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contents 54 SA’S SUPER SEVEN BILLIONNAIRES Find out who they are, how much they’re worth and how they made their money.
67 MAGNIFICENT MO SALAH
Africa’s finest footballer of 2017, Salah is on his way to being the best in Egyptian history.
12 AFRICAN SOCIALISM
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USAIN BOLT The fastest man alive talks about his African heritage and the importance of setting big goals.
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How African countries had to come up with an indigenous model for economic development after gaining their independence.
14 FUELLING INNOVATION
A creative conversation with SA’s own science genius, Siyabulela Xuza, about renewable energy on the continent.
20 AN AUTHENTIC MANIFESTO
Andile Masuku argues that Africa’s tech and innovation community must assert a distinctly local-first agenda.
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VERDE 73 HOTEL ZANZIBAR Africa’s Greenest Hotel is showcasing its latest luxury venture; a sustainable and eco-conscious hotel on the shores of idyllic Zanzibar.
38 A HISTORY OF RACIAL SCIENCE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Nadia Kamies explores the events described in André Brink’s novel, The Other Side of Silence, and the violent past of racial science and Nazism in South Africa and Namibia.
48 A CULINARY JOURNEY FROM AFRICA A fascinating story, by Jonathan Highfield, about food migration from the Kalahari desert to Tennessee.
62 RAGING BULL AWARDS
The 22nd annual summit and awards ceremony celebrated the top performers in South Africa’s investment industry earlier this year.
64 INTERVIEW WITH A CEO
African Independent chats to Reshaad Sha, CEO of SqwidNet, about all things IoT and interconnectivity.
78 LUX HOTELS IN SOUTERN AFRICA
Keep it local but luxurious on your next trip into Africa by checking out these choice-picked hotels.
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SOLO EXHIBITION The Cape Town Art Fair took place this past February and we went to explore the exhibitions and chat to curator Nontobeko Ntombela.
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editor’s note independent African News Agency Publishing ANA CEO Grant Fredericks grant.fredericks@africannewsagency.com Editor Saarah Survé saarah.surve@anapublishing.com
To the point Africa’s best is the world’s best In times of political uncertainty, fluctuating exchange rates, and a world leader spewing rhetoric about “shithole” countries, I am here to remind you that Africa’s best is the world’s best. I am not the only one who thinks so. While chatting to Olympic legend Usain Bolt during his recent visit to South Africa, it struck me how proud he was to have descended from Africa. He says that he tells people his speed comes from his African descent. Bolt represents everything we want the new, redesigned African Independent to stand for. He is modern, bold and fun. I want you to know that when you pick up African Independent, you’ll feel inspired and
Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Nadia Kamies
UCT Creative Writing Masters Programme graduate and doctoral candidate at the University of Pretoria.
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Chief Sub-Editor Walter Hayward Group Head of Sales Kyle Villet Sales Manager Mandla Mangena Consultant Publisher Mark Keohane mark.keohane@inl.co.za Illustrators Lynn Maree
willing to spread positive news about Africa, whether it be about the man who invented his own rocket fuel, or the womxn who address sociopolitical shifts they are facing around the world through their art. Rewriting Africa’s narrative starts with us.
Financial Manager Lisa de Villiers CA (SA) Printer RSA Litho Distribution MDA Distribution African Channel Distribution Subscriptions Susan Ball susan.ball@anapublishing.com Published by ANA Publishing Physical Address 176 Main Road, Claremont, 7708, Cape Town
Saarah Survé
Physical Address PO Box 23692, Claremont, 7735 Telephone +27 (0) 21 683 0005 Websites www.africanindy.com www.anapublishing.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Jonathan Highfield
Head of Design Warren Uytenbogaardt warren.uytenbogaardt@inl.co.za
Andile Masuku
Executive producer of African Tech Roundup - covering Africa’s emerging tech ecosystem.
Adri Senekal de Wet
Independent Media Executive Editor and Editor of Business Report and Personal Finance.
Emmanuel Akyeampong, Ellen Gurney Professor of History and African Studies, Harvard University
A History of African Socialism The Search for an Indigenous Model of Economic Development The collapse of the Soviet Union after 1989 ushered in a uni-polar world and the apparent triumph of capitalism and the West. Socialism and communism became unfashionable, and even China’s recent spectacular growth through its selective engagement with market economics seemed to have underscored the transformative potential of capitalism. Few African countries explicitly choose “capitalism” on independence, and for those who followed capitalism it was a default model or a residual pattern. On the other hand, “African socialism” was popular in the early decades of independence and pursued by several countries, including Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Tanzania. African socialism had multiple meanings, and its advocates were quick to stress that they were not communist, some that they were not even Marxist. The first wave of African independence was achieved from the late 1950s: Sudan became independent in 1956, followed by Ghana in 1957, and then a slew of Francophone states and Nigeria in 1960. The pace continued, as each year witnessed the lowering of colonial flags and the raising of the flags of new African independent states.
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“Development” was the primary challenge and objective of the new states. This meant an improved standard of life seen in key indicators such as better access to housing, health, education, jobs. Many of the new nation-states seemed ill-prepared for this gargantuan challenge. Guinea became independent on October 2, 1958. It was Kwame Nkrumah’s loan of £10 million pounds sterling in late November 1958 - after the two countries had entered into a vaguely defined union - that prevented Guinea’s collapse. Tanganyika, when it became independent in 1961, was a very rural and poor country. The former President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete mentioned in a recent interview that when the country became independent it had only three doctors and two engineers. In none of the black African nation-states did an indigenous capitalist class exist. This, perhaps, would have been a contradiction under the colonial dispensation. It was clear that the state would have to play a central role in economic development. That foreign investment would play a crucial role was evident, but states that had just come out of colonialism were justifiably wary of foreign capital
from Western Europe. This was too close to the immediate colonial past, and threatened what Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah characterised as “neocolonialism.” Capitalism, with its trickle-down economics, would not bring the rapid transformation desired by new nations with huge needs. Socialism or communism would put them in the Soviet or Eastern camp, which came with its liabilities. So Africa’s new leaders opted to be “African Socialists.” Key ideals such as “positive neutralism” for Nkrumah in an era of Cold War, or “self-reliance” for Nyerere, came to define fervent desires that would inform new economic models. The new African nations claimed that they were non-aligned, taking their inspiration from the Bandung movement of 1955. They insisted on the freedom to be associated with both the West and the East without being labelled ideologically. Africa’s new leaders were attracted to the US in its ability to customise aid programmes for the specific needs of different countries. Africa’s new leaders turned to the US, which had not held colonies in Africa, and astute American politicians like John F. Kennedy discerned that the leaders were more of nationalists than ideologues. These leaders were not above playing both sides, as they noted that the US paid more attention to countries that insisted on remaining friendly with the two camps. Africa’s population is set to double by 2050. Much of the minerals being exploited now are expected to have been exhausted by then. Africa cannot feed itself, though it possesses the most unfarmed arable land in the world. We need the bold and transformative vision of the likes of Nyerere and Nkrumah to ensure that come 2050, we do not find ourselves in the same predicament as on the eve of independence, when our new leaders coming out of decades of repressive colonial economic policies were faced with what appeared like insurmountable challenges.
Illustration: Lynn Maree
special column
tech person
Fuelling African South Africa’s own rocket inventor and science prodigy Siyabulela Xuza blurs the lines between energy and technology.
According to the World Bank, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 24% of the population has access to reliable electricity. The lack of power keeps businesses from growing, clinics from storing medicine, slows down industrial production, and prevents people from travelling safely within their communities – but that’s about to change. Siyabulela Xuza is the CEO and founder of Galactic Energy Ventures, an investment holdings company developing and investing in smart energy solutions. Xuza’s company promotes a
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tech person
more sustainable Africa; a continent with its own energy solutions, and a global leader in innovation through strategies that aim to solve the world’s energy crises and address the needs of emerging markets. Siyabulela Lethuxolo (meaning ‘bring peace’) Xuza was born in 1989 in North Crest Village, Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. He started experimenting with rocket fuel in his mother’s kitchen at a very young age, and on one occasion almost set it alight while experimenting with homemade fuel. Six months and 77 failed experiments later, he found the winning recipe and shot the self-built rocket more than a kilometre into the sky. The feat earned him the Junior South African Amateur High-Powered Altitude record – an amazing run of success followed. His experiments soon resulted in the creation of a
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cheaper and safer homemade rocket fuel. At St John’s College in Johannesburg, his Grade 12 science project “African Space - Fuelling Africa’s Quest to Space” won gold at the Eskom National Science Expo in 2006, along with the Dr Derek Gray Memorial Award for the most prestigious project in the country. The focus of his project was the development and testing of a new rocket propellant. Xuza’s invention subsequently culminated in “The Phoenix” homemade rocket fuel, which stemmed from his original idea. It won the first prize at the 2007 Intel and Engineering Science Fair in the US, one of the world’s largest youth innovation fairs comprising of 1 500 students from 52 countries. “I was chasing the roar of a Cessna plane dropping election pamphlets over Mthatha, my South
“Xuza’s company promotes a more sustainable Africa; a continent with its own energy solutions.” African township. It was 1994, the first year of a new democracy in my country and the sight of that technological marvel ignited in me a curiosity for science, and a passion for using technology to engineer an African Renaissance,” says Xuza. After completing his high school education at St John’s College, he earned a scholarship to study at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the US, majoring in science and energy. The Harvard engineer, often referred to as the new Mark Shuttleworth, has a minor planet named after him by the NASAaffiliated Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Laboratory,
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“From staring at a plane in 1994 to 21 years later pointing to the very same sky, but now you are pointing to your own planet. That, for me, was a milestone, because it shows people that you are part of something bigger than yourself.” awarded the Order of Mapungubwe in Silver by the South African presidential office for his excellent achievements. The latter honours citizens who have made an impact internationally and served the national interest. He was recognised for his contribution to scientific innovation at an early age, proving to himself and others that through determination and hard work one could achieve career heights. “From staring at a plane in 1994 to 21 years later pointing to the very same sky, but now you are pointing to your own planet. That, for me, was a milestone, because it shows people
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that could be used to power remote and rural areas. In 2013, his ground-breaking work on micro-fuel cells was published in the Journal of Electroceramics. He travelled to the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to engage in discussions on creating prosperity in Africa. He was also invited to the United Nations and the New York Stock Exchange in recognition for being one of the world’s emerging business leaders and to offer strategies for solving the world’s energy crisis. “I have always been keen to
history over the course of its three seasons, moving from the fight for freedom to the country’s growth during democracy and concluding with a vision for the future. From a rural upbringing in the dusty township of Mthatha to having a planet named after him and an accolade as an international awardwinning speaker, the passionate Xuza is still committed to driving energy innovations that will solve Africa’s energy problems. He is part of the generation of Africans who are committed to developing the continent’s potential through disruptive innovations.
Text: Sonwabo Macingwana. Photography: Couretsy of Unique Speaker Bureau.
in recognition of his fascinating homemade rocket fuel invention. Discovered in 2000, the minor planet 23182 Siyaxuza, located near the Jupiter asteroid belt, was named in his honour after his win at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. To date, he has garnered worldwide recognition for the same rocket fuel. Xuza’s work was recognised by former US First Lady Michelle Obama, the Nobel Foundation in Sweden and he was
that you are part of something bigger than yourself,” says Xuza. In 2010, he was elected as a fellow of the African Leadership Network, a premier group of individuals poised to shape Africa’s future over the next 10 to 20 years, consisting of the most dynamic, influential and successful leaders and entrepreneurs in Africa and its diaspora. Xuza had also conducted research at the Harvard Centre for Nanoscale Systems and the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, where he was pioneering micro-fuel cells for mobile energy and distributed energy
see African innovation, because as Africans we need to develop our own solutions to our own problems instead of these boring ideas,” laments Xuza. Xuza is currently part of the Kairos Society, a global community of fellows, founders and advisors that work together to identify society’s biggest challenges and find new solutions to address them. He also became the youngest member of the AU-affiliated Africa 2.0 Energy Advisory Panel. The pan-African organisation comprises the continent’s brightest minds and is committed to seeking sustainable solutions to challenges faced by Africans. The born inventor was featured on SABC 3’s 21 Icons, a short-film series that traces South Africa’s
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not our manifesto
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Africa’s tech and innovation community must assert a distinctly Africa-first agenda, writes Andile Masuku of African Tech Round-Up. Following the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum, which took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Co-Creation Hub Nigeria co-founder Femi Longe blew off some steam in a Medium blog post titled, “Startups4Africa: This is not our manifesto”. To say that Longe’s article caused a stir within Africa’s emerging tech and innovation ecosystem would be an understatement. In the piece - which spawned the #NotOurManifesto hashtag on social media - Longe argued that the basis, wording and overall thrust of a “collaborative” document called “Startups 4 Africa: Manifesto for the development of a thriving community of African-European startup ecosystems”, presented at the gathering by Startup Europe, was pathetically condescending and non-
representative. It turns out, the offending paper was co-authored by a Portuguese professor, a Spanish bureaucrat and an African IT professional employed by the European Commission. Near-zero effort had been applied to engaging the very stakeholders that it was devised to represent at the 5th annual AU – EU Summit. I caught up with Longe shortly after he published his fiery blog and asked him to reflect on the outrage his article had sparked. He reiterated that Startup Europe’s careless agenda appropriation attempt was deserving of the strongest possible denunciation because of its palpable neo-colonial undertones, unconcern for establishing proper context, absence of sound research and total disregard for Africa’s right to self-determination.
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# of how digital innovation and entrepreneurship can play a role in advancing our continent”. Longe hopes that the platform might help produce a truly collaborative manifesto that will serve as a tool to influence national governments and regional bodies such as the AU Commission, African Development Bank, ECOWAS and SADC to develop strategies that leverage technological advancement,
“African tech ecosystem actors have done precious little in organising themselves around common values and joint objectives.”
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However, in the same breath, Longe sombrely acknowledged that Africa’s emerging tech community ultimately has itself to blame for the policy vacuum that currently exists around the industry’s needs and priorities. He contends that African tech ecosystem actors have done precious little in organising themselves around common values and communal objectives and have done even less to formalise a pragmatic growth agenda that could then form the basis of engagement guidelines to govern value exchanges, with individuals and entities based in the European Union and in other parts of the world. To remedy this, Longe has since put out a call for all Africa-focused ecosystem players to contribute ideas and insights to an initiative called AfricaManifesto.com — a fullycollaborative forum designed to allow Africans to craft a “statement
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and meaningfully partner with the continent’s most promising tech innovation talent to promote economic growth across Africa. Meanwhile, Startup Europe has decided to reboot their plan to draft a manifesto that will help “European and African entrepreneurs, start-ups and all ecosystem builders engage in a community of networked ecosystems that foster the creation and growth of start-ups and scale ups”. To their credit, they acknowledged the inappropriateness of the way they went about producing and presenting the first manifesto. They have since put some effort into making the preparation of the new version of the document a considerably more consultative, albeit hurried and under-resourced, process. This whole situation has led me to ponder the merits of SADC’s Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation that was
inducted in 2008. One must question whether the policy paperwork SADC Heads of State signed nearly 10 years ago holds up today, and indeed, ponder whether it was ever worth any more than the paper it was written on in terms of actual grassroots impact. I recently examined the policy document and found it chock-full of admirable aims and ideals. It is written in elaborate legalese and features a generous sprinkling of acronyms such as NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development), ASTCPA (Africa Science and Technology Plan of Action), and of course, the most essential, MDG (Millennium Development Goals). By signing the policy, SADC leaders underlined their commitment to promoting regional progress within the sphere of science, technology and innovation. Some of the standout obligations that they embraced include the backing of institutional mechanisms to spur cooperative tech and innovation efforts within the region, the optimisation of public and private research and development initiatives, the development and promotion of indigenous knowledge systems and technologies, the enhancement and strengthening of intellectual property rights, the increased access to basic science and mathematics education at all levels, and the elimination of restrictions of movement of scientists and technologists within the region. What’s not to love? While the document is at pains to demonstrate SADC’s aspiration to prioritise action over rhetoric by tasking the likes of SAMCOST (SADC Ministerial Committee on Science and Technology) with overseeing regional progress and proactively commissioning activities that help the tech and innovation ecosystem thrive and deliver to its fullest potential in economic terms, I am yet to hear an active stakeholder within the region’s tech and innovation space cite the policy or reference evidence of its efficacy.
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modern history, every single active tech ecosystem player – that is, every entrepreneur, every IT professional, every investor, and every African citizen who will be impacted by the inevitable onset of a global digital economy – must take personal responsibility for how Africa’s emerging technology landscape
“If we are to see any meaningful updates in policy or tangible progress be made through pragmatic moves to assert a distinctly progressive, Africa-first tech and innovation agenda, it is we, the people, who will need to get it done.”
It certainly appears to me that a vacuum exists between the good intent of African policy-makers and the founders, investors and tech pros working the trenches of our emerging tech and innovation industry. In fairness, keeping policy and implementation efforts up to date with global tech and innovation advances, while effectively addressing the digital lag that continues to dog the continent is an unenviable task, not just for SADC’s leadership, but, no doubt, for policy-makers across the continent. This is, in part, why policy making, implementation and monitoring efforts can no longer be left entirely up to bureaucrats. Now, more than ever before in Africa’s
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takes shape. They must also help to determine how the continent’s innovation community must engage with the rest of the world. It’s worth highlighting the encouraging lobbying and grassroots development efforts of industryled organisations such as the Johannesburg-based SiMODiSA Association and Cape Townheadquartered Silicon Cape Initiative. Both initiatives aim to track and address the dynamic needs of actors operating within South Africa’s emerging tech ecosystem, and look to catalyse business growth by engaging entrepreneurs, regulators, governments and corporations to create a suitable environment for
tech and innovation efforts to deliver significant economic impact. Besides offering ecosystem participants practical support through the provision of useful information resources, industry research, as well as fostering meaningful cross-industry collaboration through the hosting of networking events and the making of key introductions, both organisations have helped move the needle for the country’s tech and innovation industry by lobbying local and national government bodies and corporations on key regulatory matters. This includes pushing to eliminate barriers to the commercialisation and the uptake of government-funded intellectual property and insisting on the removal of red tape associated with exchange control loop structures that tend to put off international investors and make access to international markets difficult for South African start-ups. SiMODiSA and Silicon Cape have also been instrumental in helping to narrow the funding gap scuppering promising start-ups and in assisting to win over investors reluctant to participate in tech and innovation plays. They’ve done this by promoting alternative investment models and pushing for more government-funded, privately-run investment programmes. My sense is that tech ecosystem participants in other parts of southern Africa would do well to mirror such grassroots-led initiatives to develop and back similarly proactive agendas in their own locales. The next step would be to collaborate on a regional and continental agenda. We simply cannot leave it up to policy-makers to deliver the change we need to see in the region. If we are to see any meaningful updates in policy or tangible progress be made through pragmatic moves to assert a distinctly progressive, Africafirst tech and innovation agenda, it is we, the people, who will need to get it done.
Text: Andile Masuku
tech focus
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cover feature
Usain Bolt Five minutes with the fastest man alive
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Quick Facts: USAIN BOLT • Retired sprinter • Nickname: Lightning Bolt • Born in 1986 in Jamaica • Age 31 • Holds world records for 100 metres & 200 metres • Holds the world record as a part of the 4 × 100 metres relay • An eight-time Olympic gold medallist • An eleven-time World Champion • Only sprinter to win Olympic 100m & 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 & 2016)
Multi-Olympic champion Usain Bolt is the new G.H. Mumm Chief Entertainment Officer and helped host The Sun Met celebrated with Mumm earlier this year in Cape Town. African Independent caught up with Jamaicanborn sprint legend on his recent visit to South Africa. Although this was only Bolt’s second visit to Africa, he has a deep connection to the continent. What are your thoughts on Africa as a whole? For me, growing up in Jamaica, you know that Africa is the motherland. That’s how we perceive Africa. My parents talked about Africa over the years. I’ve grown up with the history. So I know there was slavery and what it was all about. We’ve grown up and known about Africa for years and it plays a role in our everyday life. What kind of stories would your parents tell you about Africa? I was a history person, so I knew about slavery and where I’m from. People always asked me, “why am I so fast?” I told them, “you know what, I think it’s from the African descent”. It’s something I’ve always said to people and explained. My parents would tell me about the struggles and what we’ve been
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“For me, growing up in Jamaica, you know that Africa is the motherland. That’s how we perceive Africa.” through. It helped to motivate me to want to do better and to help motivate the young ones and Africans to be better people and to uplift themselves. Do you think it is important to know your history and where you come from? Yeah, for sure, without a doubt. In track and field, I always said to the youngsters, “Herb McKenley* and all the other guys who started track have set everything for us to
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build on.” I have helped to build it too. Now it is the younger generation’s turn to build on that to make it better. I feel like history is everything and you should know where you come from to build on it and motivate yourself. If you had one message to give to that younger generation, who are aspiring to get to your level, what would that be?
Anything is possible. It’s never going to be easy – that’s one thing. I think a lot of people see me compete and think it’s easy, but it’s not. It’s hard work, dedication and a lot of sacrifice. But one thing that they should always know is that anything is possible. Any goal that you set out to achieve, it is possible. I started out my career not knowing that I would be this great. I just wanted to be an
*HERB MCKENLEY: • Jamaican sprint runner • Born in 1922 in Jamaica • Died in 2007 in Jamaica • Competed at the 1948 & 1952 Olympics • One Olympic gold medal • Three Olympic silver medals • In 1947, set a world record of 46.3 seconds for 400 metres. • In 1948, set world records of 46.0 & 45.9 for 400 metres. Info from The New York Times & Sports Reference
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Olympic gold medallist. I never knew that I would become an eight-time Olympic gold medallist. It’s all about work and continuing to build yourself and making goals. Don’t make simple goals. Make big goals so that you can work towards them and be great. What is one of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced so far? Training and injuries. Growing up, it was just injuries and injuries.
At the start, when you get injured, you start to doubt yourself. That’s one of the biggest things. You think to yourself: If I run again, am I going to get injured again? It was always on my mind. Over the years, I’ve learnt that this is the situation: you won’t get injured again if you work hard and focus on getting better. You will be okay. That’s something that I’ve always tried to focus on.
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Text: Saarah Survé Photography: Gallo/Gettyimages, Roth Media
“It’s all about work and continuing to build yourself and making goals. Don’t make simple goals. Make big goals so that you can work towards them and be great.”
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upfront briefs Our most read stories on africanindy.com in February
HUNDREDS OF KFC RESTAURANTS CLOSE IN THE UK “The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants.” So said an announcement that tried to find humour in KFC’s chicken shortage, which has prompted the fast-food chain to temporarily close hundreds of its restaurants in the UK. KFC said the shortage was caused by “a couple of teething problems” with its new delivery partner, DHL.
BOTSWANA VISITED BY ZIM PRESIDENT President Mnangagwa visited the Botswana capital Gaborone following years of cold war between the two countries. Former dictator Robert Mugabe managed to alienate much of Zimbabwe, the international community and many regional countries, before being overthrown in last year’s military coup.
ZIMBABWE’S RELATIONS WITH BOTSWANA ON THE MEND
Mnangagwa is attempting to mend relations with neighbouring Botswana and went on a two-day visit to the country. The first visit of its kind in more than a decade. Pictured: Ian Khama, President of Botswana.
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ZIMBABWE TO PAY TSVANGIRAI FUNERAL EXPENSES
Zimbabwe is ready to help foot the bill for the funeral arrangements of Morgan Tsvangirai, opposition leader to former President Mugabe, in a tribute to the politician who died after a long battle with cancer.
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upfront briefs
UK ISSUES TERROR ALERT AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA
MORE THAN 100 SCHOOLGIRLS MISSING AFTER BOKO HARAM ATTACK
More than 100 girls are still missing after suspected Boko Haram extremists attacked their school in northern Nigeria. Confirming that the girls were still missing, parents expressed fears that the girls might face the same fate as the over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok in 2014 by the terrorist group.
Terrorists linked to the Islamic State (IS) are likely to try carry out attacks in South Africa, this according to foreign travel advice updated on the UK government website. In the alert, the government sourced the main threat from extremists linked to Daesh, also known as ISIS.
KENYAN INTELLIGENCE PREVENTED ASSASSINATION OF THE QUEEN AND DAVID CAMERON
A ban on minibus taxis in Harare’s central business district ended tragically when Zimbabwe Republic Police officers opened fire on pedestrians, killing two people.
The United Kingdom has hailed Kenyan intelligence for thwarting a terror plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II and former PM David Cameron.
CHOLERA CASES IN MALAWI HAVE TRIPLED
THOUSANDS OF BODY PARTS FOUND AT RUSSIAN PLANE CRASH SITE
More than a thousand body parts and hundreds of plane fragments have been recovered from the crash site of a Russian airliner, but the cause of the accident remains a mystery. “More than 1 400 fragments of the bodies of the deceased and about 500 fragments of the aircraft have been recovered,” officials said.
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Cholera cases in Malawi have tripled, the Ministry of Health announced, a month after the spread of the disease from Zambia was thought to have been contained. Ministry of Health spokesperson, Joshua Malango said the number of cases had increased from 157 in January to 527.
Compiled by: Gavin Emmanuel. Photography: Courtesy images
TWO PEOPLE SHOT AND KILLED IN ZIMBABWE TAXI VIOLENCE
Nadia Kamies Kamies is an occupational therapist and graduate of the UCT’s Creative Writing Masters Programme. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Pretoria. Her research interests are identity, representation and memory.
Racial science, Nazism and apartheid in South Africa and Namibia In André Brink’s post-apartheid novel, The Other Side of Silence, he examines the violence of life in colonial societies such as South West Africa through the eyes of a young German woman. The horror of the violence described is not only an indictment on colonialism and masculine attitudes in German South West Africa, but also for South African society. South Africa administered the country from 1915 to 1966 and the two countries are strongly linked by the legacy of German colonialism, racial science, Nazism and apartheid. In 2013, a human skull was discovered during renovations at Stellenbosch University. The discovery of skeletal remains and cadavers in a medical science department would hardly be out of the ordinary. This, however, was in the anthropology department. The skull (thought to be that of a woman of mixed ancestry) was found along with two hair and eye colour charts which were used to measure and classify humans in order to justify racism during the 1930s and 1940s. The case of the hair colour chart bears the name of Dr Eugen Fischer, a leading Nazi eugenicist. An identical silver case was found by the university’s Professor Steven Robins at the Max
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Planck Society Archives in Berlin in the course of his research. Dr Eugen Fischer, who published his findings in 1921, was one of many German scientists intensely interested in the “mixed-race” people in SouthWest Africa, the Rehoboth Basters or “The Bastards” as he referred to them. After examining 310 children of Nama women and “white” men, he concluded that they were racially superior to pure Negroes but inferior to pure “whites”, but racial mixing was to be avoided. His findings contributed to the prohibition of inter-racial marriage in all German colonies. Fischer later headed the Kaiser William Institute for Anthropology,
Human Heredity and Eugenics, in Berlin and served as one of the scientists on the Gestapo’s Special Commission Number Three which performed forced sterilisation on the “Rhineland Bastards”, children born of the union between German women and Senegalese soldiers stationed in the Rhineland after WWI. According to historian, Niall Ferguson, this was the notorious “Black Shame” that produced fresh evidence of the conspiracy to pollute the blood of the Aryan race. Stellenbosch’s students of cultural anthropology not only used Fischer’s tools of racial classification from 1926 to the mid-1990s, but used a textbook written by Fischer up until the 1960s. The discovery points to the close links between apartheid and Nazism and raised questions as to the history of the use of classification tools at the university. Stellenbosch University (considered the intellectual heart of Afrikanerdom during the apartheid era), is the alma mater of both Hendrik Verwoerd, who as prime minister introduced the first apartheid laws in 1950, and his secretary of state for native affairs, Max Eiselen, a cultural anthropology student. Pseudo-scientific racism has provided the basic justification for slavery since the late 18th century. This pseudo-science asserted that mankind was not a single more or less homogeneous species but was subdivided and ranked from an Aryan “master race” down to a “black” race unworthy of the designation Homo sapiens. Francis Galton’s observations of the Herero and Nama people in South West Africa (Namibia) in the mid-19th century would later inform his thinking about human evolution. His anthropometric work on human heredity laid the foundation for the discipline he christened eugenics. Galton’s theories that Africans were biologically inferior were enthusiastically embraced and justified the claim to Africa by more advanced “white” Europeans. These theories were to have a devastating influence on the people of Germany’s newlyacquired African colony, South-West
Illustration: Lynn Maree
guest column Africa (Namibia), who would provide the test subjects for this racial science. In 1885, the border between Angola and what would become German SWA was negotiated between the Portuguese and Germans. The first German fort was built at Windhoek in 1890. By that time Franz Luderitz, a tobacco merchant from Bremen, already occupied Herero lands which he had “bought” along the coast. The aim was to set up a German colony, to crush the resistance put up by the Nama and Herero people and to settle the land with German farmers. In response to the Herero rebellion (1904-1907), the German Kaiser sent General Von Trotha to restore order and to exterminate both the Herero and the Nama people who later joined the uprising; those who were not killed were sent to labour camps, their land and cattle confiscated. After the uprising only 15 000 of the 80 000 Herero and fewer than half of the 20 000 Nama remained. Not only were the Herero and Nama peoples exterminated in great numbers, but the Germans conducted further trials on their bodies in the name of “race hygiene”. Autopsies were performed for racial-biological research; sample skulls were scraped clean by female prisoners to be sent to Germany, chillingly described in Brink’s book. As the twentieth century dawned, Germany was at the vanguard of western civilisation according to Ferguson and around a third of Nobel science prizes were awarded to German professors between 1901 and 1920. By 1913, there was already a complex of laws against miscegenation in German SouthWest Africa that would later be institutionalised in the American South as segregation and in South Africa as apartheid. Medical science, perverted by racial prejudice and the pseudo-science of eugenics, was being used to provide the rationale for treating Africans brutally. The 1930s brought with it the rise of Fascism in Europe; Afrikaners had an emotional bond with Germans through ties of ancestry, a similar
language and the fact that Germany was a traditional adversary of Britain. Many of the new generation of Afrikaner graduates headed to German universities for further studies in politics, philosophy, sociology and psychology. They returned to South Africa to take over the faculties at new Afrikaans universities where they merged with young theologians who had similarly returned from Europe with new ideas about the divine right of each nation to a separate existence. Debates around politics and religion flowed together and were later to influence government policy. Just as scientific racism was declining in the rest of the world, South Africa started implementing its policies of segregation. The concept of race as a classification of humans is directly related to colonisation and its justification of slavery and the systematic dehumanisation and objectification of people considered
• The department of cultural anthropology at Stellenbosch was closed in 1998, after student numbers dwindled. • Eugenics: the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable characteristics (such as hair type, eye colour and shape of skull) which are able to be inherited; the use of selective breeding to improve the human gene pool. • It was only in the second half of the 20th century that eugenics and the related concept of “racial hygiene” were finally discredited with the facts that all human beings are 99% identical and there is no characteristic trait or gene that distinguishes all members of one so-called race from members of another.
to be biologically inferior. Heike Becker, Professor of Anthropology at the University of the Western Cape, draws a significant link between 20th century racial science, colonialism and genocide, and proposes Eugen Fischer as the connector. Although German colonisation ended after WWI, the “racial science” which had been practised in colonies such as South West Africa was brought back to Europe by the ex-colonial soldiers who joined the ranks of the Nazi Party. Professor Becker refers to the obvious similarities between the way that Africans were classified by physical anthropologists and colonial officials and the way Jews were classified by Nazis. Both Jews and Africans in German colonies were regarded as threats to the purity of German “blood”. Ferguson believes that the war against the Herero and Nama was the first step in the horrific violence that culminated in the concentration camps like Auschwitz. Becker concludes that, although the Nazi genocides are seen to be unique, they continue to have repercussions internationally, citing the 1994 Rwandan genocide as an example. The discovery at Stellenbosch University indicates how the past continues to inform the present in South Africa and how intricately linked colonialism, racism and apartheid are linked. The late Professor Russel Botman, Stellenbosch’s first “black” leader and vice-chancellor at the time of the discovery, gave the go-ahead to a fiveyear research project, to investigate the significance of the find. It was met by a backlash in the Afrikaans media, fuelled by arguments of the unfairness of apportioning blame to cultural anthropology students and protests against the connection between apartheid and Nazism. The university has been given the opportunity to examine its history and legacy and the vehicle to understanding how our society may be transformed.
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art
From no
ecalp DEXI The Investec Cape Town Art Fair was held at the CTICC in February, showcasing works from some of the biggest galleries on the continent and beyond. As well as the main section, which formed the nucleus of the show, there were seven other thematic spaces each inviting audiences to engage with different facets of the contemporary art world.
FORTIA by Keyezua (Angola)
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art
Seat of Honour 5 by Stacey Gillian Abe (Uganda)
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The Buffalo’s Wife by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Botswana)
art
Les Oreides by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Botswana)
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Narrative LAGOM - Breaking Bread with The Self-Righteous by Lhola Amira (South Africa)
Qunusa! Buhle by Buhlebezwe Siwani (RSA)
Text: Shellee-Kim Gold. Images: Supplied
CEO of Verde Hotels, Bruce Walker, who’s also managing public relations for Hotel Verde Zanzibar. What’s more is that guests get access to the rides for free. The park will apply best practised environmental initiatives. As hotel guests of the Dubaistyled façade and environment, you will experience thermal and lighting control, demand-controlled ventilation, roof gardens for regulating temperatures in the interior and the green living wall (of flora), amongst many other features. Hotel rooms come with energy-efficient appliances,
From top left: A digital render of Hotel Verde Zanzibar on completion. A glimpse at the luxurious spa at Hotel Verde. Walls within the famed Mtoni Palace ruins close to the hotel. Chic and eco-conscious bathrooms feature within Hotel Verde.
occupancy sensors and spectrally selective double glazed windows, reducing noise. Besides original and locallysourced bathroom art, there are also water-saving fittings and a grey water harvesting system in showers. “While the grey water from showers is treated and re-used for guest toilets, treated black water is used for irrigation purposes,” said Walker. Guests are encouraged to be proactive – in a novel and fun way. Such as in the gym with its powergenerating gym equipment, used in the building. Ditto the hotel’s lifts. “Regenerative drive lifts regenerate power, going back into the hotel’s grid,” said Walker. Responsible for the design and implementation at the Zanzibar resort, Andre Harms is Ecolution’s sustainability engineer and consults with Verde Hotels. “Some of the additional features we’ve created to adapt here include a walkway between buildings, a larger photovoltaic panel system for greater energy generation and a primary parking area under shade.”
to skills, equipment and technology. “Simple things, like shipping of equipment, take months. There was a lack of availability of materials required, even in neighbouring Tanzania,” said Harms.
“What remains consistent is the superlative experience of sustainability for the responsible and conscientious tourist without compromising on luxurious creature comforts.” Practically on the equator, all rooms in the resort require cooling. “Different technology here will go into the cooling and heating system. It will be water-efficient,” said Harms. Challenges faced during construction on Hotel Verde Zanzibar included language barriers and access
Though the thinking is the same, Hotel Verde Zanzibar turned out a little differently. What remains consistent is the superlative experience of sustainability for the responsible and conscientious tourist - without compromising on luxurious creature comforts.
lux travel
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Lux Hotels in Southern Africa:
VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe This swanky 1904 Edwardian-style hotel overlooks the magniďŹ cent and powerful Victoria Falls, and is just 2 km from Victoria Falls Bridge. Take a stroll through the mist or maybe bungee jumping is more your forte. The glamorous rooms with delicate wood furnishings offer free Wi-Fi and satellite TV. All feature minibars and secure safes, along with tea and coffee-making facilities. 24-hour room service is offered to all guests. Luxury suites add impressive 4-poster beds, marble bathrooms, and separate living rooms with views of the Zambezi River. Upgraded, premium rooms are located in a separate wing of the hotel and feature private courtyards and complimentary afternoon tea and pastries. Free breakfast is served in 1 of 3 restaurants within the hotel.
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lux travel
HOTEL AVENIDA Maputo, Mozambique
Images: Supplied
Overlooking a bustling city and Maputo Bay, this choice business hotel is only a 13 minute walk from the Museu de História Natural, as well as local restaurants and cafés. Sophisticated rooms come with free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs, minibars, and tea and coffee-making facilities. More premium suites add living areas, and some even feature kitchens. Room service is available 24/7 to all guests. Hotel Avenida features a high-end, internationally-acclaimed restaurant with a piano bar, plus a rooftop pool featuring magnificent bay and city views. Other hotel amenities include a spa, a fitness centre, a business centre and a number of conference rooms.
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Wallace Chuma, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Cape Town
A Southern Africa on the rise? Do the recent changes in SADC’s major political and economic powers represent a developing region? In the week that US President Donald Trump is said to have expressed his disdain for immigrants from Haiti and other “shithole” African countries, I spent a good five hours wasting away in queues at the Beit Bridge border post, between South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s busiest borders, providing a lifeline to both large corporates trucking their wares to and from South Africa, as well as small scale cross-border entrepreneurs. Travelling through this border is a hellhole experience on the best of days for most Africans, and for a moment, as I waited for my turn to have my passport stamped after several hours of idle waiting in blazing heat, I thought Trump had a point. But more of this later. It’s been a month into 2018, and there is probably good reason to believe a new wave of “winds of change” could be blowing across southern Africa, winds which arguably bode well for the region. When he made the famous “winds of change” speech in the, then, all-white South African Parliament in Cape Town in 1960, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was tacitly
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warning the Apartheid government of the inevitability of change. Since then, southern Africa (and indeed the continent) has experienced a few cycles of change winds; from the 60s and 70s decolonisation processes, through to the late 80s and 90s “democratisation” winds, which saw the end of one-party state dictatorships and military rule in most parts of the continent. Of all the continental regions, southern Africa has arguably been the most stable, and after South Africa’s reintegration into the global economy post-Apartheid, the most successful. Until Zimbabwe ‘happened’. And, of course, until Zuma ‘happened’ too. Then there was the little recurring story about the restless barracks in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho. And there was the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the youthful President Kabila decided to postpone the election illegally after running his term through, throwing his country into fresh turmoil. As 2017 entered its last quarter, the overall picture of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region was a far cry from the “Africa Rising” image that characterised both the region and the
continent in the early years of the 21st century. If Zimbabwe ‘happened’ again – this time arguably for the better – then in South Africa the Zuma phenomenon ‘happened’ again in December 2017. President Jacob Zuma rose to the Presidency in 2007 (as ANC President and as State President from 2009) on a wave of popular workers’ support as a ‘man of the people’ against the backdrop of a Thabo Mbeki presidency, that was viewed in South Africa as too aloof and pro-elites. But the decade of the Zuma presidency sunk the country to its lowest ebb, as he became embroiled in scandal after scandal. Tectonic shifts also occurred in another SADC major economy, namely Angola. After nearly four decades at the helm, President José Eduardo dos Santos gave way to João Lourenço, who wasted no time ridding some critical state institutions of members of his predecessor’s family and other hangers-on who had survived for years through sheer patronage. He has promised to take the country’s economy on a new trajectory. Do the recent changes in these three countries – SADC’s major political and economic powers – represent a region on the rise? The answer is both in the affirmation and it’s opposite. There is no doubt the leaders of these countries are keen on breaking with the ‘past’ where their predecessors ran the countries like their personal bank accounts. There is no doubt these new leaders want to be identified with new, positive legacies. There is also no doubt that citizens in these countries will allow a rolling back of the clock, having experienced the prospects of a refreshing future. At the same time, there is a long way to go for the fruits of this “rising” region to be experienced by everyone. Ask the female cross-border trader at the Beit Bridge border post, who had to contend with long hours of queuing, the bribes demanded by the authorities both sides of the Limpopo river, and the harassment by law enforcement officers on either side.
Illustration: Lynn Maree
final say
art Labyrinth by Parul Thacker (India)
Baby I live for danger by Lucinda Mudge (South Africa)
QUICK - FIRE Q&A WITH NONTOBEKO NTOMBELA: Hobbies/favourite pastimes? Listening to African Jazz What are you currently reading? Rape: A South African Nightmare by Pumla Gqola If you could have dinner with any three people, who would they be and why? My family that I rarely see.
iKhobokha by Buhlebezwe Siwani www.africanindy.com 45
One of the most exciting sections of the fair was called SOLO, and to inaugurate its maiden outing, heavyweight curator Nontobeko Ntombela put together an intriguing production. Entitled, From No Fixed Place, Nontobeko’s interpretation of the SOLO space was an incredibly richly textured continuation of her curatorial concerns. The exhibition featured the works of ten women artists, subdivided into booths. Each booth housed the work of one artist, and each artist was selected by Nontobeko for the unique way they engage, as women artists, with the world around them. Despite the name for the section, Nontobeko suggested that it would be remiss not to see these works as intimately connected. Each artist brought an attitude to bear on the viewer, often with a repeated motif/ alter ego at the centre of their work. Taken together, these booths intended to lead the viewer on a journey through the complex cosmology of gender, politics, and identity, from the expansive to the intimate and back again. As Nontobeko wrote in her curatorial notes, “through this use of the alter-self, artists employ irony and metaphor to tell stories about the realities of their surroundings and their imagined worlds, which in turn tells us about their individual stories.” On that note, understanding a little something about Nontobeko’s individual story is instructive to understanding her curation of the space. Having always been interested in art, by the time she finished high school her passion had transformed into a broader appreciation of curatorship. In 2002, she undertook a fulltime curatorship at the BAT Centre in Durban and was subsequently employed by Durban University to run their gallery (2006-2010). She then worked as the curator of the contemporary collection at the Johannesburg Art Gallery (2010–12), and along the way also participated in various international programmes including Break the Silence Scotland
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Twisted Fall I by Kimathi Mafafo (South Africa) (2002–3); the Bilateral Exchange Project between Germany and South Africa (2007); and the Close Connections (Africa Reflected) Curator’s Workshop in Amsterdam (2009). It is sometimes misreported that Nontobeko is a Durban girl, but she tells me this is false. Understandably wishing for people to concentrate more on her professional output than her background, she won’t reveal to me exactly where she popped into the world, but (sorry Durban people), she tells me I can categorically report that she “is definitely not from Durban”. For those not in the know, Nontobeko has a great pedigree for producing shows that frequently grapple with issues of identity, biography, and the archive. As well as winning acclaim for A Fragile Archive (2012), and the Two Talking Yonis (2013), she also won plaudits as a “curator extraordinaire” for her
work on the 2010 MTN show, New Contemporaries, which seamlessly wove together the work of numerous artists into a composite whole. As a curator, Nontobeko’s concerns are as much with the message as they are with the medium. The role of curator in group shows, according to another bright young thing, Remi Onabanjo of the Walther Collection in NYC, is both “to provide an ideal platform for artists to exhibit their work, and to knit works together in such a way that the meaning transcends their individual voices.” Until relatively recently, the Cape Town Art Fair ran without the help of specific curators, and according to Ashley McLean, co-director at WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery in Cape Town, they lacked any real visual identity. With Nontobeko and her partner in crime, Tumelo Mosaka, this year audiences can expect to
art
FORTIA by Keyezua (Angola)
Text: Simon Sender. Q&A: Elske Joubert. Photography: Couretsy images
AISHA by Maimouna Guerresi (Italy) enjoy the upward trajectory in the curatorial quality of the fair. In these incredibly genderfluid times, one might be forgiven for thinking there is something anachronistic, or at least paradoxical in the decision for the SOLO section to exclusively “focus on the artistic production of women artists, examining the widespread sociopolitical issues faced by women in both public and private spheres, while also highlighting their contribution to the art world,” as stated on the official Art Fair website. Nontobeko, who spoke in a soothingly composed fashion, is nobody’s fool and was disarmingly cool when I put this concern to her. “It’s a critical question,” she told me. Mainstream queer artists such as Athi-Patra Ruga (whose exquisitely dense and colourful tapestries have recently been exhibited at the WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery in
Woodstock), are currently gaining traction amongst the mainstream public, bringing the theme of marginal identities very much to the fore. From within the context of a move away from non-binary conceptualisations of gender, a show concentrating only on women might feel odd. However, Nontobeko cautioned against such egregious pigeonholing. There is nothing superficial in the presentation of these artists as a collective, each one making an earnest attempt to grapple with their positionality as women (or womxn) and transforming this via the alchemy of their art, into a tangible feeling in their audience. For art lovers in Cape Town, these are exciting times. The Zeitz Mocaa opened last year to great (and deserving) fanfare and as this year’s main fair curator, Tumelo Mosaka said, “Cape Town Art Fair is unique, because it is in Africa and has been
ARTISTS SHOWCASED INCLUDED, AMONGST OTHERS: • Maimouna Guerresi (Italy) represented by Officine dell’Immagine • Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Botswana) represented by Tiwani Contemporary • Stacey Gillian Abe (Uganda) represented by Afriart Gallery Kampala • Parul Thacker (India) represented by Amar Gallery • Keyezua (Angola) represented by MOV’ART • Lhola Amira (South Africa) represented by SMAC • Lucinda Mudge (South Africa) represented by Everard Read CIRCA Gallery • Kimathi Mafafo (South Africa) represented by EBONY/CURATED • Ingrid Bolton (South Africa) represented by Candice Berman Gallery
dedicated to profiling artists and galleries from the continent and the diaspora.” Moreover, as McLean pointed out, the Cape Town Art Fair tends to attract a higher stakes clientele than Johannesburg, with more money sloshing around and more potential for art dealers to take a punt on lessestablished artists. For those unfamiliar with Nontobeko’s curatorial style, the Cape Town Art Fair is a great opportunity to check her out, especially given that beyond this she does not intend on taking on more commissions. Amongst other things she has a Ph.D. to finish and an MA programme in Curatorship at WITS to finalise. Certainly no one could accuse her of being lazy.
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food
t r a g i M
S U e h t o t a c i r f A m fro Studies ostcolonial P f o r o ss fe kes us on a hfield, Pro Jonathan Hig land School of Design, ta nessee. e Is Ten at the Rhod e Kalahari to th m o fr n o food migrati
My mother’s father, Virgil Adolphus Lusk, was the cook in my mother’s family. Like many people around the world in agricultural communities, the midday meal was the largest one. He always cooked a protein – fried chicken, smothered pork chops, venison, rabbit, country fried steak, or ham, but it was always only a backdrop for the vegetables that my grandfather grew in a large garden in the back of his small house in town. When my mother was growing up, the family lived on a sixgeneration farm in Blanton’s Chapel, Tennessee. The farm was sustainable – they grew hay, wheat, corn, and sorghum, which the family would eat
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and which would also serve as fodder for chickens, pigs, rabbits, cattle, goats, and horses. My grandfather raised Tennessee walking horses to sell. His horses were prized because of his skill as a trainer. After a heart attack, my grandfather cut back on the farm work, and he moved to town. The backyard of his house on Short Street was completely taken over by a garden. My grandfather had a sweet tooth. He loved sweets of all kinds, but two of his favourites were the simplest – watermelon and sorghum syrup, mopped up with white bread. In his garden, he grew watermelon, dark green round melons. In his basement
i
n o he had jars of seeds, and the pantry was full of watermelon rind pickles. His favourite way of eating watermelon was to take one from the garden, chill it in the refrigerator overnight, and then eat the icy cold sweet in slices right off the rind. We ate watermelon outside in the backyard, because there you could spit out the seeds. My cousins and I had seed-spitting contests. Who could spit a seed the farthest? The highest? And truth be told, we sometimes spat the seeds at each other when Grandpa was not looking. My grandfather ended every meal by pouring sorghum syrup on his plate and sopping it up with a piece of white bread. He said he always wanted to end a meal with something sweet and that sorghum was good for you as well. Because he lived in town by this time, he did not grow his own sorghum. He bought it from another man in the county who raised it and cooked the juice in an open kettle until it became amber and thick. Tennessee is still the second largest producer of sorghum, behind Kentucky. Sorghum is not a popular crop in the US, even though it has great versatility – as well as the stems providing syrup, the grains can be used in a variety of ways, including
being boiled like rice or popped like popcorn. Sorghum thrives on marginal land, and there was plenty of that in the stony hills of Coffee County. That my grandfather loved watermelon and sorghum speaks to the great culinary influence of Africans on the American South. In his case it was an indirect influence. My grandfather did not associate either of those foods with Africa or Black Americans. My grandfather grew up in the segregated South. There were no AfricanAmericans in Blanton’s Chapel, the part of Coffee County he grew up in. I have not been back in years, but there probably are still no AfricanAmericans living there. My mother, who was also raised in Blanton’s Chapel, did not have a conversation with a person of African descent until she was twenty-one and a schoolteacher living in Kentucky. The Lusk family was part of the white settlers that crossed the Appalachians and would eventually displace the Native American tribes of the Southeast. My grandfather’s great-great grandfather had migrated from North Carolina into what would be Tennessee following the Battle of King’s Mountain in 1780, settling along the Duck River in what would become Coffee County. Coffee County was named
food for John R. Coffee, who President Andrew Jackson asked to handle the implementation of the American Indian Removal Act of 1830. Coffee oversaw the agreement that led to the removal of the Choctaw and Chickasaw from Mississippi, and continued with the removal of the Muskogee-Creek, and Cherokee peoples. Approximately 125 000 Native Americans were forced from their homes in the Southeast woodlands and driven on foot to the “Indian Territories” in the arid plains of Oklahoma. Tens of thousands died along the way on what was known as the Trail of Tears. My grandfather was proud of the history and culture of Native Americans in the region and often took me out to the Old Stone Fort, a religious mound structure constructed in phases from 80 to 550 CE, which demonstrated the long tenure of Native Americans in the region. The Old Stone Fort was not a fort at all, but probably used during seasonal celebrations as its entrance is lined up with the sunrise on summer solstice. He took me foraging in the woods surrounding the Old Stone Fort for plants used by the Shawnee and Cherokee. That our family was complicit in the loss of their homeland was never mentioned. Though my grandfather praised Native American culture, his views on African Americans were racist and ignorant. He spoke of how slavery had civilised Africans, taken them out of the dark continent of Africa.
Like too many Americans today, he thought of Africa as a single country, not as a continent filled with different cultures and a history of remarkable civilisations stretching back millennia. My grandfather, like many other racists yesterday and today, claimed “Africans” would have never developed as a people without the intervention of white culture. He never understood that when he was eating sorghum syrup and watermelon, he was tasting African civilisation and innovation. The cultivation history of
different kinds of food. Botanists recognise 571 cultivated forms of sorghum, some used like rice, others ground into flour, others used for the production of beer. Sorghum can also be used as animal fodder, as firewood, and in the production of ethanol. And, as my grandfather knew, it can be used as a substitute for cane molasses or honey. The constant inventiveness of farmers across the African continent has produced, and continues to produce, varieties of sorghum that thrive in different ecological
“That my grandfather loved watermelon and sorghum speaks to the great culinary influence of Africans on the American South.” sorghum is complex. The editors of The Lost Crops of Africa indicate there are at least four major types arising in Egypt, the West Sudanian Savannah, the East Sudanian Savannah, and an Indian Ocean belt stretching from modern-day Tanzania to South Africa. Sorghum from the latter region travelled by dhows to India at least 2 000 years ago. Through selective breeding African farmers from each of these regions selected varieties with different characteristics that provided
conditions and offer a range of culinary options. Watermelon, as we know it today, has a very different history of cultivation. The fruit’s name in English suggests its original use. The fruit’s high water content made it an important commodity in desert or drought-prone regions. The Tsamma of the Kalahari is an ancestor of the watermelon, and it played a crucial role as a source of both water and food for the Khoisan. As a wild fruit, the Tsamma had a
THE EVOLUTION/HISTORY OF THE WATERMELON:
The Tsamma of the Kalahari
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The Gurum of Sudan
Egusi - seeds of the melon (Gulf of Guinea)
wide variety of flavours and textures, probably determined by microecological conditions. Another ancestor of the watermelon, the gurum of Sudan was domesticated in Egypt, and seeds and paintings of the fruit were found in King Tut’s tomb. That watermelon followed the trade routes across Northern and Western Africa, eventually crossing into the Middle East and Southern Europe. An illustration of a watermelon first appears in Europe in the Neopolitan Tacuinum Sanitatis in 1531. By that time we know the fruit had begun to acquire its sweet taste, because its flesh is red and the genes associated with sweetness in the fruit are also associated with redness. A third variety of watermelon, cultivated along the Gulf of Guinea, is grown only for its seeds. The flesh is so bitter as to be inedible, but the seeds of the melon, known as egusi, are central to cuisines across the region. The melon seeds are used in a
world’s luxuries, king by grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.” Twain’s heavenly watermelon is tied up with the bonds of slavery and eventually with the hatred of racism. In the American South, most enslaved Africans working on plantations had to grow the food to feed themselves as well. Many of the foods associated with “soul food,” emerged from these kitchen gardens – collard greens, sweet potatoes, okra, black-eyed peas, and watermelons. Since slaves were not given seeds, they saved a portion of the seeds to plant the following year. Some slaves were even allowed to sell their excess produce. When an enslaved African farmer found a particularly sweet melon, he saved the seeds from that melon to plant the following year because he knew the resulting melons would raise his reputation as a melon-seller.
When one has tasted he knows what the angels eat...- Mark Twain
Watermelon variety of ways – ground and cooked in oil they puff up to resemble scrambled eggs. They can be fermented, ground into a paste like peanut butter, or roasted and eaten whole as a snack. None of these melons, however, begin to resemble Mark Twain’s description of watermelon from Pudd’nhead Wilson: “The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of this
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The seeds from mealy melons were discarded. Flesh that was particularly red was prized, so those seeds were saved and planted as well. The resulting fruits were prized, and the seeds hidden, particularly from the slave-owners. Watermelon had long connotations with slovenliness and laziness, going back to its arrival in Southern Europe, because it was messy to eat and easy to cultivate. After the end of the American Civil
War, however, these connotations became connected increasingly to the emancipated African-Americans. The reasons were economic. Enslaved Africans in the American South had developed the tastiest varieties of the fruit, and after emancipation, watermelon became an important cash crop on Black farms. Farmers were very protective of the varieties that they grew, and the sweetest, deepest-flavoured melons, those that Twain’s angels ate, were grown predominately by AfricanAmerican farmers. Racist politicians, writers, and artists quickly grew to draw associations between watermelon production and consumption with their perceived laziness and childishness of the emancipated African-Americans. Films like The Birth of a Nation and The Watermelon Patch used the fruit to symbolise the ignorance and gullibility of the Black population. The watermelon played an important role in black-faced minstrel shows, which used the AfricanAmericans’ association with the fruit to insist upon their childlike ways – because it was messy to eat – and their stupidity – because its nutritional value was minimal. The fact that the original use of the fruit for safe hydration was still its main purpose in areas of high heat, with limited access to safe drinking water, was not considered by the racist commentators. There is a delicious irony for me as I remember my grandfather in the backyard spitting watermelon seeds, the juice running down his chin, or at the side table in the dining room, conducting what I think of as his sorghum ritual, taking out a piece of white bread from the cellophane packet, and then pouring a design of sorghum from a glass container onto his plate, and returning to the table to run the bread through the syrup, all the time smacking his lips. Now, I think, Virgil, you old incorrigible racist, you inventive farmer, you are tasting what inventive African farmers developed. What you could have learned talking with and working beside them.
Text by Jonathan Highfield. Artwork by Warren Uytenbogaardt
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business person South Africa, in the last Forbes Africa wealthiest list, has the most billionaires on the continent, the seven just edging Egypt’s six.
Super Introducing South Africa’s
Nicky Oppenheimer remains South Africa’s wealthiest billionaire and the second wealthiest person in Africa. Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote remains the wealthiest billionaire in Africa, with a net worth of $12.2 billion (R143.1 billion).
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business person ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Diamonds AGE: 72
Africa ranking:
2
nd
Net worth:
$7.7 billion
1
st
(R90.3 billion)
NICKY OPPENHEIMER
Nicky Oppenheimer remains South Africa’s wealthiest billionaire and the second wealthiest person in Africa.
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ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Luxury Goods AGE: 67
Africa ranking:
3
rd
Net worth:
$7.2 billion
2
nd
(R84.5 billion)
JOHANN RUPERT
Johann Rupert is chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont.
business person ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Media, Investments AGE: 65
Africa ranking:
8
th
Net worth:
$2.8 billion
3
rd
KOOS BEKKER
(R32.9 billion)
Bekker led Naspers to invest in Chinese Internet and media firm Tencent in 2001 and retired as the CEO of Naspers in March 2014. He returned as chairman in April 2015 and Forbes Africa reports that he oversaw a rise in the market capitalisation of Naspers from about $600 million to $45 billion.
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business person
ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Mining
Africa ranking:
AGE: 55
11th
$2.4 billion Net worth:
4
th
(R28.2 billion)
PATRICE MOTSEPE
Motsepe, the founder and chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, became a billionaire in 2008 – the first black African on the Forbes list.
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ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Pharmaceuticals AGE: 53
Africa ranking:
19
th
Net worth:
$1.2 billion
5
th
STEPHEN SAAD
(R14.1 billion)
Stephen Saad founded South Africa’s largest pharmaceuticals maker, Aspen Pharmacare, in 1997.
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business person Africa ranking:
19th ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Banking AGE: 68
Net worth:
(R14.1 billion)
$1.2 billion
6th MICHIEL LE ROUX Text: All figures courtesy of Forbes Africa and correct at time of print. Photography: Gallo/Gettyimages, Couretsy images
Michiel le Roux founded Capitec Bank in 2001 and owns about an 11% stake.
Africa ranking:
21st
ORIGIN OF WEALTH: Mining AGE: 75
Net worth:
(R14.1 billion)
$1.1 billion
7th DESMOND SACCO Desmond Sacco chairs South African mining firm Assore Group, which mines iron ore, manganese and other ores.
*South Africa’s Christo Wiese of Steinhoff International was initially listed on Africa and South Africa’s elite billionaire’s list but after the Steinhoff crash, Forbes Africa reported Wiese’s net worth had dropped from a high of $7.5 billion to less than $1 billion.
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Breaking barriers
1
The gala awards dinner, which has come to be regarded as “the Oscars” for unit trust fund managers, was preceded by a new event, which promises to become a permanent fixture on the financial calendar: The Raging Bull Investment Summit. The Raging Bull Awards were hosted by Independent Media, in association with ProfileData and PlexCrown Fund Ratings, and received sponsorship from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and the Industrial Development Corporation. The investment summit comprised three panel discussions; “Investing in BRICS - opportunities and challenges”, “The effects of current and future regulation on the investment industry”, and “Radical economic transformation”. The keynote speaker was the SecretaryGeneral of the ANC, Paul Mashatile. Panellists in the discussions, which proved lively and interesting to the 150-odd delegates who attended the conference, included former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene; executive chairman of Independent Media and chairperson of the BRICS Council, Dr Iqbal Survé; president of the Association for Black Securities and Investment Professionals, Sibongiseni Mbatha; head of compliance at PSG Wealth, Elana Honiball; market conduct
Raging Bull Investment Summit and Awards The 22nd annual Raging Bull Awards, which celebrates the top performers in South Africa’s investment industry, were held in Cape Town, earlier this year. 62 www.africanindy.com
2
business focus
3
Text: Adri Senekal-de Wet and Martin Hesse. Photography: Couretsy images.
4
strategy adviser at the Financial Services Board, Leanne Jackson; and economist Mike Schüssler. At the gala dinner, the keynote speaker was Dr Dan Matjila of the PIC. Cape Town-based asset manager Allan Gray received the Raging Bull Award for the Domestic Management Company of the Year (2017), coming in ahead of runners-up PSG Asset Management and Coronation Fund Managers. Winning the Raging Bull Award for Offshore Management Company of the Year were, tied in first place, Investec and Nedgroup Investments International. A new award was presented for the first time, the Chairman’s Raging Bull Award for the Best Black-Owned Management Company. This went to Vunani Fund Managers. For the awards, actively managed
5
unit trust funds are judged on straight performance over three years and on risk-adjusted performance, according to the PlexCrown Fund Ratings system over five years. Management companies are judged on the risk adjusted performance of their qualifying funds over five years. Allan Gray has now won the domestic company of the year award six times, equalling the record set by its Mother City Rival, Coronation Fund Managers. Allan Gray’s director of retail, Rob Formby, said it is always an honour to receive such an award, and while awards generally shouldn’t determine how investors choose a management company, the recognition the award brings conveys an element of trust to consumers and financial advisers and an affirmation of Allan Gray’s investment philosophy.
6
7 1. Guests enter through the Two Oceans Aquarium tunnel. 2. Executive Chairman of Independent Media, Dr Iqbal Survé welcomes guests. 3. Vivian Reddy, Adri Senekal de Wet and Dr Iqbal Survé. 4. The winners of Straight Performance Awards for Domestic Collective Investment Schemes. 5. Winners Fairtree Capital. 6. Vunani Fund Managers with award. 7. Aeon Asset Management’s Tshepo Modise and Asief Mohamed with their award.
www.africanindy.com 63
Interview with a
CEO
African Independent spends a few minutes with Reshaad Sha, CEO of SqwidNet, to talk all things IoT and connectivity. Can you tell us a little more about yourself and your background? I’m a technology strategist by nature who challenges the conventional approach of achieving success both personally and professionally. I have been working in the telecommunications and technology sector for about 22 years and have held a number of prominent roles including Managing Director of an OSS/BSS company covering African and the Indian Ocean Islands; Director of Strategy at Cisco covering the territories of Russia, Turkey, Middle-East and Africa and more recently the Chief Strategy Officer of Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) while incubating SqwidNet, which I now lead as CEO. I hold national diplomas in information technology from the Durban University of Technology
64 www.africanindy.com
and Technikon South Africa, and an executive MBA from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. SqwidNet is an IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity business that is based on Sigfox technology. Could you explain what Sigfox is and how it pertains to SqwidNet? Sigfox is a French company founded in 2009 that builds wireless networks, enabling anything to send data to the Internet consuming a very small amount of energy. Using this technology, any object (electric meters, asset location tracker, security system, agriculture solutions...) can send data (sensor values, event alerts) for several years without any maintenance or battery replacement. The company is a recognised global pioneer and leader in a sector
that is already disrupting business models and will revolutionise the whole of society. Their ambition is to ‘Make Things Come Alive’ and give a voice to the physical world around us − to allow these billions of objects to play a role in economic and social development. The Sigfox service is currently available in 45 countries on all continents, including South Africa through SqwidNet. The Sigfox network, which is built to act like a single global network, today covers over 800 million people. Sigfox is a dedicated ultranarrowband, low-power, long-range, IoT network. It offers secure, reliable low-cost access to IoT solutions in South Africa, creating opportunities for businesses small and large to create innovative products. We are the sole Sigfox operator in South Africa, which allows us to offer technology and support services consistently throughout the country. Could you explain what IoT is essentially and why it has become such an important aspect to businesses big and small? The Internet of Things (IoT) is the internetworking of connected things (devices, vehicles, buildings, machines, wearables, and a multitude of other objects) that can collect and exchange data. This opens up numerous opportunities for innovation to increase productivity, respond to – or even prevent – emergencies; track assets, aid decision making, and generally enhance life beyond what we can imagine. IoT is a key capability that enables Digital Transformation journeys for any customer. That customer could be a business, small or large corporation, municipality, national government or defence force of a country. SqwidNet is a connectivity provider for a variety of electronic devices, ranging from asset tracking to utilities, and parking to security. Were the ideas for these solutions born specifically with the African market in mind?
business focus
Photography: Couretsy images
Solutions are built specifically to serve a specific purpose, which is critical to the digital transformation journey and then adapted if required for specific countries and problems. We do acknowledge that to solve the African continent’s problems using IoT, these solutions will have a much higher rate of success if built and developed locally. We therefore decided to launch an IoT entrepreneurship programme (IoT to the power E - IoT^E) in South Africa. The programme is designed to train people with good IoT ideas in the areas of device development, IoT software platforms and importantly business skills. Successful prototypes developed through this program will then be scaled with our partners into production where customer demand exists. Our initial intake in the program had more than 80% proposed solutions that are attempting to solve problems that are uniquely African. What was the “gap” in the market that SqwidNet addressed and successfully filled? SqwidNet is addressing a market where hundreds of millions of objects need to be connected at a very low cost, consuming a small amount of power and communicating its data load securely into an application layer for processing. There was no commercially viable solution that came anywhere close to the proposition that we built using SqwidNet for the South African market and importantly leveraging the Sigfox technology and associated business model. Other technologies that already existed, specifically sim-based solutions, are unsuitable for the proposition that we are addressing. Our technology is, however, highly complementary to other cellular solutions like 3G/4G/LTE. Where we address the ultranarrowband requirements for IoT, the traditional mobile networks will address the IoT objects that require a much larger volume of data and associated throughput.
SqwidNet is sponsoring the 2018 IoT Forum Africa – how will IoT connectivity transform and uplift African countries that are only now experiencing a digital revolution? It will do a lot to improve their way of living, from agriculture, logistics, manufacturing, and other spheres that bring efficiency and/or enhance revenue. If, for example, you look at agriculture, Africa depends on it for survival, it depends on the natural resources that aid farmers in being successful. The current available IoT devices in that field can make it easier for farmers to know with precision the water and fertiliser requirements of their crop. Monitoring and management of stock on farms, whether that be livestock or plant and machinery, SqwidNet is able to deliver solutions to this market vertical that will deliver value overnight. What will be the main discussion points at the upcoming forum? IoT Forum Africa 2018 key topics include Smart Cities, IoT for Public Safety, Digital Transformation, Blockchain, IT Security, AI, Analytics, IoT Strategy, and IoT Adoption. Under the theme, “Powering a new era of operational transformation”, IT leaders and senior executives will have the chance to hear from over 30 expert speakers who will showcase the leading developments in IoT. What is the next step in growing SqwidNet as well as device development? The next step in growing SqwidNet is to increase the number of locally manufactured devices and thereby positively impact the commercial scalability of solutions for the African continent. We plan to grow local talent through our IoT^E Programme to be able to supply local and international markets with relevant solutions while we look to partner potential network operators that can build new SqwdiNet’s in individual African countries.
What sets SqwidNet apart from its closest rivals? There are four pillars that set SqwidNet apart from its rivals. We have • the lowest costs in terms of connectivity and devices. Connectivity is as low as $1 year / device and device enablement to operate on the Sigfox network can be as low as 20 US cents going up to $2 for simple Sigfox radio communications. This is the cheapest radio communications enablement and operating costs of any IoT network in the world. • the lowest power consumption thanks to max 12-byte messages sent from the devices to the network at 100bps on an ultra-narrowband network of 100hz at 20dBm. Because the bulk of the devices only requires a small amount of data to be transferred such as door opening and closing (1 byte), GPS tracking (6 bytes), temperature monitoring (2 bytes), battery status (1 byte), meter index (2 bytes), movement / gyro (1-2 bytes), 12-byte messages are sufficient and allows to keep the power consumption low. • the most advanced back-end platform to manage all data received from devices with easy to set-up API to any IoT platform such as Microsoft Azure, IBM Blue Mix, ThingWorx, Amazon Web Services and many more platforms. • a global network. In fact, Sigfox is the only LPWAN provider showcasing its global network coverage. While some other LPWAN talk about pocket areas or cities coverage, Sigfox is deploying nationwide coverage with seamless global roaming between Sigfox partner networks. We have a powerful ecosystem that benefits everyone. Together with our ecosystem, we’ve been building and developing the IoT value chain to speed up the adoption of Sigfox connectivity solutions and leverage our partners’ scale and distribution capabilities. Success to me is defined by the positive impact we are able to create in the lives of our citizens.
www.africanindy.com 65
sport
Walk like an
Egyptian Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, already voted Africa’s finest footballer of 2017, has declared he wants to be the best player in the history of Egyptian football.
www.africanindy.com 67
BY THE NUMBERS Mo’s Red Hot He reached five Premier League goals in
9 GAMES,
the third-quickest player to achieve the feat for Liverpool and third-quickest in minutes
(616)
The 25-year-old equalled the club record of
23 GOALS in a season before New Year with his brace at home to Leicester City.
20
Salah struck
PREMIER LEAGUE GOALS
in the fewest number of games in club history: 25.
Salah is the first LFC player since Ian Rush, in 1986, to score
20 GOALS before Christmas, having reached the mark at Bournemouth. He also became the fourth-quickest by date to reach 20 and the joint-second-quickest to reach the landmark in games (26).
sport
Fast fact:
image and story credit
Egypt has produced winners of the African Club Champions Cup or Champions League 14 times, more than any other nation – the closest is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with six titles.
Salah’s 2017 dream has continued into 2018, where he is inspiring Liverpool in the English Premier League (EPL) and breaking records with weekly consistency. Salah’s African reward and recognition was because of his form in helping Egypt to a second-place finish at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. Most significantly, however, are the two goals he scored against Congo last October to ensure The Pharaohs qualified for their first FIFA World Cup since 1990. “To qualify for the World Cup after 28 years and to have a great season at Roma and Liverpool were special moments in my career,” said Salah. “This is a dream come true for me, 2017 was an unbelievable year
with the Egyptian national team and my clubs.” Salah was crowned the CAF African Player of the Year for 2017, polling 625 points from a voting panel made up of national team coaches, captains, selected journalists and officials. He is the second Egyptian to win the prestigious award, after Mahmoud Al Khatib in 1983. Highly motivated, he aims to eclipse the feats of Mohamed Aboutrika, who is viewed as Egypt’s best. Aboutrika never played in Europe, but his career with Al Ahly Sporting Club saw him win seven Egyptian Premier League titles, two Egypt Cup winners’ medals and five CAF Champions Leagues between 2004 and 2011. Aboutrika was also named Egypt’s Player of the Year for a record four times between 2004 and 2007. Salah is the first Egyptian player since Aboutrika to command such media hype and presence. Illustrating just how popular Salah is, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan dedicated nine of 16 pages to the player on New Year’s Day. The headline read, “The Pharaoh: Joy of 2017 and hope of 2018”.
www.africanindy.com 69
sport
THE 2017 CAF AWARDS IN FULL AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 1. Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool); 2. Sadio Mané (Senegal and Liverpool); 3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon and Arsenal) WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria and Dalian Quanjian) NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR Egypt WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR South Africa YOUTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR Patson Daka (Zambia and Liefering) COACH OF THE YEAR Héctor Cúper (Egypt) CLUB OF THE YEAR Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)
PLATINUM AWARD 1. Ghana’s President Nana AkufoAddo 2. Liberia’s President-elect George Weah and former World, Africa and European Player of the Year LEGEND Ibrahim Sunday (Ghana)
Fast fact: Egypt has appeared in nine Africa Cup of Nations finals, a figure bettered by no other nation. Of those nine, they have won seven, more than any other nation.
70 www.africanindy.com
Text: Mark Keohane. Statistics courtesy of BBC.com Photography: Gallo/Getty Images
FOOTBALL LEADER OF THE YEAR Ahmed Yahya (President of the Mauritania Football Federation)
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R13950
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R36630
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R28683
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lux travel
Exporting the Cape’s
Hotel Verde to Zanzibar Dubbed ‘Africa’s Greenest Hotel’ and showcasing many sustainable features and practices, Cape Town’s Hotel Verde model has been exported to Zanzibar and replicated at a resort opening in March 2018.
www.africanindy.com 73
lux travel
Drawing inspiration and expertise from its South African sister hotel, the five star tropical resort is about to take the island by storm. Hotel Verde Zanzibar is owned by Tanzanian business tycoon Said Bakhresa of the Bakhresa Group. Though this is his first venture in hospitality, his group is also involved in other sectors, including agribusiness, media and oil trading. Following the Cape’s Hotel Verde blueprint, the Delicio family owners desired to show the way forward by employing traditions that were lighter
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on the earth in as many ways as possible and leaving a legacy for their children. Spearheading sustainable tourism within luxury hotels in Africa since 2013, and winning a string of international awards, the objective is to continue implementing systems globally that substantially reduce water and energy usage - in addition to significantly reducing waste. Just ten minutes from Zanzibar’s capital Stone Town, and next to the famed Mtoni Palace ruins, the principles in engineering, building and
design at Hotel Verde Zanzibar were quite similar to their South African counterpart. Even if the context, location and climate were “extremely different” on the island. Nonetheless, green initiatives exist across many areas, including building specifications, indoor environment, hotel operations and guest amenities. “The hotel is a mix of culture and history along with sea, sun and sand. A lazy river goes all around the waterpark, with the water being recycled reverse osmosis,” said the
Text: Shellee-Kim Gold. Images: Supplied
CEO of Verde Hotels, Bruce Walker, who’s also managing public relations for Hotel Verde Zanzibar. What’s more is that guests get access to the rides for free. The park will apply best practised environmental initiatives. As hotel guests of the Dubaistyled façade and environment, you will experience thermal and lighting control, demand-controlled ventilation, roof gardens for regulating temperatures in the interior and the green living wall (of flora), amongst many other features. Hotel rooms come with energy-efficient appliances,
From top left: A digital render of Hotel Verde Zanzibar on completion. A glimpse at the luxurious spa at Hotel Verde. Walls within the famed Mtoni Palace ruins close to the hotel. Chic and eco-conscious bathrooms feature within Hotel Verde.
occupancy sensors and spectrally selective double glazed windows, reducing noise. Besides original and locallysourced bathroom art, there are also water-saving fittings and a grey water harvesting system in showers. “While the grey water from showers is treated and re-used for guest toilets, treated black water is used for irrigation purposes,” said Walker. Guests are encouraged to be proactive – in a novel and fun way. Such as in the gym with its powergenerating gym equipment, used in the building. Ditto the hotel’s lifts. “Regenerative drive lifts regenerate power, going back into the hotel’s grid,” said Walker. Responsible for the design and implementation at the Zanzibar resort, Andre Harms is Ecolution’s sustainability engineer and consults with Verde Hotels. “Some of the additional features we’ve created to adapt here include a walkway between buildings, a larger photovoltaic panel system for greater energy generation and a primary parking area under shade.”
to skills, equipment and technology. “Simple things, like shipping of equipment, take months. There was a lack of availability of materials required, even in neighbouring Tanzania,” said Harms.
“What remains consistent is the superlative experience of sustainability for the responsible and conscientious tourist without compromising on luxurious creature comforts.” Practically on the equator, all rooms in the resort require cooling. “Different technology here will go into the cooling and heating system. It will be water-efficient,” said Harms. Challenges faced during construction on Hotel Verde Zanzibar included language barriers and access
Though the thinking is the same, Hotel Verde Zanzibar turned out a little differently. What remains consistent is the superlative experience of sustainability for the responsible and conscientious tourist - without compromising on luxurious creature comforts.
lux travel
www.africanindy.com 77
Lux Hotels in Southern Africa:
VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe This swanky 1904 Edwardian-style hotel overlooks the magniďŹ cent and powerful Victoria Falls, and is just 2 km from Victoria Falls Bridge. Take a stroll through the mist or maybe bungee jumping is more your forte. The glamorous rooms with delicate wood furnishings offer free Wi-Fi and satellite TV. All feature minibars and secure safes, along with tea and coffee-making facilities. 24-hour room service is offered to all guests. Luxury suites add impressive 4-poster beds, marble bathrooms, and separate living rooms with views of the Zambezi River. Upgraded, premium rooms are located in a separate wing of the hotel and feature private courtyards and complimentary afternoon tea and pastries. Free breakfast is served in 1 of 3 restaurants within the hotel.
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lux travel
HOTEL AVENIDA Maputo, Mozambique
Images: Supplied
Overlooking a bustling city and Maputo Bay, this choice business hotel is only a 13 minute walk from the Museu de História Natural, as well as local restaurants and cafés. Sophisticated rooms come with free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs, minibars, and tea and coffee-making facilities. More premium suites add living areas, and some even feature kitchens. Room service is available 24/7 to all guests. Hotel Avenida features a high-end, internationally-acclaimed restaurant with a piano bar, plus a rooftop pool featuring magnificent bay and city views. Other hotel amenities include a spa, a fitness centre, a business centre and a number of conference rooms.
www.africanindy.com 79
Wallace Chuma, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Cape Town
A Southern Africa on the rise? Do the recent changes in SADC’s major political and economic powers represent a developing region? In the week that US President Donald Trump is said to have expressed his disdain for immigrants from Haiti and other “shithole” African countries, I spent a good five hours wasting away in queues at the Beit Bridge border post, between South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s busiest borders, providing a lifeline to both large corporates trucking their wares to and from South Africa, as well as small scale cross-border entrepreneurs. Travelling through this border is a hellhole experience on the best of days for most Africans, and for a moment, as I waited for my turn to have my passport stamped after several hours of idle waiting in blazing heat, I thought Trump had a point. But more of this later. It’s been a month into 2018, and there is probably good reason to believe a new wave of “winds of change” could be blowing across southern Africa, winds which arguably bode well for the region. When he made the famous “winds of change” speech in the, then, all-white South African Parliament in Cape Town in 1960, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was tacitly
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warning the Apartheid government of the inevitability of change. Since then, southern Africa (and indeed the continent) has experienced a few cycles of change winds; from the 60s and 70s decolonisation processes, through to the late 80s and 90s “democratisation” winds, which saw the end of one-party state dictatorships and military rule in most parts of the continent. Of all the continental regions, southern Africa has arguably been the most stable, and after South Africa’s reintegration into the global economy post-Apartheid, the most successful. Until Zimbabwe ‘happened’. And, of course, until Zuma ‘happened’ too. Then there was the little recurring story about the restless barracks in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho. And there was the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the youthful President Kabila decided to postpone the election illegally after running his term through, throwing his country into fresh turmoil. As 2017 entered its last quarter, the overall picture of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region was a far cry from the “Africa Rising” image that characterised both the region and the
continent in the early years of the 21st century. If Zimbabwe ‘happened’ again – this time arguably for the better – then in South Africa the Zuma phenomenon ‘happened’ again in December 2017. President Jacob Zuma rose to the Presidency in 2007 (as ANC President and as State President from 2009) on a wave of popular workers’ support as a ‘man of the people’ against the backdrop of a Thabo Mbeki presidency, that was viewed in South Africa as too aloof and pro-elites. But the decade of the Zuma presidency sunk the country to its lowest ebb, as he became embroiled in scandal after scandal. Tectonic shifts also occurred in another SADC major economy, namely Angola. After nearly four decades at the helm, President José Eduardo dos Santos gave way to João Lourenço, who wasted no time ridding some critical state institutions of members of his predecessor’s family and other hangers-on who had survived for years through sheer patronage. He has promised to take the country’s economy on a new trajectory. Do the recent changes in these three countries – SADC’s major political and economic powers – represent a region on the rise? The answer is both in the affirmation and it’s opposite. There is no doubt the leaders of these countries are keen on breaking with the ‘past’ where their predecessors ran the countries like their personal bank accounts. There is no doubt these new leaders want to be identified with new, positive legacies. There is also no doubt that citizens in these countries will allow a rolling back of the clock, having experienced the prospects of a refreshing future. At the same time, there is a long way to go for the fruits of this “rising” region to be experienced by everyone. Ask the female cross-border trader at the Beit Bridge border post, who had to contend with long hours of queuing, the bribes demanded by the authorities both sides of the Limpopo river, and the harassment by law enforcement officers on either side.
Illustration: Lynn Maree
final say