Sixty eight passengers aboard a damaged Robben Island ferry have all been safely evacuated from the sinking vessel, authorities said on Friday afternoon.

City of Cape Town spokesperson Theo Layne said the passengers were removed from the vessel and ferried to the ferry jetty. The vessel was still out at sea.

It was earlier reported that 69 passengers were aboard the vessel, but Layne said it was now believed that 68 passengers were on board.

He said no one was believed to be missing, but rescue divers were at the scene to check if any one had been left behind. “We are doing a headcount as we speak,” he said.Layne was unable to say how badly the ferry had been damaged or how far out it was from shore.

He said rescue operations were being complicated by extremely high seas and strong winds. Cape Town Harbour spokesperson Coen Birkenstock said port control was informed of the incident at 14:20.

Two NSRI teams and a port pilot Boat Patrol were deployed to the scene, Birkenstock said.

Source: News24

By Irene Mwendwa

Trade has been good for Timiro Hussein in Moyale Town after law and order returned a few years ago.

Ms Hussein recalls the 2013 clashes and the ethnic fights before devolution that never let any business thrive in the region.

Speaking to Nation, Ms Hussein says that at the moment she has no fear at all while operating her business along the Moyale border.

“Peace has given us a new opportunity because we operate without fear since different communities now understand each other under cultural laws,” said Ms Hussein.

The mother of one operates a wholesale and retail shop in Moyale Town. She imports maize and wheat flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil while all soft drinks and milk she sells are manufactured in Kenya.

CROSS-BORDER TRADE

She says now Kenyans can trade across the border and Ethiopians can sell and buy across the border.

Ms Hussein adds that once one complies with custom regulations at the border, there is no fear since people from both countries and those within Kenya have an understanding of peaceful co-existence.

“Now our children can even share schools with our neighbours’ children and we also share medical facilities along the border without any problem,” said Ms Hussein.

Meres Abe and James Mahmed are Ethiopians yet they sell potatoes and onions in Moyale Town.

NO RESTRICTIONS

Ms Abe told Nation that there are no restrictions since Kenyans also trade across the border.

She does remember the actual number of years she has traded in Kenya but according to her, business in Kenya gives her much profit.

“We sell the entire day in the open market but we go back to our country every evening because we are not legally Kenyans,” said Ms Abe.

According to Mr Mahmed, the understanding between the warring communities along the border has given them an easy time to conduct their businesses every other day.

Mr Mahmed said that unlike a few years ago when restrictions were the order of the day because of tribal clashes, today nobody is afraid of the other because of a peace accord that was made in 2014 and amended last week.

“Our people listen to our elders more than they value the national law. Hence, a law that is implemented by the elders before the culprits are handed over to the police is followed easily,” said Mr Mahmed.

The north has been known for tribal wars that have marred normal business in various parts of the pastoral lands.

PEACE ACCORD

However, communities in Marsabit County especially along the Moyale-Ethiopia border have been enjoying the peace since 2013 after they signed a peace declaration between them.

The two major communities, the Boran and Gabbra, who have long been fighting not only for resources but leadership positions, have now set aside their local differences.

For instance in the past, herders would not share a common grazing field even if there were enough resources.

However, today, through the aid of various stakeholders, they are able to even communicate on the patterns of grazing in order to share the little available resources peacefully.

Recently, the two communities amended the declaration accommodating more regulations and also the necessity to spread the peace to other communities.

PEACE III

Speaking during the amendment of the peace accord at Koket Hotel in Ethiopia last Wednesday, the chief of party for PEACE III Sarah Gibbons said that peace, business and development work together.

Ms Gibbons commended locals for agreeing on their own set of laws and keeping them faithfully.

“The PEACE III programme began back in 2014 when elders from both sides signed the agreement and they upheld it up to date when we came to make little changes as per their wish,” said Ms Gibbons.

Majority of the participants thanked USAID and Strategies for Northern Development (SND) and other stakeholders that came up with the idea and said that other tribes should be included in the declaration in bid to completely stop conflicts along the border and across the county.

DECLARATION

The Dukana-Dillo-Maikona peace declaration was first supported by the Kenya National Steering Committee in 2009 before USAID came up with PEACE III.

The declaration states that, for instance, a person found guilty of intended murder will pay a fine of 50 cows, each at least three years of age, before he is handed to the courts and prosecuted for murder.

The same way, there are fines for unintentional murder, rape cases, assault as well as spreading propaganda and hate speech.

After the 2013 General Elections, Moyale experienced chaos that left hundreds homeless and many others lost their lives in the process.

Marsabit County was among those that were marked as hot spots before the 2017 General Elections.

Nevertheless, to the surprise of many people, locals were able to maintain peace before and after the elections.

By Rose Athumani

The Association of Tanzania Oil and Gas Service Providers (ATOGS) and their Ugandan counterparts Association of Uganda Oil and Gas Service Providers (AUGOS) have signed an agreement that will see the two working together in the Hoima-Tanga pipeline project.

Speaking at the signing ceremony yesterday, ATOGS cofounder and Vice- Chairman Mr Abdulsamad Abdulrahim said the signing ceremony marks the be ginning of collaboration between the two in a journey to grow the economies of Tanzania and Uganda.

The agreement will see Tanzanian and Ugandan service providers in the oil and gas industry do joint biddings for tenders in different areas of the pipeline project, including transportation of materials.

Uganda’s AUGOS Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Emmanuel Mugarura encouraged Tanzania service providers in the industry to be strong, work together and uphold standards that are required in the industry.

Mr Mugarura said it is only through hard work that the service providers from Tanzania and Uganda can achieve the required standards in the industry.

“It’s through standards that you can stand up and talk…stand up and compete, join tenders and stand up against Chinese, Europeans and Americans who have been in the game longer and they have money. The advantage we have is that we are East African,” Mr Mugarura explained.

ATOGS was formed as a result of AUGOS, after service providers visited Uganda and saw the need to establish an association that brings together local business service providers. One of ATOGS objectives is promoting local content in the oil and gas industry through supporting job and business opportunities for nationals and local businesses in the country.

Earlier, while speaking with ATOGS members, Senior VicePresident (Business Development) of Prezioso Linjebygg Company, Jean -Louis Chassagne said the company has vast experience in executing such major oil and gas projects.

Prezioso Linjebygg is among seven companies bidding for tenders in the execution of Hoima -Tanga Oil Pipeline project. Mr Chassagne said the company works across the continent in countries including Angola, Congo, South Africa, Gabon, Ghana, Algeria and Equatorial Guinea.

He said that through the Hoima-Tanga Oil Pipeline project, the company seeks to establish an installation system in the country, complete with workshops where local Tanzanians will work after going through training.

The French-based company, which was established in 1957 with presence in 14 countries, has vast experience of local content from working in the continent, is looking to create about 3,000 jobs for Tanzanians and is currently canvassing the best place to establish a training center.

Mr Chassagne said the company is familiar with developing large local content manpower, hiring and training and they are seeking to do the same in Tanzania and Uganda when they win the tender.

Speaking to the ‘Daily News,’ Transport Operations Officer, Mr Harshil Davda of Simba Logistics one of the service providers said they are well prepared to provide transport services and are already procuring more fleet of trucks to cater for the envisaged need.

“This means we will also create employment as we increase our fleet of trucks. From the project, there will be need of between 1,000 to 1,500 trucks,” he explained.

Currently Simba logistics has about 300 trucks operating within East Africa and outside. Head of Corporate Affairs, WiA group, Mr Abraham Mwapongo said the information and technology company is positioned to provide internet and other ICT services that would be needed.

Mr Mwapongo revealed that the ICT company is already providing services to major companies including Total, NMB Bank and Tanapa.

Dangote Cement has approached South African cement producer, (PPC), for takeover bid, but talks are at preliminary stages, Media reported on Thursday.

PPC is already considering a bid by local rival, AfriSam, which launched a new all-share bid that values PPC at about 9.2 billion rand

Dangote Cement bid for PPC is a way to increase its visibility in the South Africa and surrounding SADC market.

PPC offers the prospect of a much larger business than DangCems current operation in South Africa through Sephaku Cement.

Annual Financial Statement for the full Year ended March 31, 2017 shows that Sephaku Cement had revenues of R2.28 billion (178 million dollars) in 2016 (see Fig 1).

This compares to PPC which had revenues of R9.6 billion ($748 million) in 2016, about four times that of Sephaku.

Obviously DangCem would love to own the bigger company and has signalled it would be open to a sale of all or part of its cement operations in Sephaku Cement to win regulatory approval for a takeover.

NAN

By Bassey Udo

Controversy is trailing the recent mass sack of workers by First Bank of Nigeria, FBN, as the bank and its affiliate contracting firm in charge of recruitment, Whyte Cleon Limited, have given various reasons to justify the action.

The affected workers, reported to be more than 1,000, cutting across branches of the bank throughout the country have dismissed the reasons given, while criticising the process as defying due process and acceptable labour practice globally.

Initially, the First Bank spokesperson, Babatunde Lasaki, who confirmed the sack to The Next Edition, said the exercise was based on the outcome of an annual staff appraisal which sets a baseline to assess staff performance.

He said in line with the usual practice, those who met some key performance indicators and a scorecard spelt out at the beginning of the year about the job description relating to their offices were either retained or promoted for increment, while poor performers risked being sacked.

However, following the debate that has trailed the sack, First Bank management appears to have distanced itself from it, as it later said the sacked workers were not part of its workforce.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr. Lasaki on Tuesday through a mail for further clarification about the sack, his automatic email responder machine directed the reporter to his colleague, who said those affected were not “regular staff” of First Bank, but casual workers who were hired to provide support services to the bank.

The official who requested not to be named, as she was not authorised to speak on the issue, did not give further details.

She, however, re-directed the reporter to an official of Whyte Cleon Limited, the bank’s human resource recruitment affiliate, which carried out the sack of the workers.

Recent media reports said those sacked were mostly front desk tellers, account and clearing support staff, customer service officers and marketing associates who had put in between five and 10 years in the service of the bank.

PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately verify these reports.

But, the workers, who insist they considered themselves bona fide staff of First Bank, by virtue of the official staff identity cards they carry and the conditions of service issued to them when they resumed work, insist the manner of their disengagement did not follow due process.

Apart from denying that the termination of their appointments was based on the outcome of a performance appraisal exercise, the workers said information about their sack was not communicated to them formally, but through short message service, SMS sent to their telephones on August 7, 2017, an act they alleged did not meet international labour practice standards.

The bank insists that apart from the text messages, all the affected workers were later issued formal letters of termination of appointment.

Besides, the workers said, contrary to what the bank would want the public to believe about the reason for their sack, the real reason they were sacked was that First Bank wanted to avoid being encumbered up with the provision of a labour law requiring employers to compulsorily convert their casual workers to permanent staff, with full benefits after their 10th year in active service.

Some of those affected who reached out to PREMIUM TIMES to give further clarification on the circumstances of their unexpected exit from First Bank said the majority of those given the boot were non-core staff recruited between 2008 and 2015, most of whom have put in more than nine years in the service of the bank.

“It is a blunt lie. There was no scorecard or indicator to measure the performance of non-core staff. We worked to support the core staff. They are only using that as a gimmick to deceive the public.

“They are trying to wipe out the entire staff recruited as far back as 2008, who have spent between eight and nine years in the bank. They do not want them to attain 10 years of service so that the bank would not be forced to convert them from non-core staff to core staff, in line with established labour laws,” one of the workers who gave his name as Jimoh Durojaye, said on Wednesday.

Another, Chukwuka Odinaka, said they did not fail any appraisal test, as claimed by the bank, as they were not even given any such opportunity to defend themselves.

He alleged that all positions vacated by the sacked worked have since been filled with fresh graduates recruited by the bank.

“We were employed by Insourcing Limited, formerly a subsidiary of the First Bank Group. We were later handed over to Whyte Cleon. It is not true that our disengagement followed due process, as Business Managers and Heads of Branch Services who oversee the branch operations were not aware of the development. They only came to work on Monday morning and saw they had been given new staff,” Mr. Odinaka said.

Also, Alani Moshood, who said the bulk of the workers laid off were recruited between 2008 and 2009, also said the affected workers are considering approaching the National Industrial Court to seek justice, adding that they were yet to be paid any severance package since their exit on August 11, 2017 in line with statutory exit labour procedures.

Meanwhile, Whyte Cleon Limited in response to PREMIUM TIMES enquiries on Wednesday dismissed the allegations that the workers were sacked through text messages as false and an attempt to discredit it.

“Reports in the media alleging Whyte Cleon Limited ordered the mass dismissal of some members of staff in the employ of First Bank Plc through only short message service (SMS) is false. The claims that Whyte Cleon Limited has been silently laying off its staff through only SMS is a deliberate attempt to discredit Whyte Cleon Limited,” the company said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES, sent by its representative, Seun Togan.

“We wish to reiterate categorically that the decision to withdraw the services of our employees was communicated to them both verbally and formally in compliance with the conditions of service of engagements. In global human resource outsourcing practice, employees can be withdrawn from an organization, deployed to other organisations and/or may be replaced with other employees as the case may be.

“Whyte Cleon Limited followed due process in honouring the terms of appointment of their outsourced employees and subsequently withdrawing them. Whyte Cleon Limited had exit interviews with all the affected outsourced employees before notification of their recall. It is noteworthy that the affected employees were paid their entitlements and ancillary benefits,” Mr. Togan said.

He did not respond to another email seeking further explanation on the number of workers affected by the sack and their relationship or status with First Bank.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Whyte Cleon inherited the workers from Insourcing Limited in February 2016 following a Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN directive to all financial institutions in the country in December 2015 to discontinue involvement in non-financial transactions.

By Innocent Ruwende

Harare City Council has said it will start repaying its $144 million debt to China-Exim Bank this month, although the bank is still to release the outstanding amount of $72 million. The $144 million loan facility was obtained for the rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray Water Works and sewer works. The loan was advanced at an interest rate of three percent per annum and over a nine-year tenure.

In the first four years, the city will service the interest and then thereafter repay the principal amount loaned.

Morton Jaffray rehabilitation works will cost a total of $55 million upon completion, with the remainder of the $144 million loan from China Exim Bank being used on IT equipment, construction and other pump stations.

“A total of $144 million was owed to the Exim Bank of China, of which $72 million had been committed and repayment will commence from September 2017,” finance director Mr Tendai Kwenda told the Finance and Development Committee recently.

According to council’s financial report for the period January to July 2017, the city’s debtors were reported at $686,97 million, while the aggregate income and expenditure for the period under review amounted to $91,13 million.

Actual collections amounted to $12,22 million, while a total of $15,4 million was owed CABS for the period under review.

During discussion, the committee noted with concern that revenue collection was not improving and felt that council had to prioritise capacitating all revenue generation and collection units of council.

“The committee also underscored the need to computerise most functions of council, so as to reduce financial leakages,” reads the minutes.

“The committee emphasised the need to urgently computerise the Lease and Estates Division of Council to enable effective identification of council land/properties, as well as management of revenue generation from such properties.

“There was also need to equally capacitate the building inspectorate and the development control section as these were critical in revenue generation in council. In response, the finance director reported that processes of computerising the valuations at estate division of council were under way to ensure full utilisation of the land management module of the BIQ.”

The committee resolved that efforts be made to capacitate all revenue generation and collection units of council and that reports be submitted to relevant committees.

By Valentine Oforo

Dodoma — The government has ruled out any possibility of limiting the use of US dollars in the country, saying it has no negative impact on the value of the country’s currency.

The Finance and Planning Deputy Minister, Dr Ashantu Kijaji, yesterday told the Parliament that depreciation of the Tanzanian shilling was due to many factors and had nothing to do with the use of US dollar in the country.

She was responding to Japhet Hasunga (Vwawa-CCM), who wanted to know, when the government would limit the use of the US dollar in the country to strengthen the value of Tanzanian shilling.

“There are some companies that sell their goods and services in US dollar, a tendency that, to a great extent, contributes to a fall in the value of local currency. What steps has the government taken to overcome this situation?” he asked. Moreover, Mr Hasunga also wanted to know, when the government would restrict the importation of foodstuffs to encourage domestic crop production.

“The country spends at least Sh2.8 trillion to import foodstuffs, mainly sugar and cooking oil. When will the government restrict the importation of such foodstuffs to boost local industrial production? he queried.

However, Mr Hussein Bashe (Nzega Urban-CCM), raised a concern over the fall in the country’s export volume value from $4.5 million to $3.8 million, according to a recent report by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).

“What steps has the government taken to overcome such a downward trend,” he queried.

In her basic answer, Dr Kijaji said the depreciation of the local currency was a result of varied macroeconomic fundamentals in the country as well as the economic status among countries that Tanzania was trading with.

She mentioned the factors that might lead to the depreciation of the country’s currency as foreign trade’s balance payment, inflation and other seasonal causes.

However, she detailed that, most of the companies had their bills quotation (mode of payment) in Tanzanian currency for at least 99.9 per cent, whereby, it was only 0.1 per cent of the bills quotation, which were in US dollar. “For example, records show that in countries with a policy that bars the use of foreign currencies like South Africa, their home currencies have suffered a lot compared to Tanzania. This has happened even to other top currencies like Yen (Japan), Renmimbi (China) and Euro,” she detailed.

Dr Kijaji also said the government had no any plan to bar importation of foodstuffs like sugar and cooking oil in the country because Tanzania did not have the capacity to produce for actual home demand. “We will only restrict importation of sugar, cooking oil and other foodstuffs by the time, when we will be capable of producing to the extent of meeting the actual local demand,” she insisted.

Marondera — Lands minister, Douglas Mombeshora has defended the government’s controversial and violent land reform process as non-racial saying some white farmers were still farming in Zimbabwe.

Mombeshora made the remarks while addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) annual congress in Marondera.

“We are not racists. Land reform was actually meant to bring in the previously marginalised population and those are the resettled farmers,” Mombeshora said.

“This is why up to today we have (white) farmers who are still operating here who were operating before independence and we want to work with them. Those who want to work with us are welcome to be with us and we welcome to be with them,” he said.

Mombeshora said he recently travelled to Washington D.C in the US to resolve the issue of former white farmers who had taken the government to court claiming the land reform process was racial.

“But the truth is that it was not racial. We could not take away land from the blacks; they did not have the land. We only took from those who had it and those who had the land were white farmers, so it is not a racial issue,” Mombeshora said.

However, at a recent Zanu PF rally in Marondera, President Robert Mugabe, threatened to embark on fresh land grabs targeting all the remaining white farmers.

“We told Tony Blair (former British prime minister) to keep his England and we keep our Zimbabwe because land is our heritage. We have discovered that in Mashonaland East province alone, there are 73 white farmers who are still occupying some farms when our people do not have land,” Mugabe told his party supporters.

“We are going to take those farms and redistribute them to our youths,” he said.

Thousands of white farmers and their employees were left stranded after the government undertook a violent fast-track agrarian reform in 2000. The land grab also left scores of farmers and employees dead.

However, most of the grabbed farms have become derelict because the resettled farmers either do not have adequate resources for farming or have no experience.

Police in Harare have arrested former Zanu PF spokesperson and Zimbabwe People First leader, Rugare Gumbo, for selling farming equipment.

According to police records which were brought to the Harare magistrate’s courts on Tuesday, Gumbo, at his Mvuma farm, sold a combine harvester to two customers.

The former cabinet minister was on Tuesday briefly seen at the Harare magistrate’s courts in the company of police officers from Malborough Police Station facing charges of theft of trust property.

The police claim that Gumbo sold a combined harvester (Case Combine 2388 model) to Christopher Jamu for $27 000 before reselling it to another person who stays in Chinhoyi for $30 000.

He (Gumbo) was saved by the prosecutor, Michael Reza, who referred the docket back to the police for further investigations.

It is the police’s case that Jamu bought the combined harvester sometime in February this year but could not collect it from Gumbo’s Mvuma Farm because of burst tyres.

The police further stated that some months later while trying to get his property, Juma discovered that it had been sold to another buyer for $30 000.