South Africa

PRETORIA – Energy Minister Dipuo Peters wants copper theft to be classified as economic sabotage. Peters says at the government's Infrastructure Development Cluster briefing that her department has written to Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to suggest that legislation be changed so that cable theft can be classified as a serious offence. "At the moment cable theft is treated as petty theft," she says. "A person who steals the copper is a murderer, a thief and a saboteur." The crime, she adds, is economic sabotage, which disrupts energy, transport and telecommunications service delivery. Her comments come after stolen cables disrupted the Gautrain for the second time in two weeks between the Hatfield, Pretoria and Centurion stations. Energy department deputy director-general Ompi Aphane says cable theft cost the country around R100 million last year, but that the indirect costs to the economy are far higher. In a statement, the cluster says that eight people were arrested for stealing copper cable from the ERPM mine, in Boksburg. The Gautrain's operator Bombela Concession Company (BCC) has asked the government to help it fight copper theft and to implement harsher penalties for thieves.

JOHANNESBURG – Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has welcomed recent suggestions by two Cabinet Ministers on the need for a flexible labour market. Busa says it agrees with the suggestion by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Planning Minister Trevor Manuel that South Africa will not reach employment targets unless greater efforts are made to maintain an employment-friendly environment in which business is encouraged to create jobs. It believes that a flexible labour market is essential for widespread job creation in South Africa, Busa says. "If large-scale youth unemployment in particular is to be successfully tackled, there will need to be more flexibility around the regulatory framework and the acceptance of wage subsidy initiatives," it adds. "Any legislative reform should identify and eliminate administrative or statutory obstacles to job rich economic growth." Manuel appears to endorse Gordhan's suggestion that labour laws might need to be relaxed to create more jobs. At a conference in Johannesburg, Gordhan says it might be necessary "to change the way we see the labour dispensation in South Africa". Laws might need to be relaxed to allow young people to enter the workplace and gain skills and experience at lower wages, but not at the expense of people who already have jobs. Unless such changes are made, "we will not be able to make the breakthrough we need to create jobs", Gordhan says.

CAPE TOWN – The Presidency has ‘rejected’ a Democratic Alliance (DA) call for a Parliamentary debate on the “growing list of State deals that have benefited President Jacob Zuma’s (pictured) family and friends”. “The President does not hold any personal or financial interest in any business or corporate entity,” Zuma’s spokesperson Mac Maharaj says. “He makes his annual declaration of interests to the secretary of Cabinet. The declaration is designed to ensure that a conflict of interest does not arise in the performance of his executive office.” The financial interests that the President has to disclose relate directly to the President as well as to spouses and dependants. DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip says he was asking National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu for a special debate on the matter. “The National Assembly rules make provision for matters of public importance, which the DA believes this to be, to be placed on the order paper for discussion,” he says. The most recent ‘Zuma Inc’ deal has seen the President’s son-in-law, Lonwabo Sambudla, linked to a controversial R1-billion State tender, he adds. In addition to the most recent scandal involving Sambudla, Zuma’s affiliates have been linked to controversial deals since he took office. These included the South African Police Service lease saga, in which ‘Zuma affiliate’ Roux Shabangu was the owner of the buildings involved in the Durban and Pretoria lease scandals.

JOHANNESBURG – Johannesburg needs to plan for a population growth of 66% in the next three decades, the City of Johannesburg says. “This growing population will require access to clean water, dependable energy sources and reliable management of sanitation and waste,” mayoral committee member Ros Greeff said at a seminar on resource sustainability in Newtown. The seminar was part of the city’s programme to revise its Growth and Development Strategy, taking into account the needs of Johannesburg’s residents over the next 30 years. Greeff says that population growth requires waste management to be improved. “Residents of Johannesburg must realise that separation of waste at source will in future no longer be an option, but a necessity. Pikitup has introduced a pilot project to introduce and manage this process that will, in future, be expanded across the city,” she says. More than 1.8-million tons of garbage is collected in the city every year. Almost 250 000 t is generated through illegal dumping and about 1 800 t of litter is collected from the streets. Greef says the city is also determined to root out cable theft and illegal electricity connections.

Africa & the world

LUSAKA – Campaigning for Zambia's September presidential election is in full swing with the incumbent launching an expensive building project at a time when State coffers are coming under pressure from declining revenue from its main export, copper. At least ten aspirants have signed up to contest the September 20 vote, largely seen as a two-man race between incumbent President Rupiah Banda and opposition Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata, a gruff populist critical of what he sees as the increasing influence of foreign firms over the economy. "It is too close to call," said political analyst Lee Habasonda of the University of Zambia. Banda has won accolades from foreign mining firms for opening the country to international investment, especially from China, and providing clear regulations on operations that have helped keep the playing field level. Banda, leader of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, and Sata have pledged hefty spending to woo voters by building up a woefully inadequate infrastructure in the country with a $13-billion-a-year economy. Banda has proposed spending one-trillion kwacha on the upgrading of urban roads and intends more spending on other infrastructure such as schools, clinics and bridges.

LAGOS – Nigeria looks set to overtake South Africa as the continent's biggest issuer of local government debt with a planned $650-million auction by one of its states in October, but subnational bonds remain far off for much of Africa. Capital markets can prove cheaper than bank loans – and may be the only option – for some governments seeking to fill budget gaps or fund big infrastructure projects, but in much of Africa the growth of local debt issuance has been slow to take off. A planned 100-billion naira bond issue by Rivers State in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta will take Nigeria's total local debt stock to more than $2.3-billion compared with South Africa's $1.9-billion in municipal bonds. "Banks in Nigeria have only a small direct exposure to Nigerian subnationals, about 5-10% of their total loans," says Maciek Szymanski, an investment analyst at African Alliance, explaining why Nigerian states are keen to issue bonds. "In South Africa, the banking sector is more consolidated and has more capacity to lend to municipalities." South Africa's business centre Johannesburg became the first local authority to tap the bond markets in 2004 and has since been joined by neighbouring Ekurhuleni and the port and tourism capital of Cape Town. But the outstanding issues still account for only about 1% of South Africa's bond market – Africa's biggest by far.

WASHINGTON – Global food prices held near three-year highs in July and stocks are low, piling on pressure on the world’s poor, the World Bank says. The World Bank Food Price Index increased 33% in July from a year ago and stayed close to 2008 peak levels, with large rises in the prices for maize and sugar. “Persistently high food prices and low food stocks indicate that we’re still in the danger zone, with the most vulnerable people the least able to cope,” says World Bank president Robert Zoellick. High food and energy prices have stoked inflation pressures around the globe, but the problem has been more acute in developing nations. Although food prices are moderating in most advanced countries, uncertainties about the global economy and the political situation in the Middle East and North Africa mean oil prices are likely to remain volatile, keeping inflation on the radar. While overall food supply has improved since April – mainly because of good wheat harvests in the US and Europe and better maize yields in Argentina and Brazil – global stocks remain “alarmingly” low, the World Bank says.

RABAT – Morocco’s government has proposed a Parliamentary election early in November, instead of the scheduled date of September next year, a government Minister says. Moroccan ruler King Mohammed has said he wants early elections to follow through on a package of Constitutional reforms that are designed to reduce the risk of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings reaching his country. Setting the new date has involved delicate negotiations between the Interior Ministry, which oversees elections, and some political parties, which say more time is needed to prepare fraudproof elections.