The first industrial scale Coltan (Columbite-Tantalite) separation plant in Africa will be built in Rwanda by AB Minerals Corporation, and will become operational in mid-2017. It will bring much needed industrialisation opportunities to the region where the mineral is produced.
Rwanda is currently the number one exporter of Coltan, supplying 50% of the world’s tantalum. Coltan is a dull metallic mineral which is a combination of columbite and tantalite and which is refined to produce tantalum.
Frank Balestra, CEO at AB Minerals Corporation says there is an urgent need to increase the industrialisation of the mining sector throughout Africa, and that the best way to achieve this is through increased technology and high-level skills transfer from more senior industry participants.
“Many of the artisanal &amp; small scale mining companies and cooperatives who represent almost 80 per cent of the total miners in the country, will for the first time be able to sell their ore directly to a local smelter rather than to agents,” he says.   
 “The reason most African mineral resources are exported as raw material is due to a low level of industrialisation in the local sector. Bringing Coltan processing directly to the region will bring industrialisation to the country and the mining industry in Rwanda and East Africa,” he says.
Local government will gain an increase in tax revenue through having the mineral concentrate upgraded to high purity oxides, prior to its export from Rwanda.
“This increase in revenue means the country will be able to deploy more funding to other economic sectors throughout the country. This is essential for employment creation and improvement of living conditions of the people,” Balestra says.
This implementation will also create interest in bringing new projects and international investments into Rwanda.﻿﻿
“It will not only create value-added products for export, it will bring significant benefits to the people of Rwanda and those connected to the development of the Coltan industry,” he says, adding that the Rwanda Government, from Rwanda Development Board to the Ministry of Mining are extremely supportive of the project.
AB Minerals will look to hire people in the fields of metallurgy, chemistry, accounting and finance, lab operations, quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), as well as plant managers and shift managers. During construction of the facility where the processing plant will be located, there will also be employment opportunities.﻿
Construction of the plant will start after a US$1 million production/evaluation run conducted at a major laboratory in the United States. 
It will take approximately eight months to construct the plant, and it is expected to be fully operational by the second half of 2017.
(Research and interview by Trust Matsilele, written by Qhama Nokwali)﻿

Africa’s first Coltan separation plant to be built in Rwanda

LAGOS &#8211; A year before his wedding, Jude Egharevba was overjoyed when he bought a plot of land to build a house for him and his fiancee on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria&#8217;s commercial capital.
But his joy was short-lived, after a group of young men stormed his land and demanded cash to leave peacefully.
The same men and other gangs visited his land several times and disrupted the building work, forcing Egharevba, an oil and gas executive, to pay them off with one million naira ($3,175) over the course of a year in order to finish the construction.
These men, known as the Omo Onile, which means &#8220;Sons of the Soil&#8221; in the local Yoruba language, roam Lagos looking for land owners and property developers to dupe and extort for money.
&#8220;They milk you at every stage, and beat up your workers if you don&#8217;t pay,&#8221; said Egharevba, 28, who had to postpone his wedding due to the constant setbacks to the construction of his house.
The menace of the Omo Onile, whose numbers have swelled in recent years amid rising unemployment in Nigeria, is discouraging investors, hindering businesses and holding back development in Lagos state, government officials say.
Earlier this year, the governor of Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode, vowed to crack down on those who extort landowners or take over their property, and set up a task force to tackle the problem.
The state&#8217;s assembly followed his lead, and on Aug. 15 the Lagos State Properties Protection Law was enacted.
The law punishes land theft and a range of related offences with fines and a jail term of between five and 21 years.
&#8220;These hoodlums were becoming embarrassing, and were frustrating companies,&#8221; Akinjide Bakare, chairman of the Omo Onile task force, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
&#8220;Lagos was losing investments to other states, and the government decided to step in and act,&#8221; Bakare added.
 
&#8220;SONS OF THE SOIL&#8221;
Land disputes and theft have long been a contentious issue in Lagos, and across Nigeria, according to land rights experts.
Dating back to the 1920s, most disputes within society and customary court cases have been about land, said a staff member at the National Archives of Nigeria, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not permitted to speak to the media.
In 1978, Nigeria passed the Land Use Act, which nationalised all land, and was intended to override customary land rights &#8211; where people have traditional rights but no legal recognition or protection of their land. This aimed to make land more accessible, improve tenure security, and boost development.
But the act made allocating land discretionary, fuelling state corruption, and contributed to Nigeria&#8217;s large informal land market, academics and development experts say.
&#8220;Some Omo Onile believe the land was originally theirs and so act as if government ownership does not count,&#8221; said Matthew Ottah, a Lagos-based lawyer and also a victim of the Omo Onile.
While there are no estimates of the number of Omo Onile, their ranks are believed to be growing as Nigeria&#8217;s unemployment rate has reached a seven-year high &#8211; 12 percent &#8211; and Lagos state&#8217;s population continues to grow past 20 million people.
Across Lagos, the Omo Onile idle in their communities, often drinking and smoking, but always on the lookout for abandoned projects, land purchases and deals struck by construction firms.
&#8220;There are no jobs from the government and vulcaniser (local rubber) work does not pay so this is better than stealing,&#8221; said Jamiu Alao, a young man who scouts out potential victims for the Omo Omile in Ajah, an area still under development in Lagos.
Some have set up small, bogus offices to bait prospective landowners, sometimes with illegible or misspelt signage and flyers, where they pose as genuine real estate developers.
They issue fake certificates of occupancy, collect money from landlords overseeing renovations, and conspire with some local traditional leaders to fleece property developers.
&#8220;Those who have money for land must settle with those who are keeping the land safe,&#8221; Alao added. &#8220;The new people must show respect to the old people &#8211; the sons of the soil.&#8221;
 
BATTLE FAR FROM OVER
When construction boss Kunle Adigun decided to take on the Omo Onile years ago, and press charges against the intruders, he arrived at his building site to find all his workers had quit.
&#8220;Eventually, I had to pay up,&#8221; the 32-year-old said.
&#8220;It is no good arguing with them or bringing police into the matter, because even they want to get money from land deals.&#8221;
Previously, forcibly entering a person&#8217;s land or seizing that land was punishable under the Lagos Criminal Law by two years in jail, yet it was rarely enforced, experts say.
Frustrated by the impunity of the Omo Onile, lawyer Ottah, who has been supporting their victims for over a decade, set up a start-up for land verification, identifying &#8220;risky lands&#8221;, detailing a history of land cases, and selling land.
&#8220;For unsuspecting buyers, I recommend a trustworthy lawyer, a quantity surveyor &#8230; and prayers,&#8221; Ottah said with a smile.
The new Properties Protection Law, which criminalises a range of offences from the illegal occupation of property and the use of land agents to selling property without authority, has been hailed by Lagos residents and activists alike.
Yet the battle against the Omo Omile and land theft is far from over, according to Samuel Oloyede, a professor of estate management at Covenant University, just outside of Lagos.
&#8220;There is no way to completely eliminate this issue &#8211; the land is vast and there are no official records in many cases.&#8221;
&#8220;The new law will minimise disputes because no one wants to go to jail. But it can not stop the problem completely because people will always find a way to cheat the system,&#8221; he said.
($1 = 315.0000 naira)
 
(Reporting By Eromo Egbejule, Writing by Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Jo Griffin.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)﻿

Nigeria gets tough with marauding "Sons of the Soil" in search of land to seize

Ghana President John Mahama has decreed the early release of three men convicted over death threats against Supreme Court judges made during a panel discussion broadcast on a local radio station.
The case was part of a bid by authorities to ensure stability ahead of a presidential election in December and protect Ghana&#8217;s image as a beacon of peace in West Africa.
Amid a dispute in June over voter roll revisions the Mahama supporters said on Accra-based Montie FM that they would hunt down and &#8220;finish&#8221; judges if they ruled in favour of the opposition.
They were convicted by the Supreme Court of contempt following a high-profile hearing and sentenced to four months in prison.
Mahama on Friday ordered them freed after they expressed remorse in a direct appeal, said a government statement distributed on Tuesday. The men had also apologised in court.
&#8220;The president reminds all concerned especially persons working in the media &#8230; to guard against the use of intemperate language which has the potential of causing unnecessary tension especially in this election year,&#8221; the statement said.
Politicians of all parties say it is vital to ensure peace during what is likely to be a closely-fought election between Mahama and opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo. Religious leaders and traditional chiefs have reinforced the same message.
Senior opposition figures criticised Mahama&#8217;s decision, arguing he freed the men early because they are ruling party activists.﻿

Ghana president orders early release for men who threatened judges

Zimbabwe&#8217;s government plans to abolish about half the jobs in the agriculture department, a government official said on Wednesday, as President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s administration struggles to pay public service wages.
The southern African nation is facing a biting shortage of cash, its worst since 2009 when it dumped its hyperinflation-wrecked currency in favour of the U.S. dollar.
Zimbabwe, which spends 82 percent of its national annual budget on wages, said on Monday it would no longer hire new public workers as it struggles to pay soldiers, police, teachers and other employees.
The deputy minister in the agriculture department, Paddy Zhanda, said his office was seeking to prevent the shedding of about 8,000 jobs decision by the Public Service Commission (PSC), which hires state workers.
Zhanda said the department had offered an alternative plan that would cut wages but save jobs, because dismissing staff could impact agriculture at a time the sector is struggling to recover from the worst drought in a quarter century.
&#8220;For example, workers can work fewer days and we could retire non critical staff above the age of 60 years as well as doing away with posts that are vacant,&#8221; Zhanda told Reuters.
Cecelia Alexander, chairperson of the main union for state workers Apex Council, could not be reached for comment.
The state-run Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday that the PSC had notified the agriculture ministry on July 29 that 8,252 posts out of 19,235 had been scrapped with immediate effect.
In March last year, Harare carried out an audit of its government workforce but has not made the results public. An audit by private consultants carried out in 2010 showed that up to 70,000 &#8220;ghost workers&#8221; were on the payroll.
There are more than 300,000 employees in government, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency, a number which does not include the army, air force, police and prisons.
Delays in salaries as well as the cash squeeze that has seen long queues at banks, are some of the reasons that have in the last three months fuelled anti-government protests that have ended in clashes with police.
 
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia/Jeremy Gaunt)﻿

Zimbabwe abolishes 8,000 jobs in agriculture ministry to cut wages

South African assets slumped on Wednesday after an elite police unit summoned Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over an investigation into a suspected rogue spy unit in the tax service, fuelling speculation that there was a plot to oust him.
Gordhan and other former officials at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) must report to the Hawks on Thursday morning in relation to contravention of surveillance regulations, a source close to the matter told Reuters.
The announcement added to investors&#8217; worries about leadership at the finance ministry as Africa&#8217;s most developed economy teeters on the edge of recession and credit rating agencies consider downgrading it to &#8220;junk&#8221; status by year-end.
Shadow finance minister David Maynier urged authorities not to take any more formal steps against Gordhan.
&#8220;The arrest of the finance minister would shatter investor confidence, risk a sovereign ratings downgrade and be a disaster for the already fragile zero growth, zero jobs economy in South Africa,&#8221; the member of the opposition Democratic Alliance said in a statement.
The Treasury confirmed the Hawks had contacted Gordhan and that he was seeking legal advice, but declined to go into further details.
Gordhan is due to speak at a debate in Cape Town at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT). Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said it did not comment on ongoing investigations.
The rand extended losses after dropping 3 percent the previous session when the news about Gordhan emerged.
Bonds also slumped with the yield on benchmark 2026 issue rising 46 basis points to 8.935 percent. South Africa&#8217;s stock market banking index opened almost four percent down.
 
&#8220;PLOT TO OUST GORDHAN&#8221;
A Zuma-backed plan to build a fleet of nuclear power plants, at a cost of as much as $60 billion, has been a cause of tension with the Treasury for months and is likely adding to pressure on Gordhan&#8217;s position, analysts say.
Russian state-backed companies are the favourites to win the nuclear bid, industry sources say.
&#8220;This is all part of a plot to oust Gordhan,&#8221; political analyst Prince Mashele said. &#8220;Gordhan refuses to sign-off on the Russian nuclear deal.&#8221;
Gordhan has refused to be drawn publicly on whether he supports the nuclear project but has said South Africa will only enter agreements it can afford.
Presidency spokesman Bongani Majola did not respond to requests for comment.
Local media reports in May said Gordhan may face arrest on espionage charges for setting up the unit to spy on politicians including President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma has rejected allegations by opposition parties that he has failed to publicly back Gordhan, saying that the law should take its course.
Zuma spooked investors in December by replacing then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with relatively unknown lawmaker David van Rooyen. After markets tumbled, Zuma demoted van Rooyen and appointed Gordhan, in his second stint in the job.
Nene&#8217;s refusal to sign-off on the nuclear deal contributed to his downfall, government sources said at the time.﻿

South African assets plunge after finance minister is summoned by police

Nigeria&#8217;s central bank has suspended nine banks from the interbank currency market for failing to remit money owed to the government, banking sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The suspension comes after the central bank tightened restrictions on the flow of dollars to domestic lenders in March. That has forced the banks to delay hard-currency loan and trade repayments and increased their risk of default.
&#8220;This is really a function of the dire macroeconomic situation and illiquidity in the FX markets rather than willful non-compliance by banks,&#8221; said Diran Olojo, a spokesman for FCMB, one of the banks.
Olojo said the bank was working with the central bank to resolve the issue.
The banks have failed to remit $2.1 billion, the government&#8217;s share of dividends from the state-owned gas company, NLNG. The banks were supposed to pay the money into the government&#8217;s account at the central bank.
Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the merger of state accounts into that one account at the central bank to reduce corruption.
In addition to FCMB, the banks are First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Skye Bank, Diamond Bank, Sterling Bank and Fidelity Bank, banking sources say.
&#8220;We could not trade today,&#8221; one banker said. &#8220;The suspension is meant to pass on the pressure to banks to make payments (but) this is foreign currency and we have to source the dollars.&#8221;
Nigeria, Africa&#8217;s largest economy, is suffering its worst financial crisis in decades as a slump in oil revenues hammers public finances and the naira. The central bank governor has said recession is likely.
The bank floated the currency in June to attract investment, allowing the naira to fall by 40 percent against the dollar. But foreign investors have remained on the sidelines, making the central bank the main supplier of dollars.
Some lenders were trying to sell assets to pay the funds, another banker said, adding that the central bank was aware of refinancing challenges facing the industry.
A director at one of the affected lenders said his bank informed all board members of the suspension via a letter on Tuesday, adding it held $125 million of the total sum.
The central bank has been selling dollars almost daily to boost interbank trading and liquidity. But it reduced its sales volume this week, traders said, after it settled two-month outright forwards it sold in June.
The regulator paid $1.2 billion for currency forwards it sold in June at 280 per dollar, the bankers said, further draining its dollar reserves. Those reserves are down to $25.7 billion, their lowest in more than 11 years.
The naira, which hit a record low of 365.25 per dollar on Thursday, closed flat at 305.50 on Tuesday, gaining ground after the central bank sold dollars.﻿

Nigeria central bank suspends nine banks from FX market – source

Nigeria&#8217;s air force said it had killed a number of senior Boko Haram fighters and possibly their overall leader, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pledged to consider ways to ramp up military assistance to Nigeria to defeat the militant group.
Government planes attacked the Islamist group inside the Sambisa forest in its northeast heartland on Friday, the air force said, adding that it had only just confirmed details of the impact of the raid.
&#8220;Their leader, so called &#8216;Abubakar Shekau&#8217;, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders,&#8221; the statement by military spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman added, without going into details on the source of its information.
The Obama administration has paid close attention to the fight against the militant group which has declared allegiance to Islamic State and destabilised a whole region by attacking Nigeria&#8217;s neighbours.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari did not address the reported air raid on the militants and Kerry did not raise it in their meeting in Abuja, a senior State Department official said. &#8220;It didn&#8217;t come up,&#8221; the official said in an interview, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think (Buhari) has enough information and we didn&#8217;t have enough information to raise it.&#8221;
On his first stop in the remote northern city of Sokoto, the top U.S. diplomat said the struggle against Boko Haram would succeed only if it tackled the reasons why people join militant groups and gained the public&#8217;s trust.
&#8220;It is understandable that, in the wake of terrorist activity, some are tempted to crack down on anyone and everyone who could theoretically pose some sort of threat. But extremism can’t be defeated through repression or fear,&#8221; he said.
 
U.S. PLANES
Nigeria has been pushing the United States to sell it aircraft to take on Boko Haram &#8211; a group that emerged in northeast Borno region seven years ago. The militants have killed an estimated 15,000 people in their fight to set up an Islamist state.
Under Nigeria&#8217;s last president, Goodluck Jonathan, the United States had blocked arms sales and ended training of Nigerian troops partly over human rights concerns such as treatment of captured insurgents.
But the new administration argues its human rights record has improved significantly enough to lift the blockade.
The senior State Department official said there was now a recognition by the Nigerian military of the need to pay attention to human rights. &#8220;While they are not perfect, they are conscious&#8221; of the issue, the official added.
In May, U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington wanted to sell up to 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria in recognition of Buhari&#8217;s reform of the country&#8217;s army. Congress needs to approve the deal.
Kerry said Buhari had made &#8220;a strong start at all levels of government&#8221; since taking office in May 2015, without referring specifically to rights abuses.
In the meeting with Buhari at the sprawling presidential villa, Kerry promised to look at ways to ramp up military cooperation with Nigeria to &#8220;bring this fight to a close,&#8221; the State Department official said, adding that the militant group no longer held any territory in the north.
Kerry &#8220;made very, very strong commitments to the (Nigerian) government that we are going to look at what we can do differently,&#8221; the official said, adding that the package for the aircraft was still being considered and needed congressional approval.
&#8220;We are working with (Nigeria) to make sure they can afford it, and they know how to use&#8221; the aircraft, the official added.
There was no immediate reaction from Boko Haram, which communicates with the media only by videos. The military has reported the death of Boko Haram&#8217;s Shekau in the past, only to have a man purporting to be him appear later, apparently unharmed, making video statements.
There have been recent signs of rifts between at least parts of Boko Haram and Islamic State. The global militant organisation announced a new leader for what it described as its West African operations this month &#8211; an account that Abubakar Shekau appeared to contradict in a later video message.﻿

John Kerry pledges help to defeat Nigeria's Boko Haram

South Africa&#8217;s rand tumbled to its weakest in a month and yields on bonds spiked on Wednesday after a special investigations unit ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to report to police in relation to a surveillance unit in the state tax service.

South Africa's rand, bonds sink after police summon finance minister

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been contacted by police, a Treasury spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday, after a media report said he had been summoned by an elite police investigation unit and may face charges.
The Hawks police division is investigating a tax surveillance unit within the South African Revenue Service (SARS) set up in 2007 when Gordhan was the commissioner of the revenue authority.
Gordhan and four officials at SARS have been asked to report to the Hawks on Thursday morning where they will receiving a &#8216;warning statement&#8217; given to an accused person before they are charged with an offence, news website Daily Maverick said.
&#8220;Indeed minister received correspondence from the Hawks yesterday. He&#8217;s currently taking legal advice and therefore reserving comment at this stage,&#8221; Treasury spokeswoman Phumza Macanda said in response to questions from Reuters.
The rand fell nearly three percent after the story was published and was two percent weaker by 1629 GMT. &#8220;The currency is taking a serious view on this,&#8221; political analyst Gary van Staden said.
&#8220;The mere suggestion, true or false, that there is a campaign against Gordhan will bring dire financial and economic consequences.&#8221;
Local media reports in May said Gordhan may face arrest on espionage charges for setting up the unit to spy on politicians including President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma spooked investors in December by replacing then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with relatively unknown lawmaker David van Rooyen. After markets tumbled, Zuma sacked van Rooyen and appointed Gordhan, in his second stint in the job.
Zuma has rejected allegations by opposition parties that he has failed to publicly back Gordhan, saying that the law should take its course.
Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said he knew nothing about the report. In May, Mulaudzi said Gordhan was not a suspect and that police were not singling out the finance minister in their investigation of the surveillance unit.
Gordhan, who headed SARS from 1999 to 2009, has said the unit set up at the tax agency was lawful.
Gordhan said last week that a previous newspaper report of his imminent arrest was an attack on the Treasury.﻿

Elite investigative unit summon South African finance minister

South Africa&#8217;s ruling African National Congress is considering holding an early conference to replace its top leaders after its worst election performance since the end of apartheid 22 years ago, it said on Tuesday.
The elective conference is due to take place in December 2017 to pick a successor for the party&#8217;s leader, President Jacob Zuma, but ANC officials said talks were underway to hold it earlier to have more time to repair the damage after big losses in local polls and prepare for national elections in 2019.
The party still won the most votes overall during the Aug. 3 local government elections. But, with its reputation bruised by charges of corruption against Zuma, and with unemployment high and the country teetering on the edge of recession, it lost a lot of support, particularly in major cities.
However, analysts said it was not yet clear whether the conference would be called to replace Zuma or to remove other top party officials critical of the president.
The Youth League, which initiated the idea of an early elective conference, is a bastion of support for Zuma within the party.
Zuma has himself said he will not stand for a third term, but the party&#8217;s constitution does not bar him from doing so.
&#8220;The idea of an early conference is not a bad idea, because it will give whatever leadership that comes out of the conference a longer period to prepare for 2019,&#8221; ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told a news conference though he gave no indication when such a decision could be made.
Such an early conference would a clear objective &#8220;not just go there and then fight it out there, smash each other, blood on the floor &#8230; we come out of the conference more divided.&#8221;
Analysts cautioned that it would be too hasty to suggest that Zuma&#8217;s removal would be on the agenda at such a conference.
&#8220;The Youth League are know for protecting Zuma. If they are behind the call for an early conference it is because they may be looking to support Zuma for a third term, or have him pick a successor,&#8221; NKC African Economics analyst Gary van Staden said.
BNP Paribus Securities South Africa political analyst Nic Borain concurred.
&#8220;I would be cautious to jump to conclusions on this without further information. The Youth League is a pillar of support for Zuma. Maybe his critics could be on the line,&#8221; he said.
Following the municipal elections, the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party &#8211; which has been running the local government in Cape Town &#8211; now controls Johannesburg, the municipality that includes the capital, Pretoria, and Nelson Mandela Bay, reshaping the political landscape in South Africa.
 
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)﻿

S.Africa's ANC mulls early conference to replace top leaders after election losses

JOHANNESBURG  &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s government defended a renewed drive to reduce deaths and injuries in the mining industry on Tuesday, saying health and safety issues were &#8220;non negotiable.&#8221;
Mining executives have recently expressed concern about government-ordered safety stops &#8211; dubbed &#8220;Section 54s&#8221; after the regulatory code they fall under &#8211; saying production and profits were being hurt as too many were being imposed.
Sibanye Gold&#8217;s Chief Executive Neal Froneman in July said the department of mineral resources was &#8220;destroying hundreds of millions, if not billions of rand in value&#8221;, because of unnecessary safety stops.
Sibanye has said it lost 135 million rand ($10 million) in revenue in the 12 months to June at its Kroondal platinum mine due to government safety stops.
The department of mineral resources hit back on Tuesday, saying &#8220;society can ill-afford to compromise human lives in the interest of commercial gains &#8230; The Minister reaffirms the importance of safety audits.&#8221;
The department noted that companies had the right to appeal a Section 54 notice but &#8220;to date, the Minister of Mineral Resources has not received any formal appeals.&#8221;
According to the National Union of Mineworkers, 59 miners have been killed in South Africa&#8217;s mines in the year to date, compared to 48 in the same period in 2015.
Chamber of Mines data shows that the death toll in South Africa&#8217;s mines, which are the deepest in the world, fell for seven straight years to a record low of 77 in 2015. In 1993, 615 South African miners died on the job.
($1 = 13.4645 rand)
 
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)﻿
<div></div>

South Africa's mines ministry defends safety drive

South Africa’s best-ever Olympic team was welcomed home at a ceremony at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday.
Official sponsor Telkom contributed R4 million in incentives for medal winners, to be shared equally between the Olympic and Paralympic teams.
This year, Team South Africa brings home 10 medals from the Summer Olympics hosted by Rio de Janeiro: four medals in athletics (including two gold and two silver), three silver medals in swimming, and one bronze each in rowing, triathlon, and rugby sevens.
Each Olympic medallist and their coach will be rewarded by Telkom as follows:
<ul>
<li>Gold medallists receive R400 000 with a further R100 000 going to the athlete’s coach</li>
<li>Silver medallists receive R200 000 with R50 000 paid to the coach</li>
<li>Bronze medallists receive R80 000 with R20 000 paid to the coach.</li>
</ul>
Telkom has a long history of supporting the Olympics, having sponsored the South African Olympic teams in 2004 and 2008, and the South African Paralympic team in 2012.
“It is with great pride that we welcome our Olympic athletes home today following their outstanding performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Along with the rest of the country, we stayed up until the early hours of the morning to witness Wayde van Niekerk’s record-breaking 400m run and Caster Semenya’s 800m triumph. Their dedication and discipline serves as a powerful example to all of us to strive for greatness,” said Enzo Scarcella, Telkom Chief Marketing Officer.
Telkom is also a sponsor of South Africa’s Paralympic team, who will compete in Rio de Janeiro from 7 to 18 September.﻿

Welcome home Olympians!

<div>
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 23 (Reuters) &#8211; Africa&#8217;s largest retailer Shoprite Holdings reported a 17 percent jump in full-year profit on Tuesday, shrugging off competition in South Africa and buoyed by strong sales in Angola.
Its thrifty stores helped it secure a South African market share of 32.8 percent in June, a company record, Chief Executive Whitey Basson said, as the chain kept costs tight and subsidised certain basic foodstuffs to keep the business of cash-strapped consumers.
Africa&#8217;s most advanced economy, which accounts for four fifths of the company&#8217;s sales, is forecast by the central bank to show zero growth this year, but Basson still sees room for growth for the company.
&#8220;We are not worried about the South African market maturing,&#8221; he said in a webcast after pointing out that Shoprite had opened a net 49 stores in 2016 in its home market and was planning to open another 111 over the next two years.
The retailer trades in 14 other countries on the continent, and, despite weaker economic growth due to lower commodity prices, sales in this segment expanded by 32.6 percent compared with 10.9 percent at home.
Africa&#8217;s two largest oil producers, Angola and Nigeria, were hit by foreign exchange shortages as earnings from crude sales collapsed.
But Shoprite&#8217;s Angolan business produced its sharpest growth, as the retailer was able to replenish goods while other retailers were hamstrung by foreign exchange rules.
&#8220;Access to dollars allowed us to have stock on the shelves,&#8221; said Basson, adding that the local currency was reinvested and the excess profits in Angola had paid for new store openings.
Shoprite&#8217;s total number of supermarkets outside South Africa grew to 207, with most of the 22 new stores opened in Angola, Zambia and Nigeria, Shoprite said.
The firm&#8217;s diluted headline earnings per share for the 53 weeks to end-June rose 17 percent to 899.7 cents from 769.1 cents.
Headline earnings per share is the main profit measure in South Africa which strips out certain one-off items.
Shares in Shoprite were up 1 percent to 201 rand by 1213 GMT, 5 percent below the all-time high of 211.76 rand scaled on August 10. (Reporting by TJ Strydom; editing by Susan Thomas)
</div>
© Thomson Reuters 2016 All rights reserved﻿

Shoprite's rest of Africa growth outpaces home market

Nigeria&#8217;s central bank has asked commercial lenders to allocate 60 percent of their foreign exchange purchases to manufacturers, in a bid to boost their ability to pay for imports and boost the economy.
Widespread dollar shortages, caused by a fall in oil revenues, have hit manufacturers&#8217; ability to import raw materials and spare parts, forcing many plants to close.
The central bank said in a circular it wanted to encourage the production of local goods by asking banks to allocate more hard currency to industrial firms.
&#8220;Authorised dealers (banks) are hereby directed to dedicate at least 60 percent of their total foreign exchanger purchases from all sources to end-users strictly for the purposes of importation of raw materials, plant and machinery,&#8221; the bank said in a circular dated Aug 22 and seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
In June, the bank abandoned its naira peg to the dollar, allowing the currency to weaken by 40 percent in a bid to attract more foreign investment.
But so far trading in the official foreign exchange market has been limited as those with dollars prefer to sell them for a higher rate on the black market.
Nigeria&#8217;s economy contracted in the first quarter and officials have said recession is likely.
 
(Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Andrew Heavens)﻿

Nigeria asks banks to give 60 pct of their forex to manufacturing firms

Opponents of Congolese President Joseph Kabila began a general strike on Tuesday to demand he steps down when his mandate expires in December.
Police fired teargas to disperse a few hundred protesters who had gathered at the headquarters of the largest opposition party in the Kinshasa district of Limete, a Reuters witness said.
In the city centre rush hour seemed lighter than usual, and in the surrounding suburbs, especially opposition strongholds such as Limete, many Congolese stayed at home and shops were boarded up. There were no reports so far of any impact in the mining sector, where foreign firms have big investments.
The government opened a round of talks on Tuesday on the timetable for elections that were due to be held in November but will be delayed because nothing is ready. The opposition is boycotting the talks, which it sees as a delaying tactic facilitated by a Kabila ally, Togolese diplomat Edem Kodjo.
&#8220;The government&#8217;s provocations, its inconsistencies, are increasing as they seek to corrupt the facilitator to rig the outcome of the dialogue,&#8221; opposition spokesman Bruno Tshibala said on Radio France International, whose FM station was off air locally, as it often is on opposition protest days.
&#8220;That&#8217;s why we decided to launch this general strike.&#8221;
A government spokesman dismissed the strike as the work of &#8220;some radicals &#8230; having some old fashioned fun&#8221;.
Kabila&#8217;s opponents accuse him of dragging his feet on holding the election in order to cling to power in Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that has not seen a peaceful change of government since independence from Belgium in 1960.
He took power when his father was assassinated in 2001, then won his first election in 2006.
Western powers are leaning on Kabila to honour the constitution, which limits a president to two terms, and step down. They fear political tensions could reignite a regional war that killed millions of people between 1996 and 2003.
Congo is a tinderbox of ethnic tensions and political frustration at its extreme poverty despite its huge mineral wealth, especially in the lawless east.
 
(Reporting by Aaron Ross; Writing and additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Dakar; Editing by Alison Williams)﻿

Congo opposition strikes to call for Kabila to step down

The recent appointment of a seven-member panel of experts by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, has the nation debating the value and relevance of a proposed minimum wage for all workers. In this debate, it would be helpful to consider sectors that are already paying their workers well above minimum wage and how these sectors rank, when their average salary is considered.
In this short review, the following becomes clear:
<ul>
<li>The vehicle manufacturing sector has the highest minimum wages;</li>
<li>Of the sectors that are not monopolies or protected state-owned enterprises, the vehicle manufacturing sector and fuel refineries have the highest paid workers, on average;</li>
<li>Manufacturing sectors offer the best career paths for people without post-graduate qualifications to start with a decent salary, be trained by their employers and improve their salaries over time;</li>
<li>More than 8 million formal sector workers in South Africa are already protected by some form of ministerial sectoral determination, union agreement or bargaining council agreement.</li>
</ul>
Introduction
At present the national minimum wage range seems to be anywhere between an estimated R2 000 ($148) a month and R5 500 ($408) a month. How this amount is determined and what it includes will be at the heart of the debate for some time to come, with trade unions on one side demanding a higher minimum wage and industry arguing for no minimum wage or one that is at the lower end of the scale.
The current wage range is very wide, but if one follows the practice of making the minimum wage a percentage of the median wage, then it is likely to be less than R3 000 a month.
The median wage is the wage is the middle of a wage bracket, where one half of employees earn less than the wage and the other half more. This is often called the “typical wage”, and in South Africa the typical monthly wage for 2015 is estimated to be around R3 200.
The typical or median wage points to a minimum wage that is likely to be about R2 200 to R2 800 a month. If the proposed minimum wage is higher than this figure, then the government may have to exclude or make exceptions for workers in certain sectors, including domestic workers and workers in the agricultural sector.
The majority of workers in South Africa are, however, already covered by minimum wages, particularly in the formal sector. If one assumes that the informal sector and self-employed workers are not going to be influenced by any determination on minimum wages, then it is clear that about 80% or more of all employees are already covered.
We already have minimum wages – just too many
South Africa already has sectoral determinations that cover the minimum wages of vulnerable workers such as domestic and farm workers, as well as some informal sector workers, such as taxi drivers and rank marshals. It is estimated that sectoral determinations – as announced by the Minister of Labour – cover about 5.1 million employees.
Sectoral determinations have minimum wages that range from R1 813 per month to a high of R9 991 per month for qualified artisans in the civil engineering business sector. Sectoral determinations offer very few prescribed benefits, and it is assumed that the current minimum wage discussions on the national stage will also avoid prescribing any benefits.
Apart from sectoral determinations, minimum wages also apply in over 44 subsectors and micro-sector bargaining council agreements, which cover approximately 2.6 million employees. With extended agreements that cover non-union and non-participants in 23 out of the 44 bargaining councils, it is estimated that about 3.3 million employees are covered by these types of agreements.
Bargaining council minimum wages range from R1 200 a month for hairdressers in more rural areas to R12 974 a month for highly skilled new artisans in the tyre industry. One should consider that in this instance, and unlike sectoral determinations, bargaining councils negotiate additional benefits that form part of the agreements. This means that many employees in these sectors have access to a range of medical, insurance and pension fund contributions or other benefits such as housing and sleeping out benefits.
While it is difficult to calculate the value that additional benefits offer employees; they seem to add between 10% and 25% to the overall wage bill in sectors that have a bargaining council.
The third group of sectors with minimum wages, are those that have some form of union representation that do not have an industry-wide bargaining council. It is estimated that trade unions represent another 1.1 million members and influence an estimated 1.7 million employees in total in this third category. While these agreements may have no official standing, they have contractual minimum wages that seem higher than either the bargaining council or sectoral determinations that the minister makes.
These private agreements negotiate minimum wages between only an employer and (a) trade union(s), although it may cover more than one company or even the majority of companies in a sector.
The following graph maps out the estimated entry-level wage that a worker in some industries can expect:
 
 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/media/19192019/minimum_wages_1.png" width="452" height="307" alt="Minimum Wages 1"/>﻿
Source: Economists dotcoza.
The above rates are for entry-level workers in each of the industries mentioned. They are monthly and do not include benefits such as medical insurance, housing, travel and pension fund contributions. The top six industries shown here would all have extra benefits that would make the entry level income higher. For example, the transport sector often offers meal and sleep out allowances and in the hospitality sector, workers often receive free meals. These “benefits” and “in kind” payments are not included in the calculation.
These private agreements have surprisingly high minimum wages and include sub-sector wages that range from about R7 081 a month for certain workers in the coal sector to a high – without benefits – of R22 978 a month for artisans in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry.
Many sectors have large benefits that employees get and want
Sectorial agreements with unions usually include a range of benefits, such as medical insurance, pensions and housing allowances. These benefits seem to range between 20% and 45% of the total monthly wages, in these private agreements.
With this in mind, the motor manufacturing sector’s highest minimum wage shoots up from R22 978 to R33 318 a month. The lowest minimum wage in the motor industry also benefits from benefits taking the actual wage from R9 668 to around R14 019 a month. The lowest minimum wage in this sector therefore gets a further 45% in benefits. Typically, the medical benefits include medical aid and pension fund contributions by the company.
Similar numbers are evident in gold mining were the cash wages without overtime is approximately R9 210 a month and the benefits take this wage to R11 142 a month, while additional bonuses takes this figure to over R12 000 per month!
The sector with the biggest minimum “wage package” for entry-level workers appears to be the auto manufacturing sector, which has a current agreed monthly minimum package of R14 019 for its lowest paid employees. The mining industry is not far behind and neither is the broader chemical industry.
At the highest skill level, vehicle manufacturing is also the industry with the highest total package that we currently have data on. This is for hourly paid artisans and this minimum wage has a “wage package” that is estimated at R33 318 a month.
To put the higher-end skilled minimum wage in perspective: the vehicle manufacturing industry’s salary is 60% more than a teacher with a master’s degree and four years’ experience!
In summary, it is clear that most formal sector minimum wages are already above the R3 000 a month mark, but some entry-level salaries, including benefits, are already about 5 times what one would expect the minimum wage to be. This is especially prevalent in the vehicle manufacturing and gold mining sectors.
Incredibly, some minimum wages are actually placing workers in the top 20% or higher of wage earners
The vehicle manufacturing and mining sectors seem to have minimum wages, which even at their lowest earners would escalate these employees into the top 20% of all South African salary earners. Higher skilled minimum wages in many sub-sectors show that these employees get packages that would place them in the top 3% of South African employees.
For example, the top 5% of employees earn salaries from R24 000 a month. In contrast, skilled artisans in the vehicle manufacturing sector earn well over R33 000 with benefits.
Many minimum wages in South Africa – in both the public and private sectors – are already many times that of the typical wage earner who receives an estimated R3 200 a month, although this minimum figure may be slightly higher, as not all respondents are truthful about their income. It nonetheless indicates that many sectors have minimum wages that are many times that of the proposed minimum wage – whatever that is likely to be.
Average formal sector wages vary widely
The Quarterly Employment Survey, another widely consulted wage database that surveys data from establishments in the formal sector, reports that the average wage, including overtime and bonuses, is R18 668.
This formal salary average is at least 6 times higher than the estimated minimum wage is likely to be. One should keep in mind that this figure excludes the directors of companies in the various sectors, but it does include the general workers and salaried employees such as the foreman and the human resource manager. It would, for example, exclude the finance director.
If one uses this data to study the non-financial sub sectors with the highest average pay, then less than 40 subsectors have average monthly salaries of over R20 000 a month. The 20 highest subsectors with the highest paid employees were, in general, highly technical sectors with many highly skilled staff in them.
In the non-financial sector, the refinery industry has the highest average monthly salary followed by air transport.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/media/19192026/minimum_wages_2.png" width="463" height="387" alt="Minimum Wages 2"/>﻿
Basic source StatsSA QES.
Note: The averages exclude directors – although many employees would also be managers and foremen.
The data above show that the petroleum refining industry and the vehicle manufacturing industry are the highest paying employers of semi-skilled workers. This is if one excludes monopolies, such as Eskom.
The above reasoning holds that seven of the above industries would have a high percentage of graduates and skilled technical staff. For example, it is assumed that the legal and accounting sector (number 7 on the list) would employ 70% or more of their people from the pool of workers with degrees or diplomas. Similarly, the advertising industry (#17) would have many employees who have marketing degrees or studied at advertising schools after obtaining a degree, and educational institutions (#12) would have skilled teachers as would the SETAs that fall under extra budgetary institutions (#13).
Three of the sectors listed above are monopolies that would not be as concerned about staff costs as a portion of their expenses, since they can often get away with passing on any increases to the South African economy in general. Air transport also has a high percentage of trained people in the form of pilots. Other sectors are based on commission and risk taking, and one is the national government, which in known world-wide to have one of the biggest payrolls as a percentage of GDP!
There are only six manufacturing sectors in this table that generally train and equip their own staff that form part of the best paid non-financial economy. Certainly, of the employers with large percentage of semi-skilled employees, the vehicle manufacturing and petroleum industries fare particularly well in the average salary category.
This means that apart from freight forwarding (#18), the six manufacturing industries are industries that are not monopolies and that would employ from the general unskilled and semi-skilled population for at least 50% or more of their employees.
This places those manufacturing industries in the top employers for people who have just completed their school careers. These industries also often offer training and clear career development plans for staff to progress to more skilled positions, particularly for those who do not complete graduate studies.
For example, the auto manufacturers pay an average wage that is 50% higher than the formal sector average and also provide benefits such as a career path and other company-specific benefits such as free medicine. Not only do these employees in the manufacturing industries find themselves in the formal sector, which pays better than the informal sector, but they are also paid 50% more than the formal sector average.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="/media/19192153/minimum_wages_3.png" width="463" height="402" alt="Minimum Wages 3"/>﻿
 
Basic source StatsSA QES.
In conclusion, it is clear that all of the industries listed above will not be affected by a minimum wage law, although they may not be aware of that. Unfortunately, these sectors represents the industries who will pay for the minimum wage if it triggers an inflation increase.﻿

The true state of S.A's minimum wages

FNB is the first South African bank to launch its own branded smartphone in an attempt, it says, to fully integrate banking and customer mobility.
The bank is offering customers the choice of two smartphones, the ConeXis A1 and X1 respectively.
The phones were manufactured by ZTE Corporation, a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company which has headquarters in Shenzhen,﻿.
In a statement it revealed the following about the offer:
The A1 is pitched at the price-sensitive Easy bank account holder, for R59 a month with 15 minutes airtime and 50MB of data included. Gold and Premium (Premier, Private Clients and Private Wealth) customers also have access to the higher specification X1 at R150 per month with 25 minutes and 100MB of data included.
FNB offers up to a 100% rebate on the X1 monthly instalments depending on the customer’s eBucks Rewards level. Gold customers on eBucks Rewards level of 3, 4, 5 will be rebated R60, R90, R150 (100%) on the monthly repayment respectively. Premium customers will be rewarded from level 1.
The smartphone comes on the back of the FNB Connect cellular offering launched in 2015, which seamlessly integrates customer’s financial and mobile accounts on a single banking platform.
FNB also announced the introduction of the FNB ConnectUnlimited Callsoffer, which allows subscribers to make unlimited local calls to any network for only R399 per month. The new Unlimited Calls offer can be taken up together with the FNB ConeXis smartphone deal or any other branded mobile phone. 
The offer is available to customers from 24 August 2016 while the FNB ConeXis smartphones will be available at selected FNB branches from 1 September 2016.

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CNBC Africa

Africa’s first Coltan separation plant to be built in Rwanda

Nigeria gets tough with marauding "Sons of the Soil" in search of land to seize

Ghana president orders early release for men who threatened judges

Zimbabwe abolishes 8,000 jobs in agriculture ministry to cut wages

South African assets plunge after finance minister is summoned by police

Nigeria central bank suspends nine banks from FX market – source

John Kerry pledges help to defeat Nigeria's Boko Haram

South Africa's rand, bonds sink after police summon finance minister

Elite investigative unit summon South African finance minister

S.Africa's ANC mulls early conference to replace top leaders after election losses

South Africa's mines ministry defends safety drive

Welcome home Olympians!

Shoprite's rest of Africa growth outpaces home market

Nigeria asks banks to give 60 pct of their forex to manufacturing firms

Congo opposition strikes to call for Kabila to step down

The true state of S.A's minimum wages

FNB enters smartphone market

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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