South Africa&#8217;s Naspers (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=NPNJn.J">NPNJn.J</a>) does not plan to spin off its $114 billion stake in Tencent, its boss said on Monday, a push back against investors urging a break-up to close a widening discount between its market value and that of its one-third stake in the Chinese internet company.
Founded in 1915, Naspers has transformed itself from an apartheid-era newspaper publisher into an $85 billion multinational with private equity-style investments in e-commerce platforms such as auction sites, online retail and e-classifieds.
But it owes much of that valuation to its 33 percent Tencent (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=0700.HK">0700.HK</a>) stake, which is worth about $114 billion, or 20 percent more than Naspers itself. The discount has prompted some investors to urge Chief Executive Bob van Dijk to find ways to narrow it.
&#8220;From the moment Tencent was listed on Hong Kong stock exchange, some had been asking us to do that. You can imagine how unhappy shareholders would be if I had done that 10 years ago,&#8221; van Dijk told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The value of Naspers&#8217; stake surged from around $231 million to around $114 billion in 2004 when Tencent floated on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Tencent, which runs China&#8217;s biggest gaming and social media firm, shot past forecasts to post its highest quarterly profit in over two years last month, helped by strong growth in gaming and payments.
Tencent is among the firms best placed to benefit from the roll out of faster 4G mobile network in China because it uses its instant messaging platform WeChat &#8211; a social media fabric in China &#8211; to sell other services such a music and video streaming.
Van Dijk said the discount would narrow as and when the company&#8217;s e-commerce businesses, whose losses have been rising every year since 2012, contribute to the bottom line.
&#8220;We&#8217;re working very hard to build our e-commerce businesses and I&#8217;m confident that the discount will narrow over time as those businesses get closer and closer to profitability,&#8221; he said, without giving further details.
Naspers has splurged around $4 billion since 2012 to drive growth mainly in commerce platforms that include mobile classifieds apps Letgo and OLX &#8211; the biggest classified sites in India and Brazil &#8211; but it has little to show for its investments so far.
It once again rode the breakneck rise of Tencent to lift its annual earnings by more than 40 percent on Friday while the e-commerce unit widened losses to $682 million.
Some investors insist pinning hopes on the e-commerce business is not the best solution to close the discount and that van Dijk should still consider hiving off the Tencent holding.
&#8220;The most effective measure is to spin-off the Tencent stake to Naspers&#8217; shareholders,&#8221; AIM&amp;R Managing Director Albert Saporta said in open letter dated June 15 and addressed to van Dijk.
&#8220;You will not be the CEO of South Africa&#8217;s largest company by market capitalization anymore, but you will greatly enhance shareholder value.&#8221;
(Editing by Susan Thomas)

South Africa’s Naspers rules out $114 billion Tencent stake spin-off

Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, South Africa’s scandal-ridden president, <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/jacob-gedleyihlekisa-zuma">Jacob Zuma</a>, may well have escaped yet again with his political life. This despite another resounding loss in the country’s highest court.
The Constitutional Court <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2017-06-22-read-in-full-concourt-ruling-on-secret-ballot/">ruled</a> that there was no constitutional bar to the Speaker of the National Assembly, <a href="http://www.news24.com/Tags/People/baleka_mbete">Baleka Mbete</a>, opting to employ a secret ballot in a no confidence vote in parliament. She’d originally asserted that she didn’t have the authority to make this decision, prompting several opposition parties – furious at Zuma’s increasingly dictatorial project of <a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/State-Capture">“state capture”</a> – to take the matter to court.
South Africa’s judicial system continues to hold firm. This is despite the fact that there appears to be a concerted and well coordinated campaign by a group of politicians and businessmen to undermine the integrity of state institutions as well as to exploit their weaknesses to prosecute a project of self-enrichment and rent-seeking. The campaign is pivoted around the now notorious <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/gupta-family">Gupta family</a>.
Zuma has been brought to book repeatedly by the courts. In March last year, the Constitutional Court <a href="http://city-press.news24.com/News/constitutional-courts-damning-judgment-zuma-violated-his-oath-of-office-20160331">found</a> that Zuma, as well as parliament, had violated the Constitution. They did so by failing to defend and uphold the constitutional authority of South Africa’s ombud – it’s Public Protector – who had conducted an investigation into the president’s private homestead, <a href="https://mg.co.za/report/zumaville-a-special-report">Nkandla</a>. She found that Zuma and his family had unlawfully benefited. He was required to pay back nearly R8 million to the state. Yet, following a <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/04/01/Full-text-of-President-Zumas-speech-on-Concourt-Nkandla-judgment">half-baked apology</a>, Zuma held onto power.
In parliament he’s survived a number of no confidence votes <a href="http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/mps-reject-motion-no-confidence-against-president">mounted</a> by the opposition. He also dodged two such attempts in the national executive committee of his own party, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) – <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/11/27/anxious-wait-for-outcomes-of-hanekom-s-motion-against-zuma">one</a> in November last year and most recently <a href="http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1526627/netshitenzhe-tables-motion-of-no-confidence-in-zuma-at-nec-meeting/">in late May</a>. He’s been backed by an increasingly slender yet sufficient number of loyalists and nationalists for whom Zuma provides political cover for their populist and self-serving call for “radical economic transformation”.
<h2>Tipping point</h2>
The tipping point for the latest legal skirmish was Zuma’s reckless and apparently self-interested decision to <a href="https://theconversation.com/firing-of-south-africas-finance-minister-puts-the-public-purse-in-zumas-hands-75525?sr=16">fire</a> South Africa’s widely respected minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan, on 30 March this year.
Despite a cold war with Zuma, Gordhan had <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-cant-save-itself-just-by-talking-the-talk-it-must-walk-the-walk-73863?sr=7">held the line</a> against “state capture” for 15 months after his reappointment in December 2015. And so as night follows day, Gordhan’s removal precipitated an immediate ratings’ agency downgrade. The downgrade added further pressure to an already weak economy, undermining any prospects of economic growth to address the high levels of unemployment and inequality that threaten its precarious social stability.
Once again, in response to Zuma’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/stakes-for-south-africas-democracy-are-high-as-zuma-plunges-the-knife-75550?sr=21">ill-considered cabinet reshuffle</a>, the largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, tabled a motion of no confidence in the national assembly. There has been an apparent shift in attitude in the ANC’s parliamentary caucus suggesting that the no confidence vote might have a chance of succeeding. Many ANC MPs are now anxious about the party’s prospects at the 2019 national election and their own political future.
But there’s also concern over Zuma’s apparent hold over many backbench MPs. Many of them fear retribution and expulsion should they vote against the president. If an MP ceases to be a member of the party on whose list they stood at election time, they automatically lose their seat in parliament.
Because of this one of the smaller opposition parties, the United Democratic Movement, requested the speaker to use a secret ballot to enable MPs to vote with their conscience. Mbete, who is also the national chairperson of the ANC, refused. She claimed that she did not have the power to make the decision.
The Constitution is unclear. It provides for the president and the cabinet to be removed by the national assembly by a bare majority following “a vote”. In the secret ballot case, the court could have interpreted “a vote” to mean “a secret vote”. Equally, however, the failure of the Constitution to specify a secret ballot in the case of a no confidence vote could mean an open ballot was intended.
So on June 22, the Constitutional Court took neither route. It held that,
<blockquote>the Constitution could have provided for a vote by secret ballot or open ballot. It did neither.</blockquote>
Rather it held that,
<blockquote>the national assembly has … in effect empowered the Speaker to decide how a particular motion of no confidence in the President is to be conducted.</blockquote>
Accordingly, the Court set aside the Speaker’s decision that she lacked constitutional power to order a secret ballot. Notably, Zuma had entered the proceedings to argue, like the Speaker, that there was no power to order a secret ballot and no need to do so.
The court pointedly observed that Mbete has “an enormous responsibility” to ensure that when she decides whether on a “situation specific” case-by-case basis a secret ballot should be employed. She should do so on a “rational and proper basis”, with due and careful regard to a purpose of the no confidence vote. Importantly, the court noted that the primary duty of MPs is to the Constitution and not to their parties.
The implication is that the ability of MPs to vote with their conscience in such a situation is clearly a factor that the speaker should take into account when making her decision. Some critics will regard the court’s “guidance” as insufficiently precise. But the court was clearly anxious not to encroach on separation of powers – perhaps mindful of the virulent claims from some quarters of “judicial over-reach”.
Mbete will have to choose between her loyalty to her president as one of the ANC’s <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/anc-top-six">“top six”</a> leadership and her duty to the Constitution as speaker.
<h2>Zuma unperturbed</h2>
Later on the same day of the judgment Zuma was <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2017/06/22/watch-zuma-answers-questions-on-state-capture">answering questions</a> in parliament. Judging by his typically thick-skinned signs of confidence, the president is not unduly perturbed by the court’s ruling.
While the court stated the power to decide on whether to hold a secret ballot or not should “not be exercised arbitrarily or whimsically”, Zuma has already made it clear that he expects Mbete to decide that a secret ballot is inappropriate or unnecessary.
Parliament returns after its current mid-year winter recess in August. If Mbete once again declines to hold a secret ballot, her decision will, in turn, then be subject to judicial review application. In due course the court could be forced to order her to hold a secret ballot.
So despite the Constitutional Court judgment, and the lucidity of it’s reasoning, a no confidence vote held with a secret ballot is still some way off. Until then, Zuma lives to fight another day.
But with every day passing, December’s ANC national elective conference gets closer. Then Zuma’s term as president of the ANC expires. Then his power will decline potentially decisively.
One way or another, Zuma is running out of political lives.

Op-Ed: South Africa’s Jacob Zuma is fast running out of political lives

Nigeria&#8217;s President Muhammadu Buhari has delivered an audio message to mark the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday, two senior presidency sources said, his first public statement since he left for Britain on medical leave on May 7.
Buhari, a Muslim from the north, made the address, calling for peace and unity, in the Hausa language spoken widely in that part of the country. It was circulated to local radio stations and the BBC&#8217;s Hausa radio service.
The presidency did not release video footage or photographs of Buhari making the recording heard by Reuters in which the president&#8217;s voice sounds weak.
Two senior presidency officials said the recording was Buhari but his spokesmen declined to confirm it officially.
Details of the president&#8217;s ailment have not been disclosed and he has not been seen or heard in public since leaving Nigeria, triggering speculation about his condition.
A thin-looking Buhari was last seen, on state television, welcoming a group of 82 girls released by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, just hours before he flew to Britain.
Pictures of the 74-year-old Buhari have not been released, unlike during a previous break for medical leave in January that lasted nearly two months when photographs of him with Nigerian politicians and visitors including the Archbishop of Canterbury were posted on the presidency&#8217;s Twitter feed.
Buhari handed power to his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo when he left for Britain. [nL8N1I912M]
(Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Nigeria’s Buhari sends first message since taking sick leave on May 7: presidency sources

South African precious metals producer Sibanye Gold aims to resume production at its strike-hit Cooke Mine later this week, but first plans to conduct safety inspections in the shafts on Monday.
A company spokesman also said the company needed to wrap up an appeals process for around 1,500 miners who face possible dismissal for taking part in a violent wildcat strike that started almost three weeks ago in protest against a company drive to root out illegal miners.
Illegal gold mining has plagued South Africa for decades, with bullion pilfered from both disused and operating mines, and Sibanye has vowed it will clear all illegal miners from its shafts by January 2018.
&#8220;We hope to have the appeals process done by the middle of the week and then we can resume production later this week,&#8221; company spokesman James Wellsted said.
Workers at the mine downed tools over resentment at the company crackdown against illegal miners, which has included the arrest of employees for collusion and a ban on taking food underground.
Underscoring the scale of the problem, 461 illegal miners have been arrested at Cooke since the stoppage began.
They have been forced to come to the surface because of the strike, which has emptied the shafts of employees, thereby starving them of their sources of food and water underground &#8211; an unintended consequence of the strike.
Located about 60 kms (35 miles) south-west of Johannesburg, the Cooke mine produces about 181,700 ounces of gold a year and brings in around 377 million rand ($29 million) in operating profit, or just over 6 percent of the group&#8217;s total.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Mark Potter)

South Africa’s Sibanye Gold aims to restart Cooke mine this week

During the independence struggle, leaders like Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah <a href="http://feintandmargin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Africa-Must-Unite.pdf">argued</a> that Africa could only rid itself of the scourges of slavery, colonialism, imperialism and racism as a single united entity. The dream was of a fully integrated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foDlCCudcsE">United States of Africa</a>.
Instead, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/22297466/THE_CONCEPT_OF_STATE_SOVEREIGNTY_FROM_THE_1648_TREATY_OF_WESTPHALIA_TO_THE_PRESENT_DAY">Westphalian principles</a> which focus on state sovereignty and territorial integrity prevailed. Post-colonial Africa emerged as a community of independent, fully sovereign nation-states, loosely affiliated through the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) <a href="http://www.au2002.gov.za/docs/background/oau_to_au.htm">established in 1963</a>.
With colonialism and apartheid out of the way the OAU became largely dysfunctional and was <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/organisation-african-unity-oau">replaced</a> by the African Union (AU) in 2001.
More recently, the AU has promoted new dynamics in a bid to meet the challenges of globalisation. Accelerating regional integration is one of them. What this means is that African integration is back on the table.
The European Union (EU) is by far the most successful <a href="https://www.cfr.org/report/european-union-model-regional-integration">integration experiment</a> the modern world has seen. Despite the many differences between Europe and Africa, and the AU and EU, European integration is widely considered as a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10220461.2015.1119718">model for regional integration</a> and a credible example for Africa to consider.
But the UK’s decision to leave the EU, and other problems faced by the bloc over the past decade, have shown the union to be less than perfect. Under the circumstances, is the EU the best legal blueprint for African integration?
<h2>Giving up sovereign powers</h2>
The EU was formed <a href="https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/history/1945-1959_en">in response</a> to the death and destruction of World War Two. Since then it has successfully brought Europe together, developing an internal single market aimed at the free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Equally important is the fact that EU institutions have the power to make laws. This means that members states have given EU institutions supranational powers to make binding decisions. Ceding these law making powers has played an important role in driving integration.
The EU project led to the bloc becoming a major world trading power and its <a>GDP per capita</a> is now ahead of the US.
Integration across Africa has been weak and ineffectual. Effective integration would bring an opportunity for Africans to collectively take charge of its daunting security, socio-economic and governance problems. And a unified approach would help countries achieve the goals of peace and prosperity <a href="http://www.achpr.org/instruments/au-constitutive-act/">for all African citizens</a>.
The AU says that it’s committed to integration. But so far there’s been very little content to this idea. What we find in Africa is cooperation without integration.
The AU mimics many of the EU institutions in terms of its formal structures. Like the EU, it has its own legislative, executive and judicial bodies in the form of the Pan African Parliament, an Assembly (heads of state), Executive Council (Ministers) and a Court of Justice. But, unlike the EU, institutions don’t have supranational powers enabling them to make binding decisions.
Instead, Africa pursues what it calls “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10220461.2015.1119718">cooperative multilateralism</a>” – a commitment to cooperation alongside keeping the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of member states and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is where the AU’s main problem lies.
Absolute sovereignty is the polar opposite of supranationalism. This gets in the way of binding AU decisions being passed, leaving a legal vacuum that will have to be filled if member states are to collectively develop the capacity and political will to take charge of Africa’s destiny.
But it won’t be easy. National sovereignty has remained a hot potato in the EU and lies at the heart of the UK’s decision to leave. Calls to “<a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/681706/Boris-Johnson-vote-Brexit-take-back-control">take back control</a>” helped to mobilise the support of voters. Promises of restoring national sovereignty – increasing control over the fiscus and borders – managed to clinch it for the leave campaign.
At a superficial level, the British referendum could be seen as an endorsement of the traditional view taken by African governments that sovereign powers shouldn’t be compromised.
African states aren’t ready to shift loyalties to a new centre with political authority over national states. Most believe that a transfer of power will inevitably compromise political independence. This in turn would challenge impunity from accountability that protects many African politicians.
<h2>Finding a balance</h2>
Everything considered, the EU remains a prime example of the benefits regional integration can bring to a continent willing to cooperate.
But AU institutions should only be given supranational powers if it’s done in a way that meets African interests and reflects a balance between regional and national powers.
For that to happen, there needs for a deep trust of governments and ordinary people. And the case needs to be made that the centre can add more than it is taking away when it comes to well-being, security and prosperity.
Recent events in the EU have shown that finding the right balance between regional and national powers is crucial. This balance must be tailored to continental realities. African nations must be convinced that transferring powers would be more beneficial than clinging to absolute sovereignty.
A balance of power can only be achieved by limiting the jurisdiction of the AU to certain mutually agreed areas of cooperation. In these areas AU law would impose legally binding obligations and override national law.
At the same time, any new arrangement cannot allow national sovereignty to continue unlimited.
Striking this balance might entail taking hard decisions. Two big areas of contention would be accepting some interference in domestic affairs and, secondly, endowing the Pan African Parliament with law making powers.
African nations might be persuaded to adopt an EU-style model given the major benefits to trade between member states. Trade within African has far from reached its potential. Intracontinental trade could be enhanced and streamlined.
But the real question is whether the political elite will be willing to take these lessons on board.

Despite Brexit, the EU still holds valuable lessons for African integration

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe&#8217;s government has signed a $478 million agreement with an energy company and three banks to finance the 2017/18 summer farming season in a push to improve food security, a state-owned newspaper said on Monday.
The southern African nation has since 2001 relied on imports and foreign donors to meet demand for the staple maize. Drought, lack of financing and President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s seizures of land from white farmers that hit commercial agriculture have been blamed for low grain production over the years.
The Herald newspaper reported that the government and local energy company Sakunda Holdings had signed an agreement that would see three banks provide the capital to mainly fund production of maize and soya.
Sakunda, which imports and distributes fuel, runs a logistics business and operates a 200 megawatt diesel power plant, will work with CBZ bank, Barclays and the local unit of Ecobank to provide the money.
The newspaper did not give details on the funding.
CBZ Chief Executive Never Nyemudzo and Sakunda boss Kudakwashe Tagwirei did not answer their mobile phones when contacted. Officials from Barclays and Ecobank could not be reached for comment.
After a devastating drought last year, Zimbabwe received above normal rains during the 2016/17 farming season and expects to produce 2.1 million tonnes of maize, its highest since 1996, according to official figures.
The Herald said the government would start delivering seed, fertiliser and crop chemicals to farmers around the country between July and September, ahead of the planting season that begins in November.
Farmers would be required to sell their crop to the state grain agency as repayment. Nearly 70 percent of Zimbabwe&#8217;s population is rural and survives on agriculture.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, editing by Louise Heavens)

Zimbabwe secures $478 million funding for agriculture: state newspaper

Britain said it will maintain duty-free access to its markets once it has left the European Union for goods from nearly 50 developing countries including Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Haiti.
The government said around 48 countries would continue to benefit from tariff-free exports on all goods other than arms and ammunition to the UK and that once it had left the EU in 2019 it would explore options to expand trade relations further.
&#8220;Our departure from the EU is an opportunity to step up to our commitments to the rest of the world, not step away from them,&#8221; International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said in a statement.
&#8220;Free and fair trade has been the greatest liberator of the world&#8217;s poor, and today&#8217;s announcement shows our commitment to helping developing countries grow their economies and reduce poverty through trade.&#8221;
Britain embarked on its negotiations to leave the EU earlier this week, agreeing to deal first with EU priorities such as a possible &#8220;Brexit bill&#8221; before discussing future trade deals with the bloc.
According to the government, around 20 billion pounds a year of goods were shipped to Britain from these developing countries, accounting for around half of its clothing, a quarter of its coffee and other goods such as cocoa, bananas and roses.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by John Stonestreet)

UK to maintain duty-free access for developing countries after Brexit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Around 1,000 workers at sugar producer Illovo are set to go on strike over wages and other benefits after talks with employers broke down, the trade union representing the staff said on Sunday.
&#8220;The Food and Allied Workers Union and employers from eight Illovo farms in Kwa-Zulu Natal province have failed to reach an amicable agreement under the auspices of the CCMA and a strike certificate has been issued,&#8221; an FAWU statement said.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is a dispute resolution body mandated by law to mediate labour disputes.
Illovo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of London-listed Associated British Foods and operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Swaziland.
The labour dispute comes as the South African economy is in recession for the first time since 2009 because of weakness in manufacturing and trade.
There is also growing opposition in the country to President Jacob Zuma, whose decision in March to fire finance minister Pravin Gordhan triggered credit downgrades by all three major credit rating agencies.
FAWU members are seeking a 10 percent wage increase, versus the 5 percent annual rise the union says employers are offering, as well as pension benefits for both full-time and seasonal workers among a host of other demands.
&#8220;That 5 percent is an insult. If you look at what the inflation rate has been since December, it would mean workers are toiling for nothing,&#8221; provincial FAWU organiser August Mbhele said.
Mbhele said the lowest paid workers on sugarcane farms earned around 2,752 rand ($213.06) monthly, and that most lived over 30 km (18.6 miles) away from the farms and struggled to find or afford transport.
Illovo was not immediately available for comment.
Agriculture accounts for less than 5 percent of South Africa&#8217;s GDP but is expected to help to boost the economy after recovering from last year&#8217;s drought. It was one of two areas to show growth when the economy slipped into recession.
($1 = 12.9168 rand)
(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Workers at South Africa’s Illovo sugar farms to strike over pay

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The head of South Africa&#8217;s anti-graft watchdog is open to talks on her recommendation to change the central bank&#8217;s mandate, a proposal that has drawn sharp criticism from parliament, the ruling party and investors, a local news agency said on Saturday.
Public Protector Busi Mkhwebane&#8217;s recommendation to alter the South African Reserve Bank&#8217;s principal constitutional mandate of maintaining currency and price stability to focus on economic growth has highlighted worsening divisions between the country&#8217;s state institutions.
Both the central bank and parliament plan to mount legal challenges to the proposal.
Mkhwebane defended her recommendation but said she was willing to hold discussions with those opposing it, news agency Eyewitness News (EWN) reported.
&#8220;I haven&#8217;t overstepped and I think those will be the deliberations which we&#8217;ll be having further and again. I&#8217;ll see how the notice of motion, the content and why are they disputing that. We&#8217;ll take it from there,&#8221; Mkhwebane was quoted as saying.
Mkhwebane made her proposal on Monday as she delivered her findings on an apartheid-era bailout of Barclays Africa Group. The lender has denied any wrongdoing.
Her call threatens to further stain South Africa&#8217;s image as an investor-friendly emerging market, coming less than a week after mines minister Mosebenzi spooked investors by raising the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 percent from 26 percent.
The row over the central bank&#8217;s role has also highlighted divisions in the tripartite political alliance of the ruling African National Congress party (ANC), the country&#8217;s biggest union, Cosatu, and the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Both the ANC and the SACP are opposed to altering the role of the central bank while Cosatu has backed calls for changes.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Helen Popper)

South Africa anti-graft chief open to talks on central bank -report

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria hopes to raise at least $1 billion from a scheme that will give tax evaders a chance to make payments retrospectively, the finance ministry said on Friday.
The OPEC member, which has Africa&#8217;s largest economy, is in the second year of a recession brought on by low oil prices. Crude sales make up two-thirds of national revenue and the government is seeking to boost its income from non-oil sources.
The finance ministry said a scheme would be launched on June 29 to give evaders immunity from prosecution, penalty charges and interest if they &#8220;regularise their tax status&#8221; between July 1 and December 31, 2017.
It said tax evaders who delayed participation until after December 31 would be liable for interest on overdue tax balances.
International asset tracers and investigative specialists have been appointed to assist the government in tracing assets held by Nigerians, the ministry said in an emailed statement.
&#8220;Anticipated funds to be raised are at least US$1 billion, which will reduce Nigeria&#8217;s borrowing needs, allow investment in vital infrastructure and spur development,&#8221; said the finance ministry statement.
The country&#8217;s record 7.44 trillion-naira ($22.95 billion)2017 budget, signed into law last week, seeks to increase capital expenditure to stimulate growth.
Economists have long criticised the low levels of tax in Africa&#8217;s most populous country and in March the government laid out plans to increase its overall tax to GDP ratio to 15 percent by 2020 from 6 percent now.
The ministry said in May that it would increase the interest rate on unpaid taxes to discourage companies and individuals from paying late and racking up a larger debt.
The government has previously announced plans to increase a luxury goods tax to 15 percent from 5 percent.
($1 = 324.1800 naira)
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Nigeria hopes to generate $1 bln from tax evasion amnesty -finance ministry

ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) &#8211; Abu Dhabi state investment fund Mubadala has pulled out of Etisalat Nigeria after the telecoms firm failed to renegotiate a $1.2 billion loan taken out four years ago with 13 Nigerian banks, the central bank said on Friday.
It gave no details on what it meant by &#8220;pulled out&#8221; but said it had intervened in the loan renegotiation talks to prevent job losses and asset stripping.
Etisalat Nigeria had repaid $500 million of the loan before it defaulted in February due to a currency devaluation and its only remaining investors are its Nigerian partners, led by company chairman Hakeem Belo-Osagie.
On Tuesday, parent company United Arab Emirates&#8217; Etisalat, said it was carrying its 45-percent stake at nil value, and that the Nigerian lenders had ordered it to transfer its shares to a loan trustee by June 23 after the renegotiation failed.
Neither Etisalat nor Mubadala, which owns 40 percent of Etisalat Nigeria, could be reached for comment.
&#8220;Given the inability of Etisalat (Nigeria) to come to an acceptable agreement with the banks, the largest shareholder in the company, Dubai-based Mubadala Development Company of the United Arab Emirates, has now pulled out of the company as well as the ongoing negotiations,&#8221; the central bank said.
&#8220;It was based on the attempt of the banks to takeover the company that the financial and telecommunications regulators have moved in to intervene and forestall down-sizing and asset stripping,&#8221; it said.
In March, the central bank, which is also the banking watchdog, and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC)regulator tried to prevent lenders placing the firm in receivership to avoid a wider debt crisis and agreed with banks to pursue a default deal.
But lenders, under pressure to avoid loan-loss provisions, have been pushing to finalise a restructuring before half-yearly audits this month.
Central bank spokesman Isaac Okorafor said representatives from the central bank and the telecoms regulator would hold talks in the next few days with lenders and IHS Towers, the mobile phone tower managers, as well as &#8220;equipment suppliers&#8221;.
The original loan was a seven-year facility to refinance a $650 million loan and fund expansion of Etisalat Nigeria&#8217;s network. The company missed payments in February after sharp falls in the Nigerian naira bloated the loan&#8217;s value, making repayments difficult.
Etisalat is Nigeria&#8217;s fourth biggest mobile operator with a 14-percent market share. South Africa&#8217;s MTN has 47 percent, Globacom 20 percent and Airtel &#8211; a subsidiary of India&#8217;s Bharti Airtel &#8211; 19 percent of Nigeria&#8217;s mobile phone market.
(Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos and Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Louise Ireland)
&nbsp;

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala fund pulls out of Etisalat Nigeria

DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Sadick Thenest remembers how his 8-year-old daughter had a narrow brush with death two years ago, when she contracted cholera after drinking contaminated water.
“She was so gaunt, weak and had terrible diarrhea,” said the refugee from Burundi. “A slight delay in rushing her to hospital would have meant something else &#8211; but with God’s grace she survived.”
The father of four, aged 35, is among thousands of refugees grappling with frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases in the crowded Nyarugusu camp in western Tanzania, due to poor sanitation.
“Living in a refugee camp is a constant struggle. You either stick to health rules or contract diseases,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
The health risks in Nyarugusu camp &#8211; home to around 100,000 refugees, mainly from Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo &#8211; have grown due to an influx of people this year, amid spikes in the political instability afflicting both countries.
But Thenest, who came to the camp two years ago at the height of political tensions in Burundi, has learned how to protect his family from bouts of diarrheal diseases &#8211; a major cause of death in children under five.
“I always ensure that my children use clean and safe water,” he said. “I have instructed them to wash their hands with soap after using a toilet.”
Thenest, who works as a technician with international engineering charity Water Mission, said the health situation in the camp is improving as more people get access to clean water from a recently installed solar-powered water treatment facility.
“The plant produces thousands of liters every day &#8211; women no longer go far to fetch water,” he said.
As part of a broader initiative to help refugees access clean energy and sanitation, Water Mission is installing more such plants in three refugee camps in western Tanzania.
The $5.3 million project, funded by the Denmark-based Poul Due Jensen Foundation, is expected to provide safe water for some 250,000 refugees in Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps.
Benjamin Filskov, Water Mission’s country director, said “huge” investment in solar technologies by the organization would help communities access clean and safe water, and contribute towards achieving the world’s development goals.
“We will document saved lives and ensure general public health, as a result of safe water,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
According to Water Mission, the Tanzania project aims to pump 100 percent of the water using solar power, with diesel generators as back up.
A recent shipment of 780 solar panels to Tanzania will produce 226,000 watts of power and provide a continuous supply of safe water to keep children in good health, it said in a statement.
JORDAN SOLAR FARM
With rising use of renewable energy, refugee communities in Africa and the Middle East are increasingly embracing solar power to help build their economic resilience, reduce deforestation and prevent violence against women and girls.
From Dadaab in Kenya, to Darfur in western Sudan and Azraq in Jordan, solar power is being deployed to provide affordable and sustainable energy solutions for tens of thousands of displaced people.
In semi-arid eastern Kenya, Africa&#8217;s largest solar-powered borehole &#8211; equipped with 278 solar panels &#8211; is providing 16,000 refugees in Dadaab camp with a daily average of about 280,000 liters of water, which they use for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene, according to the European Commission.
In Azraq, a 2-megawatt solar farm that started operating in May &#8211; the world&#8217;s first in a refugee camp &#8211; has enabled the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, to provide free, clean electricity to 20,000 Syrian refugees, covering the energy needs of two villages connected to the national grid.
Refugee families can now run a fridge, TV, fans and lights in their shelters, and recharge their phones, which is crucial for maintaining contact with loved ones abroad, the agency said.
Yet while access to clean energy for refugees and their host communities is a global priority for UNHCR, analysts say millions of displaced people still lack access to sustainable, cheap energy sources because of a lack of funding.
SAFETY FOR WOMEN
At Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya, residents receive 10 kg of firewood for cooking every eight weeks, but for most, it is not enough, said Anna Okello, a research analyst with Practical Action Consulting International who works in the camp.
The need to gather extra firewood often results in personal security problems as adolescent girls and women face sexual harassment when they go out to collect it, she said.
Clean energy sources like solar can deliver benefits to refugees by enhancing safety, security, health and livelihoods, she added.
“If reliance on firewood can be lessened through solar cooking, this will have a direct impact on the development and protection of women in the camp,” she said.
For example, it frees up time otherwise spent on firewood collection or cleaning sooty pots, she explained.
A lack of electric power has caused other problems for Kakuma&#8217;s nearly 180,000 inhabitants.
“I don’t dare go to the toilet alone at night because it’s too dark,” said Aisha Ilanda, 31, from Congo.
Providing solar street lamps and lanterns and energy-efficient cooking stoves can greatly improve the lives of refugees and contribute to their protection, Okello said.
Introducing solar technology to Kakuma could also help build economic resilience among refugees who make up a vibrant community exploiting new business opportunities such as charging mobile phones and operating money transfer services like M-Pesa.
“Access to solar energy would help these businesses stay open longer; street lighting could make the streets safer; and solar lights can provide a safe learning space inside homes,” said Okello.
“The sun is plentiful in Africa &#8211; it’s free, it does not pollute and will never run out of power,” she added.
(Reporting by Kizito Makoye; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking and property rights.

Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, on June 21, announced a number of measures to be undertaken to strengthen social safety nets and protect the poor from inflation as reform momentum continues. 
Monthly food subsidy allowances are expected to be raised to E£50, starting from July 1, which is more than double the previous monthly allowance of E£21. 
There are approximately 70 million food subsidy card holders in Egypt in a population of just under 95 million people. 
The increase in allowances, along with other measures, is expected to push the food subsidy bill up to E£85bn during the 2017/18 fiscal year (FY). 
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), food subsidies were previously estimated at E£51bn for the 2017/18 FY, reflecting a 67% expected increase in food subsidy expenditure. 
Furthermore, existing social programmes, covering an estimated 15 million Egyptian households of Takaful (focused on child development through education and healthcare related cash transfers) and Karama (involving cash transfers for social inclusion among the elderly and disabled) are expected to be expanded. 
The president announced that the monthly allowance of the social programmes will be raised by E£100 to a total cost of E£8.25bn in the 2017/18 FY, according to the governments estimations. 
Apart from higher food subsidies, the Egyptian government announced further measures to combat recent economic hardships, including raising state pension benefits by 15% (amounting to a cost of E£190bn) as well as increasing salaries of public workers by 7% p.a. under the Civil Service Act (approved in October) and by 10% p.a. for state staff not covered by the act. 
On the revenue side, the government is expected to increase the minimum income tax threshold to E£7,200 p.a. in the trade and industrial sectors for self-employed people, from E£6,500 p.a. formerly. 
Furthermore, tax breaks will be allowed for the first three income tax brackets, which is aimed at providing lower income individuals with a higher tax break as shown in the accompanying table. 
The lowest income tax bracket of E£7,200 &#8211; E£30,000 will receive the highest tax break of 80% at a lower income tax rate of 10%, while the highest income tax bracket, individuals earning above E£200,000.01, will be charged at the full income tax rate of 22.5%.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-129813" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Egypt-subsidies-1-300x74.png" alt="" width="300" height="74" />
From a political perspective, the increase in subsidies and other social support measures comes as Mr Sisi’s popularity has witnessed a sharp decline. 
The fall in his approval rating was not only due to the harsh economic environment, however, and it is unclear whether the move to improve the lot of the country’s poorest will be enough to boost his standing in the public’s opinion as elections next year grow nearer. 
Last week, June 14, Parliament approved the ceding of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia despite many the decision’s unpopularity. 
Although protests against the move have been somewhat muted, it has surely turned many more voters against their increasingly authoritarian leader. 
It is unlikely that Mr Sisi will count on popularity alone to win the elections (arresting opposition candidates and muzzling the press are other likely strategies), but we can expect him to try and win support through easing the effects of austerity and spending more as polling day approaches. 
The Egyptian government’s efforts to strengthen social protection will be welcomed by citizens who have suffered a loss of purchasing power from the recent reforms. 
The announced increase in food subsidies and expansion of the existing social programmes is larger than initially anticipated. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-129814" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Egypt-subsidies-2-300x200.png" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
However, this is expected to have only a marginal impact on overall fiscal expenditure as the food subsidy bill is estimated at roughly 5% of total fiscal spending, while transfers account for approximately 6%.
In terms of the public sector wage bill, the government has made notable efforts in containing expenditure on public sector wages, which have increased by only 1.4% y-o-y over the first eight months of the current fiscal year. 
As such, the proposed increase in state workers’ annual pay, albeit still below inflation, may induce some constraints in containing public sector wages further, as it accounts for some 24% of total expenditure. 
While the government’s efforts to protect the poor through food subsidies and social protection is a welcome one for low-income Egyptians, combined with rising public sector salaries and pension funds, these measures may be suggestive of the government’s concerns over popularity as well as citizen discontent. 
The protests over changes in bread subsidies in March gave the government a scare and were dealt with with unusual care by security forces. 
Mr Sisi would not chance changes or cuts in the run up to an election. These recent developments bring a sense of how difficult it will be to narrow the budget deficit quickly. 
The Egyptian government is expected to be dependent on multilateral organisations for years to come as the authorities flounder to strike the balance between narrowing the fiscal deficit without bringing too many people to their knees.

Egypt – Food subsidies doubled, salaries and pensions raised while Egyptians benefit from tax breaks

The #DataMustFall campaign has been relatively quiet in recent months, after the flurry of calls for companies such as MTN and Vodacom to do away with a basic, moral tenet of business: making a profit. While we wait as the bureaucratic process takes its usual meandering course, there have been sporadic calls in the media for the campaign to be resurrected. Most notable among these: Saki Missiakos, the CEO of Internet Solutions, who has told MyBroadband that “You and I should not be paying for data”.
While I do not have an intimate knowledge of Internet Solutions, their services, and profit-margin, on their website they offer a wide range of services and pricing options. For the financial department of the corporation to manage running the business without making a profit with a CEO who truly believes that doing so is moral, I would love to see such ingenuity.
However, the comments were not directed at only his own company, but broadly at other players in the industry. To view profit-making as immoral is already problematic – to impose this on other people and to expect them to follow your flawed moral dictate, is even more difficult to swallow.
<h3>Connectivity as basic human right</h3>
Missiakos elaborated on his statement and said that connectivity is a basic human right and that “our goal is to make sure that everyone has access” to it. If the connectivity at hand is being provided by a company, then, unfortunately, it is not a basic human right. The connectivity is being provided through someone else’s work. If you are denied the absolute right to the product of your mind and your own effort, and someone else or the state decides how to dispose of it, you are a slave.
Somehow the notion of rights has been expanded to include a right to what others produce. It is easy to call on the government to provide basic rights, but it can only provide them if they collect enough taxes. So, at the end of the day, someone is paying for the data service which some are demanding should be free.
If you believe that data should be free, if you support the Data Must Fall campaign, I encourage you to start a business providing such a service – just remember that you will have to do so for zero profit. You are quite at liberty to do so. But also remember that, despite what you may think are noble intentions, you have no moral claim on what anyone else has produced and you cannot demand that they do x because you deem it appropriate.
<h3>Spectrum allocation</h3>
Spectrum allocation is yet another mess to sort out. Government stands at the centre of this mess and here I agree with Missaikos that ICASA needs to do more to engage with industry and free up more spectrum. Greater access to the spectrum will make it easier for smaller competitors to enter the market and the increased competition will result in cheaper data products for consumers. If providers want to offer ‘free’ options as part of their services, that is their prerogative.
Before you retweet the meme that data in South Africa is the most expensive in the world, make sure that the statistics quoted are comparing apples with apples and that our context is taken into account. Before you demand that data, or any other product or service, be ‘free’, remember that you are making a moral claim on someone else’s time, resources and effort. Making broad moral demands on whole industries will not result in concrete change.
Chris Hattingh is a researcher at the Free Market Foundation

Op-Ed: #DataMustFall – providers to decide for themselves

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Ford Motor Co is recalling nearly 16,000 Ikon and Figo models in South Africa due to a potential fire risk, it said on Friday.
The models were built between 2004 and 2012 in India, Ford said in a statement.
&#8220;A power steering fluid leak could result in fumes being emitted from the engine compartment,&#8221; it said.
&#8220;It may also be possible for power steering fluid to come into contact with the vehicle&#8217;s exhaust system components, creating the potential for smoke and, in extreme cases, fire.&#8221;
Earlier this year in South Africa Ford recalled 4,500 Kuga SUVs following dozens of reports of the vehicles catching fire.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by Jason Neely)
&nbsp;

Ford recalls 15,600 cars in South Africa over fire risk

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will mark <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13286306">57 years of independence</a> on Friday, 30 June. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of Mobutu Sese Seko’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mobutu-Sese-Seko">fall from power</a> in 1997.
The DRC is currently perilously close to the status of a failed state. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently suggested that the country is in <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/congo-war-kabila-kofi-annan-626542">grave danger</a> after President Joseph Kabila’s delaying of the elections that should have taken place in 2016.
Annan’s warning is timely. Kabila’s struggle to stay in power beyond his mandate has accelerated conflicts in the country.
Although large portions of the Congo are peaceful, the northeastern parts of the country have been in a state of low-level conflict since the end of the Cold War. There remains a dizzying array of <a href="http://congoresearchgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-Landscape-of-Armed-Groups-in-Eastern-Congo1.pdf">armed groups</a> present in the DRC to this day.
But currently the most significant violence is the ongoing uprising in the central Kasai province – the Kamwina Nsapu rebellion. Named after its former leader, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/congolese-militia-decapitates-more-than-40-policemen-as-violence-grows">armed opposition</a> has already led to the decapitation of more than forty policemen and has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-violence-idUSKBN19B0YX">claimed the lives</a> of over 3,000 people.
Over 20,000 Congolese refugees <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/world/2017/05/19/over-20000-congo-refugees-flee-into-northern-angola/101882820/">have fled into Angola</a>.
The present political instability is taking place against a backdrop of continuing poverty. The country has a population of <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc">77.27 million</a> and <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/frontiers/2014/publication/section-1-short-dialogue-extreme-poverty-democratic-republic-congo">six out of seven</a> live on less than $1.25 a day.
The endemic poverty in the Congo is a far cry from the unbounded optimism that greeted the independence of the country on 30 June 1960. The country’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, wanted to tackle income inequality.
But the Congo soon descended into civil war. Five years after independence, Joseph Mobutu, the leader of the Congolese army, took power in a bloodless coup. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/04/world/zaire-a-paradigm-of-mismanagerment.html?mcubz=0">Mobutu’s rule</a> was greeted with optimism but ended in a catastrophic decline in state services after he embezzled international development funds.
Thirty-seven years after the coup, Mobutu was removed from power by <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/democraticrepublicofcongo/1318326/Laurent-Kabila.html">Laurent Desire Kabila</a> under whose rule corruption continued unabated.
Kabila’s son, Joseph, has ruled in a less corrupt fashion than his two predecessors. But he and his family have built a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-12-15/with-his-family-fortune-at-stake-congo-president-kabila-digs-in">vast business empire</a> on the back of his political power.
Since decolonisation, the Congo has never been ruled by men who put the state’s interests above their own. This has meant that its vast <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/print_cg.html">mineral and agricultural wealth</a> has not been put to the service of its people.
<h2>Post independence</h2>
Mobutu <a href="https://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/651125kasavubu.html">wrested the presidency</a> from Joseph Kasa-Vubu in 1965. Kasa-Vubu’s role as the Congo’s first president has been overlooked by the history books.
His role has always been eclipsed by the country’s more charismatic first prime minister, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Patrice-Lumumba">Patrice Lumumba</a>, as well as by Mobutu’s lengthy dictatorship.
Kasa-Vubu tried harder than Mobutu to bridge the ideological chasm that opened up in Congolese politics after independence. Nevertheless both he and Mobutu failed as presidents.
Mobutu used the appendages of statehood to enrich himself at the expense of his people while Kasa-Vubu struggled to hold together the vast array of political factions that developed in the Congo after independence. As a result, their tenures triggered protracted conflicts and civil wars neither could control.
The political forces that shaped Mobutu and Kasa-Vubu’s rule can be explained in part by the Cold War. Kasa-Vubu could not hold the centre together as the US and the USSR vied for supremacy in Central Africa. Both <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-war-in-the-congo-mutiny-secession-and-foreign-intervention/5383441">sponsored militants</a> to advance their agendas. Mobutu was one of their beneficiaries, and he rose through the ranks to take power.
<h2>Mobutu’s reign</h2>
When the USSR collapsed Mobutu was <a href="http://www.mo.be/en/article/effects-end-cold-war-central-african-politics-how-cold-war-turned-very-hot-one">no longer useful</a> to the US as an ally and he was left without a superpower patron.
He immediately became vulnerable to the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1993/08/zaire-an-african-horror-story/305496/">catalogue of grievances</a> that his citizens had against him, which included using divide and rule tactics to remain in power, a disorganised administration and widespread corruption.
Mobutu tried to <a href="http://web.stanford.edu/~sstedman/2001.readings/Zaire.htm">reinvent himself</a> as an empathetic statesman after the 1994 Rwanda genocide by offering to host refugees. But his handling of the refugee crisis was shaped by his own poisonous agenda.
He ruthlessly played ethnic constituencies against one another and fomented a social and political powder keg in the north-east of the country. By consistently <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278624263_Perpetuation_of_instability_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo_When_the_Kivus_sneeze_Kinshasa_catches_a_cold">denying Tutsis citizenship</a> Mobutu fermented ethnic consciousness among the Kivus.
Tutsi groups, such as the Banyamulenge, would happily join forces with opposition groups to unseat Mobutu from power as a result. Once Kivu exploded into conflict in 1994, Mobutu and his regime were caught in the cross hairs – as were countless innocent civilians.
As the dust was settling in 1997, Laurent Desire Kabila and his Democratic Alliance for the Liberation of Zaire took the opportunity to <a href="http://reliefweb.int/report/angola/how-kabila-lost-his-way-performance-laurent-d%C3%A9sir%C3%A9-kabilas-government">seize power</a>. Given Mobutu’s brutal and corrupt regime, some welcomed his arrival. But many did not as they feared their <a href="http://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/fear-kinshasa-over-restrictions">liberties would be restricted</a>.
<h2>The Kabila’s</h2>
Laurent Kabila, known as Kabila Père, was even more autocratic and violent than his predecessor. In the early days, his government was controlled by the Rwandan backers who had <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/09/24/kagames-hidden-war-in-the-congo/">supported his putsch</a>.
They wanted to ensure that the Hutu extremists who had engineered the Rwandan Genocide could never again threaten their country. They did this by attacking the refugee camps in eastern Congo that hosted Hutus.
But a year into his presidency, Kabila tired of being a puppet, ordered his Rwandan handlers to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/144517.stm">leave Kinshasa</a>. Angry that they had lost control of the Congo, and fearful the country could be used as a base by Hutu extremists, Rwanda plotted to end Kabila’s rule.
Along with Burundi and Uganda, who eyed opportunities to forestall rebellions on their own Congolese borders, Rwanda invaded the Congo in August 1998.
Kabila Père did not live to see the end of the conflict. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/feb/11/theobserver">Shot</a> by one of his bodyguards on 16 January 2001, his rule had lasted only four years – the shortest of any Congolese president.
History has not been kind to Kabila Père. Other than ousting Mobutu, he scored few successes. The 1996 <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39603000/ns/world_news-africa/t/second-rwanda-genocide-revealed-congo/#.WUjftmjyvIU">mass killing of Hutu’s</a> that took place close to Kisangani in the northeast of the country cast a long shadow over his presidency.
When Kabila Père was assassinated, his senior advisers were unsure what to do next. Eventually, they engineered his son’s ascent to power.
Unlike his father, Joseph Kabila reached out to the US and other countries to garner support for his rule. And he received it overwhelmingly.
The younger Kabila relied heavily on the work of the United Nations Mission to the Congo to create peace. Yet he cleverly exaggerated his role in that achievement to win the country’s first democratic general election in decades in <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/calls-for-calm-in-congo-after-kabila-emerges-as-the-victor-424478.html">2006</a>.
But Joseph Kabila’s rule has been far from perfect. He has used <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/06/29/congos-new-mobutu/">state-instigated violence</a> to clamp down on activists and journalists. Meanwhile, localised violence continues to wreak havoc in the northeast of the country.
Kabila initially seemed to be the president who had the strong hand of Mobutu and the political acumen of Kasa-Vubu. But his recent attempts to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-congo-politics-idUSKCN1220CJ">cling to power</a> at all costs have cast him firmly in the image of Mobutu.
Had he organised elections in a timely fashion and been proactive in stepping down, history might have judged him to have been the best president the Congo has ever had.
As it stands, 57 years after independence, Kabila is doing more to regress the country to its violent past than to guide it into a truly progressive future.

From Mobutu to Kabila, the DRC is paying a heavy price for autocrats at its helm

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa reported an outbreak of a highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu at a farm in the Free State province, an agricultural industry body group, AgriSA, said on Friday.
South Africa earlier this month suspended all trade in birds and chicken products from neighbouring Zimbabwe after it reported an outbreak of H5N8 at a commercial poultry farm.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by Larry King)
&nbsp;

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Nigeria hopes to generate $1 bln from tax evasion amnesty -finance ministry

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala fund pulls out of Etisalat Nigeria

Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees

Egypt – Food subsidies doubled, salaries and pensions raised while Egyptians benefit from tax breaks

Op-Ed: #DataMustFall – providers to decide for themselves

Ford recalls 15,600 cars in South Africa over fire risk

From Mobutu to Kabila, the DRC is paying a heavy price for autocrats at its helm

South Africa reports outbreak of H5N8 bird flu, industry body says

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South Africa’s Naspers rules out $114 billion Tencent stake spin-off

Op-Ed: South Africa’s Jacob Zuma is fast running out of political lives

Nigeria’s Buhari sends first message since taking sick leave on May 7: presidency sources

South Africa’s Sibanye Gold aims to restart Cooke mine this week

Despite Brexit, the EU still holds valuable lessons for African integration

Zimbabwe secures $478 million funding for agriculture: state newspaper

UK to maintain duty-free access for developing countries after Brexit

Workers at South Africa’s Illovo sugar farms to strike over pay

South Africa anti-graft chief open to talks on central bank -report

Nigeria hopes to generate $1 bln from tax evasion amnesty -finance ministry

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala fund pulls out of Etisalat Nigeria

Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees

Egypt – Food subsidies doubled, salaries and pensions raised while Egyptians benefit from tax breaks

Op-Ed: #DataMustFall – providers to decide for themselves

Ford recalls 15,600 cars in South Africa over fire risk

From Mobutu to Kabila, the DRC is paying a heavy price for autocrats at its helm

South Africa reports outbreak of H5N8 bird flu, industry body says

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