By Chris Bishop, Head of Programming, CNBC Africa 



As the business minds ready for the World Economic Forum Africa
in Cape Town next week the finance minister of the continent’s most advanced
economy revealed Treasury’s plan how to revive growth and create a million jobs.
Economists say the plan is nothing new and cast doubt on what good it will do.
It is likely to generate talk – the fear must be that it is all it may do.



The forthright South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni
published the plan this week, <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/comm_media/press/2019/Towards%20an%20Economic%20Strategy%20for%20SA.pdf">on
the Treasury website</a>, giving the public until mid- September to comment,
just ahead of the mini-budget in October. Many are seeing this as an unspoken challenge
to the slow moving cabinet following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promise in the
state of the nation address, in February, of better economic times. &nbsp;



Analyst Peter Attard Montalto, the head of capital markets research
at Intellidex in London, says the timing of the growth plan is significant
ahead of the mini-budget in October.



“Treasury is not really reinventing the wheel with this,”
says Attard Montalto.



“I think the purpose of this is to deliver a giant kick up
the backside to cabinet.”



Treasury and Mboweni claim the plan will create growth of
2.3% as well a million new jobs. It plans to boost agriculture with better
marketing of exports, telecom reform promising more broadband, more development
finance, a 25% decrease in red tape over five years to make business cheaper
and easier. How the latter will be calculated boggles the mind.&nbsp; 



“Ï think there is nothing new here. It is very clear that
the Ramaphosa administration is weakening and I think his ministers are getting
scared,” says economist Lumkile Mondi, Senior Lecturer at the School of
Economic &amp; Business Sciences, Wits University.&nbsp; &nbsp;



“What they need to do is implement and take the political
flak. Trevor (Manuel) took the flak for his economic reforms many years ago –
why can’t they?”



At least one of the proposals for growth put forward by
Mboweni is a no-brainer. He calls for the changing of the visa regime to boost
tourism. The former Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom told me last year that it
would be done at the stroke of a pen and would give the industry a fillip. Why
the government is still debating it a year later is beyond most people in the
industry.



There is another proposal in the plan that may also raise
eyebrows. Mboweni proposes that the government could auction off South Africa’s
ageing coal-fired power stations.



“Private business could make money out of this with the
contracts that are attached to these power stations, but this plan is a bit
pie-in-the-sky. Politically, it is not on the table.”



Reform towards growth, creating a million jobs, would be as
welcome as a glass of water in the desert for the dry South African economy
right now.



Yet, talk can be as abundant as jobs are scarce when it
comes to growth plans. Earlier, I checked my notebook from a hot sweaty December
afternoon, in Pretoria, back in 2009.



I was at the Union Buildings with the then President Jacob
Zuma as he gave us a report back on his pledge to create jobs, in response to
the global economic crisis, back in 2008. In that year, President Zuma set up a
task team to work out how to create millions of jobs.



The report back didn’t go well. It turned out that the
government had lost 959,000 jobs in that first year of job creation. True, Zuma
assured us, 4,482 had been saved through arbitration, 7,000 more through training
instead of retrenchment…The Industrial Development Corporation claimed to have saved
an estimated 7,700 jobs by lending to distressed companies.



Yet, nearly a million jobs were lost, not created. A note to
the Ramaphosa administration that talk and task teams won’t get you far; the
time for action is now.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Tito Mboweni’s tips for economic growth in SA – is it more talk and task teams?

By Efosa Ojomo



In their paper
“The Rise of the Regulatory State,”Harvard University economists
Edward Glaeser and Andrei Schleifer wrote “whatever law enforcement strategy
the society chooses, private individuals will seek to subvert its workings to
benefit themselves.” In recent years, few African countries have exhibited that
theory better than South Africa. 



Before the ousting of the allegedly corrupt former president, Jacob Zuma, South Africa was engrossed in a web of corruption characterised as “state capture”: a severe level of corruption where private individuals influence the state to such an extent that they almost assume ownership of the state’s resources. 



At the center of
the web were the Gupta brothers, who rose to such prominence in South Africa
that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/22/world/africa/gupta-zuma-south-africa-corruption.html">The
New York Times</a> reported “it became difficult to draw the
line between their business empire and the president’s office.” From high-level
cabinet appointments to the South African Revenue Services, corruption
permeated virtually every element of society, with much of it involving the
country’s leading political party, the ANC.



But things appear
to be looking up for South Africa, where newly elected leader Cyril Ramaphosa
has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48252097">vowed to tackle
corruption</a>. In March he established a new Investigating Directorate within
the National Prosecution Authority (NPA). And since his election, various party
leaders facing corruption probes by the ANC Integrity Commission have delayed
taking their seats in parliament or have declined to do so. 



While holding
corrupt leaders accountable sends a powerful message, if Ramaphosa’s long-term
strategy does not include investments in innovations that lead to prosperity
creation, he’s effectively snipping the buds while the roots remain intact.



For many,
engaging in corruption is simply a workaround—a means of making progress when
few better options exist. But the corrupt behavior exhibited by those within
the highest levels of government is something entirely different: the result of
an imbalance of power, in which those who have it use it to exploit those
without it. In contrast to the wealth and power of Zuma and the Gupta brothers,
more than half of South Africans live below the poverty line. Without financial
and political resources, it&#8217;s difficult for people living in poverty to
advocate for themselves. Thus, Zuma and his cronies succeeded in siphoning
funds away from public projects and programs for years because those who bore
the cost—the South African people—couldn’t do much about it. 



Ramaphosa’s best
shot at making a dent in corruption, then, is to not only investigate corrupt
individuals—a necessary short-term approach—but to also to double-down on his
market-oriented approach to development. If he’s able to help his country
become more prosperous, South Africans will not only have more bargaining
power, but the government will also be less vulnerable to exploitation and
better equipped to fight corruption.



To achieve this
goal, his government can support investments in market-creating innovations
that solve everyday problems. Unlike other types of innovations, our research
has found that these innovations create the foundation for robust, sustainable
growth by transforming complex and expensive products into simple and
affordable ones, allowing more people to participate in the economy. They
create jobs, result in investments in infrastructure, and provide much-needed
tax revenue to the government that can then be reinvested in communities and
anti-corruption efforts. They also tend to <a href="https://www.christenseninstitute.org/blog/to-strengthen-institutions-good-laws-are-not-enough/">strengthen
institutions</a> once stronger legislative systems and more contextual
regulations become essential to sustaining and growing the new markets. In
short, these powerful innovations spur significant economic development, while
creating the conditions for good governance. 



As people become
more prosperous and drive economic growth, the power dynamic shifts such that
government leaders become more responsive to the people’s needs, recognizing a
mutual interest in seeing the economic engine of their country succeed. This is
exactly what happened in the United States, where corruption ran rampant from
the mid-19th century until the early 20th century. But as more Americans
created more wealth for themselves, their voices of dissatisfaction with
corruption became louder. “Politically, the rage of victims counted for very
little in 1840, not much in 1860; by 1890, it was a roaring force” is how
Stanford Law Professor <a href="https://www.amazon.com/History-American-Law-Third/dp/0684869888">Lawrence
Friedman</a> put it.



Corruption can be
found in virtually every country across the globe, but it’s especially
difficult to squash wherever people lack the ability to advocate for their own
interests, and governments lack the ability to adequately respond to their needs.
To that end, Ramaphosa must play the short game and the long game—trim the buds
and pull out the roots. By encouraging investments in market-creating
innovations, he can spearhead a new era of development, while simultaneously
creating the conditions for corruption to plummet and a stable, responsive
government to take its place. 



*Efosa Ojomo is a senior research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute, where he leads its Global Prosperity research.



@GlobalCCI



###

Op-Ed: On corruption: How South Africa’s new leader can replace bold promises with bold action

Former President Jacob Zuma said the “Zuma must go”&nbsp;campaign
of 2017 where hundreds of thousands&nbsp; of South Africans took to the streets
to protest against him was part of the intelligence-fuelled campaign to vilify
him that upset his family.



Zuma was giving evidence to the Zondo Commission on State Capture in Johannesburg where he is expected to answer questions on the controversial Gupta family and alleged corruption in the function of the government of his day.  



Read: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/zdnl-mc/2019/07/15/i-have-been-vilified-over-the-years-zuma-and-his-comrade-conspiracy-theories-open-day-one-of-statecaptureinquiry/">“I have been vilified over the years!” Zuma and his comrade conspiracy theories open day one of #StateCaptureInquiry</a>



“People were calling,&nbsp;
Zuma must go. What can be done? No one can do anything he is corrupt.
What has he done ? Nothing. No president has been brought before a commission
but if it is Zuma we must do it…Zuma must resign. It is part of the
intelligence plan against me. Then he must be brought before the commission and
answer questions,” he said.



Zuma sounded a little bitter as he hinted that he was going
to retaliate and told of the pain suffered by his family. 



I have been provoked and provoked to the last degree, by
people purporting to save the country they make stories they do everything. My
own family suffered out of this leaving me, as a soldier I can take everything,
people forget I have a family who do not want to hear lies being told against
me.”



The hearing continues.&nbsp;

#StateCaptureInquiry: The Zuma must go campaign was part of the conspiracy

Former President Jacob Zuma made it clear his comrades were out to get him when he began giving evidence to the Zondo Commission in Johannesburg.



Supporters clapped and cheered as Zuma walked into the
hearing where he is expected to answer scores of questions for the rest of the
week on everything from the controversial Gupta family to the hundreds of
thousands he is alleged to have taken as a bribe every from the security
company BOSASA. Zuma told the hearing that he was there because he
believed&nbsp;it was important that people say things they know, that than
telling things they can’t prove.



“Ï have been vilified over the years!” Zuma told the commission
clearing his throat&nbsp;frequently and blaming a bout of flu.



This commission from my understanding was really created to
have me coming here and perhaps to find things on me…This is why, in the
background I am going to give&#8230;There has been a drive to remove me from
everything a wish that I should disappear…Why it is important I will deal
with…Work in the ANC and also because of who I am…This conspiracy against me
has been stressed at all material times when there are things to be done. It
has come in different forms and that is why people who are trying to dodge
things in one thing or another. I am going to connect the dots as to why I am
here.”



Zuma claimed that three intelligence organisations, one from
South Africa, in 1990 decided to remove Zuma, then head of ANC intelligence,
from all structures in the party. He claimed it was a clear character assassination
on the grounds that he had information that his party had been infiltrated by
spies.



Zuma also claimed his removal from power in 2005, in
reaction to South Africa’s controversial arms deal, smacked of a campaign
against him.



“Before I was charged, I was removed as deputy president in
2005 because I was implicated in the arms deal. Of all the people implicated in
the arms deal there was not a single one investigated but they investigated me.
I had been investigated in a very strange way, the head of the NPA and the
minister where they announced there is a prima facie case against him but it is
not winnable in court. There are investigations and then there are
investigations. I have never heard of an investigation against anyone being run
like that in the media.”



The hearing continues.

“I have been vilified over the years!” Zuma and his comrade conspiracy theories open day one of #StateCaptureInquiry

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The future of South Africa after the dark days of Zuma’s reign is slowly coming to an end.

Trevor Manuel speaks about the Zuma years, damage done to SOEs and Ramaphosa’s investment drive

South Africa&#8217;s former President Jacob Zuma almost brought down Twitter this morning when he opened an account, a day after he was ordered to pay his own legal fees. By 12pm he had 22 000 followers and uBaba was trending. 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Welcome Msholozi&#8230;let&#39;s get to the business. What were the reasons outlined to you by ANC <a href="https://twitter.com/MYANC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MYANC</a> to remove you from office?? Bathi wenzeni.&mdash; Phistomshini (@Phistomshini1) <a href="https://twitter.com/Phistomshini1/status/1073488680910766080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>






He is sure to spice up the Twittersphere.





<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Good morning Mzansi Thank you for the warm welcome, I look forward to engaging with you. <a href="https://t.co/sr1MhSNf0F">pic.twitter.com/sr1MhSNf0F</a>&mdash; Jacob G Zuma (@PresJGZuma) <a href="https://twitter.com/PresJGZuma/status/1073474576334635008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>




Thousands of tweeps welcomed him:



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Welcome Baba! ? please don’t forget to hit us with your singing video once in a while?&mdash; Mmadikgosi Matshego (@Mmadikgosi_23) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mmadikgosi_23/status/1073485123646095360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

SA’s former President Jacob Zuma joins Twitter as ordered to pay own legal fees

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The court has ordered that former President Jacob Zuma must pay his legal fees in his ongoing corruption case. This judgement comes after a group of opposition parties recently approached the court seeking an order forcing the presidency to stop paying his legal fees. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Karabo Letlhatlha attended court and filed this report.

Court orders Zuma to pay his own legal fees in corruption case

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said on Wednesday he was fired by former president Jacob Zuma for refusing to approve contracts that would financially benefit the Gupta family, friends of Zuma accused of corruption.
Nene, who was giving testimony at a judicial inquiry into influence-peddling, said the main reason he was he was sacked was for rejecting a proposed plan to build a fleet of nuclear power plants. The project could have cost up to $100 billion.
Zuma and the Gupta family deny allegations they colluded to inappropriately divert state funds.
Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Toby Chopra

#StateCaptureInquiry: Zuma fired me for refusing to approve Gupta deals – Nhlanhla Nene

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Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan speaks to CNBC Africa’s Karabo Letlhatlha about the state of SOEs and the impact of state capture on South Africa’s recession.

Pravin Gordhan on turning around State Owned Enterprises, economic stimulus

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Sunday labelled reports that top ANC officials, including former President Jacob Zuma and the party’s secretary-general, were plotting in secret to unseat Cyril Ramaphosa as party leader as “shameless gossip”.
The Sunday Times newspaper said earlier on Sunday that Zuma held a clandestine meeting with staunch backers including ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, former North-West premier Supra Mahumapelo, ANC Women’s league secretary-general Meokgo Matuba and ANC Youth league KwaZulu-Natal secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo on Thursday.
“The meeting is believed to have discussed a fightback strategy that involves court action to challenge the outcome of last year’s ANC national conference, which elected Ramaphosa party president,” Sunday Times said, citing witnesses and senior ANC leaders.
The paper said the first action from the group was a letter sent to Magashule on Wednesday from regional executive committees in the North West, challenging the ANC’s highest decision-making body for its decision to disband the Mahumapelo-led provincial executive committee.
In a statement, ANC spokesman Pule Mabe refuted the report, saying the ANC rejects attempts to link Magashule to the alleged plot to oust Ramaphosa.
“It is clear that this malicious gossip is calculated to cast aspersions on the integrity and commitment of our Secretary General to the unity and renewal project of the African National Congress,” Mabe said.
Ramaphosa narrowly defeated Zuma’s ex-wife and preferred successor, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in a leadership vote at the party’s national conference in December. The ANC then ordered Zuma to step down as president in February.
Since taking office, Ramaphosa has been prioritising rooting out corruption as he strives to put the sluggish economy back on a sustained growth trajectory. Such measures led to the forced resignation of Mahumapelo as North West leader.
As bold as some of Ramaphosa’s decisions have been, he still maintains a cautious leadership style as he and some ANC officials know the power that Zuma loyalists retain within the ANC, Africa’s oldest liberation movement.
The ANC Women’s League also rejected the report, saying in a statement it will “defend the unity and integrity of the ANC.”
Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, editing by David Evans

Are top ANC officials plotting to unseat South Africa’s Ramaphosa as party leader?

By Jared Jeffery, Political Analyst at NKC African Economics 
On Monday evening, July 16, President John Magufuli told the country that his Revolutionary Party (CCM) would be “in power forever, for eternity”, according to news agency AFP.
He was giving a speech to mark the beginning of construction of the Mwalimu Nyerere Leadership School – a centre funded by the Communist Party of China (CPC), CCM and the liberation (and ruling) parties of South Africa (the African National Congress – ANC), Namibia (South West African People&#8217;s Organisation – Swapo), Angola (People&#8217;s Movement for the Liberation of Angola – MPLA), and Mozambique (Mozambique Liberation Front – Frelimo).
His comments are reminiscent of those of former South African President Jacob Zuma when he said the ANC would rule “until Jesus comes”. However, if trends over the last two elections continue (as recent polling by Twaweza suggests it might), forever may not be all that long a wait.
Asked which party’s presidential candidate they would vote for if elections were held today, 55% told Twaweza in April they would cast their ballot for the CCM. If accurate, this would indicate a further slide in the ruling party’s share from 80% in 2005 to 63% in 2010 and further to 59% in the last elections in 2015.
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The pollsters showed that the ruling party’s decline was not an isolated phenomenon. Approval ratings for the village, ward and parliamentary representatives have all been in steady decline over the past seven years.
Magafuli, too, has not escaped the fall in support; his approval rating went from a highest-ever-recorded 96% in 2016 to a lowest-on-record 55% this April.
The survey results, however, will unlikely cheer the opposition. The biggest opposition party, the Democracy and Progress Party (Chadema), did not perform well in the voter intention question, with only 15% saying they would vote for its presidential candidate (in the last election they received 40% of the votes).
However, 29% said they did not know who they would vote for or refused to answer. Chadema’s poor showing could be due to the fact that it does not currently have a clear candidate voters could back (Edward Lowassa would be unlikely to lead the campaign again). With a suitable individual in the role, it is likely that the party would get the lion’s share of the currently undecided vote.
A further interesting finding was that CCM support in rural areas, where it previously dominated, has waned considerably and views held by country and city folk have converged.
This represents a possible opportunity for the opposition to expand its reach beyond the urban pool of voters.
Besides voting intentions, the Twaweza survey revealed the effects of Mr Magufuli and the CCM’s turn to authoritarianism.
Around 64% of respondents said opposition parties were less free to hold rallies and state their views (political rallies remain banned and the Chadema leadership is facing charges of sedition) and 62% said the ability of media to report on government mistakes or to criticise the government had declined.
The clampdown has seemingly increased awareness of the need for strong opposition.
Over the past two years, the proportion of Tanzanians saying that opposition parties keep government on the right track between elections and help development increased from 51% to 64%.
Since releasing its survey, titled ‘Speaking Truth to Power?’, Twaweza has been threatened with legal action by the government.
The title of the survey shows the organisation knew it would be in for a fight – the question mark, however, is a bit ambiguous.
Like all such surveys, the results are sensitive to the period in which respondents were asked. In April, Chadema’s leadership was rounded up and arrested, so it is unsurprising that sympathy for the opposition was high.
Afrobarometer, another polling organisation, asked Tanzanians whether they approved of Magufuli’s performance between April and June last year (just when he was taking on foreign gold miners) and found that 85% of respondents were pleased.
What counts at the end of the day is election results, and the last three have shown a clear decline in CCM dominance.
For the CCM to rule forever, it seems it would have to do away with elections.
Events on Zanzibar in 2015 and the authoritarian turn under Mr Magufuli suggest we should not dismiss that possibility altogether.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli claims the ruling party will be “in power forever”, this is what the stats say…

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa needs tangible economic growth to entice more offshore investors to invest in its bourse after a good start to the year thanks to improved sentiment following the election on a new president, analysts said.
South Africa’s economy has barely grown in the past decade with fiscal missteps and corruption contributing to weak business and consumer confidence.
Investor sentiment picked up after new President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to clean up poor governance that critics say beset the administration of his predecessor Jacob Zuma, who was forced by the ruling party to resign in February.
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) data show that after three years of being net sellers of equities, foreigners have so far in the year to May 25 bought more stocks than they have sold, resulting in net purchases of 16 billion rand ($1 billion) versus net sales of 55 billion rand the same period last year.
Most of the purchases have been in the consumer services and financials industries, the data showed.
But the gains are at risk of being eroded as investors await to see evidence the economy is growing. JSE data already shows foreigners sold 1.8 billion rand in stocks last week after offloading nearly 11 billion rand the week before.
“We still haven’t seen any real results of an improving economy. So (when) we see solid GDP numbers then we could see more international buyers stepping in,” Nedbank Private Wealth Portfolio Manager Grant Gilbert said.
First-quarter GDP numbers are due for release on June 5.
Gilbert said contagion from political and economic crises in other emerging markets could also impact inflows going forward.
“Given the Italian crisis and the strengthening of the dollar, emerging markets will come under significant pressure and we are already seeing that this week,” he said.
Italy’s political crisis and rekindled fears of a trade war between Beijing and Washington knocked emerging stocks to a 5-1/2 month low on Wednesday.
Other analysts said the so-called “Ramaphoria”, in reference to improved sentiment on Ramaphosa’s election, was not enough on its own to lure more investors.
“One gets the feeling on the ground as a broker that perhaps foreign investors aren’t as enthusiastic about South Africa,” said Cratos Capital equities trader Greg Davies.
“Ramaphoria &#8211; as the media have got &#8211; seems to have waned and people are just reading us as another emerging market which is slightly out of favour.”
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As”Ramaphoria” wanes, the hard work begins for SA to attract investors, this is what it needs…

Sam Nzima was an African photojournalist that anyone who ever picked up a camera in search of truth and justice in this continent should aspire to be – fearless, smart and dogged. He took a picture that shocked the world and inspired a generation &#8211; yet he paid a terrible price for taking it.
Like many understated heroes he was a mild-mannered gentlemen who wore his eminence lightly. Not for him the bitterness of old age or bombastic pride about the brave exploits of his youth amid the fire and fury of Soweto.
In December 2014 I chatted to him and returned his warm handshake, as editor of Forbes Africa, as he told our magazine his engrossing story of the day he took the picture of the dying Hector Pieterson in the heat of the Soweto uprising on June 16 1976. “I got out from the house, the police had ceased firing, and I saw a little child falling down. There comes this tall boy Mbuyisa [Makhubo] and picked him up. As Mbuyisa picked him up, I went with my camera. I was also shooting with my camera, under the shower of police bullets. Mbuyisa was running to the nearest car, the nearest press car was our Volkswagen Beetle. I managed to shoot six sequences of him carrying Hector. My colleague Sophie Tema opened the door and they put Hector inside. Hector was certified dead upon arriving in Phefeni Clinic,” says Nzima recalling the harrowing scene as if it were yesterday.
Nzima risked his life to smuggle the picture out in his sock through angry police lines. He was even mindful to fill his camera with empty film so the police would tear it out thinking they had put a stop to his spreading of the truth.
His newspaper, the World in Johannesburg, didn’t even want to run it fearing it would spark a civil war; editors relented and put it on the front page. The shot captured succinctly the pain and terror of the day armed police gunned down teenage schoolchildren. It was a picture that swayed world opinion against the brutal apartheid regime. On the anniversary, every year, Nzima told us how he would kneel and pray for the lost young souls of Soweto.
The shot also wrecked Nzima’s life and put his life in danger.
“After two days I received a call from the station commander at John Vorster Square, he wanted to have a cup of coffee with me. Percy Qoboza was my editor at The World. He advised me to stay away from the police if I don’t want to come back as a corpse,” said Nzima.
		
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Police effectively banished Nzima to his homeland in Mpumalanga in north eastern South Africa where he was to eke out a bleak living for decades. It took him 22 years to get the copyright of his famous picture back. Even then, there are photographers around the world, who have never set foot in Africa, who are doing good business selling copies of the shot for hard currency.
Awards came in, in latter years. In April 2011, South Africa’s then President Jacob Zuma awarded Nzima with the Order of Ikhamanga for excellence in liberal art. Yet Nzima was never lauded like many of his colleagues across the continent.
Nzima – despite lucrative offers – clung on to the ancient camera that took the historic shot that wrecked his life. He went to his grave in hospital in Nelspruit, in Mpumalanga, on May 12, with no intention of selling it, nor his soul.
&nbsp;

This is why African photojournalists should aspire to be like Sam Nzima

Justina Crabtree
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/27/south-africa-workers-protest-minimum-wage-ramaphosa-reassures.html">Protests grip South Africa as introduction of minimum income dubbed &#8216;poverty wage&#8217; is delayed</a>
<ul>
<li>Nationwide protests hit South Africa this week over a proposed minimum wage.</li>
<li>President Cyril Ramaphosa has pushed a minimum income of R20 ($1.62) per hour — a figure that compromises on what businesses and workers have put forward.</li>
<li>&#8220;The president recognizes that the national minimum wage is not a living wage, but we need to start somewhere,&#8221; Ramaphosa&#8217;s spokeswoman Khusela Diko said.</li>
<li>South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world.</li>
</ul>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/27/105165163-GettyImages-951075784.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>
Disagreement over a proposed minimum wage in South Africa has led to mass protests and reassurances from the presidency this week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa met with officials from the labor ministry on Thurday, following protests the previous day that mobilized workers across the country including in the cities of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa has been pushing a minimum wage of R20 ($1.62) per hour, a policy that was scheduled to be implemented on May 1 though the draft legislation was since delayed in parliament. The initiative dates back to Ramaphosa&#8217;s days as deputy president under former South African leader Jacob Zuma.
The minimum wage is intended to alleviate inequality and stabilize labor. But, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), the group behind the strike, described it as a &#8220;poverty wage on which no-one should be expected to live&#8221; in a press release Sunday. The minimum wage &#8220;legitimizes the unequal apartheid wage structure,&#8221; it added.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/02/27/105031798-GettyImages-916957534.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>
&#8220;The president recognizes that the national minimum wage is not a living wage, but we need to start somewhere,&#8221; Ramaphosa&#8217;s spokeswoman Khusela Diko said, as reported by Reuters.
SAFTU, the second-largest group of its kind in the country, instead proposes a living wage of R12,500 per month — three times that of the intended minimum wage in monthly terms.
South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world. According to the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/10000939?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
World Bank 
</a>, the poorest 20 percent of South Africans consume less than 3 percent of the country&#8217;s total expenditure. Meanwhile, the wealthiest 20 percent account for 65 percent.
Wages aside, the nation is also known for its rampant unemployment, currently at 26.7 percent according to Statistics South Africa.
But not all trade unions back the protests. Matthew Parks, deputy parliamentary co-ordinator of the Congress of South African Trade Unions — the largest of such groups — described the R20 minimum wage as a &#8220;huge victory&#8221; given that businesses had originally pushed for R11.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://media.cnbc.com/i/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/04/27/105165175-GettyImages-951076380.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Rodger Bosch | AFP | Getty Images"/>
&#8220;It&#8217;s a start, not the end,&#8221; he told CNBC Friday, adding that &#8220;the president played a key role in supporting us.&#8221;
The minimum wage dispute might not equal a setback to Ramaphosa&#8217;s leadership, which was widely cheered following the abrupt end to the corruption-tainted, unpopular Zuma administration in February.
&#8220;Facilitating negotiations, with the aim of reaching consensus — including over difficult issues — is a key theme of Ramaphosa&#8217;s presidency,&#8221; Pat Thaker, editorial director for the Middle East and Africa at the analysis firm Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC on Friday.
She added that a national minimum wage could benefit Ramaphosa by tackling deep-rooted inequality and poverty as well as giving his African National Congress party an &#8220;electoral boost in 2019,&#8221; when the country next heads to the polls.

Protests grip South Africa as introduction of minimum income dubbed ‘poverty wage’ is delayed

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