In the space of four months, a small group of athletes will have gone full circle – from the tough life in refugee camps, where sometimes food is rationed, to rubbing shoulders with the world’s most celebrated names in world-class facilities.
This is the strange reality for South Sudan’s Olympic athletes.
Being at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro for three weeks will be a completely new experience for these young athletes, who might never have got to the world’s largest sport event if they were not refugees.
Even their compatriots in South Sudan are stunned  how the athletes got access to an arena reserved for the crème de la crème of international sports.
Olympic Villages have world-class infrastructure, with beautiful apartments, paved roads, working sewerage systems, hospitals, and shopping centers.
For the five young men and women from South Sudan, this is a far cry from the refugee camps they come from. Here, the refugees live in tin-walled houses, with little sanitation. The camp is littered with long-drop toilets, although refugees prefer to use thickets and bushes, leading to the rampant outbreak of deadly diseases are rampant. They are conditions the majority of athletes at the Olympic Games will find unimaginable.
The civil war has destroyed South Sudan’s economy. Before the current bloodletting resumed in early July, the newly-formed Transitional Government of National Unity asked for international support to rebuild the country. The conflict has halved oil production which, coupled with the global decline in oil prices, has left the government short of cash.
Although better than living among warlords, life inside refugee camps is not for the faint-hearted. Roads are dusty and rough. Some schools within the camps have sports fields, but the lack of grass makes playing on them difficult.
These young athletes will leave these fields of dirt and be welcomed to Rio with roads lined with exotic flowers and trees. The Olympic Village’s gardens rivals those found in Buckingham Palace.
When those inside the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps heard their brothers and sisters would be at the Rio Olympics, they burst into ecstatic celebration. The five South Sudanese refugees were selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to form part of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Athletes team. The other athletes making up the 10-man team are two judokas from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a marathon runner from Ethiopia and two swimmers from Syria.
The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, says the team will raise awareness of the refugee crisis, which, according to the United Nations, stands at over 59 million displaced people.
“This will be a symbol of hope for all the refugees in our world, and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis. It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society,” says Bach.
Kenyan marathon legend Tegla Loroupe, who founded the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, identified the South Sudanese athletes that will make up the rest of the refugee team. They are Pur Biel Yiech (800m), James Nyak (400m/800m), Rose Nathike (800m), Angeline Nadai Lohalith (1,500m) and Paulo Amoton Lokoro (1,500m).
The athletes have tear-jerking stories. They fled to neighboring Kenya as civil war erupted in Africa’s youngest nation, where compatriots supporting rival leaders were tearing into one another with machetes and guns. Girls and women were raped, property vandalized and homes looted. Tens of thousands died and many more were displaced. The survivors, mostly orphans and widows, were forced to cross into Kenyan camps.
The athletes are unified in their call for peace. They say this would allow many more young South Sudanese to pursue their dreams – whether in academics, sport or business.
“I would be representing my country in the Olympics had there been peace in my country. While other athletes will be carrying their countries’ flags, which is an honor and prestige, we will be participating under the Olympic Flag. That is good, and we are grateful to the IOC for remembering refugees, but sometime in the future, I would wish to run under the South Sudanese flag,” says Lohalith, who left home in 2001 and reached Kakuma the following year.
Lohalith started running for fun while attending primary school inside the Kakuma camp. She was among those scouted by Loroupe and transferred to Nairobi for specialized coaching.
Lohalith believes the refugee team at the Olympics will inspire other displaced people, even if they don’t win medals.
“It will be the first time refugees are represented in the Olympics, which will inspire other refugees because they will realize that they are just like normal people,” she says.
Jackson Pkemoi, who is managing the team at the church-run Anita Children’s Home in Ngong, 20 kilometers south of Nairobi, says the athletes are not taking the selection for granted.
“It is never easy to make an Olympic team. These athletes appreciate that this is a godsend, an opportunity to join the rest of the world at the Olympics,” he says.
Lokoro is glad he will be able to represent the refugees he lives with in his camp.
“When the refugees, and our people at Kakuma camp, heard of this, they were proud and celebrated. They are happy for us,” says Lokoro.
Nathike, who escaped her war-ravaged country with her parents, is running to help those she left behind.
“My people are happy and praying that I perform well so that I can change their lives,” she says. “Since we have talent, this can help promote peace all over the world.”
Nyak sent a massage to warring factions.
“Fighting is not the right way for people to solve issues. The more people fight, the more young people who have talent run away from home. So those countries [that] have conflict have to sit down and see where the problem is because this affects so many countries,” he says.
While their competitors are running for gold, these athletes from South Sudan are competing for something more important – peace.

The Olympians Who Want Peace  More Than Gold

It has been half a year since 195 countries came together in Paris for the adoption of the first-ever universal and legally binding global climate deal. In short, the accord, which will enter into force in 2020, aims to limit global temperature increases to below two degrees Celsius. While some are skeptical, Adnan Amin, the Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), is optimistic.
“Paris has made a huge step-change in people’s expectations regarding the reality of energy transformation,” says Amin.
Amin predicts that the agreement will be a turbo boost for the world’s renewable energy sector.
“The political ambition we achieved in Paris was only possible because renewable energy solutions have become mature enough to be implementable and viable,” says Amin.
The growing value of renewable investments prove this.
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“Between 2014 and 2015, global investment in new renewable energy capacity jumped from $270 billion to $330 billion. This was before the Paris Agreement. In addition, renewables installed capacity has jumped by 120 percent since 2000, and the costs of technology has fallen dramatically.”
When it comes to alternative energy, Africa is expected to be on the forefront of what Amin calls an energy revolution.
“Renewables deployment in developing and emerging economies has overtaken that in developed markets, including fast-growing economies like the United States,” he says.
“As the electricity demand in mature markets has more or less stabilized, it is soaring in the developing world. The energy demand in Africa for instance, is expected to double, or even triple by 2030,” says Amin.
Amin points to South Africa, Morocco and Kenya as countries to watch.
“The commitment South Africa is making to renewable power generation, and the fact that some projects are delivering solar and wind power that price-wise are more or less on par with coal-generated power, is remarkable.”
While solar PV uses solar panels to capture the sun and convert it into energy, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) uses mirror structures, known as heliostats, or lenses to concentrate the sun’s rays onto a central point. This concentrated light is converted to heat, and then into electricity.
“South Africa has started to integrate storage components in CSP plants, which is reducing prices even further. CSP is not competitive with coal, South Africa’s main source of electricity, but it is getting there,” Amin says.
He notes that the country is also proving itself in terms of policy innovation.
“I have spent some time with officials there, going through their procurement process. All I can say is that these processes are some of the most rigorous, effective, and transparent I have seen.”
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Then there is Morocco, which recently inaugurated the first phase of the Ouarzazate CSP plant. Upon completion, it will have a 2GW power generation capacity.
“Morocco has gone from very little to no investment in renewables four years ago to $2 billion last year,” says Amin.
“The country has produced some of the most interesting wind and solar projects in the world. Their latest utility-scale wind investment is yielding power that costs $0.03 per Kwh. That is the lowest we have seen anywhere so far,” he says. “The government has bene very clear that this was achieved without incentives and subsidies. Morocco is a game changer in Africa, and is beating everyone else hands down.”
Kenya is doing well too.
“We will see geothermal development move very fast, with very cheap base-load electricity. Kenya is also investing in wind, with the wind farm in the Turkana District going online hopefully later this year,” says Amin, referring to the 250MW wind project, which is the largest in Africa.
Apart from individual countries tapping into renewable energy sources to improve national energy levels, what is more important is the formation of a so-called renewable energy corridor.
“Interconnections have been realized and are being built between markets in eastern and southern Africa,” he explains. “If we can achieve integrated markets with strong regulatory frameworks and transparent policy, we will start attracting financing and investment at a scale we have not seen before in Africa.”
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Going Green  To Light Up  The Continent

As international investors became more familiar with the continent, international listings and debt offerings by African companies increased as the need for capital to power investments intensified. Record low interest rates globally created an issuer-friendly debt market over the past five years, while foreign equity markets also made it easy for African companies to list. By 2013, over 100 sub-Saharan focused entities were represented on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a total market capitalization of $70 billion which accounted for roughly 5% of Africa’s total market capitalization.
This year, the much anticipated listing of Dangote Cement on the LSE is expected to be the latest African-based issuer. As a result of this trend, many emerging market equity players have come to prefer gaining exposure to African companies via developed world exchanges as opposed to investing via the issuer’s local bourse.
Nonetheless, due to the increase in interest rates in the United States (US) and subsequent weakening of local currencies relative to the US dollar and other major funding currencies, this trend is likely to dissipate this year as repayment of foreign currency denominated bonds has become more expensive. Moreover, the implosion of developed equity markets means investor appetite for international listings may not be sufficient. For this reason, since raising capital is a continuous process, this could the perfect opportunity for Africa’s capital markets to rise up and lure more African companies from the grip of international bourses. London has remained a leading destination for African companies listing abroad for over 60 years, according to LSE. Needless to say, work is clearly cut out for the more than 23 African stock exchanges to improve their platforms to succeed in this.
Perhaps the place to start is solving the challenges of illiquidity, high trading costs and small-sized markets. In my view, the last two require the integration of regional stock exchanges, such as what has been done successfully by the BRVM in West Africa and what the East African Community (EAC) is seeking to do. In this regard, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) could consider relaunching the Africa Board, implementing the lessons learned from the initial failed attempt in 2009. Considering the economic size of many African nations, it’ll be very expensive to operate such an exchange.
On illiquidity, there will be need for more investor education and more listings for change to occur. Surely, something is not right when the second biggest equity market in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria’s stock market, has a daily turnover of less than $30 million. The Nairobi Securities Exchange has 61 listings, but just 10 of those constitute roughly 90% of its annual markets liquidity. Further progress would also require African countries to harmonize their trading laws and accounting standards, set up convertible currencies and establish free trade among members.
Despite this, African capital markets have been growing and gaining recognition over the years. At the end of 2015, total market capitalisation stood at $1 trillion, up from $113 billion in 1992. African equities are now included in emerging frontier indices and Africa-focused benchmarks indices, such as the Russell Frontier Index (RFI), MSCI Emerging Markets Africa (excluding South Africa) Index, S&amp;P Africa Frontier, S&amp;P Pan Africa, and FTSE ASEA Pan Africa Index. According to PwC’s recent 2015 Africa Capital Markets Watch, over the past five years alone, there were more than 100 initial public offers (IPOs) and 336 further offers (FOs), raising a total of $41.3 billion. Furthermore, African equity markets have seen a surge in Africa-focused equity funds, such as JPMorgan’s Africa Equity Fund and the Old Mutual African Frontiers Fund, which invest directly in equity and equity-related securities of companies domiciled or listed on an African exchange.
Given Africa’s economic prospects and volatility in global capital markets, now is the time for Africa to establish its exchanges in order to offer its home-grown enterprises the services that they need, while also tapping into the growing portfolio allocations toward the continent. For Africa to emerge as an important player in the world of capital markets, a well-established capital market is necessary to provide a better alternative to its well-known rivals.
They say a journey of thousand miles start with a step – thankfully Africa has already made several steps and is closer to its destination.

On The Right Path

In a statement issued in September, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) said: “The ICT sector has been and continues to undergo rapid technology changes with far reaching implications for the local and international industries.”
The regulator is right and some hard decisions need to be made. In May 2014, Vodacom and Neotel announced a $557-million deal for the transfer of license control from Neotel to Vodacom; public hearings were held by Icasa at the beginning of this year, revealing that not everyone is pleased.
The deal will be great for Vodacom, giving it the spectrum it needs, fiber infrastructure and a decent wedge of the enterprise market, where Neotel has placed its focus.
“The regulator has to do the right thing and take back the spectrum and allocate it to everyone. If they allow the deal to go through, then they are sending the message that they don’t want competition,” Cell C’s Chief Executive Officer, Jose Dos Santos, said.
The fact that Cell C uses Neotel’s infrastructure for its backhaul and the data center for billing probably provides plenty of motivation for the company to prevent the merger.
“One needs to be very careful because spectrum in itself doesn’t create success. Spectrum with investment is what assists you,” says Shameel Joosub, Vodacom’s Chief Executive Officer.
Joosub says Vodacom has the least amount of spectrum despite being the largest network.
The Competition Commission is the field marshal in this battlefield. It was therefore fitting that I sat down with the commissioner, Tembinkosi Bonakele, and Hardin Ratshisusu, the acting deputy commissioner and head of mergers and acquisitions, at the commission’s offices in Pretoria.
In making a decision on mergers, the Competition Commission investigates and analyses the impact the merger will have on competition and public interest issues.
“We are not here to clip wings. Mergers that will bring about innovation and efficiencies, but without reducing competition, are quite welcome,” says Ratshisusu.
In large mergers, such as the one proposed by Vodacom and Neotel, the commission makes a recommendation to the tribunal. The commission says it works on the current market structure and is unable to take into account the mere possibility of other mergers that may occur. It says it essentially tries to predict the future, post-merger, and what the consolidation of market share will do to price and product availability.
There has been a lot said about how long this process is taking. Joosub told CNBC Africa how extremely frustrating it is. He sees Neotel as an opportunity for his company to grow and the mix of mobile and fixed-line as very important for the company’s future.
“The question really is how long can Neotel cope without the requisite level of investment that is needed,” he adds.
The merger approval timeline varies based on the complexity of the issues and stakeholder engagement. There are plenty of stakeholders in the telecoms space. At the time of the interview, Ratshisusu said they were 80% of the way to a decision.
“If they [Competition Commission] do give the go ahead for the deal it’s going to have a list of conditions attached to it, particularly along the spectrum and wholesale,” says Richard Hurst, Senior Analyst at Ovum.
The commission says the market is evolving and it’s hard to say where it is going since it does not know future policies or technological advancements. It also says that it is not for them to deal with the issue of spectrum.
The reality is that it’s cheaper to buy spectrum than increase the number of base stations.
Will the Vodacom/Neotel deal benefit the man in the street? Hurst says there won’t be immediate tangible benefits to customers, but that they can expect greater quality of service. Vodacom customers were shocked to learn that the company was increasing contract prices.
“It’s been a tough two years for the industry in totality and obviously the whole mobile termination rate debacle didn’t help the situation,” says Joosub.
One of the issues the telecoms business is facing is the increase in data consumption – which requires investment in extra capacity. There are also exchange rate and inflationary pressures to deal with. Input costs are high, times are hard and everyone is working to come out on top. Vodacom is not the only one worrying about the future.
MTN has been under pressure at home for a while now, despite doing well in Nigeria. Last September, MTN sold its stake in the Nigeria towers business for $1.8 billion. The operator, along with Vodacom, also bought out their Nashua Mobile subscribers for $176.6 million.
In a cautionary announcement, Telkom said: “Shareholders are further advised that Telkom and MTN South Africa remain in discussions regarding the potential extension of their existing roaming agreement to include bilateral roaming and outsourcing of the operation of Telkom’s radio access network, which if successfully concluded may have a material effect on the price of Telkom’s securities.”
“A deal won’t happen unless something changes significantly,” says MTN Chief Executive Officer, Sifiso Dabengwa.
MTN already has a network sharing agreement with Telkom so it could be waiting to see how the Vodacom/Neotel deal shapes up. There are those that feel that the government’s decision about its Telkom stake is causing the holdup.
“The government will be very reluctant to let go of their shareholding in Telkom. They have plans for Telkom in terms of the national broadband plan,” says Hurst. He says it’s more likely for government to get rid of its 13.9% stake in Vodacom, although it won’t open up enough money to help failing power utility, Eskom.
“Telkom has embarked on a strategy to improve performance and one of the key considerations in respect of this strategy is to grow beyond its core business of connectivity by expanding into ICT services,” said Business Connexion (BCX) and Telkom in a joint announcement.
BCX and Telkom withdrew the application to transfer control of BCX licenses to Telkom for $211 million. The two companies say they did not need Icasa approval for the deal based on their review of the Electronic Communication Act. The Competition Commission recommended that the deal for a change in control of shareholding of BCX to Telkom be approved with conditions.
“Telkom, being the largest provider of wholesale leased lines to downstream customers, has the ability to foreclose its downstream rivals from access to these wholesale leased lines which are essential inputs for the provision of downstream services including managed network services (MNS), value-added network services (VANS), hosting and information technology services (ITS). The commission also found that the merger will result in the merged entity having the ability and incentives to engage in bundling strategies that may result in anticompetitive effects,” says the Competition Commission.
The Competition Tribunal determined Telkom&#8217;s $187.5 million offer for BCX, nine years ago, would adversely affect downstream competition.
“The mergers on the face of it look like they are going to reshape the entire sector, but we don’t know what that world will be like,” says Bonakele.
Hurst believes the ICT sector will focus on efficiency for a while to bring down costs, meaning the industry-wide restructuring we have seen will continue.
Vodacom’s strategy has been to invest heavily in its network, including the Nashua Mobile acquisition. Joosub says the company has spent close to $781.3 million in South Africa this year, with a further $1.3 billion earmarked for next year.
The South African power crisis has, according to Joosub, resulted in the company spending $6.2 million on diesel generators. He would like the industry to work together in powering through some of the issues and share input costs. He also calls for a better relationship between government and the industry.
Vodafone, the majority stakeholder in Vodacom, finds itself fighting a merger in Britain, with merits similar to those Cell C is bringing to the forefront in South Africa. It is not uncommon for global telecoms companies to find themselves on both sides of the fence, depending on what suits them.
Vodafone wants Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority to set tough conditions on the $17.2-billion BT/EE merger. EE is Britain’s biggest mobile operator, the company is owned jointly by Deutsche Telekom and Orange.
It’s still unclear what South Africa’s ICT picture will look like in a year’s time.
With a harsh operating environment impacting company performance, tight regulation and an ever growing demand for data, the Competition Commission, will have its work cut out for it. Whatever happens, there are likely to be casualties.

Telecoms Battlefield

International countries are guilty of having misconceptions about Africa but we are guilty about of the same thing with our own countries. When you hear about the Olympics, your thoughts undoubtedly go to the United States’ basketball team or Usain Bolt. You probably wouldn’t think about Zimbabwe or believe that this landlocked country in Southern Africa has been successful in swimming. Why would it, Africa can’t swim, or can it?
Coming from Africa means we have to work harder to get noticed and work longer to succeed. I have been swimming against this current for over a decade.
We give more recognition to the first-world athletes than our own. We have had to work harder, with less, yet when we succeed the scales are still not tipped in our favour. We are always looking away from Africa because we believe the grass is greener on the other side.
<div id="attachment_3510" style="width: 229px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3510" class="size-medium wp-image-3510" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/149377073-219x300.jpg" alt="" width="219" height="300" />LONDON, ENGLAND &#8211; JULY 27: Kirsty Coventry of the Zimbabwe Olympic swimming team carries her country&#8217;s flag during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)</div>
In 2012, while at lunch with Econet Wireless’ Strive Masiyiwa, I asked him where I should focus my business of swimwear apparel. He responded by quoting Booker T Washington.
“A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: ‘Water, water. We die of thirst.’ The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ A second time, the signal, ‘Water, send us water!’ went up from the distressed vessel. And was answered: ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ A third and fourth signal for water was answered: ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ The captain of the distressed vessel, at last, heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River.”
Washington helped unite our races by fighting against white discrimination. Masiyiwa’s point was what we need is right here. It wasn’t easy back then and it’s certainly not easy now but as history has proved, it does become easier with concerted effort.
Three pillars that have given me strength in the battle against this current are perseverance, sacrifice and self-belief.
Perseverance is working hard all the time. Sacrifice is giving something up to accommodate the scarce resources of time and money. Self-belief is having faith in what you do and why you do it. It also makes sacrifice and perseverance worthwhile.
These are not things you write down and plan to do on a Monday morning. This is your ethos; it becomes your lifestyle.
Planning to be successful is important; you cannot simply believe you are going to be successful – no matter what books you might read. You have to implement your plans and it starts by setting goals. Goals should not be easy to attain but must be realistic.
When I was nine years old, I told my parents I wanted to go to the Olympics. They explained the necessity of goals as though it was a ladder; each rung you grab onto doesn’t make things easier but brings you closer to the top. The higher you get, the more difficult things become because the more people will be watching you and the more you have to balance. This balancing act is responsible for the necessary changes you will need to make.
At each Olympic Games I swam in, I had to set goals.
I qualified for the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when I was 16, but then needed a new goal: to make the finals. I only made the semi-finals but this was further than any Zimbabwean swimmer had gone before. I set myself new goals and created a plan to get there.
At Athens in 2004, I wanted to win a medal. I needed proper training facilities and a strong team. I couldn’t afford this on my own but was offered a scholarship by Auburn University in Alabama. I hated being away from home but I knew sacrifices had to be made. I worked hard over the next four years and finally won one gold, one silver and one bronze. I was not alone celebrating my victory; I was joined by 13 million Zimbabweans. This is when I realized the importance sport plays in a country – Zimbabwe was united under the flag I was holding on the podium in Greece.
New goals were set for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but this time I wanted to win four gold medals. Most swimmers don’t even swim this many events, so I might have been a little unrealistic. I won one gold and three silvers. I was a little disappointed but I needed to adjust my thinking.
During the London Games in 2012, I wanted to become the greatest individual female swimmer in Olympic history by winning one more medal. Four months before the event, I dislocated my patella and then got pneumonia. I had to change my goals. All I wanted to do now was reach my fourth Olympic Games. Perseverance, sacrifice and self-belief ensured I made it to London. I never achieved my initial goal but I made the finals, finishing sixth in two of my races.
The Rio Olympics are next year. My goal hasn’t changed. I still want to become the greatest individual female swimmer in Olympic history.
There is a huge amount of potential in Africa but by focusing on higher profile things we are creating a current we have to fight against. We need to wake up and start celebrating what we are accomplishing and using this wave to progress further.

Swimming Against  The Tide

George Tafaria Waititu lived what many would describe as a life of a king. As the Managing Director of Ipsos Synovate, an international research company, he had power, influence and money. In June 2011, Waititu quit to pursue a childhood dream. Tired of building other people’s dreams; he decided to build his own – literally.
Waititu owns Tafaria Castle and Country Lodge in the Aberdare Range – 224 kilometers north of Nairobi. He went back to his childhood village with one aim – to conquer the brutality he experienced when growing up.
“The castle is supposed to transform my village from a dark age to a more enlightened age, similar to what happed in medieval times. This place molded my character and made me the person I am today. It is desperate for help and development,” says Waititu.
The castle, with medieval architecture, cost him $3.5 million to set up.
“I could have chosen to get into the lucrative real estate sector in Kenya and by now my return would have doubled,” he says.
Three years later, the investment has paid off.
Building it was a labor of love. After four years, he was able to open its doors in September 2012. Seventy percent of the construction was done by locals.
“People just need to be inspired, guided and supervised,” he says.
Along with roads and power, Waititu created employment and a market for locally-grown produce. The area’s development has also resulted in the value of land skyrocketing.
It wasn’t always easy; the project stalled several times due to a lack of resources. Waititu had to negotiate with his neighbors for land and water. Heavy rain also made it difficult to access the area before Waititu invested in a proper road.
He is proud of the transformation he has brought to his village. He is even prouder of the skills the villagers have gained.
“The rains can come and wash away the roads but the skills they acquired can never be taken away from them.”
Waititu aims to make Tafaria a model village and guide the development of the area.
“I don’t want to change the rural life. I just want to improve it without changing its rural setting.”
The source of Waititu’s inspiration can be found in his childhood. His mother moved to Aberdare from a crowded colonial village in Nyeri, central Kenya. Unlike the lush and fertile highlands of Nyeri, Aberdare is dry and hot.
The family lived in the bush, along with wild animals that roamed freely. They would wake up in the morning and find animals had ravaged their farms and killed people.
“The first funeral I attended was of a neighbor who was killed by a buffalo on a farm.”
Waititu remembers two serious droughts, forcing the family to survive on donated yellow maize.
“These things molded my character. That upbringing made me a risk taker.”
When he visited his family in other towns, Waititu’s eyes were opened. He saw vehicles, electricity and other amenities which he craved. That is where the seed of transforming his village was planted.
“I did not desire to leave my home; I desired to make it better.”
With the castle he built there, Waititu has achieved his lofty goal.

From Villager To King Of A Castle

Mark Shuttleworth is a South African-born tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is perhaps best known in the rest of the world for being the second “space tourist” to spend time living and helping with experiments on the International Space Station. After a year of training and reportedly paying about $20 million, in early 2002 Shuttleworth rode on Soyuz spacecraft to spend about eight days on the space station.
Shuttleworth had the wherewithal to buy his space ride since 1999, when he sold his four-year-old internet security company to VeriSign for about $570 million. Since then, he has used his wealth to finance and build new companies as well as to fund charitable ventures.
But living in South Africa, with its restrictions on capital movements, created problems for Shuttleworth’s international operations. This soon prompted him to take advantage of his dual British citizenship and emigrate from the land where he got his start to the United Kingdom, where he settled on the Isle of Man.
An international move is never cheap, but it wasn’t until Shuttleworth tried to move his capital out of South Africa that things got really expensive thanks to the South African authorities. That is why Shuttleworth also made the news this year in his attempt to get back a substantial sum (taken in levies) by suing those same authorities.
Perhaps the greatest irony of that case, Shuttleworth vs. South African Reserve Bank and Others, was that the laws relevant to the contest were themselves the cause of the very actions they were intended to prevent. In other words, had exchange controls not existed, Shuttleworth might still be living in South Africa.
The exchange control laws created two problems for Shuttleworth as a resident of South Africa. First, by imposing paperwork and bureaucratic second-guessing on all transactions involving foreign-exchange, the exchange controls prevented the efficient and competitive operation of any international business or charity projects. Second, the bureaucratic controls imposed costs and barriers to the optimal international deployment of already existing capital.
Although South African exchange controls have been loosened considerably during the past 20 years, they are still in force and they still place hurdles before travelers and businesses, especially when large sums of money are involved. The sums involved in the Shuttleworth case were not only very large but also subject to a 10% levy imposed as a condition for the granting of permission to expatriate blocked assets. For the privilege of moving the last of his own money out of the country, Shuttleworth paid, understandably under protest, a levy of more than $30 million to the South African Reserve Bank.
As if to highlight the irony, in a statement to the court, the Reserve Bank described the purpose of the levy: “The 10% charge, generally speaking constituted a disincentive to the exit of large amount (sic) of capital, thus asserting to maintain the financial stability of the South African economy.”
No doubt, the 10% charge was a disincentive to his decision to expatriate his capital, and it is understandable that Shuttleworth would later sue (unsuccessfully) to have the amount of the levy returned. But the interesting fact is that, despite the legally imposed cost, Shuttleworth still chose to move the money out.
Although exchange rates fluctuate for myriad reasons, it is not irrelevant that since early 2010, when Shuttleworth received approval to expatriate the last of his funds, the rand has depreciated 23% against the US dollar. Exchange controls are most likely to be in force in countries that have other self-imposed problems. South Africa’s relatively high inflation is entirely self-imposed and is one of many good reasons for South Africans to diversify into other currencies. It was Shuttleworth’s judgment that he would lose less by leaving.
The persistence of exchange controls, albeit liberalized, almost 20 years after the transition suggests a lack of confidence by the South African government in its own policies. It also signals a poor understanding of the rationale for its own policy of exchange-control liberalization. Such signals are not lost on either South African or foreign investors. But on the other side of this, a naïve belief that exchange controls give the government the ability to respond efficaciously to financial and economic crises, might embolden the government to enact the very types of policies that make such crises more likely.
The existence of exchange controls in any country is a special, and perhaps extreme, manifestation of a general failure to recognize that such regulations are more likely to aggravate, if not cause, the kinds of problems for which they are believed to be the cure. The Shuttleworth case itself gives us an example.
Proponents of regulation have claimed that exchange controls protected the South African financial system from the 2007-08 financial crisis. A weak response to such claims would suggest that sensible banking regulation protected South Africans, as it did residents in other countries such as Canada and Australia, neither of which has exchange controls. But a more sophisticated response would emphasize that it was not the presence of supposedly protective regulations but rather the absence of the types of pernicious regulations that set up the American financial and real estate sectors for failure.
A proper analysis of that crisis cannot ignore the distortions created by a host of government interventions such as government loan guarantees, the regulatory compulsion of banks to make subprime loans, tax incentives to purchase property, government-backed companies created to hold mortgage bonds, government-backed insurance of bank deposits, and central-bank accommodation of the financial and real estate bubbles.
The key intellectual error underlying the existence of exchange controls lies in the belief that government officials have the knowledge necessary to coordinate our lives and to provide for our needs. History has demonstrated that where this belief is most firmly held and has manifested in the various shades of central planning, the people have suffered accordingly.
It is naïve to believe that government officials have both the knowledge and nimbleness required to protect us from the symptoms of international financial crises. In a world of fiat currencies with routine official interest-rate manipulation and credit expansion, it is no wonder that we have periodic currency crises and disruptions in the foreign exchange markets.
In the early 20th century, South Africa followed the lead of Britain in its experiment with exchange controls. Neither country can claim to have had a good experience with such controls—they never live up to their stated purpose—which is why Britain eliminated its controls in 1979. South Africa should do the same.

It Cost Mark Shuttleworth More To Leave South Africa Than It Did To Leave The Earth

On a snowy April day, Nelson Mandela was sipping tea in London, surrounded by his political entourage. This was minutes before he was to climb onto the stage for a concert to be broadcast to 600 million people in 67 countries: the biggest audience for a music concert. Just 54 days before, he had been a prisoner.
Mandela was still a marked man. British security forces feared a sniper would shoot him while he was on stage. Everywhere he went, police locked and unlocked behind him to make sure a gunman could not sneak a shot.
As Mandela climbed the narrow staircase to the stage, with the crowds chanting his name, alongside promoter Tony Hollingsworth, he asked to turn back to use the toilet. When Mandela and Hollingsworth had washed their hands, they found out, to their horror, that the police had, unwittingly, locked them in.
“They’ve taken all the entourage and Trevor [Huddleston] onto stage highly secured, and left me and Mandela, I thought ‘oh shit’. It’s a locked room and my bloody headset wasn’t on. So I couldn’t talk to anyone,” says Hollingsworth.
There was no time to waste. Hollingsworth went to bang on the glass.
“I could see into another room, which was where they were counting all the money. I patted in the door until somebody recognized me. They came and unlocked the door. We walked through the money room to a public area, down a public staircase in the stadium, into the backstage area, onto stage. And the security forces didn’t even know we had gone. They were all watching the audience,” he says.
Minutes later, Mandela strolled on stage as if nothing had happened.
“Thank you that you chose to care,” Mandela told the world.
“When Mandela came on stage, the audience erupted. What then ensued was this almost eight minute game, of this crowd cheering at him as he moved around waving his arms. The problem was that because he was unused to the power of the microphone. In his mind, he had to wait for people to be quiet before he spoke,” says Hollingsworth.
Mandela’s speech lasted 45 minutes, ridiculously long according to Hollingsworth. He paid an American consultant—to trail Mandela after his release—to teach him how to speak on television. The consultant didn’t get anywhere and gave up.
Hollingsworth sits across the table, in a Johannesburg hotel, lost in the memory of that day. The man sports a shock of grey hair. It was 25 years ago, to the day, that as a 30-year-old he produced the first of two concerts, both of which would go down in history.
Hollingsworth came from a musical family. He began his career building ejector-seats for jet airplanes, but quit after three months to study theories of ideology at the Open University. His cousin was the orgainzer of the world famous Glastonbury Festival and during a visit one summer Hollingsworth cut his teeth promoting a traveling Moroccan band.
He whet his appetite by staging concerts for the Greater London Council called ‘Jobs for Change’. His speciality became selling ‘issues’ on stage and when musician Jerry Dammers, the writer of the song Free Nelson Mandela, put forward the idea of an anti-apartheid concert, he was in.
Hollingsworth approached Archbishop Trevor Huddleston and Mike Terry, both anti-apartheid activists. It took some convincing.
“Fifty percent of the newspapers at that time reported Mandela as a black terrorist leader, that’s the label he had been given,” he says.
Hollingsworth went to conservative broadcasters with an idea of a concert for Mandela’s 70th birthday.
This was a time when Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of Britain, was calling the African National Congress (ANC) terrorists. The atmosphere was so charged that many of the performing artists asked for a clause in the contract to ensure that the money raised would not be used to buy guns. At that time, the ANC was embroiled in an armed struggle.
“The broadcasters asked, ‘Is it for the ANC?’ and I would say, ‘No.’ ‘The anti-apartheid movement?’ ‘No. I am doing it for Nelson Mandela’s birthday.’ Half of those people winked back. I had given them the legal solution… the other half went along in innocence.”
The media lapped it up. Especially once Dire Straits, the largest selling act in the world in 1988, signed up. In just four months the word terrorist disappeared from the news, says Hollingsworth, once broadcasters accepted that they were to air an 11-hour show about Mandela.
Then, came the crossfire.
“The ANC were furious that I was putting this event on without calling for sanctions or resistance. There was an intense, difficult time running up to it. Because they weren’t to know,” he says.
It all led up to June 1988 and a packed Wembley Stadium, where Mark Knopfler took the stage with his band Dire Straits. South Africa had banned Knopfler in 1979, after he channeled his profits from South African sales to Amnesty International.
“He was a very shy man… Mark had played a few numbers, and said to the audience, ‘Our records were banned in 1979. I am very pleased to say, this is for the man in question, this is the best birthday party we have ever been to, thanks for having us. This is the guy who launched it all for us,” says Hollingsworth.
Among the musicians on the night, was a lone, unknown, American with a guitar—Tracy Chapman.
“The song that she sang for the event, that worked completely. She sang Talkin’ Bout A Revolution. That’s what the event was like. All of the run up to it, to this trojan horse policy, to a man, that was the whisper,” says Hollingsworth.
Chapman played two sets on the night, the second by sheer luck.
The production manager ran up to Hollingsworth and shouted in his ear: “Stevie Wonder cannot go on. The equipment is gone.”
Hollingsworth didn’t even know what he was talking about. Wonder walked off the stage into the parking lot in tears because his music harddrive was lost. Hollingsworth was left with 23 minutes to fill.
“The only person who could go on stage, with no equipment was Tracy Chapman. I grabbed her manager Elliot Roberts, who discovered artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, and shouted in his ear, ‘Tracy must go back on.’ He was delighted.”
Roberts grabbed Chapman with one hand and her guitar in the other and walked her on stage without telling her what was going on. Chapman sold two million albums in the next two weeks.
“Tracy blew my mind. About 90% of people will remember her. When she came on and sang, it was like wow. She really captured the feeling in her songs. She was unforgettable,” recalls Nicholas Wolpe, who was 20 at the time.
Wolpe, the son of anti-apartheid activist Harold Wolpe, was given a ticket by the ANC.
Stevie Wonder did come back to play, without his harddrive, to a roaring crowd. He sang I Just Called To Say I Love You.
“I recall the people sitting next to me were not necessarily there for Nelson, but for the music. The principal was to highlight Nelson’s birthday, rather than imprisonment. But it achieved that. As more and more people came out on the stage to talk about Nelson, there was this gradual shift. I think people were swept up with the euphoria. It became an incredibly emotive day,” says Wolpe
Mandela was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994. Hollingsworth, the man with whom he was locked in a toilet, produced more concerts around the world, including the 850th anniversary of Moscow’s Red Square, in 1997.
You can argue that these were merely two among the millions of lives changed by June 11, 1988.

Tag: International

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From Villager To King Of A Castle

It Cost Mark Shuttleworth More To Leave South Africa Than It Did To Leave The Earth

Talkin’ Bout A Revolution… It Sounds Like A Whisper