Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About

[loyola llothta]

 

[loyola llothta]

'Jobs for pals’ scandal engulfs City of Cape Town

WESTERN CAPE / 3 FEBRUARY 2019, 1:05PM / BULELWA PAYI

City of Cape Town Executive Mayor Dan Plato, together with Mayoral Committee Member, Alderman JP Smith. Picture:Courtney Africa/African News Agency (ANA).

Cape Town - The city council is engaged in a fresh fight over a “jobs for pals” scandal implicating the Department of Safety and Security’s JP Smith and Richard Bosman. This emerged after its first meeting for the year on Thursday.

A confidential report on allegations of “nepotism and abuse of power” has been leaked to the media and irate workers and opposition political parties are pressing the DA-led council to take action against implicated officials.

The ANC and the South African Municipal Workers’ Union said the city was attempting to “sweep under the carpet” a report by law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr which found that the process of appointing former policeman Petrus Robberts to a senior position in Law Enforcement was irregular, defective and inconsistent with the human resources policy.

The ANC has called on Robberts to vacate the position and for tough action to be taken against those involved in his employment, Smith and Bosman.

“Heads must roll. We will take the report to the public and show them the corruption at the city. There’s an attempt by the DA majority in the council to sweep the report under the carpet by disregarding its recommendations for action to be taken against those involved. We cannot allow that to happen,” leader of the ANC caucus in council Xolani Sotashe said.

The report showed email correspondence between Bosman, Smith and Robberts in relation to Robberts’ offer even before the creation of the position.

“It is apparent... from the emails... that an offer appears to have been made to Robberts of the position of director and this email precedes the date that the creation of the position was approved by mayco and subsequently advertised,” the report said.

Other findings based on the evidence submitted, which included emails and interviews by Smith, Bosman, Sotashe and other council officials, point to:

- political pressure in the appointment of Robberts.

- meetings held in the former mayor’s office to discuss the appointment of Robberts, a former Nyanga Cluster commander and a major-general in the police. Those present included Patricia de Lille and former Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros and the former city manager Achmat Ebrahim.

- that Robberts was not happy with the initial position that was mentioned and had insisted that he had applied for a senior position within the SAPS, but but Ebrahim was reluctant to create the position of director for him.

- irregularity in that discussions were held with a prospective candidate prior to a position being made.

- Bosman breaching certain sections of the code of conduct.

“In terms of the code of conduct, municipal staff members are required to perform the functions of office in good faith, honestly and in a transparent manner and act in the best interest of the city in such a way that the credibility and integrity of the municipality is not compromised”, the report noted.

It said, according to Bosman, Ebrahim “shot down” the idea because he was concerned that Smith was pushing for a specific candidate to be appointed in the position.

“We find it highly irregular for a meeting to have been convened in the executive mayor’s office prior to the position being created and to have discussed matters such as salary and benefits with Robberts prior to the position even existing.”

The report said while Smith had sought to insist he had merely encouraged Robberts to apply for the position, he had failed to explain why he encouraged him to apply for a position that did not exist at the time.

It also recommended that the council speaker institute an investigation into the conduct of Smith in the “irregular” appointment of Robberts and that disciplinary proceedings be instituted against Bosman.

Council speaker Dirk Smit said the report was only “for noting” and took note of the “lesser transgression” by Bosman.

Regarding Smith, he said there was no new evidence which would have warranted action, but that his office would “accumulate” and welcome any new evidence which he would use to decide what the next steps would be.

But Smith may not be off the hook yet.

Another damning decision was taken by the council in December authorising the city manager to appoint an independent investigator to look into the allegations regarding the selection and recruitment of his former secretary into a senior position as regional inspector within Safety and Security.

Smit would not answer questions related to the matter and referred them to city manager Lungelo Mbandazayo.

The city failed to respond to questions by the time of publication.

This it is not the first time allegations of nepotism or cadre deployment in the city have surfaced.

Former mayoral committee member Brett Herron accused the council of elevating certain people.

“Cadre deployment is rife and party loyalists are gratuitously embedded in the professional administration,”he charged.

'Jobs for pals’ scandal engulfs City of Cape Town | IOL News

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Wode Maya tries to get a flight from Uganda to Tanzania and ends up being deported. Immigration officers are spooked by the camera he had in his hand.

 

[loyola llothta]

Ethiopia outlaws adoption of its children by foreigners

Children at a vaccinations clinic near Sululta, Ethiopia, May 2012. -- Photo: Yasmin Abubeker/DFID

Ethiopia has finally approved a law tabled last year in parliament banning international child adoption.

The law restricts the adoption of children by foreigners to protect the adoptees from abuse, reports Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The legislation came about after reports of abuse and sometimes death of children adopted from Ethiopia by foreigners.

In 2013, a U.S. adoptive mother was sentenced to 37 years in prison for starving her Ethiopia-born adopted daughter and leaving her to die outside in the cold in Washington state.

Carri Williams was convicted of homicide by abuse in the 2011 death of 13-year-old Hana Williams, who was adopted in 2008. Her adoptive father Larry Williams was convicted of first-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Ethiopia is estimated to have the highest number of adoptions into US families. Some lawmakers in Ethiopia, however, questioned the availability of proper adoption facilities in the country before the law was passed.

In 2014, Kenya banned all adoptions by foreign adoptive parents.

Ethiopia outlaws adoption of its children by foreigners - Face2Face Africa

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

NIGERIA IS DOOMED
Subscribe to read | Financial Times

NMuhammadu Buhari’s re-election as president of Nigeria is likely to lead to a period of policy continuity in Africa’s most populous state. Mr Buhari, who comfortably beat his chief rival, the more pro-business Atiku Abubakar, by 56 per cent to 41 per cent in last month’s vote (albeit on a derisory 36 per cent turnout) has pledged to focus on fighting corruption, improving national security and diversifying the economy in his second four-year term. While laudable, these issues are the ones Mr Buhari campaigned on before his first victory in 2015. Yet many believe more is needed. Assailed by a fall in oil prices, Nigeria’s key export (as well as, in many observers’ opinion, domestic policy errors), the country is heading for its fourth straight year of declining gross domestic product per capita this year. The IMF forecasts that the squeeze on real output per head will continue until at least 2023, as shown in the first chart, a painful prospect for a country with GDP per capita of just $2,700. To avoid this fate, the fund last year called for a package of structural reforms to bolster capital spending, improve the business environment and increase electricity production in what is projected to be the third most populous country in the world by 2050. Fresh analysis by Renaissance Capital, an emerging markets-focused investment bank, echoes the view that sharp increases in investment and electricity consumption are essential to drive stronger long-term growth — but that improving education is the third leg of a trio of priorities that Mr Buhari should seek to address.

“Diversification from oil dependency is inevitable given how little oil Nigeria exports per capita [$0.30 per day per person], but is impossible given three structural constraints,” said Charles Robertson, chief economist at RenCap. “To diversify into manufacturing, or, we think, high productivity services, adult literacy in any language needs to rise from 60 per cent in 2015 to 70 per cent, we hope in 2024, and ideally 80 per cent. “Electricity consumption needs to treble from 139 kWh per person in 2015 to at least 300-500 kWh or preferably 500-1,000 kWh. Investment needs to double from 13 per cent of GDP in 2017 to at least 25 per cent.” RenCap’s analysis from across the developing world suggests few countries have managed to industrialise while adult literacy remains below 70 per cent. Nigeria had reached 60 per cent by 2015, according to the UN. Based on a (potentially optimistic) assumption that 90 per cent of those now reaching adulthood attended primary school and are literate, Mr Robertson estimated that Nigeria would reach the 70 per cent threshold by 2024, and would thus struggle before then to diversify its economy beyond oil, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of export revenues and leaves Nigeria at the mercy of external factors outside its control.

In reality, some southern states such as Lagos and Abia have already reached 70 per cent literacy, suggesting they could potentially industrialise. Nevertheless Mr Robertson called for an adult literacy campaign, both to accelerate progress towards the 70 per cent mark nationally (given a 20-year lag between improving primary schools and reaping any meaningful rewards from a more educated workforce), and to stem any further splintering of a country already riven by regional divides, given how far the north of the country lags behind in adult literacy. “It would stop the gap widening between north and south Nigeria which under current policies will happen,” he said. “There is a legacy issue for a northern guy [Mr Buhari hails from Katsina state on the border with Niger] who can help to ensure the divides don’t widen.” An existing scheme under which many graduates volunteer to work for the government for a year in return for free university education could form the basis for an adult literacy campaign, Mr Robertson argued. Likewise, RenCap’s analysis suggests few countries industrialise without having adequate energy to power factories and computers. It puts the threshold at around 300kWh per person. Nigeria’s installed electricity capacity is already above this, at around 420kWh a head, or 13GW, according to the Association of Power Generators. Unfortunately, the system can only deliver around 3.7GW to 4GW, or very briefly 5GW on a good day, Mr Robertson said.

Consequently it is said that Nigeria, a country whose population may this year pass 200m, distributes and consumes about as much electricity as Edinburgh, a city of 500,000. The problem appears to stem from a bungled privatisation in 2013, when electricity tariffs were kept at subsidised levels, rather than being raised. “As a result, the electricity price is too low, and the more electricity the distribution companies supply, the more money they lose,” Mr Robertson said. Hence a significant tariff rise would be needed to rebalance the system and increase production. The final pillar is higher investment. The second chart shows what can potentially be achieved. Until 2010, Nigeria enjoyed faster economic growth than Ethiopia, a large African peer that also fails to tick RenCap’s adult literacy and electricity consumption boxes. But since then Ethiopia has dramatically raised its level of investment as a share of GDP, and it has powered ahead of Nigeria in terms of economic growth, and is expected by the IMF to continue doing so. Admittedly this was easier for Ethiopia to achieve, in that stringent state controls meant the state could take deposits from the state-owned banks and lend the proceeds at sub-inflation interest rates Nigeria cannot follow this route without becoming far more authoritarian. However, it would appear to have scope to increase sharply government revenues, which were a desultory 6 per cent of GDP in 2017, comfortably lower than both the level in 2007 and any other major African economy, as the third chart shows. This could be achieved either via higher taxes (perhaps by bringing some of the informal economy into the formal system) or by cutting fuel subsidies, which eat up $2bn a year. Any additional government revenues could be marked for investment, although whether Nigeria’s bureaucracy could spend the money as effectively as that of Ethiopia, given the latter’s legacy of central planning and communism, remains to be seen. Nigeria could also seek more foreign direct investment from private companies, as peers such as Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania have done. Mr Robertson feared, however, that Nigeria risked deterring foreign investors following recent demands for $20bn in back taxes from oil companies Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Eni, Total and Equinor, on top of a fine and demand for back taxes from MTN, the South African telecoms group. The obvious retort to Mr Robertson’s proposed policies is that a package of electricity and fuel price rises and higher taxes, as well as letting the currency fall to its fair value, which he also proposes, would be “an ugly combination at the best of times”, as he readily concedes. His view, though, is that second-term presidents can afford to take more risks, given they cannot stand for re-election, and that Mr Buhari might focus more on his long-term legacy. Moreover, with Mr Abubakar receiving only 11m votes in a country with an adult population of around 100m, this “suggests you haven’t got an established strong opposition on the ground that would stand in the way of this”.

Without action, he feared Nigeria’s borrowing costs could start to spiral higher, given that while debt to GDP was a modest 22 per cent as of 2017, the government debt to revenue ratio was a punchy 3.5. “Government revenues cannot continue to be as low as this, with the gap filled by borrowing,” he said. “That is one thing they will need to do something about in the next four years, if they are not rescued by a doubling of the oil price.” John Ashbourne, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, agreed that the paucity of government revenues was the biggest problem. “The revenue service is just not collecting enough money from the non-oil economy. Government spending is 8 per cent of GDP, incredibly low by world standards. That leaves it powerless,” he said. “It’s worse than almost anywhere else, other than a few inland African countries. Nigeria needs to bring more of the economy into the formal sector, but it would be a painful process for a lot of people.” In the absence of this, Mr Ashbourne said he “would be a little bit worried about the amount of dollar debt the government has taken on in recent years”. More broadly, he agreed with Mr Robertson’s view that improvements in education, electricity consumption and investment were “very important prerequisites if what you want is the transformation of the economy rather than just more rapid growth”. In the long term, he believed such structural change was essential in order to diversify an economy largely reliant on oil, agriculture and a smattering of manufacturing.

However, in the very short term, Mr Ashbourne said the biggest concern was the currency, with many businesses unable to access dollars at the official rate of 306 naira, rather than the black market rate, currently around 360. “It’s inflexible, it’s difficult to do business and get hold of currency, and if anything the central bank is moving to tighten the restrictions,” said Mr Ashbourne, citing a decision this month to add the textiles industry to the lengthy list of sectors that are no longer allowed to buy foreign currency from authorised forex dealers in order to pay overseas suppliers, pushing them into the more expensive black market. Moreover, he does not believe that the import substitution plan that lies behind the moves to starve many industries of foreign currency is working anyway with, for instance, rice imports continuing to rise despite the government’s attempts to reduce them, while the two-tier currency system also feeds corruption. Mr Ashbourne instead called for the naira’s fixed dollar peg to be eased, allowing the currency to converge with the black market rate “so it acts as a bit of a shock absorber for the economy”. Higher interest rates, while “painful”, are also necessary to bring inflation, currently 11.4 per cent, under control. Unlike Mr Robertson, though, he saw little chance of Mr Buhari changing tack or taking more risks in his second term. “I think that the policies that have been advanced in his first term would be what he wants to do [in his second],” he said.

 

[Cel 510 kid ados forever]

Africa doing better than cacs say

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Africa doing better than cacs say

Yes, but some important countries in Africa are getting worse in various ways: Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria etc.

 

[JDH]

NIGERIA IS DOOMED
Subscribe to read | Financial Times

Damn over 90 percent of export revenue comes from oil. The nigerian state is powerless. The country is run by plutocrats

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Damn over 90 percent of export revenue comes from oil. The nigerian state is powerless. The country is run by plutocrats

Biafra is inevitable

 

[JDH]

Biafra is inevitable

Doesn't most of the oil come from the south east? If 90% of export revenue comes from oil they'll never let you guys leave

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Doesn't most of the oil come from the south east? If 90% of export revenue comes from oil they'll never let you guys leave

The government will collapse. Nigeria will becoming the DR Congo of West Africa. Watch.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

This shyt was amazing, shawty sexy, smart, and ain’t having none of this shyt.

 

[loyola llothta]

China hands over magnificent presidential palace gift to Burundi

Four years after the launch of construction, China has presented the 150 million Yuan (US$22 million) presidential palace it built for Burundi as a gift to seal its diplomatic relations with the East African country.

Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza at the launch of the construction of the presidential palace in December 2015.

The Ambassador of China to Burundi, Li Changli, handed over the new building located in Gasenyi in the north of the capital Bujumbura on Feb. 14 to Ezechiel Nibigira, Burundi’s Foreign Affairs Minister.

“It is a symbol of friendship and cooperation between China and Burundi,” said the Chinese ambassador who described the project as the “greatest project” that China has ever carried out in Burundi, reports local media IWACU Burundi.

The presidential palace was built on a 10,000 square meters land and has several facilities on its premises including circular roads, car parks, and sewer systems.



It will host the presidency including the main offices of the president, two vice-presidents and their staff, conference rooms and space for official ceremonies, confirms Foreign Affairs Minister Nibigira.

“Since the independence of Burundi, we have not had such a building. We thank the government of the Republic of China for it,” he added.

Handing over of the presidential palace to the Burundian government.

The Chinese ambassador highlighted that other projects are being undertaken in Burundi and “China has made available a dozen of translators to put Burundi national development plan into Chinese language so as to clearly see in which domain it should intervene.”

Burundi’s new presidential palace is one of the many Chinese gifts donated to African nations to strengthen bilateral relations. China built the $200 million African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2012 at no cost to the continental body.

The Asian country also signed an agreement to build the headquarters of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS with a grant of $31.6 million.

China recently offered $6 million to Ethiopia to launch its first satellite into space in September 2019. It will also provide training before the launch of the satellite which will be done from China.

Senegal will open the world’s largest museum of black civilization on December 6 in the capital, Dakar, after 52 years of waiting due to lack of funding. China donated $34.6 million for the dream of the country’s first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, to come into fruition.

China is also building new parliament houses for Zimbabwe, Republic of Congo and Gabon.

China hands over magnificent presidential palace gift to Burundi - Face2Face Africa

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

China hands over magnificent presidential palace gift to Burundi

Four years after the launch of construction, China has presented the 150 million Yuan (US$22 million) presidential palace it built for Burundi as a gift to seal its diplomatic relations with the East African country.


China hands over magnificent presidential palace gift to Burundi - Face2Face Africa

Embarrassing. Does Burundi lack the means to construct that building?

 

[Premeditated]

I don't want to judge anybody but I'm surprise Congolese haven't rioted the streets of Kinshasha considering they have another half a decade with basically Kabila. This new dude literally fake some certificate to get in the election and top it off, the election being a complete fraud, I would have though they would have been causing mayhem.