http://afkinsider.com/132565/south-african-airways-gets-another-bailout-saa-may-be-privatizing/
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Harare Diary: Tom Burgis On Five Days In Mugabe's Crumbling Zimbabwe
Harare Diary: Tom Burgis on five days in Mugabe’s crumbling regime
Zimbabwe has the feeling of a country tentatively starting to say unsayable things
Sir Nigel has become one of the chief chroniclers of whatever it is that is awakening in Zimbabwe, but his wife is not pleased.
An accountant by training, four years ago he took to tweeting about his country’s poisonous politics. For his Twitter handle, he dropped his surname (Mugamu) and adopted the honorific (a nickname coined years earlier by some Australian university friends who considered his taste in smart trousers so haughty it was worthy of the British upper echelons).
Sir Nigel’s observations resonated, so he set up 263Chat, borrowing Zimbabwe’s dialling code for the name. The social media outlet now has 130,000 followers on Twitter and 40,000 Facebook likes. It occupies the middle ground, a zone long abandoned by the Herald, the mouthpiece of Robert Mugabe’s government, and the country’s scarcely less tendentious opposition papers.
Beside the manicured lawn of a colonial-era venue in uptown Harare on a blissfully warm spring morning, Sir Nigel tells me he now has half a dozen staff handling newsgathering, editorial and advertising. 263’s posts chronicle the street protests and ruling-party infighting that are challenging Mugabe’s authority to a degree rarely seen since he took power in 1980.
As “chief storyteller”, Sir Nigel works all hours. “Admit it,” his wife recently admonished, “you’d rather be married to 263.” Sir Nigel is trying to make breakfast more often.
…
I’ve come to Harare to give a talk about my book. Given that it is called The Looting Machine, and that the chapter on Zimbabwe recounts how the regime has used a combination of violence and offshore secrecy to pillage the country’s diamonds, I spent a restless flight wondering how much to censor myself.
Zimbabwe is not North Korea. But everyone I talk to assumes the audience will include an informant for Mugabe’s secret police. The Central Intelligence Organisation reports directly to the president, a man who once declared he had “degrees in violence”. Critics have a way of vanishing. Either that, or their cars “crash” in improbable ways. A local journalist tells me about a call he recently received from what Zimbabweans call “The System”. By that, he means the shadow state comprising the presidency, the ruling party, the security forces and the CIO — precisely the people looting the diamonds. The voice warned the journalist that a “tragedy” might befall his family if he carried on writing critical articles. He has no intention of desisting. But his face wears a troubled expression as he remembers the call. “It plants a seed,” he says.
Hot Springs looks tepid. The low-hanging stones in the scrubland have been plucked. Most of the miners have departed, along with the prostitutes and smugglers.
In the end, after hearing tales of what Zimbabweans have endured in order to tell the truth to power, I blurt it all out. I’m ashamed of having hesitated but comprehend a little more clearly how such regimes muzzle dissent.
…
We reach Christmas Pass after dark. I’ve made the trip before, three years ago, and remember the magnificent vistas of the slopes that sweep down to the diamond fields, now concealed by the night, like sleeping elephants.
We descend through switchbacks to Mutare, the last town before the militarised mining zones. Grabbing a bite, I’m reminded of Zimbabweans’ virtuosity with names. (Mutare itself derives from the Shona for gold, another of the bounty of elements that have brought much bloodshed to this part of the country.) My companions tell me they have friends called Method, Norest and Exhibit. A man called Medicine became a doctor. We can only hope the name badge of the young lad behind the counter at a Mutare chicken shop proves less determinative. It reads: Delinquency.
…
A decade back, Hot Springs was a boom town, Zimbabwe’s answer to Kimberley, the epicentre of South Africa’s diamond rush 150 years ago. Like Kimberley, the chief legacy has been some big holes in the ground. There were rich pickings around Hot Springs for a few years. Even after the security forces brutally asserted their control in an onslaught called Operation No Return, miners could still make their fortune, provided they cut in the soldiers. Such was the fast cash that one abstemious local referred to the town as Sodom and Gomorrah. Locals would buy Mercedes even though they couldn’t drive — just for the radio and the status.
But as we drive through, Hot Springs looks decidedly tepid. The low-hanging stones in the surrounding scrubland have been plucked. Most of the miners have departed, along with the prostitutes and smugglers. Mugabe claims that $15bn of diamond revenues have vanished. The number seems bizarre — both for its size and the regime’s complicity in said vanishing.
…
Zimbabwe has the feeling of a country tentatively starting to say unsayable things. At the top of a red-brown hill not far from Hot Springs, there is a church. Emissaries from the various mining zones assemble inside. Not in secret — they are doing nothing illegal — but with an anxious air.
Lovemore, an articulate retired telecoms manager, speaks about his relative, a young man called Guard, who had snuck into the red zone, as the areas cordoned off by mining companies are known, in the hope of snaffling a diamond or two. Soldiers shot him dead. “Guard was 28,” says Lovemore.
Another delegate, middle-aged and sorrowful, adds that effluence from the mines is turning the rivers opaque, camouflaging the crocodiles. One of the predators snuck up on a child and took her foot. A photograph is passed round, showing a footless girl wearing a pair of modified tights and a fretful expression.
The Kimberley Process, a scheme born to counter the “blood diamonds” that funded wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Angola, assesses whether stones from particular countries contribute to conflict. Zimbabwe’s are deemed not to — state-sponsored violence is apparently considered acceptable — and so mining companies are free to sell them wherever they please. Most are ugly chunks of carbon, used for drill bits and such. But some are fine gems, perfect for proposing with.
…
As we drive back to Harare, the late afternoon sunshine falls across undulating fields with their stubble of drought-blackened maize stalks. “The light, it’s … lovely,” I say to my companions, wincing as I hear myself apply so bland an adjective to such a soul-stirring landscape. I spend the next half an hour contemplating it through the car’s window. Perhaps the right word exists only in Shona. The light here is a substance in its own right, the opposite of Milton’s “darkness visible”, like the light from a diamond. It’s like the thrill of something secret being revealed.
Tom Burgis is the FT’s investigations correspondent
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
For Kenya's Wealthy-An Uber Copter
For Kenya’s Wealthy, UberChopper Rises Above The Traffic
UberChopper. Photo: petmaxflame
Taxi-hailing app Uber has partnered with a Nairobi helicopter charter service, Corporate Helicopters, to transport business clients and the well-to-do across parts of Kenya without having to deal with automobile traffic.
The service will be available in Mombasa and Nairobi, Ventures Africa reported.
As Uber has done in the past when introducing a new service, the San Francisco-based tech company will give some Kenyan customers a chance to try out the helicopter service free.
To get a ride, Kenyans can apply online for tickets to win a ride with a local celebrity. Winners get to fly on Sept. 4 across the Rift Valley or along the Mombasa coastline on 20-minute helicopter rides.
Uber recruited local celebrities to help kick off UberChopper. Ticket winners may get to ride with one of the following: Larry Madowo, Huddah Munroe, Eric Omondi, Chef Alim, DJ Lenium and Miss Global Kenya — Tima Keilah, according to PetMaxFlame.
UberChopper has already launched in other cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Shanghai and Cape Town, CitizenTV reported.
It was first tested three years ago when Uber used helicopters to fly customers between New York and the string of Long Island seaside communities known as the Hamptons, where wealthy New Yorkers vacation.
Globally, Uber has tested alternative modes of transportation including rickshaws and boats, The Star reported.
Other Uber add-ons you may never have heard of include destination-specific perks, like UberWine or UberSki, Bloomberg reported.
In Amsterdam, UberBike, lets bikers mount their bicycles onto a car if they’d rather not pedal home. UberPitch is a recurring pop-up service that lets entrepreneurs book a ride with venture capitalists and private equity investors in business capitals from Boston to Berlin.
For a company like Uber, creating a hyper-local service is a challenge, Bloomberg reported. It has to be offered instantly at scale, which means Uber must work closely with drivers to ensure there are enough cars equipped with bike racks to meet demand right away.
Uber Kenya said the Uber Chopper promotion is part of its unconventional advertising approach to achieve a “wow factor” and create awareness among consumers, according to the Star.
Local media did not report on how much the chopper service will cost. If you have to ask, chances are you may not be able to afford it.
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016
ANC Turmoil As Power Struggles Erupt After Poll Dubbing
ANC in turmoil as power struggles erupt after poll drubbing
Reformers pitted against discredited leaders in battle to win back frustrated voters
Beneath a blazing sun in Mamelodi, a township near Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, Insurance Mabunda says he has finally given up on the ruling African National Congress.
The last straw was the corruption scandals that have discredited the party and its leadership, he says. Mr Mabunda was among the many erstwhile ANC supporters who voted for opposition parties for the first time at last month’s municipal election, handing the ANC its biggest ever electoral setback and delivering a stinging rebuke to President Jacob Zuma.
“The ANC is corrupt. From the president on top, we’re tired of them,” Mr Mabunda says.
Chastened party leaders responded to the electoral drubbing by saying they would take “bold actions to address the weaknesses”. But the depth of turmoil within the former liberation movement that led Mr Mabunda and many others to turn away from ANC has dramatically exploded back into public view.
Instead of soul-searching over the losses, the results have exposed long-running fractures in the ANC as a full-blown war within the government has erupted into the open. Many perceive it to be a battle between those seeking to use state resources for patronage and those seeking to crack down on graft.
The power struggle has pitted the Treasury against powerful state entities, such as Eskom, the utility, while Pravin Gordhan, the finance minister, has become embroiled in a controversial police investigation into an alleged “rogue unit” of the tax authority.
Many analysts believe the pressure on Mr Gordhan, who is respected at home and abroad, and the Treasury is timed to allow Mr Zuma to replace the finance minister with a more pliant candidate — echoing his firing of Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister last December. That decision set off one of the worst economic crises of the democratic era.
The Treasury has since publicly accused Eskom, the biggest buyer of South African coal, of hindering an investigation into a supply contract with Tegeta Exploration and Resources, a company controlled by the Gupta family. The Guptas are close to Mr Zuma and have been accused of using their influence to secure favourable deals and attempt to influence state appointments, allegations they have denied.
Eskom hit back, saying the Treasury’s requests were “unreasonable”.
There are few signs that the power struggles will abate. Instead, they threaten to heap more damage on a stagnating economy as Africa’s most industrialised nation is blighted by rampant unemployment, poverty and yawning inequalities.
It also means the ANC risks enduring a similar humiliation at the ballot box in 2019 general elections.
“We fail our own. We steal from the poor. All these things we do with absolute impunity,” said Sipho Pityana, an ANC veteran, in a recent attack on Mr Zuma and the state of the ANC. “The next battle cannot be led by a leader that has humiliated our organisation and undermined everything that we represent.”
Mamelodi was an area where ANC support was deemed to be impregnable, but now it highlights how the anger is playing out among voters.
Five years ago, 77 per cent of the township’s voters cast their ballots for the ANC. But at last month’s poll, the party’s support collapsed to 48 per cent, while the opposition Democratic Alliance — for years maligned by critics as a “white party” — surged from 8 per cent to 29 per cent.
The Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical breakaway of the ANC that was contesting its first local election, polled 20 per cent.
Nationally, the ANC’s share of the vote hit 54 per cent, plummeting below 60 per cent for the first time since it took power in the 1994 elections that ended white minority rule, with some 3m traditional party voters either not turning out or switching their support.
It lost control of Pretoria, Johannesburg, the economic hub, and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, a traditional ANC heartland, for the first time.
In townships — historically the ANC’s strongholds in urban areas — residents complain of the poor delivery of services, such as water and sewage, and broken ANC promises.
In Mamelodi, many government-built social houses, intended for poor families living in shacks, are roofless; others are no more than cement foundations. Frustrated locals blame contractor graft, allegedly abetted by councillors, for the unfinished buildings, while adding that people pay bribes to jump housing queues, illustrating how corruption is affecting everyday lives.
Mr Mabunda’s neighbour has waited 22 years — the same amount of time the ANC has governed — for a house and voted for the Democratic Alliance for the first time last month.
“We have given them [the ANC] enough time,” say an elderly women in the township.
In nearby Hammanskraal, Dorah Mashbule says she does not have a problem with the ANC as a party, but rather “its leaders and its councillors”.
“The biggest problem is jobs, as those who don’t have jobs become criminals,” she says. “But they don’t do anything about it.”
Monday, September 5, 2016
How South Africa Can Attract More FOreign Direct Investment
http://www.fin24.com/Economy/how-sa-can-attract-more-foreign-direct-investment-20160904
Friday, September 2, 2016
He Came Back From Namibia "To Face The Music In The USA"
http://afkinsider.com/131804/he-hid-in-namibia-for-10-years-and-tried-self-reform-us-judge-jails-israeli-fugitive-for-securities-fraud/
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Facebook Africa Internet Satellite Destroyed In Launch Pad Explosion
Explosion destroys rocket and satellite at SpaceX launch pad
Severe setback as Musk’s business loses second rocket in just over a year
Elon Musk’s bid to transform the business of space launch suffered a severe setback on Thursday when a SpaceX pilotless Falcon 9 rocket and a satellite were destroyed in an explosion on a launch pad in Florida.
The incident at Cape Canaveral marked the second time in little more than a year that SpaceX lost one of its rockets. The company’s equipment is far cheaper to operate than those of United Launch Alliance, its main rival for prestigious US government business.
The explosion followed the mid-flight break-up on June 28 last year of a cargo flight bound for the International Space Station. Mr Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, the electric car company, said after that incident that SpaceX had become “complacent” about safety and pledged to learn from the incident.
The Amos-6 satellite destroyed in the explosion was due to be used in Facebook ’s effort to offer broadband internet connectivity in areas of Africa that are currently not well served. SES, operator of the satellite network that the Amos-6 was due to join,announced the deal with the social network in April. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the loss.
The rocket was not due to be launched before tomorrow but had been undergoing a test firing, according to SpaceX. Multiple social media users reported a loud explosion just after 9am local time and posted pictures of smoke billowing from the devastated launch pad.
SpaceX said that during preparations for a test firing there had been an “anomaly” on the launch pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and the Israeli Amos-6 satellite that it had been due to launch for a commercial customer.
“Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries,” the company added.
SpaceX was forced to halt launches for six months after the previous failure but made a triumphant return to flight on December 22, when it not only successfully launched a satellite but returned a booster to earth for the first time.
A similar delay after the latest mishap would call into question SpaceX’s plans to hold the inaugural launch later this year of its Falcon Heavy, a three-booster rocket that would allow the company to launch far heavier satellites.
The explosion comes at a time when SpaceX competitor ULA has been arguing that its relatively high costs are justified by its high reliability. While ULA charges the US government an average $164m per satellite launch, compared to the $100m or less that SpaceX charges, ULA has not suffered a complete mission failure in more than 100 launches since it was set up in 2006 as a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin .
Loren Thompson, a consultant who has worked with both Boeing and Lockheed Martin, said the explosion was a “very serious blow” to SpaceX’s aspirations.
“SpaceX’s main competitor has never had a launch failure, which is going to be a fact that will be highlighted now that SpaceX has had two major mishaps in two years,” Mr Thompson said.
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