With Covid-19 infections spiking rapidly in South Africa and heading for a fierce pandemic peak, it’s a tough winter ahead. Will the new tightened restrictions help quell the wave?



South Africa’s third wave of Covid-19 infections, which the president Cyril Ramaphosa called “devastating” in a nationwide address on June 27, has been attributed to the highly-contagious Delta variant.



With private and public health facilities in some provinces already reportedly overwhelmed and at capacity with the heavy new caseload, the South African government has urged citizens to take increased precautions amid tighter regulations and a reversal to lockdown alert level 4 announced by the president last night.



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote is-style-solid-color"><blockquote>“The death rate is very likely to be two or even three times higher than the last wave.” &#8211;Professor François Venter, Director of Ezintsha and Deputy Executive Director of Wits RHI</blockquote></figure>



“We need to take extra precautions. As of today, the seven-day average of new daily cases nationally has overtaken the peak of the first wave in July last year, and will soon overtake the peak of the second wave we experienced in January this year,” said Ramaphosa, as he announced the move to adjusted restrictions, which includes an expanded curfew, the prohibition of gatherings, the closing of gyms and sit-down eateries, as well as stopping the sale of alcohol.



While efforts to hamper the spread of the virus have some efficacy, members of the medical fraternity, including members of the government’s own Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC), have been critical of what they think has been slow action.



“Government did not properly prepare – as a province, we thought that it the third wave wouldn’t be as brutal as the first or second,” says co-chair of the MAC, Professor Koleka Mlisana, to FORBES AFRICA. “The province should not have closed quarantine facilities after infections of the second wave seemed to be decreasing, that’s where we dropped the ball. When the third wave infections picked up, we were playing catch-up, worsened by one of our major academic hospitals was offline.”



Indeed, the Gauteng province, the country’s commercial heart, is the hardest hit in South Africa, with the seven-day moving average cases fast approaching 10,000.



“We are seeing Gauteng in particular being hammered, with infection rates higher than any other province, almost by a factor of two,” says Professor François Venter, Director of Ezintsha and Deputy Executive Director of Wits RHI (reproductive health and HIV Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand), in an interview with FORBES AFRICA.



“This is the worst, most severe health crisis we have ever faced. In July, Gauteng might look like India during their peak.”



Many of the additional health infrastructure and medical care capacity created during and for the first and second waves of the pandemic were decommissioned late last year, and not reopened in preparation for the third wave, he adds.



To bolster additional capacity, the Nasrec quarantine facility is now being reactivated.



“What we were so scared of during the hard lockdowns of May and July [last year] – that’s what we are seeing now,” continues Venter. “The death rate is very likely to be two or even three times higher than the last wave.”



The surge in cases has already taken its toll on already strained healthcare infrastructure in both state and private facilities, with many hospitals reporting that they are at ICU capacity, even as the peak of the third wave has reportedly not yet been reached.



While the provincial government has committed to the hiring of new staff and expansion of existing facilities this week, it may be too late, for many patients and personnel attempting to save lives, say frontline staff.



“Our staff shortages are constant. We are often over [patient] capacity and are not always able to admit sick Covid-positive patients to our wards because of a lack of space,” says one state doctor who wished to be unnamed.



On the vaccine front, the president announced yesterday that 2.7 million people had received a single vaccine dose countrywide, with the daily vaccination rate exceeding 100,000 – with 1.2 million new Johnson &amp; Johnson (J&amp;J) vaccines and 1.4 million Pfizer doses having arrived in the last three days through the COVAX program, which South Africa is largely reliant on for vaccine-procurement, and which is still trying to acquire enough doses for member states across the continent.



The J&amp;J vaccine trial earlier in the year had been temporarily halted due to cautionary concerns regarding possible blood clots. While the J&amp;J vaccine application has resumed, delivery of the doses to South Africa had been earlier hindered by reported concerns around site contamination at a production plant in Baltimore in the United States.



While vaccination rates are increasing, the government also has a tough job balancing safety and economic necessity; the hard lockdowns of 2020 caused South Africa’s GDP to fall by over 16% between the first and second quarters (source: Stats SA).



Keen to avoid similar damage to the economy, the government is forced to walk a tightrope in an attempt to curb the spread of infections while keeping the economic engine turning in a country with a youth jobless rate of 74.7%.



Attempts to keep this balance are reflected in the new lockdown regulations, which allow most businesses to function as normal. However, the liquor and restaurant industry say the new restrictions will be terribly damaging.



“Another ban will offer a severe blow to thousands of small businesses still trying to get back on their feet from the previous bans, resulting in even more job losses, business closures and loss in revenue for the national fiscus,” the Beer Association of South Africa said in a statement soon after the president’s June 27 address.



“The only way forward is to provide an uninterrupted supply of beds, supplies, staff and oxygen,” says Venter firmly. “We need not waste time on lockdowns or alcohol, but focus on providing the health system, what it urgently requires, and providing health staff as efficiently as possible. The supply of the healthcare system must be an absolute priority.”



With 15,036 new cases reported in the last 24 hours and private and public ICUs filled to capacity, there is uncertainty and a cold Covid winter ahead for South Africa.

Vaccines Forbes (1 of 1)

South Africa’s Giant Third Wave: ‘In July, Gauteng Might Look Like India During Their Peak’

Home to Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile, Gauteng is gearing up for more action as a world-class hub for business tourism. And Nonnie Kubeka is driving it.

Gauteng, one of South Africa’s nine provinces, is a sought-after address for global brands and some of the continent’s biggest businesses. As Head: Gauteng Conventions &amp; Events Bureau, Nonnie Kubeka, who has 21 years of experience in marketing across several sectors, has the tough task of developing business tourism in the province through lifestyle events and the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) sector, which makes a sizeable contribution to Gauteng’s economy.
Describe the landscape of Gauteng and its offerings? 
We don’t have the sea or the mountains or iconic leisure [sites] where people come for holiday. We are a business destination, therefore business-related events are 70% of Gauteng’s push. Social beneficiation, social cohesion and job creation are a bigger part of the events. 
We have more than 400 venues that can accommodate the MICE space in Gauteng. In that, we have top heritage sites people are interested in. We have the Constitution Hill and Apartheid Museum, but when we bring business tourism to the destination, we don’t just bring business tourism according to market segments, but in terms of sectors. We are big on research that attracts people to come do business here.
How does Gauteng differ from the rest of Africa? 
We are the economic powerhouse and that is why when we do business tourism, it is for the benefit of the economy. For us to maintain our status in business tourism, we don’t grow the market, we draw the sectors so that everybody from all over the world can come and contribute to our economy.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2018/09/10/why-we-need-hard-cash-into-the-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Why We Need ‘Hard Cash In The Economy’</a>
As the richest square mile in Africa, what does Sandton attract? 
We have got the Sandton Convention Centre that in the whole of Gauteng can accommodate more than 30,000 people at a time and we utilize that particular center to attract more business into Sandton and the nice thing about it is that it’s a precinct. People want to walk from the center itself to the hotels and the bed nights we get out of Sandton are more than 15,000 at a time, so it becomes much easier to host a big conference. The combination of shopping, convention centers, hotels and dining is a unique offering.
Are there any trends you have picked up in the last year? 
We have had disruptors in the digital space where people join conferences through web-streaming. They have not succeeded on a bigger scale. Conferences are about networking. Face-to-face gatherings are important. We are gathering people in business – that is where they share deals and ideas. Instead of going to golf courses for networking, they would rather go to a conference where they will gather knowledge and meet the relevant people they can leverage on. Business tourism will not be affected by the digital space.
What are the objectives of the Gauteng Conventions &amp; Events Bureau? 
Township revitalization, meaning giving business to the township. The inclusive economy includes small businesses and women-owned businesses. Business tourism is about inclusive economy and transformation of disadvantaged people. Women take leadership in organizing professional international conferences. Business tourism is not as big as leisure tourism in our country; it has just started so we are using it to revitalize what women can do within that particular space.
How does South Africa benefit from medical tourism? 
We are like India and the UK, and especially in South Africa, you get a lot of specialists. We package it in a way that friends and family can also come and visit through the process. Most people who come for medical tourism stay on in the country or the province for three months or more. Sometimes, they take the whole bed-and-breakfast [options] with their families especially when [they are] next to the hospital. We have an example in Tembisa where a guesthouse [hosts] patients and their families. We have packages for them to go to the botanical gardens to de-stress for instance. This tourism also includes the doctor conferences.

LION4873

All Roads To The Economic Powerhouse

Delirium erupts as Sadio Mane, the Senegalese winger, scores in England. In Africa, people jump up and down; some dance, others sing – not a single person is seated. This is the scene at the Ridgeway Racebar, in Johannesburg’s East Rand, as around 200 fans gather to watch Liverpool’s opening match of the 2016/17 English Premier League season against Arsenal. But they’re not just celebrating because an African scored; they’re celebrating because they’re fervent Liverpool fans.
Despite living more than 13,000 kilometers from Liverpool’s stadium, Anfield, and many having never set foot in the English city, these fans have an almost messianic dedication to the football club. These Liverpool supporters are not unique; the powerhouses of English football, such as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea, have millions of fans in Africa.
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The Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Gauteng (OLSC Gauteng) at Ridgeway Racebar is a home away from home for Liverpool supporters in Johannesburg.
“The thing with a supporters club is, for a lot of people, getting to Anfield is a once in a lifetime experience. We’ve made our own sort of Anfield here, and we’re affiliated with Anfield in the UK. We get legends to come watch matches at the club; we’ve had [former players] John Barnes, Mark Wright, we had the ladies team. That kind of stuff allows us to get a little closer to the game, that’s what you get with a supporters club rather than watching a match with mates at your house,” says Chris Midgley, the Brand Liaison and Spokesman for OLSC Gauteng.
“It’s great to have three or four mates at home watching a game against Arsenal, but when you’ve got 300 [people] together, singing You’ll Never Walk Alone, it makes it worth it,” says the Chairperson of OLSC Gauteng, Kailin Pillay. You’ll Never Walk Alone is the clubs anthem, originally a song from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and made famous by Gerry and the Pacemakers, a group from Liverpool.
OLSC Gauteng was the winner of the best Official Liverpool Supporters Club globally for the 2015/16 season. It’s easy to see why; Liverpool is in the blood.
“There’s something different about Liverpool… I like the way that Liverpool supporters are. I believe in what they believe; I like it that the motto is ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. I like the idea that we stand together,” says Pillay, who is a dramatic arts teacher at Crawford College in Sandton.
“I’ve supported Liverpool since primary school… The club has become so important with milestones along the way. I met my wife at the supporters club, our club treasurer married us. Liverpool is a proper family. We went on honeymoon to watch Liverpool play; our first holiday together, we also went to watch Liverpool play! When I met Kailin, I didn’t know anything about him, we didn’t have anything in common bar the fact we both supported Liverpool and that was enough for us to be great mates. There are lots of guys in there, I can walk into the room and strike up a conversation with them. We’ve got guys who are extremely affluent and guys who aren’t. For us, there’s no class level, no race level, we’ve got one thing in common,” says Midgley, who is a strategist for his own advertising agency, 36c.
So, why is the Premier League so popular in Africa?
“Two clubs: Chelsea and Arsenal. Arsenal had a number of African players, [Nwankwo] Kanu, Kolo Toure, and then Chelsea started doing it with Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien. All those African players won Premier League titles, which builds the profile of the league in Africa,” says Pillay.
This profile means money. Kelvin Storie, Group Managing Director at media agency Vizeum South Africa, says a 20-second advert during a Premier League match costs around R23,000 ($1,600). The more African players, the more popular the game is, says David Sidenberg, CEO of BMi Sport Info, an independent research company in South Africa that focuses on the sport and sponsorship market.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-5344 aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_2298-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="498" height="332" />
“It is no surprise that Manchester United is the team of choice in Southern Africa. In addition to being the most successful team in terms of English Premier Leagues titles won, they signed local South African star Quinton Fortune who plied his trade for seven years with the club and won a title in the process,” says Sidenberg.
“With the possible exception of Nigeria, Chelsea tends to be West Africa’s first choice. Not surprising when one considers that the likes of Drogba, Solomon Kalou, Samuel Eto’o, Victor Moses, Essien and Mikel are all West Africans who have played for The Blues. [In Nigeria and East Africa], red is the preferred color, but here it’s for the Gunners (Arsenal), largely off the back of the ‘Invincibles’ 2003/2004 title-winning season. The club’s list of African stars is also long. One of the greatest Nigerian players in the nation’s history, and the most decorated, Kanu is undoubtedly most remembered for his time at Arsenal during their celebrated run.”
Mark Gleeson, a football journalist and commentator in South Africa, believes the league would be as popular in South Africa if there weren’t Africans on the pitch.
“[The league having African players] helped a little bit, but in my opinion it’s more to do with the colonial connection. It would still be as popular even if they didn’t have those players,” he says.
“I think there’s a cultural link with South Africa and England. The Premier League has been part of our lives growing up as football fans, and the media has always covered it generously.”
Gleeson also thinks the Premier League’s history and money makes it difficult to ignore.
“It’s regarded as the world’s best domestic league and it has a history.”
“The Bundesliga and other have certainly made huge strides in recent times, but there is still much work required before it can compete for eyeballs with the English Premier League and/or the local African football leagues,” says Sidenberg.
While the likes of Drogba, Essien and Toure are popular figures in Africa, the Premier League is perhaps more popular now that the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sergio Agüero and Eden Hazard are playing for English clubs. This is apparent at the Living Room, a restaurant in Accra, Ghana, that has grown in popularity since it started broadcasting European football matches. A week before the Premier League starts, the restaurant is packed with supporters watching championship winners Leicester City play FA Cup winners Manchester United.
For Kwame Oduro, wearing a blue Manchester United away kit, the success of the team in the last 25 years made the Red Devils the team to support.
“We have had players like Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, and Ruud van Nistelrooy, who are by far the greatest players of all time and also if you count how many titles we have won,” says Oduro.
Other are not as easily persuaded.
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“I don’t like Manchester United because they are overhyped. Yes, they have the history and clearly more money than sense, but in all honesty, football is more than history, it’s about the passion of the players and the fans support,” says Chelsea fan, Steven Appiah.
Titles are important to the fans at the Ridgeway Racebar in Johannesburg; Liverpool has 41 major titles, more than any other English club.
“The biggest year that we’ve ever had, in terms of members, was 2013/14 when we just about won the title. Previous to that was 2006 when we won the Champions League,” says Midgley.
“If we win today, we’ll have 200 sign ups. When the team wins, everyone wants to be a part of it,” adds Pillay.
As it happens, Liverpool beat Arsenal 4-3. A fan walks past with the latest Liverpool jersey he got when he signed up as a member of OLSC Gauteng for R950 ($65).
“I may live in South Africa, but my heart is in Anfield,” he says, when asked why he became a member.
Another supporter, Andrew Arntze, has supported Liverpool since he was six years old and has a tattoo of the club’s emblem on his leg to prove it.
“It’s in your heart,” he says.
As the match ends, the whole place breaks into You’ll Never Walk Alone. If you watch the Premier League in Africa you’ll never be alone.
&#8211; Additional reporting by Peace Hyde

‘I Live In Africa But  My Heart Is In Anfield’

South Africa’s economic hub Gauteng is tapping into healthcare and medical tourism with renewed vigor.
With a R34.2 billion ($2.4 billion) budget and three medical training facilities located at universities and tertiary hospitals, Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu is promoting health tourism and ensuring the province’s hospitals boast state-of-the-art equipment to attract overseas patients.
Mahlangu is spending her resources on HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention and reviving the health economy with R10 billion ($717 million) set aside for primary healthcare services – clinics, community healthcare centers, district hospitals and community health workers – and R10 billion ($717 million) to tertiary services and central hospitals.
“When we went to the World Cup in 2010, one of the things we said in our bid document, we said we have the best infrastructure for everything including healthcare and treatment,  we have healthcare facilities across the board,” says Mahlangu.
With the funds generated from medical tourism redeployed into healthcare facilities, it’s a sound investment for South Africa.
“Medical tourism is important because we have the best trained medical professionals – our nurses are highly sought-after,” she says.
“European and American travelers come in as tourists and then sometimes use our services. We are still affordable and of good quality. The waiting time is longer in many jurisdictions in the world. A lot of people come here to do procedures. We should support and promote it more.”
Promoting country-to-country relationships is part of Gauteng’s plan to market medical tourism. However, the greatest growth in medical travel to South Africa in recent years is from neighboring countries whose public healthcare systems are in a state of crisis.
“Gauteng has a relationship with Katanga Province [in the Democratric Republic of Congo] who pays money to our account at Charlotte Maxeke hospital – almost $500,000 of that is used for treatment. These patients come to us rather than going to Europe,” she says. South Africa’s own public healthcare system is overburdened and under-resourced but it can still deliver quality treatment often unavailable elsewhere on the continent.
“Over the past 10 years, Johannesburg has played host to thousands of visitors seeking health, wellness and medical services – often combined with short holidays either prior to or post their treatments and procedures,” corroborates Laura Vercueil, communication manager at the Johannesburg Tourism Company.
As Gauteng moves towards producing its own healthcare products, Mahlangu is also looking to empower women in the process.
“We’re starting producing on a small scale with products used in hospitals. A number of products used in-theatre are being purchased from women co-operatives. For an economy of our size and located strategically in the African continent, we have to develop the industrial capacity to deliver on these products,” says Mahlangu. Gauteng is on the fast track to becoming a health hub. Hopefully, all of South Africa will soon follow.

Qedani-etch-new-new

Health Hospitality

It’s surprisingly effortless engaging in a long conversation with Pilisiwe Twala-Tau, wife of Johannesburg’s executive mayor Parks Tau. Long after the meeting, one remembers her for her disarming smile and simple elegance. But behind this simple exterior is a mind that is constantly ticking, day and night.
“The earliest I sleep is 2AM,” says the First Lady of the city of Johannesburg. “I never get tired, I work 24&#215;7.”
Tau is CEO of the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP), a provincial government agency established in 2005 under the auspices of the Department of Economic Development to benefit Small Medium and Micro Entrepreneurs (SMMEs) in South Africa’s Gauteng province.
Twala-Tau speaks about GEP’s larger role in empowering youth and women, making sure women are brought into mainstream business.
Her own growth trajectory has had many “highlights”, as she calls them. In her previous jobs, she left her indelible stamp on the city, urban development being an area of interest.
In 1997, as Executive Director for Economic Development in the Metropolitan Council, she was instrumental in declaring Braamfontein, a central suburb in Johannesburg, a non-trading area for hawkers, and revitalizing it into the cultural hub it is today.
“I was personally responsible for it. This is how we got Braamfontein cleaned up,” she says. For this, she worked tirelessly alongside another female colleague and powerhouse Li Pernegger, who she regards highly.
“We wanted the informal traders to still trade, so we started registering them. I thought about how we could work with them in a manner that will be productive for them to grow into the mainstream economy.”
Another project she is proud of is developing the tourism trail for Soweto, a township in Gauteng.
“[The trail] started from Cape Town, where the Freedom Charter was drafted, and went all the way to Orlando West and Vilakazi Street, and finished off at the Oppenheimer Tower. We managed to have the Hector Pieterson memorial developed. [Earlier], people would go there, and see this little stone, and say, this is where it happened, and it would end there. I mobilized R16 million ($1.3 million today) – at the time, it was a lot of money – and got Phil Mashabane, the architect, to develop it.”
Twala-Tau has been the Executive Director: Community Development and Regional Director of the City of Johannesburg’s Region 3 – the economic hub of Johannesburg. Here, she was instrumental in establishing business improvement districts.
But Twala-Tau’s true calling, she says, is community development. An example she quotes is of developing the city’s libraries.
“We moved from being library services to becoming library information services…Instead of giving books only, we started doing programs. We started going to the prisons and ran library information programs there…And then we went to the old age homes, and started doing big print books for them. And then we thought, in our libraries, we don’t have access to people who are blind, so we did braille and audio. I found I really liked to do things with communities,” says Twala-Tau, who had first started her career in finance.
After finishing her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Lesotho in 1990, Twala-Tau had had stints at Ernst &amp; Young and Standard Chartered.
“After that, I decided I needed to come back, so I came back to Dube in Soweto.”
Twala-Tau’s resume includes the National Rural Development Forum, where she was responsible for finance and administration and the Independent Examinations Board where she was a policy coordinator. She was also Executive Director for Economic Empowerment at the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council.
“I realized I didn’t want to do finance. I didn’t want to look at books and crunch numbers. I wanted to work with people, make a difference, and do things that are tangible.”
Twala-Tau went to the Wits Business School in Johannesburg and enrolled for a number of key courses in strategy that helped her realize her calling. A post graduate degree in public management at Regenesys Business School also followed.
“My dad [who was a teacher and journalist] was very clear education was important. And education didn’t include being a nurse or a teacher or a policeman. You had to be either an accountant or a lawyer or a scientist. So all of us [siblings] did [just] that,” says Twala-Tau.
Other career highlights include being instrumental in opening a day care center for senior citizens in Soweto and a drug rehabilitation center in the Northgate suburb.
“My life is drawn from my own experiences, my mentors and my awesome parents. They did things nobody said could be possible. At some point, there were 18 people in our house. How did they make it work?”
Twala-Tau’s family were African National Congress supporters and hence had to move to Swaziland from South Africa during the days of the liberation struggle. Her learnings started as a young activist herself.
For now at GEP, she says it’s a space for innovative ideas where “ordinary people do extraordinary things”. She also runs a number of youth development programs and pushes entrepreneurship at every level. Much needs to be done and she is not backing down.

Philisile-Tau-033

‘I Work  24×7’

Alfonso Ippolito wakes up in another hotel room in Johannesburg; his Italian home is eight hours away by plane. He checks his email anxiously for updates and prepares for another day of meetings and frustration. A double-breasted suit, tie, shiny shoes and he’s on his way.
At the same time, in another part of Johannesburg, Mosheen Moosa is gearing up for another sparkling day surrounded by diamonds and African jewelry. No tie around his neck. This man is as laid-back as he is passionate about his business.
<div id="attachment_258" style="width: 209px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-258" class="size-medium wp-image-258" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/1-5-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" />Alfonso Ippolito</div>
One Italian, the other South African; both at either end of the long investment chain in Gauteng—South Africa’s place of gold, as the name says. The former has money to invest—the latter needs it like a shot in the arm.
Ippolito—the provider—has been traveling in Africa since 1982. He is the president of Convivium Africa, a non-profit organization carrying out social impact projects in Africa. South Africa’s Gauteng province wants this kind of investment to build the infrastructure and skills to attract more.
“Gauteng contributes a minimum 25% to South Africa’s gross domestic product; if it were a country, it would be the fifth-largest economy on the continent,” says Ebrahim Patel, South Africa’s Minister of Economic Development.
Gauteng competes with countries like Nigeria, Brazil, India and Ghana for this precious foreign investment. Size doesn’t always matter. Gauteng needs a high growth rate, ease of doing business and good infrastructure to have any hope of winning.
This is where Ippolito comes in. In 2004, he was invited by the South African ambassador in Italy to attend a session on investment opportunities in Gauteng. He took on the job of selling the province to European companies. It wasn’t easy.
“We tried many projects but didn’t succeed,” says Ippolito.
In 2009, he hit the jackpot. Italgest SpA, an Italian company specializing in renewable energy, took a keen interest and set up Italgest Energy in South Africa. The proposed project is a $520.5 million photovoltaic plant in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng. Italgest has spent at least $2.6 million over two years on the project that fits into South Africa’s target to reduce its carbon emissions by 34% by 2020.
<div id="attachment_259" style="width: 211px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-259" class="size-medium wp-image-259" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Mohseen-sorting-201x300.jpg" alt="" width="201" height="300" />Mosheen Moosa</div>
Italgest’s plan is simple enough. The land in Bronkhorstspruit will have 1.3 million solar panels placed 1-1.5 meters from the ground. The panels will be manufactured by Sharp in Italy and shipped to South Africa.
The proposed 18-month project has run into numerous road blocks. The constant change in rules and requirements are making Italgest’s project that much harder to see through. A 75 megawatt cap has been placed on the plant’s capacity. The former 150MW project has had to be split in two, forcing the costly set-up of a second company.
Despite chasing a moving target for the past two years, Italgest is still interested in the project and connecting it to the power grid. The construction could create 1,000 jobs, plus the 120 needed to run the plants.
The company projects returns of 17-21%, but this will depend on the electricity tariff and the bank’s rate for the project financing.
Ippolito’s only problem with investment in Gauteng is the bureaucracy. Despite help from the Gauteng Economic Development Agency (GEDA), he feels that there is a lack of co-operation between provincial and national governments.
“More facilitation and help are needed on a national level; even more, the bank system is slow and conservative,” he says.
Ippolito says one of South Africa’s top four banks sent an email approving the financing for the project on a Friday; by the Monday morning, a second email arrived pulling the financing.
Italgest missed the November 4 deadline to submit its final bid for the two photovoltaic projects because it did not receive the documents on time.
Another sign of bureacracy that may lead to a squandered opportunity. Italgest hopes to return in March and try again.
While Italian Ippolito is investing in the province of Gauteng, South Africa’s Mosheen Moosa needs investment for his business, African Romance.
Moosa is a lawyer. He was a young activist during South Africa’s apartheid era, with a law degree from the University of Witwatersrand. He is a human rights lawyer who joined Parliament after the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. In his five years as a senator, he chaired the Justice Committee that drew up the Bill of Rights and the Courts and Administration of Justice of South Africa’s Constitution.
Moosa left all of this to set up African Romance, which cuts and polishes diamonds.
It is a rare business in Africa—most diamonds are exported to the likes of Cartier, Chopard and Tiffany &amp; Co for cutting.
“Exporting raw materials is exporting jobs,” says Patel.
According to the Kimberley Process statistics, Russia was the top producer of rough diamonds globally in terms of volume, 32.86 million carats, and Botswana the top producer by value, $2.59 billion. The 2011 global rough diamond production rose 39% by value and approximately 7% by volume to 133.12 million carats.
A total of 13.67 million carats valued at $1.8 billion were produced in South Africa in 2010, ranking the country fourth by value. Most of Africa’s diamonds are exported for cutting and polishing. The top global importers in 2010 were Europe, India, Israel, Dubai and China.
African Romance stands against this tide. The South African company is bent on beneficiation at home and this needs investment to do so.
African Romance was launched in 2007, after two years of preparation. Moosa and his team started with an investment of around $6.5 million, followed by
$10.6 million in 2008-2009. The capital went into factories, equipment and rough diamonds.
African Romance buys its rough diamonds in South Africa. These are cut and polished by South Africans, adding further value before export. Some 50% of the diamonds are exported.
The diamond industry is a very closed one; the barriers to entry are high and it takes years to break in.
In buying South African diamonds, African Romance competes with international buyers that are paying as little as 2% interest rates, giving them an advantage over the 11% rate that the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) demands from Moosa.
The company has retail stores in Johannesburg’s Rosebank Mall, Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport. “We want people to know that Africa is more than just masks and baskets,” says Moosa.
In the last three months of 2008, African Romance brought in approximately $650,745, followed by
$4.5 million in 2009 and $11.7 million in 2010.
WakeHold is the holding company for WakeGem, which owns the African Romance brand. The shareholders are the WakeGem Workers Trust, 5%, and the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, 30%. The stakeholders are GEDA and the IDC.
African Romance needs $13 to $19 million in investment in the next three years. This will go towards increasing its exports and setting up more stores in the continent and further afield.
African Romance has come a long way in development funding and will need deep pockets for its dream of listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) by 2015.
Doors and cheque books have not opened easily for Moosa and his vision. South African banks have not been a part of African Romance’s story. “South African banks are not builders… they are spoilt, want easy money and are not creative enough,” says Moosa.
It all comes down to investment. Is Africa’s richest province selling itself well enough?
The institution responsible for selling Gauteng to investors is GEDA. According to its acting CEO, Siphiwe Ngwenya, its financial system, large and industrialized economy, transport, infrastructure, natural resources and stability make it an ideal investment destination.
GEDA, which held the Gauteng Investor Conference in Johannesburg, in October, stands against the storm. In 2010, $247.2 million in investments flowed into South Africa’s Gauteng province. The target for 2011 is $260.3 million.
In these difficult times, it is going to take a lot of nerve and skill for Africa to lure a lot more Ippolitos from Europe to a hotel room in Gauteng.
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<h3>Cheer Up In 2012— It Is Going To Get Better</h3>
Political economist Paul Laudicina, the CEO of global management consultants AT Kearney, has worked on Capitol Hill in Washington—as Joe Biden’s chief of staff—and in Africa in the oil business. He believes the economic outlook for Africa in the new year may be brighter than expected.
<div id="attachment_257" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-257" class="size-medium wp-image-257" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/7-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" />Paul Laudicina</div>
The idea of pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps is no stranger to Paul Laudicina. His ancestors stepped off the boat in New York in the 1920s, penniless and tired after a long journey from Palermo in Sicily. The immigrant family has spent most of the last century concentrating on education, climbing the economic ladder and acceptance.
“My parents wanted us to be more American than Micky Mantle (the New York Yankees baseball legend). We didn’t speak Italian in the house,” he chuckles.
Laudicina is upbeat about the prospect of Africa pulling itself up by its bootstraps.
“Eight out of 10 of the world’s fastest-growing economies are in Africa. Africa’s population will overtake that of China by 2025 and overtake India by 2050. In terms of population and resources, Africa is the last frontier and has great potential. You get Indian technology, Chinese manufacturing, Middle East capital and energy, plus African human and natural resources; put them all together and you have more economic power and more growth than any other part of the world,” he says.
Laudicina believes South Africa, which accounts for 18% of regional investment, is likely to strengthen its position when it comes to investment. He believes that when the new foreign direct investment rankings are published by his company at the end of the year, South Africa will improve on its 18th standing in the world.
“South Africa has the most hopeful and economic structures in the continent,” he says.
On the other side of the investment coin ?
“Business here is not going to come flocking unless people are prepared to take the human resources and train them into productive, income-earning, consuming people instead of protestors on the streets baying about income disparity.”

Tag: Gauteng

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