Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, was, Tuesday night, recognized as a leading entrepreneur in Africa by the African-American Institute, AAI.

Ovia, in what is a reward for his business leadership and philanthropy, received the AAI 2017 Business Leader Award at a ceremony held on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York, the United States.

He was recognized for impacting hugely on enterprise and human resource development on the continent.

Ovia, founding Group Managing Director and CEO of Zenith Bank, was honoured along with President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana (National Achievement); Nicole Amarteifio, (Leadership in African Media and Arts); and Bozoma Saint-John, Chief Brand Officer, UBER (Innovation & Technology) as Africa’s best.

The Africa-America Institute was set up in 1953 to help increase Africa’s human capacity for development through training and education and recognizes Africans who have demonstrated remarkable achievements in various fields, the intention being to present the award winners at the high profile stage of the UN General Assembly as representatives of the great work going on in Africa.

The AAI awards, which is announced annually and showcases Africa’s best, has honoured individuals who are working to fulfill AAI’s mission of increasing Africa’s human capacity for development and promoting engagement between the African continent and America.

The awards are presented at a special gala night bringing together African Heads of State and diplomats, international and senior U.S. government officials, business and civil society leaders, educators, journalists, philanthropists and other prominent figures who are working towards advancing economic and development progress in Africa.

Ovia was at the helm of affairs at Zenith Bank, from inception, for 20 years until his resignation in July, 2010 but was reappointed chairman of the bank in 2014.

He was a member of the National Economic Management Team of Nigeria and he is a member of the Honorary International Investors’ Council.

Jim Ovia is a philanthropist and the founder and proprietor of James Hope College, Agbor, Delta State.

His foundation, the Jim Ovia Foundation, which focuses on providing scholarship to the less-privileged, has a number of beneficiaries that are now qualified medical doctors, engineers, etc.

He is also the Founder of several enterprises and philanthropic institutions including the Youth Empowerment & ICT Foundation, which focuses on improving the socio-economic welfare of Nigerian youths by empowering them to embrace Information and Communication Technology.

In recognition of his achievements particularly in support of the Nigerian economy, Jim Ovia was conferred with the national award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in November, 2011.

Jim Ovia holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Louisiana, Louisiana, USA (1979) and a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration from Southern University, Louisiana, USA (1977). He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (OPM).

By Bassey Udo

The Nigerian government has, through the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, been mediating in a multi-million deal that apparently violates a Supreme Court ruling, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The deal is to get a Nigerian-American firm, BFI Group, to surrender to a Russian firm, UC RUSAL, its win of the 2004 bid for the multi-billion Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, ALSCON.

BFIG has, however, rejected a $35 million offer to forfeit its legal rights after meetings by all parties.

The firm also communicated its position to both the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE and the National Council on Privatization, NCP.

Its Chairman/Chief Executive, Reuben Jaja, accused Mr. Fayemi of compromising his office by “continuously jumping in bed with the Russians to subvert rule of law, in defiance of two subsisting Supreme Court rulings” pending federal government’s implementation on the matter.

The spokesperson to the minister, Yinka Oyebode, in response to PREMIUM TIMES’ inquiry on Thursday, not only denied knowledge of the deal, but also exonerated his boss.

“I don’t think my ‘Oga’ will be part of that kind of deal. The much interest I know he has is to resolve this issue. I don’t think he will sit down with anybody to ask anybody to pay off anybody or stuff like that. This idea of somebody offering anybody money, I don’t think he will be involved in it,” Mr. Oyebode said on telephone.

He, however, said he would not comment further, as the minister was outside the country attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

PREMIUM TIMES also sent emails to both the minister’s official and private mails as well as text messages to his known telephone lines requesting his reaction.

He was yet to respond to any of the messages at the time of publication of this story.

HISTORY

In 2004, UC RUSAL had lost out in the bid to acquire ALSCON after it was disqualified by the NCP, for violating bid guidelines.

Although BFIG was later declared the winner of the bid with a $410 million offer, the BPE later cancelled the results in controversial circumstances.

BPE later reinstated UC RUSAL and handed over the plant to it in 2006 on the orders of then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, triggering a protracted legal battle that dragged till July 6, 2012 when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of BFIG as the recognised winner of the bid and owner of ALSCON.

On July 11, 2016, the apex court reaffirmed its ruling through a unanimous verdict dismissing for lack of merit an application by UC RUSAL on November 4, 2015, seeking a review and vacation of the previous judgment.

In each of the two separate rulings, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government, through its agencies – BPE and NCP, to invite BFIG and negotiate a mutually agreed share purchase agreement, SPA, with a view to handing over ALSCON to the rightful winner.

Curiously, in April 2017, in apparent in defiance of the Supreme Court directives, Mr. Fayemi visited ALSCON and was received by UC RUSAL’s managing director, Dimitriy Zaviyalov, whom he promised to work with to reactivate the plant.

Yemi Osinbajo

During the visit, the minister also assured the Russians of the federal government’s commitment to “encourage the Supreme Court to expedite action on the ruling,” and to “free the complex of any encumbrances,” in a move that appeared ignorant of the fact that the apex court already ruled twice on the matter.

Following the visit, Mr. Jaja accused Mr. Fayemi of perpetrating illegality, by “contemptuously romancing with UC RUSAL on a matter the Supreme Court had already ruled on two occasions.”

THE NEGOTATIONS

However, ahead of the first meeting of the reconstituted NCP scheduled for September 26 in Abuja, Mr. Jaja has again accused Mr. Fayemi as the unseen hand behind UC RUSAL’s latest clandestine plot to hijack the ALSCON ownership in defiance of rule of law and subsisting Supreme Court orders in favour of BFIG.

To get BFIG to accept to participate in the out-of-court settlement deal, PREMIUM TIMES investigations revealed on Wednesday that Mr. Fayemi reportedly asked his kinsman from Ekiti State, Wole Olanipekun, whom he believed could influence BFIG, to be involved.

Mr. Olanipekun has been a long-standing counsel to the consortium throughout its legal tussle to reclaim ALSCON.

Consequently, the minister, along with BPE Director-General, Alex Okoh, and other officials, held a secret meeting on August 21 with UC RUSAL agents, Danba & Associates Limited, led by its Chairman/CEO, Saadina Dantata, to compel BFIG to accept an offer for the relinquishment of its legal rights guaranteed by Supreme Court ruling of July 6, 2012.

Earlier, UC RUSAL had written to BPE to confirm its appointment of Mr. Dantata as its representative and leader of delegation for negotiations in the disputes over the ownership of ALSCON.

It was gathered that at a meeting brokered by Mr. Fayemi and attended by BPE DG, an initial $30 million offer was tabled by Mr. Dantata on behalf of UC RUSAL payable to BFIG over 20 years, after agreeing to sign off all settlement agreements to terminate all outstanding legal cases in court in relation to the deal to acquire ALSCON.

A source close to the meeting said BFIG officials had made their stance known clearly that they were not interested in the offer, insisting on the minister to rather advise the federal government to uphold rule of law by implementing the pending Supreme Court orders in their favour.

Also, the company (BFIG) in turn offered to refund to UC RUSAL the $130 million the Russians said they paid to BPE when ALSCON was handed over to them in 2006.

The source, who asked not to be named, because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the Russians rejected the proposal and demanded that BFIG paid to them additional $550 million instead.

The source said Mr. Fayemi was so incensed with BFIG’s rejection of the offer that he threatened to invoke government’s powers to revoke the entire ALSCON sale transaction if by the next meeting they refused to change their mind.

During a follow-up meeting on August 28, 2017, UC RUSAL’s representative was said to have made an adjusted final offer of $35 million, consisting $20 million initial payment, plus another $10 million spread over 20 years, on the same conditions “in the spirit of an amicable settlement.”

Although BFIG officials were said to have been absent, it was gathered that the outcome of the meeting was later sent to BFIG through BPE on September 13, 2017.

But, in a written formal response dated September 18, 2017 and addressed to the BPE Director-General, copy of which was obtained exclusively by PREMIUM TIMES, BFIG reaffirmed its earlier rejection of the offer by UC RUSAL representatives.

The company described the offer as not only insulting and denigrating, but also an attempt to lure it into becoming complicit in a violation of the U.S. anti-corruption law.

“We continuously maintain the belief that our acceptance of the offer can be interpreted as our direct or indirect assistance for a person to secure an improper advantage in a business transaction”, BFIG General Counsel, Jimmie Williams, said in the letter.

“This acceptance (means) our relinquishment of the binding 6 July 2012 Supreme Court judgment and the discarding of our legal rights, can be viewed as making us complicit in a violation of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, 15 U.S.C,” he added.

Copies of the response, which were sent to both the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who is the NCP Chairman, and Mr. Fayemi, reiterated BFIG’s readiness and willingness to commence the initial takeover inspection of ALSCON aborted unilaterally at the last minute by BPE in 2012.

The inspection visit approved by the NCP at its sixth meeting in November 2012 was part of the process to finalise the mutually agreed SPA towards the takeover of ALSCON.

The visit was to enable BFIG conduct a complete site, engineering, technical, environmental, management and financial review of ALSCON to determine the final price following the Supreme Court ruling.

A senior official in BPE, who is familiar with the ALSCON sale controversy, said the rejection of the latest deal by BFIG was a major blow to the scheming by “a shadowy interest group angling to hijack the ALSCON sale.”

The group is said to have consistently advised the federal government to explore other ways of resolving the ownership impasse in ALSCON outside the rulings of the Supreme Court which ordered that the plant be handed over to BFIG.

The outcome of the failed deal, which the official said was part of the scheming, was expected to be presented by Mr. Fayemi at the NCP meeting scheduled for Tuesday ostensibly as a way of resolving the lingering ALSCON sale logjam.

All the officials linked to the failed deal refused to respond to calls by PREMIUM TIMES on Friday seeking their reactions.

Mr. Dantata of Danba Associates did not pick calls to his telephones lines, while a text message was not responded to. Equally, an email to the firm’s official email addressinfo@danbanigeria.com returned undelivered.

An email to Elena Morenko, Head of International Communications, UC RUSAL, seeking confirmation to the deal and the appointment of Mr. Dantata as the company’s representative, was not responded to at the time of publishing this report.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo [Photo credit: dailypost.ng]

Besides, Mr. Okoh of BPE neither answered calls to his telephone, nor responded to a text message and email sent to him.

The NCP meeting would be coinciding with the date the Federal High Court, Abuja is also scheduled to deliver judgment in a $2.8 billion suit filed in 2013 by BFIG against UC RUSAL for its undue interference and conspiracy to frustrate its acquisition of ALSCON.

BFIG REACTS

When PREMIUM TIMES sought BFIG’s reaction on why it rejected the $35 million offer by UC RUSAL, Mr. Jaja said, apart from its illegality, acting otherwise would have portrayed the consortium as “a bunch of greedy, unserious and hungry people who do not know what they want.”

“How would anybody in his right senses think BFIG would invest billions of dollars of private resources in an attempt to acquire ALSCON and use to contribute to the development of the impoverished Niger Delta people, only for it to be subjected to over 13 years of legal battles traversing all levels of courts in Nigeria and abroad, then accept to trade all that off for a mess of $35 million?” Mr. Jaja asked.

Apart from the inherent corruption and travesty of justice, Mr. Jaja said, by refusing to uphold the two pending Supreme Court rulings on ALSCON, the federal government and some of its officials have given themselves away as economic saboteurs and “part of the grand conspiracy with foreign collaborators against the interest of the Niger Delta people.”

A 2011 financial report on ALSCON prepared by KPMG had revealed massive asset strippingof the plant allegedly perpetrated by UC RUSAL since 2006 when the plant was handed over to it by BPE.

The report showed how the $3.2 billion plant, valued at over $1.1 billion in 2004 when the bid was held, and $1.03 billion when UC RUSAL took over in 2006, dropped in asset value to less than $73 million by 2012 when the Supreme Court sacked the Russians from the plant.

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) on Tuesday eased for the second consecutive day, dropping 4,94 percent to 371,31 points as profit-taking took hold among punters.

The industrial index broke a two-month rally — which started on July 18 — on Monday after peaking at 400,03 points last Friday.

Delta led the fallers, dropping 15,05 percent to 229,37 cents dragging the stock exchange. The company’s capitalisation at $2,87 billion, accounts for 27,32 percent of the ZSE total market capitalisation which declined 4,6 percent to $10,5 billion from $11,03 billion on Monday.

About $1,17 million worth of the beverage maker’s shares were traded, representing 39 percent of the turnover for the day, which amounted to $2,97 million.

Dairibord and Hippo Valley eased 9,38 percent and 9,86 percent to 14,5 cents and 130,25 cents respectively.

NMBZ Holdings lost 11,11 percent to settle at 8 cents while Innscor lost 0,13 percent to settle at 150 cents.

Partially offsetting the losses was Ariston, which gained 19,84 percent to 3,02 cents. Financial service group, CBZ gained 10,44 percent to 17,99 cents while Old Mutual advanced 7,28 percent to 729,5 cents.

Zimpapers also gained 1,90 percent to trade at 1,07 cents.

The mining index gained 5,93 percent to 96,89 points as Riozim advanced 9,57 percent to close at 80 cents.

Foreigners were net sellers in the day, disposing of shares worth $827,087 and buying shares worth $656,448.

By Njiraini Muchira

Multilateral trade financier African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is seeking to mobilise up to $1 billion in equity from new and existing investors over the next five years to finance more trade deals on the continent.

The bank hopes to disburse $90 billion for industrialising Africa, boosting trade among countries as well as with the world in an era of rising protectionism.

World Bank data shows that intra-African trade has increased over the past decade, currently accounting for about 15 per cent of the continent’s total trade.

However, it remains the lowest of any continent, considering that intra-trade in Asia and Europe stands at 50 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.

Afreximbank has launched the capital drive in Nigeria and Kenya, seeking to raise $300 million through the issuance of depositary receipts. The minimum investment amount is $30,000.

“The depositary receipts will be listed on the Mauritius Securities Exchange, enabling investors to benefit from a liquid and freely transferable instrument said Afreximbank executive vice-president George Elombi.

An advisory syndicate made up of SBM Group of Mauritius as lead arranger and Kenya-based CBA Capital and Lions Head Capital as co-advisors will handle the issuance.

According to Afreximbank, the size of intra-African trade could be doubled from the current $170 billion per year to almost $400 billion.

The level of intra-Africa trade compares poorly with Europe, where it is estimated at a staggering $6 trillion.

Apart from financing setbacks, the lack of market information on the continent has also been cited as a key impediment to the growth of intra-Africa trade.

Established in 1993 with the main objective of financing and promoting intra and extra African trade, Afreximbank shareholding mainly comprises of African governments, African private and institutional investors and non-African investors.

The lender has approved more than $51 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $10.3 billion in 2016. By the end of last year, the bank boasted a total asset base of $12 billion.

A group of Hout Bay fishermen pleaded with residents of the town on Thursday to join them in their challenge to the government to get their fishing rights back.

“If you want to help us, don’t be scared,” said Neil Williams to about 100 protesters who met at the harbour at sunset for a peaceful protest and to explain their issues to a community shocked by the violent clashes with police last week.

“Don’t be afraid Hout Bay people. You must connect.”

Still fresh in the community’s minds was the uprising over a number of issues that had bubbled to the surface – primarily over fishing rights they not only consider as part of their culture and tradition, but as a means of supporting themselves.

Last week, tables were dragged from the popular Mariner’s Wharf restaurant and set alight to form a burning barricade and 14-year-old Ona Dubula was severely injured when struck in the mouth by a rubber bullet as police tried to quell the protest.

Standing on a stage made of old pallets on Thursday afternoon, activist Donovan Van der Heyden explained that not only had they been marginalised by apartheid, but their traditional fishing areas had been demarcated into a Marine protected area, a closed area, and a no-take zone.

Recreational permit

This means that there is nowhere for the local community of Hangberg and nearby Imizamo Yethu to fish legally.

“So what has happened to the poor fisherfolk of Hout Bay is that the department (of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), conservationists, scientists and whoever has that authority, has thrown every possible restriction, limitation, every possible judgment and prejudice at us not to be able to practice our culture and our tradition here at home,” he said.

“If we want to fish, unfortunately, we have to fish illegally because even if you buy yourself a recreational permit, you can still get arrested or fined if you are found fishing around Hout Bay.”

“So how then are we supposed to survive?”

Turned into “poachers” in the eyes of the authorities, many fishermen who chanced it at night in rowing boats at nearby Duikersklip, drowned, further devastating the community.

With a small police contingent parked at a distance, he read a statement of solidarity on behalf of the fishing community of Hout Bay and of Imizamo Yethu.

The fishing community wants unrestricted access to what they consider to be their traditional fishing grounds in Duikersklip and in the marine protected area.

Restricted area

They also want delays with the implementation of the small-scale fishing policy to stop and for the Minister of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, to commit to a date to meet the community.

On Sunday, Zokwana met at Parliament with a limited delegation.Van der Heyde said the community called for the marine protected area, restricted areas, and no-take zones to be reviewed with the full participation of the community.

And, when the Hout Bay Harbour upgrades start, all of the work must be awarded to local residents. If special skills are needed, outsiders can only be used if training cannot be provided to the local community.

Other activists at the meeting said the community was poor and was tired of working for years as general workers or at fish factories for low pay and having nothing to show for it.

On Friday morning, they intend marching to the fisheries office on Cape Town’s Foreshore to hand over a memorandum containing their demands.

Source: News24

ANALYSISBy Tammy Hodgskiss, University of the Witwatersrand

Digital technology has become an integral part of our everyday lives. So it was only a matter of time before the ways people interact with the past and ancient artefacts in museum settings became digital, too.

The problem is that technology can be extremely expensive. Many museums just don’t have the funding to obtain, develop and maintain fancy devices or interactive digital gadgets. Some big European and North American museums, which receive millions of visitors each year, have been able to afford virtual reality (VR) and various other digital technologies. These are an appealing and popular element of the visitor experience.

For example, you can tour the British Museum in London using VR. Visitors to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC can download an app to experience one of the exhibits in VR.

More digital avenues are being added to South Africa’s museums – and now the country has its first full VR exhibit. It will launch at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on 25 September and will take visitors on a journey through hundreds of thousands of years of human history, art and innovation. I am a Middle Stone Age archaeologist and ochre specialist, and have been part of the team putting the exhibit together over the past four months.

Along the way, we’ve had to work out how to marry facts, interpretations, stories and technology. This hasn’t always been easy, but there have been a number of lessons along the way: most crucially, about the value of collaborative, interdisciplinary work to bring science to life.

Getting started

Steven Sack, the director of the Origins Centre and Professor Barry Dwolatzky, who runs the university’s Tshimologong Digital Precinct, were the exhibit’s initial champions. The precinct is a technology hub. Dwolatzky was so enthusiastic about the idea of VR at the Origins Centre that he personally donated money towards it. Armed with this and a grant from the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, we got started.

The next step was to develop VR hardware – headsets loaded in the content we went on to produce. For this, we had to look beyond academia and bring in a team from Alt-Reality, a company in Johannesburg.

My role was to provide guidance on my own areas of expertise, and to act as a link between the Origins Centre and Professor Chris Henshilwood, for whom I work at the university’s Evolutionary Studies Institute. It was one of the institutes that provided a great deal of content for the VR exhibit.

Lara Mallen, a rock art specialist who was the curator at the Origins Centre, was a crucial part of the project: her knowledge of the centre’s displays and her intricate understanding of the rock art was vital in developing the content.

I bugged many of my peers in the Evolutionary Studies Institute, Rock Art Research Institute and School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at Wits University as well as researchers at other institutions for their opinions and images. We also sourced video and digital content from their research that we could include in the VR exhibit. They were all intrigued and excited by the chance to share their work in a totally new, different form.

Then came the balancing act: what would work well in VR, how much content could we have and what was missing. It was a very organic and ever-changing process. We continually revised, cut and added content.

The visitor can chose what they want to see and what they want to learn more about. They can see (and hear) how people made stone tools and ground ochre 100,000 years ago, or they can be transported into a painted rock shelter while also being able to see the individual images right up close.

Telling stories in new ways

As an academic I wanted to make sure that we presented a factual yet exciting summary of the Origin Centre’s content. That wasn’t at all straightforward.

We had to decide what stories we chose to tell, how we wanted to tell them – and whether our interpretations were correct. Bringing the past into a digital space creates so much more overt space for interpretation and different narratives. Traditional museum panels explain what an object is and how old it is. The VR actually shows how it worked and the process archaeologists have used to find that out.

One of the most valuable aspects of this project has been the opportunity to diversify traditional narratives around archaeology. Women and children have been somewhat neglected in archaeological interpretations, especially since in the past most histories were written by (white) men. This has tended to present a simplistic picture of prehistoric societies: men hunting, women gathering.

But there was more to it than that. Stone tools had to be made; poison was collected on use on the tips. Fires needed to be built and ochre ground to create paint for ritual. VR gives more space to explain the answers and explore the nuances of prehistoric societies.

Collaborating with a team of researchers of different ages, backgrounds and genders means a more unbiased picture of the past can be created. The VR content allows anyone to interact with the artefacts – female, male, young and old. They can immerse themselves in it and draw their own conclusions.

The digital experience might also appeal more to younger people and hopefully bring more young visitors into the museum. But it’s accessible, enlightening and informative and older people will enjoy it too.

Collaboration is exciting

As a scientist, I think these kinds of interactive museum displays are vital in aiding deeper understanding and interest in a topic. The same applies to archaeological research.

Being able to manipulate or reconstruct artefacts and use them helps us to understand how and why they were used or created. Being in the team that has conceptualised and created the Origins Centre’s VR content has reminded me that collaborative and interdisciplinary work – even though sometimes tricky to start – can be so fulfilling and revolutionary.

Disclosure statement

Tammy Hodgskiss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Maputo — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has politely made it clear that there will be no normalization of relations with Mozambique until the information missing from the audit of the security-related companies Ematum (Mozambique Tuna company), Proindicus and MAM (Mozambique Assets Management) is provided.

In 2013-2014, the three companies borrowed over two billion US dollars from the European banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia. The government of the day, headed by President Armando Guebuza, illicitly guaranteed the loans, in violation of both budget law and the Mozambican constitution. These government guaranteed loans added 20 per cent to Mozambique’s foreign debt.

Initially, only the Ematum loan was in the public domain, since it took the form of a European bond issue. The Proindicus and MAM loans were kept secret, and only came to public knowledge in April 2016.

The IMF, accusing the government of misreporting its debt situation, suspended its programme with Mozambique, and other western donors and funding agencies followed suit. All 14 donors who used to provide direct support to the Mozambican state budget suspended their disbursements and have not resumed them.

The IMF made it clear that a basic condition for resuming normal relations with Mozambique was an independent audit of Ematum, Proindicus and MAM. The Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) hired Kroll Associates, reputedly the world’s foremost forensic audit company, to undertake the audit.

In late June, the PGR published the executive summary of the Krioll report, which accused the management of Ematum, Proindicus and MAM of failing to cooperate and concealing information. The man who is the chairperson of all three companies, Antonio do Rosario, a senior officer in the State Intelligence and Security Service (SISE) openly boasted of refusing to hand over data, on the grounds of “national security”, and even of expelling the auditors from his office.

At a press briefing in Washington last Thursday, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice confirming that filling in the gaps in the Kroll audit report would be a crucial step towards a new IMF programme for Mozambique.

He said the IMF was “encouraged” by the fact that the audit had taken place “because transparency and good governance are key”. But now the IMF wanted to see the full audit report, and not just the summary, published.

As Rice must know, the full report has been circulating on the Internet for some weeks but, inexplicably, the PGR has not yet published it on its website.

The full report is even more damning than the executive summary about the companies’ refusal to cooperate. The main challenge in completing the audit, Kroll says, “was the lack of information available from the Mozambique companies. Kroll spent a considerable amount of time requesting and liaising with representatives of the Mozambique companies to obtain information and documentation that was, in some case, either ultimately incomplete or not provided at all”.

Kroll said it repeatedly asked Rosario (referred to in the report as “Person A”) for “outstanding information that would provide a better understanding of expenditure: the response was that the requested information was ‘classified’ and not available”.

Kroll also found it could not obtain “reliable accounting records from the Mozambique companies to enable a proper assessment of the financial position of each company. Further, the Mozambique companies were unable to provide complete loan agreements or supply contracts”.

Thus the full report, far from solving the problem of the information gaps, reveals how wide they are.

Rice said “we believe it is key for the authorities to provide the missing information, highlighted in the audit summary and in particular critical information gaps record, regarding the use of loan proceeds. So taking steps to fill the information gaps and to strengthen transparency and ensure accountability will be critical to progressing toward a new program”.

The message is clear: unless the Mozambican authorities provide the missing data, particularly an explanation of what happened to all the two billion dollars, there will be no new IMF programme.

Complicating matters is the allegation that Mozambique purchased military equipment from North Korea, in violation of United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang. This was mentioned in two reports from the panel of experts set up by the UN Security Council to monitor the implementation of sanctions, on 27 February and 5 September.

The February report, which the media somehow missed, mentioned a six million US dollar contract between the North Korean Haegeumgang Trading Corporation and Monte Binga, a company owned by the Mozambican Defence Ministry.

Under this contract, according to the panel, citing as its source an unnamed UN Member State, Haegeumgang was to upgrade and refurbish Soviet era equipment: P-18 early warning radar, AT-3 anti-tank missiles, T-55 tanks, and truck-mounted surface-to-air Pechora missile systems. It was also to supply “man-portable air defence system components and training equipment”, 250 kg “glide induced bombs”, radar systems, communications and electronics detection equipment, and a “chemical warfare monitoring command car” and related equipment. The contract also mentioned rehabilitating a gunpowder processing factory.

The contract, the panel said, was signed in 2013 by Choe Kwang Su, described as the representative of Haegeumgang in Mozambique. He is also third secretary at the North Korean embassy in Pretoria. “In addition to the contract itself”, the report said, “a Member State showed the Panel photographs of the activities, including technicians of the Korean People’s Army standing in front of refurbished tanks”.

The 5 September report said the panel was continuing to investigate the matter, but “Mozambique has yet to provide a substantive reply to the Panel’s enquiries. Haegeumgang has been reported by two Member States as active in Mozambique and the neighbouring United Republic of Tanzania. One Member State specified that Haegeumgang had provided the same surface-to-air missile systems to both Mozambique and Tanzania”.

Monte Binga owns 50 per cent of Proindicus. Inevitably there are suspicions that some of the 622 million dollar loan to Proindicus went to the North Korean contract (however, the amount that Kroll could not account for in its audit is much greater than six million dollars).

The Mozambican government has neither confirmed nor denied that this contract exists. Last week, the government spokesperson, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ana Comoana, pledged full cooperation with the UN Panel of Experts. The government would provide “due clarification at the opportune moment”.

The panel accused several other southern African countries – Tanzania, Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic – of violating the sanctions against North Korea. Last week, the Namibian Deputy Prime Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndatiwah, announced that all contracts between the Namibian government and North Korean companies have been terminated, and invited the UN panel to visit Namibia “so that we can show them we have complied”.

By Sofia Christensen

Protesters gathered in several West African capitals Saturday to demand their countries abandon the CFA franc in favor of a common African currency. Passions over the issue have been reignited since Senegal arrested and expelled an activist for burning a CFA bill at a rally last month.

The PanAfrican Emergencies group called for the protest. Senegal recently expelled the movement’s founder, French-Beninese activist Kemi Seba, after he burned a 5,000 CFA note during a rally in Dakar in August.

France created the CFA in the 1940s for its African colonies. The CFA is pegged to the euro and guaranteed by national currency reserves deposited with the French treasury. Senegal is one of 14 countries in West and Central Africa’s two monetary unions still using the CFA.

At Dakar’s bustling Marche Tilene, many traders are interested in the debate, though the arguments remain more emotional than economic.

“It is not an African currency, so we consider it a Nazi currency imposed by our colonizer,” said trader Adama Badiane.

Shop owner Mariama Seydi also favors a new currency.

“I would like Senegal to have its own currency,” she said. “In the same way as we used to talk about the French franc, I would like us to say the Senegalese franc.”

Moudou Gaye, the head of Marche Tilene, agrees.

“We are Africans. We need to get organized and mobilized for a single currency,” Gaye said.

Advocates of the CFA say it has prevented inflation and instability. They point to the experiences of neighbors like Guinea and Nigeria as cautionary tales of going it alone. But critics argue the currency is too strong and stifles economic growth. Regional trade has expanded outside the eurozone to partners like China and the United States.

“When you have a currency fixed to a strong currency like the euro, it is easy to import. But when you want to export, your products cannot compete with other foreign countries,” said Ndongo Samab Sylla, an economist at Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

Countries using the CFA are free to abandon it, but none of the 14 governments has announced any such intention. And for onlookers at this latest anti-CFA protest, this may be for the best.

“I do not blame them. Everyone has their way of thinking. But we will go nowhere if Senegal creates its own currency and leaves the CFA,” said Ahmadou Bamba Badiane, while watching the protest.

For now, the debate continues. But in the past year, the presidents of Senegal and Ivory Coast have publicly reaffirmed their support for the CFA, making it unlikely it will disappear any time soon.

By Alvine Kapitako

Windhoek — The Namibian Commercial Catering, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (NACCAFWU) together with Shoprite Checkers workers have mounted a national campaign that urges consumers to boycott shopping at any Shoprite or Checkers store in the country.

“The campaign is meant to encourage the public to sympathise with employees of Shoprite Group of Companies primarily because they are lowly paid,” NACCAFWU’s deputy secretary general, Joseph //Garoeb, told New Era yesterday.

“They (employees) can’t even afford to buy food from their retailers,” said //Garoeb.

He said the union would apply “whatever is in our means” to put pressure on the company to pay better wages to its employees as well as to drop the charges against employees who participated in an illegal strike in 2015.

Shoprite employees went on illegal strikes in 2014 and 2015 demanding better wages.

//Garoeb said 80 percent of employees at the company are “permanent part-time” while only 20 percent are permanent. Permanent part-time employees do not have job security and are paid N$240 per week for their labour. “This means they get N$960 if they save that money till the end of the month,” he explained.

According to //Garoeb, some employees only take home N$1,200 in salary and the company was recently reprimanded by the ministry of labour for not adhering to the country’s labour laws.

He said the company has at least 80 stores across the country, including Hungry Lion, U-Save, Checkers and House & Home. Yet, employees of this group are among the most poorly paid people in the retail sector.

“These people are paid nothing,” added //Garoeb.

In addition, they do not have any benefits such as housing or transport.

He said that the term permanent part-time does not exist in the labour law of Namibia and that “working for Shoprite means you are only working for taxi fare”.

The campaign started on Friday with a demonstration at Shoprite Katutura and would continue to other stores of the company.

“Consumer boycott is a new concept in Namibia but we had some people who sympathized with us by signing petitions and some now do not buy at Shoprite while others do not understand the concept.”

New Era called the Shoprite head office before going to print and was told that a certain Mr Pienaar would return the call, but he did not. This is despite several calls to the office.