Embattled Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan allegedly told Treasury staff at a meeting on Friday that the Guptas were attacking him because of the work the department was doing.

News24 understands that Gordhan also explained to staff that the Hawks had a faulty legal reading of the charges against him and there was no legal basis for their investigation.

He also allegedly said that what was currently happening in the country was a battle for “Mandela values” versus the values of those who steal.

Treasury spokesperson Phumza Macanda did not comment on the meeting, referring News24 to the media statement it released on Wednesday.

Gordhan’s staff meeting comes days after it emerged that the Hawks had asked Gordhan, his former deputy at Sars Ivan Pillay, and four other senior former Sars officials to provide warning statements.

A warning statement is a precursor to a suspect being charged criminally.

Gordhan, Pillay, former Sars commissioner Oupa Magashula, former head of risk Pete Richer and Johann van Loggerenberg, former head of the Sars investigations unit called the National Research Group, were summoned to appear before the Hawks on Thursday morning.

The Western Cape Hawks had already obtained a warning statement from Van Loggerenberg’s predecessor, Andries “Skollie” Janse van Rensburg.

The unit wanted to question Gordhan regarding his alleged contravention of the National Strategic Intelligence Act and Public Finance Management Act. These related to his approval of former Sars commissioner Pillay’s early retirement in 2010 and to the alleged creation of an intelligence unit within Sars.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gordhan said he had taken legal advice and had no obligation to present himself to the Hawks. He said he should be left to do his job in a difficult economic environment.

Gordhan was Sars commissioner between 1999 and 2009. During this period a so-called “rogue unit” was allegedly established. It was allegedly involved in illegal intelligence gathering.

Pillay and Van Loggerenberg met with the Hawks amid support from civil society who were concerned the investigation was really a battle for control of the country’s purse strings.

The lawyer representing them said his clients will follow due process in their case with the Hawks.

“Our clients wish to thank civil society for their support. Our clients consider the allegations to be baseless and our clients will be following due process in accordance with their rights. That is all we are going to answer now,” lawyer Robert Levin told reporters after meeting with Hawks investigators.

Members of Section27, Right2Know, Freedom Under Law, the Helen Suzman Foundation and Advocate George Bizos gathered outside the offices of the Hawks in Pretoria to pledge their support. They accused the Hawks of going on a witch hunt fuelled by baseless accusations.

Van Loggerenberg thanked the people of South Africa for their support but declined to comment on the matter.

“The support is wonderful and thanks very much. Not only to the people who came but to the people who continuously send us messages. I have received thousands of messages since yesterday. I don’t know why the meeting took so long, you should direct those questions to the Hawks,” he said.

President Jacob Zuma meanwhile said that he had full confidence in Gordhan but he did not have the power to stop any investigations into any individuals.

A Cape Town duo is set to become one of the first bands in the world to produce a song in collaboration with a supercomputer.

The electronica outfit Original Swimming Party (OSP) is an audio-visual group from Cape Town who define their music style as a mash-up of Western electronic, with African influences from genres like kwaito and house.

Recently, OSP began working with supercomputer Watson Beat, which is based in Austin, Texas. The band sends through chords of an original song with a “mood”, and the supercomputer then uses the same notes to create an entirely new piece according to the mood.

OSP member Tom Glendinning, who produces his work from music software Ableton Live, said the group had collaborated with international artists before, and working with the supercomputer felt no different.

“It has been a very interesting process and scarily similar to working with live artists,” Glendinning told Fin24.

“Watson is meant to be artificially intelligent and emulate human intelligence. It has been like working with any other artist,” he added.

OSP sends Watson a midi file, which they explain to be music notation that a computer can understand.

Through algorithms the supercomputer listens and learns how the music written.

When a mood has been selected, Watson will send back a midi file with its own composition according to the music notes sent in the midi file by OSP.

OSP plan to work with the supercomputer to produce a world-first collaboration between artists and a supercomputer.

“The beauty of Watson is that the more complex notes we send to Watson, the more it learns. Right now it’s like a high school student, with no style of its own,” Glendinning said.

“Part of our project is to send more complex notes back and forth to Watson, to produce our own song,” he added.

Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, yesterday, blamed the current lull in Nigerian economy on inability to regain the confidence of investors, both local and foreign, which had resulted in uncertainty in foreign exchange market.

Director General, LCCI, Muda Lawal, who stated this in his comment on the state of the economy, said: “Regrettably, the instability and inconsistency in the foreign exchange management policy have been complicating matters.

“The economy has a major structural defect of being heavily import-dependent. This cannot be fixed in the short term. Therefore, the shocks arising from the collapse of oil price and the corresponding depreciation in exchange rate of the naira, were inevitable. But the policy responses could make a whole lot of difference in the profundity of the impacts of these shocks on the economy and the citizens.” He said historically, autonomous supply of foreign exchange had been higher than the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, supply, adding: “This has virtually dried up because of the collapse of investors’ confidence. Of course, the plunge in crude oil price was a major causal factor. But perhaps the bigger issue is the unstable and inconsistent foreign exchange policy which has continued to create uncertainty in the forex market, thus deepening the liquidity problems.

“For an economy that is in fragile mode and for an economy that is highly exchange rate sensitive, policy actions and pronouncements that could impact the market should be done with utmost caution and care.

“This is imperative to avoid unintended consequences which may hurt the economy in very profound ways. Such is the recent suspension of nine banks from the forex market. These are shocks that the economy can ill afford at this time.

“It is right to penalize banks for proven infractions, but this should be done in a way to minimize collateral effects on investors and the larger economy, given the high sensitivity of the economy to developments in the foreign exchange market.

“This is even more so at a time when the economy is grappling with a major confidence issue in the forex market. There should be more creative and less disruptive ways of imposing such sanctions.

“Many innocent investors and citizens are already bearing the brunt of this action given the unprecedented hike in naira exchange rate. Ongoing forex transactions in the affected banks have been stalled with serious consequences for investors.” he emphasized.

Continuing, he said “The second major policy development that could pose a risk to the stability and transparency of the foreign exchange market is the recent policy on sectoral allocation of foreign exchange. The CBN circular did not indicate any Code to properly define what would qualify as raw materials and machineries. The first concern will be that of definition. The result of this will be discretionary interpretation by the banks as what qualifies as raw materials and machineries.

The second major concern is the potential crowding out of other sectors in the forex market. Sectors outside the manufacturing sector account for over 85 per cent of the country’s GDP and jobs in the economy. They all have varying import contents in their operations. Therefore, if a minimum of 60 per cent of all forex allocation goes to manufacturing for raw materials and machineries; what happens to other sectors? Currently petroleum products imports are priority and could take another 25 per cent of foreign exchange. This implies that the rest of the sectors would settle for the balance of 15 per cent. This is clearly not a sustainable framework.

Lawal, stressed that fiscal policy measures are better suited to address sectoral imbalances than monetary policy. According to him ” Such policy tools include import tariffs, taxation and other incentives. Above all, there is need to upscale infrastructure investments very urgently. These are the more effective ways to fix the structural problems of the economy than monetary policy. What is key for monetary authorities is to ensure that financial markets are efficient and transparent; and to ensure that there is discipline among players.

“This is the time to seek quick wins. One of the quick wins is to review current trade policy measures in order to reduce the pressure of cost on investors and citizens. The exchange rate depreciation has an inherent structural correction effects on the economy. It naturally rewards inward looking initiatives and resource based enterprises. It is too much of a shock on the economy to combine high import duty regimes with a weak and rapidly depreciating currency. Conversion of import values at current exchange rates for purposes of computation of import duty and other port charges have escalated costs beyond measure and had paralyzed many businesses. Ensuring a balance between the interests of investors, producers, consumers and the welfare of citizens is a strategic imperative at this time” the LCCI director general stated.

A motorist was slapped with a R18 000 speeding fine for clocking 220km/h, n a 120km/h zone along the South Coast, the KwaZulu-Natal department of transport said on Monday.

Transport MEC Mxolisi Kaunda in a statement commended the Park Rynie's Department of Transport's Road Traffic Inspectorate team for arresting Ivan Botha, 28, on August 14, for speeding in a Golf 6 GTI at 220km/h on the N2 national route.

Kaunda said in a statement that Botha had been held in custody at the Scottburgh police station.

"The Scottburgh's magistrate today [Monday] handed down a fine of R18 000," said Kaunda.

"[This] should be a great lesson to all who endanger our lives. Speedsters are like murderers, because at any moment their actions could lead to devastating consequences, including death and maiming of other road users.

"More so, we commend the great work of the department's Road Traffic Inspectorate team in the Park Rynie station, who always catch speedsters travelling to the South Coast. It is high time all road users, especially motorists, started taking our call for road safety seriously, and realise that it's about life and death," said Kaunda.

The Chinese on Sunday appeared to spoil Japan's big publicity from the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad) in Nairobi, when Beijing's head of delegation questioned Tokyo's ability to fulfil the promises made during the summit.

Mr Zhang Ming, China's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, was in Nairobi in what he said was to "gain first-hand knowledge" of Africa's other partners.

But as the conference ended, the former Chinese envoy to Nairobi told journalists that Japan could be joining a list of countries that have promised much but delivered little to Africa.
 

"There is a never shortage of conferences and promises for Africa, and yet action and implementation have not always followed.

"We hope Africa's partners will honour their commitments with real actions and deliver tangible fruits to the African people," he said on Sunday in a statement.

Ticad VI, happening for the first time in Africa, saw Japan pledge up to Sh3 trillion more over the next three years to be invested in African infrastructure, healthcare systems and other projects meant to boost the economy.

On Sunday night, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed further bilateral agreements where Japan pledged Sh10 billion to fund various healthcare projects.

But this conference always appeared to be in the shadow of China's ventures in Africa.

"Both China and Japan are working with Africa as part of the international endeavour to help the continent.

"We support the diversification of Africa's partners and hope they will leverage their respective strengths and combine forces to support enduring peace and rapid development in Africa," Zhang said.

At China's similar conference, called the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) last year, Beijing pledged Sh6 trillion to go into infrastructure, most of it to be channelled through government-to-government deals.

Beijing claims Sh5 trillion worth of agreements have been signed already, although there is little information on how the money is to be repaid or the terms of the agreements.

Japan, on the other hand, would be mostly disbursing these monies through development agencies, and will be following up to ensure the money is used for the purpose given.
 

Yet the Chinese official who served as Beijing's ambassador to Kenya between 2006 and 2009 said China's way of doing things remains that of non-interference.

MUTUAL RESPECT

"The secret recipe for ever-lasting vibrancy of this relationship is sincerity, mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

"We hope other partners will also listen carefully to Africa's voice and fully respect Africa's will," he said.

China and Japan have had previous tiffs especially in the East China Sea over ownership of islands there.

But they have in the recent past pushed their rivalry to Africa.

The Japanese prime minister promised to help Africa get a permanent seat at the UN Security Council by 2023, in what appeared to be a longshot to checkmate China which is already a permanent member.

However, the rivalry between the two countries has been in trade.

Japan has pledged Sh1 trillion ($10 billion) for infrastructure development in Africa.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said another $500 million will be channelled through international agencies to support health initiatives in the continent and combat epidemics.

The PM also pledged to initiate reforms in the United Nations Security Council and have an African country get a permanent seat in the body by 2023.

"UN Security Council is the most powerful body of the UN but there is no African permanent member in it…Japan is also eyeing a similar seat," he said.
 

Mr Abe was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad) in Nairobi on Saturday.

Speaking at the same function, President Uhuru Kenyatta urged leaders to push for fair global trade.

He said there is a worrying trend for the developed world to turn inwards, even after benefiting from open trade before.

"Indeed, if we look back, the wealthiest countries today with very few exceptions, got rich by trading with others. The critical ingredient of prosperity in the last century has been free and fair trade, infrastructure integration of regions, educated citizens who enjoy economic liberty and responsible governments.

"Yet there is now a turn among many countries, to turn towards more isolationist or grossly unfair positions on trade. I believe Ticad is a positive response to this trend," he said.

The Ticad meeting, the sixth since 1993 but the first to be held in Africa, is meant to discuss development issues and the support of Japan for Africa.

Fred Bamwesigye, the director human resource and administration at Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was last week elected the new president of the Association of African Aviation Training Organization (AATO) replacing Togo’s Tchagbele Sadamba writes PAUL TENTENA

Sadamba took office in April 2013 in an election held in Abuja, Nigeria.

Bamwesigye who has vast experience in the Aviation industry will be deputized by Nigeria’ s Samuel Akinyele.

He was elected during the 2nd General Assembly of the Association of African Aviation Training Organization ( AATO) held at imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

Uganda’s Minister of Works and Transport Monica Azuba Ntege said Africa’s aviation infrastructure needs to be handled by qualified personnel who can ensure the highest standards of safety.

” Meetings such as this are therefore very instrumental in shaping the future of training in the industry,” said Azuba.

She said Uganda was waiting for the meeting conclusions and recommendations, especially in areas they must implement in order to improve standards of aviation training Organizations.

“By so doing, Uganda will not be doing AATO a favour, rather, as a member, Uganda will be emphasizing the importance of the Association and the role it plays in ensuring harmonisation and standardisation of aviation training in Africa,” she said.

A private mining syndicate has made a potentially “world class and highly unusual” Nickel discovery in Nigeria, The Australian, an Australian national newspaper is reporting.

The private mining syndicate is reportedly headed by Hugh Morgan, a mining industry veteran.

“The discovery is unusual because the nickel is found in small balls up to 3mm in diameter of a high purity in shallow soils in what could be the surface expression of a much bigger hard-rock nickel field,” the newspaper said.

“The nickel balls, rumoured to grade better than 90 per cent nickel and thought to be a world first given their widespread distribution, offer the potential for early cashflow from a simple and low-cost screening operation to fund a full assessment of the find that has exploration circles buzzing.”

Details of the discovery are sketchy, according to the newspaper, but it was rumoured to be close to Dangoma, a small farming town about 160km northeast of the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

Checks by PREMIUM TIMES showed that Dangoma is located in the North-West state of Kaduna.

When asked to comment last week, Mr Morgan reportedly said it was for the Nigerian government to make an announcement.

Kayode Fayemi, the Minister for Solid Minerals, will be among the speakers at a three-day Africa Down Under mining conference at Perth’s Pan Pacific Hotel, Australia, in September.

Mr. Fayemi is to speak first on Wednesday, September 7, and Mr Morgan will follow along with consulting geologist Louisa Lawrance. Mr Morgan is listed as speaking as a director of the private company Comet Minerals.

Olayinka Oyebode, Mr. Fayemi’s Chief Press Secretary, said he had no details of the discovery, but confirmed his principal is scheduled to be in Australia next week.

“I know there is a mining conference coming up in Australia where the Honourable Minister is supposed to make a presentation,” Mr. Oyebode told PREMIUM TIMES via phone on Monday.

“But I don’t have an advance knowledge of what he’s going to talk about but, generally speaking, he’s going to market Nigeria.”

Mr. Oyebode asked this newspaper to give him till Monday evening for Mr. Fayemi’s reaction on the nickel discovery in Kaduna.

But an official of the ministry, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said Mr. Fayemi’s delegation would most likely sign an exploration deal with the Australian syndicate at the conference.

Nickel is primarily sold for first use as refined metal. About 65 percent of it consumed in the West is used to produce stainless steel.

The world’s largest producers of Nickel include The Philippines, Indonesia, Russia, Canada, and Australia, according to the US Geological Survey.

In August, Mr. Fayemi told Bloomberg that one of the Nigeria government’s priorities is to meet its annual steel demand of 6.8 metric tons, from a current output of less than 2.5 metric tons, produced mainly from scrap iron.

“In two to five years, we want to have started production of iron ore, lead, zinc, bitumen, nickel, coal and gold at a serious scale,” Mr. Fayemi had said.

African leaders meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, on Friday agreed to use President Museveni's paper on "bottlenecks facing Africa's development" as a blue print to drive the conversation on the continent's problems.
 

The decision was reached at by the leaders meeting for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Intercontinental Hotel, on the sidelines of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

President Museveni told the meeting that he had arrived at the 10 bottlenecks after watching the development scene in Africa for 50 years. "I have picked some ideas which are responsible for our lagging behind. The problem seems not to be addressing all issues in a comprehensive way."

The motion to adopt the paper and task the APRM secretariat to expand it into a blue-print for the continent was moved by South African President Jacob Zuma and was unanimously supported. The proposal had earlier been backed by Senegalese President Macky Sall of Senegal and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia in their earlier presentations.

According to President Museveni, Africa's first bottleneck is ideological disorientation, which had fanned tribal and sectarian conflicts.

"A lot of chaos in Africa is because of misidentification. We need to ask, is identity more important than interests? Ask, who buys what you produce, is it your tribes mate or religious mate?"

The second bottleneck, observed by Mr Museveni, is a weak state exemplified in a weak army, adding that it is a result of the first obstacle.

"When you want to build an army and you look for people from your tribe, you should ask, can a sectarian army command respect of a whole country? In such circumstances, when you get a small rebellion the army collapses. You then bring in the UN who are armed tourists."
 

The President commended the international community for speaking about the third bottleneck; human resource underdevelopment. He, however, said the issue had been raised in isolation of the other bottlenecks.

Underdevelopment of infrastructure is the fourth bottleneck, said Mr Museveni. He said many development partners were disinterested in building Africa's infrastructure especially electricity.

"They do not care about dams, roads and the railway. As a consequence, only South Africa and Libya under Gaddafi had high electricity consumption. Importantly, poor infrastructure causes very high costs of doing business. You can't attract investments, how then do you eradicate poverty if people are not employed?" he asked.

Because of poor infrastructure, the next bottleneck is failure to industrialize, the President said. This, he added, had forced Africa into exporting raw materials and ultimately donating a lot of revenue to the West. Citing the Ugandan example where a kilogram of unprocessed exported coffee goes for $1 while the processed coffee in the West fetches $14, President Museveni asserted that Africans were the real donors–and unfortunately were donating their jobs too.