trust, holding 66.9 percent of the company, while management and an unspecified financial investor hold 23.4 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively.
Goldman Sachs, Investec Ltd and Standard Bank have been appointed as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.
Merrill Lynch has been appointed as joint bookrunner while Investec and Standard Bank have been appointed to act as joint transaction sponsors. 
In a Sens the group gave the following reasons for its listing:
GROWTH STRATEGY
Dis-Chem’s vision is to be South Africa’s leading retail pharmacy. Dis-Chem aims to continue growing its market share across its product offering by focusing on the customer and building on Dis-Chem’s brand positioning. Furthermore, Dis-Chem expects to maintain its category leadership by remaining responsive to changing consumer preferences and trends, such as food and sport supplements and beauty including colour cosmetics and treatments.
The Company intends to achieve this through four pillars of growth:
   &#8211; Double its store footprint in the next five to eight years by pursuing store roll-out opportunities and converting independent pharmacies to the Dis-Chem brand. The Company’s strategy remains to identify attractive locations for new pharmacies as well as convert independent pharmacies in attractive script markets.
   &#8211; Continue to seek innovative ways to increase its brand footprint through secondary retail opportunities.
   &#8211; Improve operating margins by leveraging the investment made over the last two years in its supply chain infrastructure and its head office cost base.
   &#8211; Expand CJ Distribution in the medium term by seeking opportunities to capture the supply chain of independent pharmacies and to gain scale, and to expand into the distribution business, whereby it would serve both wholesalers and retailers.

Dis-chem to list on JSE

Johannesburg’s former Mayor Parks Tau has been appointed President of the United Nations-linked world body United Cities Local Governments (UCLG).
UCLG, headquartered in Barcelona, represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of their size.
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BREAKING NEWS: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SALGA?src=hash">#SALGA</a>’s Parks Tau Elected As President Of World Body Of Local Government. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UCLGCongress?src=hash">#UCLGCongress</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Time4Africa?src=hash">#Time4Africa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UCLGAfrica">@UCLGAfrica</a> <a href="https://t.co/2PPrjhUW13">pic.twitter.com/2PPrjhUW13</a>
— SALGA (@SALGA_Gov) <a href="https://twitter.com/SALGA_Gov/status/787343689555271680">October 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Parks Tau has been elected President of the United Cities and Local Governments beating the Mayor of Kazan by 103 Votes to 42
— Geoff Makhubo (@Geoff_Makhubo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Geoff_Makhubo/status/787346690856607744">October 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
This appointment comes a week after he was named interim chairperson of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), replacing Thabo Manyoni.
CNBC Africa spoke to Tau ahead of his appointment as President of the body, watch the video below for more insights. ﻿
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Joburg’s former mayor appointed President of United Cities Local Governments

In an affidavit submitted to the High Court in Pretoria on Friday seeking declaratory relief for South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, he has revealed the potential reasons for why the <a href="/news/southern-africa/2016/04/06/guptas-oakbay-fnb/">big-four banks</a> closed the Guptas’ bank accounts.
The reasons appear to be related to R6.8 billion in “suspicious and unusual transactions” by Gupta owned companies. For more <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/caqypypdq29ip98/AACMKQVQRa2ZWjwKDla2WH8Oa?dl=0&amp;preview=161014_gordhan+v+oakbay.pdf">read the affidavit</a>.
The release of the affidavit comes in a week when Gordhan was issued with a summons after being charged with fraud, which he described <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN12E0XA">as frivolous</a>.
READ: <a href="/video/?bctid=5165070273001">SA Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan summoned to appear in court</a>
READ: <a href="/news/financial/2016/10/14/sa-finmin-wont-make-representations-to-ndpp/">S.A FinMin Gordhan won&#8217;t make representations to NDPP﻿</a>
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S.A’s FinMin Gordhan reveals potential reasons for why the big-four banks closed Guptas’ accounts

On Friday, Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched the world’s first national drone delivery service during a ceremony in the country’s centrally located Muhanga District. The Rwandan government will begin using drones to make up to 150 on-demand, emergency deliveries per day of life-saving blood to 21 transfusing facilities located in the western half of the country.
The drones and delivery service are built and operated by Zipline, a California-based robotics company. While Rwanda’s drone delivery service will initially focus on blood, an international partnership between UPS, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Zipline will help the country quickly expand the types of medicines and lifesaving vaccines that can be delivered.
&#8220;Drones are very useful, both commercially and for improving services in the health sector. We are happy to be launching this innovative technology and to continue working with partners to develop it further,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
The Global Problem
Throughout the developing world, access to lifesaving and critical health products is hampered by what is known as the last-mile problem: the inability to deliver needed medicine from a city to rural or remote locations due to lack of adequate transportation, communication and supply chain infrastructure.
In Rwanda, postpartum hemorrhaging is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. Blood requires storage and transport at safe temperatures and spoils quickly. Because there are many different blood products and no way to accurately project future needs, many transfusion clinics do not keep all the blood they may need in stock.
During Rwanda’s lengthy rainy season, many roads wash out becoming impassible or non-existent.  The result is that all too often someone in need of a lifesaving transfusion cannot access the blood they need to survive.
The Solution
Rwanda’s national drone delivery programme enables blood transfusion clinics across the Western half of the country to place emergency orders by cell phone text message. The orders are then received by Zipline at its distribution center located in the country’s Muhanga region where the company maintains a fleet of 15 drones, called Zips.
Each Zip can fly up to 150 km round trip—even in wind and rain—and carry 1.5kg of blood, which is enough to save a person&#8217;s life. Zips take off and land at the distribution center, and make deliveries by descending close to the ground and air dropping medicine to a designated spot called a “mailbox” near the health centers they serve. Zipline will make 50-150 emergency flights a day to 21 transfusion clinics across the Western Half of Rwanda and can fulfill orders in around 30 minutes.
Rwanda plans to expand Zipline’s drone delivery service to the Eastern half of the country in early 2017, putting almost every one of the country’s 11 million citizens within reach of instant delivery of lifesaving medicines.
“The inability to deliver life saving medicines to the people who need them the most causes millions of preventable deaths each year around the world. Zipline will help solve that problem once and for all,” said Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo. “We’ve built an instant delivery system for the world, allowing medicine to be delivered on-demand and at low-cost, anywhere.”
Rwanda and Beyond
The commercial partnership between Rwanda and Zipline is expected to save thousands of lives over the next three years. Through this effort, Rwanda is leading the world by using cutting-edge technology to leapfrog the absence of road infrastructure and to provide cutting edge healthcare access to all its 11 million citizens.
The work in Rwanda is being further supported by an international partnership between Zipline, UPS and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Thanks to a $1.1 million grant from the UPS Foundation, the partnership will study Rwanda’s blood drone delivery operation with an eye towards helping the country quickly expanding the types of medicines and lifesaving vaccines that can be delivered.
Leveraging UPS’s extensive global supply chain and logistics expertise, Gavi’s deep public health and vaccine knowledge, and Zipline’s cutting edge last-mile delivery technology, the partnership hopes to use the knowledge gained in Rwanda and export it around the world.
UPS’s logistics expertise and resources are expected to play a critical role in helping the partnership to expand the reach of this important work. The company was actually able to transport the entire Zipline system from California to Rwanda in record time in a “Browntail” cargo plane, helping to ensure Zipline’s distribution center could be constructed in just four weeks.
&#8220;One of the most important focus areas for The UPS Foundation is to spark public-private partnerships that create powerful scale and drive demonstrable impact in support of global humanitarian aid and relief,&#8221; said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer at UPS.
“The shared belief in the ability to save lives through applied innovation, combined with Rwanda&#8217;s vision, is now not only poised to advance humanitarian logistics – and logistics as we know it – around the world, but also to save lives. Now is when our partnership between The UPS Foundation, Gavi and Zipline counts most, as we see the first operational missions dedicated to shipping lifesaving blood, and keep our eye on what the future can bring for other life-saving commodities, as well as for other parts of the world.”
“Drones have the potential to revolutionise the way we reach remote communities with emergency medical supplies. The hours saved delivering blood products or a vaccine for someone who has been exposed to rabies with this technology could make the difference between life and death,” said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“This project will also act as an important test for whether drones are a viable way to improve targeted vaccine delivery around the world. Every child deserves basic, lifesaving vaccines. This technology could be an important step towards ensuring they get them.”
Over the course of the next year, and with the support of the partnership with UPS and Gavi, Zipline plans to expand drone delivery services to countries across Africa and the Americas. Additionally, Zipline recently announced plans at the White House to expand it service to the United States, where it will serve Indian reservations in Maryland, Nevada, and Washington State.﻿

Rwanda unveils world’s first national drone delivery service

South Africa&#8217;s anti-graft watchdog has deferred release of a report into allegations of political interference by wealthy friends of Jacob Zuma in a move critics of the president fear could lead to a watering down of its conclusions.
A court application by Zuma had obliged Thuli Madonsela, head of the agency that has spearheaded investigation of alleged involvement of an Indian-born family into political affairs, to delay release of the report that had been due on Friday &#8211; her last day in office.
The court will now hear Zuma&#8217;s case before the report can be released. Zuma applied for that order on Thursday on the grounds that he had not had the chance to question witnesses and review any evidence that implicated him.
Madonsela said the report had been submitted to parliament for safekeeping until the court ruled it can be released.
&#8220;It is not an interim report, that is my final report. We have given it to the Speaker of parliament for safekeeping,&#8221; Madonsela told reporters in the capital. &#8220;I am not at liberty to discuss any aspect of that report.&#8221;
Madonsela said in June she would investigate whether or not Zuma unlawfully allowed the Gupta family to choose ministers and other occupants of high office.
Both the family, which has wide-ranging business interests in South Africa, and the president have denied any wrongdoing.
Opposition parties have called for Zuma&#8217;s resignation over his links with the Guptas and top members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) have condemned what they call &#8220;state capture&#8221; by private interests, without naming the president.
The row over the report comes at a time when Zuma&#8217;s government is reeling after prosecutors this week ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him. Gordhan on Friday dismissed the charges as &#8220;frivolous&#8221;.
The opposition and analysts say Gordhan&#8217;s woes are a witch-hunt by a faction allied to the president, recalling that the minister has vowed to fight patronage in government.
&#8220;STATE CAPTURE&#8221;
Madonsela had already interviewed Gordhan, former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and deputy finance minister Jonas as part of the probe on Zuma&#8217;s links with the Guptas, local media said.
The Guptas became a household name in March this year after Jonas said the Guptas had offered him Nene&#8217;s job, an allegation that led to calls for Zuma to resign.
On Friday, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen also filed a court application to block the release of the report.
Van Rooyen was named finance minister after Zuma sacked Nene, but his stint was short-lived and he was replaced within with Gordhan days after a market sell-off.
In court papers on Friday, Madonsela said Van Rooyen visited the Guptas home the day before his appointment by Zuma, a charge the minister denied.
Critics fear the delay in releasing the Gupta report could be further extended and its content diminished with the end of Madonsela&#8217;s tenure.
Anton du Plessis, director at Institute for Security Studies said the president&#8217;s credibility was already in shreds.
&#8220;The mere fact that the president&#8217;s reacting the way he has just raises more suspicion,&#8221; he said.
Madonsela won public support for taking Zuma to task over the $16 million of state money spent upgrading his private home.
In March, the Constitutional Court upheld her report and ordered that Zuma repay some of the funds spent on non-security upgrades. The president has since paid back some of the money.
Zizi Kodwa, spokesman for Zuma&#8217;s ruling ANC party, told eNCA television news the party was in favour of Madonsela releasing her findings, including information on the Guptas.
 
(Additional reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Writing by James Macharia)﻿

Madonsela delays report after Zuma court application

The National Director of Public Prosecutions (“NDPP”), Adv Shaun Abrahams, advised the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on 12 October 2016 that Minister Pravin Gordhan is welcome to approach him to make representations regarding the charges that have been preferred against him. 
READ: <a href="/news/financial/2016/10/11/banking-association-south-africa-on-npa-decision/" class="_Dk">Banking Association South Africa concerned at timing of Gordhan summons</a>﻿
Minister Gordhan has taken legal advice on the matter and decided not to make representations to the NDPP.  The main reason for his decision is that he does not have any confidence in the NDPP’s ability or willingness to afford him a fair hearing.  First, we repeatedly asked the NPA to afford the Minister an opportunity to make representations to them before they decided whether to prosecute the Minister but they spurned our requests.  Second, the NDPP’s conduct at his press conference announcing the decision to charge the Minister made clear his commitment to the prosecution.  Third, having now had an opportunity to study the charges against the Minister, it is also clear to us that they manifest a resolute and not well founded determination to prosecute the Minister at all costs.   Any representations to the NDPP would accordingly be pointless.
READ: <a href="/news/financial/2016/10/11/sa-treasury-responds-to-pravin-summons/">S.A Treasury responds to Gordhan summons﻿</a>
Minister Pravin Gordhan continues to take legal counsel in regard to ways and means to bring the matter to an expedited finality.  We are assisted in this regard by a team of eminent counsel consisting of Adv. Wim Trengove SC, Adv. Hamilton Maenetje SC and Adv. Ziyaad Navsa.﻿

S.A FinMin Gordhan won't make representations to NDPP

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ABUJA Oct 14 (Reuters) &#8211; The wife of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says she may not back her husband at the next election unless he shakes up his government.
Aisha Buhari, who has never held political office but joined her husband on the campaign trail last year, told the BBC in a interview published on Friday that her husband did not know most of the officials he had appointed, and that many owed their positions to the influence of &#8220;a few people&#8221;.
Her husband, a 73-year-old former military ruler, was elected last year after a campaign largely fought on his pledge to crush the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and crack down on corruption.
Nigeria, which has Africa&#8217;s largest economy, is in recession for the first time in 25 years, largely due to a fall global oil prices, which has slashed the state&#8217;s main source of income.
The president&#8217;s critics say he exacerbated the economic crisis by opposing the devaluation of the naira currency for 16 months before yielding, and that it took too long to overcome months of wrangling with parliament to get the 2016 budget passed.
The president has not said whether he will seek re-election in 2019.
&#8220;He is yet to tell me but I have decided, as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again,&#8221; Aisha Buhari said in the interview.
She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), had been appointed to senior positions because of the influence wielded by a &#8220;few people&#8221;.
The APC is a loose coalition of politicians that was united by a desire to remove the People&#8217;s Democratic Party of Buhari&#8217;s predecessor Goodluck Jonathan rather by than a shared ideology.
&#8220;The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don&#8217;t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years,&#8221; Aisha Buhari said.
On the issue of whether the president was in charge, she said: &#8220;That is left for the people to decide.&#8221;
A government official, who did not want to be named, said the remarks were &#8220;a husband and wife matter&#8221;.
Aisha Buhari said improved security in the northeast, Boko Haram&#8217;s former stronghold, was the government&#8217;s biggest achievement. &#8220;No one is complaining about being attacked in their own homes,&#8221; she said.
On Thursday, 21 of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by the jihadist group in the northeastern village of Chibok in April 2014 were released after negotiations with the government. (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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© Thomson Reuters 2016 All rights reserved﻿

Nigeria's first lady seeks government shake up

A federal judge in Brazil ruled on Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand trial for an alleged bribery scheme related to work by construction giant Odebrecht in Angola.
It&#8217;s the second time in less than a month that a federal judge has ruled that Lula, a two-term president who left office in 2011 as Brazil&#8217;s most popular president with an 83-percent approval rating, must stand trial.  
Lula faces allegations of corruption, money laundering and obstruction of justice related to a sprawling kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, which prosecutors allege he orchestrated for more than a decade.
Thursday&#8217;s decision by Judge Vallisney Oliveira in Brasilia centers on allegations Lula and others took 30 million reais ($9.3 million) in bribes to help win low-interest financing from the BNDES development bank for Odebrecht projects in Angola. Lula&#8217;s lawyers denied the accusations. 
Last month, Judge Sergio Moro ruled that Lula would stand trial on charges he was a &#8220;direct beneficiary&#8221; of 3.7 million reais in bribes from OAS SA, one of the engineering and construction firms at the center of the graft scandal.
Separately, Moro decided on Thursday to try Eduardo Cunha, former speaker of the lower house of Congress, for his alleged role in the Petrobras corruption scandal. 
As speaker, Cunha led the successful drive to impeach former President Dilma Rousseff for breaking budgetary rules &#8211; a move Rousseff and her supporters call a &#8220;coup&#8221; in retaliation for her not trying to quash the aggressive Petrobras investigation.
Rousseff, who served as the chairwoman of the Petrobras board for several years as the kickback scheme played out, is being investigated for obstruction of justice in the graft probe, but has not been charged with any crimes.
($1 = 3.22 Brazilian reais)
 
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks and Tatiana Ramil in Sao Paulo; Editing by Sandra Maler)﻿

Brazil court to try Lula on Angola corruption charges

The Africa head of ratings agency Standard &amp; Poor&#8217;s said on Thursday the current situation in South Africa was &#8220;not business as usual,&#8221; citing &#8220;political turmoil and tension&#8221; as worrying signs ahead of a ratings decision on Dec. 2.
Addressing the Thomson Reuters Africa summit in Cape Town, Konrad Reuss also said S&amp;P would be closely looking at South Africa&#8217;s economic growth trajectory and fiscal targets.
Reuss was speaking two days after the national prosecuting authority said it planned to charge Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for fraud, a ploy widely seen as an attempt by President Jacob Zuma to take control of the Treasury by removing the respected technocrat.
&#8220;This is not about political noise. We have political turmoil, political tension that can undermine structural reforms,&#8221; Reuss said.
He also said that any attempts to undermine South African state institutions would be negative for the rating.
S&amp;P rates South Africa at BBB-, the lowest investment grade rating one notch above junk, and it maintained that rating in June while keeping its outlook negative, citing slow economic growth and political concerns.
 
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Ed Cropley; Editing by James Macharia and Hugh Lawson)﻿
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S&P: South Africa "is not business as usual"

Jihadist group Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls it kidnapped in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday.
Their release came after the International Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal with the group, and negotiations would continue to bring home the rest of the girls, a statement from the Nigerian presidency said.
Around 270 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.
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Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 girls are still missing. The kidnapping prompted outrage worldwide and the girls&#8217; plight was publicised using a Twitter hashtag, #bringbackourgirls.
&#8220;It is the first step in what we believe will be the release of all the girls,&#8221; Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters.
He denied reports that the government had swapped Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue.
The girls were released at 5.30 a.m. and will be taken to the capital Abuja during the afternoon to meet doctors and psychologists, Mohammed said.
The Swiss government &#8220;facilitated contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram&#8221; after a request from Abuja, a spokeswoman said in a statement.
&#8220;We have nothing to add,&#8221; she said, when asked if it had been a prisoner swap.
CNN published a picture on its website it said showed several of the freed girls, wearing veils and being escorted by soldiers in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.
Authorities said in May one of the missing girls had been found and President Muhammadu Buhari promised to rescue the others.
In the past days, the Nigerian military has been carrying out a large-scale offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group.
Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria&#8217;s army, aided by troops from neighbouring countries, has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighbouring Niger and Cameroon.
Boko Haram published a video in August apparently showing recent footage of dozens of the kidnapped girls and said some had been killed in air strikes.
The militant group has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children but the kidnapping of the Chibok girls brought it worldwide attention.
In the last few months Buhari has said his government was prepared to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the girls. 
 
(Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing and by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Janet Lawrence and John Stonestreet)﻿

Boko Haram frees 21 kidnapped Chibok girls

South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the release of results of an anti-corruption investigation over allegations of political interference by his wealthy friends, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was due on Friday to release her preliminary findings in a probe into the Guptas, an Indian-born family accused of using their close ties with Zuma to influence cabinet appointments.
&#8220;I can confirm that the president has applied for a court interdict,&#8221; Zuma&#8217;s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga told Reuters.
Madonsela questioned Zuma for four hours last week as part of her final investigation before her seven-year term comes to an end on Saturday.
In a statement late Thursday, graft watchdog spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said Madonsela would release her last batch of investigation reports on Friday and provide updates on the progress of other investigations. But she did not state whether the report on the Guptas would be among them.
Although Zuma and the Guptas deny wrongdoing, the allegations have damaged the president, who was separately forced to repay part of the cost of a lavish upgrade to his private residence as a result of an investigation by Madonsela.
On Monday, Zuma asked Madonsela not to report her findings until he has had a chance to question other witnesses and reviewed any evidence that implicated him. But Madonsela said the president had been given all the evidence implicating him on Oct. 1, and urged Zuma to answer questions to aid the probe.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said in a statement that Zuma was &#8220;worried about what is contained in this report, and desperate to stop it from being made public&#8221;.
Lawyer Gert van der Merwe, who represents Ajay Gupta, said his client would not seek to block the report.
The row over the report adds to pressure on Zuma, whose government was rocked this week when prosecutors ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear in court on Nov. 2 to hear fraud charges against him, news that sent markets reeling.
Analysts have said that Gordhan has been a target of political pressure from a faction allied to the president although he has denied any rift with the finance minister.
Perceived divisions between Gordhan and Zuma have previously rattled markets in Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy, which is at risk of having its credit rating downgraded to &#8220;junk&#8221; later this year.
The premier of Guateng, South Africa&#8217;s most economically important province, said the fraud charges levelled against Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings cut.
&#8220;It undermines every little effort that South Africa is making to move forward,&#8221; David Makhura said at a Thomson Reuters conference in Cape Town, accusing Zuma&#8217;s administration of &#8220;recklessness&#8221;.
 
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, James Macharia, Mfuneko Toyana in Johannesburg and Ed Cropley and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Writing by Joe Brock and James Macharia; editing by Catherine Evans and Grant McCool)﻿

S.A's President Zuma applies for court interdict to block anti-graft report

A wider and more enthusiastic acceptance of the uni-visa by all the countries in the East African region will boost tourism. For that reason the Kenyan Government, through the Ministry of Tourism, has called upon reluctant countries to adopt the uni-visa at the launch of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo.
Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya have so far adopted the uni-visa, which allows travelers to move across their borders by use of a single visa or the National Identification Card. Tanzania and Burundi have remained reluctant to adopt the feature.
The launch of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo brought together tourism officials from different countries including the High Commissioner of Uganda, the Chief Tourism Officer at Rwanda Development Board and the East African Tourism platform. The Expo, on its sixth session, is a venture of the Kenya Tourism Board to market Kenya’s tourism potential to countries across the globe in a bid to boost the sector.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Tourism Najib Balala called on countries to unify and boost the region’s attractiveness to the global community. The single visa costs USD100, USD50 lower than other visas.
“We have one visa, one product that you don’t feel is a competition… I highly appreciate the meeting held by the northern corridor member states, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, and commit to that unity of purpose to work together… Kenyans can go to Uganda and Rwanda with an ID… we are waiting for our brothers in Tanzania to join us and we hope it will be very soon,” he said.
Kenya’s Tourism sector made a turnaround in 2016, as it registered a 14% rise in arrivals for the first quarter of 2016 and a 15% rise of the sector to GDP in the first 8 months of 2016 compared to a recession of 5% in the last quarter of 2015. This is attributable to new incentives and waivers offered to tourists coming into the country. Kenya now hopes to welcome over 1.5 million tourists in 2016.
“The various incentives that have been rolled out by the government to support the tourism sector are also making the difference. These include the waiver of tourist visa fee for children under the age of 16, the reduction of park entry fees and charter incentive program to stimulate increased demand for our coast product,” said Jimi Kariuki, Chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board.
Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala commended the willing countries for their drive towards opening borders to people and trade. Other countries represented agreed that unity and a non-compete among them would help to attract visitors from traditional and new tourist countries.
“In the course of the discussion, it has been repeated that as a region we are not in conflict, we are not competing, we are competing with the world and so we need to come together so that indeed we can market ourselves as a region and market ourselves to the entire world,” said Angelina Wapakhabulo the Uganda High Commissioner and Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat.
“Coming together is winning together and step by step we will get there,” added Belise Kariza the Chief Tourism Officer of the Rwanda Development Board.
Over 137 countries and 11 airlines are expected to participate in the Magical Kenya Travel Expo for the next two days. To date, around 4,000 uni-visas have been issued to facilitate movement within the three countries, which has boosted domestic tourism in the region.﻿

Kenya calls on EAC to integrate uni-visa

An in-depth look at the incredible power of compound interest shows just how important it is to start saving for retirement as soon as possible. Those who start early, like Xoliswa, get a real head start in building wealth for retirement.
However, a retirement savings strategy isn’t static – it needs to change and adapt as you move through different life stages. In other words, a 23-year old will approach retirement investment differently to someone who is 58.
Of course there isn’t a simple “one-size-fits-all” plan for retirement saving. For one thing, we all face different circumstances, and for another, life just doesn’t follow a completely predictable trajectory. Despite this, there are some broad truths that usually apply to different age groups.
When you’re in your 20s
Even though you are possibly earning well below your earning potential, Craig Gradidge, the co-founder and investment specialist at Gradidge Mahura Investments, says “this age group stands to benefit the most from the power of compounding. They need to start even if it is with a small contribution”.
“The most important things for young people to consider are portfolio suitability and cost structure,” says Gradidge. Young savers need to have a portfolio that is engineered to ensure they benefit from compounding. At this age, you “need to have sufficient exposure to growth assets such as listed property and equity”.
However, with this exposure comes risk. The advantage of youth from an investment perspective is that you have time on your side – your money has more time to recover from market pullbacks and dips.
It is equally important for young savers to consider costs and fees in their investments. “A high cost structure can be a significant drag on portfolio returns over the long term,” explains Gradidge.
When you’re in your 30s – 40s
From your early to mid-thirties, your expenditure tends to increase. You buy a house. Upgrade your car. Start a family. On the other hand, you are also likely to be far more settled in your career and earn more than in your 20s.
At this stage of your life, says Gradidge, the “issue of debt management becomes critical, as well as protection of incomes” (especially once you have children). It is typically in this stage of your life that you start to incur high levels of debt. Appropriate management of debt is critical to long-term financial success as over-indebtedness can ruin you.
In this age range, you need to focus on the balance between managing debt and ensuring your retirement saving goes according to plan. There is often a difficult tension between the two because life events tend to be prioritised, leaving little left for saving.
This is a time in your life where discipline in saving is arguably most important. We’re quick to look for excuses to use savings to pay down debt, but very few of us have the discipline to actually save the freed-up money once debt is paid off. It’s important to distinguish between expensive and inexpensive debt. Paying off credit cards and loans is getting rid of expensive debt. But some debt, like a home loan, might not be that expensive, relatively speaking.
There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to electing to settle debt instead of saving. In theory, you should force your cost of living lower and try to do both. If you have not started saving for retirement, remember that it is never too late to start.
When you’re approaching retirement
It’s natural for you to become more conservative as you approach retirement, says Gradidge, “especially as your retirement nest egg grows in size. Older people would also have experienced a lot more and seen others lose everything due to imprudent decision-making, or to scams”.
Traditional advice suggests you gradually shift out of equities in favour of less risky asset classes like cash and bonds as you head towards retirement. However, we’re living longer and advisors are starting to advocate for leaving a greater proportion of your retirement savings in equities for longer. Remember, at age 60, you may very well have another 30 years to live – equal to the amount of time you’ve been saving until that point!
The tendency to become too conservative as you approach retirement needs to be “managed by your financial adviser to ensure that it does not become too destructive to your financial position over time,” says Gradidge. At this stage, it is important to save as much as you can, given you are most likely at your peak earning potential.
When you’ve reached retirement
Many guides to saving for retirement do not offer a view of or advice for the actual retirement period. Because it is usually so far in the future and difficult for us to conceptualise, savers tend to think of retirement as an event.
“It can be an extremely emotional time for people,” says Gradidge. “Many have gotten used to getting up in the morning and going to work, as they have been doing so for 35 or 40 years. And to lose this structure could be quite traumatic.”
“Everyone will ‘view’ retirement differently based on their experiences and own expectations. Those who have saved sufficient capital may look forward to it with a great deal of excitement. Those who have not saved enough may view it with a sense of trepidation. Others may be largely indifferent to the whole matter”.
“The important thing,” says Gradidge, “is that the advisor understands where the client is at, and adjusts the advice process and interaction with the client accordingly”.
During retirement, your exposure to risk obviously adjusts downward. However, it is important not to become ultra-conservative immediately as you’ll likely forgo significant growth in your portfolio, and very quickly begin to underperform inflation (in effect, the value of your savings will start to decrease).
 
Discovery Invest is an authorised financial services provider. Registration number 2007/005969/07. For more information on Discovery Invest, contact your financial adviser.
This material is provided for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell investment funds.﻿

Life changes – and so should your retirement planning

A protest against prohibitive fees threatens to derail South Africa&#8217;s university calendar but impoverished students like Mmakatleho Sefatsa, who already face expulsion over unpaid bills, say they have nothing to lose.
The African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994 with promises to provide better housing, health and education for millions of blacks shut out during decades of repressive white minority rule.
But two decades later, 19-year-old Sefatsa&#8217;s dream of becoming her family&#8217;s first graduate hangs in the balance due to overdue payments, prompting her to take part in sometimes violent protests demanding free tertiary education.
&#8220;I owe the university close to 70,000 rand ($5,000) in tuition as it stands,&#8221; said the second-year education student at Johannesburg&#8217;s University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
&#8220;Even if you don&#8217;t protest, at the end of the year the university is still going to send you a letter to say: &#8216;look you haven&#8217;t paid for two years, you have to leave&#8217;.&#8221;
Universities suspended classes this week after clashes in which police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing students.
The protests came after President Jacob Zuma&#8217;s government said it would continue subsidising university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all.
The family income cut-off for financial aid means Sefatso is not poor enough to qualify &#8211; but her grandfather&#8217;s pension cannot cover her schooling bills of 70,000 rand a year, forcing her to sleep in the library some nights and rely on handouts from friends to buy food.
Because her two older siblings combined earn 240,000 rand a year &#8211; considered part of her household income &#8211; Sefatso was told she does not qualify for the financial aid given to those from households earning 160,000 rand or less.
&#8220;I explained to them that they don’t live with me and they are not my parents. But they have been giving me a run around,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I don’t have any hope.&#8221;
The trap Sefatso is caught in is commonplace &#8211; students not poor enough for free education but not wealthy enough to pay, in a group labeled the &#8216;missing middle&#8217;.
Undergraduate tuition fees at Wits, one of South Africa&#8217;s most expensive universities, range from 29,620-58,580 rand a year, beyond the means of many black students.
 
FEES FROZEN
Statistics South Africa data shows that university fees have soared by 80 percent since 2008, leading to the initial batch of protests last year that forced Zuma to scrap proposed increases for 2016.
But universities whose main source of income is fees say another price freeze next year would hurt their efforts to maintain high quality academic standards.
The government, grappling with a budget deficit of nearly 4 percent of GDP, has capped 2017 fee increases for next year at 8 percent, but says education subsidies should not come at the expense of other sectors such as health and housing.
The Treasury allocated nearly 300 billion rand to education this year, 20 percent of the budget and almost double spending on health.
To try to ease the pressure on university numbers, the government is trying to push students into cheaper vocational colleges where they can train to be plumbers, car mechanics and carpenters, among other trades.
But for many, this just perpetuates the racial inequalities of apartheid, where universities were the preserve of whites and blacks could aspire only to blue-collar jobs.
&#8220;The government has let us down. We have the will, we have the brains but we don&#8217;t have the money to study,&#8221; said Sihle Booi, a 22-year-old law student who fears getting kicked out of university over 50,000 rand of unpaid fees.
 
HARD GRAFT
The funding crisis is also damaging the ANC politically with many students linking it to the spread of corruption under Zuma.
The Constitutional Court ruled this year that Zuma flouted the law by ignoring an order to repay some of the 250 million rand in state funds spent on improvements to his private home.
Voters angry about corruption, unemployment and shoddy basic services then gave the ANC a bloody nose in August local elections, turning to opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance, seen as a largely &#8220;white&#8221; party, and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters.
&#8220;The demand for free education is just the tip of a deeper iceberg of frustration and anger among young people over broken promises, delivery failures, corruption, arrogance,&#8221; NKC African Economics political analyst Gary van Staden said.
&#8220;What you are dealing with here is enormous frustration that goes way beyond the fees. There is a general disappointment with the political system.&#8221;
($1 = 13.90 rand)﻿

Caught in fee trap, South African university students rebel

South Africa&#8217;s Constitutional Court has told the state prosecutor it cannot appeal a ruling to reinstate corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma, another setback for the embattled leader.
The High Court in April ordered a review of a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decision to set aside hundreds of corruption charges against Zuma, calling it &#8220;irrational&#8221;. That decision allowed Zuma to run for president in 2009. 
The High Court has already refused the NPA&#8217;s attempt to appeal that ruling. After that, the NPA approached the Constitutional Court while Zuma went to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), which is yet to rule on the matter. 
&#8220;The Constitutional Court has considered this application for leave to appeal. It has concluded that it is not in the interest of justice for this court to hear the matter at this stage,&#8221; the court said in an order dated Sept. 28.
&#8220;The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.&#8221;
NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said the court was mindful of the fact that Zuma had petitioned the SCA on the same matter.
&#8220;The matter at the SCA is still pending, so with that in mind they cannot adjudicate on a matter that can come back to them,&#8221; Mfaku said.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said the appeals were attempts by the NPA and Zuma to delay him having his day in court.
&#8220;The DA has argued that there are no reasonable prospects of success nor are there any other compelling reasons why the appeal should be heard,&#8221; it said in a statement.
The scandals swirling around Zuma contributed to the worst election showing by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in local polls in August, intensifying calls for his resignation.
The prospect of Zuma&#8217;s corruption charges being reinstated follows a damning constitutional court judgment against him in March. The court said he breached the constitution by refusing to refund some of the 240 million rand ($17 million) of state money spent on refurbishing his private residence.
Zuma has since repaid some of the money. [nL8N1BO2EF]
($1 = 13.8635 rand)﻿

South Africa's top court denies prosecutor appeal on Zuma graft charges

<div>
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 7 (Reuters) &#8211; Protesters in Ethiopia damaged almost a dozen mostly foreign-owned factories and flower farms and destroyed scores of vehicles this week, adding economic casualties to a rising death toll in a wave of unrest over land grabs and rights.
The violence has cast a shadow over a nation where a state-led industrial drive has created one of Africa&#8217;s fastest growing economies, but where the government has also faced rising international criticism and popular opposition to its authoritarian approach to development.
The flare-up followed the death of at least 55 people in a stampede on Sunday when police fired tear gas and shot into the air to disperse demonstrators in the Oromiya region near the capital.
It raises to more than 450 the number of people rights groups and opponents say have been killed in unrest since 2015. A U.S. researcher was killed on Tuesday when her car was attacked by stone-throwers near Addis Ababa.
The government says the toll cited by critics is inflated.
Fana Broadcasting, which is seen as close to the state, reported on its website that 11 companies ranging from textile firms to a plastics maker to flower farms had been damaged or destroyed, while more than 60 vehicles had been torched.
Dutch firm FV SeleQt said its 300-hectare vegetable farm and warehouse had been plundered. Another Dutch firm, Africa Juice, said its factory had been partially destroyed.
The manager of one of the Turkish companies, textile firm Saygin Dima, told Reuters this week at least a third of his factory was burned down.
Fana&#8217;s website showed images of burned-out trucks on the road side, blaming the damage on &#8220;perpetrators of violence&#8221;, echoing the line taken by the government, which accuses local rebel groups and dissidents based abroad for stoking the unrest.
It said the firms damaged had created 40,000 jobs in a country of 99 million people that has long been blighted by famine but which has been rapidly transforming its fortunes, delivering growth rates that hit 10 percent in fiscal 2015/16.
 
STRUGGLING FOR WORK
People from Oromiya, a region at the heart of the state&#8217;s industrialisation efforts, accuse the state of seizing their land and offering tiny compensation, before selling it on to companies, often foreign investors, at inflated prices.
They also say they struggle to find work, even when a new factory is sited on property they or their families once owned.
&#8220;I went to apply for a job at a steel factory that was built on my family&#8217;s land but I was turned away when they discovered I was the son of the previous land owner,&#8221; said Mulugeta, who asked for only his first name to be used to avoid any state reprisals.
&#8220;Most factories give priority to employees from other regions for fear local people would one day stage strikes,&#8221; he said, speaking by telephone from Oromiya where he now drives a truck for another company.
In Ethiopia, once ruled by Marxists whose draconian policies drove the nation into a devastating 1984 famine, all land still belongs to the state and owners are only deemed leaseholders, even if they have been living or farming there for generations.
For the state, it means a swift and legally uncomplicated route to ejecting leaseholders to make way for new factories and construction of highways and railways, including a 750-km electrified line opened this week that links the capital of landlocked Ethiopia with Djibouti&#8217;s busy sea port.
For the opposition and those turfed out of farm plots where they grow food for their families, it shows how the government that has ruled for quarter of a decade tramples on their rights.
&#8220;It is time for the government to change tack,&#8221; said Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress. &#8220;People are demanding change, but the problem is the only language the government knows is the use of excessive force.&#8221;
The government says police have clashed with what it calls &#8220;armed gangs&#8221; intent on destabilising the nation. A regional Oromo official accused protesters of hindering efforts to reverse generations of poverty in Oromiya.
Pressure has been mounting from abroad too. U.S. President Barack Obama told his Ethiopian hosts in Addis Ababa last year that greater political openness would &#8220;strengthen rather than inhibit&#8221; the development agenda. The government said it differed over the pace of any reforms demanded by Washington.
&#8220;Economic development has outpaced political change,&#8221; said former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and academic David Shinn.
Noting &#8220;phenomenal&#8221; economic gains, he said: &#8220;It is less clear, however, whether the Ethiopian peasant farmer, who still constitutes about 80 percent of the population, has benefited significantly.&#8221;
 
FEELING THE HEAT
Foreign investors are feeling the heat from protesters, not because they are foreigners but because they are among the biggest purchasers of the new land leases from the state.
Ethiopia&#8217;s budding tourist industry is also taking a hit. The Bishangari Lodge, on Lake Langano about 200 km south of Addis Ababa, was looted and torched this week.
Resort owner Omar Bagersh said, even before the attack, he had had 90 percent cancellations in the past two or three months. &#8220;It is very difficult to convince a tourist to travel to a country that has this kind of situation,&#8221; he said.
Investors have been attracted by cheap electricity from Ethiopia&#8217;s huge new hydroelectric dams being built, cheap labour, improving transport and tax incentives offered by a financially stretched government hungry for foreign exchange.
New industries have been focused in Oromiya and the nearby Amhara regions, which surround Addis Ababa, a city that now boasts Sub-Saharan Africa&#8217;s only light rail metro system and a rapidly rising skyline.
Protests in Oromiya province initially erupted in 2014 over a development plan for the capital that would have expanded its boundaries, a move seen as threatening farmland.
Clashes with police flared in 2015 and this year, although the government has shelved the boundary plan.
Protesters have increasingly focused on broader political issues, accusing the government of stifling opposition. The government, which won a parliamentary election in 2015 in which the opposition failed to secure a single seat, denies this. (Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Edmund Blair in Nairobi; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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© Thomson Reuters 2016 All rights reserved﻿

CNBC Africa

S.A finmin Pravin Gordhan's affidavit shows suspicious Gupta transactions worth $490mn

Dis-chem to list on JSE

Joburg’s former mayor appointed President of United Cities Local Governments

S.A’s FinMin Gordhan reveals potential reasons for why the big-four banks closed Guptas’ accounts

Rwanda unveils world’s first national drone delivery service

Madonsela delays report after Zuma court application

S.A FinMin Gordhan won't make representations to NDPP

Nigeria's first lady seeks government shake up

Brazil court to try Lula on Angola corruption charges

S&P: South Africa "is not business as usual"

Boko Haram frees 21 kidnapped Chibok girls

S.A's President Zuma applies for court interdict to block anti-graft report

Kenya calls on EAC to integrate uni-visa

Life changes – and so should your retirement planning

Caught in fee trap, South African university students rebel

South Africa's top court denies prosecutor appeal on Zuma graft charges

Ethiopian protesters attack factories in Africa's rising economic star

News Tips

Advertise With Us

CNBC Africa

S.A finmin Pravin Gordhan's affidavit shows suspicious Gupta transactions worth $490mn

Dis-chem to list on JSE

Joburg’s former mayor appointed President of United Cities Local Governments

S.A’s FinMin Gordhan reveals potential reasons for why the big-four banks closed Guptas’ accounts

Rwanda unveils world’s first national drone delivery service

Madonsela delays report after Zuma court application

S.A FinMin Gordhan won't make representations to NDPP

Nigeria's first lady seeks government shake up

Brazil court to try Lula on Angola corruption charges

S&P: South Africa "is not business as usual"

Boko Haram frees 21 kidnapped Chibok girls

S.A's President Zuma applies for court interdict to block anti-graft report

Kenya calls on EAC to integrate uni-visa

Life changes – and so should your retirement planning

Caught in fee trap, South African university students rebel

South Africa's top court denies prosecutor appeal on Zuma graft charges

Ethiopian protesters attack factories in Africa's rising economic star

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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