JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Workers downed tools Monday at three South African power stations with more set to follow as a wage strike began at state-run utility Eskom, but the company said its operations had not yet been impacted and branded the stoppage illegal.
Paris Mashego, NUM’s energy sector coordinator, told Reuters that wage talks with the utility were in deadlock over the weekend. Eskom provides almost all the power to Africa’s most industrialised economy but it was not immediately clear what impact the strike may have on its ability to keep the lights on.
An Eskom spokesman said operations had not yet been impacted and reiterated the utility’s view that its members are prohibited by law from striking.
“Across all of our 27 power stations everything is operating as normal at this stage,” spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said.
“And no one from Eskom is allowed to go on strike because we are defined as essential service providers. Technically anyone who is not at work today will have to explain themselves to their bosses,” he said.
He added that Eskom did not feel that negotiations had collapsed. The utility is offering pay hikes of 7 to 9 percent while NUM is looking for increases ranging from 12 to 13 percent.
Phasiwe also said NUM members early on Monday morning had blocked roads leading to the Arnot power station east of Johannesburg but police had been called in and the roads were now clear.
NUM has around 15,000 members at Eskom, close to a third of its workforce.
The stoppage coincides with a wage strike by around 15,000 workers in the petrochemical industry that has led to some shortages and was entering its second week on Monday.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator MTN Group Ltd cut investor payouts by almost 50 percent as it reported its first-ever half-yearly loss after taking a hit from a hefty regulatory fine in Nigeria.
MTN agreed in June to pay a 330 billion naira ($1.05 billion) fine in a settlement with Nigeria for missing a deadline to cut off unregistered SIM cards from its network.
MTN said the fine, a third of the proposed initial penalty, wiped 10.5 billion rand ($768 million) — 474 cents per share — from headline earnings, South Africa’s main measure of profit, in the first six months of the year.
MTN had in any case been struggling to accelerate subscriber and profit growth as years of price wars and regulatory pressure hit margins and weakening economies squeezed consumer income.
“What you have here is a company that was gung-ho about Africa, where the operating environment has become difficult but they have shot themselves in both feet by losing control of the key markets and not paying attention to regulators,” said one MTN shareholder, who declined to be named.
MTN, held by many investors for its dividend flows, will pay out 250 cents per share for the first half of the year, down nearly 50 percent on a year earlier.
However, the company said full-year dividend could top the previously forecast 700 cents per share if operating conditions materially improve.
INTO THE RED
The headline loss came in at 4.9 billion rand, or 271 cents per share, in the six months. This is compared with headline earnings of almost 12 billion rand, or 654 cents per share, a year earlier.
MTN also said the results were affected by unfavourable currency swings, underperformance in its home market and in Nigeria, where it had to cut off another 4.5 million SIM cards to comply with local registration requirements.
Founded with the South African government’s help after the end of apartheid in 1994, MTN had been seen as one of post-apartheid South Africa’s biggest commercial successes.
It has hired Vodafone European head Rob Shuter to lead its development, aiming to persuade its millions of clients to use their handsets for everything from shopping, paying bills to storing money.
Shuter, who will take over as chief executive by next July, replaces Sifiso Dabengwa who resigned last November after Nigeria imposed the penalty — which will be paid by the Nigerian business in the local currency.
Nigeria has been trying to halt the use of unregistered cards over concerns they are being used for criminal activity, including by Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
Shares in MTN, which had dropped by nearly one-third since October when Nigeria imposed the fine, see-sawed as investors digested the earnings statement.
They rose as much as 2.5 percent shortly after the market opened, before retreating to trade 2.8 percent lower at 129.8 rand as of 0930 GMT.($1 = 315.0000 naira)
RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent in the second quarter this year from 8.7 percent in the same period last year, mostly on employment growth in the construction and services sectors, official figures showed on Friday.
Services, building activity and industry added 149,000 additional jobs to help offset 175,000 jobs lost in the agricultural sector due to a severe drought, the High Planning Commission added.
The government expects the 2016 cereal harvest to fall sharply after last year’s record crop of 11 million tonnes due to bad weather and more farm job losses are expected in 2016.
The woes of the farm sector have put further pressure on the Moroccan government, which is already facing protests over austerity measures.
The industrial sector created 38,000 jobs, the data showed. Construction and services added 70,000 and 41,000 jobs respectively, more than in previous years, a sign that the Moroccan economy has started to recover from years of recession caused largely by the euro zone debt crisis. The euro zone is Morocco’s main trade partner.
However, jobs created by construction and services are mostly precarious, the agency warned.
The Finance Ministry has forecast the economy will grow this year by less than 2 percent, slowing from 4.4 percent in 2015. However, the planning agency said the drought would drag growth down to 1.3 percent in 2016.
Informal labour abounds in Morocco, making it hard to produce reliable employment figures.
(Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
Pokémon Go has only been out for a month, but its popularity has led to global game-play including in many African countries.
The world has caught Pokémon fever and Africa has not been immune. Even though there is no official launch date for Pokémon Go anywhere in the continent, it is easily available to download from the app stores for those savvy and desperate enough to play ahead of its release. In the month since its launch it reportedly has more than 75 million players worldwide, overtaking Twitter for global users.
Pokémon Go is a 2016 release from Niantic, in collaboration with Nintendo who released the original game 20 years ago. Unlike the archetype which was played in a world contained inside a handheld Gameboy, Pokémon Go is set in an augmented reality universe. Players roam their real world which is overlaid with computer-generated imagery, attempting to catch creatures and battle them in simulated fight scenes. This is the first release of the game and it is predicted to launch versions where players can battle other players instead of AI characters.
Pokémon Go captures attention throughout the African continent
The game has been particularly popular in South Africa, with regular ‘meet-ups’ throughout the country, including in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Recent meet-ups in Port Elizabeth have even been coupled with aid drives for animal charities, capitalizing on the success of the app and need for players to gather in prime locations.
Similarly in Nigeria, there has been a veritable craze for Pokémon catching all over the country. Not long ago, an online craze would have been unthinkable in a city like Lagos, famous for its patchy mobile coverage. Recent improvements have changed matters however, with providers promising 3G coverage for 90% of the country and fiber-optic rollouts imminent.
Ghana and Kenya paint a similar picture with players roaming the streets looking for creatures and convening in “hotspots” in all major towns. Unlike in the western world, where Pokémon Go is widespread, in Africa it’s only the affluent and developed areas that seem to be picking up on the craze. This is due to the higher than average ownership of smartphones, coupled with access to mobile data services, along with generally higher socioeconomic circumstances.
Pokemon Go gathering in Cape Town
Pokémon Go’s success drives sales for other businesses
While Nintendo has seen a rise in $7.5 billion to its market value, Pokémon Go has also been profitable for local businesses, utilizing their location or certain elements of the game to attract customers and drive sales. Many bars and restaurants, such as Beerhouse and Steers Fast Food in South Africa are offering unique promotions connected to the game, and using social media to promote Pokémon locations near their business. Some venues have even been placing Pokémon “lures” to promote their happy hours and organizing walks and Pokémon Go-themed events. Many South African “meet-ups” have also combined Pokémon catching with charitable drives, such as for local animal charities in the area.
With increased real world interaction and a new global interface, the drawbacks are obviously related to player security. According to insurance group Dialdirect, users in South Africa need to be cautious when playing, as they could become easy targets for crime. Many areas in Africa are dangerous for solo pedestrians to be walking around at night, or with their smart phones clearly on display. Crime that has been seen in other countries could be amplified in some of Africa’s more unsafe regions, particularly if users enter into those areas unknowingly and without weighing up necessary risk factors. “We usually recommend that consumers conceal their smart phones and that they don’t unnecessarily brandish them about” said Dialdirect spokesperson, Bianca de Beer.
Playing can be a real life danger to users
Users risk their online security as well as their real-life security by irresponsibly playing the game. While Pokémon Go is not officially available in Africa, illegitimate users risk their phone’s security by accessing the app via third party channels, leaving their device open to hackers. According to a statement by IT security company Sophos‚ there is already one “malware” mirror version of the Pokémon Go app out there and being downloaded. Users are urged to play with caution and not put themselves into risky situations, in real life or otherwise.
As the technology wave surges across Africa, connecting ever more people to internet and data services, Pokémon Go and its successors are likely to usher in a new generation of avid gaming enthusiasts. With such popularity in Africa even before its official release, Pokémon Go seems to be here to stay.
YAOUNDE (Reuters) – Cameroon’s cocoa production rose nearly 16 percent year-on-year to 269,495 tonnes in the 2015/16 season, National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) data released on Thursday showed.
Africa’s fourth-largest cocoa producer has targeted annual production of 600,000 tonnes by 2020. The 2016/17 season opened on Wednesday.
The 2015/16 figure surpassed the central African country’s previous record of 240,000 tonnes during the 2010/11 season. Output since then has fluctuated due to pests, crop diseases and a prolonged dry season.
Cameroon’s government is trying to encourage young people and women to grow the crop and to prevent illegal export to neighboring countries.
Last year, Cameroon announced plans to double its cocoa processing capacity to about 30 percent of its total production, by adding 10 new processing units.
Cameroon’s cocoa season runs from Aug. 1 to July 1. The main harvest is from October to January/February, followed by a light crop harvest period from April/May to June/July.
(Reporting By Sylvain Andzongo; writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Adrian Croft and Alexandra Hudson)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand touched a nine-month high against the dollar and government bonds firmed on Thursday as the smooth running of local government elections and expectations that interest rates in leading economies will remain low boosted sentiment.
At 1104 GMT, the rand traded at 13.7100 per dollar, 1.44 percent firmer from its New York close on Wednesday, its strongest level since Oct 29.
The yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 dipped 10.5 basis points to 8.55 percent.
“You can attribute some of the movements to the smooth running of the elections without any major incidence of violence or reports of cheating. On the day (the rand) is outperforming other emerging currencies against the dollar,” ETM market analyst Ricardo Da Camara said.
South Africans cast their votes in local elections on Wednesday and the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) led in three major cities on Thursday as votes were counted, threatening to deal the biggest electoral blow to the African National Congress (ANC) since the end of apartheid two decades ago.
The ANC – which ended white-minority rule when it swept to power in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 – held a big lead in the national count.
“It’s not entirely clear that the DA is good and the ANC is bad but the market generally welcomes more contested democracy,” Nomura analyst Peter Attard Montalto said.
Other traders said the rand also got support from investors seeking higher yields after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since 2009 on Thursday, while near-term U.S. rate hike prospects cool.
On the bourse, stocks also gained with Sappi surging more than 7 percent after the paper maker reported an eight-fold jump in quarterly profit as of 1117 GMT.
The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index was up 0.3 percent at 45,671 and the broader All-share index added 0.3 percent to 52,650.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Ed Cropley and Richard Balmforth)
More than 50,000 bee farms operate in the southern African nation, providing a cash crop and encouraging forest protection.
Beekeeping represents a win-win for Zimbabwe: It is a cash crop for thousands of struggling farmers and it encourages preservation of the nation’s depleted forestland.
The Beekeepers Association of Zimbabwe estimates there are more than 50,000 bee farms flourishing in the southern African country and the number is growing. Beekeeping has become profitable thanks to high consumer demand for honey as well as beeswax. Bees also pollinate crops, helping increase food production.
Beekeeping serves another important purpose: giving farmers a reason to preserve their woodlands. In Zimbabwe, forests have been ravaged by tobacco farmers who use wood to cure their crops and by high consumer demand for firewood fueled by the country’s frequent power outages.
Tobacco farmers cut down up to one fifth of Zimbabwe’s 800,000 acres of natural forest each year, according to the government forestry commission.
Programs provide training
Zimbabwe’s Department of Agricultural and Extension Services provides training for would-be beekeepers as do a variety of nonprofit organizations, including the European Union’s Forest Forces project and the Ruzivo Trust.
According to the Trust, beekeeping can add stability to farms that are highly dependent on abundant rainfall, which is no longer a given as climate change brings drought to the region. The Trust set up demonstration projects and used a “learning by doing” approach to train 100 families in Goromonzi. Most of the families combine beekeeping with growing crops and raising cattle.
One new beekeeper is Divas Matinyadze, who maintains about four dozen hives in a dense patch of forest near Mpudzi.
Matinyadze, who was trained by the government, was a successful farmer of cotton and maize before he switched to bees in 2014. He said he makes up to $60 per hive during each of two yearly honey harvests, enough to buy food for his family.
Drought threatens production
Isaac Mamboza, a beekeeper in the Chipinge district, said he was part of a group of 25 farmers who started a local beekeeping project with hives in the trees near a local dam.
“Beekeeping can help us protect our forests,” Mamboza said.
However, the burgeoning beekeeping industry faces threats from drought and from another insect that kills bees.
The current drought in the region has cut honey production.
As weather becomes more erratic with climate change, harvest from rain-fed agriculture is increasingly vulnerable.
This year, the drought has left more than 4.5 million Zimbabweans without enough to eat, according to the government. The country estimates it needs at least $1.6 billion to feed the country.
Matinyadze said he delayed his spring harvest because there was so little pollen, adding that his crops have sustained much more damage from the drought than his bee hives have.
“Pirate bee” strikes
Another major emerging threat is the “pirate bee,” an insect that invades the entrances of bee hives and kills the bees. This forces the bees to hibernate inside their hives, meaning they are not outside collecting nectar to produce honey.
The pirate bee or cuckoo bee, along with water shortages, have forced beekeepers to cut back from three to two harvests per year, according to Nyovani Ndlovu, a beekeeper in Lupane.
Several other insects, among them beetles and wasps, also hurt yields during the production of honey by infesting hives and forcing bees out.
Cliff Maunze, who heads a Forest Forces team, said beekeepers are upgrading their hives to use a sticky substance to trap the pirate bees and other predatory insects when they land on the hives. Maunze said the project also plans to plant gum trees to increase the density of forests where the bees forage.
Despite the challenges, experts see beekeeping as an important game changer for agriculture in many parts of the continent.
“Honey production presents enormous potential for achieving food security in Africa,” the Ruzivo Trust said.
LONDON (Reuters) – Anheuser Busch InBev managers will take all but one of 19 key positions following the brewer’s $100 billion-plus takeover of rival SABMiller, according to details of the transaction announced on Thursday.
The deal, sweetened last week to help make up for a drop in the British currency, has been approved by both companies’ boards but still needs to be voted on by shareholders, some of whom oppose the deal.
AB InBev is known for its cost-cutting and centralized control, which some analysts have said may be tough to impose on all corners of SAB’s business, with its joint ventures and equity stakes in markets such as Turkey and Africa.
AB InBev, the maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois, said the new company – which has yet to be named – would continue to be based in its home town of Leuven, Belgium, while its operations would be managed from New York.
SAB’s offices in Woking, outside of London, will be kept open for a transitional period, but its central London headquarters will be wound down. The bulk of SAB’s European businesses are being sold as part of the deal.
“It looks as if all the SAB group and regional HQs will be eventually phased out,” said Bernstein Research analysts.
The new company will be run by teams of “functional chiefs” and “zone presidents”, both reporting to AB InBev Chief Executive Carlos Brito. All but one of those 19 positions will be held by current AB InBev executives.
There was no mention of roles for SABMiller’s CEO Alan Clark or finance chief Domenic De Lorenzo in the new company.
Of SAB’s 576 corporate roles in the UK, 523 are in Woking and 51 in London.
AB InBev said SAB’s general counsel John Davidson, human resources director Johann Nel and managing director for Africa Mark Bowman, had agreed to stay for a transition period of at least six months to help with “integration, talent retention and stakeholder management”.
The new company will be organised into nine geographical zones, with existing SABMiller hubs in Miami, Hong Kong and Beijing phased out within a few months after deal closes, which is expected in October.
AB InBev has agreed to sell SAB’s western European brands Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime, to Japan’s Asahi. It has also pledged to sell SAB’s Eastern European business, which includes the Pilsner Urquell brand, though a buyer has not been agreed.
SAB’s joint ventures in the United States and China will be taken over by their respective partners when the deal goes through.
(By Martinne Geller. Additional reporting by Mamidipudi Soumithri in Bengaluru; Editing by Adrian Croft and Mark Potter)
KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s cabinet agreed on Wednesday to allow the energy ministry to grant three oil production licences to France’s Total, the presidency said.
Commercial crude reserves were discovered in the east African country a decade ago but production has been repeatedly delayed amid wrangling over taxation and field development strategy.
The absence of key infrastructure, such as a crude export pipeline, has also slowed progress to production.
According to a statement issued by the president’s office, the cabinet approved a request from the minister of energy to allow the issue of three petroleum production licences to Total E&P.
The licences cover the Ngiri, Jobi-Rii and Gunya fields in the Albertine rift basin, the area along the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The licenses will be valid for 25 years and can be renewed for an additional 5 years, the presidency said in the statement.
Total is the second oil firm to be offered a production license after one of its partners, China’s CNOOC.
Tullow Oil, which also co-owns fields with Total and CNOOC, has also applied for production licences and has been waiting for approval for years.
In April, Uganda agreed with Tanzania to jointly develop a pipeline to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga to help export Uganda’s crude reserves, which are estimated at 6.5 billion barrels.
Benin received a $50 million International Development Association credit to invest in its tourism sector that will, hopefully, add an additional 30,000 jobs.
In March 2016, The World Bank approved a $50 million International Development Association (IDA) credit to Benin to invest in its tourism sector. The IDA provides grants and zero-interest loans, via the World Bank, to the world’s poorest countries to increase business opportunities and, ultimately, reduce poverty and improve standards of living by improving various industries. The tourism industry is Benin’s second largest source of foreign exchange currencies and third largest employer behind agriculture and commerce. The investment is intended to reduce the vulnerability of Benin’s economy, given its high dependency on informal trade with Nigeria, and its reliance upon the cotton sector.
The five year project, Benin Cross Border Tourism and Competitiveness Project (CBTCP), is a part of longer-term 2013-2021 tourism plan. The overarching aims of the World Bank’s funding are to increase and improve the current touristic sites including the physical infrastructure, such as accommodation; to improve the skills of tourist-industry personnel; to effectively promote tourism through branding and targeted marketing schemes; and to improve the management of existing sites by reinforcing leadership frameworks. This project is slowly moving from conception to implementation: in mid-July, the government approved a decree that will establish the creation of the National Agency of Heritage and Tourism. The aim of this project, and its corresponding agency, is twofold. By increasing cross-border tourism and private sector investment, the World Bank hopes to move towards its goals of poverty reduction while boosting “shared prosperity.”
Benin capitalizes upon the ecotourism industry
Visitors to a cultural festival in Benin
Investment will occur in the country’s key tourist destinations, mainly Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou and Ouidah, and hopes to help more than 1,000 existing tourist firms. More than 20% of these firms are led by female entrepreneurs, a point which both the World Bank and government of Benin are emphasizing as part of a gender inclusive initiative. It is hoped that, by investing in these firms, more jobs will become available for both unemployed Beninese people, and for citizens currently working in less secure industries, such as the cotton industry.
Benin is poised to capitalize upon the ecotourism industry if it can appropriately monetize its natural resources into well-kept tourist destinations. In order to do so, however, Benin will have to make a concerted effort to appropriately allocate World Bank funds. The first step is to clean up the existing potential tourist attractions: Benin’s coastline has been damaged from decades of open defecation, lack of waste removal systems and failure of sanitation infrastructure to remove both human and manufactured detritus. It seems that, hypothetically, the newly created National Agency of Heritage and Tourism may be able create jobs for people both working directly in the tourism sector, and for people working on clean-up projects.
30,000 additional jobs
In fact, according to the World Bank Country Director for Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Togo, “if efforts are made to meet [Benin’s] potential, tourism’s direct contribution to the country’s GDP will be increased by up to 30%, and could generate an estimated 30,000 additional jobs.” Thus far, the tourism industry has failed to develop as rapidly as that of other West African nations, due in part to the inability of private tourism operators to apply for loans. As capital has become less concentrated with the proliferation of tourism providers, individual businesses have been unable to meet the minimum requirements in order to receive loans from local banks, let alone international financial institutions.
The CBTCP will encourage private commercial banks to extend loans to businesses that fall in the “micro, small and medium sized” enterprise (MSME) category. The CBTCP will use World Bank funding to mitigate creditor risks through “first-loss cover,” thereby shouldering some of the risk that banks have been unwilling to absorb.
The National Agency of Tourism and Heritage directly looked after by Patrice Talon
The biggest fear of both Beninese citizens and outside observers is that the funds will be inappropriately allocated without direct oversight: the National Agency of Tourism and Heritage is not, as one would expect, overseen by the Ministry of Tourism, but is directly looked after by the President, Patrice Talon. The government has not issued an explanation of why this is, but hopefully it will not cause any confusion in the allotment of resources.
