African and the Caribbean governments are set to invest more resources and energy towards developing and promoting stronger linkages between the two regions in the fields of trade and investment, science and technology and tourism.

These, and many other such ideas geared towards fostering a stronger culture of cooperation between the mother continent and her diaspora, are some of the ideas contained in the draft declaration document that will be taken forward to the Global African Diaspora summit, which will be held on Friday, in Johannesburg.

Over 60 representatives from various African countries and the diaspora, including the Caribbean and the Americas, will converge at the Sandton Convention Centre tomorrow - a day that coincides with Africa Day - for the eminent summit.

Ministers from countries represented at the summit on Wednesday gathered at South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation headquarters in Pretoria for a meeting that essentially set the tone for tomorrow's all-important summit.

Chief amongst discussions between ministers was the draft declaration document, which is envisaged to be adopted at the close of the summit.

The resolutions set forth, amongst others, the need for Africa and her diaspora to work together towards achieving the objectives of the African Union (AU).

The AU's vision is that of "an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena".

Identifying areas of cooperation

The ministers identified areas of cooperation including education, health, culture and environmental issues as some of the crucial fields where Africa and her diaspora could build concrete relations in order to bring to fruition the AU's vision.

With global competiveness for skills, resources, land and other commodities being at an all-time high, the ministers resolved that more needed to be done through the various regional organisations to explore ways of harmonising international diplomacy and cooperation.

SA's International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said they would take these ideas contained the draft declaration to the leaders' summit so they can be considered for implementation.

Tomorrow's summit will be held under the theme, "Towards the Realisation of a United and Prosperous Africa and its Diaspora".

Amongst others, it will consider the possible inclusion of the diaspora as a sixth region of the AU and endorse an AU Diaspora Volunteer Programme, which would associate the diaspora directly with the development efforts on the continent.

In a statement issued at the end of the ministerial meeting on Wednesday, Nkoana-Mashabane said the summit was one of the vehicles through which the African Union and the African diaspora aimed to realise the vision of a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa and her diaspora.

"We are mindful of the fact that unifying Africa's people is a process; and we are of the view that this summit marks a significant milestone in this process of unifying Africa and her diaspora."

Funding Africa's infrustructure drive

The other resolution the ministers' meeting hoped would be adopted on Friday included the African Diaspora Fund, whereby Africans abroad would be able to invest in African development projects and an increase in spending on infrastructure development of the continent.

According to the AU, the continent would require about US$60-billion over the next 10 years to meet its infrastructure needs.

The ministers also hoped that there would be a creation of a database of professional skills in the African diaspora, as well as the adoption and promotion of the Development Market Place for an African Diaspora model as a framework to facilitate innovation and develop entrepreneurship to empower the youth of the continent and her diaspora.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, had indicated in his opening remarks that the draft declaration was a credible and important document that was adapted to the letter and spirit of the Diaspora Initiative. Equally important was that it was both a proposed law and working document.

Ping added that the process of rebuilding the African family was and would always remain a work in progress that could not be accomplished in one day. Concomitantly, he said focus must be on establishing appropriate structures that would facilitate more effective diaspora participation in the affairs of the Union.

The ministerial meeting, meanwhile, reinforced the call for Africa and its diaspora to unite in order to build a solid foundation for reviving the African family across the world - a move that will give impetus to the renaissance of the continent.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa is not only an important emerging economy in its own right - it is also a key gateway to sub-Saharan Africa.

Since it was introduced over two years ago, the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP2) has stabilised the clothing sector, turned around the automotive sector, added jobs in the business process services sector and had introduced procurement designation to boost local production, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says.

Presenting his Budget Vote in Parliament in Cape Town last week, Davies detailed progress made in the IPAP2 which was launched in February 2010 and which now falls under the New Growth Path.

Opposition members lauded the developments, but pointed out that the department still had a significant amount of work still to do in improving economic support, particularly when it came to boosting support to small businesses and improving export assistance.

Modest increase in employment

Davies said in spite of being introduced in 2009 during the global economic crisis, the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Improvement Programme had not only stalled employment losses in 2010 but led to a modest increase in employment in 2011.

A total of R14.4-million disbursed to 106 companies, combined with the R310 million disbursed under the production incentive scheme, had supported 48 384 direct and indirect jobs, he said.

The Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) had supported investment commitments of over R15-billion investment commitments from both assemblers and component suppliers.

Over 500 jobs were added in the sector in the last quarter, and Davies said a further set of approved projects would create about 11 000 jobs over the next three years.

The transition from the MIDP to the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) by 2013 had largely been completed, he said, adding that this had helped give policy certainty even amid global economic stagnation.

Raising competitiveness

He said the department had borrowed on the lessons of the clothing and textile production incentive, in launching the Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme (MCEP).

The department, Davies said, had learnt that the way forward for manufacturing was to invest and raise competitiveness and not wait in the hope that the global environment would improve.

The MCEP, which was launched last week and would supplement the 12i tax incentive, would be deployed towards upgrading the competitiveness of relatively labour-intensive and value-adding manufacturing sectors negatively impacted by the value of the rand, the global economic crisis and necessary increases in the cost of electricity.

The department, through the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), would improve entrepreneurial capacity by rolling out more business incubators in partnership with incubator organisations.

He said incubators, through Seda's incubator programme, had last year by the end of December 2011 created 189 new small enterprises and 931 jobs.

The government is also acting to speed up payments to small businesses.

While Seda had set up an SMME hotline in 2009, the National Treasury had recently issued practice notes to all national and provincial departments including state-owned enterprises to pay businesses within 30 days on receipt of invoice in accordance with Treasury regulations

.

This would address cash flow challenges faced by these enterprises, he said.

Boosting internal capacity

Davies said the department was boosting its internal capacity to focus more on the informal, townships and peri-urban enterprises and would also be developing a informal sector strategy, including the micro finance programme.

He said the Cooperatives Amendment Bill has been submitted for certification to the State Law Advisors and was due for submission to Cabinet for approval.

The department had assisted in supporting 220 small scale co-operatives to set up and had trained 175 co-operatives and provided 115 with market access covering both local and international markets during the past year.

"In an effort to increase market access for co-operatives, through the Brics mechanism, South Africa and China have agreed to enter into business contracts - "cooperatives to cooperatives" - on the following three commodities: maize, wine and aquaculture," he said.

Davies said the introduction of the New Companies Act had also changed the manner in which business is undertaken in South Africa and as a result, South Africa has improved significantly in the Africa Competitiveness Report's index for ease of starting a business.

Davies said with demand and growth in Western developed countries likely to remain constrained in the foreseeable future, South Africa would focus on the Brics countries, high growth markets in Africa, Middle East, Asia and other emerging economies such as Turkey, Indonesia, Chile, Vietnam and Thailand.

However, he added that the department would structure South Africa's economic relations with countries of the South in ways that foster complementarily and mutual benefit, while avoiding destructive competition.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa is not only an important emerging economy in its own right - it is also a key gateway to sub-Saharan Africa.

For the country to overcome inequality, South Africans must reach consensus on both workers' wages and executive pay rates, and speeding up the creation of new jobs, says Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

Speaking at the Next Economy National Dialogue on income inequality in Parliament, Cape Town on Thursday, Patel singled out figures in the 2010 household survey that revealed that the top 10% of earners in South Africa took home salaries that were 101 times higher than the bottom 10% of earners.

"When what one person takes away is so disproportionally larger than what another takes away, the social glue that holds society together weakens," he said, adding that income inequality also suppressed the market, as fewer people were able to buy goods and services.

Effective partnerships needed

What was needed were more effective partnerships between all sections of society.

"If partnership can do what it did to the Japanese economy after the end of the Second World War, or the German economy, or to a number of other successful economies, partnership needs a sense of being in something together," Patel said.

He highlighted the progress that Brazil had made in overcoming inequality since the mid-1990s, even though, between 2000 and 2008, Brazil and South Africa had grown at nearly the same rate - Brazil at 3.5%, South Africa at 3.6%.

The government was addressing inequality largely through social grants, the country's regressive tax system, and free or subsidised basic services.

New job opportunities key

However, this wasn't enough, Patel said, adding that the government alone would never be able to overcome inequality in South Africa.

"We have got to build, to a greater and greater extent, opportunities for employment, for jobs, for decent work, as the principle means out of poverty."

While over 300 000 new jobs had been added over the last 12 months, just over 400 000 new jobs had been added since the adoption of the New Growth Path 18 months ago - compared to the previous 18 months preceding the adoption of the new policy, when the country lost over 600 000 jobs.

"But not withstanding that jobs growth, we are hardly making a dent in jobs growth, we are hardly making a dent in unemployment levels," Patel said.

CEOs must disclose pay packages: Vavi

Also addressing the debate in Parliament, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said that at a youth wage subsidy - an idea first mooted by the National Treasury - would only address unemployment in the short term.

Vavi acknowledged that unemployment was the biggest problem the country faced, but said that at the same time, one couldn't look away from the issue of high pay, adding that the country needed a mechanism to get chief executives to disclose the level of their pay packages.

He agreed with the 2011 report and findings of the UK High Pay Commission, that shareholders should be given more power to vote on the pay packages and bonuses of top executives.

He said top South African executives wanted to measure their packages with those of other developed countries, while at the same time arguing that workers had to be paid on par with other developing countries.

Vavi pointed out that top executives in South Africa earned 1 728 times the average worker in their respective companies, while this gap was only at 319 times in the US.

Business sector 'unfairly demonised'

Bobby Godsell, chairman of Business Leadership South Africa, who backed the idea of setting up a commission to examine corporate pay as the UK had done, said the business sector was often unfairly demonised.

Business owners and business leaders were not only after money when running a company, but also wanted to build good companies and make a contribution to society.

Top executives had to be remunerated accordingly, he said.

In response to Vavi's assertion that inequality was increasingly dividing the country along class lines, Nazmeera Moola, head of macro-strategy at Macquarie First South, stressed that the country needed to create more jobs, no matter the scale of remuneration.

"There is class warfare, and the warfare is between those who have formal sector jobs and those that don't," Moola said.

What would relieve unemployment and narrow the gap between the rich and poor, she said, was if the country helped smaller firms to hire more workers.

UK High Pay Commission chairperson joins debate

Joining the debate in Cape Town on Thursday, Deborah Hargreaves, chairperson of the UK High Pay Commission, said the commission had developed a 12-point plan which had subsequently been adopted by the Labour party.

Hargreaves said the plan included a call to give shareholders a binding vote on chief executives' pay or exist bonuses.

She said the UK government was currently drafting regulations around executive pay which included making allowances for more diversity on companies' remuneration committees, and the calculation of a single figure around which executive pay could be structured.

However, she said the UK government had not turned down a more controversial idea to have employee representative on remuneration committees.

She said massive distortions in pay destabilised economic growth as it drew many of the brightest minds to the financial sector, away from the industrial sector. It also demoralised those in the workforce who felt that pay rates were unfair.

There was also evidence that more equal societies attracted more entrepreneurship.

She said the top 0.1% of income earners in the UK (earning more than £500 000 and consisting of 36 000 people) saw their pay rise by 64% between 1997 and 2008, while the income of middle-income earners rose only by seven percent over the same period.

In a recent British survey that asked how much top executives should be paid, most people polled said top executives should be paid between £500 000 and £700 000 pounds - a massive contrast to the average top pay of £4.2-million, she said.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa says it is committed to supporting its nomination of Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to lead the African Union (AU) Commission, with the backing of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

"Our government and the SADC region is united behind its candidate," International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told journalists in Pretoria on Tuesday.

In January, African leaders shelved the election of the new chairperson of the AU's executive arm until July, after both Dlamini-Zuma and the incumbent, Jean Ping, failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed to lead the organ.

The next round of votes will take place at the 19th AU Summit in Malawi in July.

Analysts believe that for South Africa to win the election, it would need considerable support from Francophone African countries.

But Nkoana-Mashabane remained confident that they still had time to rope in support for the SADC nomination. "The region continues to consult widely across all regions on the continent regarding the candidature of Dlamini-Zuma."

She noted that the continent's southern and the northern regions had never had an opportunity to lead the AU, or its predecessor the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), at the level of a chairperson.

Asked what South Africa would do if there was still a deadlock at the July AU summit, Nkoana-Mashabane said they would follow the rule book of the AU.

Dlamini-Zuma was not being fielded as a candidate to pursue the interests of any particular country or region, Nkoana-Mashabane said, adding that her work would be guided by the statutes of the AU as well as decisions of the AU's policy organs, especially the assembly and executive council.

Nkoana-Mashabane was speaking after a meeting in Benin on Monday of an eight-member African Union (AU) ad-hoc committee set up to look into ways of breaking the impasse on the election.

The committee is chaired by Benin and includes South Africa, Algeria, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon and Chad.

According to the minister, certain convergences emerged on the principle of rotation. "The principle of rotation and regional representation is entrenched in the international democratic process of the AU."

The committee will present a report on its deliberations to the AU Assembly at the Malawi summit.

The AU Commission is the secretariat of the AU, entrusted with executive functions. It is composed of 10 officials. The commission has never been headed by a woman.

Source: BuaNews

President Jacob Zuma, speaking during the hand-over of tractors and cattle to local community projects in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, encouraged South Africans to use land more effectively to fight hunger and poverty.

Zuma was in the province to roll out projects forming part of the Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative (MRDI), which aims to equip communities in rural areas to develop themselves, especially in the area of agriculture.

The MRDI is chaired by Zuma in his capacity as a community member of in Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal, where the initiative was born before being launched in Qumbu in the Eastern Cape in November.

The government has since become a partner of the initiative, with ministers pledging their support to the programme.

"It is very important, because it is when we work the land that we can quickly change the quality of life for our people," Zuma said.

"If we are sitting doing nothing, the change will take longer, and one of the important things we have to do is to work on the land. It's one of the fundamental things we have to achieve."

Zuma said the government had been assisting communities with agricultural implements to grow food for local markets.

In Peddie earlier in the day, tractors were donated to local agricultural projects.

In Butterworth, Zuma handed over 10 tractors to the Mtshanyaneni Agricultural and Farming Cooperative. More than 100 locals are involved with the project, which focuses on crop and cattle farming.

One of the cooperative's members, Phila Gcasamba, said land was still a crucial tool to address poverty in rural areas.

"For us it's not about waiting for handouts, but we do appreciate when we get assistance here and there, because through these projects people are able to sell what they yield, which in turn ensures some form of income," Gcasamba said.

Source: BuaNews

The Small Enterprise Finance Agency will have access to R1.4-billion in funding for South African small businesses over the next three years, with input from the Industrial Development Corporation being crucial to its effectiveness, says Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

Launching the new state agency in Cape Town on Monday, Patel said the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) had pledged R921-million to the body over the next three years, while the government had put in R535-million.

The Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa), a result of a merger between Khula, the SA Micro Finance Apex Fund (Samaf) and the IDC's small business lending portfolio, will be a wholly-owned agency of the IDC.

It will focus on providing loans of up to R3-million to small businesses.

IDC know-how, positioning key

Samaf and Khula had previously lent out through banks and financial intermediaries which would then on-lend to small businesses. Patel said Sefa would continue to use these two channels, but would add a third channel - that of direct lending, through a direct lending product currently being piloted.

"We want to ensure that the impact is felt in jobs, in sustainable enterprises and in the growth of entrepreneurship in the economy," said Patel, added that the lending market know-how that the IDC brought would be important.

The state development finance institution would also be better placed to include small businesses in major projects it was financing, by working out where the opportunities lay for contracts for small businesses - thereby helping to break the current high concentration of big businesses in South Africa's economy.

Co-ordination with other agencies, banks

Sefa will work closely with other agencies, such as the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), as well as with provincial agencies that finance small businesses - including Limdev in Limpopo province, the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, the Free State Development Corporation and the Eastern Cape Development Corporation.

The new agency would also partner with the Postbank which would be set up soon, Patel said, as well as work with the country's commercial banks to ensure that its products complemented theirs.

In addition, Sefa would encourage large companies to mentor small firms and bring them into their supply chains.

Patel said the agency's cost-to-lending ratio was vital, noting that it would save about R20-million a year through office space and services no longer being duplicated by entities that merged in its formation.

Entrepreneurship 'vital to any dynamic economy'

Entrepreneurship was vital to any dynamic economy, and could unlock the talent and energy of South Africans to produce wealth, Patel said.

There was a need to bring more small businesses into the country's manufacturing, agro-processing, mining services, tourism and services, infrastructure support, and green economy sectors, Patel said.

After meeting with Patel on Monday, the agency's board, chaired by Sizeka Rensburg, agreed to set up a dashboard to track the progress of the agency. Willie Fourie is the agency's acting chief executive.

Rensburg said the agency would also help small businesses to take advantage of infrastructure projects by linking up with the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission.

Sefa's products include bridging finance, revolving loans, asset finance, working capital and term loans.

The agency will also provide wholesale microfinance facilities to financial institutions - following on the practice of Samaf - and microfinance of up to R100 000 will be available to micro enterprises.

Source: BuaNews

The BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has called on the G20 to strengthen its coordination and find ways to improve the multilateral trading system in order to address current global economic uncertainties.

The call was made at a G20 ministerial meeting in Mexico over the weekend.

South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the BRICS trade ministers had called upon their fellow G20 trade ministers to identify ways to improve the multilateral trading system.

"We have made this call, so that all economies may pursue a sustainable and 'development-friendly' integration in global trade, including adjustment strategies for their industries and workforce, as well as the appropriate social and sectoral policies to respond to existing structural vulnerabilities," Davies said in a statement released on Monday.

Conclusion of Doha Round 'vital'

The BRICS ministers had re-emphased their commitment to the Doha Development Round, saying the conclusion of the Doha would be a significant step in this direction and urging the G20 to work towards this.

According to BRICS ministers, while global value chains were playing an increasing role in trade, many sectors, industries and even countries were not participating in global value chains as fully as others.

"In order for global value chains to serve as instruments of growth and development, it would be important to develop a deeper understanding of their developmental impact and the conditions under which they can be used to achieve long term socio-economic gains," Davies said.

At the same time, Davies cautioned that obstacles should not be placed in the way of the development and effective functioning of global value chains "for protectionist reasons".

"In this context, it would be useful to have a member-driven process, in the WTO, Unctad and other intergovernmental agencies, to examine this issue, including the identification of more accurate statistical methods to assess value addition."

SAinfo reporter

Nthambeleni Gabara

Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti has urged beneficiaries of land redistribution to use their new assets productively to help them participate in the mainstream of South Africa's economy.

"Our message to land claimants is that ... once we give you the piece of land, you must use it productively to fight poverty and unemployment," Nkwinti said at a ceremony marking the restoration of 12 503 hectares of land to the Lomshiyo Community outside Barberton in Mpumalanga province on Saturday.

"This government is moving faster in redistributing land to its rightful owners through negotiated settlements with the private sector because the majority of our people want their ancestral land [for farming]," Nkwinti said.

"We don't want this timber plantation farmland to become a white elephant."

'Like coming back to life from the dead'

An estimated 2 593 people, comprising 485 households, of which 203 are headed by women, will benefit from the handover of the land.

The chairperson of the Lomshiyo community, Mandla Mavuso, has big plans for its use and development.

"Getting our ancestral land back feels like coming back to life from the dead," Mavuso told BuaNews. "We are willing to work with those who have been using this piece of land. We want to keep this farmland productive.

"We will also look at the possibility of turning this area into a tourist destination," he added.

The restored land was part of Shannon Properties - who have been using it as a timber plantation - as well as other surrounding farms. There are 58 farms in total in the area, and 90 percent of them are privately owned.

'Agricultural sustainability the goal'

Nkwinti told BuaNews that the sustainability of South Africa's agricultural sector was a key goal of the state's land reform programme.

Nkwinti added that he was pleased with progress made in the redistribution of land in Mpumalanga province, while the 16 outstanding land claims in the Free State would be finalised in June this year. The Eastern Cape still had 600 outstanding cases, he said.

The government has set itself the goal of redistributing 30 percent of South Africa's land to historically disadvantaged communities by 2014.

"By speeding up the process of redistributing land to its rightful owners, we think that we are moving towards achieving that mission," Nkwinti said.

Source: BuaNews

Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe will lead a group of South African companies to the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair taking place in Bulawayo from Tuesday to Saturday.

Thabethe said in a statement on Monday that it was important for South Africa, in its push for sustainable economic development and investment in the wider southern African region, to pursue partnerships with Zimbabwe.

She added that the Fair, with its strong international orientation, would offer regional and international business contacts to the South African exhibitors.

"They will also get an opportunity to market their products and services, increase their market knowledge of Zimbabwe, increase exports of South African manufactured goods and services, obtain trade leads, and generate export orders," Thabethe said.

"Also, by establishing their presence in Zimbabwe, South African companies will be able to access other markets in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region like Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola."

The companies exhibiting at the Fair have received financial assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry DTI through its Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) Scheme, which seeks to develop export markets for South African value-added products and services and to recruit new foreign direct investment into the country.

According to the DTI, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is one of the largest intra-regional and multi-sectoral trade fairs south of the Sahara.

In 2011 the fair attracted 729 exhibitors, 139 of whom were foreign exhibitors from Botswana, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Kenya, Germany, Malawi, Turkey, Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia, Iran and Namibia. 146 646 visitors passed through the Bulawayo International Exhibition Centre's turnstiles to attend the exhibition.

"The recovery of the Zimbabwean economy since the advent of dollarization three years ago has seen demand for exhibition space from international exhibitors growing considerably," the DTI said.

SAinfo reporter

Cape Town's film industry will receive a welcome boost as the internationally renowned Tribeca Film Festival will arrive on South African shores in 2013.

The Cape Film Commission has signed an agreement with espAfrika (the organisers of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival) to bring the New York-based festival to South Africa each year for the next five years.

The Tribeca Film Festival was established by Robert De Niro and two other entertainment industry partners in the wake of the twin towers tragedy.

The festival was designed to regenerate the area following the devastation experienced by the Tribeca neighbourhood.

On a visit by the directors of Tribeca to last year's jazz festival in Cape Town, espAfrika was approached to manage and produce the Tribeca Film Festival in South Africa, along the same franchise lines as the Tribeca Film Festival in Doha.

The festival has achieved its objectives and launched the careers of many film-makers.

The festival also has a very strong training and development component which will form an integral part of what the Cape Film Commission and espAfrika are planning.

"The opportunity this creates for the local and African film industry is very important as the festival will create a much-needed international platform for our local film-makers and industry," said espAfrika CEO Rashid Lombard.

SAinfo reporter