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South Africa’s minister of finance Pravin Gordhan is again on a collision course with the country’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations. The row has unsettled the country’s already shaky currency, the rand. It’s also prompted a group of senior academics from nine universities to pen an open letter. The letter, which first appeared on local news site the Rand Daily Mail, is republished below.

“In December 2015 the shocking decision by President Jacob Zuma to fire Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene led about 70 senior academic economists from across South African universities to write an open letter to the Business Day to express our outrage at the capriciousness of that decision. We also warned of the likely consequences for the country’s fragile economy.

That that decision was politically motivated has been borne out by subsequent events. Significantly, Mr Nene’s redeployment to the Brics Bank, ostensibly the reason for his removal, has not materialised. The President continues to use every platform to sing the praises of the little known backbencher he appointed in Nene’s place. He also frequently expresses bitterness at the role of (so called) white monopoly capitalists whom he claims forced a reversal of his decision to appoint Desmond van Rooyen.
At the time and in the circumstances, some commentators thought that the new Minister Pravin Gordhan would be safe from similar politically motivated attacks. How wrong they were. Since earlier this year, Minister Gordhan has been subjected to an unrelenting attack from the Hawks. They have been investigating the Minister’s alleged role in the establishment of the so-called “rogue” spy unit when he was the South African Revenue Services’ (SARS) Commissioner. A few days ago the Daily Maverick reported that the Hawks were “circling” the Minister again.

These events have once again compelled us to put pen to paper to express our outrage and warn of the dangers to our still very fragile economy. There are predictions of zero growth in 2016; stubbornly high unemployment; persistent poverty and inequality and a volatile currency. This is not the time – if there ever was – to be playing such dangerous games with the lives and well-being of all sectors of our economy and society, especially the poor and the vulnerable.

We say all this with the same qualifiers we employed in our December 2015 letter. These include our recognition that Ministers of Finance do not enjoy any special privileges or protection. Everyone is subject to the rule of law and the Constitution. Finally, our stance does not mean that all of us share with equal enthusiasm the Treasury and government’s fiscal framework.

We urge the President, the Cabinet and the African National Congress’ National Executive Committee (NEC) to assist in bringing this dangerous set of events to an end in the best way possible in the interests of our country and our economy. It is time for real leaders in the NEC, the Cabinet and in governing alliance partners the SA Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions to stand up to the tyrannical and despotic behaviour on display here. Yet again we stand on the edge of an economic precipice.

We end expressing by similar sentiments to those used in our December 2015 letter: As senior academics in Economics and related disciplines we express our unambiguous and urgent concern both about these events in general, about the unseemly attacks on the Minister of Finance and about the general lack of progress in tackling the massive and growing crisis of low growth, poverty, unemployment and inequality as well as the crisis of governance at our state owned enterprises.”

East African Metals, a Canadian mine development company with an interest in exploration projects, has requested a license from the Ministry of Mines, Petroleum & Natural Gas, to start the large scale extraction of gold and silver in Ethiopia.

The company has submitted its application to produce the minerals, in Tigray regional state, Terakimti locality.

The company has been active in the exploration of gold in Ethiopia since 2011. East Africa owns 70pc of the Harvest Tigrai Gold project, near Shire town, 1,065km north of the capital. Back then, the company discovered 17,000 ounces of gold and 812,000 ounces of silver.

East announced on August 11, 2016, that the total amount of mineral resources in the licensed area is estimated to be 1.12 million tonnes.

A local company hired by East, Beles Engineering plc, has already completed its environmental impact and socio-economic assessment study for the project.

As far as gold mining is concerned, MIDROC is the only company involved in the sector on a large scale. It extracts gold in the Oromia region, at the Legedembi Gold Mine. Moreover, two companies, KEFI Minerals and Ezana Mining, have a large scale gold mining license.

The Ministry is now reviewing the application by the mining company.

The presidency on Monday denied news reports that President Muhammadu Buhari was seeking emergency powers from the National Assembly in order to tackle the lingering economic crisis in the country.

In a statement by the Special Assistant to the Vice President on Public Affairs, Laolu Akande, said an economic management team set up to propose solutions to the economic crisis had only recently concluded its assignment but had not passed the recommendations to Mr. Buhari for actions.

But he admitted the team’s recommendations may require “legislative amendments and presidential orders”.

“The Economic Management Team has indeed been considering several policy options and measures to urgently reform and revitalize the economy. Some of these measures may well require legislative amendments and presidential orders that will enable the Executive arm of government move quickly in implementing the economic reform plans,” Mr. Akande said.

“As far as I know, this has not been passed on to the President, the Federal Executive Council or the Legislative arm of government.”

Different news reports had on Monday quoted presidential sources as saying that the Buhari administration was seeking, among other requests, the suspension of extant laws governing some aspects of the economy from the National Assembly.

The government has come under increasing pressure as Nigerians struggle daily with hardship inflicted on them by a raging economic crisis.

Nairobi, Kenya — Having clothes ruined by ink and inhaling chemicals for hours in the hospital darkroom used to bother Margaret Njuwe and other radiographers at East Africa's largest referral hospital in Kenya's capital Nairobi.But when ink runs rendered X-rays unusable or mammograms came out too soft to see suspected lumps, Njuwe's heart would sink as she climbed Kenyatta National Hospital's (KNH) stairs to the radiology department's constantly packed waiting room.

"Patients would wait for hours, and then maybe when you go to the darkroom you have to repeat [the scan] and call the patient back and it might take another day," she said.

Some patients in the 2,000-bed hospital would come back. Others, especially referrals from other centers, would disappear, regardless of how sick they were.

But for the past three months, KNH staff have switched from analogue to digital machines and been able to scan and sometimes diagnose patients within minutes.

"It has reduced those delays. Patients can be referred instantly, because you can take an image, you print it instantly and the patient can take it with them to the referring doctor instantly," said radiographer Clifford Ike.

In total, 98 hospitals in Kenya will benefit from a program being led by the Ministry of Health to modernize core healthcare services at key government facilities across the country. It is the first Government-led program of its kind in Kenya — and one of the largest undertaken to date in Africa to support sustainable healthcare development.

Selected by the Ministry as the technology provider for the radiology modernization tranche of the Kenya mega tender – GE, a committed partner in the development of healthcare in Africa, is providing a comprehensive program that includes the installation of 585 new machines across all 47 counties – and over the next seven years will provide the medical staff using them training and technical support to ensure the optimal operation of the equipment.

After years of studying health models, "without a doubt the ones that have proven to be successful when serving populations is collaboration between the public and private sectors," said Terri Bresenham, CEO of GE Healthcare's Sustainable Healthcare Solutions business.

"As a company what we do know how to do well is set up a structure and capital investment."

GE's plan differs from "this huge capital investment up front and then nothing left for maintenance and for training," she added.

KNH's basement has just some of the many abandoned or broken down machines that litter health centers nationwide as parts or know-how to use them were missing.

The first 44 hospitals to go digital – one of Kenya's healthcare focuses for its 2030 Vision plan – using the new machines increased monthly examinations from 1,500 to over 28,800.

At Mbagathi hospital in downtown Nairobi, staff using one of GE's temporary x-ray machines until their equipment is installed is now doing up to 100 scans a day, almost double what the old machine did.

"They are doing it quickly-just some minutes", said Frida Ngute,  whose baby Agnes has had chest problems for three months.

Mbgaathi Hospital Radiographer Irene Githinji is looking forward to switching from expensive film rolls to digital machines for ultrasound, x-ray and surgery, especially as the hospital is next to Kibera – a slum where millions of people live.

"We are hoping that eventually it will help us make it even cheaper for them," she said.

To ensure quality, standardized and continued training for Kenyan health workers and as part of GE's plan to train 10,000 by 2020, on June 16, GE Healthcare's CEO John Flannery opened its "first dedicated center in Africa for training on technology".

"Demand for quality healthcare is increasing", said Cleopa Mailu, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Health, at the inauguration of the center in Nairobi's Karen neighborhood.

"This dedicated training center will bring people together"

"The GE Healthcare Training Center will play a critical role in supporting the capacity development of biomedical engineers, radiologists and technicians, helping to reduce the skills gap, improve job prospects and build a solid national healthcare system," he added.

"This dedicated training center will bring people together", help build networks of specialists and bridges with health workers in different tiers or sectors of the health care system, said Bresenham.

Many communicable diseases like HIV, malaria and TB are still set up and funded separately, whereas more needs to be done to build "a better, more robust primary care system," said Bresenham.

At KNH's radiology department, where Njuwe scans people who have been in road traffic accidents, people suspected of having pneumonia and surgical patients, the system is already more joined up.

Ike says that the scanners have improved diagnosis times as they are "easier to work with" and have a greater range of exposures.

"People are really appreciating these machines", he said.

Hannah McNeish is a freelance journalist based in East, Central and Southern Africa and wrote this story on assignment for The Pulse.

The Japanese Government, through its agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has donated solar power worth $9.7 million to the Federal Government to boost electricity in the country. The Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria, Mr Sadanobu Kusaoke, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday during the inauguration of the project.

Kusaoke stated that Japan considered the power sector as one of the most important areas to enhance Nigeria’s socio-economic development. “Since from 1970s, Japan has helped to finance power sector to increase the capacity of power in Kainji dam hydro power station. “This is the 10th project of power sector by the Japan’s Government since then and this will not be our last. ”

He said the project which entailed the introduction of clean energy by solar electricity was donated by the government of Japan to boost power and water supply at Usman Dam Water Treatment Plant. “The project is being executed with grant assistance worth Nine Hundred and Eighty Million Japanese YEN (980,000,000 JPY) (equivalent to approximately 9.7 million USD) through JICA, ” he said.

According to Kusaoke, stable power supply is crucial to support industry and to improve economy and the lives of people. The Ambassador emphasised the importance of stable power supply to Nigeria’s quest to diversify her economy.

He commended the designer of the project, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, for its design, management and the completion of the project on schedule. Kusaoke, who explained that the project was capable of generating 1,496MWH, added that this would result in reduction of N31.5 million per year for payment of the electricity bill.

Earlier, Mr Hirotaka Nakamura, Chief Representative of JICA, Nigeria office, said improving core infrastructure including power sector in Nigeria was one of the priority areas of the agency in Nigeria. According to Nakamura, developing alternative energy resources such as solar, wind and hydropower will boost electricity in the country.

He explained that the project was designed to introduce a demonstration unit of solar electricity generation system with a view to increasing its economic strength on a sustainable basis.

According to the JICA official, with the Japanese assistance, about 1.2 mw of grid connected solar generation will be gained at Usman Dam Water Treatment Plant to supplement electricity supply from the national grid.

“Following successful tests on the installed solar system, the first phase of the project with generation capacity of 975kwp is being commissioned today. “The second phase will bring additional 207kwp generation to this system hopefully in January 2017. ”

Nakamura further stated that the project would contribute to the improvement of quality water supply in the Federal Capital Territory. He, therefore, appealed to the FCT administration through its water board to handle the project with care and also provide sufficient funds to maintain the generation system.

In his remark, Alhaji Hudu Bello, the Director, FCT Water Board, who expressed gratitude to the government of Japan and its agency JICA, said the project would improve revenue accruable from the water sector in the FCT. “This is elaborate project that will improve water supply to the residents of Abuja; it will also reduce the rate at which we consume diesel to pump water, ” he said.

Bello said the project would reduce the cost of generating electricity and also contribute power to the national grid to improve supply within the nation’s capital.

The rand broke through the R14/$-level at the close of business in New York, but returned to R13.93/$ on news that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has to report to the Hawks amid the ongoing Sars Wars debacle.

Gordhan’s role as commissioner of the SA Revenue Service when an undercover investigation unit was established is being questioned by the Hawks, who are investigating whether the unit went rogue and performed illegal activities. Some believe these allegations were cooked up as the unit was allegedly sniffing down the wrong Nkandla rabbit hole.

The market sees Gordhan as key to South Africa’s fiscal reform and discipline and his removal from this position will likely raise the possibility of a ratings downgrade to junk status.

“If Gordhan was to go, I think there has to be a very real chance that we will be downgraded in December,” said Umkhulu Consulting’s Adam Phillips. “Maybe they won’t wait to put us out of our misery.

“In the space of three hours all the good work (aided by yield players) has been undone.”

“It was probably a bit like sitting in Utopia with the rand having strengthened more than R2.00 this year,” he told Fin24. “There we were at 17:30 ending off another day of rand strength and along comes the Daily Maverick story.”

The online publication broke news that Gordhan – and a few other former Sars members – had to be at the Hawks offices on Thursday to receive warning letters, a precursor to an official charge.

“I think if Gordhan is guilty of doing anything wrong, I think he would have bailed out of politics long ago,” said Phillips. “It can only be the ongoing spate between the president and the Treasury. It is ironic that President Jacob Zuma has taken over certain SOEs to sort them out and this now comes out.

“I just cannot believe that Gordhan has done anything wrong and Zuma is playing a dangerous game because it is for such a reason that he and his party lost plenty of votes in the local elections.

“The 29th of July was the last time we were at 13.99 and I am sure there are going to be some nervous importers and offshore yield players around on Wednesday and we are not even sure if there is a charge sheet and exactly what Gordhan and other Sars officials have done.

“This news will mean we see nervousness for the rest of the week,” he said.

Phillips said Wednesday’s release of South Africa’s consumer price inflation data that measures inflation will not have an impact on the rand in this context. However, the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate announcement on Friday will be the big mover.

Until then, Phillips said the rand is more or less safe. “SA will be cocooned in its own ‘risk off’ scenario until some facts come out,” he said.

However, he said: “I think we need to get through the next two before we start even looking at Yellen’s speech. The market might not even be told what is really going on, which will just make operators even more nervous.”

A general strike called in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reportedly crippled businesses in the capital Kinshasa on Tuesday.

According to the BBC, shops in Kinshasa were closed and streets were mostly empty.

Opposition parties in the central African country demanded that President Joseph Kabila end his rule, as mandated in the constitution.

They feared Kabila wanted to delay elections that are due in November.

Kabila came into power after the assassination of his father in 2001 and, although the constitution stated that a president could only serve for two terms, there have been consistent delays as Kabila clings to power.

Democratic transition

Kabila's government, however, dismissed Tuesday's strike as the work of "radicals having some old fashioned fun".

The strike, according to reports, was most successful in Kinshasa, which has a population of at least 11 million.

Business activities were also slow in Goma, the main trading centre in the east.

The country's Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) announced recently that it could not hold elections this year due to a number of challenges.

The electoral body said that it could only hold the elections sometime in July 2017.