South African power producer Eskom is not facing liquidity challenges, the utility said on Sunday, after media reports alleging it would be unable to pay salaries by November.
Eskom, which produces nearly all of the electricity in Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy and exports energy to neighbouring states such as Namibia, is backed by more than $10 billion in government guarantees.
&#8220;Eskom refutes the notion that it is facing a cash crisis, and that it has only enough cash to last for the next three months,&#8221; the state-owned utility said in a statement.
The state-owned power producer last week postponed the publication of its annual results without giving reasons, but said later that external auditors had raised &#8220;reportable irregularities&#8221;.
Eskom has also come under scrutiny in the media after leaked documents put it at the centre of allegations of improper dealings in government contracts by the Gupta family, business friends of President Jacob Zuma. Zuma, Eskom and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.
&#8220;&#8230;the power utility is sitting on its last 20 billion rand ($1.5 billion). This means that unless something is done urgently, the parastatal could find itself unable to pay November salaries,&#8221; the Sunday Times reported, citing the unpublished financial statements.
Eskom last month appointed Johnny Dladla as acting chief executive after Brian Molefe, who was at the helm for 18 months from 2015 and reinstated in May, was removed following growing concerns about governance.
Dladla, who has more than two decades&#8217; experience at the company, is the sixth person to take on the job of chief executive in three years.
&#8220;External auditors have confirmed Eskom as a going concern, and as a result, the company sees these reports as being inaccurate and misleading,&#8221; Eskom said.
The company said it will publish its results on Wednesday.
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Reporting by TJ Strydom, editing by Louise Heavens
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Eskom refutes report on liquidity challenges

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday filed a lawsuit seeking to recover assets that include a $50 million Manhattan apartment and an $80 million yacht that it said were bought using money generated from a scheme to pay millions of dollars in bribes to a former Nigerian oil minister.
The civil lawsuit, filed in federal court in Houston, alleged that two Nigerian businessmen conspired with others to pay bribes to the minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who oversaw the African country&#8217;s state-owned oil company.
The lawsuit said that in return, Alison-Madueke steered lucrative contracts with a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp to companies owned by the two businessmen, Kolawole Akanni Aluko and Olajide Omokore.
Despite being unqualified and in some instances failing entirely to perform services under the contracts, these companies received more than $1.5 billion in revenues through the sale of crude oil, the lawsuit said.
The Justice Department said that Aluko and Okokore then laundered their illicit revenues through the United States and used the money to buy $144 million in assets including the Manhattan condominium and the $80 million yacht, the Galactica Star.
The condominium is located in One57, a skyscraper located near Central Park on a street in Midtown Manhattan that is known as &#8220;Billionaire&#8217;s Row.&#8221;
Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco said in a statement that the case demonstrated the Justice Department&#8217;s commitment to trading and recovering corruption proceeds.
&#8220;The United States is not a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption,&#8221; he said.
Following a mortgage default, lender Banque Havilland SA launched foreclosure proceedings on the condominium in January. It is scheduled to be up for public auction on July 19, according to the lawsuit.
Alison-Madueke was charged with money laundering in Nigeria, the country&#8217;s financial crimes agency said in April. She previously denied to Reuters any wrongdoing when questioned about missing public funds and corruption allegations.
Lawyers for Aluko and Omokore could not be immediately identified. They are not defendants in the lawsuit, which is a civil forfeiture action.
The lawsuit was brought as part of Justice Department&#8217;s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which seeks the forfeiture of the proceeds of foreign corruption.
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Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler
</div>

U.S. seeks to recover $144M in bribes to former Nigerian oil minister

Germany&#8217;s SAP named a new executive team in South Africa on Friday, two days after the software giant put four senior managers on leave, pending its investigations into allegations that it was involved in a government bribery scheme.
SAP said 25-year company veteran Claas Kuehnemann will step into the role of acting managing director for Africa, in charge of the company&#8217;s business in 51 countries, and that Peter David, its finance chief for Europe, Middle East and Africa, will become acting chief financial officer, SAP Africa.
Europe&#8217;s largest software company also said it had hired Chicago-based international law firm Baker McKenzie to conduct an external investigation. SAP said on Wednesday it would run its own, internal probe using its own compliance organisation.
Baker McKenzie will work with various experts, including forensic firm FTI Consulting, the company said.
&#8220;My interim role is to support our employees, customers and partners across all our business sectors while the due diligence process is conducted,&#8221; Kuehnemann said in a statement.
South African media reported on Tuesday that SAP paid alleged kickbacks in the form of sales commissions to a firm linked to the politically connected Gupta family, who are known to be close friends of President Jacob Zuma.
AmaBhungane, an investigative reporting group, together with the Daily Maverick&#8217;s Scorpio investigative team, reported that the alleged kickbacks were to clinch a deal with rail and logistics company Transnet and other state-owned firms worth 1 billion rand ($76.7 million).
The AmaPhungane report was based on leaked emails and documents that they say show how the powerful Gupta family unduly influenced the awarding of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
SAP has not named the four senior executives it put on administrative leave while investigating the company&#8217;s actions.
Reuters has not been able to independently verify the allegations.
The Guptas, Indian-born South Africans, and Zuma have denied wrongdoing. A Gupta family spokesman and Zuma&#8217;s spokesman did not respond to calls and emails for comment on the SAP story.
Transnet said in a statement that it has been an SAP customer since 2000 but that it was unaware of the parties reportedly involved in SAP sales to the company. It referred queries to SAP and its sales partners.
Baker McKenzie advises a wide range of African companies, multinationals and financial institutions and employs 60 attorneys from its offices in Johannesburg.

SAP names acting executive team, law firm for South Africa probe

On Friday, July 7, the opposition alliance, the National Super Alliance (Nasa), won another court battle with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) when the High Court ruled that the contract to print ballots for the August 8 presidential polls should be nullified (ballot printing for the parliamentary, county and other elections is seemingly unaffected).
The $24m contract with Dubai-based Al Ghurair was deemed to have been awarded through an insufficiently-transparent tendering process. Lawyers for the IEBC are reportedly going to challenge the ruling which could lead to the election being delayed.
The commission’s chairperson, Wafula Chebukati, said “The judgement has far-reaching implications on the elections.”
The court ruling, meanwhile, stated that the accusation by Nasa that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s relationship with Al Ghurair had influenced the awarding of the tender lacked evidence. Rather, the main issue appears to be that there was not enough public participation in the tendering process.
This victory for Nasa comes after it successfully took the IEBC to the High Court in April in order to ensure that results announced at the constituency level are final – something the alliance had pushed for to stop any chance of rigging at the national tallying centre.
The decision was upheld in June after the IEBC launched an appeal. Such victories bolster the view that the judiciary can be relied upon to act independently and should help boost the credibility of the results when the elections are held – both of which augur well for the legitimacy of the process.
This, in turn, would hopefully mean that the final results will be accepted without calls for protest or violence.
However, not all politicians are seeing matters in this light.
On Sunday, July 9, Reuters reported that Mr Kenyatta warned Chief Justice David Maraga not to undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary.
“I want to tell those in courts, we have respected you. But do not think respect is cowardice. And we will not allow our opponents to use the courts and to intimidate the IEBC, thinking they will win using the back door,” Mr Kenyatta told a rally in Baringo.
Mr Maraga fired back the same day by issuing a statement saying, “When political leaders cast aspersions on the administration of justice based on a misinterpretation of my statements, it has the potential to impair public confidence in our courts, and this concerns me a great deal.”
Clearly, Mr Maraga would not like his actions to be confused with cowardice either.
The threat of an election that could be dismissed as dubious is higher than the threat caused by an election delay.
Thus, the decision by the court and the fact that Nasa cannot in future claim that it was not heard prior to the polls should boost the legitimacy of the outcome and reduce the threat of post-election violence.
Furthermore, the independence of the judiciary and the ‘keeping-in-check’ of the IEBC are also positive.
Does this development mean that Nasa’s candidate, Raila Odinga, is in the ascendency? Probably not.
While he has been closing the gap in the polls, stirring up trouble for the electoral process in this way could encourage more of Jubilee’s voters to go out and cast their ballots – in an act against him rather than for Mr Kenyatta.
While it could motivate Nasa voters too, if turnout is high in general, Jubilee has the numbers advantage.

Kenya – Potential delay to August polls as court rules against IEBC again

Annual profit at South African upmarket retailer Woolworths Holdings could fall by as much as 10 percent due to increasingly difficult trading conditions at home and in Australia, it said on Thursday
Woolworths, which sells clothing, groceries and homeware, said headline earnings per share &#8211; the main profit gauge in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items &#8211; was likely to fall by between 5 and 10 percent.
A Reuters poll of 12 analysts forecast a 6 percent drop.
&#8220;Growth in the second half was impacted by increasingly difficult trading conditions, in both South Africa and Australasia,&#8221; Woolworths said.
South African consumers have seen their spending power eroded by a volatile currency and a weakening economy, which slipped into a recession in the first quarter amid political turmoil.
Fierce competition in Australia, where global e-commerce juggernaut Amazon.com Inc recently set up shop, has also hit margins for the company&#8217;s David Jones and Country Road apparel chains.
Woolworths, similar in products and style to Britain&#8217;s Marks and Spencer, last posted an annual profit decline in 2009, when South Africa was in its previous recession.
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Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Mark Potter
</div>

Woolworths sees up to 10% fall in profit

South Africa&#8217;s rand firmed against the U.S. dollar early on Friday, extending recent gains as the unit recovers from losses inspired by domestic policy uncertainties including a row over the central bank mandate.
At 0645 GMT, the rand traded at 13.1850 per dollar, 0.21 percent firmer than its overnight close.
The rand shed nearly 5 percent in the first two weeks of July after a government watchdog recommended the Reserve Bank&#8217;s (SARB) policy be changed from inflation-targeting to socio-economic welfare.
The watchdog this week retracted the proposal following court challenges by the central bank governor, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and parliament, easing pressure on the currency.
In the absence of scheduled local economic data, market focus is on global events that may affect the rand.
&#8220;There is some important U.S. macro data later with inflation, retail sales and industrial production to monitor,&#8221; Standard Bank forex trader Oliver Alwar wrote in a note.
&#8220;Locally there is always risk of convoluted headlines and local political risk, although things have quietened post last week’s African National Congress policy conference and negative inferences towards the SARB.&#8221;
Stocks were set to open flat at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange&#8217;s Top-40 futures index largely unchanged.
In fixed income, the yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 fell 3.5 basis points to 8.715 percent.
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Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Andrew Heavens
</div>

South Africa’s rand firms, stocks set to open flat

Etisalat Nigeria&#8217;s rescue has put the country&#8217;s banks in a quandary as they prepare for half-year results due this month as they do not know whether to provision for loans to the company until they can work out its value.
A banking source told Reuters that the lenders first wanted to determine Etisalat Nigeria&#8217;s free cash flow to help them value the telecoms business before deciding on whether to impair the assets or hold on to find new investors.
&#8220;No bank is talking about restructuring now, but it might get to that later once we are able to ascertain the true value of the company,&#8221; the source said.
Nigerian regulators intervened last week to save Etisalat Nigeria, the country&#8217;s fourth-largest mobile operator, from collapse and prevent lenders placing the telecoms firm in receivership, prompting a board and management change.
On Thursday, Etisalat Nigeria changed its name to 9mobile, the company said.
The telecoms firm took-out a $1.2 billion loan four years ago from 13 local lenders to refinance an existing debt and expand its mobile network, but it struggled to repay due a currency crisis and recession in Nigeria.
Banks involved in the loan deal include: Zenith Bank, GT Bank, First Bank, UBA, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, Ecobank, FCMB, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Union Bank. Results are due from this month.
GT Bank with $138 million in outstanding loans and Access Bank with $131 million are among the most exposed to Etisalat Nigeria.
&#8220;We think that by the time the new management settles in, makes some changes and reduces costs, the company might bounce back,&#8221; the source told Reuters, adding that he expected support from the central bank, which has sought to avoid Etisalat Nigeria&#8217;s collapse from sparking a wider debt crisis.
Etisalat Nigeria&#8217;s new chief executive Boye Olusanya told Reuters on Tuesday he was focused on getting the telecoms group back on track to make a profit, while working on the paperwork to eventually raise new capital. [nL8N1K24G4]
Renaissance Capital analysts estimates Etisalat Nigeria could be worth $1.2 billion based on an enterprise value to operating cashflow multiple when compared with South Africa&#8217;s MTN and other African telecoms companies.
Nigeria&#8217;s banks are set to report interim earnings this month and investors will be watching for signs of a rise in non-performing loans.
The banks collected half of their interest payment for May from Etisalat Nigeria so that the new team running the company has funds to keep it operating, the source said.
And any provisioning may not kick in until the next quarter.
&#8220;Given the understanding that Etisalat&#8217;s debt was performing till the end of the first quarter we believe the banks &#8230; might be required to make provisions in the second quarter,&#8221; said Olalekan Olabode, head of research at Vetiva Capital said.
&#8220;Rather than converting the debt to equity, we expect to see a restructuring in the near term,&#8221; he added.

Nigerian banks seek Etisalat Nigeria cash flow clarity before results

Absa today issued its application to the High Court for the review and setting aside of the findings and remedial action of the Public Protector’s report on the financial assistance provided by the South African Reserve Bank to Bankorp, which was later bought by  Absa.
We look forward to this case being brought to court. The years of baseless accusations have been unfair and prejudicial to Absa. Because the business of the courts is conducted in the open, South Africans will get an opportunity to hear the facts and watch them being interrogated, in order for this matter to be put to rest.
Absa is challenging the Public Protector’s report on several grounds, namely:
<ol>
<li>The Report’s findings and remedial action are based on material errors of fact, including that Absa benefited from SARB financial support and that the SARB assistance did not benefit the general public.  There is no debt owed by Absa.</li>
<li>The Public Protector’s process was procedurally flawed and unfair to Absa.</li>
<li>The debt that is alleged to be due had prescribed and is therefore not recoverable.</li>
<li>The Public Protector has no jurisdiction to investigate the matter.</li>
</ol>
Absa paid fair value for Bankorp
In reaching her finding that Absa benefitted from the SARB financial support, the Public Protector appears to have impermissibly ignored facts and disregarded evidence provided to her.
The price paid to purchase Bankorp took into account the assistance from the SARB. The eventual price paid for Bankorp by Absa was R1.23 billion and the net asset value of Bankorp was R1.222 billion (calculated including the total net yield payable under the financial assistance programme to Bankorp).  Absa was therefore not enriched.
The Public Protector’s conclusion, that the SARB assistance to Bankorp was not in the public interest, is not proven. On the contrary both the Davis Panel and Heath investigation, the two statutory investigations on the matter, found that the assistance was warranted to protect the financial system of South Africa. The unlawfulness, the investigations found, was in the manner in which the SARB extended the support.
The facts found by the Davis Panel were corroborated in the evidence Absa and SARB placed before the Public Protector.  There was no evidence to contradict those facts. The Public Protector was selective in which aspects of the various reports put before her she would use. As a result, the report fails to explain why the Davis Panel (as well as Absa, the SARB and the Treasury) was wrong in its analysis of the agreement of sale between Absa and Bankorp.
In stark contrast, the Ciex investigation offered no reasoning whatsoever for its conclusion that Absa was liable for R3.2 billion.  It was merely advice from Ciex that the government should coerce Absa into paying.
The finding that the assistance by the SARB did not benefit the South African public is equally irrational. The Public Protector did not contest, but rather accepted that Bankorp used the “lifeboat” to set-off the bad debts of its customers and that this served to avert a systemic crisis of the banking sector.  It is therefore illogical to then conclude that the South African public received no benefit at all.
Procedural unfairness
The Public Protector violated Absa’s right to procedural fairness in the manner in which she imposed the remedial action. Firstly, she refused to provide Absa with documents upon which she relied to make her findings both in the Provisional and Final Report, thus denying Absa the opportunity to properly appreciate and respond to the case it had to meet. This violates Absa’s basic right to procedural fairness.
Secondly, she relied heavily on the Ciex document which in turn made adverse findings against Absa. During its “investigation”, Ciex never afforded Absa an opportunity to make representations and to provide any relevant evidence, completely disregarding ABSA’s basic right to a fair hearing.
Debt Prescribed
Absa maintains that it has met all obligations relating to the SARB assistance in October 1995.
However, it is worth noting that any claim, valid or not, would be subject to the law of prescription.  The alleged debt would have prescribed 3 years after it was due.  More than 21 years have passed since it was allegedly due.
The Public Protector’s views on prescription appear to rest on a flawed understanding of the role played by the law of prescription.  There is no dispute that the debt has prescribed.
The Public Protector clearly believes that the law should be different, but this view on the law of prescription cannot alter that law.
Jurisdiction
In the final report, the Public Protector correctly states that:
“It should be noted that the Public Protector has no jurisdiction to investigate matters that took place before the coming into effect of the Public Protector Act or the establishment of Public Protector Office in 1995. It would be in contravention of the Public Protector Act for this office to investigate matters that took place before the coming into effect of the Public Protector Act or the establishment of this office in October 1995.”
The Public Protector therefore, misapplied the principle of jurisdiction by embarking upon an investigation and imposing remedial action which fundamentally related to events which occurred before the establishment of her office and the coming into effect of the Public Protector Act. The Ciex document concerns transactions which occurred before the coming into effect of the Public Protector Act and the establishment of the office of the Public Protector. By relying on the Ciex report, the Public Protector is in truth, imposing recovery mechanisms in respect of debts allegedly incurred before the establishment of the Office and the coming into operation of the Public Protector Act.
Remedial Action is substantively unlawful
The remedial action prescribed by the Public Protector, which is designed to ensure recovery of R1.125 billion allegedly owed by Absa to SARB is substantially unlawful. Firstly, no such amount is owing at all. Secondly, to require the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to approach the President to re-open an investigation which has already been concluded would be unlawful because the very matter has already been investigated and the issue closed. By   prescribing the remedial action in a manner that compels the SIU and the President to act as directed, the Public Protector has exceeded her own powers and usurped the powers of the SIU and the President.
Furthermore, since the debt has prescribed, the remedial action requires the SIU and the President to embark upon a process which is entirely irrational in the circumstances.
Conclusion
As part of our application, we are also requesting the &#8220;Rule 53&#8221; record &#8211; which is the record of all documents that served before the Public Protector in doing her report.  Once we have the record, we will supplement our application as may be necessary.   Given the level of public interest and discussion of this matter, we believe the public has a right to have access to this information so this matter can be dealt with and concluded in a transparent manner.

Absa launches High Court application to review and set aside Public Protector’s Report

South Africa Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba laid out an ambitious 14-point program on Thursday to wrench the economy out of recession that included the sale of non-core assets and partial privatization of state-owned firms.
The plans to stimulate &#8220;inclusive growth&#8221; in the continent&#8217;s biggest economy appear to represent an ideological shift by the African National Congress (ANC), whose political alliance with the unions has tended to make privatization a dirty word.
The continent&#8217;s most sophisticated economy entered recession for the first time since 2009 in the first quarter and is also struggling with high unemployment and credit ratings downgrades.
Gigaba said he would continue with the disposal of non-core state assets and roll out a &#8220;private sector participation framework&#8221; by March 2018.
&#8220;All of these items that we have announced&#8230; they constitute an important intervention to restore confidence and demonstrate action, and outline an action plan that we as government can be responsible for,&#8221; Gigaba said.
The government would also reduce the issuance of guarantees to state companies, especially those extended for operational purposes, he said.
Many of South Africa&#8217;s 300-odd state-owned companies, which include South African Airways, are a drain on the government&#8217;s purse. Ratings agencies have singled out some as threat to the country&#8217;s investment grade rating.
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Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mfuneko Toyana
</div>

South Africa considers privatization to counter recession

South Africans are not happy. According to the recent Bloomberg’s Misery Index, South Africa is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/03/07/south-africa-is-the-second-most-miserable-country-on-earth_a_21875054/">the second-most miserable country on earth</a>. Venezuela tops the list of emerging countries.
This isn’t too surprising considering that the country is embroiled in multifaceted crises. It also has among the <a href="https://africacheck.org/factsheets/factsheet-unemployment-statistics-in-south-africa-explained/">highest unemployment</a> and <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2017-01-16-sas-rich-poor-gap-is-far-worse-than-feared-says-oxfam-inequality-report/">inequality levels</a> in the world.
Unfortunately, recent credit rating agency <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-downgrade-means-for-south-africa-and-what-it-can-do-about-it-75704">downgrades</a> as well as the fact that the country is in recession mean that these horrid conditions are unlikely to reverse soon.
Consequently, the poor in South Africa have little chance of improving their lives. They will therefore be even more reliant on the provision of state services. They will also increasingly be on the receiving end of the two extractive systems that are deeply embedded in country’s socio-political and economic systems.
The first is the patronage and state capture machinery as recently documented <a href="http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1525127/read-damning-new-academic-state-capture-report/">in a report</a> by leading academics. The effect of this corruption is that the capital allocated for service delivery is wasted, the private sector is crowded out, and the monopolising positions of dysfunctional state owned enterprises distort the economy.
The second is where state capture merges with patronage politics at local government level. This is accomplished by managing and staffing municipalities with unqualified party loyalists – or close associates – who disseminate services inefficiently from a shrinking pool of capital, while further extracting rents through a sub-layer of corruption.
The effect is that the poor must pay an additional tax in the form of bribes for access to mispriced and inefficient state services. In addition, as the looting via state capture and <a href="http://www.municipaliq.co.za/index.php?site_page=press.php">municipal corruption intensifies</a>, service provision and delivery declines. This means that the poor are then subject to bribe inflation to gain access to shrinking capacity. <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-reasons-behind-service-delivery-protests-in-south-africa">Violent service delivery protests</a> inevitably escalate.
<h2>Demographics and education</h2>
South Africa’s five year average economic growth rate declined from 4.8% over the 2004-2008 period to 1.9% over the 2009-2013 period. Between 2014 and 2016 it averaged 1.1%. At the same time irregular, wasteful, and <a href="https://www.agsa.co.za/Portals/0/MFMA%202014-15/Section%201-9%20MFMA%202014-2015/FINAL%20MEDIA%20RELEASE%20(MFMA%202016)%20FN.pdf">unauthorised expenditure ballooned</a>. It’s therefore not surprising that the number of violent protests increased from an average of 21 a year between 2004 and 2008 to 164 a year between 2014 and 2016.
Unfortunately, South Africa’s demographics and education statistics don’t suggest that this trend is likely to reverse soon.
South Africa’s <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/the-grim-situation-facing-sas-youth-1878239">youth statistics are depressing</a>. Young people between the ages of 15 to 35 <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P02114.2/P02114.22015.pdf">comprise 55%</a> of the country’s 36 million working age population. Of the 19.7 million youths, only 6.2 million are employed while 3.6 million are unemployed but still actively looking for work, and 1.53 million have stopped looking for work. The remaining 8.4 million are at school, tertiary education, or are homemakers.
Youth unemployment is 36.9%. This is nearly double the unemployment rate among adults. Among black youth, 40% are unemployed compared to 11% of white youth.
Taking the level of education into consideration, <a href="https://equaleducation.org.za/2017/01/09/matric-results-and-south-africas-youth-unemployment-crisis/">2011 data</a> show that the unemployment rate for 25 to 35 year olds who had less than a matric was 47%, compared to 33% for those that had a matric, and 20% for those with a diploma or post-school certificate. But if one looks at the younger group of 20 to 24 year-olds, 16% are in school, 12% are in post-schooling education, 21% are employed, and 51% are unemployed and not in any education or training.
Considering that the percentage of black professional, managerial and technical workers in the 25 to 35 age bracket dropped by 2% over the past 20 years (meaning that this generation is less skilled than their parents), the statistics in the 20 to 24 age bracket indicates that this trend is likely to worsen.
Worryingly, studies show that countries, such as South Africa, that have a <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/expertpapers/Urdal_Expert%20Paper.pdf">youth bulge and poor education attainment</a> are likely to suffer <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268016303470?via%3Dihub">from political instability</a>. This is because if the demographic transition occurs in a stagnant economy with a high level of corruption then the low opportunity costs <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-04-18-the-great-reversal-stats-sa-claims-black-youth-are-less-skilled-than-their-parents/#.WVZNFIR97IV">increase the likelihood</a> of political violence by poorly educated young men.
<h2>Fixing systemic failures</h2>
South Africa’s current crisis is a systemic failure extending across national and local government. Although it’s possible that the political cost of corruption is now reaching unacceptable levels, reversing the effects of state decay on the poor will take short-run and long-run interventions.
Short-run measures will need to include holding public officials to account, reforming state owned enterprises and reversing the numerous institutional weaknesses at all levels of government.
But public and private stakeholders will also need to formulate long-run policies that will improve the quality and through-put of the country’s junior and secondary education systems, and entrench youth employment incentive schemes. In addition, skills training will need to be reformed and reinvigorated, and the technical vocational educational system will need to be reconstructed.
If South Africa is to recover, then the country’s badly frayed socio-economic fabric will need to be restitched, not just patched.

Op-Ed: How corruption is fraying South Africa’s social and economic fabric

Zimbabwe collected $1.8 billion in taxes during the first six months of this year, exceeding its target by 8 percent, while its full-year forecast has been revised up on better economic growth prospects, the tax agency said on Thursday.
President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s government is relying on the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and local banks to fund its national budget since it cannot borrow from foreign financial institutions due to arrears dating back to 1999.
Company tax collections, which underperformed last year, exceeded forecasts by 36 percent due to higher profitability in the banking sector and better use of tax monitoring technology, ZIMRA board chairman Willia Bonyongwe said in a statement.
At $34 million, mining royalties were 23 percent above target, thanks to firming global commodity prices. More than 50 percent of Zimbabwe&#8217;s export earnings come from minerals like gold, platinum and nickel.
Bonyongwe said ZIMRA was revising up its full-year target to $3.4 billion from an initial $3.2 billion due to higher than expected economic growth of 3.7 percent this year. [nL8N1J51R7]
The ZIMRA board chairman, however, said the tax agency was owed $3 billion at end of June, from $2.67 billion in January.
U.S. dollars are fast disappearing in Zimbabwe, forcing banks to limit cash withdrawals.
The central bank said on Wednesday it wanted to issue more &#8220;bond notes&#8221; beyond its stated limit of $200 million, in comments likely to stoke fears the country is returning to the era of money printing and hyperinflation. [nL8N1K339G]
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Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Joe Brock
</div>

Zimbabwe says tax collections beat target, raises FY forecast

Nigeria supports OPEC&#8217;s efforts to stabilize oil prices, but it wants to wait before deciding whether join the cartel&#8217;s cuts in oil production, its oil minister said on Wednesday.
&#8220;Hopefully, in the next two to three months we can see how predictable the production return has been and then can say we feel stabilized and need to make the corresponding cuts,&#8221; Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told reporters.
Nigeria and Libya, whose output has been hit by political turmoil and attacks, are exempt from an the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreement, which is an effort to reduce a glut of crude oil on world markets.
Nigeria&#8217;s benchmark level to join the OPEC cuts is production of 1.8 million barrels of crude a day. Its current output is around 1.7 million barrels a day, excluding condensates, Kachikwu said.
Nigeria&#8217;s output had improved in recent months, after the government managed to end militant attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta by opening peace talks with leaders in the restive oil hub.
Kachikwu also said he would not attend a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC nations on July 24 in Russia, because he would be hosting a meeting of African oil producers in Abuja on the same day.
&#8220;We (OPEC) are fairly in consensus on our position on cuts,&#8221; he said, adding that OPEC hoped oil prices would stabilize later this month.
Under the supply deal, OPEC is curbing output by about 1.2 million barrels a day. Russia and other non-OPEC producers are cutting half as much, until March 2018.
OPEC said on Wednesday its oil production jumped in June and forecast world demand for its crude would decline next year as rivals pump more, pointing to a market surplus in 2018 despite the OPEC-led output cut.
Giving its first forecasts for 2018 in a monthly report, OPEC said the world will need 32.20 million barrels per day of crude from its members next year, a fall of 60,000 barrels a day from this year.
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Reporting by Paul Carsten; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Larry King
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Nigeria to put off deciding whether to join OPEC cuts

The son-in-law of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said on Thursday that a Congolese court had sentenced him in absentia to one year in prison for real estate fraud, a move that could further strain relations between the neighbouring countries.
Sindika Dokolo, a Congolese businessman and art collector, is married to dos Santos&#8217; billionaire daughter Isabel and is an outspoken critic of Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila.
He denounced Wednesday&#8217;s verdict, delivered by a court in the capital Kinshasa, as politically motivated.
&#8220;This conviction is so crude. It seems that Kabila and the ANR (intelligence service) are no longer even concerned about appearances,&#8221; Dokolo told Reuters. He said he had previously been acquitted in the same case.
Kabila&#8217;s chief political rival, the former governor Moise Katumbi, was also convicted of real estate fraud last June shortly after he announced his candidacy to stand in an election to replace Kabila.
That election was originally scheduled for last November but has been indefinitely postponed, triggering violent street protests last year that killed dozens of people.
The government says the delays are due to challenges registering millions of voters. Opposition leaders accuse Kabila of trying to cling to power.
A Congo government spokesman said he was not aware of Dokolo&#8217;s conviction. Authorities have repeatedly rejected allegations that Congo&#8217;s justice system is targeting Kabila&#8217;s opponents.
Dokolo has emerged in recent months as one of Kabila&#8217;s fiercest critics, especially on Twitter, following the president&#8217;s refusal to step down when his constitutional mandate expired in December.
After Wednesday&#8217;s verdict, Dokolo wrote on Twitter: &#8220;I have just inaugurated a $400 million factory. Kabila has condemned me to one year in prison over a plot of land.&#8221;
He also posted a photo of himself alongside Angolan Defence Minister Joao Lourenco, the ruling party&#8217;s candidate to succeed dos Santos in an election next month, writing that Lourenco has &#8220;a deep mastery of the DRC dossier&#8221;.
Relations between Congo and Angola, longtime allies, have soured over the past year due to growing Angolan frustration over Congo&#8217;s political instability and an insurrection in central Congo that has sent 30,000 refugees spilling across the border since last August.
In December, Angola withdrew military trainers it had sent to Congo, where wars at the turn of the century killed millions and sucked in more than a half-dozen neighboring countries.
Reporting By Aaron Ross; Editing by Toby Chopra

Angolan president’s son-in-law handed one-year prison sentence in native Congo

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday criticized the corruption that has damaged the ruling party under President Jacob Zuma, opening a divide in the African National Congress months ahead of a leadership contest.
When the ANC picks Zuma&#8217;s successor in December, unionist-turned-business tycoon Ramaphosa is expected to face off against veteran politician Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, former African Union chairwoman and Zuma&#8217;s ex-wife.
Ramaphosa is viewed as more investor friendly and has pledged to fight the corruption that has plagued Zuma&#8217;s tenure. Dlamini-Zuma appeals to ANC grassroots and has the support of Zuma&#8217;s well-established patronage network.
Zuma&#8217;s business friends, the Guptas, have been accused by ANC politicians and the opposition of using their close relationship with Zuma and his allies to influence the awarding of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Guptas, Indian-born South Africans, and Zuma deny wrongdoing.
Local media last month, citing leaked emails from Gupta-controlled companies, said millions of dollars of state-funds were diverted in 2013 to pay for a four-day Gupta family wedding at the luxury Sun City resort outside Johannesburg.
Zuma has said that a flurry of media reports in the last six weeks based on a massive leak of emails from Gupta companies are speculation. In his strongest statement to date against the Guptas, Ramaphosa disagreed with his boss.
&#8220;We know that we as tax payers of this country paid for a lavish wedding that took place in Sun City,&#8221; Ramaphosa told members of the South African Communist Party, which has called for Zuma to step down over a string of corruption scandals.
<h3 data-reactid="46">&#8220;I Will Not Remain Quiet&#8221;</h3>
&#8220;We also know that these are resources that rightly belong to the people of South Africa. Should we remain quiet when all this happens? I am one of those who will not remain quiet.&#8221;
Ramaphosa called for a judicial inquiry into what is known locally as &#8220;state-capture&#8221; because of allegations that many parts of the government are involved.
A Gupta family spokesman and a Zuma&#8217;s spokesman did not respond to request for comment.
London-based public relations firm Bell Pottinger apologized last week and said it had suspended a partner after it was accused of stirring racial tensions in a PR campaign it ran while working for the Guptas.
Bell Pottinger ended their relationship with Gupta-owned Oakbay in April.
In its advice to Zuma&#8217;s son Duduzane, director of a Gupta company, Bell Pottinger stressed the need to highlight the &#8220;existence of economic apartheid&#8221;.
This preceded Zuma and Dlamini-Zuma&#8217;s supporters publicly saying that &#8220;state capture&#8221; investigations should focus on white-owned businesses and attacked their opponents in the ANC as being agents of &#8220;white monopoly capital&#8221;.
Ramaphosa hit back on Wednesday.
&#8220;It is a matter of grave concern that a public relations company from outside of our country was able to so effectively poison the political discourse in our country,&#8221; he said.
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Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Richard Balmforth
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South Africa’s VP Ramaphosa slams graft under President Zuma

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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is recuperating fast and will return home shortly, his deputy said on Wednesday after visiting the head of state in London where he has been on prolonged sick leave.
Yemi Osinbajo&#8217;s brief and unannounced trip has revived speculation about Buhari&#8217;s health and whether he will be able to stand for re-election in 2019. The details of his illness have not been made public.
&#8220;He is in very high spirits, he is recuperating very quickly and we had a very long conversation. We spoke for well over an hour. His humour is all there. He is doing well,&#8221; said Osinbajo, who is acting president.
&#8220;We discussed wide-ranging issues. I can&#8217;t go into specifics,&#8221; he said in his first public comments after returning to Abuja on Wednesday morning. Osinbajo then chaired a weekly cabinet meeting.
When Buhari, 74, left Abuja for London on May 7, his second trip abroad for health reasons, he handed over power to Osinbajo, who according to the constitution would assume the presidency should Buhari be unable to continue.
Osinbajo is already being talked about in the capital as a potential nominee for the 2019 presidential election in Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa&#8217;s largest economy and energy producer.
Questioning the Narrative
A thin-looking Buhari was last seen in Nigeria on state television in early May, just hours before he flew to Britain, welcoming a group of 82 girls released by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
Buhari&#8217;s first trip to London for health reasons was in January and lasted nearly two months.
The Nigerian public&#8217;s view of Buhari&#8217;s situation has turned sceptical. As the trickle of information about the president&#8217;s health, which used to include photographs of meetings in London, dries up, some are questioning the official narrative.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know, unless they show it to us on television or through anything, that both of them (Buhari and Osinbajo) are meeting,&#8221; said Adeleke Ogunlana, a businessman in Lagos.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe they met at all.&#8221;
With the economy now in its second year of recession, the first in a quarter of a century, others asked whether a sickly person should be at the helm.
&#8220;We want a healthy, vibrant president who is sound mentally and physically to be able to handle the problems facing the country,&#8221; said Emeka Iloabuchi, a Lagos-based marketer.
&#8220;The president as far as I am concerned should leave the office, should resign honorably so that the people of Nigeria can have a man that is healthy.&#8221;
Avoiding Political Infighting
Nigerian officials have sought to avoid a scenario seen in 2010 when political infighting broke out during the lengthy illness of then-President Umaru Yar&#8217;Adua.
Osinbajo has been given full powers to act during Buhari&#8217;s absences, in contrast to predecessor Goodluck Jonathan who only took over after Yar&#8217;Adua&#8217;s death in 2010 ended the power vacuum.
Investors have welcomed Osinbajo, a Christian lawyer from the commercial capital Lagos in southwest Nigeria who is seen as more business-friendly than Buhari.
But the long-term risk is that the Muslim north, where Buhari hails from, might not accept Osinbajo as a permanent solution if the president became incapacitated at some point.
Traditionally in Nigeria, the leadership rotates between north and south to ensure a balance in a country evenly split between Muslims and Christians.
Jonathan, a Christian from the south, upset many northerners by refusing to give way to a northern candidate in 2010. Many northerners had felt there should have been another northern presidential term after Yar&#8217;Adua&#8217;s premature death.

Nigeria’s Buhari recovering fast, will return soon: VP, Osinbajo

Loss-making Air Zimbabwe is cutting half of its 400 jobs as part of a restructuring plan meant to revive the ailing national carrier, Chairwoman Chipo Dyanda said on Wednesday.
Like most state-owned companies in the southern African country, Air Zimbabwe has been making losses for years due to mismanagement, high operating costs, old aircraft and equipment.
Dyanda told Reuters that Air Zimbabwe would cut 200 jobs in its fourth round of lay-offs in eight years.
&#8220;We were overstaffed by a lot and we are also trying to weed out people without the right qualifications,&#8221; Dyanda said.
&#8220;The retrenchment is meant to give space to the airline so that we can redeploy the money saved back into the company.&#8221;
Air Zimbabwe cut 300 jobs in August 2015 following cuts in 2009 and 2013, but has since rehired some of the workers.
President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s son-in-law Simba Chikore was appointed chief operating officer last October, drawing accusations of nepotism from the opposition and critics of the government.
Dyanda said Air Zimbabwe required a ratio of 45 workers per aircraft. The airline currently flies four planes, which has forced Mugabe to at times hire private jets for his foreign travels.
&#8220;As part of the strategic plan, we would like to get more reliable planes and expand our routes,&#8221; Dyanda said, without giving details.
An official at Zimbabwe&#8217;s Ministry of Transport said the airline, which has debts of more than $300 million, is looking to lease aircraft from Malaysia.
Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Ed Stoddard and Jason Neely

Ailing Air Zimbabwe cuts half its workforce

The recent cases of bird flu outbreak are a first for the South African poultry industry.  Unfortunately, it happens at a time when the industry is gearing up for increased production and exports after periods of drought and subsequent high poultry feed prices resulted in a shortfall. As a result of the outbreak, exports will now be negatively impacted as neighboring countries have imposed import bans.
The single case of bird flu in Zimbabwe and the two recent cases in South Africa originated from migrating water fowl-like wild ducks and geese that introduce the H5N8 virus to the region.  Birds migrate in the summer season to southern Africa. Thus it is not expected that further infections will originate from migrating birds as a source.  It is, however, important to have a surveillance project in place in order to determine the presence of bird flu amongst South Africa’s wild bird population.  To date, no known cases of increased death numbers under wild birds were reported in the areas migrating birds use to overwinter in South Africa.
Consumers are concerned but it is important to know that this strain does not affect human beings. Presently, the two outbreaks in South Africa are contained on two farms near Villiers and Standerton, indicating that the outbreak is limited only to this region for now. Poultry producers are vigilant and monitor poultry breading, rearing, broiler production and egg laying units closely.
The main reason why it is necessary to fully contain and wipe out infected flocks of poultry is to prevent the spread of poultry to the rest of the poultry production regions in South Africa. The H5N8-virus is virulent and can lead to big losses in commercial production units. Containing the disease and destroying the infected poultry is for this reason a priority for the industry.
Note that our poultry producers in South Africa already took on additional biosecurity measures to protect the future production of broilers and eggs.  It is also comforting to know that South Africa’s veterinary sector rates amongst the best in the world.
In conclusion, there is sufficient reason to believe that the two outbreaks of bird flu can be successfully contained without spreading and impacting the production of poultry negatively in the rest of South Africa.  Collaboration in the private sector is professional and sufficient but we need urgent and decisive action from public stakeholders on how to deal with the culled birds.

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Nigeria’s Buhari recovering fast, will return soon: VP, Osinbajo

Ailing Air Zimbabwe cuts half its workforce

Local poultry industry at risk if bird flu is not contained

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Eskom refutes report on liquidity challenges

U.S. seeks to recover $144M in bribes to former Nigerian oil minister

SAP names acting executive team, law firm for South Africa probe

Kenya – Potential delay to August polls as court rules against IEBC again

Woolworths sees up to 10% fall in profit

South Africa’s rand firms, stocks set to open flat

Nigerian banks seek Etisalat Nigeria cash flow clarity before results

Absa launches High Court application to review and set aside Public Protector’s Report

South Africa considers privatization to counter recession

Op-Ed: How corruption is fraying South Africa’s social and economic fabric

Zimbabwe says tax collections beat target, raises FY forecast

Nigeria to put off deciding whether to join OPEC cuts

Angolan president’s son-in-law handed one-year prison sentence in native Congo

South Africa’s VP Ramaphosa slams graft under President Zuma

Nigeria’s Buhari recovering fast, will return soon: VP, Osinbajo

Ailing Air Zimbabwe cuts half its workforce

Local poultry industry at risk if bird flu is not contained

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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