Tar65 november telec angola

south afrIca White capital, black business

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kenya Kenyatta fighting on all fronts

angola Luanda’s new Africa policy

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most influential

AfricA lobbyists Inside the multi-million-dollar industry shaping Africa’s image... and its governments

Rosa Whitaker, Tony Blair, and David Axelrod InternatIonal edItIon

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 7 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 50 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 9,000 • South Africa 30 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 6,500 shillings • Tunisia 8 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA

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KENYA Kenyatta fighting on all fronts

ANGOLA Luanda’s new Africa policy

LOBBYING Smooth talkers shaping Africa

SOUTH SUDAN After the rains, the threat of war

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TELECOMS East Africa fights for tech crown

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The many battles of Uhuru Kenyatta

MOST INFLUENTIAL

AFRICA LOBBYISTS

As he fights his case at the International Criminal Court, the president is still wrestling with terror threats and local political rivalries

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 7 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 50 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 9,000 • South Africa 30 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 6,500 shillings • Tunisia 8 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA

MONTHLY • N° 65 • NOVEMBER 2014

Rosa Whitaker, Tony Blair, and David Axelrod INTERNATIONAL EDITION

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

EAST AFRICA EDITION

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 7 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 50 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 9,000 • South Africa 30 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 6,500 shillings • Tunisia 8 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA

Thembu king Dalindyebo

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MADEMEN

contents

INVESTING INVESTIR TOGO 2014

Lifting the lid on the white capital that sped on after apartheid, and the black millionaires created in its wake

Clockwise from top: Zitulele ‘KK’ Combi, Jannie Mouton, Jay Naidoo and Christo Wiese

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

SOUTHERN AFRICA EDITION

Inside the multi-million-dollar industry shaping Africa’s image... and its governments

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

ANGOLA Luanda’s new Africa policy

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Kenya

THE AFRICA REPORT

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TELECOMS East Africa fights for tech crown

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Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 7 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 50 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 9,000 • South Africa 30 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 6,500 shillings • Tunisia 8 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA

SOUTH AFRICA White capital, black business

The AfricA reporT # 65 - november 2014

Doing Business in Africa

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4 Editorial Defence against disorder

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6 lEttErs 8 thE QuEstion

Briefing 10 signposts

64 stEllEnbosch mafia Made Men New faces among South Africa’s business elite suggest an economic transformation is under way, but is everyone getting a fair slice of the pie?

70 oil and gas A new beginning for Algeria’s Sonatrach

12 intErnational 16 pEoplE 18 calEndar

72 microfinancE Egypt’s small borrowers have big potential

frontLine 20 lobbying Nightmare on K Street The PR and image-making business is exploding on the continent but it is British and American spin-doctors that are raking in the cash

poLitics 28 kEnya Enter the generals The president is bringing in the big guns to solve political problems such as terrorism and the call for greater regional powers

74 zimbabwE Teach a man to fish farm...

76 lEadErs Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC 78 hannibal

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86 mobilE data How Nigerians and Kenyans use their phones

42 ukrainE Shifting borders for African migrants

Art & Life

44 tunisia Poll predicament

88 sugabElly Afropolitans on the attack The “move back” movement is now in full swing

45 tanzania Boycott fails 45 zambia President No-Show

94 travEl Glamour and nature in the Maasai Mara

country focus 49 angola Diplomatic dancing Determined to increase its diplomatic heft, Angola is joining African peace-keeping missions n° 65

80 tElEcoms Kenya can’t keep up Despite pitching itself as a tech hub, Nairobi is being outpaced by its African rivals such as South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria

85 intErviEw Wyzetalk CEO Gys Kappers

38 south africa There is no hope for the ANC

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dossiEr

84 financE Why Nigerian start-ups are worth the risk

34 south sudan Killing their people softly

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96 in briEf Director Andrew Dosunmu and African film funds 98 day in thE lifE Housekeeper Zahra Sebbar

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editorial

The AfricA reporT A Groupe Jeune Afrique publication

By Patrick Smith

57‑Bis, rue d’Auteuil – 75016 PAris – FrAnce tel: (33) 1 44 30 19 60 – FAx: (33) 1 44 30 19 30 www.theafricareport.com

Defence against disorder

D

o Africa’s leaders have a response as the continent is dragged into a new round of world disorder? So many appear to be still celebrating the West’s new appellation of ‘Africa rising’ that their governments are missing both risks and opportunities amid the intercontinental chaos.

The West’s latest war in the Middle East against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is playing out in parallel in North Africa and the Sahel. The epicentre of that war is Libya, where Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are backing what’s left of the secularist government in Tripoli, and Qatar and Sudan are backing Islamist militias and assorted jihadists. The result of the fighting in Libya will reverberate across the Sahel. The governments of Mali, Niger and Nigeria will need a political as well as military response to the threat.

Europe’s face-off with Russia over Ukraine also has consequences for Africa. Western sanctions against Russia have forced Moscow to look for new markets and revive old friendships.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin hosted his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, in late August to finalise what could be a $50bn nuclear power deal.

What Africa’s largest gas producers – Algeria and Nigeria – are missing is the opportunity to exploit Europe’s falling out with Putin and its consequent nervousness about the reliability of Russian gas supplies. Now is the time for Algiers and Abuja to tie up long-term gas-supply deals at favourable prices with Europe’s ailing but still wealthy economies.

As the US rehearses war games in the South China Sea amid sabrerattling against Beijing in Japan

Cha i r m a n a nd f o und e r Béchir Ben yAhMed P ub l i s he r dAnielle Ben yAhMed publisher@theafricareport.com e x e Cut i ve P ub l i s he r JérôMe MillAn

and India, there are growing worries about China’s slowing economic momentum. China is the world’s largest economy in purchasing power parity, so its next move will be critical for Africa.

It’s time for Africa to have a China policy, just as Beijing has an Africa policy. That should involve clear conditions such as technology transfer, skills training and investment in manufacturing.

Indeed, such terms should be standard Even as for all investors who have suddenly worked Ebola cuts out the potential of a devastating Africa’s market of swathe, 1.1 billion people.

Even as Ebola cuts Africa should a devastating swathe push across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, its interests Africa should push harder its interests harder.

It should take World Bank president Jim Yong Kim at his word when he calls for a new $20bn global public health fund.

Africa’s clinics and hospitals, many without reliable power and running water, should be a front-line priority for that fund. Similarly, as UN member states agonise over climate change, Africa should push its demands for the richer countries to pay up their share of the planned $100bn climate adjustment fund.

A unified response led by the AU and the African Development Bank (AfDB) is required to push harder for Africa’s interests in these treacherous waters. Perhaps the outgoing president of the AfDB, Donald Kaberuka, can be prevailed upon to kick-start that project before he rides off into the sunset. ●

m a r K e t i nG & d e ve l o P m e nt AlisOn KinGsley‑hAll e d i t o r i n Chi e f PAtricK sMith m a na G i nG e d i t o r nichOlAs nOrBrOOK editorial@theafricareport.com a s s i s ta nt e d i t o r chArlie hAMiltOn e d i t o r i a l a s s i s ta nt OheneBA AMA nti Osei r e G i o na l e d i t o r PArselelO KAntAi (east Africa) a rt & l i f e e d i t o r rOse sKeltOn s ub - e d i t o r s AlisOn culliFOrd MArshAll vAn vAlen P r o o f r e a d i nG KAthleen GrAy a rt d i r e Ct o r MArc trensOn desiGn vAlérie Olivier christOPhe chAuvin P r o d uCt i o n PhiliPPe MArtin christiAn KAsOnGO r e s e a r Ch AnitA cOrthier P ho t o G r a P hy clAire vAtteBled o nl i ne Prince OFOri‑AttA sales sAndrA drOuet sOlène deFrAncq tel: (33) 1 44 30 18 07 – Fax: (33) 1 45 20 09 67 sales@theafricareport.com cOntAct FOr suBscriPtiOn: Webscribe ltd unit 8 the Old silk Mill Brook street, tring hertfordshire hP23 5eF united Kingdom tel: + 44 (0) 1442 820580 Fax: + 44 (0) 1442 827912 email: subs@webscribe.co.uk 1 year subscription (10 issues): All destinations: €39 ‑ $60 ‑ £35 tO Order Online: www.theafricareportstore.com d i f Co m internAtiOnAl AdvertisinG And cOMMunicAtiOn AGency 57‑Bis, rue d’Auteuil 75016 PAris ‑ FrAnce tel: (33) 1 44 30 19‑60 – Fax: (33) 1 44 30 18 34 advertising@theafricareport.com a d ve rt i s i nG d i r e Ct o r nAthAlie Guillery r e G i o na l m a na G e r s cArOline Ah KinG FAdOuA yAqOBi liliA BenAceur elOdie BOussOnniere us r e P r e s e ntat i ve AzizA AlBOu a.albou@groupeja.com

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

mission hospitAls must be equipped to fight ebolA

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EBOLA The world finally wakes up

SOUTH AFRICA Malema pushes for Zuma arrest

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MINING End of the Iron Age

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e at the Christian Health Association of Nigeria (CHAN) laud the government’s efforts in containing the Ebola virus [‘Signposts: Ebola Special’, TAR64 October 2014].

However, they have overlooked the role played by mission hospitals. Almost all the training NIGERIA and materials so far have been provided to public Game of Thrones health institutions. CHAN members, who provide about 40% of healthcare services in rural areas, operate alongside the government and if they are not constructively engaged in terms of training health workers and providing them with protective clothing, this sector of the health industry will be left in great danger. Churches have played a crucial role in raising awareness of the disease, increasing people’s knowledge of the risks and changing their attitude to personal hygiene, which has reduced the spread of Ebola.

Dr. Daniel Gobgab MD, secretary general, CHAN, via email President Goodluck Jonathan has to tackle insurgents and forge ahead with power reforms to win the 2015 elections

INTERNATIONAL EDITION

GROUPE JEUNE AFRIQUE

Algeria 550 DA • Angola 600 Kwanza • Austria 4.90 € • Belgium 4.90 € • Canada 6.95 CAN$ • Denmark 60 DK • Ethiopia 75 Birr • France 4.90 € • Germany 4.90 € • Ghana 7 GH¢ • Italy 4.90 € • Kenya 410 shillings • Liberia $LD 300 • Morocco 50 DH • Netherlands 4.90 € • Nigeria 600 naira Norway 60 NK • Portugal 4.90 € • Sierra Leone LE 9,000 • South Africa 30 rand (tax incl.) • Spain 4.90 € • Switzerland 9.90 FS • Tanzania 6,500 shillings • Tunisia 8 DT • Uganda 9,000 shillings • UK £ 4.50 • United States US$ 6.95 • Zimbabwe US$ 4 • CFA Countries 3,500 F CFA

A womAn president for south AfricA In theory, South Africa has a formidable arsenal of policy, legislation and a constitutional mandate to enlarge and guarantee women’s citizenship, [‘Interview: Lindiwe Sisulu’, TAR63 August/September 2014].

[Their] political representation is the third highest in the world. However, white men still dominate both private- and public-sector boards and management. Against this backdrop, Minister Sisulu’s assertion that a female South African president is inevitable is absolutely feasible. The environment for women to ascend to various

hosted its inaugural Africa-Business Forum in 2010, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) established a dedicated business platform, the Africa Business Group (AfBG). It has sent business delegations to 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and has relations with 34. Doing business in Africa requires both flexibility and a longterm strategic approach. SBF recognises this and will facilitate knowing and understanding Africa, the new ‘frontier’ for Singapore companies.

Shabbir Hassanbhai Singapore’s non-resident High Commissioner to Nigeria, via email

kudos to informAl workers

As an MBA candidate, I appreciated the article by Kim Garner [‘The Transformer’, TAR60 May 2014].

No matter how meagre the contribution of Albert Mosoro and others in the same line of business may be to GDP, they Liepollo Pheko do contribute positively to the President, Businesswomen’s Association economy, and should be respected of South Africa, via email and accorded rights enjoyable by citizens in other formal sectors. They have chosen to make the best of their singApore business situations by recycling, which protects and conserves the environment. I would in AfricA say kudos to these workers and readily The title of your article aptly describes shake their hands, more than the hands the mood that prevails in Singapore of corrupt ministers or politicians in engaging with Africa [‘An island with who do much more harm than good continental ambitions’, TAR63 August/ to both the economy and environment.

Udoh Harding, via email September 2014]. After Singapore positions of power in government, corporate and community leadership has been a dynamic feature of the South African story. It is not a case of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ and ‘who’.

How To gET youR copy of THE AfRIcA REpoRT On sale at your usual outlet. If you experience problems obtaining your copy, please contact your local distributor, as shown below. ghAnA: GREENWICH MAGAZINES & BOOKS, Mr Ernest Asare, +233 (0)208 142 374, greenmaghana@gmail.com – kenYA: NATION MEDIA GROUP, Josephine Bonareri Abuga, +254 (0)20 32 88507, JAbuga@ke.nationmedia.com – nigeriA: NEWSSTAND AGENCIES LTD, Solomon Otinwa, +234 (0)709 8123 459, newsstand2008@ gmail.com – sierrA leone: RAI GERB ENTERPRISES, Mohammad Gerber, +232 (0)336 72 469, raigerbenterprise@gmail.com – southern AfricA: RNA DISTRIBUTION, Butch Courtney, +27 (0)11 602 9800 • butchc@mad.co.za – tAnZAniA: MWANANCHI COMMUNICATIONS, Emmanuel J Lyimo, +255 716 500 500, elyimo@tz.nationmedia.com – ugAndA: MONITOR PUBLICATIONS LTD, Stephen Eselu, +256 (0)702 178 198, seselu@ug.nationmedia.com – united kingdom: COMAG, Mark Swan, +44 (0)1895 433791, Mark.Swan@comag.co.uk – united stAtes & cAnAdA: LMPI, Sylvain Fournier, +1 514 355 5610, lmpi@lmpi.com – ZimbAbwe: MUNN MARKETING (PVT) LTD, Nick Ncube, +263 (0)4 662755, nickncube@munnmarketing.co.zw For other regions go to www.theafricareport.com

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX LIQUID TELECOM p 2; ADDAX PETROLEUM p 5; VODACOM p 7; BARCLAYS AFRICA p 9; SOCIETE GENERALE GHANA p 13; ADEXEN p 15; MEDINE p 15; THE AFRICA CEO FORUM p 19; SUN INTERNATIONAL p 27; REPUBLIC OF DJIBOUTI p 31; CORAF WECARD p 36; BLOOMBERG TV AFRICA p 41; TAR READER SURVEY p 47; BFA p 53; ANGOLA SEGUROS p 55; AGROMUNDO p 59; CIBEX EAST AFRICA p 59; CBS TVC NEWS p 61; CNN p 63; GLOBAL MEDIA ALLIANCE p 67; GPP AFRICA OIL WEEK p 69; e COMMERCE AFRICA p 69; LABADI BEACH HOTEL p 75; NIGERIA INFO p 77; PENNWELL - OWA p 77; EASYHALLS p 79; FRISOMAT p 79; CARMIX METALGALANTE p 79; MIX TELEMATICS p 83; TERACO p 87; TAR SUBSCRIPTION p 93; EKO HOTELS & SUITES p 95; MERCEDES-BENZ p 99; TOTAL p 100 the africa report

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

ReSPONSeS to last month’s question:

the deadly impact of the ebola virus, which had killed more than 3,800 people by early october, has weakened the health systems of Guinea, liberia and sierra leone and hit rural areas the hardest.

Has the Ebola outbreak exposed West Africa’s class divide?

Yes Florence oFori-AttA Pastor, Centre International de Solution Chrétienne, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Absolutely, the class divide is becoming more apparent as more financially sound people isolate themselves from the rest of society, which has little access to an already inadequate and highly unstructured health sector. The financially sound, already with homes removed from popular areas where the potential risk of Ebola and cholera could be high, can easily avoid any contact with people outside their circles.

The church, as it were, has always been a place of convergence for this region’s social strata: a place where the elite, middle class, unemployed, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, among others, congregate. It is not just a place of worship. The church provides the infrastructure for social exchange.

Being aware of West Africa’s sometimes inconspicuous but pronounced social strata and how the recent outbreaks risk weakening one of the rare sources of communication between the various classes, I have embarked on a ministerial programme that seeks to calm people’s fears whilst advising members to apply wisdom in their social relationships in the face of the Ebola outbreak.

West Africa is not Scandinavia, and a breakdown in this important bridging role played by the church could prove detrimental to countries with weak social structures. We should be careful this glaring separation of classes does not grow, especially in a sub-region with very little support from government in terms of social structures. ●

No PenninAh iutung Africa bureau chief, AIDS Healthcare Foundation

The Ebola virus doesn’t discriminate along gender, race, class, age and other sociocultural lines, but its effects on the economy and the level of control in the five affected countries – Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal – have differed. The epidemic has killed many health workers, including doctors, who would be considered among the elite.

The epidemic has been described as a security threat, a threat to the very existence of affected countries and an overall threat to the public health and the management of deadly pandemics. It has highlighted how unprepared the world is to respond to a fast-spreading virus.

It has led to the isolation of the worst-hit countries, and to their being stigmatised as ‘Ebola countries’.

It is evident that Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which could not manage an epidemic of this magnitude, have suffered more than their economically stronger neighbours. Nigeria and Senegal were able to control the epidemic as soon as the first cases were identified.

It is therefore imperative that the international community and national governments invest in health infrastructure and building a capable health workforce in the worst-affected countries. ●

Should Africa establish its own credit ratings agency?

What’s the rationale behind an African credit ratings agency? What is the expected return on investment? Who will govern it?

The Afro-Arab via Twitter Why should that be a question? That’s normal and logical. It would be questionable NOT to do it.

Halima Hosh via Facebook No doubt Africa needs to have its [own] rating agency rather than being graded

by Moody’s and S&P agencies, which are not independent and have many motives when making decisions.

Nassir Gelete via Facebook Our African governments are not thinking. They should have established a Central Bank of Africa so that we Africans would fully control our currency on international stock exchanges. African leaders are are only interested in their private pockets.

Sey John via Facebook Yes, of course, but it has to be unanimously binding, and emphatic too.

Nfordem Mbi via Facebook In the near future, yes [but] right now let’s get all our children through school first.

Xamse Mufasa Cynashe via Facebook

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briefing

INTerNATIoNAl 1

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UNITeD STATeS

$50bn

Amount of fossil fuel assets set to be sold off by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The family, which made its fortune in the petrochemicals industry, vowed in September to join a group of philanthropists seeking to invest in clean energy.

4

INDIA-AfrIcA

Dangerous drugs MARCoS NAGELSTEIN/DoUGLAS MAGNo/AFP CoMBo

Indian pharmaceutical firms are sending poor-quality generic drugs to Africa, an investigation by the United States National Bureau of Economic Research reported in September. Tests on 1,470 samples of antibiotics and tuberculosis drugs manufactured in India and bound for Africa found insufficient quantities of their active ingredients. The report claimed that this practice risked the lives of patients and weakened the effectiveness of future medicines as it would promote drug resistance. The research also says that the drugs are lower quality than those sold in India and other export markets. ●

2

BrAZIl

Rousseff’s run-off

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff took just 41.6% in the country’s election on 5 October, meaning the voters go back to the polls on 26 October for a secondround run-off. One of Rousseff’s principal rivals was socialist Marina Silva, who at one stage was tipped to win in the second round but came in third with 21% of the vote. Rousseff now goes head-to-head with centrist candidate Aécio Neves, from the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, who took 33.6% in the first round. Commentators are predicting yet another close fight as many of Silva’s backers are expected to support Neves.

The campaign had been turned upside down with the unexpected death of the Partido Socialista Brasileiro candidate Eduardo Campos in an aeroplane crash in August, leading to Silva’s candidacy. She is an environmentalist and would have been Brazil’s first black president.

The Brazilian stock market rallied after the 6 October result amid hopes that business-friendly Neves could win. Brazil’s economic growth was negative for the first three quarters of 2014 and predictions for growth next year are meagre. ● 3

5

“Regrettably

for some time to come, the delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift ”

ArcTIc

Sanctions stop Exxon’s oil drilling US oil giant ExxonMobil and Russia’s state-owned Rosneft announced the discovery of a potentially huge Arctic oil reserve in the Kara Sea, north of Siberia, in late September. The find, estimated to contain more than 750m barrels of crude, comes when relations are strained between Russia and the West over Moscow’s activities in Ukraine. Exxon was granted US government permission to drill there until 10 October, but sanctions forbid further exploration of this prospective new region that could shift some of the pessimism about future growth of the Russian industry. ●

AUSTrAlIA

Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister, speaking after a series of raids against suspected Islamic State (IS) supporters. The raids were motivated by concerns the fundamentalist group planned to behead a member of the public.

CIA PAk/UN

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briefing | international

african angles SWEDEN

Palestine’s pal

Source: uS Government

Stockholm will become the first major European nation officially to recognise Palestine as a state, the country’s new centre-left government announced on 3 October. Prime minister Stefan Löfven said that a two-state solution to the IsraelPalestine conflict “requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful co-existence”. Infuriated, the Israeli government argued the Palestinian state should only be recognised as part of a negotiated peace deal.

The Swedish government has not announced a date on which its recognition will take effect. ●

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SYRIA

Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE joined the US-led coalition in a new wave of airstrikes against IS in Syria. This key diplomatic victory ensures the conflict is not seen as just another Western intervention in the Middle East.

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NORTH/SOUTH KOREA

Surprise summit

A high-level North Korean delegation travelled to Incheon to meet South Korean diplomats in an unexpected move towards ending the long-running dispute between the two countries.

Pyongyang gave less than 24-hours notice ahead of the October trip, led by Hwang Pyong-so, widely thought to be the second-in-command in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s government. The ground was prepared for official reconciliation negotiations in November. ●

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Erick kabEndEra

Tanzania-based investigative journalist ALL rIghTS rESErvEd

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Hong kong via dar es Salaam Important parallels emerge in the violently suppressed protests in Hong Kong and Dar es Salaam

W

hen pro-democracy protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong in September, I joked with a politician friend I had met for dinner in Dar es Salaam that the protests had caught me at the right time. I was about to finish Martin Booth’s Golden Boy, a memoir about growing up in colonial Hong Kong in the 1950s that helped me understand why people were protesting.

Tanzania is a socialist country with decades-old ties to China, and the way the Chinese government is handling the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong is not very different from how most African countries handle pro-democracy protesters. The coincidence was that just as tens of thousands were protesting in Hong Kong against China’s refusal to allow the free selection of candidates for Hong Kong’s first democratic election in 2017, police in Tanzania were beating up members of the main opposition party who had announced protests against an assembly debating a draft constitution. The ruling party, which has been in power since Tanzania’s independence, had rejected a proposal that would allow the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar more autonomy. That would also set in motion the possibility for it to secede.

the frustration of young Africans could lead to increased democracy in their own countries.

The recent events also reminded me of my last visit to Hong Kong, which also happened to be my first, in September 2013. From reading books on Hong Kong, I had preconceived notions of a semiautonomous island under the socialist regime of China.

I arrived to a recently typhoonstricken city. A University of Hong Kong student who met me at the airport to take me to a conference venue soon started complaining about how tough life was in the city-state.

She spoke of the scarcity of decent housing for the city’s 7.2 million people, describing the tiny apartment she shares with five other students.

She talked about the soaring unemployment among young people.

She had come from China to study, but she felt that the best way to save Hong Kong was to allow it more democracy. “Young people are tired.

We cannot become a South Korea until a revolution happens,” she said.

In June, the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 was another reminder of how China’s heavy handling of pro-democracy protests might be a negative influence on African governments It is clear that young people are that are under pressure to allow rising. Stories about 17-year-old democracy to flourish. That leaves Joshua Wong, a student who is said us asking a question: What influence to have played a key role in organising will China, which does not tolerate the protests, not only reminded me democracy activism, have on African of how young people played a key role countries as it increasingly becomes in South Korea’s revolution but how influential in Africa? ● the africa report

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PEOPLE ARE THE FUTURE OF AFRICA

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International Institutions Already operational, the Pierrefonds campus consists of Talents – a registered training centre and venue facility with modular rooms and an amphitheatre. The campus hosts courses delivered by famous institutions, namely ESSEC Business School, ESCP Europe and Vatel, a leading international hotel management school. According to the requirements of its present and future university partners, Medine is in the process of developing additional campus facilities with further affiliations to universities such as SUPINFO International University (Information Technology), Sorbonne-ASSAS (Law & Legal Studies), École Centrale-Nantes (Engineering), École Supérieure d’Architecture de Nantes (Architecture), Paris-Descartes (Medical & Pharmacy), École Ferrandi (Gastronomy & Haute Cuisine), and ISIT (Translation & Conference Interpreting).

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The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program: a solution for sustainable and efficient agriculture It is no use looking up the word “wapmo” in the dictionary. It means “WAAPP rice”. By calling an improved variety that way, growers in the regions of Timbuktu and Gao, Mali show that they have adopted as their own the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), which allowed its development. Further examples abound in Senegal, Ghana and the 13 other West African countries where central governments have decided to make productivity the centre of their agricultural policy by investing US $457 million obtained from their partners, in particular the World Bank, Denmark, Spain and Japan governments, which support regional cooperation and agricultural development in West Africa.

T

he programme was launched with three pilot countries (Ghana, Mali and Senegal) in 2008. Dr Abdoulaye Touré, an agro-economist and main WAAPP coordinator at the World Bank, says it is “the West Africa sub-region’s flagship program based on the commitment of African governments made in the 2003 Maputo Declaration to boost farm output by 6% a year and devote at least 10% of public resources to agriculture.”

WAAPP aims to increase productivity of the member states’ main crops, foster integration between the participating countries and facilitate the generation and dissemination of improved technologies.

www.coraf.org

Several African institutions are involved in the program. It is through NEPAD, says Dr. Touré, that “the countries asked the World Bank to develop a new approach fostering regional integration in the area of agriculture as a way of boosting its impact.” Once the financing was found, ECOWAS mandated the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) to coordinate WAAPP at the regional level, in particular by promoting cooperation, consultation and exchange of information between the member institutions and between them and the development partners. “This program,” says the Executive Director, Dr Harold Roy-

Macauley, “is a financing model that also enables the sub-region’s countries to pool their infrastructure and human resources to generate and disseminate proven appropriate technologies to contribute to agricultural development.”

Dr. Roy-Macauley says WAAPP is “considerably increasing agricultural productivity and helping the ECOWAS countries meet the challenges of food insecurity by developing innovative, efficient technologies whose rights of use belong to all the program’s member countries regardless of where they were created.”

For example, three varieties of rice developed in Mali have been released in Senegal.

WAAPP at a glance WAAPP has four components: I. Enabling conditions for Regional Cooperation in improved Technologies Generation and Dissemination II. Establishment of National Centres of Specialization (NCoS) III. Funding of demand-driven technology Generation and adoption IV. Coordination, Management, Monitoring and Evaluation of the program.

Funding - States’ counterparties: $43.366 million - World Bank loans: $398.8 million - Japanese donations: $35 million - Danish donations: $5.13 million - Spanish donations: $23 million Since 2011 WAAPP has been rolled out in 13 of the 15 ECOWAS countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Liberia, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Gambia and Guinea.

WAAPP implementation guidelines

Bank and Japanese, Spanish and Danish cooperation finance the model.”

The first support missions meeting of 2014 and a technical session of the RSC took place in Lomé, Togo from 5 to 12 May. Representatives from the 13 countries, CORAF/WECARD and their partners shared information about the national and regional results achieved in the last six months, reviewed the challenges involved in implementing the program and proposed ways to meet them.

Dr. Roy-Macauley says this Lome meeting was successful because it made clear that “the integration of the private sector, inclusion of young people and their entrepreneurial spirit and increase in government investment are indispensable to ensure the long-term viability of the program and its model. Right now the World

What the national coordinators say Adou Rahim Alimi Assimiou, Operational Coordinator of WAAPP Togo: “WAAPP is added value in terms of increasing national productivity. The technologies generated have helped boost maize output by over 15% in Togo, for example. It’s also a window on the sub-region allowing countries to exchange proven technology.”

Atamana Bernard Dabiré, Burkina Faso WAAPP Coordinator: “Researchers, development players, private companies and civil society from all the member countries share their rich experience in the networks they form.”

DIFCOM_Creapub / © Droits réservés

- Annual Regional Steering Committee (RSC) meeting.

- Bi-annual wrap-up meetings of the support missions

Ghana: Demonstration plot of the new cultivars

Mali: NERICA high-yield rice varieties

Senegal: Composite flour technology adds 15% millet flour to wheat flour

SOME WAAPP RESULTS In Mali, three improved rice varieties among the five released have been adopted and named locally by growers in the Timbuktu and Gao regions: (1) WAS 62 or Sutura (no worries covering rice needs), (2) WAS 49 or Saku (meeting all expectations) and (3) WAS 197, called Wapmo (WAAPP rice). The yield of all these varieties is at least 15% higher than those of local ones, which produce less than two tonnes a hectare.

In Senegal, the program’s support enabled the release of 16 varieties of rice, eight of maize and six of sesame.

Three varieties of sorghum adapted to the country’s different agro-ecological

areas and having the qualities of grains fit for human and animal consumption have been developed. The partnership between the agricultural players led to the production and dissemination of a composite flour incorporating 15% of local millet or maize for bread production. WAAPP helped disseminate the technology in Senegal and other West African countries through exchange visits and training sessions.

In Ghana, four varieties of manioc have been released: CSIR-Ampong, CSIR-Otuhia, CSIR-Sika bankye and CSIR-Broni bankye. They yield 25 to 30 tonnes/ha compared to 12 tonnes/ ha with those customarily used.

All these technologies, and many more developed in other countries, are disseminated through innovation platforms, efficient tools and accelerated adoption by the main agricultural players. Technology exchanges between the WAAPP countries have hit their stride. So far approximately 20 technologies have travelled across borders.

In 2014, the NCoS amount 69 of the 75 planned improved technologies generated, achieving 92% of the target. The program reached 1,863,145 growers of the 2,455,000 planned — 76% of the goal — and 41% of the beneficiaries were women.

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country focus Angola

Presidents Dos Santos and Zuma are not always in step

Diplomatic dancing President Santos left the diplomatic footwork at the UN General Assembly in September to deputy Manuel Vicente. Leader of his country’s delegation, vice-president Vicente made the case for Angola’s election to the Security Council by setting out an increasingly ambitious foreign policy

By Zoe Eisenstein and Patrick Smith

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hefourhorsemenoftheapocalypse seemed to be galloping towards delegates in New York in September for the UN General Assembly.

Top of the agenda was climate change and the devastation it could cause to Africa and other developing regions, then the growth of terrorism and religious intolerance and finally the most serious public heath emergency for half a century – the spread of the Ebola virus in West and Central Africa. At the special summit on climate change on 23 September, Angola’s vice-president

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country focus | angol a

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

CABINDA

200 Km

LUANDA

Atlantic Ocean

ANGOLA Lobito Huambo ZAMBIA NAMIBIA

ANGOLA IN NUMBERS PoPulation

21.47 million

urban PoPulation (% of total)

42%

life exPectancy at birth

51 (2012)

fDi (current US$)

-$4.3bn

GDP (current US$)

$121.7bn

GDP Growth (annual %)

4.1%

$32.8bn

internet users (per 100 people)

19.1

mobile cellular subscriPtions (per 100 people)

62

GOvERNMENt SpENdING Expenditure (% of GDP)

70

Current expenditure Capital expenditure * Projected

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2003 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14* 15*

AngolAn AuthorItIeS And IMF StAFF eStIMAteS

total reserves (includes gold, current US$)

Source: World BAnk 2013

inflation, consumer Prices (annual %) 8.8%

pUBLIc SERvIcES/OIL 9 8 7 6

Spending in health and education and oil subsidies (% of GDP) Health and education Oil subsidies

5 4 3 2 1 0

2004 05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

Source: IMF

50

Manuel Vicente spelt out the stakes: “We are at a unique moment of opportunity to safeguard the global climate system on which sustainable development and sustained economic growth depend.”

Angola has its own vulnerabilities to climate change. The government has set up an emergency programme to rehouse some 48,000 families displaced by a combination of desertification and torrential rains. At the same time, Vicente insisted the government is committed to protecting the tropical Mayombe Forest.

A few days later, at a meeting organised by the Angolan embassy in New York, Vicente called on US companies to broaden their investment in Angola. Until now, the bulk of foreign investment has beenin oil and gas, but higher production levels in North America means the US has cut back sharply on its oil imports.

Now Angola sells less than 15% of its oil to the US and 40% to China.

As Angola seeks to widen its commercial networks, it is also extending its diplomatic reach. Vicente’s speech to the General Assembly on 29 September carefully set out Luanda’s position on pressing security matters: “Religious fundamentalism in some African countries is taking violent proportions such that it poses a threat to regional security, with serious consequences for peace, stability and development.”

Beyond the rhetoric, Angola is contributing troops and logistics to the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic (CAR), a country torn apart by fighting between the separatist Muslim militia Seleka and hardliners in the predominantly Christian national army.

Angola’s engagement in CAR is all the more significant in the wake of the collapse of a military bid last year by its southern and more powerful neighbour, South Africa, to prop up the failing government of François Bozizé.

fraternal links to Raúl Castro’s government in Cuba: “Angola reiterates the need to end the economic and financial embargo imposed on Cuba,” Vicente told the General Assembly, “which limits the right of the Cuban people to development and is a clear violation of the principles and rules of international law.” As if to reinforce his point, that week a team of Cuban doctors and nurses arrived in West Africa ready to work alongside US and European medics to fight Ebola.

Angola’s eyes are also turning northwards. As Africa’s second-largest oil producer and its fifth-largest economy, it has weight militarily and politically. Its experience in the oil and gas sectors has paved the way for more influence in the Gulf of Guinea. It has one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa but remains well behind South Africa and Nigeria.

Relations between Angola and Nigeria are particularly strong. This dates back to the anti-colonial struggle and Nigeria’s support for the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA), now the ruling party, when it was caught in Cold War rivalries. “I think Angola is really putDecades of greed have mined the heart out of the Mayombe Forest near the border with DRC

at odds with pretoria

CAR is not the only country where Angola and South Africa – which are both members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – have pursued different, if not openly adversarial, policies. Angola, which has issues with theDemocraticRepublicofCongo(DRC) over migration, maritime borders and oil fields, has been far less indulgent towards President Joseph Kabila’s government in Kinshasa than has South Africa.

Of course, Angola and South Africa still share many policy aims, for example, the africa report

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angol a | country focus

ting a foot forward to be a major player in Africa. I think that’s commendable,” says Nigeria’s ambassador to Angola, Folorunso Olukayode Otukoya. regional policing

Aside from its new operations in CAR, Angola is one of the eight member states intheLuanda-basedGulfofGuineaCommission (GCC) and currently chairs the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. Both organisations focus on regional security. “People here know how to fight a war with their eyes closed.

We have experience with conflict resolution,” says an Angolan executive who requests anonymity.

Speaking in September after meeting Said Djinnit, the special envoy of the UN secretary general for the Great Lakes, Angola’s foreign minister Georges Chikoti said the GCC hoped to combat rebels and establish peace. Chikoti says the failure of the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda rebel group in DRC to disarm has caused an impasse.

This would, he explains, “oblige countries to improve coordination to assert order, with recourse to force if necessary”.

A well-connected Angolan executive, who asks not to be named, describes the complexities: “If you support one of the

[warring] parties, you will be exposed in September that the company planned to resume mining there after a series of to the others. I think Angola is playing political crises and coups. In addition, quite an intelligent role – there is a lot of action on the diplomatic and military two Angolan companies, Mombaka and side. It isn’t really public.”

Grupo António Mosquito, have an 89.99% Angola’s willingness to help in peaceshare in Banco Equador in São Tomé e Príncipe. Angola has been politically and keeping has won international plaudits.

In April, France rolled out the red carpet commercially influential in São Tomé’s for President José Eduardo dos Santos oil and gas sectors. on a state visit. The following month Although Angola has proved to be a US secretary of state John Kerry was in more assertive partner than many of China’s African allies, the infrastructureLuanda commending the “significant leadership” of President Dos Santos and foreign minisThe US praised Angola’s ter Chikoti. Although these diplomacy, then offered it meetingsplayedupAngola’s diplomatic role, both coun$600m to buy Boeing planes tries were eager to bolster for-resources deals developed in Angola commercial ties. The US offered Angola $600m to buy Boeing planes. have been repeated across the continent.

It helps that China is the biggest single Angola is more diplomatically actcustomer for Angola’s oil. “This model ive in the Gulf of Guinea group than in of infrastructure for resources in Africa SADC, where it has hit some problems was pioneered in Angola. You take that of political culture. “Angola struggles in model and use it in other countries in English-speaking southern countries,” West Africa that are desperate for infrasays a Luanda-based businessman. “I don’tthinkithasthesamepoweraswhen structure,” says another Luanda-based it goes north, where its army has been.” businessman.

Angola’s military, which was jockeying At the same time, Angola has found for influence in Guinea-Bissau, paved the ways to use its membership of SADC to way for business there. Bauxite Angola boost its bargaining strength with Brazil chairman Bernardo Campos announced and Portugal, although Angolan officials can find it tricky or even irksome to adapt to the more structured and regulated business culture in Southern Africa.

Olivier POleT/rePOrTerS-reA

a hard nut to crack

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Angola’s complicated relations with South Africa partly go back to the latter’s support for the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola rebels during the Angolan civil war and old tensions between the MPLA and South Africa’s governing African National Congress(ANC)party,whichhadbasesinAngola during the anti-apartheid struggle.

“Angola doesn’t really gel with South Africa. Here you have a post-war, postsocialistmilitaryelitealliancethatrunsthe country, that controls everything,” says a long-standing Angola resident and businessman. “Where the military has gone makes it easier to go and do business,” he adds.ThosestrategiesmayworkinCentral and West Africa, but Angola has to find different ways to work in Southern Africa.

“You can’t go into Mozambique, as it depends on South Africa,” argues one Angolan bank board member. “Namibia is a wonderful partner for us, but we have done all we can do. We don’t really have anywhere else to go except for the

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country focus | angol a

Gulf of Guinea where there is oil and a high potential for returns,” he explains.

ForAngolanswithmoney,SouthAfrica is a place to send their children to school or a location for medical services, holidays and shopping. But for entrepreneurs there is much less interest in South Africa as a business destination. South Africa has big competitive advantages over Angola: a developed though sometimes creaking infrastructure, a substantive manufacturing sector and comparatively cheap labour. It is English-speaking and a member of the Commonwealth, which eases business relationships. a shift in governance

No matter how fast Angola’s economy grows, it is many years away from rivalling South Africa. Many of its economic planning officials are now looking at different development models, in which the state plays a stronger role. Although South Africa’s ANC talks about the need for a ‘developmental state strategy’, Angola maybecloserinputtingthatintopractice.

There is admiration, expressed through gritted teeth in Luanda, for the ‘authoritarian developmentalism’ of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.

But many in the country’s capital say that such a shift in Angola’s style of governance will require a thoroughgoing political reappraisal and reordering to focus the country’s resources and administrative elite on a more determinedly developmental path.

This means making the oil and gas industry more efficient and tying in its operations to produce more local manufacturing and industrial developments and less business for the international trading companies. It would also require a wholesale revival of the agricultural and processing businesses that had proved so profitable under Portuguese colonialism.

How far and how fast such plans are implemented will depend on capital and the somewhat paranoiac approach to political risk of the ruling class. Yet as Angola’s leadership sees on its constant foraystoAsia,thebiggestriskliesinfailing torestructuretheeconomyfromanarrow dependence on hydrocarbon exports.

Beyond the lofty economic targets, there is a critical political imperative: to address the simmering resentment of the youth facing unemployment and public service failures. Failures on that front could have severe consequences, as shown in several crises breaking out both to the south and north of Angola. ●

Plans in the pipeline include developing agriculture and telecoms

John Warden/Getty ImaGes

52

Angola seeks to use oil to break away from oil While the country’s oil industry is slowing down it will finance the diversification of the economy

S

everal speed bumps are up requested anonymity. “Of course he gets technical advice from others, but ahead for Angola’s economic chieftains: firstly, the reshaping it’s not clear to what extent he really of the economy to manage the slowtakes it on board,” he concludes. ing down of the oil industry and the Elsewhere, finance minister rapid development of the agricultural Armando Manuel has won plaudits and services sectors; secondly, the with his enforcement of greater financial discipline. Spending is keeping government has to find the finance closer to the budget, although lower to keep up the pace of infrastructure revenue will mean some departments and social investment; and lastly, it will have to cut spending. must tackle vast economic inequalAfter this year’s dip, the IMF forecasts ities, which are among the widest in the oil industry will grow by 2.25% per the developing world. year over the next five years and big A forecast from the International investments in areas such as farming Monetary Fund (IMF) in September that Angola’s economic growth will slow to 3.9% Finance minister Armando this year, compared to Manuel has won plaudits for 6.8% in 2013, sounded enforcing financial discipline an alarm. The main reason for this is that oil revenue fell 14% between January and and telecoms will reduce Angola’s deMay after production cuts caused by pendence on oil and create jobs. Those unscheduled maintenanceandrepairs. plans will still critically need oil to pay Some in the oil industry are critical for the wider development: “Growth of Francisco de Lemos José Maria, the prospects over the longer term […] chief executive of national oil company should be firmed up during 2015, as Sonangol. “He is a finance guy, and so ongoing pre-salt prospecting should I’m not sure he always understands help to determine the amount of commercially viable oil reserves,” the IMF the technical aspects of the industry,” Z. E. explained in September. ● says a senior Angolan executive who the africa report

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For further information on how to start or strengthen your business relations with Angola, visit any BFA Agency, Corporate Centre or Investment Centre or browse www.bfa.ao

country focus | angol a

ConsumErs

Legislation enacted in 2010 bans the import of cars that are more than three years old, and in March this year the government introduced a list of approved cars for import – those not on the list require the support of a recognised business guaranteeing maintenance.

However, the grey market, supported by some government entities that continue to procure vehicles through unofficial third parties, still makes up a large portion of imports.

Nowhere to go but up for Angola’s car-loving classes Angola’s oil-backed economic growth has stimulated the emergence of a middle class and a buoyant consumer culture, reflected in automobile sales

GREY-CAR GRAVEYARD

According to transport ministry adviser Luís Moita Santos, of 121,000 vehicles imported in 2013 around 90,000 entered via the grey market. He says the goal is for concessionaires to control half the market next year and 80% of it by 2017.

“It’s a problem because you don’t get the guarantee of after-sales technical support. Lots of the cars [from the grey market] aren’t tropicalised or adapted to the conditions in Angola. After a year or 18 months, many of them have problems and that’s why you see a lot of broken-down cars. It’s bad for the economy,” explains Santos.

Investors in other sectors are also cashing in on money from the middle classes. New malls are planned in While some fill the tanks of their Luanda, several supermarkets have opened and smartphones are increasluxury, imported cars, others wait ingly popular. Despite a strong appetite to fill their jerry cans for spending, this disposable income mentos de Transportes Rodoviários shows is concentrated in Luanda and the that overall sales by official dealers have coast, and is shared by a relatively risen sharply – by almost 90% between small population. Angola’s human 2011and2014,basedonJanuary-Mayfigindicators are still poor and Angola ures. There has been a shift in the types of ranked 149th of 187 countries on the cars being purchased, with the 2014 UN Development Promarket previously dominated gramme’s (UNDP) Human by 4x4 vehicles that could cope Development Index. with the potholed roads that UNDP deputy country dirwere one legacy of the civil war. ector Olaf Juergensen says “The middle class is now the government is trying to solve a lot of development isgrowing and the market has sues at once. “It has money, completely changed,” says Vehicle sales but capacity is the problem,” Renault’s general director in by official dealers have he explains. Observers warn Angola, José Almeida. “The soared by 90% that the middle-class spending equivalent of the European A, between 2011 spree could be threatened if B, C market is starting to grow and 2014 – [that means] cars that cost up it is based solely on oil. Howto $20,000 in Angola. There has Source: ASSociAção doS ever, one senior Angolan govconceSSionárioS de ernment official shrugs off the been an exponential growth of equipAmentoS de that market in recent years,” he trAnSporteS rodoviárioS suggestion that a potential continues. While the appetite economic downturn could dent the growth of a middle class: “There for very expensive cars remains strong is nowhere for us to go but up. The An– there is a Porsche showroom in central Luanda and luxury 4x4s are a common golan middle class is here to stay.” ● Zoe Eisenstein sight – demand has not grown as quickly.

Photo12/AlAmy

54

I

sabela Pereira is a 34-year-old administrative assistant at a bank in Luanda.

She has a child and lives with her sister and mother in the Miramar District.

Pereira bought her first car four years ago but sold it and is now saving up to buy a Kia Sportage. She says it will cost around $28,000. She sounds embarrassed when asked if she is middle-class.

“I don’t really know if I’m middle-class.

Yes, maybe I am,” she admits, giggling.

“I don’t want to be rich, but things here have changed. I have a better salary now and more opportunities.”

Most Angolans remain poor but car sales, which provide a good barometer of consumer prosperity, have been thriving.

Renault is boasting growing sales. The French manufacturer entered the Angolan market in 2005 through local concessionaire Teixeira Duarte Automóveis (TDA), which represents several other brands. TDA sold 168 Renault vehicles in 2006, more than 500 in 2011 and is set to sell more than 3,000 this year, with sales spurred on by the introduction of entrylevel models sold under the Dacia brand.

Information from industry body Associação dos Concessionários de Equipa-

90%

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country focus | angol a

opinion

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira Associate professor of politics at the University of Oxford

E

Can Angola’s elite transform itself?

ven in the times of ‘Africa rising’, few of the continent’s states have exuded the selfconfidence of Angola. Some economists may find the authoritarian, state-led development strategies of Ethiopia or Rwanda more admirable, but it is Angola that has posted a tenfold increase in its gross domestic product since the end of the civil war in 2002, making it sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy and about three times the size of Kenya’s in 2013.

Armed with oil money and the 2002 victory against the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola rebels, whose leader Jonas Savimbi had enjoyed support from the US and apartheid South Africa, the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) regime has rebuilt war-torn Angola with minimal input from Western governments and NGOs. Luanda’s skyline changed beyond recognition as the elite sought to create an African Dubai that fit its ambitions. In a remarkable post-colonial reversal of fortune,Angola’soligarchshavebecomePortugal’slargest foreign investors. But although Angolan decisionmakers bluster about their country’s emerging-power status, in reality it is rather brittle.

Some of the accomplishments are real. Although at a staggering cost, Angola’s infrastructure has been partly rebuilt. Technocrats were empowered to stabilise the economy, build up the country’s hardcurrency reserves and make Angola more presentable for some forms of foreign direct investment.

The MPLA’s style of governance after the war, while politically intolerant, has at least placed large-scale violence out of the picture.

These are impressive achievements. However, four major challenges prevent Angola from advancing much further and may even imperil the progress of the past few years. First, Angola remains one of the world’s most oil-dependent economies: oil accounts for 97% of export revenue. This makes Angola extremely vulnerable to the vagaries of the oil price.

The MPLA regime has made impressive promises to diversify the economy, but its record does not stand

much scrutiny. Agricultural investment consumes an estimated 1% of the country’s budget, much of it on big agribusiness projects, but it has failed to produce many jobs or crops. Industrialisation has been slow and chaotic. Factories lacking electrical supply have been built and operated by foreigners through turnkey contracts. Their meagre and expensive output is uncompetitive in local, let alone foreign, markets.

Beyond the rhetoric, the Angolan oligarchs around the presidency, the party and the military show very little interest in investing in productive sectors. They prefer to put their money in foreign real estate and investment portfolios, not local industry and agriculture.

These challenges call for an unequivocal break with business as usual Angola’s second major challenge is the training of its people and the lowering of the country’s dependence on expatriates. The reconstruction of the country is the product of a foreign labour force of Portuguese, Chinese, Brazilians and those of many other nationalities. While critically important for the government’s development strategy, these expats are incurring the resentment of the rising Angolan middle classes, who see them as obstacles to social mobility. At the same time, the quality of Angola’s education system is, with rare exceptions, so poor that local university graduates are consistently sidelined in the job market. A leading MPLA cadre who did not wish to be named describes this tension as a “time bomb” that can only be defused by strong investment in Angolan social capabilities.

Third, Angolan society is changing at a dizzying pace. For the first decade after the end of a war that, in different guises, had lasted more than 40 years, Angolans were simply happy to be alive. The ruling party was able to shape the country as it pleased with minimal opposition from the masses. Over the past three years, Angolan society has reawakened, and people are increasingly rejecting the status quo.

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angol a | country focus

zebedee

reading the coffee grounds: will Dos Santos choose his eldest son, now in charge of the country’s sovereign wealth fund; vice-president Manuel Vicente, formerly the chief executive of Sonangol; or anas-yet-unnameddauphin?

What do the MPLA and the armed forces think?

This obsessive speculation is entirely justified.

Dos Santos has spent the past 35 years carefully centralising discretionary power, if need be by undermininghisowngovernment and political party.

ticism and a number of small yet persistent demonstrations by critics of the regime. The dissatisfaction runs much deeper.

Though the peace years have spawned a middle class of sorts, the vast majority of Angolans have seen no benefits from the country’s oil boom. Social indicators remain some of the worst in the world. The elite, meanwhile, has only grown richer.

Angolans above a certain age still compare the present favourably to the war years. Yet those below 25, about 70% of the population, yearn for the material success of the elite. This is something they are confronted with in the garish media and in the streets, but it remains out of reach. The young will not stay quiet for long, and their mobilisation will have serious consequences for Angola.

The final challenge is President José Eduardo dos Santos’s succession. Observers have devoted years to the africa report

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If he cannot protect his interests and those of his closest family and allies, he will simply stay on until he dies. Dos Santos is a shrewd, micromanaging political player who moves with the times, but his centrality to the system has only grown stronger.

The more open character of the postwar economy is entirely dependent on his personal role as umpire and guarantor rather than the work of formal institutions or the rule of law.Itcanallbereversedovernight.

According to the World Bank, Angola remains one of the world’s most complicated business environments. A foreign investor who requested anonymity notes: “The palace, not the courts, is our ultimate guarantee of stability.” WhetherDosSantoswill go quietly and whether Angola’s elite can operate a successful transition are the key questions for the coming years.

These challenges are of the utmost seriousness.

They call not for ‘governance improvements’ or some such piecemeal tinkering with the system but for an entirely different approach to the running of the country that unequivocally breaks with business as usual.

The paradox of the Dos Santos-dominated, MPLArun political and economic order is that those called upon to tackle the challenges at this critical juncture are the same social groups – the same individuals – who have long held the reins of power, benefited from the status quo and allowed these problems to fester. That raises the biggest political question of all: can this elite transform itself? ● Ricardo Soares de Oliveira is the author of the forthcoming Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War (Hurst).

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country focus | angol a

Infrastructure

Luanda’s costly new airport raises questions While there is a pressing need for greater flight capacity, the ruling party’s flagship project is causing rumblings of discontent amid claims that party cadres will profit

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arlier this year, Angola’s transport minister Augusto da Silva Tomás told a meeting of the Business Council for International Understanding in Chicago about ambitious plans to improve railways, roads, ports and airports. He said that Angola was open for investments and economic cooperation with the rest of the world, “especially with the North American market”.

Construction of a new Chinese-built airport south-east of Luanda in Bengo Province is key to Angola’s development programme, with the airport mooted as a regional hub that could rival Johannesburg. National Angolan carrier TAAG and Emirates signed a 10-year management deal in September, which will see Emirates take over management of the airline and appoint a new CEO, as part of an effort to boost services across the continent.

“We have today in construction, around 40km from the capital Luanda, could the MPLa have gone a bridge too far with its ambitious infrastructure plans?

a big and modern international airremotely realistic. I think the future of port which will be one of the biggest this airport really depends on the conin Africa. It has the capacity to receive struction of access infrastructure,” he aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamsaid on condition of anonymity. liner and will be able to receive around A highway and express rail link are 15 million passengers annually, with two possible options to connect the airport to the capital. The cost of the new a completion date scheduled for midairport is estimated by several sources 2017,” said Tomás. at around $3bn. A Chinese credit line With the Aeroporto Internacional Quatro de Fevereiro in Luanda is financing the probursting at the seams despite ject, though details renovation and expansion, of this are scarce. there is a clear need for The new airport will land deals more capacity. If two be able to process Not everyone is a large jumbo jets around 15 million fan of the project. Some leave around the passengers per year analysts argue that a new same time, with Source: AngolAn MiniStry of trAnSport airport should not have been around 600 people in the departure hall, the airport creaks. a priority, with expansion of the existCustoms officials also struggle to handle ing airport still possible. Others say so many passengers. Slots at the airport that the airport is another example of remain very tight. a badly thought-out project that will It seems unlikely that the new airhelp a small elite in the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola port will open any time soon. An An(MPLA) to enrich itself. Locals say that golan engineer who visited the wellconcealed site last year says construction MPLA cadres and allies of President had stopped and that the opening date José Eduardo dos Santos have bought will not be met. “I don’t think 2017 is the land around the airport.

“This is classic stuff, and it happens all over the world,” explained a businessman who wished to remain nameless.

“You choose a new airport site, buy all the land around it and when the airport opens people are forced to rent it off you. It is a great money spinner, and the Angolans are great at this kind of thing,” the source said.

Despite continued claims of corruption, large-scale investments made since the end of the civil war in the rehabilitation and expansion of roads, railways, ports and airports are having a positive impact on private-sector productivity.

The newly refurbished airport in Luena opened for operations in August and the one in Uíge reopened in September.

Infrastructure is also a buzzword in government circles. The ruling elite is seeking to keep a lid on discontent among the country’s largely poor population of 20 million. With elections in 2017, there is much more at stake than access to a half-built new airport for the ruling MPLA. ● Honoré Banda

15m

Photo12/AlAmy

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country focus | angol a

interview

Ari de Carvalho

Chief executive, Banco BAI Micro Finanças

We must adapt to the Angolan reality the microfinance bank Banco BAI Micro Finanças (BMF) celebrated its 10th birthday in August. with BAi a 90% shareholder, it has a client base of more than 40,000 TAR: How has BMF progressed?

Is the bank profitable?

ARI de CARvAlHo: We have grown in terms of the numbers of customers and deposits, and we have more branch offices than ever before. We now have a wide reach, which allows us to attract customers who weren’t previously in the banking system. We have had great success in the provinces with projects for agriculture, coffee growers and women bringing consumer goods to market. We didn’t have positive results last year for a variety of reasons. The operational costs in Angola are still very high.

We also need to train our personnel to analyse customers from the informal sector more effectively.

How can you bring down costs?

We can’t afford to have traditional bank branches. A branch office might cost $200,000, $300,000 or more to set up, so we might go for a smaller branch with fewer frills.Ourapproachwithcustomers is more one-to-one, and we need to maintain that. The challenge is how to take away the operating cost from that.

The government brought in new legislation a couple of years ago. It said new microfinance operators would be allowed to come onto the market without the same burdens as traditional banks. It allows you to set up an office without as many associated costs. This will

faCebook

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help new players, and the sector will continue to grow.

We need more operators in the market. I don’t see them as competition.Asmorepeoplecomeinto the market, the more you spread the risk and have more coverage.

Angola has a population of 20 million. If around 50-60% operate on the informal market, you have a huge market with a lot of potential.

How would you describe your customers?

Most don’t keep proper accounts. They don’t often have structured business practices, and many are not licensed. They can be very sensitive to changes in the market such as a currency devalu-

You are looking at a highmaintenance customer, so you need to be there in person ation or if it rains and the market is closed […] You are looking at a high-maintenance customer, so you need to be there in person.

How does the Angolan market differ from other countries?

The costs are higher – certainly in Luanda and Benguela. There is the history of war, and people are still learning about the financial sector. Financial education is key.

Even now, people see the bank as a place just to deposit your money.

You still have a big entrepreneurial class who are in the informal sector and are under-served by Angolan banks.

What are your plans going forward? How will these help profitability?

The central bank will introduce mobile banking, like in Kenya, in the next year or two. Angola is still very much a cash-based society, and I think there are more Angolans with mobile phones than bank accounts. If you have electronic banking via cellphones, this will help to reduce operational costs and be more inclusive.

You have the oil sector, but you also have a growing non-oil sector and around it there is this informal market, mostly concentrated on consumer goods. We have tested some models in this sector and understand better how to act in that market. The challenge for us is to make the bank profitable and get a return to our shareholders.

Youneedtoadapt thetraditional microfinance model to the Angolan reality. We had a long war, people moved around a lot and we don’t have that sense of community you have in a lot of African countries where families lived in one place forever [...] You can’t bring a little book from overseas and say this is how you should do it in Angola. ● Interview by Zoe Eisenstein

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the exhuming of the May 1977 events could force contemporary Angolans to question their loyalty

SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REutERS

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HiStory

The ruling party grapples with the skeletons of its past Lara Pawson’s book In the Name of the People examines a crisis in the MPLA’s history to explore its relationship to the issues of race, class and governance

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ara Pawson’s In the Name of the People, published in April, is an unnerving and fascinating journey into one of the most horrifying episodes of Angolan history. In the book, we learn how Pawson, a leftish journalist whose sympathies tilted at one time towards the then Marxist Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA), becomes disillusioned as she discovers the difference between the rhetoric and the reality.

The mainstream narrative of Angola’s recent history has well-known villains.

The Portuguese colonised the country for five centuries until 1975. The South Africans invaded the country to protect their own interests. Rebel figures like Jonas Savimbi were allies of the South Africans and were ruthless in bumping off real and imagined rivals.

On 27 May 1977, however, there was a failed insurrection within the ruling MPLA led by Nito Alves, a former guerrilla leader. The government of President Agostinho Neto, with the help of Cuban forces, suppressed the rebellion with unprecedented savagery. Thousands are said to have been killed, and others

Pawson’s, in Portugal – about the events of 27 May. Angolans have rushed out to buy them. The MPLA might not be interested in any soul-searching, but citizens are trying to understand what it all meant.

Pawson’s book is part of that effort.

In Luanda, Pawson met several people who were involved in the events of 1977.

Surprisingly, figures who had then been hardcore supporters of President Neto agreed to see her. One was Fernando Costa Andrade, a former editor of the state-owned Jornal de Angola, who wrote strident editorials calling for the annihilation of the insurrectionists. A frail and elderly man, Andrade tried to justify the repression and told Pawson that only 2,000 people might have been killed. Andrade died soon after talking to her. It is almost as if there is a section within the MPLA that thinks the old taboo should finally be dealt with in public. frank opinions

Another surprise in Pawson’s book is João de Melo, a pro-MPLA journalist and member of parliament. He admitted that Neto’s suppression of his rivals was excessive. Melo was also willing to delve into the highly controversial issues of race and class. Part of Nito Alves’s criticism of Neto was that he was surrounded by mixed-race and white figures. Alves said famously that there would only be racial equality in Angola when whites and blacks are sweeping the streets side by

were thrown into prison. And so began a cultura do medo (culture of fear) in urban Angola.

One theme attesting to the supposed glorious roots of the Angolan revolution was that Neto was a poet – his supporters place him amongst the African philosopher kings like Léopold Sédar Senghor and Julius It is as if a section within Nyerere. His links to one of the MPLA thinks the old taboo the bloodiest events in recent African history are cershould finally be dealt with tainly not convenient. The side. Melo did not dismiss this argument MPLA decided it was just not going to outright but instead said he is ready to talk about the event and that everything consider the complex legacy of race and would be forgotten. class in Angola.

This has not happened, despite the fact that some of the MPLA’s leftist supporters Some elderly MPLA figures are wary helped its strategy. Pawson met Michael of the new, emerging elite. Melo told Wolfers, a British journalist who worked Pawson that one way of understanding in Luanda. Wolfers witnessed the events the MPLA is to remember that it had inherited three strands of authoritarianism: of 1977 and wrote an account of them from traditional African society, from the that Pawson reproduces in her book.

Portuguese colonial establishment and Wolfers was dismissive of the putschists, echoing the MPLA line and saying they from its Marxist-Leninist past. Pawson wastrulysurprisedbythefranknessofthis were immature extremists.

MPLAleader,asweremanyAngolanswho Not many Angolans would agree with have seized this opportunity to debate that. In the past few years, a number their troubled history. ● Sousa Jamba of books have been published – like the africa report

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TM & Š 2014 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

where Nina dos Santos goes to tell the business story

business StellenboSch mafia

Under fire from the Economic Freedom Fighters and others, the Afrikaner stronghold’s billionaire power brokers argue that they are committed to black economic empowerment. The new faces at the table may look the part, but are they being served the choicest slice of the pie?

By Jana Marais in Stellenbosch

T

he city where all the country’s prime ministers between 1919 and 1978 went to school – including apartheid architect H.F. Verwoerd – and home to some of the country’s richest and most powerful businessmen, Stellenbosch has become a focal point for firebrand politician Julius Malema to attack the country’s lack of economic transformation. His argument is easy to sell: white households still earn on average six times morethanblackones,whileunemployment among blacks is nearly sixtimeshigherthanamongwhites.

In Stellenbosch, home town of Johann Rupert, South Africa’s richest person, an estimated 28% of the population is food insecure.

Its university, under fire for a lack of transformation at student and staff level, still has buildings honouring Verwoerd.

Nestled between mountains and vineyards about 52km from Cape Town, Stellenbosch is the second-oldest town in the country. A popular tourist destination thanks to its location and historic centre, the student town also hosts a number of big corporate offices.

Malema,leaderoftheEconomic Freedom Fighters, says dismantling the “Stellenbosch mafia” and sharing the means of production

is needed if South Africans ever want to obtain “economic freedom”. This so-called mafia has top African National Congress (ANC) leaders in their pockets and controls everything from the judiciary to the banks, mines and stores, he told a rally in Khayelitsha, an impoverished township near Cape Town, in March. bee commitment

While it is true that they control a substantial portion of the economy, it is unfair to say Stellenbosch’s power brokers have not been committed to black economic empowerment (BEE), says Ajay Lalu, managing director at consultancy firm Black Lite. Stellenbosch is home to many wealthy business owners.

Magnates linked to the city include Rupert (Remgro and Richemont), Jannie Mouton (PS G Group), Chr isto Wies e (ShopRite, Pepkor, Brait, Tradehold and Invicta Holdings), Koos Bekker (Naspers), ● ● ●

EntrEprEnEur MagazinE, Ed O’rilEy; daniEllE KaralliS/FOtO24/gallO iMagES/gEtty; rayMOnd prEStOn//Sunday tiMES/gallO iMagES/gEtty; naSiEF ManiE/FOtO24/gallO iMagES/gEtty

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christo Wiese Billionaire Wiese, 73, is the mastermind behind ShopRite and Pepkor, two of the country’s most successful food and clothing retailers, respectively. Today, ShopRite is Africa’s largest food retailer, with stores in 17 African countries.

In 2009, officials at London City Airport confiscated cash of more than £670,000 ($1.1m) when Wiese boarded a flight to Luxembourg. He won a court bid to have the money returned in 2012.

companies & markets

MADEMEN Zitulele ‘KK’ Combi His debating skills earned him the nickname KK, after Zambia’s former president Kenneth Kaunda. Combi, 62, started as an insurance salesman in Gugulethu, a township outside Cape Town. He saved enough money to establish a cafe and a petrol station. His major breakthrough came in 1995 when he started Master Currency, a business he sold to Bidvest in 1998.

Jannie Mouton In August 1995, Jannie Mouton, then 48, was fired from his job as managing director of SMK, a stockbroking firm he co-founded in 1982. This led to the establishment of PSG Group, which Mouton – also known as the Boer Warren Buffett – built into one of the most successful investment firms in South Africa. PSG holds stakes in Pioneer Foods, Distell, Capitec Bank and Curro Holdings.

Jay Naidoo A former general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and minister in Nelson Mandela’s first cabinet, he founded J&J Group with his friend Jayendra Naidoo in 2000. A well-known labour and anti-apartheid activist, Naidoo, 59, has returned to full-time voluntary work. He serves on the boards of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

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business | companies & markets

Gideon Mendel/Corbis

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G.T. Ferreira and Paul Harris (FirstRand and Rand Merchant Bank), Markus Jooste (Steinhoff) and Michiel Le Roux (Capitec).

Critics of the ANC government say that BEE has only benefited those with political allies. Brait, a holding company with investments in food and retail businesses, had politically connected empowerment partners. BEE firm Sitogo Holdings sold its share in Brait in 2010, netting around R70m ($6.3m) in profit toshareholders.Amongthesewere people close to President Jacob Zuma, including Sandile Zungu and Vivian Reddy.

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boardroom shuffle

A closer look at board composition andshareholdingrevealshowinterconnected Stellenbosch’s business elite is – though many of these relationships can be traced back to Johannesburg, where people like Mouton, Ferreira and Jooste spent most of their careers before moving to the winelands. Jooste is the chief executive of furniture manufacturer Steinhoff. He sits on the board of PSG, a company founded by Mouton that is one of the country’s top four investment firms.Steinhoffalsoacquireda20% stake in PSG from Christo Wiese’s investment group Titan in 2011.

In addition, Jooste served on the board of Capitec, PSG’s biggest investment. Wiese, who owns a small stake in Steinhoff, sat on the Steinhoff board along with

Mouton and increased his stake in the company in September.

Rupert’s Remgro, a diversified conglomerate with interests in banking, retail, healthcare and insurance, is implementing an Africa-focused expansion. “If you look at Remgro and their shareholding relationship with Kagiso TisoHoldings,forexample,itsends a very clear signal that they’re doing something from an empowerment perspective. The one criticism that I could lay at their door is that they have been quite selective in which assets they decide to empower. It is never at holding company level,” Lalu says. This means empowerment shareholders have often been left out of the growth achieved outside South Africa and it shows a compliance mentality rather than a strategic approach to empowerment, he explains.

Retailers like Pepkor and ShopRite have been under less pressure to focus on empowerment due in part to their limited reliance on governmentbusiness.Nonetheless, Pepkor sold a 7.5% stake in 2004 to the equity fund of the J&J Group, the investment firm co-founded by former ANC stalwart Jay Naidoo, and Medu Capital, founded by charteredaccountantsErnestJanuary and Nhlanganiso Mkwanazi.

Both these empowerment funds have grown significantly over the past 10 years, with J&J now holding stakes in companies including Rand Merchant Bank, Areva,

ShopRite has been criticised for having only two black board members and for its low minimum wages

Unemployment in South Africa is almost

6 times higher among black people than white people

Source: World Bank

Macquarie and Bombardier. Medu Capital, with more than R1.5bn under management, partners with establishedbusinesses thatrequire equity risk capital or empowerment partners.

Other success stories include RMB’s Makalani Holdings, run by bankers Sydney Mhlarhi and Vusi Mahlangu. Their investment firm Tamela was established to hold a minority stake in Makalani and has since grown to include stakes in companies like PPC, AON and Daimler Fleet Management. And, increasingly, deals are done simply because it makes business sense, such as Remgro’s R500m investment in the Pembani Remgro Infrastucture Fund in partnership with MTN’s chairman and former CEO Phuthuma Nhleko, who is credited with building the telecommunications company into an emerging markets behemoth. the combi effect

Transformationatboardandmanagement level remains problematic.AtRemgro,18ofthe22topand senior managers are white males.

Shoprite has only two black board members – one female – out of 14.

All eight executive directors are white males. The retailer has also been under fire from trade unions for the low proportion of full-time employees and the low minimum wage of around $205 per month.

The partnership between PSG and businessman ‘KK’ Combi has changed the Stellenbosch crowd.

For PSG’s Mouton, ‘KK’ Combi’s integrity and business focus were thedecidingfactorswhenthecompanyneededanewempowerment partner in 2005. Combi, a successful black entrepreneur who shies away from the limelight, first established a relationship with PSG through Master Currency, the foreign-exchange trading business he founded.

Combi established Thembeka Capitalin2007topartnerwithPSG, raised R36m by selling shares at R30 to around 500 investors and moved his office to Stellenbosch – “something I never thought in my life I would do,” Combi tells The Africa Report. The result was arguably one of the most ● ● ●

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successful empowerment partnerships in the country, resulting in Thembeka doing a number of lucrative deals with PSG, including investing in Capitec Bank, Pioneer Foods and Curro Holdings.

Combi, with board seats on all four companies, is also much more than a minority shareholder with no say, which is so often the criticism levied against the beneficiaries of BEE deals. He played a crucial role in negotiations with government and the competition authorities when Pioneer was facing a R4.5bn fine for its role in a bread cartel, which could have sunk the company. It finally settled on a fine of R500m in 2010.

●●●

Growing the ecosystem

Home to Mxit and new venture capital funds, the South African city is becoming a centre of innovation

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ith its world-class university and close proximity to Cape Town, Stellenbosch is well-placed to become South Africa’s Silicon Valley.

The success of Mxit, an innovative mobile-messaging service deveoped by engineer Herman Heunis, has played a crucial role in marketingthetownasahubforinnovative start-ups and investors.

Stellenbosch’s student community played a crucial role in Mxit’s early success. “Stellenbosch is almost like an accelerated incubation chamber,” Heunis tells The Africa Report. Stellenbosch University, one of Africa’s leading academic institutions, had more than 28,000 students in 2013.

For Michael Jordaan, former chief executive of First National Bank and founder of MonteGray Capital, which was established in Stellenbosch in January, the lifestyle, entrepreneurial culture and select corporate representation made the town the ideal place to start a venture capital fund.

“Stellenbosch aims to lead in innovation, and we invest in entrepreneurs who challenge convention. Of course, we in South Africa have a long way to go to make entrepreneurship far more attractive than a formal career. The

big deals all done

Thembeka announced in September its structures will be unwound to unlock value for shareholders, with Thembeka shares to be swapped for more liquid PSG shares. The transaction is valued at R165.85 per share, a 453% increase in seven years. Some of the shares remain restricted and will be transferred to a trust to fund bursaries for black students to obtain a private high-school education.

Combi will remain on the PSG and other boards. “The intention is for us to stay together and look for deals together. The BEE landscape has changed. All the lucrative big dealshavebeendone,” he explains.

Combi admits that Stellenbosch is not for everyone. “People from the north [Gauteng, the more conventionalbaseforblackinvestment firms] find it difficult to settle in the Cape for various reasons. Some say it is too slow, but I can tell you one thing: it has never been slow for me. Others say the political set-up in the Western Cape is different,” Combi says. The Western Cape is the only province that is not governed by the ANC. “Of course it is different. It dependsontheperson,ifyoucanfind it easy to criss-cross between racial lines. I find it very easy. I was born in the Western Cape, and I claim my right to be here.” He laughs: “If you think, eight years ago nobody would ever have dreamt there could be a black member of the Stellenbosch mafia.” ●

28,000 Students enrolled at Stellenbosch University in 2013 Source: StellenboSch univerSity

ecosystem is growing though, and I am very encouraged by some of the start-ups we get to evaluate,” explains Jordaan, who also owns a wine farm in the area.

Other challenges include limited access to skills and softwaredevelopment resources. The Afrikaans-dominant town is still seen as a largely white enclave, making it difficult to attract black talent. The CodeX project – an apprenticeship scheme set up by Jordaan and four others – is one initiative to equip young people, including black students, with programming skills. “If they work hard they will almost certainly find jobs […] or have great skills to start a business,” Jordaan says.

More Stellenbosch success stories are needed to attract international funders and the establishment of technology labs, such as Naspers’s MIH Media Lab, which aims to promote research in new media technology.

“There is no lack of brilliance, innovations,disruptivenessinStellenbosch,” says Heunis, “but to get recognised is difficult at first.

Start-ups that sign huge contracts with serious international players will play an important role, and I think this will happen very soon,” he concludes. ● J. M.

Vineyards and start-ups: could this be a new Silicon Valley?

peter titmuss/alamy

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dossier telecoms

Kenya can’t keep up

Nairobi is pitching itself as a hub for tech companies, but recent data – and Kenyans’ own experiences – tell another story. In the race to provide affordable and reliable highspeed internet other African countries are in the lead

By Gemma Ware, and Gilbert Nganga in Nairobi

P

romoters of Kenya’s tech space like to think of the country as one of the most wired on the continent. In early September, Liquid Telecom, a Mauritius-based telecoms infrastructure firm that is part of Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa’s Econet Wireless group, boasted that Kenya had some of the fastest speeds, lowest internet pricing and largest amount of bandwidth on the continent.

“Kenya has achieved a confluence of infrastructure and provision

that has positioned it with the highest growth in internet takeup compared to income per capita in Africa,” argues Ben Roberts, chief technology officer of Liquid Telecom Kenya. “It has effectively become an outlier in its internet take-up and seen Nairobi join Johannesburg as one of Africa’s two regional internet hubs.”

Looking at the numbers and the experiences of internet users in Kenya, the country’s performance may not live up to the hype. Data released in September in Akamai’s 2014 State of the Internet report

showed that between March and July, only three countries in the world recorded a drop in average internet speeds – Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia. Kenya’s average connection speed fell 1.4% to 1.8 megabits per second (Mbps).

This is well below the global average of 4.6Mbps, and lower than South Africa, Nigeria, Rwanda and Ghana. Rwanda was a star improverwithayear-on-yearincrease of 209% to an average of 2.7Mbps.

Looking at another metric – the average peak Mbps, a way of measuring the top speed of a the africa report

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Sven Torfinn/PAnoS-reA

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connection – Kenya, at 8.5Mbps, is way below its African rivals (see graph). But even these low rankings do not fully reflect the daily frustrations of internet users who have to contend with the unreliable provision on Kenya’s congested networks. As South Africa’s internet guru Mark Shuttleworth puts it: “Bandwidth is the lifeblood of the digital economy.”

For Susan Nyamboke, the proprietor of InstantConnect, a cybercafé in Nairobi, internet speed is her biggest worry. “My clients are those who cannot easily download the africa report

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what they want using their phones.

As such, they are looking for very fast connectivity. Sometimes I am not able to guarantee this, especially so because even the capacity I have, it is not fast enough,” she says. “I would say if internet costs were to get lower, I would afford more bandwidth to support my clientele,” she explains. prohibitive costs

In the Global Internet Report 2014, put together by the Geneva-based non-governmental organisation the Internet Society, Kenya is 116th

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In April, Safaricom launched free wi-fi on matatus – giving Nairobi commuters something to do in a jam

in the world in terms of affordability, with 15.7% of the average gross domestic product per capita required for broadband access.

Its East African neighbours fared no better: Rwanda came 124th, Uganda 130th, Tanzania 131st and Ethiopia 138th.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) shows that there were an estimated 21.6 million internet users in the first three months of 2014 – twice the number from five years ago. The sharp jump in usage is attributed to rising demand for data services,

dossier | telecoms

excess bandwidth

With a number of submarine cables arriving in Kenya, there is a large amount of bandwidth. But of 865,714Mbps in bandwidth that came into Kenya in the first three months of 2014, only 51.6% of this was being used, according to the CAK. This was an improvement on the last quarter of 2013, when total used capacity was 42.4%. It is

to consumers and businesses in Kenya.

“The main challenge 23.8 Ethiopia is the lack of last-mile connectivity to the con22.1 Ghana sumer premises,” says 17.7 Nigeria Danson Njue, an analyst at 16.1 Rwanda telecoms research company 13.2 South Africa Ovum. He says that is slowly changing because of a Chinese13.1 Mozambique backed project to build a national 10.2 Uganda fibreoptic backbone.

8.5 Kenya Companies are speeding up efforts to lay fibre in the region in an attempt to offer broadband serdifficult to get comparative figures on bandwidth for other countries vices to middle-class households. in East Africa, explains the InterLiquid Telecom finished its East net Society’s Kende. He says that Africa Fibre Ring in June, linking Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanwhere demand is still relatively zania. The company says it is also low for data but the fixed cost for shifting towards a strategy of ofdeploying fibre is high, “it is very fering fibre-to-the-home services, common to deploy much more particularly to new blocks of flats. fibre than is currently needed so Rival company Zuku is also offerthat the fibre can be lit or used whenneededatrelativelylowcost.” ing fibre-to-the-home packages in In the first Local hosting can also imNairobi and parts of Mombasa. quarter of 2014 prove the user experience, exIn late September, a package of there were only 1Mbps per month with Zuku cost plains Kende. “Many local and international websites are hosted KSh2,999 ($33.5), including TV broadband in Europe or even the US, which and internet telephone. subscriptions requires the use of international According to the World Bank, in Kenya, a tiny minority of the transit to access,” he says. This is there were 39 internet users for estimated costly. Kende predicts that as more every 100 people in Kenya in 2013, content is hosted locally, it will not up from 10 per 100 in 2009, putting total internet just reduce the use of international it 100th in the world. South Africa users transit but it will also reduce delays came in 80th place with 48.9. If in accessing content.

Kenya wants to claim the title of the internet capital of Africa, it has The supply of bandwidth some catching up to do. ● has been slow to trickle down AVERAGE CURRENT PEAK INTERNET CONNECTION SPEEDS (in megabits per second)

SOURCE: COmmUNiCaTiONS aUTHORiTy OF kENya

including the use of social media. But power outages and fluctuations in the service are a constant headache. Michael Kende, chief economist of the Internet Society, says that there are often fibre cuts due to accidents and vandalism.

“If the network is not resilient then the connectivity will not work until the fibre is fixed,” he says.

Evans Gathungu, who runs a writing bureau outside of Nairobi, explains: “I have to rely on having at least three suppliers at any one time, mainly the three major telcos in the country. This is to ensure that when one is down, I can use the other,” he says. Gathungu spends up to $750 per month on internet bundles – his biggest single cost. “If only internet was cheaper, I could have expanded my business,” he says. He acknowledges that costs have gone down: “What I incur is nearly half what [it] was three years ago when I started the business.”

SOURCE: akamai, STaTE OF THE iNTERNET REpORT/Q2 2014

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1.44m

21.6m

East african providErs racE to dEvElop nEw 4G nEtworks Kenya HaD LOOKeD LIKeLy TO Be first out of the blocks at bringing high-speed 4G mobile internet connectivity to east africa, but it has fast been overtaken by its neighbours. Tanzania and Uganda already have 4G networks up and running, with Rwanda poised to launch its own. In 2013, the Rwandan government entered into a joint venture with KT (formerly Korea Telecom), which has invested $140.1m into Olleh’s Rwanda networks to run the country’s

Long-Term evolution (LTe) high-speed network. It will operate on an open-access model, meaning one infrastructure provider will serve the whole country.

Kenya plans to follow a similar model of open access for its 4G infrastructure, but it has been hit by delays.

Regulations are still being discussed at the information ministry, with deployment of the network expected next year. 4G networks, of which LTe is a subset, are set to utilise a part of the spectrum that

is used by television channels in Kenya. Danson njue, a telecoms research analyst at Ovum, says the lack of “digital-dividend spectrum due to delay in digital migration may have contributed to the delay in network roll-out.” elsewhere in the region, providers are competing to expand their customer numbers and footprints.

In Tanzania, where a number of companies have been gradually rolling out 4G networks since 2012, a 5GB, 30-day bundle costs TSh42,500 ($25) with Smile

Communications.

In Uganda, where Smile also operates, there is 4G competition from MTn and Orange – which agreed in May to sell its operations in the country to Lebanese firm africell. njue says there is a lack of affordable LTe-enabled mobile devices. Service providers are “still faced with the challenge of monetising the services,” he explains. In both Uganda and Tanzania, customers mainly access 4G networks via dongles and fixed or mobile routers. ● G. W.

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dossier | telecoms

Finance

Why Nigerian start-ups are worth the risk The rise of successful tech companies in Nigeria has been breathless, so why is the capital still mainly coming from abroad?

Y

ou have an idea, and you need capital to breathe life into it. Welcome to the difficult first days of the start-up in Nigeria’s tech space. You are lucky – the financing ecosystem for young tech companies is far better developed today than even a few years ago.

Of course, you start with your own funds and those of your friends and family. You need a space, perhaps a shared space in in two years a tech incubator. From there on e-commerce products, has 100,000 visitors you are looking for grants, perhaps from something like the Tony site Jumia per day and employs 500 people.

Elumelu Foundation. They may Lamudi, an online property marhas grown give you up to $5,000 on fairly punketplace, now has 25,000 listings. to sell itive terms – rights of first refusal But who is benefiting? There are 50,000 concerns that these two flag bearproducts and on future rounds of equity finaners are simply bringing models employ cing, for example.

Onceyoualmosthaveaproduct developed elsewhere. Both Jumia 500 people or service that is ready to be rolled and Lamudi are owned by African out, there is the Lagos Angel NetInternet Holding, a joint venture work, which can bring funding of between Germany’s Rocket Inter$30,000-$50,000. Beyond that, you net venture capital fund, Swedish have accelerators and early-stage telecommunications company venture funds to get to $200,000Millicom and South African mo$300,000. “And once you get to the bile operator MTN. million-dollar range, you get to players like us,” says Folabi Esan, wider benefits a partner at Adlevo Capital, which Certainly, there are local competitinvests in technology companies ors. Sim Shagaya, a Nigerian entrein Nigeria. “We do $20m-$30m preneur, has launched Konga – an e-commerce rival to Jumia – and deals, with co-investors, putting Source: Dealdey, a site that resembles the in around $5m-$7m of our own Nigeria’S NatioNal Bureau of StatiSticS deal and coupon site Groupon. funds,” Esan explains. Beyond But Esan worries that that, you reach the realm of the whenaforeign-backed large private-equity funds such as Actis or Emerging company like Jumia Capital Partners. or Lamudi does The service sector, The rise of successful incredibly well, including online retailers, now makes up technology companthe lion’s share ies in Nigeria has been of that money breathless. Jumia, an will not remain of Nigeria’s GDP, with the nation’s previous economic in the Nigerian e-commerce service, backbones of oil and agriculture economy. Perwas founded in 2012. now totalling only 37% haps more sigIt now sells 50,000 Akintunde Akinleye/ReuteRs

84

51%

nificantly, he argues that there are a lot of additional benefits to local investment: “There are issues about who gets consultancy work, the accountants and lawyers chosen, the support infrastructure.

A lot gets lost in the process when you don’t have local capital investing in the businesses.”

There may be many local tech entrepreneurswhoruethefactthat an experienced foreign company with deep pockets has put its flag downearly.Themanagingdirector ofLamudi,ObiEjimofo,arguesthat the foreign presence is largely due to a lack of interest from domestic investors: “There are opportunities in Nigeria to put your money down in importing highly desired goods,whereyougethugemargins in oil and gas, in property. Most of the money in the country goes towards these things.”

Of course, it is rarely a question of either just local or foreign money. “Having both will broaden the general market for these new products and create a new generation of local competitors,” says Adlevo’s Esan. “These new products that are coming in will change people’s behaviour.

And they will also inspire local en-

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telecoms | dossier

trepreneurs to try to do the same thing in a more nimble fashion.”

Ejimofoagreesandalsopointsto spillover benefits that can improve the economy as a whole. Until the emergence of real estate websites such as Lamudi, it was difficult for companies to get a sense of the differences in supply and demand at a granular level across the market. But now, property developers “really have a clear idea of what the demand is for this particular type of property in this particular area in this particular city,” he says. keep it nimble

These wider contributions were picked up when Nigeria recalculated its national economic statistics earlier this year. Services, including online businesses, now total more than 51% of gross domestic product. The two previous mainstays of the economy, agriculture and oil, make up just 37%.

For anyone in the tech sector globally, agility is the name of the game. Not having to interact with government is especially useful in Nigeria, where the bureaucracy can be predatory rather than supportive. “We don’t really have any contact with the administration,” says Jeremy Hodara, co-CEO of Africa Internet Holding. “Even in the ports, we have specialised Lebanese or Indian import-export companies to get all our products in,” he adds.

Though they seem centuries apart, there could well be a similar dynamic in the tech sector as was seen in the textiles industry, where foreign investors set up shop, trained personnel and eventually saw them leave to set up competitor companies. Following this model, Rocket Internet is helping to structure the market, but then will experience increasingly stiff competition from local rivals created by former Rocket Internet staff.

Indeed, that may already be happening. “Yes!”, laughs Esan.

“People are already leaving Jumia to start up their own projects.”

From playground to battlefield, the Nigerian tech scene is fast developing a culture of its own. ● Nicholas Norbrook

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interview

Gys Kappers

Chief executive officer, Wyzetalk

By using local talent we can compete with the US

f

acebook founder Mark Zuckerberg A cheaper alternative to Wyzetalk, on has loudly decried the strict the face of it, would be Facebook, which immigration laws in the US that is free to use. According to Kappers keep talented code developers though, this comes at a cost. “Facebook from its shores. But for Gys Kappers, owns all the content users post, and we who runs Wyzetalk from a small office still do not know how it will all get used. in the pretty Western Cape town With Wyzetalk, all the information posted of Stellenbosch’s buzzing Technopark, belongs to the company.” the laws are a massive boon.

The company’s 11-strong team of South Kappers says Wyzetalk is “proudly African developers created Wyzeltalk’s South African” but concedes that its staff software. They all could command massive “is not rainbow at all”, attributing salaries in the US, if only they could his company’s all-white staff to a severe get there. But since US visa restrictions shortage of skilled black coders in the prevent the developers from doing so, country. The company is, however, 25% Wyzetalk’s team members have opted black-owned. to stay in South Africa instead, where they Kappers started Wyzetalk in October get paid handsomely by local standards 2012. While he says it will “not be making but still earn a fraction of what they would a profit any time soon”, it now has 15,000 in the US. This keeps Wyzetalk’s costs users from 650 companies, including far lower than those of its US competitors, Discovery, a South African health and life Jive Software and Microsoft’s Yammer. insurance company, and the Protea Hotel According to Kappers, “those guys Group, which has a presence all over spend tens of millions of dollars on the continent. Kappers is targeting R10m product development every year. in annual turnover in 2014.

We developed our app for $1.5m. No one in Kappers concedes that the staff the US could do that.” is “not rainbow at all”, but the And with lower costs, company is 25% black-owned Wyzetalk’s prices are lower too. The company currently charges R20 ($1.8) per user per The company’s funding comes month, while Yammer and Jive charge largely from wealthy individuals introduced $3-12 per user per month for more or less to the company by Cape Town-based the same service.

Clifftop Colony investment advisers.

“Wyzetalk is a social business software,” In June, funders provided Wyzetalk with Kappers explains. “It’s like an internal R8m to develop its pan-African strategy.

Facebook for enterprises. Each The Kenya-based Savannah Fund, organisation has a brain. But due to silos which invests in tech start-ups, is also in the business, the knowledge within backing Wyzetalk. it is not shared. Our aim is to create Kappers says there is plenty of room a community for your business, to enable for expansion into the continent but is you to share ideas.” sceptical about whether this will involve Email, claims Kappers, is a poor way to much government work. “Our app works share ideas within a company, since useful on all the latest software and smart communication is too often crowded out phones, and we go back as far as by an inundation of time-wasting emails Internet Explorer 8. But here in South for which most recipients have no use or Africa, the government guys are still interest. By replacing this with targeted and using DOS for Windows 95. We don’t relevant information-sharing via Wyzetalk’s go back that far.” ● software, says Kappers, companies can Interview by Gregory Mthembu-Salter cut employee email usage by 28%. in Cape Town

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dossier | telecoms

Mobile data

How Nigerians and Kenyans use their phones

A

recent study by telecoms firm Ericsson predicts there will be more than 635m mobile telephone subscriptions in Africa by the end of the year, with this set to rise to more than 1bn by the end of the decade. This staggering growth is echoed on a micro level by a survey carried out by technology group the Co-Creation Hub. As part of an ongoing research series, ‘How I Use My Phone’, comparing phone use among different Nigerian demographics, the team went out to bustling Sabo market in Lagos to quiz market traders.

One of the most surprising results of the survey was that more than half of these working-class phone users subscribed to a data plan, with Facebook and WhatsApp the most popular applications. Also how much they spent on their phone credit : while the biggest group (38%) spent N100-N500 ($0.6-$3) a week, 32% spent N1,000-N2,000 and 7.5% as much as N3,000 a week. In a comparative survey of professional users the professionals did not spend significantly more on their phone use, but bought more expensive handsets (see www.cchubnigeria.com).

Meanwhile, the mobile phone itself is proving a useful tool to collect data across the continent.

GeoPoll conducts its research by mobile, connecting with Africans and others across the developing world using text messaging and other modes of communication.

This month for The Africa Report they surveyed the mobile-money habits of Kenyans. ●

MOBILE PHONE USE IN A NIGERIAN MARKET Do you own a phone?

Which phone do you use?

52

21

BlackBerry

Tecno

7

Samsung

3

19

Which network do you use?

24

yes

8

1

no

Nokia

Others

AIRTEL

MTN

How much do you top up in a week?

N100

N500

20

N1,000

10

N2,000

17

Which do you perform most, call or text?

N3,000

Call 50

VISAFONE ETISALAT

N200

N100

N4,000

4

27 25

GLO

What recharge denomination do you use?

1

Do you use a data plan?

Text 2

1

3

19

4

recharge card

recharge card

21

23

Most popular apps FACEBOOK WHATSAPP BBM 200 TWITTER INSTAGRAM

yes no

18 15 11 7 4 4

Respondents 22

19

Age grade

53

29

9

24

3 Traders

18-25

26-35

36-50

>50

Gender

Source: co-creation Hub/MXLab

Two surveys – one low-tech and one high-tech – gathered data on phone habits among market traders and mobile bankers

MOBILE MONEY IN KENYA In conjunction with GeoPoll, The Africa Report asked 1,421 Kenyans, across the country, about how they use mobile money. To join the GeoPoll network and answer short surveys like this one, please visit m.geopoll.com

How far do you have to travel to find a mobile money agent ?

7%

9%

What kind of transactions do you use mobile money for ?

Which mobile operator do you use most ?

15%

26%

12% 16%

55%

Agent distance Under 1 km 1-2 km 2-5 km More than 5 km I don’t know

6%

1%

19% 68%

65%

Financial institution use

Mobile operator

Personal Business Both

Airtel Safaricom Orange Yu

Charlie Hamilton

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Source: GeoPoLL

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ADVERTORIAL Lex Van Wyk, CEO

T

he demand for information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and related services in Africa is growing fast. Key drivers for this growth include: major infrastructure projects, growth in financial services and an increase in governments’ spend on for among other things transport, infrastructure and citizen centric services. For companies like Teraco, the first provider of resilient, vendor neutral data centres, this demand is an opportunity for growth for the business and also for ensuring that the African continent

alike in terms of the long-term cost saving benefits to the organisation,” he says.

Today’s enterprises are increasingly turning to the cloud as a home for their IT infrastructure, applications and services.

However, the cloud needs an environment in which to flourish, and that environment is inside colocation data centres, which enable enterprises and cloud providers to offload the risks of growing capital costs, facility management and obsolescence in order to focus on their core mission, says van Wyk. In response to this demand, two years ago Teraco launched Africa Cloud eXchange (ACX), which according to van Wyk has seen organisations able to reduce capital expenditure and increase market distribution through a single infrastructure deployment. Teraco is the single facility in Africa where content and cloud distribution can happen to over 50 African countries at the lowest latency and with the greatest choice of carrier, undersea cable, or terrestrial fibre operator, says Van Wyk.

Teraco team

Teraco is the aggregation and meeting point for technology and services companies. Being a vendor neutral provider means that Teraco clients can connect to any network operator, service provider or any other Teraco client within the data centre, without restriction. Teraco is the only data centre with access to all undersea cables and most African terrestrial fibre networks.

CEO Lex van Wyk explains that Teraco’s clients deploy the best of breed technology and “It’s our job to make sure that their technology is always available to a large community and at the lowest distribution cost, therefore allowing their businesses to grow and succeed. Their success is our success,” he says.

NAPAfrica Internet eXchange Point (IXP) is also focusing on assisting with the launch of new exchanges in Africa. There are 23 exchange points live in Africa, which will assist in keeping content local and distributing African content to the world.

Van Wyk says to keep abreast with the technological changes and the demands from clients, Teraco has an internal department focusing on ensuring that the company provides cutting edge technologies and services and is also investing in skills. These investments will go a long way to boost the company’s objectives of operating Africa’s largest IXP, aggregating global content locally, being Africa’s central access point and become a model for vendor neutral data centres in Africa, says Van Wyk. Teraco Datacenter Riverhorse, Durban - 2013

In the market where it operates, guaranteed availability, big bandwidth pipes and lowering bandwidth costs are the key driving forces. Teraco’s data centres are the most connected facilities in Africa and currently house the largest peering points on the continent. It provides access to more than 50 African countries via local and global carriers.

The advent of the cloud is also driving growth and furthering the significance of data centres. “In many respects, the concept of cloud and that of data centre colocation are

Teraco Datacenter Isando, Johannesburg 2013

For more information please contact: Teraco Data Environments (Pty) Ltd. Tel +27 11 573-2800 - Email info@teraco.co.za

Teraco Datacenter Rondebosch, Cape Town 2012

www.teraco.co.za

DIFCOM/FC - Photos : D.R.

receives the best and most cost effective services that will address the bandwidth hungry market.

day in the life Extraordinary storiEs of ordinary pEoplE

Hassan Ouazzani fOr Tar

98

KEEPING HOUSE Zahra Sebbar is a 47-year-old housekeeper in Casablanca. She has been working since she was 16 in a country where there is no legal recognition for domestic workers

I

wanted to go to school when I was a little girl, but there was no school in the countryside where I grew up. I went to work as a housekeeper in Casablanca at the age of 16 to support my parents. The family I worked for paid me Dh150 ($17) per month. I was living with them – sleeping in the kitchen – cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. I stayed with them 19 years. They gave me a pay rise later – I was paid Dh1,000 per month in the end – but I was tired of working 24 hours per day, so I left. My sister heard about a family who needed a housekeeper. I started working with them six days a week from 8am to 6pm. I stayed at my uncle and aunt’s, helping them in the house in exchange for my stay.

I am still with the same family 12 years later. I am paid Dh2,600 per month. I have paid holidays during the summer, and the family sometimes pays for my medicine. I have no social security and no retirement plans. The only way they could make me a legal worker would be if they had a company and listed me as one of its employees.

They are both civil servants, so that is not an option. I don’t like to think about the future because there is nothing I can do about it. I want to work as long as I can. I like to work. I wouldn’t be able to stay at home and do nothing. Having to wake up every morning, taking the bus and going to work structures my life.

I don’t like it when my extended family criticises me behind my back. They think it’s shameful to be a housekeeper, but at least I am making money! I wanted to work in a textile factory, but I did not have the diploma. I guess I could still study for this diploma and work there, then I’d have social security and a retirement plan. But then, when will I find the time and money to go to school? I have worked all my life and posses nothing. My girlfriends keep telling me to open a bank account and put half of my money in it every month. Maybe I should do it.

MEN ARE TROUBLE

I have only two friends. I met them on the bus, we just started talking to each other one day and that was it. One of them is married and stays at home to take care of her child. The other is a housekeeper in a firm. I usually see them once a week on the weekend. I go to their houses, and we drink tea. We never go out to have a drink or to the cinema – I’ve never been to the cinema actually – but we sometimes go out to buy clothes. They always give me good advice. It’s nice to have friends that care about you.

I stay at home on my free time. I watch TV. I like Egyptian shows, and I also like to watch the news to get information about what is happening in Morocco. I go to vote when I have to and I think the country is fine, but I don’t really understand politics.

I don’t know how to read or write, but I can count and I’ve learned how to cook and keep a house clean. I would have been a good wife. My parents had a few proposals from men that weren’t working. I couldn’t marry someone that wouldn’t work: I’d be the housekeeper in my own house and not even be paid for it. Men are only trouble.

I like the quiet of my life as it is now. ● Nadia Rabbaa in Casablanca the africa report

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