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Nigeria, South Africa Partner On Crude Oil Supplies

2012-05-24T10:46:00.001-07:00

With the uncertainty over supply of oil from Iran, South Africa is partnering with Nigeria for the purchase of its oil, the Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said, following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with the Vice President of Nigeria, Namadi Sambo, on Wednesday.
South Africa may be forced to comply with a US order to cease buying oil from Iran - from which it sources about a quarter of its oil - or risk economic penalties from America. The Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters, last week said government would decide on its response to proposed sanctions by the end of this month.
Motlanthe said PetroSA and private traders were expected to look at supply agreements for oil from Nigeria.
"We would guarantee going forward to our Nigerian brothers (that there will be) demand for their liquid fuel, because we don't want to source our fuel in areas that are likely to be unstable," he said.
"Indeed, we are quite confident that Nigeria will become one of our trusted suppliers of liquid fuel going forward," he said.
Sambo said Nigeria was ready to offer any economic support - be it energy or otherwise.
Motlanthe said the agreement he signed with Sambo on Wednesday would help prepare the way for a more enabling business environment between two of the continent's biggest economies.
He said the agreement enabled both countries to rope in business people from both countries that had an idea for investment opportunities in both countries.
Nigerian companies with the wherewithal to supply infrastructure projects - including the supply of cement - would be invited to participate in South Africa's massive infrastructure programme.
Sambo arrived in South Africa on Monday at the invitation of Motlanthe to attend the 8th South Africa-Nigeria Bi-National Commission.
The two discussed several issues and reviewed the progress made since the 7th Bi-National Commission was held in Abuja in 2008.
They also discussed the progress made on the seven working groups of the Bi-National Commission. These workings groups are: foreign affairs and co-operation; trade, industry and finance; security and defence; agriculture, water resources and environment; minerals and energy; public enterprises and infrastructure; and the social and technical working group.
A Memorandum of Understanding on economic and technical co-operation was signed between Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies and Nigeria's Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga.
Another Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Aganga and the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, to offer mutual assistance with customs administration between the two countries.
Sambo said Nigeria had put the incident that took place at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg in March - when several Nigerians were deported after a dispute over yellow fever vaccinations - behind it.
"Nigerians are happy about the way they are treated in South Africa," he said, adding that there was a plan to expand the number of years for which travel visas can be used for, while doing away completely with diplomatic passports.

WORLD BANK'S NEW PRESIDENT - JIM YONG KIM

2012-04-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

A Korean-born American health expert Jim Yong Kim has been chosen as the World Bank's new president, maintaining Washington's grip on the job and leaving developing countries questioning the selection process. Kim, 52, won the job over Nigeria's widely respected finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Unlike previous World Bank elections, the decision was not unanimous. "The final nominees received support from different member countries, which reflected the high calibre of the candidates," the Bank said in announcing its board's decision. The bank hailed the selection process as competitive, saying that the challenge posed by Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, as well as by Colombian candidate Jose Antonio Ocampi, would benefit the institution in the long-run. The three candidacies "enriched the discussion of the role of the president and of the World Bank Group's future direction" the World Bank said. By convention, the US has always held the top job at the World Bank since it was founded in 1944. The top job of its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund, has also always gone to a European but there has been much pressure from emerging economies to open the processes of both organisations to competition. Kim, president of Dartmouth College, will assume his new post on July 1.

South Africa apologies to Nigeria over yellow fever row

2012-03-10T01:38:00.003-08:00

South Africa has apologised for the deportation last week of 125 Nigerians over suspicions that their yellow fever certificates were fake.

The action quickly turned into a diplomatic spat - with Nigeria refusing South Africans entry and the foreign minister branding Pretoria xenophobic.

South Africa has rejected that claim - and promised new procedures to avoid a repeat of the "regrettable incident".

At one stage Nigerian carrier, Arik Air, suspended flights to South Africa.

Yellow fever is spread through infected mosquitoes and has a wide array of symptoms from nausea and vomiting to kidney failure, jaundice and bleeding.

According to the UN World Health Organization, about half those who develop severe symptoms of the haemorrhagic illness and are untreated die from the disease - about 30,000 people each year worldwide.

'Regrettable incident'

"We wish to humbly apologise to them, and we have," South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ibrahim said.

"We are apologising because we deported a number of people who should not have been deported," Mr Ibrahim said - adding that he does not expect an apology from Nigeria for the tit-for-tat deportations of South African nationals.

He blamed airport authorities for what a joint statement with Nigeria described as a "regrettable incident which the South African government believes could have been handled better".

The Nigerians were turned away on 2 March because the yellow fever certificates were not check properly, according to the deputy minister.

South Africa is considering reopening a travel clinic at Johannesburg's airport - so that travellers without a yellow fever certificate can be vaccinated on arrival rather than deported.

And from now on, mass deportations will need the permission of foreign ministry officials, the deputy minister said.

On Tuesday, Olugbenga Ashiru, Nigeria's foreign minister, said the deportations was evidence of xenophobia.

"What you see playing out is what we call xenophobia by South Africans against all Africans - not just Nigerians," AFP news agency reported him as saying.

In 2008, South Africa saw a wave of xenophobic violence which shocked the nation and shook up the world's view of the "rainbow nation".

Mr Ibrahim said on Thursday that South Africa is not a xenophobic country.

The two countries say the yellow fever row will not undermine bilateral relations - and they are moving to strengthening them.

Nigeria is one of the biggest markets for South Africa's MTN mobile phone operator, while retailer Shoprite and Standard Bank also have profitable operations there.

Nigeria, South Africa feud over yellow fever jabs

2012-03-08T23:49:00.001-08:00

ABUJA (Reuters) – South Africa and Nigeria are embroiled in a diplomatic spat after the authorities at Johannesburg airport deported 125 Nigerians, alleging their yellow fever vaccination certificates were fakes – the latest twist in a long-standing rivalry between Africa’s two biggest economies.

Nigeria has responded with undisguised tit-for-tat deportations of 84 South Africans in the past two days, according to a senior official at the State Security Service who could not be named.

“South Africans will know we are very serious with this matter and that any deportation of any Nigerian, we will meet it with equal reciprocal measure,” Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru told a hearing at the National Assembly late on Tuesday.

“What you see playing out is … xenophobia by South Africans against all Africans, not just Nigerians, including even those from their neighbouring countries,” he said.

A spokesman for South Africa’s home affairs department said the decision to deport the Nigerians stemmed purely from concerns about health.

“It’s not an immigration issue, it’s a health matter … Nobody without a yellow fever certificate is allowed into the country and that’s what this is,” said Ronnie Mamoepa.

Cards proving vaccination against yellow fever – a deadly mosquito-borne disease – are required by most African countries for entry. But they sometimes serve as a lever for immigration officials to obstruct travel or extort bribes.

Olugbenga warned that Nigeria could take broader retaliatory measures, including a clampdown on South African companies.

“Their companies here in Nigeria are making more profit than in South Africa. They bring in half-baked graduates and place them above better qualified Nigerians, and we have been overlooking that before now. There are many ways to hit back,” he told the Senate.

Nigeria is the biggest market for South Africa’s MTN mobile operator. South Africa’s Shoprite and Standard Bank Group also have profitable operations in Nigeria.

Nigeria and South Africa have been at odds diplomatically at the African Union several times, including over the conflicts sparked by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s and Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo’s bids to stay in power last year.

South Africa backed Gbagbo and Gaddafi as counterweights to Western hegemony, even when the two men began killing opposition demonstrators, while Nigeria backed intervention to oust them.

Forged yellow fever vaccination certificates are easy to buy from hawkers at Lagos airport.

Unlike many African countries, relatively developed South Africa has the facilities to check whether they are fake.

PROTEST OVER HIGH WAY TOLL IN SOUTH AFRICA

2012-03-08T23:47:00.002-08:00

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through South African cities on Wednesday in a protest by the powerful Cosatu labour body, the latest sign of tensions within the ANC-led government.

The protesters were pushing the government to scrap plans for tolls on major roads around Johannesburg and rein in the practice of employment agencies that offer workers short-term contracts at lower pay.

But the marches were another show of discontent with the African National Congress-led government, which has ruled since Nelson Mandela became the first black president in 1994.

First warning shot

“We have come here to fire the first warning shot. And in our chamber, there is still a lot of bullets,” Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) chief Zwelinzima Vavi told a cheering Johannesburg crowd that police estimated at 45,000.

Vavi drew a line in the sand on tolling set to start at the end of next month, threatening to shut down the highways of South Africa’s economic heartland.

“If they say they will introduce this, we will take everybody we see here and even more and put them on the highways of Johannesburg,” he said. “We will make this system unworkable.”

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“That is a form of privatisation of the roads. Instead of the (city) council providing us with the services, the basic services, such as roads and public health assistance, we must now pay for everything,” he said.

“The government loses 30 billion rand ($3.9 billion) in a financial year to graft or fraud,” he said, citing a report last year by official investigators.

The embattled leader of the ANC Youth League, Julius Malema, stood behind Vavi as he spoke — just a week after the party moved to expel him for provoking divisions within its ranks.

Malema, who has vowed to appeal his expulsion, had become a leading voice opposing Zuma’s re-election as ANC chief at the party’s elective conference in December.

And while the protest avoided overtly political tones, Cosatu’s underlying message was clear: Zuma will still have to earn its support.

Cosatu organised marches in 32 towns and cities, with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban posting the biggest turnouts.

Plans for road tolls have provoked widespread anger across Gauteng, the tiny province that includes Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.

Cyclone Irina hits KwaZulu-Natal coast

2012-03-08T23:46:00.002-08:00

Cyclone Irina remains a threat to the KwaZulu-Natal coast, police and disaster services said on Sunday.

The weather system was likely to remain over open water between Maputo and Richards Bay for the next 24 hours, according to the National Joint Operational Centre.

"A combination of very rough seas, marine storm surge, as well as gale-force winds are likely to threaten the coastline during this time," said police spokesperson Colonel Vishnu Naidoo.

Commercial and recreational fishing should be alerted to this threat, he said. He said the likelihood of further heavy rain was diminishing.

The National Joint Operational Centre is coordinating the response to the storm.

It includes police, the South African Weather Service, disaster management, the army, and government departments such as health.

Provincial structures have been established to monitor the situation on a 24-hour basis, to direct resources to affected areas.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal commended the provincial government for its co-ordinated response to the storm.

"The KwaZulu-Natal government has done a sterling job by putting all systems in place to swiftly respond to the cyclone. We have no doubt that these measures have helped to save many lives," said ANC spokesperson Sihle Zikalala.

"Our hearts go to all people who have been affected by the cyclone. We have been informed that many people have had their homes destroyed by the cyclone. We urge our people to on the alert to prevent fatalities," Zikalala said.

The ANC commended government for providing relief to people affected by the cyclone, including transport for schoolchildren and food.

A house collapsed on a woman breaking both her legs in Jozini in the Nyawushadi area on Sunday morning, after floods hit northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Cooperative governance spokesperson Vernon Mchunu said emergency services were negotiating through mud and dirt in a bid to reach Phumaphi Makhaye (56).

Mchunu could not give figures of families that were displaced and people who were injured as disaster teams were still quantifying the damage. He estimated that about 300 houses had been flooded.

On Saturday the South African Weather Service reported that tropical storm Irina would result in heavy falls of rain over the extreme southern parts of Mozambique, Swaziland, Mpumalanga and the east coast of South Africa, which would create the risk of flooding.

"Very rough seas with wave heights in excess of 4 to 6 metres are also expected from Richards Bay to Maputo," said SA Weather services spokesperson Hannelee Doubell.

Rescue operations were underway in various parts of the northern coastal parts of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

"At the moment we are hard at work assisting people whose houses have been flooded. Moves are being made to also evacuate others to safety," said cooperative governance provincial minister Nomusa Dube.

She said provincial government was in the process of organising temporary housing units for displaced families.