Tar84

A GHANA

The NPP A-team

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South Africa The money wars

Youth The Millennial ultimatum

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THE AFRICA REPORT

14-PAGE SPECIAL

Nigeria

MONTHLY • N° 84 • OCTOBER 2016

How to survive cheap oil

A guide for governments, companies and banks who want to avoid the drop

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 90 Birr • Finland €5.90 • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 • Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 40 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

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How to survive cheap oil

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South Africa The money wars

Youth The Millennial ultimatum

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GHANA A

The NPP A-team

South Africa The money wars

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Eritrea The noisy neighbour

CONTENTS

Youth The Millennial ultimatum

N ° 8 4 • O C T O BE R 20 16

w w w.the af ric arepor t.com THE AFRICA REPORT

14-PAGE SPECIAL

Eritrea’s president Isaias Afewerki

ERITREA

neighbour

EAST AFRICA EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 90 Birr • Finland €5.90 • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 • Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 40 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

South Africa

Nigeria

How to survive cheap oil

A guide for governments, companies and banks who want to avoid the drop GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

MONTHLY • N° 84 • OCTOBER 2016

The noisy

An exclusive voyage into East Africa’s migration capital

Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 90 Birr • Finland €5.90 • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 • Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 40 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

The money

wars

THE AFRICA REPORT # 84 - OCTOBER 2016

• Eskom, the political power play • Democratic Alliance now controls 98.5bn rand in municipal funds • Gupta’s face-off with Gordhan GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

SOUTHERN AFRICA EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Belgium €5.90 • Canada CA$ 7.95 • DR Congo US$ 9 • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 90 Birr • Finland €5.90 • France €5.90 • Germany €5.90 • Ghana GH¢ 10 • Italy €5.90 • Kenya KES 410 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands €5.90 • Nigeria 800 NGN • Norway NK 70 • Portugal €5.90 • Rwanda RWF 6,000 • Sierra Leone LE 15,000 • South Africa R40 (tax incl.) • Spain €5.90 • Sweden SEK 70 • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania TZS 10,000 • Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda UGX 10,000 • UK £4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 40 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA • Euro Zone €5.90

BUSINESS

COVER CREDITS: INTERNATIONAL: CAMILLE CHAUVIN FOR TAR - EAST AFRICA: MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAH/REUTERS - SOUTHERN AFRICA: DAILY SUN/GALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES; WALDO SWIEGERS/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

4 EDITORIAL Democracy, up close and dangerous

62 NIGERIA How to survive cheap oil A perfect storm of rising militant attacks in the Delta and falling oil prices has taken the wind out of the sails of Nigeria’s indigenous energy sector, but hope is on the horizon

6 LETTERS 8 THE QUESTION

BRIEFING 10 SIGNPOSTS

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12 INTERNATIONAL 14 PEOPLE 16 CALENDAR 18 OPINION Stephen Chan

68 INTERVIEW Mohammed Dewji, CEO of MeTL Group 70 LEADERS Flutterwave co-founder and MD Iyinoluwa Aboyeji

FRONTLINE

72 PRIVATE BANKING A rich man’s game

22 MILLENNIALS The connected generation They are the generation that will drive growth and are set to write the next chapter in the continent’s history: The Africa Report lets Africa’s millennials speak for themselves

73 HANNIBAL DOSSIER

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POLITICS

42 ERITREA Eyes on the exodus 46 NIGERIA In the creeks of Lagos 47 ETHIOPIA Tedros eyes the WHO 47 ANANSI

COUNTRY FOCUS 49 CÔTE D’IVOIRE Much ado about ADO A year after he was comfortably re-elected, President Alassane Dramane Ouattara faces protests and a widening fiscal deficit THE AFRICA REPORT

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74 Eskom’s stumble South Africa’s troubled power utility is keeping the lights on but critics say it has its head in the sand over funding for projects 78 ETHIOPIA Skyline for sale

30 SOUTH AFRICA The money wars After losing control of several major cities in the August local elections, the ANC is battling to regain its influence and control over spending 39 GHANA The 10% election

CONSTRUCTION & UTILITIES

80 TURKEY Breaking ground in Africa

ART & LIFE

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62

82 INTERVIEW “This show is only the beginning” South African rapper AKA is his own superhero, and with his new Supa Mega Show, he is bringing his talent to an even wider audience 86 PHOTOGRAPHY MyAfrica, our Africa 88 LIFESTYLE Behind the scenes with Uzodinma Iweala, and Trendhunter on jollof rice 89 TRAVEL Oran is the new black 90 DAY IN THE LIFE Logistics entrepreneur Njavwa Mutambo

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EDITORIAL

THE AFRICA REPORT A Groupe Jeune Afrique publication

BY PATRICK SMITH

57‑BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL – 75016 PARIS – FRANCE TEL: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAX: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 www.theafricareport.com

Democracy, up close and dangerous

E

ach year on Democracy Day, 15 September, tens of thousands of activists pay tribute to the bravery of citizens standing up for freedom and holding governments to account. This time, with Donald Trump rising in the opinion polls ahead of the US elections in November and his friend Vladimir Putin congratulating himself for another barnstorming victory for United Russia, the democracy festivities were a shade muted.

In Austria, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, sinister rightist parties strut the stage proffering an admixture of lies, prejudice and simplistic policies. In the Middle East, democrats are battered between the hammer of strengthening theocrats and the anvil of militarised nationalism. Asia’s hyperpowers, China and India, focus on growth not democracy.

In comparison, political developments in Africa might seem almost benign. Thanks to civic activists, social media and biometric voting, politicians are finding it harder to steal elections. Aside from in Equatorial Guinea and Gambia, landslide votes for the beloved leader are a fiction of the past.

Incumbents claiming victory in disputed polls announce much closer results. In Zambia, Edgar Lungu officially won by 0.35% of the vote. In Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba says he beat his rival by fewer than 6,000 votes. However, across Africa, ageing sit-tight leaders are still finding ways to meddle with their countries’ constitutions to buy them extra time in power.

A decade of economic growth, now slowing dramatically, together with a new, more mobile generation of voters, has changed Africa’s political climate. But how?

Over the past three years, Afro-

CHA I R M A N A ND F O UND E R BÉCHIR BEN YAHMED P UB L I S HE R DANIELLE BEN YAHMED publisher@theafricareport.com E X E CUT I VE P UB L I S HE R JÉRÔME MILLAN

barometer’s excellent research team has been asking citizens across the continent to judge their countries’ democracy.

Just over half of people surveyed considered their country to be a full democracy. At the top end, some 72% of Namibians and 68% of Botswanans were satisfied with the quality of democracy at home.

At the bottom, 26% of Togolese and 11% of Madagascans pronounced themselves satisfied with their country’s democracy.

When Afrobarometer researchers asked how free and fair elections were, again they found a wide range of opinions, with some surprises. Big majorities – 91% in Mauritius and 87% in Senegal – reckoned the most recent elecIn Ghana, tions were “completely free and fair” or had held up “minor problems”. But as the gold in Ghana, held up as standard, the gold standard of multiparty democracy, only 46% only 46% shared that thought sanguine view.

It may be that elections Ghana’s freer media free and fair – m or e t han 2 0 0 private FM radio stations and news websites – gives vent to tougher questions about politicians and elections. And the opposition’s eight-month-long Supreme Court case questioning the 2012 election results could have reinforced scepticism and long-standing rivalries between the two main parties. The elections in December are set to be another tight race. And with powerful forces around Africa unpicking two decades of democratic gains, Ghana’s vote will have a resonance well beyond its borders. ●

edit editorial@theafricareport.com THE AFRICA REPORT

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M A R K E T I NG & D E VE L O P M E NT ALISON KINGSLEY‑HALL E D I T O R I N CHI E F PATRICK SMITH M A NA G I NG E D I T O R NICHOLAS NORBROOK editorial@theafricareport.com A S S I S TA NT E D I T O R CHARLIE HAMILTON A S S O CI AT E E D I T O R MARSHALL VAN VALEN B US I NE S S E D I T O R MARK ANDERSON E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA NT OHENEBA AMA NTI OSEI R E G I O NA L E D I T O R S CRYSTAL ORDERSON (SOUTHERN AFRICA) BILLIE ADWOA MCTERNAN (GHANA) S UB - E D I T O R ALISON CULLIFORD P R O O F R E A D I NG KATHLEEN GRAY A RT DI R E CT O R MARC TRENSON DESIGN VALÉRIE OLIVIER (LEAD DESIGNER) JEAN‑PHILIPPE GAUTHIER SYDONIE GHAYEB CHRISTOPHE CHAUVIN (INFOGRAPHICS) P R O D UCT I O N PHILIPPE MARTIN R E S E A R CH SYLVIE FOURNIER P HO T O G R A P HY PIERANGÉLIQUE SCHOULER O NL I NE PRINCE OFORI‑ATTA SALES SANDRA DROUET Tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com CONTACT FOR SUBSCRIPTION: Webscribe Ltd Unit 8 The Old Silk Mill Brook Street, Tring Hertfordshire HP23 5EF United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 Email: subs@webscribe.co.uk ExpressMag 8275 Avenue Marco Polo Montréal, QC H1E 7K1, Canada T : +1 514 355 3333 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 ‑ $60 ‑ £35 TO ORDER ONLINE: www.theafricareportstore.com D I F CO M INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATION AGENCY 57‑BIS, RUE D’AUTEUIL 75016 PARIS ‑ FRANCE Tel: (33) 1 44 30 19‑60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com A D VE RT I S I NG D I R E CT O R NATHALIE GUILLERY WITH JEANNY CHABON, SÉBASTIEN BLACHE R E G I O NA L M A NA G E R S IBIJOKE FABORODE PASCALE LALLEMAND CÉCILE LOUEDEC PRINTER: SIEP 77 ‑ FRANCE N° DE COMMISSION PARITAIRE : 0720 I 86885 Dépôt légal à parution / ISSN 1950‑4810 THE AFRICA REPORT is published by GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

Experience the Progress.

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LETTERS For all your comments, suggestions and queries, please write to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil - Paris 75016 - France. or editorial@theafricareport.com

MUGABE WILL BE REMEMBERED MORE FOR HIS FAILINGS

I

AFRICA-ASIA Japan and Singapore play the long game

Ethiopia Plan to succeed

South Africa Zuma sweats on local elections

N ° 8 2- 8 3 • J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 16

w w w.t h eafri c arep or t.c om

t is very difficult to talk about Mugabe’s legacy at this point in time when he is still in power [‘The Mugabe legacy’, TAR82-83 July/August 2016] . Land reform will always be one of the issues that comes up when Mugabe’s legacy is discussed.

Failure in the agricultural and manufacturing sector has seen the Zimbabwean economy reduced to being a supermarket economy of products mainly from South Africa. A political environment marred by violence, repressive laws, abuse of human rights and alleged vote rigging is what the president will be remembered for. Even within his own political party, ZANU-PF, there is discord and factionalism that does not bode well for a ruling party that is supposed to provide direction.

Mugabe’s continued stay in power has worked against him and the country.

Dr. Ricky M. Mukonza Lecturer of Public Management, Tshwane University of Technology

The Mugabe Legacy

The winners and losers of the Zimbabwe land revolution

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

and thinkers who are pushing the limits and redefining what is possible in every sector or industry. They are developing new and bold ideas that work for Africa, and the world is now catching up to it. African problems require innovative African solutions. The days of copying blindly from developed nations are gradually coming to an end and we are beginning to create our own future. Africa is rising.

Musah Idriss Founder, Rising Africa

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 8 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 40 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 800 nairas • Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 12,000 • South Africa 40 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 9,000 shillings Tunisia 5.4 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zambia 30 ZMW • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,000 F CFA

NIGERIA, A BOTTOMLESS BUCKET OF E-COMMERCE? The Jumia Nigeria boss rightly noted that “no one has stopped shopping in Nigeria” [‘We’ve barely scratched the surface’, TAR82-83 July/August 2016]. Indeed Nigerians are shopping but the challenge for the e-commerce players is to get “profitable” customers using their portals. Recent data from Konga shows that it has 184,000 active customers at valuation of US$35m which is about half of the total capital it has raised. When Rocket Internet (Jumia’s parent company) went public, the numbers showed Jumia losing money. These companies are struggling partly because affluent

CALLING ALL AFRICAN ANGELS

The early-stage investing scene will not truly take off until a robust network of angel investors takes up the challenge to invest locally [‘Waiting for Nigerians are not on board yet. lift-off’, TAR80 Supplement May 2016].

Until the logistics problems are fixed, As business professionals working in Nigeria will remain an ocean into Nairobi, these individuals have the best which anyone can dip their cup of access to the market. More importantly, e-commerce business with no impact. angels have the experience and Ndubuisi Ekekwe network to help founders stem off Founder, African Institution of Technology challenges. Business angels further drive the professionalisation of a business, demanding regular updates and accounts, and improve INNOVATING AFRICA GIVES governance. From our own research, CAUSE FOR HOPE we know that 66% of angels registered with VC4Africa are able to invest less Africa has had her fair share of than $50,000. This is a critical source of challenges but despite going through so much, this generation still keeps early-stage capital still lacking in many startup scenes across the continent. the hope of a prosperous continent alive for the unborn, against all odds Ben White [‘Innovative Africa’, TAR81 June 2016].

Founding Board Member, This generation is full of innovators Venture Capital for Africa

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At the crossroads of Africa, the Arab world and Asia

The future is growing

An environment conducive to innovation Diversified economy Busy and reliable banking system Regional transport and telecommunications hub

DIFCOM © : V. FOURNIER /JA - DR

Modern infrastructure

DJIBOUTI SERVING INVESTORS

8

THE QUESTION To respond to this month’s Question, visit www.theafricareport.com. You can also find The Africa Report on Facebook and on Twitter @theafricareport. Comments, suggestions and queries can also be sent to: The Editor, The Africa Report, 57bis Rue d’Auteuil, Paris 75016, France or editorial@theafricareport.com

The first pan-African passport was launched at the African Union Summit in Rwanda in July. The organisation intends to have the passport distributed to all African citizens by 2020, garnering both praise and scepticism.

Will the pan-African passport ever be a reality for citizens?

Yes TONDERAYI MUKEREDZI Journalist and communi­ cation consultant, Zimbabwe

The launch of the new pan-African biometric passport by the African Union (AU) in July was a bold step. Beginning 2018, many countries are expected to issue the passports to their citizens. Already, the continent has witnessed ground-breaking changes towards realising the goal of greater integration. In Ghana, Rwanda and Mauritius, visas are now issued upon arrival to all AU citizens, while Namibia and Zimbabwe have also made good progress. The changes in visa policies in the aforementioned countries indicate that more and more African countries are willing and are warming up to the idea of ‘One Africa’, a precondition that makes the passport more attractive. The success of the visa-free entry regime in the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the positive spin-offs of the system in countries such as Rwanda and Uganda, which are members of the open East Africa Tourist Visa, show that an African passport can work. Although only 13 out of 54 countries currently offer biometric passports, this is expected to increase with time as countries see the benefits of opening up borders. Experiences have shown that instead of burdening their host countries, migrants contribute significantly to both their countries of origin and the host countries by paying taxes and social contributions than they receive in individual benefits. ●

No DR CRISTIANO D’ORSI Research fellow and lecturer, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria

The idea is that the free movement of people will help create jobs and stimulate economic activity. This, in turn, would enhance intra-African trade, boosting economic growth. However, a number of insuperable obstacles stand between the vision of a pan-African passport and it becoming a reality. I believe they are too big to be overcome, especially in the short time frame the AU has given itself. The first is that many African countries are still missing the basic measures to implement the initiative. For instance, currently, only very few African countries offer biometric passports. Second, there is already a resistance to migration. Existing visa barriers to other African nationals would need to be revoked before a pan-African passport could be adopted.

Third, some countries are averse to allowing entry to more migrants due to high domestic unemployment rates. Fourth, despite subregional agreements allowing for the freedom of movement of people, some African countries continue to embrace derogatory policies, citing security concerns. The idea of adopting a unique e-passport for Africans is unquestionably commendable. However, in my opinion, the use of this passport is currently infeasible.

We should start by reinforcing existing sub-regional agreements to integrate more deeply the different, signatory countries. ●

YOUR VIEWS: Why not? If the European Union have a similar thing working, I don’t see why it can’t work in Africa, our homeland. At least, it would ease the scramble for visas among member states.

King I. J. Osanah Maybe it will, but the majority of citizens in member states don’t understand the issues concerning the community and I think a very serious campaign to inform people is needed first.

Nim Rogers Having that passport in place is a good step towards real integration. [...] I’m quite optimistic.

Cherop Sedric Kandi It’s a great move but due to insecurity in Africa it will remain unaccomplished.

Ahimbisibwe Gilbert If we don’t believe in our efforts for unity, then our efforts are meaningless. I believe in the pan-African passport. @nkundecat No, not as long as African countries still hold dear the dominant ideas of state sovereignty. @namhlatm Currently it’s still a pipe dream due to the lack of goodwill from some African states.

It needs to be birthed as a matter of urgency. @Black_pickney

THE AFRICA REPORT

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5th

EDITION

20-21 March 2017, Geneva

Shaping the future of Africa

THE FOREMOST INTERNATIONAL MEETING FOR AFRICAN CEOs, BANKERS AND INVESTORS

FIND new financial partners

With more than 600 African and international CEOs as well as nearly 300 investors active on the African continent participating, the AFRICA CEO FORUM is the largest event dedicated to the development of the African private sector.

EXPAND your network of top-level business contacts

Take part in the AFRICA CEO FORUM on 20 and 21 March 2017 in Geneva and seize this unique opportunity to be a driver of Africa’s economic growth and promote your company’s activities on an international stage.

ACCELERATE the expansion of your activities

AFRICA CEO FORUM @africaceoforum #ACF2017 www.theafricaceoforum.com

CO-HOST

ORGANIZERS

BRIEFING

SIGNPOSTS

CAMEROON A woman displaced by clashes between the government and Boko Haram militants loads her donated food onto a motorbike taxi.

?

9%

DRC Angry protesters set cars ablaze in the capital, Kinshasa, to demonstrate against President Joseph Kabila’s failure to organise an election (see below).

Slope getting slipperier

A

t least 37 protesters were killed by security forces cracking down on an opposition rally in Kinshasa on 19 September. As the conflict between the opposition and presidency slid into violent confrontation, this either marks the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning for Joseph Kabila’s regime. In late September, exiled opposition leader Moïse Katumbi told reporters that “without sanctions, they will continue killing people like mosquitoes”. Paris and Washington have both talked about imposing targeted sanctions for officials involved in abuses – the US already has some in place – but the two have often

79%

12%

Yes No Don’t know

SOUTH AFRICA Runner Dayton Phukubje splashes himself with water during the Cape Town marathon.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

In conjunction with GeoPoll, The Africa Report asked 100 Ghanaians about their feelings ahead of the December national election.

We asked them: Will you be voting for change in December?

GeoPoll is the world’s largest mobile surveying platform and sample provider in Africa, enabling companies and organisations to gather quick, accurate and in-depth insights.

To conduct your own mobile survey using GeoPoll’s easy-to-use platform visit Research.GeoPoll.com

SOUTH AFRICA FDI MAGNET

differed on how firm a line to take about Kabila potentially staying on in power in order to organise elections.

The deadline for announcing an election date was 20 September.

With Kabila failing to trigger the three-month electoral period required by the constitution, fears are growing of an Ivorian-style ‘glissage’ (slippage) – referring to the ability of former President Laurent Gbagbo to govern by delaying elections for a full four years.

That strategy comes with risks.

Gbagbo was eventually overthrown by a military invasion from the north and sent to answer for war crimes at The Hague. Kabila will be plotting his next moves carefully.

For the past two years, South Africa has led the continent in terms of the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects.

Investment champions Number of FDI projects

Rwanda Cameroon Tanzania Uganda Côte d’Ivoire Ethiopia Mozambique Ghana Nigeria Kenya South Africa 30

60

90

130

KENNY KATOMBE/REUTERS

0

2015 2014

SOURCE: EY

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BRIEFING

TANZANIA Girls in Zanzibar wait to welcome boats from the Turkish government-led charity Turkiye Diyanet Foundation carrying meat for the festival of Eid al-Adha.

CHAD Fatime Hassan, 7, a refugee in the Lake Chad region, where 500,000 children face malnutrition.

CÔTE D’IVOIRE Pascal Affi N’Guessan, president of the Front Populaire Ivoirien, launches a campaign to say ‘non’ to constitutional change.

REINNIER KAZE/AFP; NIC BOTHMA/EPA/MAXPPP; EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP; ALI IHSAN OZTURK/ANADOLU AGENCY/AFP; UNICEF/TREMAEAU/REUTERS; ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP

OIL AND GAS PRESSING PAUSE ON THE EAST AFRICA OIL BONANZA

PHONE APPS KENYA’S NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Oil and gas activity in East Africa, which for the past few years has been pitched as the continent’s next major energy frontier, has slowed from its peak in 2012 due to lower prices for crude.

355 300 255 200

Average crude oil price ($/bbl) Kenya Tanzania Uganda South Sudan Ethiopia

100 80 60

155

40

10 20

5 0

2000 01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

14 2015

Kenya’s telecoms giant, Safaricom, launched its own ride-hailing app, Little Cab, in July.

The local app rivals the likes of US-based Uber, which is making a big African push this year.

120

0

SOURCE: BP STATISTICAL REVIEW 2015, WOOD MACKENZIE

400

Average crude oil price ($/bbl)

Number of wells drilled

“Ghana’s

current International Monetary Fund programme will be the last of all IMF programmes”

MIGRATION THE MOVING AFRICAN MASSES Influenced by historical, economic and political factors, Africa’s diasporas are spread around the globe. The map shows the share of African immigrants in the total immigrant population.

Europe

76.1m

North America

12%

54.5m 4%

Asia

75.1m 5%

Africa

243.7m

9.2m

79%

1%

13%

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Oceania

8.1m 6%

VINCENT FOURNIER/JA

Latin America and the Caribbean

SOURCE: UNDESA

Total world migration

20.6m 20 6m

Ghana’s President John Mahama seeks to calm concerns over the country’s economy following a recent IMF visit.

11

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INTERNATIONAL 1

3

5

1

4 2

UNITED STATES

$38bn

Value of military aid that the US will provide to Israel, the largest such deal in US history. America has a long-standing agreement to provide financial support to Israel. The 10-year deal raised eyebrows due to new conditions that oblige Israel to buy US weapons.

4

SAUDI ARABIA

Pilgrims stay at home on holy week

ZUMA/REA

The number of Muslims who travelled to Mecca to complete the Haj from 9 to 14 September tumbled by around a third from its peak of three million people just a few years ago. A total of 1.86 million attended the Haj, with a 50% fall among Saudis and a 20% drop in international visitors, according to the National Committee for Haj and Umrah. Revenues generated from haj-related business were halved, the committee said.

The stubbornly low oil price, which has hit wages in oil-producing nations, contributed to the fall, as did ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.

Iran had ordered its citizens not to attend following a diplomatic row triggered by Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shia cleric.

2

BRAZIL

Lula faces trial

The tectonic struggle for power between the right and left in Brazil continues through the courts, with prosecutors charging former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with masterminding a bribery scheme at the state oil firm Petrobras. Investors reacted quickly, wiping over $12bn off the value of the petroleum giant. Brazil is still reeling from the decision to impeach Lula’s protégé and successor Dilma Rousseff last month on unrelated charges, which saw the Workers Party kicked out of power.

Public prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol charged Lula with corruption and money-laundering related to a colossal kickback system which siphoned off $1.9bn in illicit cash to help the party keep power. Lula angrily denied the charges, with supporters claiming the case was cooked up. A criminal conviction would bar the 70-year-old from running for office for the next eight years.

The charges have done little to dent Lula’s popularity at home and among Brazil’s neighbours. On the same day as the announcement that Lula would stand trial, at the UN general assembly in New York Venezuela led a walk-out by several Latin American ambassadors who question the legitimacy of the new government led by Michel Temer.

3

RUSSIA

Putin’s party grabs more seats Russian president Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, was named the winner of the September legislative election, securing some 54% of the vote. The result was marred by irregularities, with at least one case of ballot-stuffing caught on surveillance cameras. The result gave his party control of more than three-quarters of the seats in the lower parliament, the Duma, an increase of around 25% from the 2011 election.

5

GERMANY

“You can’t solve all Europe’s problems in one summit ” MARKUS SCHREIBER/AP/SIPA

12

Ger German chancellor Ang gela Merkel attempts to ssoothe tensions in the European Union as leaders gath her in Slovakia to deb bate how to handle the fallout of the Brexit vote.

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PEOPLE

SPOTLIGHT

Patrick Njoroge Kenya’s central bank governor is entangled in his most public stand-off with the political establishment yet, over a move to cap bank rates WHEN KENYA’S PRESIDENT Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law a bill that caps commercial banks’ lending rates at 4% above the central bank’s benchmark rate on 24 August, Kenyans reacted with jubilation.

“Families are among thousands of borrowers who can now smile back to the bank,” wrote the Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper.

But the new law, which has been described as a political ploy with Kenya’s next presidential election in view, did not make everyone smile.

The country’s central bank governor,

Patrick Njoroge, had publicly urged Kenyatta not to sign the bill, writing in an op-ed that the lending rate cap “has put the National Assembly on a collision course with banks, which will inevitably result in even more suffering by the majority of the population.”

The problem with the bill, Njoroge says, is that it will encourage banks not to lend to small businesses and those deemed high-risk. “Capping interest rates will have overwhelmingly negative consequences on businesses and consumers,” he wrote in an op-ed that was published in The East African,

“A conflict that serves

the interests only of the top leaders of these two kleptocratic networks” A report by US-based conflict watchdog The Sentry entitled War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay blasts South Sudanese president Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar.

a local newspaper. “[It] will lead to the emergence of credit rationing and the unavailability of credit to a wide segment of the population – particularly SMEs, new and small borrowers – with immediate adverse consequences on job creation and poverty,” he says.

At an investment summit in London, Njoroge was optimistic that his concerns would be heard by Kenyan politicians. “We haven’t begun seeing anything yet; [the interest rate cap] only came into place on 14 September,” he told The Africa Report.

“We are cognisant of all the risks. We flag things so we can deal with them.”

Njoroge, who took up his post in June last year, is a career economist.

After graduating from Yale University in 1993 with a PhD in economics, he worked as an economist for the IMF for more than 20 years. He is known as ‘the monk’ because of his devotion to the Opus Dei Catholic institution, which requires a modest lifestyle.

This is at odds with the lavish furnishings that Kenya’s government is known to enjoy. When Njoroge joined the government last June, he was reportedly offered a fleet of cars and a mansion in Nairobi, but rejected them because of his faith.

“Why do I need to have a fleet of cars at my disposal?” he told the Wall Street Journal in December. “I’m only going to drive one. What’s the big deal?”

It didn’t take long for Njoroge to face his first crisis. Since he took office, three Kenyan banks have gone into receivership over liquidity problems. Despite a host of problems and challenges, Njoroge sees strong economic growth on the horizon.

“The story used to be of Africa rising,” he says. “Now it is East Africa rising.” ●

Mark Anderson

“We are not

forcing anyone to use bond notes”

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BRIEFING

HALDEN KROG/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

14

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya tries to calm concerns over the issue of bond notes to be used alongside the currency.

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Inclusive and sustainable development for a democratic Tunisia

International Conference TUNIS 29 & 30 NOVEMBER 2016

A UNIQUE PLATFORM, THE ESSENTIAL MEETING FOR TUNISIAN AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DECISION-MAKERS

SAVE THE DATE

1,000 participants 70 countries represented 2 days of meetings Numerous investment opportunities KEY SECTORS: Logistics • Digital economy and entrepreneurship • Export industries • Human development • Tourism • Green economy REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION: www.tunisia2020.com

@tunisia_2020

BRIEFING

CALENDAR

CABO VERDE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 2 October FT AFRICA SUMMIT 2-3 October LONDON | UK African business and economics. live.ft.com

IGD FRONTIER 100 FORUM 4-5 October WASHINGTON DC | US igdleaders.org

AFRICA HOTEL INVESTMENT FORUM 4-6 October KIGALI | RWANDA africa-conference.com

FIBRE TO HOME CONFERENCE 4-6 October

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

16

WORLD BANK & IMF ANNUAL MEETINGS 7-9 October WASHINGTON DC | US Thousands of world leaders, economists, financiers and journalists will gather in Washington DC for the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank autumn conferences amid a gloomy outlook for the world’s economies. The conclusion of the group’s meetings in April gave a downbeat assessment of the trajectory of the global economy, pointing to low oil prices, sclerotic financial markets and flat trade, which are hampering growth. Meanwhile, the June decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union dealt a further blow to the global economy by triggering a rash of market volatility.

The tough climate has been one factor that has driven some African countries to seek financial aid from the IMF – principally Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Ghana, where officials just wrapped up a visit to assess government efforts to combat mounting debt.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 7 October

CAPE TOWN | SOUTH AFRICA ftthcouncilafrica-conference.com

OSLO | NORWAY The annual handing out of Sweden’s merit badge. nobelprize.org

AFRICA BUSINESS DAY 5 October

PRET-A-PARTIR SHOW 7-9 October

REINACH | SWITZERLAND Organised by the SwissAfrican Business Circle, bringing together CEOs, politicians and investors, on the theme of diversification. sabc.ch/abd

AU SUMMIT ON MARITIME SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 15 October LOME | TOGO From Somalia and the Gulf of Guinea piracy to protecting Africa’s fish stocks. au.int

PORT LOUIS | MAURITIUS defimedia.info

WORLD DAY AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY 10 October worldcoalition.org/worldday.html

1:54 CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART FAIR 6-9 October

REBRANDING AFRICA FORUM 13-15 October

LONDON | UK 1-54.com/london

BRUSSELS | BELGIUM rebranding-africa.com

AFRICAN PHILANTHROPY FORUM (APF) 17-18 October RABAT | MOROCCO A unique opportunity to reflect on the required bold steps and big bets to beat climate change. philanthropyforum.org

AFRICA GRI 20-21 October

GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK 16-20 October DUBAI | UAE How to capture the $150bn ICT spending in the Middle East North Africa region by 2020. gitex.com

JOHANNESBURG | SOUTH AFRICA Join real estate investment leaders in Jo’burg. globalrealestate.org/Africa2016

AFRICA OIL WEEK 31 Oct – 4 Nov CAPE TOWN | SOUTH AFRICA africa-oilweek.com

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匀漀ǻ琀攀氀 圀愀渀搀愀Ⰰ 䈀攀椀樀椀渀最 䌀栀椀渀愀 簀 ㄀㤀ⴀ㈀ 伀挀琀漀戀攀爀 ㈀ ㄀㘀

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18

BRIEFING

OPINION

Ste ephen Chan

Professorr of international relations, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK

The end of the liberation era

I

n China, there is a veneration of age. There is a respect for what went before. But, as in all of modern Asia, there is a ruthless looking forward.

To become a member of the Chinese Politburo, you cannot yet have left your 50s. If you become president, even in your late 50s, you cannot serve more than two terms.

Even for today’s leaders, Chairman Mao is an historical legend. President Xi Jinping was coming to the end of his teenage years when, in 1972, Henry Kissinger brought Nixon to China and the Chinese Revolution entered the modern world. For those over whom Xi rules, those who are 19 today, liberation is something rhetorically expressed in history books and melodramatically portrayed in epic films of astounding boredom. Mao is a fat old man from the past.

But at least the country Mao bequeathed to the young was strong enough for his successors to build today’s economy. The trick was to look outward, well beyond the borders of even a very large country. Those who die, looking inwardly, their country wasting away and insolvent, will be dismissed from the history to be written by those now 19 and seeing no future.

In Zimbabwe, curiously, it is the mysterious government faction called the G40 – meaning the Group of 40 or Generation 40, those who are not 19 but are at least not in their 70s or 90s – who have made the greatest implied critique of the gerontocracy that rules the country. Their name implies they want a generational jump. But they are seen as merely power hungry, without an identifiable programme to rescue the country from economic meltdown.

And they use liberation rhetoric, despite the fact that 40-year-olds today would have been four years old at the time of liberation. These people never fought, never stood their ground against a Rhodesian armoured car or an attack helicopter, but demand the merits of those who did.

The liberated Zimbabwe of today inhabits a condition of primitive accumulation by acquisition.

Everything is acquired for enrichment and not for reinvestment. Nothing grows from the usually illegal or brutal acquisition. It is spent and in national terms wasted. Now there is nothing left to pay civil servants, perhaps one day soon even the security forces. And the government, despite pleading with the world for more unearned cash, may soon be forced to print endless notes that imitate money. The nonagenarian President Robert Mugabe who, it is said, works less than an hour at State House per day, has no means to understand how to generate money for the public

Their symbolic leader, although argument rages as to how much symbolism or reality there is in her position, is the President’s wife, Grace Mugabe, who might be reminded that liberation heroines did not wear Ferragamo heels. But the person seen as their arch strategist is Jonathan Moyo, an academic who once wrote on democracy but who has served many masters in his own rise to power as a minister.

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good. The public who are protesting in the streets and wrapping themselves in flags have no programme of their own. No opposition party has a plan for how to generate money. All hope the West or the Chinese will provide. Always the hope is to receive something unearned. It is a disastrous legacy for a president who, even if he has not yet died, stopped being a creative and modern leader some time ago.

In South Africa, although Jacob Zuma is only in his 70s – still older than a Chinese President could be – he too has failed to generate creativity and modern approaches to government. Patronage networks have made the African National Congress (ANC) a party of corrupt exchanges among its members and no longer a party of service to the wider nation. Here, as in Zimbabwe, there is the curious private discourse that those who earned liberation also earned plunder.

But there is a key difference between the ANC and ZANU-PF. The Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the guerrilla force of ZANUPF, fought in the field and did so against huge odds.

The ANC forces never fought. They conducted acts of sabotage, they clandestinely mobilised the population, but no ANC army ever took the field. They had military bases in surrounding countries – but, in Angola, some of these, such as the infamous Camp

Quatro under Jacob Zuma, were used to imprison, torture and execute ANC dissidents who, even then, objected to the way their party was being run.

So ‘liberation’ is a rhetoric. There was certainly an incredibly brave and protracted struggle. Many lost their lives. People suffered greatly. But many inter-

If the ANC loses the educated, especially the young, its days will be numbered national forces were involved in the final liberation of the country – although the ANC has demanded that all credit should be paid to it alone.

And that means an ANC president must provide benefits to the people, as the fruits of liberation should be shared by all. The fury of the people that it has not was evidenced in the recent municipal elections in South Africa. Although the ANC still greatly outpolled the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in the countryside, its share of the national vote for the first time fell below 60%. And, national figures aside, it is the cities that are the economic hubs, the social mobilisation centres and the educational centres of the country. The best-educated people who generate the most money live in them. If the ANC loses them, especially the young among them, its days will be numbered. And it was never a peasant party anyway.

The DA needed the help of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters to achieve the total voting strength required to install non-ANC mayors in cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria. The DA took, as expected, Cape Town, but also broke into the Eastern Cape with the capture of Nelson Mandela Bay. Of the great cities, only Durban eluded its grasp. Whether this is the start of an irresistible DA rise is an open question, but Malema, in refusing to enter coalition with the ANC unless it dumped Zuma, said he was voting with the DA as the lesser of two evils. If Zuma was the greater of the two evils, the ANC must look at its leadership very long and hard, and coldly, if it wishes to rescue a decline. It must look beyond the liberation generation and not wait until it is Mugabe’s age.

Colonialism ended in most Southern African countries 50 years ago. It was later in Angola and Mozambique (1975), and Zimbabwe (1980), later still in Namibia (1990) and majority rule finally came to South Africa with open elections in 1994. But, even in South Africa, that was 22 years ago. The ‘born frees’ know only that Zuma is an old man and that the ANC is a maladjusted party of privilege – maladjusted because it has not come to grips with modernity.

For ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe, and the ANC in South Africa, it is as if history stopped at the moment of liberation. Old men look back. The Chinese make sure they are never too old to look forward. But the influence of the old is such that even the younger men and women of the G40 cannot see the wider world except through the shrunken and withered lenses of their lost elders. ●

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SUMMIT ON MARITIME SECURITY AND SAFETY AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA – LOMÉ, 15 OCTOBER 2016

A summit on maritime security and development Lomé is hosting heads of state and government at an African Union Extraordinary Summit on Maritime Security from 10 to 15 October. The purpose of this summit is to make Africa’s oceans, under pressure from piracy, trafficking and environmental risks, one of the drivers of the continent’s economic development.

These issues will be the subject of discussions and consultations for the 4,000 delegates expected in Lomé from 10 to 15 October 2016 at the first Extraordinary Summit on Maritime Security and Development in Africa, organised at the initiative of Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé.

PUTTING A STOP TO PIRACY The past decade has seen an increase in piracy off the African coasts, first

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing depletes fish stocks, destroys marine habitats, results in unfair competition for legal fishing operators and weakens coastal communities. Its impact on the economy is an annual loss of 170 billion CFA francs in West Africa’s income alone. Traffickers possess substantial means for escaping the services responsible for enforcing fishing laws and regulations.

Making the situation worse is the drug trafficking from West Africa, which has become a transit region, to Europe, along with other types of illicit trafficking, all of which are key issues that will be tackled during the Lomé summit.

These phenomena require a far-reaching response including a legal framework and a means of monitoring and intervention. The interregional coordination centre and the various regional mechanisms against piracy created in 2013 have had inadequate results due to lack of resources and political will.

The Lomé Summit will be held at the completely renovated Radisson Blu Hotel 2 Février.

DR

in the Horn of Africa, then in the Gulf of Guinea, where 10 attacks and 44 hostage takings were recorded between January and March this year alone.

© CLEMENT-TARDIF

ADVERTORIAL

Piracy, trafficking of all types (drugs and weapons, etc.), illegal fishing, pollution and migration pose a threat to the harmonious development of African ports and, by association, on Africa’s economies, since 90% of African imports and exports are transported by sea.

ILLEGAL FISHING DRAINING THE AFRICAN ECONOMY

An initiative led by the President of Togo “In terms of development, the 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM Strategy) will be at the core of Lomé’s work,” said the President of Togo, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé. Implemented within the framework of the African Union Commission, the AIM 2050 strategy aims to “create greater wealth from the oceans and seas of Africa by developing a blue economy: thriving, sustainable, secure and respectful of the environment. Under its guidelines, the Lomé Summit should lead to a broad and rapid ratification of the Charter of Lomé to put the AIM Strategy 2050 into practise.”

TOGO’S PRESIDENT FAURE ESSOZIMNA GNASSINGBÉ

MG

FAT

© J. TORREGANO

©E

This is a strong incentive for African countries to invest in efficient monitoring equipment. Togo has already suspended the registration of dozens of fishing vessels and the issuance of licenses to foreign vessels suspected of trafficking, and is in the process of developing a new fisheries code.

THE SEA AS A DRIVER OF AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT Africa has to prepare for an unparalleled increase in foreign trade and, in particular, ever-increasing and larger container traffic, all of which call for the construction of modern ports, with the means necessary for ensuring effective traffic management.

In addition, this forecast growth also requires that coastal countries anticipate and limit the environmental impact of their ports and ensure the protection of the biodiversity of their coastlines.

Pollution threatens the food security of more than 200 million Africans and the sources of income of more than 10 million people.

THE PORT OF LOME SETS THE EXAMPLE African ports have become indispensable foreign trade hubs and essential intermediaries for the economic growth of the continent. Many of them benefit from significant investments, as shown by the Autonomous Port of Lomé.

Guaranteeing their ongoing modernisation and strengthening their dynamism is one of the objectives of the conference on 15 October.

The Autonomous Port of Lomé (PAL) is not only Togo’s economic hub; it has become a regional platform for the maritime trade of neighbouring

countries. Since 2011, hundreds of millions of euro have been invested in the modernisation of its infrastructure and management. The results can be seen in the doubling of its traffic, from 8 million tons in 2010, to 15.4 million tons in 2015. In parallel, container traffic has tripled, rising from 340,000 TEU to 906,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) during the same period.

WORLD’S BIGGEST CONTAINER SHIPS These investments allowed for the building of the Autonomous Port of Lomé’s third wharf, at a cost of 300 billion CFA francs (457 million).

Officially opened in October 2014, it has a 15 metre deep and 450 metre long basin, which allow it to accommodate ships with huge capacity.

Meanwhile, the new transshipment terminal, which came into operation in October 2015, has already contributed to lowering regional transportation costs. With its 1,050 metre wharf and 16.6 metre draft, it is able to provide docking for the largest container ships in the world and generates significant economies of scale.

IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY

Togo’s navy patrolling the coast of Lomé.

Key figures

1/5

one out of every five acts of piracy in the world takes place in the Gulf of Guinea

90%

of Africa’s imports and exports are transported by sea

- 4,1% per year

drop in bulk goods transport because of maritime insecurity

2014. Giving people access to a platform that can be consulted by internet on a 24-hour basis reduces the cost and time of commercial and logistics operations. It simplifies import, export and transit procedures while at the same time improving the governance of the Autonomous Port of Lomé.

Ensuring the long-term continuity of this development, which can also be seen in other African ports, is included in the goals set for the Special Summit on Maritime Security and Development in Africa, being held in Lomé from 15 October 2016.

Upgrades to the port included equipping it with latest generation gantries and mobile cranes that make it possible to load and unload several ships at the same time.

Equipping personnel with computer terminals means that customers can track the management of their operations in real time. Lomé’s Foreign Trade Single Window has been operational since December 2015, having been brought gradually into operation from

Go to the Lomé Summit site: http://www.sommetdelome.org Port Autonome de Lomé Zone portuaire, Lomé, 1225 Tel.: (+228) 22 27 47 42 www.african-union-togo2015.com/fr/accueil togoport@togoport.tg

DIFCOM/DF - PHOTOS: © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED AND LESS NOTED..

The Lomé deep water port, a rapidly developing regional platform.

FRONTLINE

Millennials

The connected

generation The Africa Report has criss-crossed the African continent to talk to young people who are shaping their countries in terms of politics, business and culture as a new generation begins to take over from the old

By Marshall Van Valen

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rom the Arab Spring and the #FeesMustFall protests to the sweeping of President Blaise Compaoré from power in Burkina Faso in 2015, the impact of the millennial generation in Africa is just beginning to be felt. Those born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s – people from 16 to 36 – are part of one of the world’s largest generations.

Africa, more than any other continent, is in the grips of a generational challenge, with a median population aged 19.5 in 2015, according to United Nations data.

Those people want jobs, houses and political influence, and many African societies are struggling to meet their demands. Technology is a major agent of change, engendering both disconnected apathy and eager engagement.

Africa’s millennials are extraordinarily diverse, from the newest recruits to the Islamist Al-Shabaab militancy in Mogadishu to startup founders in Nigeria’s burgeoning tech hubs. The Africa Report takes an exclusive look across the continent at the challenges and goals that Africa’s millennials are facing each day. Award-winning South African writer Lidudumalingani Mqombothi’s essay looks at the crossroads between technology, connectivity and politics, while five young Africans speak about the change that they are living through. With presidents clinging on to power for as long as possible in places like Uganda and Algeria, the confluence of the old and the new, the young and the old, has so far led to some explosive results as new voices rise to prominence. ●

FRONTLINE | MILLENNIALS: THE CONNECTED GENERATION

By Lidudumalingani Mqombothi in Cape Town 2016 winner of the Caine Prize for African short stories

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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h e re i s a n i n c i d e nt t hat happened in my childhood that I would like to draw your attention to. It occurred such a long time ago that its details are now a contested truth. But even with this, the essence of the story remains lucid.

One morning in the early 2000s, a huge smoke enveloped the village of Zikhovane, where I was born, and it remained like this right into midday.

When it finally cleared, it revealed a clear blue sky and much of the vegetation had been burnt. The confusion quickly turned into shock.

A young boy who had been seen looking after his father’s goat in the veld where the fire broke out was caught and taken to the chief. The boy was not the arsonist, and he was in his fragile voice relentless in pleading his innocence. But no boy argues against the chief’s retinues, consisting mostly of old people convinced that only children are capable of mischief.

It had to be him or another youth, or the fire was a result of another force.

It later emerged that the boy did not

set the plantation on fire but that an ageing woman, smoking her pipe, did not hold tight to a match and the wind blew it away.

With that anecdote lingering in your mind, think about the #FeesMustFall movement, the use of WhatsApp to organise a protest in Zimbabwe, the uprising in Burkina Faso, the videos documenting the popular revolts in Egypt and elsewhere in the world, the live streaming of a protest in Baltimore.

In all of these scenarios, one clearly sees the misconception of millennials, largely that they are apolitical and that they worry more about the cost of an iPhone than they do about the child labour that manufactures it.

This narrative is not entirely untrue, I must be clear, but speaking in gener-

alities always defies logic. Now, more than ever, we see that millennials are at the centre of political and economic discourse in Africa. They are in fact not merely waiting for an invite into the conversation but they, in subtle and overt ways, are the catalyst for many of the conversations.

What is evident, too, here is the crossroad at which the militancy of millennials and technology intersect. The October 2015 #FeesMustFall movement – a reaction to a government proposal to hike fees by 10–15 % for the 2016 academic year – started at Wits University in Johannesburg and quickly spread across several South African universities.

A HASHTAG, A MOVEMENT

With millennials at the centre of it, there was a sense that it was nothing but a trending hashtag, that it would be forgotten and social media, as it always does, would take to something else. However, the live updates of the protests, police brutality and pleas for help from the public did not stop.

Much to the shock of many, instead of dying out, the movement spread with the energy of a wildfire. A few weeks into the protests, with several tertiary institutions in South Africa unable to function, it became ● ● ●

The millennial population in Africa Millennials make up more than a third of the continent’s population, but this is set to slip as the youth population growth surges.

Millennials as % of the population 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

North Africa

32.1% 34.5% 33.4% Children Millennial

Older Sub Saharan Africa

African youth’s major concerns

0

69%

Born after 2000 (% of population)

2015 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Northern Africa

Unemployment

63%

Rising cost of living

Corruption

59%

SOURCE: UNESCO

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2.2

Average number of hours per day young Africans spend online

Sub-Saharan Africa

Born 1981-2000 (% of population)

40 30 20 SOURCE: IPSOS

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43% 34.2% 22.8%

10

SOURCE: UN POPULATION DIVISION

0

2015 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

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VICTOR OCHEN 35, Uganda, activist

The promise of democracy has not been met

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lived in a refugee camp for more than 20 years. I was born in conflict and raised in conflict. I struggled with education and protection. I saw many of my friends going back and forth between the camp and the bush. Life in the camp was worse than life in the bush. The whole world had forgotten about what was going on in northern Uganda. Ugandans are very resilient. We have learnt from the bitter taste of war.

It’s true that we have a demographic dividend but I would prefer to say we have a demographic force. Right now the majority of the African population is young, they’re energetic, they are also sad and angry and they’re yearning for change.

Most of them have been promised change that has never happened.

The promise of democracy has not been met, so you find that the majority of the African youth are caught up between generations.

You find that most of the African millennials provide the most opportune energy needed for society, but they are not in leadership.

In the presidential election in Uganda this year, people wanted change. Not merely change in positions of leadership, but change in how we treat politics. Politics is not about violence. We need to build a system where someone can come in and reform the political arena.

And let’s bring young people on board.

The government is making political ambitions difficult for young people.

If you’re not wealthy, you don’t belong to the government, you don’t have the right education, you’re not connected – you have no chance of taking leadership.

The young generation is using social media and the old generation doesn’t

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want to use it because they know it’s a mechanism to hold them to account. I foresee that this will bring a generational stand-off.

I do have a very open and honest engagement with government officials.

I tell them about the generational tensions. Where we’re headed right now, without embracing modernisation, the government is not taking into account the needs and priorities of the young people, who are the majority.

Young Africans lack role models.

All they see is leaders coming into power to favour their region, to steal.

If youth have nothing to lose, they won’t fear the trip to Europe.

We need to focus on what compels young people to leave Africa.

I like Desmond Tutu’s compassionate leadership. He inspires me a lot.

For the best leadership, you need to heal divisions. There are so many reasons to be hopeful in Africa. Change is coming to the Great Lakes region.

Unfortunately, most of the countries are removing the presidential term limits. Young people are forming a force that won’t be stoppable. ● Interview by Mark Anderson in Kigali

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BOITUMELO ‘TUMI’ MMAKOU 25, South Africa, radio producer

I am young, black and gifted

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m young, black and gifted and never forget where I am from and this keeps me grounded. I am from Alex and I own it. I always tell people that I am a young black woman from the township – black and proudly South African.

I am living my dream. I have always wanted to be on a commercial platform.

I would like to explore my personal brand in the next few years expanding my music blog and turn it into a website.

clear that this was far more than a hashtag. On 22 and 23 October 2015 – when students first marched to parliament and then, on the following day, to the Union Buildings that are home to the presidency – the young people involved demonstrated more than ever before that millennials are not only a connected generation but can, when called upon by the struggle, be militant. ●●●

I have always been on the hustle.

I had my own youth page in a local magazine when I was 15. Later I was a presenter on the biggest religious children’s programme.

What drives us is trending current political issues in South Africa. It’s weird because some people think it’s only about fun times, but politics makes young people tick. Five years ago it didn’t exist, young people were never

On the day of the march to parliament, the toxic smell of tear gas hung in the air. The other smell, far more contagious and uncontrollable, was the students’ unwavering will, marching towards police who were holding big guns and ready to shoot. Many of them by then had been unclothed and skinned by rubber bullets. During these two days, if we are to consider them

interested, perhaps it was still a hangover of the Mandela generation.

We are now paying our bills, cars, homes, supporting our parents and we want to know what is happening to our economy. It is worrying. We want to be in control and decide who is in charge of the country. We want to know what the ANC is up to or the new Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba and what are they doing for young people. We are very politically driven and I think we are challenging the Mandela generation.

I come from Alexandra, one of the biggest and notorious townships in Johannesburg, and I see the empty promises government have been making.

People need homes: they are living in

in abstraction from the many days before and after them, it was clear that the joke about millennials – that they are always on Facebook and Twitter seeking to trend – is now on the jokers.

One cannot speak of millennials without considering the internet and the levels of connectivity. For a long time, it would appear that the variety of things that trended on Twitter and THE AFRICA REPORT

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MILLENNIALS: THE CONNECTED GENERATION | FRONTLINE

OSEI TONY ATTEFAH 21, Ghana, student

I like the way technology changes the world

I

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study information technology management. That’s ICT integrated with business courses. I wanted to do architecture, that was my first choice, but I couldn’t get architecture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. I’ve always liked technology, the way it changes the world. It’s always moving forward. It’s always changing.

Today, you hear about [something] and the next day they’ve upgraded it or something new is here. It’s fascinating.

I want to be a project manager for IT projects, consulting at different companies. But we are behind, we’re really very behind especially on the programming aspect. We don’t even have a lecturer to teach us programming.

After the degree I will have to go to another educational institution.

I like reading novels, fiction, history. I like watching movies, the news, I like to know what’s

Facebook were limited to nude pictures and unimportant hashtags, but now something far more meaningful is sweeping across the millennial generation. And with the growth of smartphones in Africa, the revolution is set to continue this way.

People will always seek to label generations. In South Africa, for example, the conscious and political youth ● ● ● THE AFRICA REPORT

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FRANCIS KOKOROKO FOR TAR

shacks. People live in other people’s backrooms, and I see it all the time.

Unemployment is also distressing.

A lot of my friends do not have jobs.

My friends from other African countries, like Zambia and Malawi, they all went back home. Even I struggled to find a job. The struggle is real.

The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and the Democratic Alliance’s Lindiwe Mazibuko have played a big role in how young black South Africans view politicians.

When Lindiwe was on the scene, young black girls were starting to look up and say, well, we can do it too. ● Interview by Crystal Orderson in Cape Town

happening around the world.

Then I like to try and get my hands on software and use what we’ve been taught and research more on the internet.

[The older generation] suffered a lot to get where they are.

And it’s like we have things easy for us so we don’t really appreciate some of the things we have. I’d definitely like to go [abroad] and have a chance to do something more. I see the way things are handled here and sometimes I’m like: ‘Chale, if I go I can’t come back here again.’

They’ve lost faith in the system, they see our leaders, in these corruption scandals, who are not made to suffer the repercussions. And now some [young people] want to enter politics to do that. But I have hope. I see some of the things people are doing and I’m inspired and motivated to also try. ● Interview by Billie Adwoa McTernan in Accra

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is being referred as the ‘woke’ generation, a term that can be problematic but largely effective.

To attempt to define millennials becomes an impossible task, one that can only produce a lie. The conversation should not be: are millennials more obsessed with Wi-Fi, smartphones and technology trends than they are with democracy, education, housing, health, unemployed, but rather how do all of these converge? ●●●

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

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HOUDA LAHRECH 28, Morocco, banker

My generation is less scared of change

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hen I was growing up, Moroccan education had a mixed reputation.

I went to study in France and the UK, and afterwards joined a business school. My first job was at a ratings agency based in Paris, which is less common than working in a bank or consultancy firm, but I wanted to try something different.

After I spent four years there I was offered a job in a development bank which has started investing in Morocco. I liked the idea of making a positive impact in my home country. I’m really interested in trying an entrepreneurial experience, perhaps setting up a social enterprise in education.

I think that my generation is more impressed by success stories of self-made people that succeed even against the odds.

I don’t think I’ll stay doing the same thing forever. I think that my generation is less scared of

change. People continuously look for new challenges. We have evolved differently and we are constantly looking for stimulation and inspiration. This is perhaps the result of growing up in a multicultural world enriched with travel experiences and being open-minded.

Unemployment, particularly of graduates, is quite high here and people are scared of losing their job. There is a tension between wanting to change things and taking risks, and at the same time having the money to buy status symbols like the right car, the right house, to bring up a family.

I think we’re better than previous generations about achieving personal fulfilment, even if our generation is witnessing a clash between getting what we want and our traditional values. ● Interview by Celeste Hicks in Casablanca

Depending on who you ask, the answers will vary, but what cannot be ignored is that advanced smartphones and connectivity, as we have seen over and over again, allow millennials to express their grievances and protests and document police brutality, a systematic dysfunction. Take the Pretoria High School for Girls protest as an example: long before there were any meaningful articles about it, it had reached across the world. Singer Solange Knowles had tweeted about it and there were conversations in London about it.

Protest and activism in Africa is not new, nor is it any younger than it was before. Steve Biko, Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba were not old men. What has happened instead is that the rules of engagement have vastly shifted. The clandestine plotting and disseminating of information has changed and now, much more, plans of action are declared publicly. The plans, the protests and the effects of them are being shared widely and publicly via social media.

It is no longer the conservative and traditional media that is documenting, and this includes not only protests but also the everyday lives of young people. They are doing it themselves.

Apart from the consumption of technology, there is also the forging of technology by African millennials. That will play an important role in economic trends on the continent. This is evident in the many acquisitions and the success of African tech startups. Mark Zuckerberg’s latest visit to Nigeria is testament that Africa is becoming a global player in technology.

A new report by GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator, a programme that facilitates partnerships between operators and developers in the continent, reveals more than 300 tech hubs spread across 93 cities in 42 countries across THE AFRICA REPORT

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MAKIDA MOK A 24, Nigeria, Actress, model and radio personality

Making your own choice is crucial to live by myself to see how it feels. But you have to pay bills, buy art and generally make the place look nice.

So sometimes I console myself that maybe it really isn’t that bad to text someone and say please keep the door open for me.

I’d like to get married at 27; I feel I’d be more mature and ready. To get married to someone, I feel like they have to understand me and not want to change or take away the things I like just because I’m getting married. I like to go out like most millennials, to model, to do TV and radio work.

I take long one-hour walks alone across the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge and back. They are very spiritual for me. There’s religion, there’s Christianity and then there’s a connection with God and it’s important to have that connection.

Millennials these days are enlightened and feel like ‘there is no God but me’. I can never say there’s nothing like a God up there. ● Interview by Eromo Egbejule in Lagos

the African continent. More than half the hubs are concentrated in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco. Strewn all over Pretoria, from morning into the night, millennials can be found using the public Wi-Fi there to develop their projects; in Cape Town, most coffee shops have Wi-Fi. OLD CHALLENGES, NEW THINKING

Millennials are not going to make the next discoveries of gold or diamonds but will play their part in inventing technologies and systems that are relevant to the times that they live in. In thinking our problems anew, the continent might resolve old challenges.

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The connected generation, whose lives are documented on the internet, sometimes to a cringe-worthy degree, have other benefits. One, perhaps the most important, is that varying views and lifestyles are publicly lived. This allows for anyone, at any given time, to have the opportunity to find something that resonates with them. It is easy to see this, though there is no concrete data for it, but as a poet, I am interested in the truth rather than the facts. A homosexual man living openly can influence another young man elsewhere to see himself differently. A Muslim woman, living on the internet, defying the myths that Muslim

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voted for Muhammadu Buhari because I had a genuine conviction that he could bring about change, so I’m pained that he has turned out to be a huge failure. We all legit thought Buhari would come good and when power supply improved in the first few months, we were happy.

I cried when he won, I was so happy because my vote had counted.

In terms of relationships, I don’t know why it pains people that someone wants to be an independent woman, or a baby girl with someone catering to her needs. If I want to marry at 18 and be someone’s trophy wife, what makes it less satisfying than someone climbing the corporate ladder?

Everyone has a different path and walking in it, making your own choice is crucial for equality.

Can you imagine that I’m 24 but when it’s past 8pm I still have to let my guardian know where I am and when I’m coming back? I want to be able

families are inherently repressive, might change the view of those who hold those myths as truth.

Here is perhaps an overt illustration of what the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his dissertation ‘Division of Labour in Society’ in 1893 called the collective conscious. This is not to say that the internet is not abusive for many, but the plea here is that you see how it is at least a catalyst for the collective conscious Durkheim was talking about.

Millennials are not apathetic, they are engaging with politics, economics, culture and society. The rules of engagement have changed, as they should, to suit the times. ●

POLITICS SOUTH AFRICA

The money wars

After losing control of several major cities in August’s local elections, the governing ANC is grappling with its loss of influence and control over spending

By Crystal Orderson in Soweto and Cape Town

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oweto, the country’s biggest township and the heartland of the anti-apartheid rebellion, speaks for the new South Africa in so many ways. With African National Congress (ANC) councils ceding power across the country after local elections in August, Sowetans are forthright about their demands for change. Johannesburg, which includes Soweto, has a new mayor from the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Since national liberation in 1994, Soweto has been transformed from an urbanwastelandtoacollectionofthriving markets and malls. Communities have newly paved roads, and there is free WiFi at bus stops. Soweto has also become

a tourist mecca for admirers of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other eminent former residents. Those benefits have come under ANC rule. But discontent is growing at poor service delivery, lack of jobs and state corruption.

Sowetans, like other South Africans, weigh their votes carefully. In local elections on 3 August, the ANC’s share of the national vote fell to 53.9%. As the results camethrough,gregariousSowetanswere in the streets dancing to live bands and quaffing local beer.

Support sharply grew for opposition parties across the country, but there was no landslide. The centre-right DA won 26.9%, and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) won 8.2% of votes. The

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opposition was boosted by 3.3 million ANC voters who stayed away from the polls. In Soweto, ANC officials reckoned that almost half their supporters failed to vote. ANC backers milled around, some wearing their party T-shirts with pride, despitethedeclineinnational popularity.

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

Other Sowetans just wanted to try the opposition. December Sabande, a 34-year-old driver, told The Africa Report: “We must give the DA a chance.

People just want a home, a job. The ANC comrades parade their fancy cars here.”

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The DA’s dream team in Jo’burg: mayor Herman Mashaba and opposition leader Mmuse Maimane

sioner who requested anonymity complained: “The ANC is arrogant and has taken us for granted. We are tired. I voted for the DA and want them to govern.”

Such views hit home with Paul Mashatile, the ANC’s leader in Gauteng, the province that includes commercial capital Johannesburg and political capital Pretoria. “The people have spoken. They didn’t like what the ANC has become. We have grown dismissive, pompous and condescending,” he told the province’s executive committee in September. “Let let us not blame the people. We are at a tipping point.”

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will be in control, backed by promises of other opposition votes. That could prove highly problematic, according to Andries Nel, deputy minister of local government. “After the 2011 local government elections, there were 31 hung councils. Many were dysfunctional due to unprincipled parties and fractious coalitions,” he explains.

For much of the country, the election means a change of financial chiefs as well as the political guard. Today, the ANC controls just 43% of local authority budgets; in 2011, it controlled 82%, with the jobs and patronage that go with that. In particular, it has lost several of the richest metropolitan authorities: Johannesburg, Tshwane and

Nelson Mandela Bay represent a quarter of South Africa’s 50 million people and large local resources, with budgets of, respectively, R54.8bn ($3.9bn), R32.8bn and R10.9bn. Tito Mboweni, a former Reserve Bank governor who is a dissident voice within the party, says the ANC risks becoming “a governing party without economic power”.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY

Jackson Mthembu, the ANC’s chief whip in parliament, concedes that the metropolitan authorities are “critical to the economy of the country, and they control serious budgets”. In fact, more than 9% of this year’s R1.46trn national budget spending will go to the municipalities.

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Professor Jaap de Visser, a local government expert at the University of the Western Cape, argues the elections will hugely change the political balance, however the councils work on the ground. “The fact is they [ANC] have lost a huge amount of leverage over operating expenditure, and this is enormous,” says De Visser. “You can link this to patronage. Whether it is real or not, it is a game-changer. It is uncharted territory for the ANC and the country.”

Nature of the governments formed in the metropolitan and local municipalities

NO SHORT-CHANGING

Someoppositionpoliticiansandcivicactivists worry that the ANC, which remains the dominant power at the centre, could useitscontrolofthenationalpursestrings against opposition-controlled metropolitan authorities and local governments.

In an interview with The Africa Report, minister in the presidency Jeff Radebe insisted there would be no political discrimination in budget allocations: “We are going to support all spheres of government – even metros not governed by the ANC. The change of guard does not affect the National Development Plan’s goals.”

But DA politicians says they are monitoring the allocations closely and will take legal action if they are short-changed, as funding levels are statutorily determined. Athol Trollip, the newly elected DA mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, has already picked his spending targets: “The main priorities are to improve service delivery, stop corruption and grow the economy to create jobs.”

De Visser points out that there is a very robust framework on financial allocations. “I have complete faith [about] how the treasury will work,” he said, adding that finance minister Pravin

ANC majority DA majority IFP majority Not yet

Gordhan would allocate the legally stipulated funds to each metro, regardless of which party is in charge.

Arguments over patronage have escalated to the extent that many state appointments are now subject to special legal scrutiny. Newly elected mayors on the DA ticket have already launched investigations into what they regard as wasteful expenditure.

Mayor Trollip of Nelson Mandela Bay is likely to find much to probe in his locality. Nelson Mandela Bay municipality recently racked up R423m in wasteful expenditure, making it the worst offender according the latest re-

ANC coalition or minority DA coalition or minority IFP coalition or minority

port by auditor general Kimi Makwetu.

More widely, management of local authority cash is weakening. Makwetu’s audit reports that irregular spending doubled to R14.75bn since 2010/2011.

MASHABA’S CRUSADE

New DA mayor of Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, plans to investigate several agreements, such as the multibillion-rand Tshwane House contract and the metro’s flagship Wi-Fi and broadband programmes.Hearguesthatthecontractsare poor value for money, perhaps corrupt.

In Johannesburg, new mayor Herman Mashaba, who worked his way out of

For the ANC, a hazardous road ahead to the 2019 elections

September 2016 ANC branches discuss losses in local elections

October 2016

ANC candidates start to campaign informally for leadership positions

January 2017

AU Commission chair and presidential contender Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma returns to South Africa

FebruaryOctober 2017

April-June 2017

ANC branches discuss leadership positions and nominations for the top six positions in the party

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and Bantustan politics, as well as being close to Nelson Mandela’s family, Holomisa remains an important politician.

He wants Trollip’s DA-led administration to “realign budgets in order to ensure maximum resourcing of priorities”. It will test the DA’s political skills to keep all its diverse coalition partners on board. The EFF has told the DA it wants budget reforms as a means to boost funding sharply for education, health and housing development.

HERMAN VERWEY/AP/SIPA

SHOTGUN MARRIAGE

poverty in Soweto to found the Black Like Me hair-products empire, has set himself some high targets: to make the city’s economy grow by 5% and cut unemployment to 20% (the unofficial rate is reckoned to be around 40%) within five years. Mashaba, whose autobiography is entitled Capitalist Crusader, does not hide his predilection for free-market and “libertarian” policies. He opposes the ANC’s minimum wage legislation as damaging to jobs and social mobility.

Already, Mashaba has ordered a citywide campaign to clean up the streets and repair roads. He has appointed a senior civil servant to liaise with prop-

AugustDecember September 2017 2017 National policy conference in which selected branches debate ANC policy

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President Zuma gets a wake-up call as the worst election results in ANC history sink in

erty developers and says he wants to woo capitalists of all descriptions to set up in the city and make money. For his plan to re-engineer Johannesburg, Mashaba wants to take what he says is R5bn of wasteful spending in the ANC’s old budget and plough it into creating jobs and growth for the city.

Down in the Eastern Cape, the United Democratic Front’s Bantu Holomisa has joined a coalition government with the DA in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

With a colourful career in the military

54th National Elective Conference to decide the top six positions in the ANC’s leadership for the next five years

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January 2018

As the transition begins, power will be divided between ANC headquarters and the presidency

Home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba, like others in the ANC, confidently forecasts the failure of what he describes as a shotgun marriage between the DA and EFF. “It represents opportunism, shorttermism and instability, and citizens of these municipalities will experience a period of instability, horse-trading and petty political manoeuvring rather than a focus on sustainable transformation,” Gigaba argues. Opposition activists say that some of Gigaba’s comrades in the ANC will do as much as they can to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even without ANC interventions, the new opposition-led metros will be fighting powerful economic headwinds, with South Africa’s economy teetering on the brink of recession and a threatened government downgrade by ratings agencies.

MostoftheANC’simmediateproblems are political: quarrelling factions and regional splinter groups are contributing to the complex and confusing struggle to succeed Jacob Zuma. Elections for party president will be held at an elective conference in 2017, and that will be followed by national elections in 2019.

Although Zuma continues to preside over solid majorities in the ANC’s ● ● ●

8 January 2018

The 106th anniversary of the ANC. The newly elected ANC president is due to make first major speech

May-June 2019

National elections followed by the inauguration of the new president and cabinet

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national executive and national working committees, the President and his allies are coming under growing pressure to develop a credible succession plan. Some ANC activists predict that the days of Zuma patronage have perhaps a year to run. Contenders for the leadership are setting out their platforms and trying to widen their support bases.

Some of these rumbles have started even in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal. There is a messy standoff in nine municipalities where no party won majority control in August. In membership numbers, KwaZulu-Natal is the biggest province for the ANC, but its provincial leaders face growing opposition from within the party.

InJozini,theANCrefusedtoelectanew mayor and unsuccessfully tried to outmanoeuvre the Inkatha Freedom Party, whichismakingallianceswithothersmall parties.AlthoughInkathasigned aspecial co-governance agreement with the DA andtheEFF,thisisyetanotherimprobable political liaison given the party’s roots in Zulu nationalism and the ambitions of its leader, chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

It takes some back to the 1990s and the shooting war between Inkatha and the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.

sponsibilities to the community by enenterprises, but they also insist governgineering a political stalemate. Nomusa ment must be held rigorously to account.

While South Africa’s widely praised Dube-Ncube, KwaZulu-Natal’s commissioner for cooperative governance and constitution–oneofthe mostprogressive traditional affairs, brought in lawyers in the world – underlines the importance to resolve the dispute. of strong and independent institutions, politicians are chipping away at it. It Although these localised political and money fights are bruising enough, the was finance minister Nhlanhla Nene’s main contest is about control of the nainsistence on accountable management tional treasury. And that affects every of state companies that prompted President Zuma to sack him last December. layer of government: from the splendour of the Union Buildings in Pretoria and GORDHAN ON A TIGHTROPE Tuynhuys in Cape Town to a kraal in the Under pressure from ANC grandees hinterland where people are demanding clean water and reliable electricity. and bankers’ doom-laden predictions, ItpitsPresidentZumaandalliesagainst Zuma was forced to sack his chosen replacement for Nene, Des van Rooyen. financeministerGordhan,whoisstrongly backed by what can best be described as Reluctantly, he brought back Gordhan ANC modernisers or constitutionalists. as finance minister to steady the marSmarting from its loss of patronage at kets, stabilise the rand and stop another the local government level, the presidpunishing interest rate rise. ency is eyeing massive but loss-makingparastatalcomPolitics is back centre stage panies and has set up a speand Zuma loyalists are baying cial committee to oversee their operations. Yet even for the finance minister’s blood thisgrandcommitteecannot countermand the legal rules governing But politics is back centre-stage after the local elections. Talk about Zuma the treasury’s allocation of funds to state companies – at least not while Gordhan reshuffling the cabinet and firing Gordis in charge of the treasury. han has resurfaced. More palpably, the Zuma’s cheerleaders want a persongovernment’s special investigating unit, TEMPERS FLARE IN KZN the Hawks, has resuscitated its bizarre alised style of rule, under a mighty presPolitical violence is rising again in the idency with an iron grip on security investigation into Gordhan’s launch of province and both sides are ramping a surveillance unit designed to boost and intelligence together with contracts up the rhetoric. Inkatha’s Mkhuleko and budgets. Gordhan and those backtax collection when he was head of the Hlengwa accused the ANC of running South African Revenue Service. ing him want substantive authority for scared in Jozini and neglecting its reministers and the heads of state-owned Behind the Hawks, Zuma’s loyalists in the National Prosecuting Authority and the ANC youth and women’s leagues are all baying for the finance minister’s Can the parties really work together? blood. And Van Rooyen, now sporting EFFORTS BY THE NEW OPPOSITION-LED MUNICIPALITIES to boost living military fatigues as deputy leader of the standards at a time of sluggish growth raises key questions. Will the governing uMkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the NaAfrican National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties such as the Democratic tion, the ANC’s much-celebrated armed Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters set aside their rivalries wing) is back lending his weight to the in favour of productive cooperation? With feuding within the ANC and within campaign against Gordhan. other parties, the prospects are not great.

Deputy president Cyril RamaLook at the troubled history of the N2 Gateway housing project jointly run by phosa, ANC secretary general Gwede the national government and the province of Western Cape, which is controlled Mantashe and ANC treasurer general by the DA. In 2004, housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu launched the project Zweli Mkhize have led public support with much fanfare in Cape Town. She promised to build 25,000 houses by 2014. for Gordhan while trying to play down It was heralded as the country’s largest housing project to provide affordable the factional rivalries that risk tearing housing for poor people. Also, it was meant to showcase cooperation between apart the ruling party’s leadership. The the national, provincial and local governments. race to succeed Zuma as ANC presidBut progress was marred by squabbles between the ANC and the DA ent at next year’s elective conference as well as financial shortfalls. A forensic audit by the DA found that national further complicates everyone’s calcugovernment had provided just R294m instead of the promised R2.3bn budget. lations. Gordhan is respected in the Work was held up and its quality was not properly monitored because markets for his management but it is of a lack of agreement over the division of labour and attempts by all sides his political nerve and determination to score political points. However, Sisulu has promised that the remaining to hold the line that could prove to be 6‚000 units at Gateway will be completed before 2019. ● C.O. his greatest asset in the longer run. ● ●●●

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SENEGAL

Š ANTONIN BORGEAUD

Economic recovery gains momentum

S

enegal appears to be firmly on the path to becoming an emerging country. And this acknowledgement comes from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself. While touring the country in August this year, IMF experts praised the country’s robust macroeconomic indicators, which are all in line with the objectives of the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE) drawn up in 2013. This plan aims to inject $7 billion into transforming the economy in order to achieve the status of a highincome country by 2035. While many other African counties are suffering from falling commodity prices, Senegal has benefited from resulting lower oil prices, which in turn have led to reduced production costs as well as a reduction in electricity subsidies. Inflation remains under control, forecast at 1.15% in 2016 and to be contained at 1.18% over the following two years, says the IMF. The balance of trade is also expected to stabilise. Imports will certainly increase, driven mainly by basic commodities, in particular rice and wheat, while exports should continue, and even step up, the upward trend seen since the beginning of the year.

Under the combined effects of good fiscal management and implementation of the Emerging Senegal Plan, growth remains high. Agriculture, industry and construction continue to make steady progress.

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Gone is the economic gloom that overshadowed the Senegalese economy up until 2014. After recording 6.4% growth in 2015, it should continue to post positive results, expected at 6.6% this year and 6.8% in 2017.

All donors agree that the prospects are good

The most important of these profitable sectors is agriculture, which accounts for 15% of GDP and employs one out of every two Senegalese people. Under the PSE, around a hundred projects have been launched since 2015, of which the first results were soon observed in strategic industries such as groundnuts, where production increased by 57% in a year. Peanut oil processing has also boosted the results of industrial agriculture, up 20%. However, the fishing industry – another important source of foreign currency – has not built on its slight increase in 2014 and the catch declined by 1% in 2015, despite the encouraging figures recorded by industrial fishing, in a context of increasing scarcity of stocks. The fisheries modernisation programme has nevertheless made significant progress, with the opening of the fish products processing plant in Sangalkam, a suburb of Dakar, by President Macky Sall in July.

© SYLVAIN CHERKAOUI / JA

© SYLVAIN CHERKAOUI / JA

Growth approaching 7%

With an 8% increase in traffic, the Port of Dakar has earned its nickname “the ocean gateway to Africa”.

for a country that has made the necessary investments to energise and structurally transform its economy without having to rely on an international economic climate beyond its control. Rather, Senegal seems to have decided to put its best assets into play and, to reach the objective it has set, build on its traditionally strong sectors.

Fair weather ahead for agriculture After struggling through a period of low rainfall in 2014, which caused a 0.2% decrease in GDP, Senegal’s agriculture sector is experiencing a real leap forward, resulting in over 30% growth. The sector has benefited from particularly favourable weather conditions in recent months, as well as the positive effects of the Accelerated Program for Agriculture in Senegal (PRACAS), launched as part of the Emerging Senegal Plan to enable the country to achieve self-sufficiency in rice and potatoes by 2017. The ready availability of certified seed, fertiliser and equipment has been greatly facilitated, contributing to the 35% increase in food production.

The Oleosen factory, a Castel Group subsidiary, can refine 30,000 tons of oil per year.

© YOURI LENQUETTE

Industry and mining in good shape

Not just a tourist attraction, Lake Retba (the Pink Lake) makes Senegal the leading salt producer in West Africa.

The energy sector, listed as a priority by President Macky Sall, is also picking up.

Despite the delays in the delivery of a few power plants, the sector experienced a 6.2% increase in 2015, following the commissioning of the 70 megawatt-capacity

Tobène Power plant in early 2015. The chemicals industry has also undergone a healthy surge in production since the Indorama Group injected $100 million into the capital of Industries Chimiques du Sénégal (ICS) for production facility upgrades. As a direct result of this, phosphoric acid and fertiliser production increased by 33% and 29% respectively. The entire mining sector, of paramount importance to the country, reported an increase of over 30% at the end of 2015. The PSE ambition that the country ultimately becomes the sub-regional mining hub is yet to materialise. While the salt extraction industry has performed well and phosphates are on the road to recovery, this is not enough to offset the decline in gold production. To reverse the trend, Senegal is counting on the Diogo zircon mine, the third largest in the world, as well as the revival of the Falémé iron ore deposit.

Construction underway Building materials manufacturing was given a significant boost when the country’s third cement factory, owned by Nigeria’s Dangote, went into operation. Another factor contributing to this increased activity is the carrying out of numerous infrastructure projects, such as the North Exit Road (VDN), the completion of the Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD), the implementation of the Diamniadio

Urban Centre project, initiated by the Government, and the state’s huge social housing programme. In addition, major real estate projects were launched by the private sector, with the construction of housing, hotels and office buildings and complexes underway. Overall, building activity rose by 7% in 2015 and is forecast to continue benefiting from satisfactory market conditions in the coming years.

Taiba is the biggest phosphate mining site in Senegal.

© SYLVAIN CHERKAOUI / JA

© SYLVAIN CHERKAOUI / JA

Buoyed by the recovery of the agriculture sector, the primary sector was up 18.2% in 2015, and is expected to continue growing in the coming years as PSE projects are progressively implemented. Industrial activities and construction should also feel the benefits, as is already the case for the processing of raw materials, especially grain products.

The secondary sector as a whole increased by 7.1% in 2015, building on its 5.3% increase the previous year. Contributing 24% of GDP and employing 18% of the workforce, it has greatly benefited from the positive trend experienced by the construction industry, with the stepping up of infrastructure projects across the country.

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© YOURI LENQUETTE

Services sector focus on reviving tourism The services sector is continuing to experience the slowdown that began in 2014, largely due to the decline in business activities, particularly vehicle sales, after the peak recorded during the 15th Summit of La Francophonie held in Dakar in 2014.

Tourism took a severe knock because of the Ebola outbreak, despite it having been brought under control and its spread prevented. The sector, which represents 7% of GDP and employs some 75,000 people, seems to suffer from recurring structural problems and the tourism offer remains undiversified in comparison with competition from other destinations. Recognising the enormous potential that has yet to be developed, the PSE has put tourism on its list of priorities, with the ambition of making Senegal one of the top five African destinations. The telecommunications industry, too, has stalled after the boom years.

The mobile phone penetration rate exceeded 100% in 2014, limiting the growth margins in an environment that has become

The Radisson Blu hotel, on Dakar’s west coast, has become a touristic gem since opening in 2012.

extremely competitive. At the end of the day, if the services sector as a whole grew by 3.8% in 2015, it is largely due to financial activities, up 9% over the past year, and double the previous year. The sector benefited from the diversification of banking services, the development of new money transfer systems and easier access to loans.

Resumption of economic growth 2014

2015

2016 (e)

2017 (p)

3,5%

4,5%

6,4%

6,6%

6,8%

© YOURI LENQUETTE

2013

The Plateau business district in Dakar, reflects the fast pace of the country’s economic growth.

The buoyant financial sector has encouraged steady year-on-year growth in private consumption, as well as in public and private investment, which is benefiting from the execution of major PSE projects in keeping with the State’s desire to associate Senegalese companies in their implementation. To continue its development policy, Senegal can build on the good state of its finances, largely due to the continuing decline in the public deficit since 2012, combined with better tax collection, which was reflected in 2015 by a 5.2% increase in revenues and lower state operating expenses. However, the IMF tempered its rather encouraging analysis by pointing out the public debt outstanding, at almost 50% of GDP in 2015. This rate is nonetheless well below the 70% stipulated by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Convergence Pact. Bolstered by its economic progress, Senegal is determined to maintain the investments necessary to carry out the PSE. In other words, the country will strive to combine sound management of public resources with its development ambitions over the coming years.

DIFCOM/DF - © PHOTOS: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED AND LESS NOTED.

In good financial health

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POLITICS

FRANCIS KOKOROKO FOR TAR

Grassroots campaigning by the NPP

GHANA

The 10% election

After the close, and contested, 2012 election, swing voters – who account for about a tenth of the electorate – will play a crucial role in this December’s poll

O

ur mud-spattered four-wheel drive barrels along the rutted track that may have been a serviceable road in better days. The driver steels himself for the long climb into Salaga as darkness falls on a September night, and the vehicle starts sliding around the gooey red mud after another torrential downpour.

The rains are coming down heavily in northern Ghana, which should help the harvest. That could matter more than ever this year. In presidential and parliamentary elections on 7 December, the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is defending its record after eight years in power. Ahead of the vote everything is political: the price of food and fuel, the lack of jobs, bad roads and broken bridges.

Preceding us on the road are the combined forces of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a 20-car convoy led by presidentialcandidateNanaAkufo-Addo, his deputy Mahamudu Bawumia and former trade minister Alan Kyerematen.

After a long day of speeches the convoy is running late for its last rally of the day.

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There are worries about protocol. It is bad form for outsiders to visit a chief after sunset. But the word is that Salaga’s recently installed kpembewura (chief), Daari Haruna Bismark, is more than a little sympathetic to Akufo-Addo’s cause.

The two worked together in government a decade ago and have stayed in touch.

GOING TO MARKET

business. Alongside, hawkers of political merchandise set up shop selling banners, caps and badges, all in the party colours of blue, red and white.

Vuvuzelas and car horns punctuate the night air as one of the party’s loudspeaker trucks starts blaring out a seamless medley of highlife, hiplife and Ghanaian hiphop. The crowd sways, and teenagers and children saunter into the square.

Bawumia, sporting an elegant blackand-white smock emphasising his northern roots, starts with a recitation of the country’s economic woes: “Food price? Wahala! [trouble] Fuel price?

Wahala! Electricity? Wahala!” before

A market town and centre of the kola nut trade, Salaga switches political allegiance between the two main parties. It is known as Ghana’s Timbuktu because it has drawn people from all over the region: the Gonja, known for their warrior kings, and the Hausa, Dagomba and Salaga often switches Wangara. Neither party can allegiance. Neither party can take Salaga’s feisty voters for granted. take its feisty voters for granted Akufo-Addo and his colleagues drive into Salaga’s margetting into a quick-fire economic diaket square, eager to get their message gnosis. Truth is, he says, the NDC govacross. It is past 10 in the evening, but ernment has wasted Ghana’s money on contracts with cronies, mired the the town is buzzing. Traders are selling candles, mosquito coils, bags of millet economy in debt and made people pay and tins of sardines, hoping for extra the bill by raising taxes on everything.

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FRANCIS KOKOROKO FOR TAR

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Kyerematen’s formula is reminiscent of a line from United States former president Ronald Reagan. He simply asks the crowd if they feel better off than they were eight years ago, the last time the NPP was in power. That elicits a lot of shouting, most of it complaints about conditions.

All this sets the stage for Akufo-Addo’s stumpspeech.“Ghanaisnotapoorcountry,” he intones, promising to run a government that would look after the people and not the pockets of politicians. Then he makes three specific promises: under his government, each village would get a dam to feed a basic irrigation system; there would be a factory in each of the country’s 216 districts; and the government would give $1m per year to each of the country’s 275 constituencies to invest in their own economic development.

Because Ghana’s elections have become a pledging competition, Akufo-Addo

signs off with a plaintive message: “And I want you to know that I will never, ever stand before you and tell you that I can do something that I cannot do.”

The great unknown is how this sort of campaigning helps the candidates.

A band of journalists, we followed Akufo-Addo’s convoy for a relentless 18-hour day, bouncing along potholed roads as he and his colleagues paid homage to local chieftains and gave their well-practised speeches to crowds across the region.

OPEN TO OFFERS

At each stop, we get out and talk to the people crowding into the market squares. Some are drawn by the music and the possibility of free food and drink.

Others are just looking for a diversion.

Some are evidently partisan, flaunting their NPP party colours and cheering

the candidates with full-throated roars.

Some seem to be NDC supporters keeping a wary eye on their adversaries.

In Saboba, Sadiq, a resident in his twenties, gives his considered view: “We want a change, so I want to see what these people are offering. They will need to convince us.” Sadiq is proud of his country, its history of protest and peaceful political change. It is very different from its neighbours, where elections have descended into violence in recent years.

Local leaders help sway public opinion. There was a stir in Salaga when the

Jumping on the digital bandwagon THE 7 DECEMBER national election campaign has gone online. “There’s a huge uptake in use of social media by the parties,” says Kinna Likimani, team leader of the civil society organisation Ghana Decides. “This year the candidates themselves are all on Facebook and have Twitter accounts.”

Party operators and support groups are also on social media, while ministers are using the platforms to showcase the work they are doing. Gender minister Nana

Oye Lithur was awarded the ‘best public official with social media presence’ award by BloggingGhana.

With his selfies and hashtags on his Instagram page, President John Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) embarked early on a social media branding exercise.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is now playing catch-up. Some analysts say the party is yet to be convinced of the reach of social media, and

their scepticism is not unwarranted.

Statistics from the Accra-based new media and technology organisation Penplusbytes show that as of January 2016 Ghana has a total of 18,385,921 mobile data subscribers.

Facebook is the most visited website in the country, with approximately 2.3 million users. About 4.4% of the population are active Twitter users. Despite the small audience and not wanting to miss out on a piece of

the electoral pie, the NPP, too, is likely to cause a social media stir for the launch of its manifesto in October.

Use of social media is not a purely urban phenomenon.

Likimani adds that while it is common to find most young people in rural areas on WhatsApp and Facebook if they have internet connection, there is still work to be done in improving infrastructure and making it cheaper for people to access internet services. ● Billie Adwoa McTernan in Accra

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about it. The band performs a number called “Chale, wia my money eh?” in popular bars, like Republic in Accra.

Akufo-Addo explains that “this is the most rapacious government that Ghana has ever seen,” but he concedes that complaints about corruption are blunted into the partisan debate. He wants to end the finger-pointing between the two parties and establish an office of the special prosecutor with independent powers to investigate and prosecute.

“It would be entirely independent from party political pressure and would have the resources that have been denied to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice,” he says.

FRANCIS KOKOROKO FOR TAR

NO EASY WIN

kpembewura confidently predicted that Akufo-Addo would win the presidential election with 53% of the vote. A few weeks earlier, President John Dramani Mahama flew by helicopter to Tamale then drove across to congratulate the kpembewura on his elevation. Mahama’s Gonja people are an important force in the region, but no political base can be taken for granted in this election.

Back in Tamale, Akufo-Addo and Bawumia are still fizzing with enthusiasm after the long day. “The north has become a battleground region,” insists Bawumia, who was born in Tamale, the regional capital. His constituency is in neighbouringWalewale.“Thisisn’tempty talk.Wearerunningadata-ledcampaign, and we are targeting NDC’s strongholds in the Northern and Volta regions.”

BETTER PREPARED

One benefit of his party’s long battle in the Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2012 presidential election, says Bawumia, is that they have a forensic knowledge of the voting patterns of each of the country’s 275 constituencies. This time, the NPP is better prepared, says Akufo-Addo. It has recruited stronger party agents who are determined to monitor every polling station and protect NPP votes.

Asked about the impact of the imbalance of resources and publicity – NDC THE AFRICA REPORT

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Kyerematen (far left), lawyer Yaw Buaben Asamoah, Akufo-Addo and Bawumia (above, L-R) dress to impress on the campaign trial

The NPP’s Kyerematen, who hails from Ashanti Region with its four million voters, says the calls for change are resonating across the country. “It’s very strong among the youth […]. We need to rebuild the productive base, […] raise earnings and employment to boost purchasing power.”

Despite the economic woes and complaints about graft, many expect the election to be extremely tight. Neither of the parties expect an easy win. The governing NDC reckons its well-resourced organisation and shrewd campaigning will pay off as it insists, yet again, that the economy is on the brink of take-off.

Short of funds, the NPP is running a grassroots-focused campaign, sending its top team to the critical villages and towns it needs to get the numbers to win.

posters have been plastered along the streets of the capital for weeks and the state media has been eagerly reporting on new power stations and roads – Akufo-Addo is sceptical. “We are not intimidated by the financial differences.

I don’t see this election being determined by money,” he adds, arguing that Ghanaians are furious about what they see as the “I don’t see this election waste of public money and being determined by contracts for cronies.

Bawumia and Akufomoney,” Akufo-Addo says Addo hammer home what they call the “ruinous mismanagement Veteran activist Yao Graham, director of the economy” by Mahama and the of Third World Network-Africa in Accra, NDC. Over the past four years, growth says the result will be determined by less than 10% of voters: “Both the big has halved to less than 4% and inflation parties have these historic allegiances, is still more than 16%. Most people pay so it’s the swing votes that will count. surcharges on fuel, water and electricity.

But this could be their last time.”

Anger over high prices and the lack of jobs is mounting, but the NDC has met With the rising importance of the that with relentless lists of new roads, youth, less swayed by how their parbridges, schools and hospitals. Lots of ents vote, more mobile and much more shiny new buildings are springing up, demanding, Ghana’s political duopoly but some of them, such as the new Ridge could be nearing its end, predicts GraHospital in Accra, are costing several ham. And strangely, he adds, few in the times more than their original budgets. country’s political elite seem to have Manypeoplearetalkingaboutrampant noticed these changes, let alone worked out a response to them. ● corruption. Some, like Accra-based band Villy & the Xtreme Volumes, even sing Patrick Smith in Salaga and on the road

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ERITREA

Eyes on the exodus

The Africa Report gains rare access to Eritrea, where tough living conditions are pushing young people out of the country and into perilous journeys

O

11,899

Nigeria Eritrea

Sudan

25,658

11,564 4,877

Gambia Côte d’Ivoire

18,587

2,084

6,855

6,670 5,650

6,480 utside a café on the crossroads of a busy intersection in 1,195 Guinea 6,318 Asmara, three 25-year-olds sip macchiatos and catch up on the latest 7,538 Somalia gossip in the bright morning sunshine.

5,079 Punctuated by sips of coffee and drags 3,476 on cigarettes, the conversation soon Mali 5,022 turns to people who have ‘skipped’, a term used for those who have fled from Eritrea’s national service programme.

“Between us, we probably know More than a dozen people interviewed about 300 people who have skipped on the streets of Asmara said they are desin the last few years,” says Birhane, perately gathering cash to pay for ‘sigre 25, who works as a mechanic in a dob’ (a border crossing). Eritrea is now government-owned garage. “They are in the throes of a migration crisis. Gaim Kibreab, a professor of refugee studies leaving because we have to do what the government tells us to do.” at London’s South Bank University, says When Birhane, Henok and Adonay Eritrea is the world’s “fastest-emptying were born in 1991, Eritrea had just nation”. About 400,000 people are esgained independence from Ethiopia. timated to have left Eritrea in the past Liberation struggle leader – and current president – The UN estimates as many Isaias Afewerki had comas 5,000 Eritreans flee the manded a rebel group that country illegally every month seized control of the country from Ethiopian dictator decade. The United Nations (UN) and Mengistu Haile Mariam. At the outset of human rights activists estimate that as independence, many people across Eritrea were optimistic about their future. many as 5,000 Eritreans flee the country illegally every month. The Eritrean govMIGRATION CRISIS ernment says the real number is closer Today, the atmosphere in Asmara is to 1,000 per month because Ethiopians markedly different than it was at the often pretend to be Eritrean when seeking asylum abroad. dawnofEritrea’sindependence.Abloody It is not just young people leaving. border war with Ethiopia between 1998 Middle-aged professionals are giving and 2000 inflicted massive human and economic damage to the country. The up on the country as well. “I know of threat of renewed conflict hangs heavily thousands of people who have left,” says over the government in Asmara.

Demsas, 49, who has a master’s degree from a Western country, as he strolls Buses, bicycles and ageing European cars dot the roads of the capital. Its down one of Asmara’s main streets. well-preserved Italian colonial her“We can feel it in Asmara.” itage can be seen everywhere: from The government acknowledges that people are leaving in droves, but says the espresso-sipping patrons lounging on terraces to the world-famous Art it is part of an international conspirDeco architecture. acy to weaken Eritrea. “The policy of

Principal nationalities to arrive in Italy 2015 (Jan-July) 2016 (Jan-July)

SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION

the United States for the past 10 years has been to encourage the migration of Eritreans, especially Eritrean youth and especially Eritrean educated youth,” Yemane Gebreab, director of political affairs for the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) and a close advisor to President Isaias, tells The Africa Report.

“If they can encourage migration and especially desertion from the Eritrean army, which has been a main objective of this policy, then they will have achieved their aim of weakening Eritrea,” he says.

For law-abiding Eritreans, it is hard to avoid the national service programme, which involves conscription into the military to work on government projects. Hundreds of soldiers are known to storm neighbourhoods in Asmara every few months. Known as a giffa, the event sees the troops block off traffic and set up a cordon around the area before going house to house in search of people who have not enlisted in national service.

TRAPPED

With few exceptions, Eritrea’s men and women over the age of 18 are required to do national service for an indefinite time. The programme, which initially lasted 18 months, was extended to an indefinite period during the border war with Ethiopia.

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The most deadly border skirmishes in years broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea on 12 June, killing dozens of soldiers. Both sides blamed each other for starting the fighting. “These repeated provocations are characteristic of the Eritrean government, which attacks not only Ethiopia but all its neighbours. The international community should work to stop the Eritrean government’s dangerous actions,” Ethiopia’s foreign minister Tedros Adhanom tells The Africa Report. “The motivation behind the recent attacks initiated by Eritrea is clear: this was a deliberate effort to divert international attention from the UN Human Rights Council’s recent report accusing the Eritrean government of crimes against humanity,” he adds.

EMILIO MORENATTI/AP/SIPA

MULTIPLE CRIMES

deserting from national service, the government hands down brutal punishments. But if they stay, they are resigned to a life earning a monthly wage of 500 nakfa, equal to about $20 on the black market. “All of us are still in national service. We don’t get enough [money] to live on,” says Henok.

The government is changing some elements of the national service. Those drafted in 2001 or earlier are being allowed to leave, but even then they are still required to work for the government.

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Migrants from the Horn of Africa swim towards rescue boats off Libya on 29 August

to $165 on the black market, according to Hagos Ghebrehiwet, the ruling party’s director of economic affairs and a close adviser to President Isaias.

The PFDJ realises that national service wages are not enough to live on, says Hagos. “You cannot say [the national service wage] is enough for living, but from what it was and from what we are doing to control inflation – to make the buying power of nakfa higher – this is a big improvement.”

The UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea said in June that Eritrea’s government has committed crimes against humanity in a bid to “perpetuate the leadership’s rule”. These crimes include enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, persecution, rape and murder.

Eritrea’s government categorically denies the report’s findings. “This is a very biased report that lacks professionalism,” director of political affairs Yemane says. “Eritrea has by far a better record on human rights than many countries.”

Eritrean government officials are quick to point out that Ethiopia has failed to honour the Algiers Agreement, a 2002 peace accord signed by Isaias and Ethiopia’s former prime minister, Meles Zenawi. Under that agreement, Ethiopia is required to withdraw troops from Badme, a contested town between the two countries.

“No one has called for Ethiopia to withdraw from Badme,” says Yemane. “In the long term, it’s a failure for the region. If, in 2002, Ethiopia had accepted the decision, normalised its relations with Eritrea and moved forward, it could have had a better situation in which to address the structural problems it faces in the country,” he says, referring to popular protests in Ethiopia’s Oromo and Amhara regions.

“The national service itself [...] is because of [Ethiopian troops on the border],” says Hagos. “All the issues that are raised and are being discussed [about migration] are related to [Ethiopian occupation].”

But on the streets of Asmara, people are sceptical of the real danger that

43

POLITICS

Ethiopia’s government poses to the country. “There is no threat from Ethiopia,” says Birhane. “The government uses that to get us to do what they want.”

Last year, the government announced it would void all currency notes issued before the middle of 2015, saying the new notes are a means to curb counterfeiting and rein in the black market. It also put a limit on the amount of money people

couldwithdrawfromtheirbankaccounts, saying it wanted to encourage people to usechequesandmobile-moneyfacilities.

“There is a restriction on cash use; no restriction on expenditure,” says Hagos.

“Cash is the basis for illegal activities like human trafficking.” He says people will be able to use debit and credit cards more widely by 2017. But for now there are not many businesses that accept

them, or cheques. Since the introduction of the new currency, the black market exchange rate has been halved.

“With this new currency, people don’t have access to their money,” Demsas says, adding that he used to be able to afford to take his family of four out to dinner several times a month. Since the new currency was introduced, he has been struggling to afford basic foodstuffs. “What do they expect us to do?” he asks as he walks past the Bank of Eritrea. “That logo should be turned upside down,” he says.

Wealthy Eritreans can pay highranking government officials between $5,000 and $6,000 to be smuggled out of the country and then driven to Khartoum, according to human rights activist Meron Estefanos. The fee for a similar journey across the border with Ethiopia is $2,000 to $3,000, she says.

KIDNAPPED

CHRISTOPHE CALAIS/SIGNATURES

44

Asmara: the city that everyone wants to leave

Europe comes to Eritrea REPRESENTATIVES from Denmark, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Britain have descended on Asmara for bilateral meetings with the Eritrean government in the past 12 months. Migration has been a common topic of discussion.

About 15,000 Eritrean migrants arrived in Europe between January and August of this year, according to recent data released by Frontex, the Europen Union (EU)’s border agency. As more Eritreans arrive on European shores, Western officials are debating whether they should be granted asylum or sent back.

With a migration crisis fuelled by new arrivals

from Syria in full swing, European governments want to limit the number of African arrivals.

Perhaps the biggest effort in this domain is the Khartoum Process, established by the EU in 2014 to reduce irregular migration from the Horn of Africa.

The EU has also announced a €200m ($223.4m) aid package for Eritrea, which it says will go towards improving energy supply and governance.

“Energy is a priority for us, the number one priority,” says Hagos Ghebrehiwet, the ruling party’s director of economic affairs and a close adviser to President Isaias.

“Even what the EU is

doing is not going to be enough, so the Eritrean government is investing on its own too. There will be 50MW added to the power plant in Massawa, which the government is funding itself. Another 50 will be added to the grid from this EU package.”

EU officials insist the funding is channelled through their own offices in the country and cannot be intercepted.

Nevertheless, these efforts have been criticised by human rights activists. “They are forgetting the root cause of migration. […]

Those governments […] are the reason that people are fleeing from their homes,” says Meron Estefanos, a human rights activist. ● M.A.

For most Eritreans – those who do not have rich friends and relatives overseas – the journey to Europe can take years.

Natnael Haile, who now lives in Sweden, says he was drafted into the army at age thirteen. After spending seven years repairing army cars on a desolate military base, he crept out of his dormitory one night in 2008. He paid smugglers $400 to take him into Sudan, where he was kidnapped and sold to nomads in the Sinai Desert. Gangs in the Sinai Desert prey on migrants. They have been found to kidnap and then torture them until their families pay a ransom.

Natnael escaped and went to a refugee camp in northern Ethiopia, where he spent three years before trying his luck again. He took the same route to Sudan but ended up staying there for a year and a half before paying $1,600 to travel to Libya. He was kidnapped again and was forced to pay $3,500 to be freed in Tripoli. There, he met Ermias, a Tunisian smuggler who charged $1,600 to travel on a boat that was doomed to sink off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island, which is considered a gateway to Europe by many refugees.

The dangerous journey to Europe does not deter many Eritreans. “We would all leave tomorrow if we had the money,” says Adonay. ● Mark Anderson in Asmara With additional reporting from Elias Meseret in Addis Ababa.

Some names have been changed to protect people’s identities.

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POLITICS

ANALYSIS Muhammadu Buhari vowed to crack down on oil theft: “We will deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram,” he declared. And so for the first time in history, Nigerian Air Force jets dropped bombs in Lagos and Osun States. The July and August sorties had the desired effect of sending out the message that under Buhari it is no longer business as usual for people who steal national assets. But some diehards who were unscathed by the aerial bombardments remained in their camps deep within the bush.

“There is still a militant camp over there. See that blue roof through the trees,’’ says Jobe Babatunde, a pastor whose house backs on to the mangrove swamp in Isawo. A week later, bulldozers moved in to clear hundreds of makeshift structures built in the creeks by suspected oil thieves.

Another group has joined the rapNIGERIA idly shifting dynamic. Members of the Yoruba nationalist group, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), are playing an active role in the creeks. “We are not vigilantes, but we are doing what the security forces dare not,” says the OPC’s The government and criminal gangs are facing president, Gani Adams. off over oil theft in the economic capital In the Niger Delta, oil companies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum who lived to tell the tale are reported to he streets of Isawo are eerily quiet.

Corporation, pay local militias to protect oil infrastructure. No one is prepared to Aroundoneineverythreeshopsis have paid six-figure dollar sums for their freedom. A hotelier who is suspected of closed. Many people have fled to admit to a similar arrangement in Lagos or Ogun States, but OPC members are nearby Lagos to escape a wave of violence having built his establishments from the that has engulfed several communities ill-gotten gains of stealing oil was shot openly patrolling streets and creeks in the wake of Operation Awathe. in Ikorodu, a poor district to the northdead in broad daylight. Houses of supeast of the Lagos lagoon. The violence All this destruction occurred just posed informers were burned down. And several teenage girls were raped during as the indigenous oil company Yinka was ignited by the emergence of rival the ensuing mayhem.

Folawiyo struck oil off the coast of Lagroups fighting to control the lucrative trade in oil tapped illegally from pipelines Nobody knows how many people died gos, about 40km east of Ikorodu. Lagos is now the tenth oil-producing state laid beneath the swamps. (See page 62.) in the clashes. Some reports suggest hunin Nigeria. And Africa’s richest man, The different armed groups can be dreds, while others make no mention Aliko Dangote, is currently building of a death toll. It is clear from several roughly distinguished along ethnic lines.

During the tenure of former president death notices in the form of colourful what will become Nigeria’s biggest oil Goodluck Jonathan, his Ijaw tribesposters with slogans such as refinery in Lekki, around 20km men began laying claim to resources in “slain for his gallantry” hung to the north of Ikorodu. With this swampy part of Yorubaland. Ajani the renewed insurgency over around town that at least a oil in the Niger Delta reduOwoseni, Lagos State police commisdozen young men met an early sioner, explains: “They are taking addeath in mid-August. What cing Nigeria’s output by more vantage of the swampy nature of forests is certain is that the scale of than one third, Buhari and the Nigeria’s oil to vandalise pipelines there. And later, the unrest prompted securLagos State government approduction ity forces to take swift action. pear determined to send out when they were not able to do that, they in July after Within four weeks, Operation began engaging in other illegal activities.” a strong message to would-be a drop of Awathe (‘wipe them out’ in Conflicts reached a fevered pitch from militants and anyone tempted 40,000 barrels Hausa) was meted out in the to help themselves to crude May to August. Landlords whose properper day (bpd) affected communities. ties were said to be used to refine or store being transported inland from the previous During a trip to China in oil fields in Lagos waters. ● oil for one group were kidnapped by rival month April, Nigeria’s President Rosie Collyer in Lagos gangs. Two were assassinated, and those Dangote’s future oil refinery is already protected

AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/REUTERS

46

In the creeks of Lagos

T

1.5m bpd

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ANANSI ETHIOPIA

Tedros eyes the WHO Ethiopia’s foreign minister wants to be the first WHO director-general from Africa

E

thiopia’s foreign affairs minister Tedros Adhanom does not shy awayfrombigproblems.Hehashis hands full trying to patch up the factions tearingthemselvesapartinSouthSudan’s bitter civil war, but he is also seeking to become the next director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which picks its new leader in May 2017.

For now, his main focus is on tensions in the East Africa region. “We are very disappointed that renewed fighting has broken out after the unity government was formed,” Tedros tells The Africa Report. “The Intergovernmental Authority on Development is following the issue with seriousness and a continued dedication to helping establish lasting peace.”

And there are relationships closer to home that need healing. Ethiopia was recently embroiled in a border skirmish with neighbouring Eritrea that both sides blamed on each other.

Tedros served as Ethiopia’s health minister and takes credit for transforming the health sector through the deployment of large numbers of extension workers. He maintains that one of the most crucial advances in Ethiopia’s success story has been in the quality and access to healthcare. “If people aren’t healthy, the rest means little,” he says. “In Ethiopia, we made a conscious decision to invest in critical health infrastructure, expand the health workforce and create new financing mechanisms. We also worked with communities to identify health obstacles and, together, came up with workable and culturally acceptable solutions.”

While some argue that the move to the WHO could sideline a successful minister, Tedros does not see it that way: “I would never have taken this on if I thought it would jeopardise my commitment to my role as foreign minister.

It’s a heavy load, no doubt, but I don’t bite off more than I can chew.” ● Elias Meseret in Addis Ababa

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Obama’s last stand IT WAS FITTING that Barack Obama used his last speech as US president to the UN General Assembly on 20 September to defend the Geneva Refugee Convention. Signed by 144 states in 1951, the convention is coming under attack. Much hostility comes from rich countries that host less than 15% of the world’s 65 million migrants. It was a small victory that Obama and outgoing UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon stopped governments from tearing up the convention. But migrants will have to wait two years to see whether new protocols offer them more security and rights.

Kicking against Kabila MOÏSE KATUMBI, a well-connected presidential contender in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has stirred Western capitals with calls for tough action after more than 44 people were killed in clashes in Kinshasa on 19 September. The protesters were demanding President Joseph Kabila leave office when his final constitutional term ends on 19 December.

“Without sanctions, they will continue killing our people like mosquitoes,” lamented Katumbi, currently in exile. Someone was listening. The US and France responded with an unusually clear condemnation of the Kabila government’s actions, and threatened sanctions.

Sextuple standards in Paris FRANCE, WHICH DID NOT INTRODUCE presidential term limits until 2008, has proved more indulgent towards other leaders who prolong their grip on power.

Until he was ousted by mass protests and the army, Blaise Compaoré’s presidential recidivism earned no rebuke from Paris. Cameroon’s Paul Biya and Togo’s Faure Gnassingbé, both beneficiaries of an unlimited number of terms, are still welcome in the Elysée Palace.

And those leaders, such as Republic of Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso and Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza, whose resolve to stay in the presidency has cost hundreds of lives, have prompted no serious action.

Museveni’s art of the deal YOWERI MUSEVENI, in power in Uganda since 1986 and unencumbered by term limits, called in at the Elysée Palace on 19 September en route to the UN General Assembly. President François Hollande feted Museveni’s contribution to peace efforts in Burundi and Somalia. Perhaps Hollande thinks Museveni’s acumen will be needed if Kabila’s project in Kinshasa unravels further. Somehow, Hollande overlooked the Museveni government’s detention of opposition leader Kizza Besigye on treason charges. Besigye had questioned the fairness of the elections in February which saw 43 polling stations record 100% backing for Museveni, among other improbable results. ●

47

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COUNTRY FOCUS Côte d’Ivoire

ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP

ADO was re-elected in 2015 on a wave of optimisim that has somewhat waned

Much ado about ADO President Alassane Dramane Ouattara (ADO) comfortably won re-election in 2015 and the economy is booming. However, not all Ivorians are feeling the effect of the country’s greater prosperity, while regional insecurity and popular unrest could pose threats to the hard-won peace

By Olivier Monnier in Abidjan

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I

n a West Africa beset by economic flatlining – Nigeria flailing in the face of low oil prices, Ghana unable to control spending in an election year – the architects of recovery in Côte d’Ivoire have reasons to be cheerful.

Since he took over from Laurent Gbagbo in 2010, President Alassane Ouattara has presided over annual growth nearing an average of 9%, pushed through large new infrastructure projects and made a small but significant dent in poverty for some. Investors say they plan to spend more than $30bn over the next five years in the country after a successful ● ● ●

49

COUNTRY FOCUS | CÔTE D’IVOIRE

MALI

BURKINA FASO

CÔTE D'IVOIRE

GUINEA LIBERIA

GHANA

Bouaké YAMOUSSOUKRO Abidjan Gulf of Guinea

200 km

CÔTE D’IVOIRE IN NUMBERS POPULATION URBAN POPULATION (% of total)

54%1

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

51.92

INFANT MORTALITY (per 1,000 births)

66.62

$430.20m3

FDI, INFLOWS (current US$)

$31.75bn1

GDP (current US$)

8.4%1

GDP GROWTH (annual %) INDUSTRY, VALUE ADDED (% of GDP)

21.1%1

INFLATION, CONSUMER PRICES (annual %) 1.2%1 14.61

INTERNET USERS (per 100 people)

SOURCES: WORLD BANK 2014&20151, AFDB 20142, UNCTAD 20153

22.70 million1

60%

Poverty rates by educational attainment

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% None

Primary

Secondary

SOURCE: IMF COUNTRY REPORT JUNE 2016

SCHOOLING FOR SUCCESS

Tertiary

BALANCING THE BOOKS 12

Current Account balance (percent of GDP)

10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

SOURCE: IMF COUNTRY REPORT JUNE 2016

50

rallying of international interest, both public and private, in May. So Ouattara was probably not expecting the beginning of his second term in office to be quite so tense. About a year after he was comfortably re-elected for another five years in office, he faced perhaps the most important social unrest since he took power in 2011. Along with the regional security threat from Islamic extremists, analysts argue that popular unrest is a major threat to Côte d’Ivoire’s recovery from its recent civil conflict.

The people’s anger was sparked by electricity. The sudden rise of electricity prices in the past few months has fed tensions in Abidjan, the commercial capital, and in the rest of the country. In late July, violent demonstrations broke out in Yamoussoukro and Daloa.

In Bouaké, the country’s second-biggest town, a young man was shot dead during the protests. Demonstrators erected barricades on the city’s main streets and looted several buildings, including the offices of the Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE), which has a monopoly over power distribution.

The violence erupted when Ivorians received a new bill confirming a rise in the price of electricity only months after Ouattara announced that the CIE would have its monopoly taken away. In a speech on Labour Day in May, he said the distributor would face competition from the private sector in order to lower prices. “I have heard your complaints about rising food prices and the rise in utility bills,” he said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the increase in power tariffs was needed. But while prices were due to rise by 16% over three years, some Ivorians saw their bills rise by at least 50%.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Ouattara’s populist move to allow competition was meant to appease social tensions that have been rising in 2016.

Students, teachers, workers of state oil company PETROCI and even staff in the budget ministry went on strike earlier this year. “The risk of social mobilisation around economic grievances remains a problem for the Ouattara administration, which has promised more equitable growth in a second term,” analysts at the Eurasia Group noted in May. “Expectations are high.” In August, Ouattara pledged to help farmers increase production of cassava, bananas and tomatoes in order to lower the price of staple foods.

Côte d’Ivoire’s economy is set for a fifth consecutive year of high growth.

After 10.3% last year – the highest in subSaharan Africa – the biggest economy of Francophone West Africa will grow 9% this year, the government forecasts.

For Bellarmin, who has worked as a taxi driver in Abidjan for 27 years, such statistics do not reflect life on the streets.

“Only the people of the higher class are really feeling the economic growth,” he says as he drives his red cab through the streets of the busy business district of Plateau, where several top-end restaurants have opened in recent months.

“We’re happy with Ouattara because he provides us with a bit of calm. People go to work. It’s better than nothing. Some countries that have gone through big issues like us have never managed to bounce back. But I don’t feel the impact of the economic boom. I’m still overwhelmed by how much I have to shell out every day.”

Ouattara’s administration is also dealing with another threat: growing insecurity in West Africa. Militants from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb led a series of attacks in West Africa from November 2015 to March 2016, killing about 70 people in raids on hotels and restaurants in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. On 13 March, armed men raided a popular beach in GrandBassam, a weekend getaway for AbidTHE AFRICA REPORT

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CÔTE D’IVOIRE | COUNTRY FOCUS

NABIL ZORKOT FOR JA

SIFCA subsidiary PALMCI has enhanced the yield of village palm oil plantations

janians, killing 19 people. This prompted the government to create an emergency fund in April of 80bn CFA francs ($136m) for the fight against terrorism. It will use the money to upgrade equipment and boost security in the country’s main cities and along the borders.

The security spending – along with increased education and infrastructure expenditure – will weigh on the fiscal deficit. It will widen to almost 4% of gross domestic product this year, up

from 3% in 2015, the IMF said. Finance minister Adama Kone tells The Africa Report that the security spending is essential and will have only a small impact on the deficit: “If you don’t spend money on security, there’s no economic growth. There are no economic and financial programmes in a country where there’s no security.”

Kone says that the Grand-Bassam has not damaged the country’s image among investors. “Of course, there has

been some hesitation in the aftermath of the attack, but it hasn’t discouraged investors. They’re still rushing to come to invest here. Every day the prime minister receives big investors.”

The government’s Centre de Promotion des Investissements en Côte d’Ivoire thinks big. In May the government organised a conference in Paris to mobilise funds for its development plans. The results of this were mixed: donors and lenders pledged $15bn – double the amount sought from them; but private sector companies said they would come up with only $16bn of the $32bn sought from them.

Business-friendly legislation is boosting the launch of new companies. The number of new firms set up in the first six months of 2016 rose by 34% to almost 7,000. In comparison, only 2,800 companies were created in the whole of 2013.

But challenges remain, and one of the biggest of these might be corruption – both large- and small-scale. The government says it is addressing the problem. In May, a report commissioned by the Haute Autorité pour la Bonne Gouvernance shed light on $8.5m of missing funds from the Conseil du Coton et de l’Anacarde, the government regulator for the cotton and cashew sectors. The population is waiting to see if the government team can keep up the good-governance charge. ●

51

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COUNTRY FOCUS | CÔTE D’IVOIRE

The Marchica project in Morocco: a blueprint for Cocody

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

54

INFRASTRUCTURE

Crafting Cocody Work is underway to revitalise a section of Abidjan’s lagoon with the help of a Moroccan outfit that undertook a similar project on its home turf

L

aunched with great pomp in June 2015 by President Alassane Ouattara and King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the clean-up and development of Cocody Bay on the Abidjan Lagoon is advancing slowly but surely. Work started on the project on 18 January.

The overall programme includes several elements: a viaduct, an urban park, a marina, leisure spots, water treatment facilities and commercial spaces. The Cocody development is inspired by a similar programme in the Moroccan coastal city of Nador (see below). The Moroccan state-owned company that worked on the Marchica site in Nador, Marchica Med, is overseeing the activity at Cocody. Marchica Med was set up in 2010 to manage the revitalisation of the Marchica site on Morocco’s coastline.

Saïd Zarrou, the director of Marchica Med, explains his company’s involvement: “It includes helping the three ministerial departments dealing with the project in its different phases, development studies and arranging the finance.” Moroccan bank Attijariwafa is providing a loan for 10% of the 100bn CFA francs ($170m) in project finance. The rest is due to come from international partners, particularly Gulf countries.

The government held a fundraising meeting on 19 July at the Hôtel Ivoire with Gulf investors. There, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Islamic Development Bank and the

wastewater from Nador directly into the lagoon and its surroundings was wreaking havoc on fauna and flora.

Nature is now thriving on the site.

Khalid Belouchi, director of development and the environment at MarchKuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development announced that they would be ica Med, describes the project’s ecoloparticipating in the financing for the gical focus. In addition to the marina Cocody Bay development. and hotel development, an area will be The first phase of the work includes protected for bird life: “We intend to the dredging of the lagoon and is well preserve its wilderness by having only underway. In December 2015, Marchica observation posts for birdwatchers,” he explained during a visit to ongoing or Med opened an office in Abidjan, which is led by Zine Abidine Ali Ouazzani. completed construction sites covering an area of more than 2,000ha.

Morocco-based Zarrou is often in Abidjan to oversee the project, A few kilometres further towards the city, a sandy whichisbeingdevelopedby the Entreprise Nationale de beach has been carved out Bâtiment et Travaux Pubof the sea at the same place lics with the help of Mowhere sewer facilities were connected to the lagoon. rocco’s Société Générale des Travaux du Maroc.

“With the new station operated by the national bureau MODEL PROJECT for drinking water, we have The initial phase is due to been able to depollute the take seven months, which The estimated cost site and build this 1.5kmof the Cocody bay will give the Moroccan and development project long beach from scratch in Ivorian governments time the very heart of the city,” to finish studies on flood SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY says Belouchi. prevention. The entire proBesides the opening of a ject is due to take four years. “With our new 300m-wide canal, 4,500tn of all kinds Ivorian partners, we eventually want of waste was removed to clean up Marchto repeat this effort in other areas of ica. The operation, which lasted nearly West Africa known for their lagoons,” eight years and cost Dh1.5bn dirhams explains Zarrou. ($154.5m), involved 700 workers. If the The Marchica project has won Cocody redevelopment is as successful plaudits from environmentalists in Moas its Moroccan counterpart, then similar rocco. Marchica’s resurrection began such projects may take place in nearby countries like Togo and Benin. ● in 2006, following royal orders to clean up the site, which was experiencing Fahd Iraqi in Abidjan and Nador an ecological disaster. The disposal of for Jeune Afrique

$100bn 100 0b 0 b

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PEOPLE TO WATCH

Looking for success in the succession

Supporting Sustainable Development in Côte d’Ivoire

President Ouattara’s allies are gearing up for his retirement, while economic players are looking to bolster the manufacturing and transport sectors

Standard Chartered commenced operations in Cote d’Ivoire in 2001. We believe in the long term prospects of the country and continue to invest resources towards expansion in the country.The Bank is optimistic about the economy and continues to support it by providing financial solutions to clients in various sectors of the economy. We offer a suite of products and services in Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, Corporate and Transaction Banking and see Côte d’Ivoire as a major economic growth centre for Africa. As one of the world’s most international banks in 67 countries, having representation in Cote D’Ivoire reiterates our commitment to be Here for good in Africa.

P

Recently, we launched our Here for Africa campaign as a symbol of our commitment to investing in Africa’s core growth sectors to support sustainable development. Our strategy is simple; to bank people and companies driving investment, trade and the creation of wealth across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We remain committed to delivering tangible benefits to support economic growth which include human capital development; digital banking client solutions; attracting international investor capital and empowering local entrepreneurs by connecting them with multinationals. Investing in Africa remains at the heart of what we do.

Isaac Foly is the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Côte d’Ivoire since September 2015. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, he was CEO in Diamond Bank in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.

He served also at Citi Côte d’Ivoire as Corporate Bank Head Vice President and at Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire at a Senior position in the Risk Management at the beginning of his career. Isaac holds a Master in Finance from the University of Abidjan and a Commercial Engineer from INSTEC in Abidjan.

sc.com/ci

Here for Africa l Here for good

DIFCOM/DF - PHOTO: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

As an exemplary corporate citizen, we aim to make positive contributions to the communities where we operate in through initiatives that link our core business expertise with key issues facing these communities.

Through Seeing is Believing for example, the Bank’s global intervention to tackle avoidable blindness, we have invested over USD1m towards avoidable blindness prevention and treatment. Being one of the top 10 bank in Cote d’Ivoire, expansion of our operations and increasing our market share fits in with our strategy for the country.

resident Alassane Ouattara’s second and last term in office will end in 2020, as the constitution only allows two terms, and the competitors are slowly gathering backers behind the scenes. They include trusted secretary general of the presidency Amadou Gon Coulibaly and deputy secretary general and former Ecobank chief Thierry Tanoh.

Two heavyweights in the race are National Assembly president Guillaume Soro and interior minister Hamed Bakayoko. Ouattara had often consulted Soro, the former leader of the Forces Nouvelles rebel group, on issues of national importance that went beyond Soro’s role at the National Assembly, but the two now seem to be consulting less often. Soro, 44, was too young to run in previous elections, but now might not be the best time to be in the spotlight. One of his most pressing concerns is an international arrest warrant issued in January by the government of Burkina Faso for a case related to a failed coup attempt in that country in September 2015.

In widely circulated tapes of a conversation with Djibrill Bassolé, an ally of Burkina Faso’s former President Blaise Compaoré, a voice said to be Soro’s was heard discussing the coup events underway.

After the Grand-Bassam attack this year, Bakayoko has been at the centre of activity on the security front. He, too, has an outsized role and has worked on critical issues such as the national census, politElectricity protests ical dialogue with have pushed the opposition and the reintegration of civil society into former combatants the policy debate from the country’s recent civil conflict.

He is holding his cards close to his chest about whether he thinks he can assemble a coalition to mount a leadership bid for the governing Rassemblement des Houphouétistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix.

Reforming the country’s constitution is one of the major platforms of Ouattara’s second term, and the responsibility for that falls to jurist Ouraga Obou. He heads the panel of experts overseeing the proposals for a new fundamental law. The former University of Abidjan law professor has worked in administrations of all stripes in Côte d’Ivoire, having been a co-founder of former President Laurent Gbagbo’s Front Populaire Ivoirien party and serving as president of the Conseil Constitutionnel under former President Henri Konan Bédié. The new constitution is set to create the post of vice-president, who will take THE AFRICA REPORT

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NABIL ZORKOT FOR JA

Kaba Nialé, keeping the numbers straight

over in case of the death or incapacitation of a president, and establish term limits and a new electoral calendar.

The country’s economic growth has continued at a rapid pace (see page 49), thanks in part to the activities of Kaba Nialé (pictured). The trained statistician was named the country’s first female finance minister in 2012 and she moved to the planning ministry in January to focus more on the country’s long-term development. The former World Bank staffer had focused on governance reforms during her tenure as finance minister. She is now managing the country’s 2106-2020 national development plan, whose major priority is to strengthen the manufacturing sector.

Swiss national René Decurey is leading Air Côte d’Ivoire’s charge to rival Asky and other West Africa-based airlines. Majority-owned by the Ivorian government, the airline transported more than 600,000 passengers in 2015, beating Ethiopian Airlines-backed Asky, which is based in Togo. It will serve 22 countries by the end of this year, up from 18 in 2015, and aims to reach one million passengers per year by 2020.

With this year’s protests over the cost of electricity and other complaints, civil society groups are playing a crucial role in public debates. Hélène Gnionsahé was elected to a two-year term to head the Convention de la Société Civile Ivoirienne, an umbrella group of around 130 non-governmental organisations, unions and associations. The former teacher of midwives is using her role to lobby for universal health insurance and contribute to the agenda between the government and the political opposition. ● Honoré Banda THE AFRICA REPORT

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COUNTRY FOCUS

The HKB bridge was hailed as a “promise” of infrastructure to come… Abidjan is still waiting

points to a lack of transparency from the Ivorian authorities and their decision to choose Dongsan Engineering to implement the project rather than Alstom’s preferred partner, Systra.

After Alstom and Systra exited the project, the budget for the first planned rail line began to grow. At the end of 2015, STAR informed the government that it would cost €1bn ($1.1bn) instead of the €500m initially planned. In addition, preparatory work on the project was estimated at around €40m, financed through a loan from Banque Atlantique.

According to STAR, the amount is justified due to the major risks involved and the desire to respect the quality standard of the Gautrain built by Bombardier in Johannesburg.

INFRASTRUCTURE

A long wait to ride tthee rails a s The first phase of Abidjan’s urban railway line may not be operational before 2020 due to conflicts over contracts

BILL TOO HIGH

Nonetheless, the bill for Abidjan’s urban railway seems too high when compared with the €412m Addis Ababa tramway and the €744m Dakar regional express train project. Moreover, STAR can use part of the pre-existing railway and is not anticipating any complex urban redevelopment programmes. The govcurrent talks. Both sides are discussing ernment wants to avoid evicting people passenger numbers and the required living in the working-class areas of Abobo payments should traffic be too low. and Adjamé, through which the future The presidency has been backing the north-south line will pass. railway’s development, and this is the While waiting for the preparatory studlatest in a series of challenges the proies to end, work is yet to begin on the site.

The transport ministry explains: “Conject has faced. The tender for the construction of the first line did not have struction is expected to take between three to five and a half years to complete.” any successful bidders between May and December 2013 because Plans concerning another possible line, the candidate companies, linking Abidjan’s westled by French firm Alstom, did not meet the governern neighbourhood of ment’s eligibility criteria, Yopougon to Bingerville particularly on issues rein the east are still in their lated to financing. infancy. According to a In Februar y 2014, source at the presidency, The railway’s estimated prime minister Daniel controversial mining encost has doubled since Kablan Duncan authortrepreneur Frank Timis, the project began ised transport minister who has already worked with several Chinese railGaoussou Touré to abandon the use of tenders and work out way companies in West Africa, was an exclusive framework agreement, asked to take part in this second project. This claim was, however, dismissed encouraging the bidding companies to form a consortium. Alstom pulled out by the entourage of the Romanianat the last minute of those talks.

Australian business tycoon, who does A source at the French company not seem to be interested. ● Baudelaire Mieu in Abidjan explains: “The financing structure did not meet our ethical standards.” He for Jeune Afrique JACQUES TORREGANO FOR JA

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T

he Ivorian government was keen to get a new urban rail line operational in Abidjan by 2017, but that is not going to be possible. It is now in laborious discussions with investors about the terms of a deal for the construction of the first phase of a 37.9km railway that would have the capacity to transport about 300,000 passengers per day. In its rush to roll out infrastructure, the government had announced that the north-south line would be running by next year but it now seems unlikely that it will be working before 2020.

The timeline depends on the current negotiations between the government and an investor consortium. The investors are grouped together in the company called Société de Transport Abidjanais sur Rail (STAR) and they include France’s Bouygues and Keolis, and South Korea’s Dongsan Engineering and Hyundai Rotem. The key issue in the current discussions involves contract terms about the minimum number of passengers that the line will carry. The Ivorian government has agreed to pay the STAR investors if traffic falls below a predetermined level, which is the subject of the

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MESSAGE

With an increase in rating from A in 2015 to A+ in 2016, Bloomfield Investment confirmed the financial high performance of Abidjan Port Authority

COUNTRY FOCUS | CÔTE D’IVOIRE

COCOA

Eyes on the choco prize The government launched tax incentives in late June to encourage grinders to process more cocoa and export finished goods rather than raw beans

I

t has long been a bugbear of African investors and it was supposed to last only nationalist economists: Why export five years. Grinders said the tax change cheap raw materials and allow foreign was unfair and brought an increase of as processors to reap all the financial remuch as 25% of their export tax as 100kg wards? But setting up the right system of beans typically produce about 80kg of incentives is not easy, even if you of processed cocoa products.

As for the new incentives, Loic have an economist running the country.

Has Côte d’Ivoire finally figured out Biardeau, manager of Barry-Callebaut’s how to do it? After almost Ivorian unit, SACO, says: three years of hesitations “The proposals are goand negotiations, the goving in the right direction. It’s a major develernment finally reached out opment.” SACO is the to local cocoa processors. biggest grinder in the The world’s largest cocoa country, with a capacity producer announced on 30 of 190,000tn per year.

June that it would grant tax Côte d’Ivoire reductions to grinders to produces around GUARANTEED SUPPLY boost the transformation of At the time of the new beans locally, a 2015 camexport tax changes, the paign pledge of President of the world’s cocoa government promised Alassane Ouattara.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY guaranteed supplies to Under the new rules, the the country’s processors Droit Unique de Sortie, the main cocoa export levy, will vary acfrom the April-to-September crop – the ‘mid-crop’. However, if it wants to meet cording to the types of products shipped its grinding target, the government will out of Abidjan and San-Pédro, the country’s two main ports. Exports of raw need to provide grinders with supplies from the main harvest that goes from cocoa beans will be taxed 14.6%, while October to March. “There’s a need to cocoa powder, cocoa butter and cocoa mass will have a tax rate varying from go further to guarantee these additional 9.6% to 13.2%. Companies will not have capacities,” Biardeau says, “because the to pay any tax on chocolate exports. In return, the processors have to commit to increase their capacity, ranging from at least 7.5% per year for the factories that have a capacity equal or larger than 100,000tn per annum to 15% a year for the plants with a capacity of less than or equal to 50,000tn. The government’s goal is for companies to process 50% of annual output locally by 2020, up from 33% at the moment.

30%

mid-crop will not be enough to supply the factories.” He also adds that the government will need to consider pricing modalities: “It would be bad if incentives given to grinders are annihilated by a price that wouldn’t be that of the market.”

On the production side, after last season’s record output of 1.8m tonnes of cocoa produced, production is set to fall this season after unfavourable weather earlier this year.

A severe Harmattan – the dry winds that blow from the Sahara Desert to the south of West Africa from December to February – impacted the midcrop’s quantity and quality. The government said recently it was expecting 1.7m tonnes, while the London-based International Cocoa Organisation forecast output of 1.57m tonnes.

In any case, the government argues that the prospects are better for the next season, which starts this October.

Although rains came late, the government said it targets production of 1.75m tonnes for the 2016/2017 season. ● Olivier Monnier in Abidjan

Fresh off the tree, a cocoa bean, which can now be processed locally thanks to incentives

UNJUST TAXES

Processors welcomed the decision, which comes about four years after the government scrapped all their tax advantages. In 2012, as part of a reform of the cocoa sector, the government made grinders pay levies on the weight of beans purchased rather than on the weight of products exported. The government said the previous tax advantage was introduced in the 1990s to attract

XINHUA/ZUMA/REA

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Because sustainable agriculture is based on respect for the environment and biodiversity, the SIFCA Group is committed to a policy of

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DÉFORESTATION At least 10% of the forest is preserved for newly acquired land 1,400 ha of protected ecological reserves A biodiversity preservation charter

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www.groupesifca.com GROUPE SIFCA

62

BUSINESS NIGERIA

How to survive

cheap

oil

COMPANIES & MARKETS

By Charles Idem and Nicholas Norbrook

W

hen oil prices were at $150 a barrel in 2008, exuberant Nigerian oil companies began thinking about snapping up assets from international oil companies eager to sell their on-shore blocks. Local firms bought assets then valued at many billions more than they are today in deals with oil majors from 2013 to 2015. Now, the oily black tide has gone out again and, with oil at $40-$50 a barrel, we can see who was swimming without their trunks on.

Added to the price pressure, a spike in militant activity has hit production levels since February. In particular, the closure of the Forcados export terminal has affected indigenous oil companies, with most of the blocks sold off by Shell linked to the terminal.

Companies like Seven Energy and Shorelinehavebeenbadlyhit,with the latter reported not to have exported a barrel for seven months.

Can the companies readjust?

Can the government intervene without making things worse?

Will the banks play their part or sit back and lick their wounds?

Or can the current crisis be used to re-engineer the entire sector?

We spoke to a panel of experts from within the industry to get their practical ideas on how to survive the new era that stretches out ahead – an era in which more of Iran’s oil comes online in 2017 and oil prices remain relatively depressed over the next five years.

A NIP AND A TUCK

The first job for the companies is to cut costs. Capital expenditure (capex) has been slashed across the board. “We cut capex by a mile,” Austin Avuru, managing director of indigenous oil company Seplat, tells The Africa Report (see page 64).

And for some companies that has meant looking into recurrent expenditures that do not make sense. For example, Oando delisted a subsidiary company from the Toronto Stock Exchange in May, saving “around $7m a year in listing and regulatory fees”,

ILLUSTRATION BY CAMILLE CHAUVIN FOR TAR

A perfect storm of militant attacks and a commodity slump have knocked the wind out of Nigeria’s nascent indigenous energy sector.

A pragmatic approach is necessary, and there may yet be good news on the horizon

63

64

BUSINESS | COMPANIES & MARKETS

according to Tokunbo Akindele, head of Oando investor relations.

The company closed down its offices in Toronto and Calgary, laying off staff in those locations.

And staff have quietly been laid offatother companies,too,including indigenous company South Atlantic and United States oil giant Chevron. But with unions kicking off against mass job cuts and oil being a capital-intensive not labour-intensive industry, savings will need to be made elsewhere.

REDO THE IOU

The second job, for banks and companies, is to restructure loans that were made to indigenous companies during the good times. “Most of the [lending] models were built on $100 oil, worst case scenario $70 oil,” says Dolapo Oni, head of energy research at Ecobank in Lagos. He points to the fact that most of the newer Nigerian oil companies

have not been able to ramp up production, an obvious counterweight to a fall in prices. “We are not even talking about militancy – this was from last quarter of last year. Most of them couldn’t hold on and started to reach out to us to talk about restructuring.”

Most of the loans outstanding have now been restructured, includingoneofthetwobiggestones: Oando’s $850m in loans spread across many Nigerian banks. The otherbigloanisproblematic.Local firm Aiteo acquired oil licence OML29, one of Nigeria’s most productive blocks, for $2.6bn in 2014 with the help of a syndicated loan of $1.5bn raised from local banks.

One finance industry insider says: “That is currently non-performing and sitting on the books of around 10 banks, so it’s a bit of a mess.”

The two companies – Oando and Aiteo – reveal a distinction in Nigeria’s indigenous oil sector. The former is better established and

$37.8 Average price of a barrel of crude in the first five months of 2016 SOURCE: EIA

INTERVIEW

Austin Avuru

Managing director, Seplat

We will live with $40-$50 oil TAR: How are you surviving the current crisis?

We see [the oil price and militancy] as short-term headwinds which we will come out of. We are still concentrating on our growth plans [for] once we get out of these headwinds.

In the meantime, everybody has tried to see whatever modest production could be maintained through other means of evacuation – and in particular be able to evacuate condensate so you can produce gas.

Those are some of the measures we are taking.

But hopefully by the end of this month, we should be back to production

and then we ride out the storm and move on.

What are your current production levels?

We can’t give specifics.

For gas, we have been able in about three months to do about 80% of our capacity through alternative evacuation means for the condensate that comes with it. That’s how far I can go, really.

What kind of cuts have you had to make?

Apart from some key investments in additional gas-processing facilities, which we had already committed to, in terms of oil capex, we cut that

substantially. We probably cut oil capex by as much as 70%. And we also trimmed down our recurring costs – as much as we can go without cutting the bone with the decrease in production.

Can you exist with the prices at current levels?

We will live with $40-$50 oil. Those figures were lower than our original plans […]. In 2016, we were seeing $50, and $60 in 2017, and we initially held it at $60. But now I think we are still in the $45-$50 range in the near term, so all our budgets are in that kind of bracket. ● Interview by C.I.

has an investor base that is well diversified. The latter was incorporated in 2008 and was politically connected to the former government but “new to the game,” as Nigerian energy analyst Antony Goldman puts it.

He points to the backdrop of international oil companies fleeing an opaque operating environment even during a period of high oil prices. “If the likes of Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips couldn’t make it work, who are we to argue with them?” Goldman asks.

That environment includes the curiously well-coordinated efforts of Niger Delta militants, which several in the current administration link to the now out of power People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

So, given the security concerns, next on the list for companies hoping to survive has to be alternative means of getting their product to market. Some companies have done this already. Seplat, for example, built a separate pipeline to the Warri refinery, from where it has oil pumped to barges and shipped it out to ocean liners. And while that has not offset all Seplat’s output, the company is faring better than those locked in by the Forcados shut-in.

Seven Energy, another indigenous company scrambling to renegotiate terms with creditors, is on the verge of completing a gas pipeline from Oron to Creek Town, which Fitch ratings points to as one of the few positives in a challenging situation.

Nonetheless, the ratings agency downgraded Seven’s credit rating from B- to CC in early September.

TO BAIL OUT OR NOT?

So is there anything that the government could or should do about the headwinds in the oil industry?

There are naturally those pining for a bailout of struggling indigenous producers. They might look to the moral hazard – the fact that one bailout could contribute to bad behaviour, since companies might expect the government to save them from their mistakes – created by the ‘bad bank’ after the 2009 financial crash. Then, the government transferred ● ● ●

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BUSINESS | COMPANIES & MARKETS

sions about payments to communities in oil-producing areas.

But one oil executive, who requests anonymity, says that this is a moment where Nigerians should be looking at opportunity rather than just survival.

ASHLEY GILBERTSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES-REDUX-REA

the losses of big borrowers to the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, and many of them carried on as usual.

Some analysts suggest the government would do better to help producers with alternative export infrastructure or to fix the shortage of dollars that plagues the industry. Ecobank’s Oni cites a client who supplies gas to a major power company, which lacks dollars to settle its bill. This may not be ideal “but they are accepting in naira now, just for the revenue”.

A year of hard ball over the currency appears to be at an end, with President Muhammadu Buhari finally agreeing to a devaluation of the naira in June, with the currency slumping 40% against the dollar in the following two months. But the foreign currency supply has still not recovered. ●●●

oil and gas industry would help bring much-needed capital back into the country.

Investment has been hamstrung since former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was unfit for purpose back in 2008, saysGoldman:“Westilldon’treally know when or what form this reform is going to take. As a result, it’s been very difficult to attract new investments into Nigeria because youcan’t say whatlong-term contractual basis you will have to operate in, what the fiscal terms are going to be, everything that real banks need to know.”

Currently, the Petroleum Industry Bill is back with the Senate.

While the bill is about industry regulation, PDP senators from the Niger Delta want to insert provi-

Amount of disruption to oil production

JOBS FOR THE BAD BOYS

Political accommodation in the Niger Delta should be next for the government’s to-do list.

And rather than a programme of paying militants off – seen under the previous administration and continued under the current one – perhaps a serious infrastructure outlay and job creation plan could entice young men who would otherwise be in the creeks bunkering oil illegally or joining one of the many militant groups.

And finally, sorting out the legislative framework around the

Oando, one of the largest Nigerian oil producers, has had to cut costs, lose staff and restructure loans

Forcados

Brass River

Qua Iboe

GOLD-PLATED OPPORTUNITY

Currently assembling a team to invest in the Nigerian energy sector, he points to countries like Russia, which has managed to survive low oil prices much better than anticipated because its cost base is in roubles rather than in dollars.

And despite much fanfare about local content, the amount of oil services provided in Nigeria in naira is still very low.

Not only that, but the era of high oil prices made people ignore unnecessary gold-plating on contracts and not care so much about the actual cost of the services they were buying. “Service provision is a massive opportunity in Nigeria today. Given the market price and actual costs, it is a licence to print money,” the executive argues.

He points, for example, to transport costs from a pipeline into an export terminal of $11 a barrel in Nigeria, when the actual costs are under $2 a barrel.

Likewise, he sees standardisation of parts as another huge opportunity. “We have 6,000 different bolts, where really we only need one. We need to do what Ford did to the automobile.” A new chance for the development of a lean, Nigerian service industry awaits in the era of cheap oil. ●

(barrels a day)

Bonny Light

900,000 Rising militant attacks

800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

66

300,000 200,000 100,000 0

No disruption

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

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BUSINESS | LEADERS

INTERVIEW

Mohammed Dewji

Chief executive officer of MeTL Group

Our revenue target is $5 billion per year Mohammed Dewji is spreading his trading, commodities and manufacturing businesses around East and Southern Africa, positioning them to benefit from regional integration

T

anzanian billionaire Mohammed Dewji, who leads Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited (MeTL) Group, is looking to nearby countries for growth.

Dewji’s business empire, made up of interests in textile manufacturing, logistics and agribusiness, brought in revenue of $1.5bn in 2014 according to company statistics. Across its operations in 12 countries on the continent, MeTL employs more than 24,000 people.

Dewji has his sights set on more than tripling his company’s revenue. “[Seven years from now] our revenue target is $5bn per year. We project that we will be employing 100,000 people,” Dewji tells The Africa Report. To do that, MeTL’s targets are in East and Southern Africa. MeTL executives have identified Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia as countries ripe for investment.

The company says investment in these countries will strategically position it to capture opportunities in three regional blocs.

Dewji’s conglomerate has planned projects around the region:warehousefacilitiesinKenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda

and Zambia; commodities trading firms in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia; and companies to sell petroleum products in Burundi, the DRC, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. “If someone has thought about where to deploy capital right now, this strikes me as a well thought-out plan,” says Nairobi-based analyst Aly-Khan Satchu.

But questions linger over MeTL’s capacity to carry out this ambitious expansion. “Africa

MeTL’s international reach

POWER FOR TEXTILES

MeTL has expressed its wish to establish new facilities for textile production,as well as a detergent-manufacturing plant and a carton-manufacturing plant in Ethiopia. But Dewji has struggled there. He says he bid for government-owned textile mills that were being privatised, but “the government did not want to sell them to me, for whatever reason. They know best.”

Ethiopia

South Sudan Uganda

DRC DR

is notoriously asymmetric, so MeTL will need to deploy quite a lot of management capital into these countries in order to get these kinds of things off the ground,” says Satchu.

In Kenya, the largest economy in the region, MeTL is currently growing and selling tea. It is now set to diversify into warehouse facilities and cotton production.

“We are now going for cotton, where we are looking to invest $200m as part of our expansion plan,” Dewji says.

100,000 The number of employees MeTL aims to have by 2018

Kenya

Rwanda Burundi Tanzania

Zambia

Malawi

Mozambique

SOURCE: METL

3.5%

The group's contribution to Tanzania’s GDP

METL GROUP

69

Textiles remain a key target rail].” Long delays at Dar es Saarea. “If you look at Tanzania, laam’s port also prove problematic Ethiopia, Zambia and Mozambifor business: “If Tanzania fixes efque, there is a plenty of cotton,” ficiency at the port, our gross doDewji says. “But you need to have mestic product will grow by 0.5%.”

Dewji argues that Tanzania’s competitive power. Power is too recently elected president, John expensive. We are also looking at Magufuli, who campaigned vighow to invest in power for textile [production].” He is optimistic orously on an anti-corruption about two countries in particular: platform last year, will be good for “I’m very confident that Tanzania the business community. “I think and Mozambique will fix their if we stick to what he is telling this power because of the gas availability.”

“I think if we stick Dewji says he also to what [President John wants to capitalise on his company’s distriMagufuli] is telling this bution networks. “We country to do we will fly” have over 100 outlets [in Tanzania].

We have 2,000 vehicles that do country to do, we will fly. The man the distribution, which gives has great vision, he is pushing for us the reach that nobody [else] revenues to increase. He is cutting has attained in the distribution expenditure. All in all he is havindustry,” he says. ing more money to be able to deExpensive transport is also liver to the poor in terms of social holding back trade in the region, services, education, healthcare, says Dewji: “If you are moving water and agriculture.” goods via trucks […] it makes no Some businesses in Tanzania sense because it is costlier [than are concerned that the new THE AFRICA REPORT

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MO MONEY 8 May 1975 Born in Ipembe, Tanzania 1998 Degree in business from Georgetown University, US 1999 Returned to Tanzania to run MeTL 2005 Elected member of parliament for Singida 2012 Named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader 2014 Created the Mo Dewji Foundation

mandate of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to carry out audits and investigate corrupt practices will damage the business environment. The TRA has been looking over the tax payments made by MeTL and other big firms. Dewji says he is not worried. “[The TRA] has been open that they are partners with entrepreneurs and they want to work side by side with them. I think that attitude is a good attitude.”

At 41, Dewji has an estimated net worth of $1.1bn, making him the youngest billionaire on the continent. In June, Dewji announced that he would give away at least half of his wealth to philanthropic causes, saying that he wants “to truly support the betterment of our society so that future generations grow up to live even better lives and strive for even more than they think is possible today.” ● Interview by Mark Anderson and Dotto Kahindi in Dar es Salaam

BUSINESS | LEADERS

INTERVIEW

Iyinoluwa Aboyeji

Co-founder and managing director, Flutterwave

We have a lot of visionaries After co-founding Andela, an innovative coder-training programme, tech entrepreneur Iyinoluwa Aboyeji is now building a payment system to improve pan-African commerce

F

or Nigerian techies looking for their next move, startup Andela may seem harder to get into than Harvard, but Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, one of its cofounders, is leaving. Despite Andela receiving $24m in funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation and other investors in June, Aboyeji said it was time to go.

While running Andela – which trains and gets jobs for coders and other techies – out of Lagos, Aboyeji says he often encountered problems receiving local payments. This is the genesis of Flutterwave, his new payment-system venture. After launching in May, the company has already performed $20m in transactions.

It has a portfolio of clients that include Nigerian bank Access Bank, transportation company Uber and Nigerian payments outfit Paystack. It has opened offices in Lagos, Accra and San Francisco. Aboyeji – who spends

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

70

much time flitting between continents – speaks to The Africa Report about his new direction.

TAR: How did you move from advancing technology capacity through training to e-commerce?

IYINOLUWA ABOYEJI: My whole career has been predicated on a few things. Primarily, it has been about education and building platforms about education around the world. My first company was Bookneto, which helps university professors to independently offer online courses without having to spend lots of cash on infrastructure. We sold that business to a group of professors in Canada. Then Fora was focused on helping working professionals in Nigeria access online MBAs, accredited professional degrees and courses without having to leave their jobs. Nigeria is one of the largest markets for distance-learning courses.

It was from that business that we decided to do Andela as a

FLUTTERING INTO FINTECH 2010 Founded Bookneto 2012 Graduated from University of Waterloo, Canada with a degree in legal studies 2014 Co-founded Andela. Was recruitment director until his departure in 2016 2016 Launched Flutterwave as managing director

way to find highly talented young people who wanted a career in technology and prepare them for that by getting them to work with companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft. That has been my journey, finding the problem and putting together a team and resources to get that problem solved.

How does your new venture, Flutterwave, work?

We’re not necessarily a payment company ourselves. We’re building the underlying infrastructure for payments in Africa.

The way that technically tends to work is that in reality we’re building direct integrations into all the various payment methods that people use on the continent.

In the United States, for you to be able to accept payments is a function of you being able to accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover and Amex. But here in Nigeria the penetration of these cards, especially the international ones, is not as high. So there are many

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LEADERS | BUSINESS

Who are your target customers?

Our primary customers are African developers. In terms of companies, there are the likes of ride-sharing companies or people providing advertising services in Africa. You have companies building merchant application platforms, payment service providers, the freelancing world, technologists that are building solutions for global economies, like Andela for instance. And we work with a lot of banks.

How do you hope it will transform the region?

By definition, we are a panAfrican company. This is something I’ve come to realise: we set up all these east and west barriers for companies, and it doesn’t make sense because it’s one continent. It’s important that we do business together.

Part of Flutterwave’s aims are to improve pan-African commerce.

We’re in Nigeria and Ghana right now. We accept payments from across the continent, but we are working slowly through our ecosystem of partners and banks so we can get to pay from all over the continent as well.

What have you learnt from your time at Andela?

It’s very important that you have a world-class team. I don’t think any of the success that we’ve had so far would be possible without a team of people who individually are impressive and then come together on a very mighty, impressive scale. For you to build a society that is focused on the future, you need two things: you need people, which is why I’m very focused on building capacity on the continent, and you need platforms.

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and we have a lot of visionaries in that space now who are pushing the boundaries, especially with Andela.

What will it take to develop strong technology ecosystems in Nigeria?

You have three stages. The first stage is the pioneers. These are the people that come into an ecosystem and are thinking about how they can use technology to solve problems. Here in Lagos a few years ago ‘Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe started the CoCreation Hub Nigeria, which is the epicentre of the Lagos technology ecosystem, especially in Yaba. They built a centre of excellence where all they wanted people to do was engage in technology. They were the pioneers – none of this would be possible without them. Then gradually you get to the inflection stage, where there is usually a shortage of talent, and the industry can crash.

What I think about the hubs in West Africa is that all these conversations cannot be had without the focus on the talent that will drive this technology revolution.

We cannot call ourselves a technology ecosystem when all our technology is built in Paris, London, Portugal and India.

“When you get a talent ecosystem, you can get a funding ecosystem” We’re disadvantaged in many respects. Our education system has challenges, so we have to work with what we have. When you get a talent ecosystem, you can get a funding ecosystem. I think a lot of people are starting to understand that we can’t put the cart before the horse by looking for funding before we get the talent we need in order to get to that point.

Will we see you launch another startup anytime soon?

I’m quite monogamous with my [startups]. I can’t multitask well. ●

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Billie Adwoa McTernan in Lagos

APPOINTMENTS

Mthuli Ncube The former chief economist and vice-president of the African Development Bank was appointed head of the Quantum Global Research Lab in September as part of the Swiss-based private-equity firm’s “Africa for Africa” recruitment strategy.

Edward Effah Fidelity Bank’s managing director and founder, Edward Effah (above) takes over as Group CEO and Chairman of the Board, the bank announced in September.

Effah’s deputy, Jim Baiden, will fill his shoes as managing director of the Ghanaian bank bank.

Enzo Scarcella Telkom’s chief marketing officer was named the new chief operating officer for MTN’s South African enterprise. Scarcella will take over the post at the start of December and is the latest in a string of new hires announced by the telecoms giant.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

different ways that people prefer to pay, like Verve or your mobilemoney options.

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BUSINESS | FINANCE

PRIVATE BANKING

A rich man’s game

African private banks have fought off foreign competition to manage the assets of the continent’s high net worth individuals, but will have to keep their wits about them

P

However, the ‘suitcase banking’ model, where wealth managers travel to meet clients rather than being based locally, has failed to woo the market. This led to the high-profile exit of Credit Suisse in 2013 from 50 emerging markets, including such key African countries as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, Barclays is withdrawing from the continent, having sold a 12% stake in its Barclays Africa business in May and planning the sale of a further 30% before the end of the year.

Head of private banking at Kenya-headquartered Commercial Bank of Africa Catherine Karumba underlines the growing recognition of the importance of HNWI among local African banks: “Eighty per cent of your revenue might come from only 20% of your customer base. In Africa, everyone is trying to protect their HNWIs because they realise their impact on the bottom line.” She adds: “African private banks are offering a greater range of wealth management solutions. The investment advice they are giving is much more sophisticated, more on the same level as that offered by the international banks. So it really depends on what the customer prefers: to keep his wealth in Africa or keep his money offshore.”

South Africa and Nigeria are Africa’s primary private banking hubs, holding the lion’s share of the estimated $125bn currently managed by the continent’s

AN EASY LIFE FOR SOME

The number of African high net worth individuals (HNWIs) – usually defined as those with more than $1m in liquid assets – leapt from 107,100 in 2009 to 148,100 in 2014. Their assets totalled $1.44trn, according to consultancy Capgemini’s 2016 World Wealth Report. And despite a dip in total wealth to $1.39trn in 2015 blamed on sliding commodity prices, particularly oil, the future looks rosy for the sector, with analysts predicting growth in the private banking retail market of 7% per annum during the coming decade.

It is this potential for growth that has drawn attention from both the international groups such as UBS, HSBC, Julius Baer and Credit Suisse, and African firms such as AfrAsia, Standard Bank and South Africa-based Investec, the continent’s market leader. In 2013, Investec held $23.7bn of assets under management in Africa, by far the largest portfolio on the continent.

wealth managers. Firms in South Africa manage some $72bn of HNWI wealth according to Research and Markets Africa 2016 Wealth Report. Capgemini research says that of the 145,400 HNWIs in Africa in 2015, South Africa is home to around 48,700, while Nigeria has some 15,700.

TALENT SHORTAGE

Inspiring pan-African thinking at Standard Bank’s Johannesburg offices

Kenya and Ghana are tipped as the sector’s future growth markets.

However,offshorefinancialcentres such as Dubai and Mauritius are stealing market share, particularly from clients in North and East Africa,saysOliverWilliams,headof wealth management consultancy WealthInsight: “South Africa has anadvancedbankingsector,which is one of the reasons it dominates the continent. However, for the rest of the continent, a lot of private banks are limited in what they can offer their clients beyond the plain vanilla banking services such as fixedincomeandequities.Another

Africa’s top 5 private banks by 2013 assets under management BANK COUNTRY

AUM

INVESTEC SA RMB SA PSG KONSULT SA NEDBANK SA SANLAM SA

$23.7m $13.3m $10.7m $8.6m $6.8m

CLLFF SHAIN

ity the Swiss private banker.

Under pressure from US and European regulators cracking down on tax evasion and avoidance, European private banks saw Africa as the answer to their prayers. However, while there has indeed been terrific growth in Africa’s private banking sector, it is the continent’s indigenous private banks that have reaped the benefit rather than international players.

According to 2013 figures, the top five private banks in Africa based onassetsundermanagementwere all African banks (see table).

More than a decade of sky-high commodity prices on the back of Chinese growth swelled the number of the continent’s elite and their bank balances. This triggered a push into the continent by the world’s biggest private banks, starting in the early 2000s.

SOURCE: NWW/ANNUAL REPORTS

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HANNIBAL majorbarriertogrowthisthelackof experienced private banking talent outside South Africa.”

African expats whohave worked in international financial capitals such as New York and London are increasingly being lured back, however, as demand for qualified wealth managers increases, according to Deon de Klerk, head of wealth and management at South Africa’s Standard Bank. “It’s not a lack of talent that is holding back the African sector. It’s a lack of experience, but we are getting there,” de Klerk argues, adding that the key to growth is managing the transfer of family wealth.

“The next decade will see a massive transition of wealth from this entrepreneurial generation who are looking to pass their assets totheirsonsanddaughters,” agrees Williams. “Ensuring their wealth is not lost is a high priority so increasingly private banks are focusing on wealth education.” Standard Bank, for instance, now offers financial management courses for children as young as 10.

MACRO AND MICRO TRENDS

But as flatlining petrol prices take their toll on Nigeria’s economy and South Africa’s markets continue to be rattled by President Jacob Zuma’sharassmentoffinanceminister Pravin Gordhan, will there be anything left of HNWI wealth for their children to squander?

“The China slowdown and low commodity prices will change the landscape on the macro level,” says Seb Dovey, partner and founder of investment consultancy Scorpio Partnership. “But HNWIs in emerging markets tend to use this type of situation to their advantage […]. They have capital to deploy in a scarce capital environment.”

AndwhileWesternprivatebanks interest in Africa may have cooled, Dovey hints that the battle for control of Africa’s elite finances is far from over: “If you want to try and look into a crystal ball to see the future for the private banking sector in Africa, I wouldn’t discount the possibility that some Asia-Pacific banks might start to make more significant inroads,” he says. ● Charlie Hamilton

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Mind on the mobile money in Kenya SOME LIKE THE COMPETITION, and others do not. United States-based creditcard company Visa is seeking to rival mobile-money pioneer Safaricom with its own platform in Kenya. It announced the launch of the mVisa app in Nairobi in mid-September in partnership with four local banks. The credit-card company says it has its eyes on Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Visa’s Kenyan safari comes despite the fact that M-Pesa dominates the mobile-money sector, though the latter already faces a stiff challenge from Equity Bank.

Bingo for SA bankers IN SOUTH AFRICA, there already seems to be a big winner in the mobile-money stakes. In September, continental telecoms giant MTN admitted defeat at the hands of the country’s banks and ended its mobile-money services. MTN followed in the footsteps of Vodacom, which also cancelled its mobiletransfer operations in June. Vodacom quit the business saying it was not able to meet its goals on customer numbers and that South Africa’s high rate of financial inclusion made the service less attractive than in countries like Kenya.

Unvirtual Zim reality IT IS NOT MOBILE MONEY that is the hot topic in Zimbabwe.

People are talking about the government’s plans to fight the cash crunch through creating a local currency in the form of bond notes. There is a shortage of United States dollars – one of the country’s official currencies since the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar. The bonds are due to be in circulation in October, with $75m to be issued by January. Civilian protesters and oppositionists argue that the move could lead to a repeat of the crisis that finished off the Zim dollar.

The government is struggling to pay civil servant salaries and the finance ministry announced in September that the budget deficit was due to hit at least $1bn this year and its negotiations to pay off arrears to the International Monetary Fund and others are not going as it had planned.

Grounded in Nigeria NIGERIA’S ONGOING FOREIGN CURRENCY woes have hobbled the country’s aviation industry. The drop in oil price led the government to adopt a restrictive exchange-rate policy that has hurt companies dealing in dollars. The government has liberalised the exchange rate but problems remain. Importers have had trouble keeping airports supplied with fuel, leading airlines to cancel flights and in some cases suspend their operations. Aero Contractors, which was founded in 1959, stopped operating on 1 September. A few foreign airlines cancelled their Nigeria legs too. When Arik Air suspended flights for a day due to “documentation related to insurance renewal”, analysts pointed to growing problems and called for a bailout to ensure that internal and external travel remains uninterrupted. ●

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& UTILITIES

Eskom’s South Africa’s power utility may be keeping the lights on this year. But with the parastatal now fast becoming a political football, long-delayed projects may lack finance in the future

By Marcia Klein in Johannesburg

W

hen finance minister Pravin Gordhan sent a shot across the bows of state electricity company Eskom, complaining of irregularities in a coal supply contract linked to the influential Gupta family, the effects were immediate. Old Mutual’s Futuregrowth investment company announced it would stop negotiating with Eskom over new lending.

Eskom immediately hit back, saying that it was co-operating with the treasury, with spokesman Khulu Phasiwe telling The

Africa Report: “As our chairman and group chief executive said in Parliament [on 1 September], our coal contracts are above board and in line with corporate governance guidelines.” But while Fitch ratings announcing that the withdrawal of funding from Futuregrowth and Denmark’s Jyske Bank would “probably not put their 2016-17 funding plans at risk”, the damage is done according to some opposition politicians.

The Democratic Alliance’s shadow public enterprises minister, Natasha Mazzone, points to Jacob Zuma’s recent announcementofaPresidentialStateOwned

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stumble Entreprises Council as,“the last nail in the coffin” for Eskom.

And yet, despite a decade of crticism, it had all been going much better of late. Eskom’s chief executive officer, Brian Molefe, promised investors and ministers that his struggling utility company has turned the corner. Thanks to a successfulload-sheddingprogramme, the rolling blackouts that once plagued the continent’s largest economy are now a thing of the past, Molefe says.

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of R4.6bn ($319m) over that period compares well against the R200m it earned over the same period the previous year, as does the 10.6% increase in revenue it registered.

In May this year Molefe told reporters that Eskom had met its 3,000MW target to deal with load-shedding, thanks to “the mobilisation of Medupi [power station], as well as improving the efficienciesrunningourmachines”.

FALL IN DEMAND

That Eskom can tout itself as an adequate supplier of electricity is at least in part because a slowdown in South Africa’s economy has re-

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Carrying firewood under electricity pylons in Soweto – where residents owe Eskom R4.7bn

duced demand. According to the company’s annual reports, it sold just 3% more electricity last year than it did 10 years ago. Peak demand in the current financial year was 34,481MW, with 214,487 GWh sold. This is a pedestrian increase inbothcategoriessince2006,when peak demand was 33,461MW and 208,316GWh was sold. Five years ago, peak demand was 36,212MW, well above current levels.

Independent power consultant Doug Kuni tells The Africa Report: “The economy has declined so far, and demand is so low, that [Eskom is] selling to our neighbouring countries again

SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS

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[…]. With no growth in demand, Eskom has looked at increasing prices. But its tariff increase has not been approved, so where will revenue come from?”

In response to these claims, Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe says: “There should be no denying of the fact that [our] performance has improved over the last 10 months. The assertion that it is not Eskom’s performance but rather the economic slowdown that has kept the lights on for the past 10 months is disputed.”

The company brushes aside the barrageofcriticismlevelledagainst it. While Eskom’s group executive for generation, Matshela Koko, concededthatSouthAfrica’spower consumption has decreased, he says peak demand is “far higher” now than it was last year. According to Koko, Eskom’s maintenance, “top leadership and strategic shift” have increased its energy factor, adding new generation capacity of 2,599MW, excluding two new power plants that are currently under construction.

Despite South Africa’s ambitious building programme, the addition of new generating capacity has come at a snail’s pace. Eskom’s reform strategy has centred around the construction of two massive coal-fired power stations, Medupi and Kusile, which it hopes will produce 4,800MW each. Molefe has said recently that both projects are on schedule and within budget.

But even that came after a significant delay. Construction of Medupi broke ground in 2007 at an estimated cost of R69.1bn, with production from its first unit initially projected to start in January 2010. The power station is now expected to be fully commissioned by 2020/2021 at a cost of R145bn, according to Phasiwe.

Construction of Kusile is also running late. It is now expected to be completed by 2021/2022, and the cost estimate has doubled from R80.6bn to R161bn.

Analysts have rejected these estimates and warned that the true cost of the new plants could be as much as four times higher. Kuni, the power consultant, says: “There are huge cost overruns at Medupi

renewable energy and independent power producers (IPPs), which are also increasing in cost. Molefe said in May: “I don’t buy the argument that [renewable energy] has contributed to a reduction of load-shedding. If anything, [it’s] increased the burden.” Eskom is forced to buy renewable electricity at a higher cost than its own generation and at times when it has excess capacity. Eskom said in July that it would not sign any new power-purchase agreements with renewable energy IPPs. NUCLEAR PLANT

ESKOM

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and Kusile. Where is the money coming from? If not from sales, then it is coming from the [government] or debt.”

Chris Yelland, an energy analyst, says that Eskom is not prepared for the delays and high costs of its projects. He adds that the latest total costs to completion for Medupi and Kusile – including a flue-gas desulphurisation plant, interest during construction and contractor claims not yet processed – are conservatively estimated at R208.7bn and R239.4bn respectively, significantly higher than Eskom’s figures.

IT’S A WRITE-OFF

At the same time, Eskom is facing rising costs in other areas. There is the burning issue of looming non-payment of debts. Municipal governments,whichactasresellers of electricity, owe the company R6bn and the residents of Soweto owe it R4.7bn. Neither are likely to pay. Eskom lists both groups as liabilities but in practice they should be written off, which would makethebalancesheetlookworse.

The company has been reluctant to pay for upgrades to accommodate new capacity including

Eskom’s predictions have been confident, but analysts present a different picture of vertiginous debt

3%

Increase in Eskom’s electricity sales in 2015 compared to 2005

SOURCE: ESKOM

Analysts like Yelland question whether Eskom has laid the foundation for a sustainable power supply. Its five-year projection is for demand to increase 0.8% a year.

Phasiwe does not give specific answers on progress over the next financial year, other than to say the “new build programme is on target to meet set delivery dates” and will “add 9,600MW of new capacity by 2020/2021.” Meanwhile, Eskom’s board has approved a borrowing programme totalling R327bn up to 2021. The government has also injected R23bn and converted a R60bn loan into equity.

Eskom has certainly kept the lights on in the past year. Whether itwillinthefutureisanyone’sguess because there is no updated integrated power plan. There are plans to build a massive 9,000MW nuclear power plant, which sources say are imminent.

Kuni says he cannot understand the urgency, especially given that nuclear costs have spiralled out of control globally. “It will take 20 years to commission the next unit. They are not attending to an urgent problem that exists now.

They first need a 20-year view of what the economy is going to do.”

Yelland says the question is whether we need it at all, and if we do, how much do we need and when do we need it by? “There is no hurry any more. Nevertheless, it is a long-term build so they do need to plan ahead. But we don’t have an integrated resource plan for electricity and the plan we have is six years old and needs to be revised urgently.” ●

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CONSTRUCTION

Skyline for sale New buildings are rapidly transforming the Addis Ababa cityscape and a real estate market is booming, but not everyone can get on the property ladder

T

he bright red bricks of the Ayat Real Estate properties in eastern Addis Ababa are typical of the developments that have sprung up around the city in recent years.

Like many new housing projects, they were erected on the outskirts of town where land is cheaper. They are so popular with the country’s growing middle classes that city planners extended Addis Ababa’s new light railway system to reach them.

A construction boom has transformed this city of five million people, with both government and private projects popping up along the city’s sky-

line. Ethiopia’s urban centres are home to about 17 million people, according to official statistics. That number is projected to reach around 22 million by 2020, so the need for new housing is acute.

In a bid to serve the capital city’s growing housing demand, the government says it wants 2.4m new houses to be built in the next five years. The sector is booming, and construction now accounts for more than 20% of Ethiopia’s gross domestic product, according to figures in last year’s annual report by the ministry of urban development and construction.

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Stefano Polimeno, Ethiopia country manager for the real estate portal Lamudi, tells The Africa Report: “This is the time to be in Ethiopia […]. With more than 2,000 dollar-millionaires in the country at the moment, everything is growing. But I must stress that most of the boom, especially in the construction sector, is happening here in the capital, Addis Ababa.” Private real estate developers are getting in on the action. There are an estimated 50 real estate companies that are actively operating in the country, according to Polimeno.

BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES

Foreign companies are also investing, with Chinese firms at the forefront. After building the African Union headquarters, China State Construction Energy

CONSTRUCTION & UTILITIES | DOSSIER

116.2 Corporation is now at work on the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia’s 62-floor building, as well as a new national stadium. Egypt-based company The Arab Contractors is building two projects worth $111m, and there are Turkish and Indian firms involved in construction projects as well.

There are many hurdles for companies to clear, says Tenadam Zewdie, a senior adviser for Tsehay Real Estate: “Lack of skilled manpower, infrastructure and construction materials are the main challenges. Besides, the bureaucracy itself was hindering.

The absence of a real estate law has also affected our activities.”

Wubshet Kibebew, a construction contracts management officer at the ministry of urban development and construction, agrees that there are many elements holding the sector back.

“The construction industry in Ethiopia is shallow in spite of its boom that is triggered by the

25.8 29 North Africa

57.5

is attractive for one crucial reason: “Real estate properties in Ethiopia are the cheapest East 61 57.5 Africa in Africa, and ten times lower than the ones in Angola, which 79 West 140 Africa has the most expensive price 23 quote in the continent,” says Central Construction boom Africa Polimeno. “There is a strong Africa’s construction demand from members of the expansion by region Ethiopian diaspora, but most Projects people in the country couldn’t Cost ($bn) afford the new properties.” AcSOURCE: DELOITTE South cording to research conducted Africa 109

by Lamudi, the average price for one square metre of Addis real rapid and continuous economic growth of the country,” he says. estate is around $400.

Sintayehu Besufikad, a “There is lack of a conducive environment to promote compet54-year-old public servant, wanted to buy a house using itiveness, delays in the supply of construction machinery and money his daughters in the we have a fragmented developUnited States sent him. “It is very expensive for me,” he says. ment of key stakeholders within the sector. And then there is the “They have quotes of more than 5m birr ($230,000) for a house element related to unethical and outside of Addis. That’s beyond rent-seeking behaviour coupled with a weak regulation system.” my reach.” ● But despite the challenges, Elias Meseret Ethiopia’s real estate market in Addis Ababa

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TURKEY

Breaking ground in Africa

Turkish construction companies are scooping up contracts for power plants, housing, airports and hospitals, including in countries others deem too risky

L

ike their Chinese counterparts, Turkey’s contractors are getting increasingly active in Africa as part of their global expansion. Turkey is looking to spread its diplomatic and business links into Africa’s most promising economies. Ankara has been flexing its diplomatic muscle across the continent in a bid to boost its standing on the world stage and to bring in new business for Turkish companies.

Turkey’s diplomatic ties with African countries are growing by leaps and bounds. In 2009, Turkey only had 12 embassies in Africa, five of which were in North Africa.

Today, Ankara has 39 diplomatic missions on the continent. African countries are reciprocating: there are now 32 African embassies in Ankara, up from just 10 in 2011.

When Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Nairobi in June, one of his key priorities was to boost trade with East Africa’s biggest economy. “Last year, our trade volume was $144m; this is very small,” he said in a speech.

“I asked [Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta] that, if possible, we should increase [trade volume] to $1bn. I know that we have the potential to do that.”

CONSTRUCTION SURGE

Poised to benefit from this diplomatic offensive is Turkey’s construction sector. Between 2010 and 2013, Turkish contractors registered a 28% rise in international business, reaching $30bn in earnings. In the 2015 ranking of the top 250 international contractors by US-based trade publication Engineering News-Record, 42 Turkish companies featured.

A key part of this rise is an uptick in African business. “Africa has always been one of the most important markets for Turkish international contracting services,”

a spokesman for the Turkish ContractorsAssociation(TCA)tells The Africa Report. “Especially in the last decade, [Turkish construction business in Africa] has been in an impressive surge of growth.”

Turkishconstructioncompanies haveearnedmorethan$10bnfrom 223 projects in sub-Saharan Africa since the 1990s, according to the TCA.Thesefirmsarenowpositioning themselves for more business as African economies grow.

“Turkish companies have been renowned for their willingness to enter markets many major international construction firms have deemed to be too risky, such as Libya,” says Richard Marshall, a senior infrastructure analyst at BMI Research (see box). “This strategy of leveraging higher risk tolerance to get a greater market share can be replicated in the high-growth but high-risk markets in sub-Saharan Africa.”

In North Africa, Turkish contractors are most active in Libya, Algeria and Morocco. They have more projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria

and Sudan than anywhere else in sub-SaharanAfrica.Theirpresence is growing fast in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Mali and Senegal. “[The DRC] and especially Ghana attract investment with their positive growth opportunities and infrastructural needs,” the TCA says.

KENYA AND CAMEROON

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destinations in Africa are now served

by Turkish Airlines SOURCE: TURKISH AIRLINES

Turkish contractors will be keeping an eye on the Kenyan and Cameroonian construction markets, which are forecast to grow 8.8% in real terms per annum during the next five years, according to Marshall. “Both markets are supported by increased government spending and privatesector involvement and boast well developed public-private partnership frameworks, which have been critical in attracting and sustaining private investment,” he says.

In Somalia, a country in which the Turkish government has pledged to invest $100m by 2017, Islamist insurgency Al-Shabaab

Moving on from Libya TURKISH CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES have been more active in Libya than in any other African country. When civil war broke out in 2011, it put a stop to billions of dollars’ worth of Turkish construction projects. “About 15% of total international activities were in Libya and that was halted abruptly,” says a spokesman for the Turkish Contractors Association (TCA). “The total amount of unfinished projects in Libya is known to be approximately $19bn.”

With the battle to dislodge Islamist militants from large swathes of the country still underway, the outlook for an economic recovery any time soon is bleak.

“Unfortunately, even as of today, five years after the Libyan [uprising], order could not be [restored] in the country, and security problems have further increased,” the TCA says. “Our relations with the new government of national accord continue, but we don’t expect a fast recovery soon.” Analysts share this negative view.

“Libya’s economy will not surpass its nominal 2012 levels for another decade,” says Richard Marshall, a senior infrastructure analyst at BMI Research.

With Libyan projects stalled, Turkish firms are turning their attention to other parts of the continent. The TCA says Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mali and Senegal are being scrutinised for new business opportunities. “Despite the collapse of global commodity prices and political shocks that have slowed growth in the continent, Africa’s economic lions are still moving forward,” the TCA says. ● M.A. THE AFRICA REPORT

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The Turkey Contractors’ Association has a shiny new HQ in Ankara, ideal for business diplomacy

YUNUS OZKAZANC

has targeted Turkish workers.

In 2014, a bomb was detonated outside the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu, killing three construction workers.

“Turkish infrastructure firms are known for being more risktolerant than other Europeans.

And as such, opportunities in Somalia would be very much available to them should they arise,” says Marshall. “Somaliland in particular is set to enjoy robust infrastructure investment in the coming years as DP World looks to upgrade facilities at the port of Berbera, and Ethiopia continues to look for export corridors.”

Turkish contractors are building housing, shopping centres, hotels and conference centres. They are also taking on infrastructure projects, which include power plants, airports, oil and gas pipelines and petrochemical refineries.

One of Turkey’s biggest construction companies in terms of international revenue is ENKA, which earned $2.4bn from overseas operations last year. It has completed 19 projects in Africa.

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$2.4bn in overseas revenue last year. It has 10 ongoing projects in Africa, including hotels in Nigeria and shopping centres in Libya.

In the face of competition from Chinese and other firms looking to pick up deals outside of their hom me markets, Turkish firms seem to be b mholding their own. Turkish com pany Karadeniz Holding signed da ndeal with the Ghanaian govern ment in 2015 to build two floatin ng powerstationsthatcouldsupply as much as 20% of the country’s eleectricity demand. In the same yeaar, infrastructure company Albayrak ak Group signed a 20-year deal with the Somali government to manage Mogadishu’s port.

INTEGRATED APPROACH

Turkish construction companies are increasingly forming partnerships with investment and property managers, engineers and procurement specialists. “Such integrated approaches are growing in popularity due to the infrastructure drive and tightening liquidity all over the globe,” the TCA says.

African rail projects are projected to pick up pace over the next decade. “This will be driven in-

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$4.11bn $4

Turkish exports to sub-Saharan Africa rose to $4.1bn in 2013, from $1.5bn in 2006

SOURCE: TURKISH STATISTICS INSTITUTE

creasingly by the need to support connectivity, urbanisation and the growing consumer class within sub-Saharan Africa’s economies,” says BMI Research’s Marshall, adding that there are more than $105bn worth of rail projects under development in sub-Saharan Africa. “This level of investment is the second highest globally […] as a percentage of gross domestic product, at around 6%,” he adds.

But it is not all smooth sailing for Turkey’s firms abroad. Many African governments and businesses have already established strong links with Chinese infrastructure companies. “Turkish firms will not be getting first-mover advantage if they try to tap the strong growth story in sub-Saharan Africa, as the Chinese have firmly establishedthemselvesasthego-to source for infrastructure financing and construction in many markets,” says Marshall. “As such, it is unlikely Turkish firms will garner enough business for sub-Saharan Africa to become a significant part of their global strategy, but, nevertheless, the region will be an avenue of growth for them.” ● Mark Anderson

ART & LIFE Interview TM

“This show is only the beginning” Rapper AKA has no time for Batman v Superman for he’s his own superhero. With his VIP-studded Supa Mega Show, which kicked off in Soweto this spring, he brings his powers to a bigger public

By Shingai Darangwa in Johannesburg

T

here is a bustle of activity inside Soweto’s Zone 6 venue. A dozen or so men and women scurry about – some moving tables and chairs into place and others doing small touch-ups to the bar area. When AKA walks into the building, most of them can’t help but break from their duties to steal a glance.

Tonight, the multi-award-winning South African musician will take the

stage for his inaugural Supa Mega Show.

The sell-out performance in Soweto’s 3,000-capacity venue is the culmination of his career so far. Despite this, he couldn’t look more at ease as he prowls the stage, gesturing, observing, and chatting to his team of advisers – ensuring that every last detail is as it should be. Satisfied with the set-up, AKA runs through his sound check and, sure enough, his swashbuckling persona explodes into view. He jolts

between characters; one moment conveying the consummate professional as he barks out commands to his production team and at other times playing the jester, comically fooling around with an insect repellent and terrorising the cheeky flies that dare intrude his space.

This is AKA as we know him from his music, his tweets and his public rants – a character full of contradictions.

Since bursting onto the scene as a solo artist in 2010 with his breakout single, ‘I Want It All’, the 28-year-old, who was born Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, quickly rose to prominence.

“Before ‘I Want It All’ dropped, I was living above some rubbish shops, in some small apartment,” he recalls during a break from his sound check.

“I didn’t have a whip, but I had a dream bro’. I was just trying to get into a zone where I could get into the game.”

Buoyed by a dollar and a dream, AKA, who was at the time a part of the formidable production collective known as I.V. League, managed to get Pro Kid and Khuli Chana – both predominantly ‘vernac rappers’ and heavyweights in the local hip-hop scene – to feature on the song. “I just spat my heart out ● ● ● THE AFRICA REPORT

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● ● ● on one of the best beats we’ve ever produced and that’s where it all started,” he recounts.

Soon after, he was introduced to Raphael Benza, who today is the managing director of the independent label Vth Season. Benza recognised AKA’s talent in music, production and performance and teamed up with the rapper. “After putting out his mixtape, we attempted to shop around his fulllength album, Altar Ego, to several record companies,” Benza tells of this definitive period. “After we were turned down each time, AKA challenged me to create a record company.”

HIT-MAKER

And he did just that. Over the next few years AKA repaid Benza’s faith in him by producing a plethora of quality hits including three platinum singles and a platinum plaque for his sophomore album, Levels.

AKA is temperamental, unpredictable and fiercely competitive; characteristics that have bred controversy and a slew of public feuds along the way. His longrunning hostility with Cassper Nyovest, an artist with whom he’s found himself competing for most major awards, escalated to its peak and caused a media frenzy last year when Nyovest alleged that AKA had slapped him in a nightclub.

Things soon spiralled out of control when the mother of AKA’s child – and popular house DJ – Zinhle Jiyane released a statement claiming AKA had been unfaithful to her with popular media personality Bonang Matheba, and that the two would be breaking up.

How does he deal with the pressure?

“I had to go through that and learn that when everybody has said the worst things about you, there’s nothing that can affect you any more. If last year didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be as strong as I am today, maybe I’d still be responding to people on Twitter.” He still is.

Over the past few years, AKA has toured several countries around the continent – an experience which he credits for broadening his horizons: “The continent has gotten so much smaller in terms of us working together.

For instance, take a place like Nigeria, or Tanzania – doesn’t matter whether it’s East or West Africa or even Central Africa, they’re now more exposed to South African music than they’ve ever been and we’re more exposed to their music than we’ve ever been.” His

His inspirations Bad

Michael Jackson

“It was the first album I ever got when I was a kid. My dad got it for me. I remember my grandparents always used to call me to dance and sing for them, I used to love that.”

The Blueprint Jay-Z

“It takes me back to my last year in primary school where I was trying to rap. It was just a new sound and for me that’s where Jay-Z became a different artist.”

Graduation Kanye West

“Sonically, this album is perfect.

The sound that he used, the electronic music, the synths, I love the futuristic sounds. It also isn’t too long, just 13 songs. That for me is the perfect length for an album.”

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West

“Kanye had to bounce back from all the controversies and his mom passing on. He went to Hawaii and spent $2m on that album. And it paid off because it came out flawless.”

recent collaboration with Tanzanian superstar, Diamond Platnumz, ‘Make Me Sing’, has been a huge success across the continent. In South Africa, the song was the first in the country to reach a million views on YouTube within a mere 10 days. “I do a lot of collaborations because I find they’re the best way to penetrate those markets. At the same time, they also want to penetrate the South African market,” AKA explains.

HOMESICK FANS

With the continental takeover in full swing, AKA is seeking to extend his reach beyond the African continent. In February, he travelled to Canada to do a show for hip-hop website Okayplayer in conjunction with NBA Africa. “It was great. You don’t realise how many South Africans are out there and Africans in general,” he says. “People who just want to hear African names like Thabiso [his tour DJ] for instance, people who are so homesick that they’ll come from a distance of an hour or even two hours away just to get those few moments of feeling like they’re home again.”

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just can’t take Ben Affleck seriously; he’s not very good. Christian Bale, however, was a great Batman.” Noted.

A few hours after concluding the interview, AKA, clad in his very own superhero attire, a black hoodie taking the place of a cape, is playing the role of the Supa Mega. He’s in his element as he swings the crowd side to side.

The lights, the stage, the swagger, the atmosphere, it’s all mega. A host of local celebs pack the VIP section and a few others share the stage with him during the course of his performance.

This show is a huge success and the format AKA plans to use from now on: “This is just the beginning, the first of many […]. I essentially want to get to a point where I’m not taking bookings any more. I want to do like eight shows a year, and when I do those shows I want to partner with brands or venues and say: ‘Listen, let’s put everything in our hands – the sound, the visuals, the ticketing and the promotion.’”

AUSTIN MALEMA

GETTING POLITICAL

AKA is at his most animated when he talks about visiting Old Trafford, the home stadium of his favourite team, Manchester United, during a tour of the UK last year: “It was a childhood dream come true. When we got to Manchester I was like, ‘Guys, don’t take me to the hotel, just take me straight to Old Trafford’. When I got there, I got out of the car and I was like, ‘Oh my God, Old Trafford I’m finally here.’”

When he returned to his hotel after a show that night, he went online and booked a stadium tour. “The next morning I woke up bright and early and completed the tour. It was simply amazing.

My next goal is to go and see a game. I’ll take anything; even Manchester United versus Barnsley if I have to, I don’t care.”

Besides his love for soccer, AKA is a big movie fan. His favourite movie?

Training Day. “I just love Denzel; all his work. I also love Goodfellas – I think I’ve watched that movie like 10 times,” he laughs, before advising me not to waste my time watching Batman v Superman.

“It’s terrible! I went to watch it with my girl and I walked out after 30 minutes. I THE AFRICA REPORT

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AKA travels with his own sound and light engineers to ensure the technological effects have a wow factor to match his personality

His albums Altar Ego

AKA’s debut solo album, a sprawling, 18-track compilation, delivered on his early promise with multiple hit singles including ‘All I Know’, ‘I Want It All’ and ‘Victory Lap’.

Levels

With its house music samples and cross-genre collaborations, Levels introduced AKA to an entirely new market, earning him several awards and critical acclaim across the continent.

The following day, a video is posted on Snoop Dogg’s Snapchat showing him vibing to AKA’s latest single, ‘Dreamwork’, as he’s being driven around. The world is listening. Not long after the show, AKA unleashes a Twitter storm when he declares his support for the African National Congress, the troubled ruling party. He will no longer be performing at events hosted by any other parties, he says. Scores of disgruntled fans voice their displeasure at this. Even controversial politician Julius Malema enters the fray, exchanging confrontational tweets with the rapper.

Having been one of the more vocal celebrity supporters of the #FeesMustFall movement during last year’s turbulent uproar over high university fees, AKA has shown an ability to connect.

When he marched side-by-side with the students many called him an opportunist and questioned his true intentions. Then in April of this year he backed up his belief in education by endowing a scholarship for one young person a year to learn sound engineering at the SAE Institute in Cape Town.

Fast-forward a few months and AKA continues to divide opinion. Some find him captivating and entertaining; others maddening and sensationalist. This conflicting appeal gives him a voice, one through which he continues to be loved, loathed and consumed. ●

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Photography MyAfrica, our Africa Chosen from thousands of entries to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s competition, three stunning images encapsulate the enigma of Africa and its future

H

ow to capture the variety of a continent that is home to 54 nations and more than a billion people in a single image? This was the ambitious challenge set out by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in its MyAfrica photography competition to mark the 10-year anniversary of the launch of the leadership and governance organisation.

The competition was divided into three categories; professional, amateur and student, with each winner pocketing $10,000 in prize money, and sought to highlight key themes that will shape the continent’s future in the coming decade.

“MyAfrica celebrates Africans – through their own images and words – speaking for themselves rather than being spoken for,” said Sudanese businessman and foundation chair Mo Ibrahim. “The best photographs show a vibrant and dynamic future for Africa and tell a story of opportunity and hope.” See more images and read their story at: mo.ibrahim.foundation/my-africa/ ●

Runners-up

Lunga Mhlakaza, South Africa Graduate has degree but still no job

Jaryd Van Straaten, South Africa Mist over Green Point stadium, Cape Town

Chao Maina, Kenya Children play in the ruins of a WWI railway station THE AFRICA REPORT

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Jeri Muchura, Kenya (professional winner) A boy and his fish in Lake Turkana, Kenya. “My prayer is that in the next 10 years, peace will prevail, and children will grow up ignorant to the ugly face of war.”

❯ Samar Baiomy, Egypt (amateur winner) A fisherman casts his net in Al Qalyubia, north of the capital, Cairo.

❮ Phindulo Tshidzumba, Zambia (student winner) Reflections of Africans going about their daily lives.

Mauro Vombe, Mozambique “Women are the light of life” THE AFRICA REPORT

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Aleena Rupani, Kenya Ivory burning: “Africa has taken a stand to save these animals” •

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Micheal Opaleye, Nigeria “These children have the right to the same opportunities”

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LIFESTYLE BEHIND THE SCENES

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Uzodinma Iweala

His 2005 novel Beasts of No Nation was adapted into an award-winning film in 2015. Now longsilent Iweala hints a new book is approaching

TREND HUNTER THE MANY FACES OF JOLLOF

If you became president today, what would be your first decision?

Depends on president of what country. If it were Nigeria, one of the first things I’d do is basically decree that Nigeria would become a 100% solar nation in the next five years. It is doable.

Where are you hanging out?

Mostly in my apartment and study – trying to finish a book makes you a little anti-social.

What place feels most like home to you?

Any place where I have my books, my bed, and my cat. I love my cat.

What is your favourite rap verse?

Too many that are amazing. Depends on the time of day, my mood. At the moment, anything by Oddisee is good.

What is your favourite TV show?

Right now I’m watching Marseille, but House of Cards and The Walking Dead – when I have internet, Netflix and a large screen.

What is your favourite sports team and player?

I used to really be an Arsenal fan and I thought Thierry Henry was awesome. But that was a long time ago.

Which famous deceased people would you like to bring back from the dead for a chat?

Despite the fact that he was a raging racist and owned slaves, I’d kinda like to sit and chat with Thomas Jefferson. The idea of a philosopher-politician-statesman and architect-inventor rolled into one interests me. ● Interview by Eromo Egbejule

JEREMY SUTTON-HIBBERT/GETTY IMAGES

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Kitchens across West Africa were filled with the aroma of sizzling tomato sauce packed with herbs and spices, as professional and amateur chefs took part in the maiden World Jollof Rice Day at the end of August. The cooking frenzy was a tribute to a one-pot, spiced, red rice dish revered across the region.

With as many recipes as flavours, each nation has customised the rice and tomato sauce base to their own tastes, from its incarnation in its Senegalese birthplace throughout Ghana and Nigeria.

In Senegal, thieboudienne (thieb = rice; dieune = fish), is the national dish.

Seasoned with a herby paste of parsley, spring onions, chillies and black pepper, it is traditionally eaten on Saturdays.

Maimuna Barry, a Guinean home cook, watches over a pot of riz gras (fat rice) with fish and potatoes, the rich scented steam swirling around her.

Using local, unpolished barabara rice, this jollof has a tomato and onion sauce, with cooked aubergine mash and thinly sliced stir-fried cabbage, all seasoned with garlic, black pepper and habanero chillies.

In Ghana, restaurateur Jay Gyebi invited cooks to share photos of their “special” jollof dishes. Typically cooked with Thai jasmine rice – long grain and aromatic – Ghanaian jollof is seasoned with a trio of fresh ginger, garlic and onions. If you prefer your rice a bit meatier, Nigerian jollof made with long-grain parboiled rice, and seasoned with curry powder and dried thyme, may be your thing.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what jollof you hanker after, or how different the spice bases are, because we all love it, regardless. ● Ozoz Sokoh in Lagos and on kitchenbutterfly.com THE AFRICA REPORT

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TRAVEL ALGERIA Actor Imad Benchenni in front of the now extinct Disco Maghreb

Oran is the new black

S

tart your day with a freshly plenty of florists. Pick up some Alsqueezed orange juice, a good gerian pastries from L’Algéroise – percafé au lait (kahwa halib) and haps some griwech, a sweet local pastry with honey, the dry biscuit torno or a croissant, either on the terrace of the Four Points hotel – while gazing out ghoriba shortbread. Raï fans will definacross the magnificent sea and inhaling itely want to pay homage at the Disco the fresh Mediterranean air – or, if you Maghreb building; the legendary label prefer it strong and to the point, and and record store has now closed down dirt cheap, at the counter of any café. but you can grab some Cheb Khaled, First stop is the Musée National Cheb Hasni and Raina Raï from stores in Les Arcades.

Ahmed Zabana, named after the independence hero. There’s a floor dedicated For a moment of calm, sip a mint tea to Algerian independence, 20th-century at the majestic Royal Hotel, where you Algerian artists including modernist Azouaou MamDrive along the coast past meri, mosaics, ancient Aïn El Turck, where the scent sculptures and French Oriof lavender flavours the air entalist paintings.

In total contrast, plunge into the hustle and bustle of nearby can even find a spa downstairs to get the Marché Medina Jedida, where jewblood flowing during the colder months. ellery, clothing, food and bric-à-brac Refreshed, head into the old town, Sidi El-Houari, where you can visit are traded. It’s the perfect place to try the local chick pea snack, karantika. the 18th-century Pasha’s Mosque, and Place du 1er Novembre with the coloTake a stroll above the seafront before hitting Les Arcades in the centre of nial Théâtre Régional, the Porte de la Citadelle, Château Neuf fort and the town – a shopping area with boutiques, the large El-Maghreb cinema and ruins of the Palais du Bey. THE AFRICA REPORT

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Algeria’s second city is unique for its sights, coastline and fusion flavours with Berber, Arab and European influences.

Pack your swimmers and comfortable shoes and make the most of 48 hours in this West Coast Mediterranean hub, taking in the shops, the sounds and the sea At seafood restaurant Le Corsaire, savour the catch of the day or their famous paella, a reminder of the Spanish influences on the region. End the day by climbing up to Santa Cruz, to the chapel built in the 16th-century during the Spanish colonisation. Here you can marvel at the town and sea from above.

Next day, with your new playlist on the go, drive along the coastline past the beach town of Aïn El Turck, where the scent of lavender flavours the air, to Madagh beach. Swim or dance on the sand, then explore the neighbouring hills with their very cute wild donkeys.

Back at Aïn El Turck, enjoy a drink on the terrace of Eden Palace, a hotel perched on the sea, then head back to town to La Comète for a kitsch 80s vibe restaurant offering fish soup, tender lamb, seafood and the local tipple.

To end the night, pop up to the Ciel D’Oran on the roof of the Sheraton for a nightcap while watching the city shimmer. Or, if you’re game, hit Cabaret Murdjajo to listen to live Raï music and dance the night away. ● Ruby Boukabou

DAY IN THE LIFE EXTRAORDINARY STORIES OF ORDINARY PEOPLE

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THINKING BIG In Zambia, 21-year-old entrepreneur Njavwa Mutambo co-founded a logistics startup with the help of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and incubator BongoHive

I

kind of have a unique history, I like to believe. I was born on Friday the 13th. My father passed away when I was three and my mum when I was seven, so my whole life I have lived knowing that I am here for a greater purpose. I would always think to myself how I could make my life better and make my parents proud even though they can’t see it. I was raised by my mother’s sister, who is a phenomenal woman. She gave me the best things in life. But I always felt that thing, like no matter how lovely, amazing she was [I] could always feel the gap between her and my real mum.

I went to David Kaunda Technical High School, which is in the top five schools in Zambia. It is number one, but I am just trying to be modest. When I was getting to 15, 16, 17, I became a rebel in my family. My mum – I call her my mum because she raised me, it is very important – she did not know what to do with me because I was always out clubbing, whatever. My grades took a slump down and I found myself dropping out of school in 11th grade. I started my first business at age 18. It was a food delivery service. It kind of derailed me from finishing my education, which I eventually did but it was after a great deal of convincing by my parents.

In that time, when I took a slight leave of absence, I fell in love with business. I fell in love with selling electronics. I found out that people were making so much money buying stuff on eBay and bringing it to Zambia and selling it for four to five times the price because of ignorance. Wow! I can make money myself without my parents? I love it. This is what I want to do.

Two weeks after I finished school I took a job working in a supermarket and my boss was really young. And I said, how is this possible? I want to be that guy. He really moulded me, he gave me books to read. He told me that education is not only in the confines of the school.

We launched Musanga Logistics in Lusaka three months ago. We expect to perfect our platform so that we can expand to other cities like Harare, Gaborone and Johannesburg. Our first website was built for free by our CTO. Our social media accounts were set up for free by our marketing manager. And our accountant did everything for free. These are people who just knew me or were in the community and said I like what you are doing and I would like to be part of the vision.

I am up at 3:50AM every morning, Monday to Sunday.

I am in the gym five days a week by 5AM, in the office by 8AM and I leave at 8-9PM. During the time I am in the office until the time I leave, there is the magic that goes on between me and my computer.

Tony Elumelu said to me: “As long as you are friendly with staff but firm on the alignment of vision...” That is pretty much what I intend to do. Sometimes you blow up, but I am aiming to be a more friendly but firm manager. I am doing good on the firm and we are getting there on the friendly. ● Marshall Van Valen in Lusaka THE AFRICA REPORT

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Windhoek Namibia, land of endless horizons will join the ever expanding Ethiopian network.

From October 6, 2016

www.ethiopianairlines.com