A digital copy of the Business News 24 (15 July edition). Zimbabwe's premier business news free sheet published by the Zimpapers Newspapers Group (1980) Limited and available every week day from 1530hrs to give a summary of the day's business news.

1. News Update as @ 1530 hours, Tuesday 15 July 2014
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By Tawanda Musarurwa
The outlying areas of Karoi, Rusape
and Mvurwi have directly benefit-
ted from around $45 million contract
tobacco revenue due to Mashonaland
Tobacco Company's de-centralisation
of the crop's marketing
MTC managing director Kenneth
Langley told the Parliamentary Port-
folio Committee on Lands, Agriculture
MechanisationandIrrigationthismorn-
ing that the decision to de-centralise
marketing had extended financial ben-
efits to areas outside the capital.
"Thede-centralisationofmarketinghas
had a huge impact on the communities
where this has happened.
Whatishappeningisthatthesalespro-
ceedsfromthesalesisnowbeingspent
in those areas instead of being spent in
Harare and this has had a direct impact
on business operations in the three
centres where we have markets, which
are Karoi, Rusape and Mvurwi.
"And the gross value of tobacco sold
across those three areas this year is
in the region of $45 million, that's $45
million which is now being spent in
those communities," said Langley.
Besides the financial gain, Langley said
the de-centralisation resulted in effi-
ciency benefits for the tobacco farm-
ers in these areas and also reduced
instances of side-marketing.
"Mashonaland Tobacco Company is the
only contractor who has de-centralised
the buying of tobacco.
We have taken out buying centres to
our main growing areas and there are
particular advantages for the farmer in
that it provides an efficient marketing
place for his product. This saves time
and expense in travelling to Harare."
He however pointed out that the com-
pany had no plans to open new mar-
keting centres in other parts of the
country.
There have been concerns that the
new dominance of contract tobacco
farming could threaten the viability of
auction floors and figures provided by
MTC seem to confirm the new direc-
tion tobacco farming in Zimbabwe is
headed. •
Outlying areas get $45m in tobacco revenue

2. 2 NEWS
MTC is the largest single contractor for
small-scale tobacco farmers, with 2
435 small-scale growers having being
contracted for the current season. Dur-
ing the same period, the company also
had 214 medium-scale growers and 35
large-scale growers. Langley said the
contract system helps them to guaran-
tee the volumes required by their local
and international clientele.
He said contract tobacco farming also
offers them traceability of the output
in order to meet the stringent require-
ments set by global buyers as relates
banned chemicals and issues of child
labour. Mashonaland Tobacco Com-
pany - a subsidiary of Alliance One
International - is a tobacco processor
and is one of the 19 tobacco contactors
operating in Zimbabwe. •
Wildlife administrators in Zimbabwe
asked the U.S. government to lift a
temporary ban on ivory imports from
the southern African nation immedi-
ately, the Department of Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority said.
The U.S. banned imports of ivory from
Zimbabwe and Tanzania in February,
citing concern over whether the ele-
phant populations were sustainable.
ZimbabwesenttheU.S.FishandWild-
life Service information it requested to
help make decide on the ban more
than six weeks ago, Caroline Wash-
aya-Moyo, spokeswoman for the
authority, said by phone yesterday
from Harare, the capital.
As one of the so-called big-five African
animals, elephants form an important
part of Zimbabwe’s hunting industry,
which earned $360.1 million from
2005 to 2009, the authority said in
a paper presented to a U.S. congres-
sional hearing June 24.
The authority says the 97,500 ele-
phants in the nation, which is slightly
bigger than the U.S. state of Mon-
tana, destroy trees and food supplies
needed for other species.
“As yet, no effort has been made to lift
the ban that they based on what they
said was inadequate information,” Itai
Hilary Tendaupenyu, the authority’s
principal ecologist, wrote in the paper.
“Now that they have had time to view
the information we provided, Zimba-
bwe would like to see the ban lifted
immediately.”
The authority receives no direct fund-
ing from the government, Tendau-
penyu said.
Hunting Contribution Elephant hunt-
ing contributes more than $14 million
a year and “not less than 55 percent”
of the income from sport hunting goes
directly to the poor, rural communities
where wildlife is often their only source
of income, according to the report.
This type of hunting generally takes
place in areas that are too hot, dry
and inaccessible for agriculture, it said.
A client will pay about $30,000 in per-
mit fees and for the hire of a profes-
sional hunter to get an elephant.
A lion kill will probably cost a hunter
about $55,000, according to the
authority’s guidelines. The big five
game animals are lions, elephants,
Cape buffalos, leopards and rhinos.
Zimbabwe’s elephant population is
concentrated in the northwest of the
country, the Zambezi valley and the
southern Lowveld region, all areas
unsuitable for agriculture, the author-
ity said.
“If hunting is no longer an economi-
cally viable form of land use, com-
munities will choose pastoralism and
unviable agriculture, which reduces
habitat available for elephants,” Tend-
aupenyu said.
“Local communities will only find an
incentive to protect elephants if they
can derive economic value from such
a resource.” - Bloomberg •
Zimbabwe wants U.S. to lift ivory-import ban immediately

3. BH24

4. 4 NEWS
Zimbabwe needs a clear procurement framework
By Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Government needs a clear procure-
ment framework to ensure that the
local productive sector can easily
compete with entities from other
countries, Parliamentarians heard
today.
Giving oral evidence to the Parlia-
mentary Portfolio Committee on
Industry and Commerce, Buy Zim-
babwe general manager Munyaradzi
Hwengwere said the county has no
clear legislative provisions on pro-
curement which meant that most
goods and services are being pro-
cured from other countries.
“We have a weak procurement
framework in the country. Within the
Indigenisation framework, there is a
requirement that at least 50 percent
of procurement by the public sector
must be from indigenous entities but
that provision has no relationship to
any other statutory provision and
there is no implementation frame-
work for that,” he said.
He said even loans being given to the
public sector come attached with con-
tractors from those countries giving
the loan so at the end of the day, the
money returns to its original country
and Zimbabweans are left with noth-
ing. He said Government should also
improve clarity on activities that hap-
pen around the State Procurement
Board so that it can be easy to meas-
ure the extent to which companies,
and even Parliament, are procuring
locally.
Hwengwere added that products from
other countries can come into Zim-
babwe without meeting any quality
standard, unlike South Africa, where
every order needs clearance from a
standards regulatory body.
He said Government should ensure
that products that come into the
country have the same quality and
standards as those produced locally
to even the ground for local players.
“The United States dollar is 17 to 24
percent overvalued against the South
African rand, where we get about 42
percent of our major imports. So that
would mean that companies using
the US dollar operate at about 24 per-
cent above companies that operate in
South Africa and that their prices are
generally more expensive,” he said.
He added that Government should
also tighten border posts and clamp
down on dumping of goods into the
country so that all goods and services
that come into Zimbabwe meet a cer-
tain quality threshold.
Four Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)
listed companies face suspension from
the bourse after failing to pay annual
listing fees amounting to $23 000 for
last year, the exchange said on Tues-
day.
These are Art Holdings, Celsys Limited,
Border Timbers and RioZim. ZSE chief
executive Alban Chirume said the firms
had been given up to July 29 to settle
their obligations.
“In the event that the fees remained
unsettled by 29 July, 2014, the ZSE
shall make an application for the sus-
pensioninthetradingofthe companies’
shares on the ZSE,” Chirume said in a
statement. Border Timbers owes the
bourse $13 294, RioZim $5 000, Celsys
$3 000 and ART Holdings $2 000. “The
feesweredueonJune30,2013andthe
issuers are therefore in breach of listing
requirements,” Chirume said.
“Several unsuccessful attempts have
been made to recover the fees.” He
urged investors to tread with caution
when trading in the shares of the four
companies. An increasingly difficult eco-
nomic situation is impacting on most
listed companies which has resulted in
firms failing to adhere with ZSE listing
rules.
In 2013, 10 firms were delisted while
five firms were suspended. A total of 66
companies with a total capitalisation of
over $4 billion are listed on the ZSE. —
New Ziana •
Four ZSE listed firms face suspension

5. BH24

6. 6 AGRICULTURE
By Funny Hedzerema
An oversupply in tobacco on the
global market could be the main rea-
son for an 18 percent decline in Zim-
babwe's tobacco exports to date for
the current season.
In the current season there has been
an overproduction in burley tobacco
in Brazil and flue-cured tobacco in
China, which has contributed to lower
global demand.
According to the Tobacco Marketing
Industry Board (TIMB)'s seasonal
exports permit issued by destination
as at July 11, Zimbabwe's seasonal
tobacco exports currently stand at
37,5 million kilogrammes, down from
the 45,6 million recorded prior com-
parable period last year. This means
$164,6 million has obtained bought
at an average price of $4,38 per kg,
from last year's $190,2 million at an
average price of $4,16 per kg.
Meanwhile, Belgium has remained
the top buyer of Zimbabwean tobacco
this year. The TIMB figures show
that Belgium has purchased a total
mass of 10,8 million kgs of exported
tobacco worth $50,5 million at an
average price of $4,68 per kg. United
Arab Emirates (UAE) is in second
place with 5,6 million kgs worth $16,1
million, but at a lower average price
of $2,86 per kg.
In third - in terms of volumes - is
neighbouring South Africa, which has
purchased 4,3 million kgs to the value
of $19,5 million at an average price
of $4,47 per kg.
China occupies fourth position with
a recorded total of 3,6 million kgs of
tobacco to date worth $23,2 million
at a higher average price of $6,39
per kg. Russia has purchased a total
mass of 2,2 million kgs worth $7,4
million at an average price of $3,34
per kg. •
Zim tobacco exports lower on global oversupply

7. BH24

8. By Lynn Murahwa
Government has urged international
trusts and organisations to aid in
women’s capacity building as it is
limited in its efforts to support the
advancement of women in business.
Speaking at an entrepreneurship
development training workshop for
women in Harare this morning, dep-
uty director in the Ministry of Women
Affairs, Gender and Community Wis-
dom Karonga said the ministry does
not have enough ability to aid women
in business ventures.
“As a ministry, we do not have
enough capacity to fully support the
efforts of the women. We are ready to
work with all women’s organisations
as we are driving the development
agenda,” he said.
According to Karonga, the Govern-
ment has put in place a framework
to encourage women from all eco-
nomic sectors to be active partici-
pants although they have inadequate
funding.
“As a ministry, we have put in place
a Broad Based Women Economic
Empowerment Framework, where
we want to see active participation of
women in all sectors of the economy.
We have a Women Development
Fund which is supporting women to
have access to credit, though the
fund is not enough,” he said. He
added that as it stands women are
being looked upon to take centre
stage in the business and be leaders
in global economies.
“The current business development
agenda is going towards 'womenom-
ics', where women are taking the
leading role in developing businesses
which drive the world economy,” he
said.
Karonga said the needs that women
have to succeed are universal and
Government is utilising the Zim Asset
blue print to do all they can to meet
these needs. “Most of the women’s
needs are universal in our region and
continent, some of these include sup-
port to business start up, support to
accessing credit and suitable prem-
ises for production purposes as well
as equipment and tools and market-
ing support.
“In terms of supporting women Gov-
ernment has put in place an eco-
nomic blue print ZimAsset which will
guide us for five years up to 2018,”
said Karonga.
Also speaking at the workshop prom-
inent businesswoman Sue Peters
urged women to be brave and pas-
sionate about their endeavors to
reach success. •
Altas Mara Co-Nvest Ltd says nego-
tiations to acquire 50,1 percent con-
trolling stake in pan African banking
BancABC are still going on.
In April this year, Atlas Mara—founded
by ex-Barclays Plc chief executive
Bob Diamond and billionaire Ashish
J Thakkar—said it would buy 50.1
percent in pan African banking group,
BancABC as part of plans to establish
a premier financial services group in
sub Saharan Africa.
“Further to the renewal of the cau-
tionary announcement on June 19
2014 in relation to the Atlas Mara
transaction first published on April
1 2014, the company would like to
advise shareholders that the process
of obtaining regulatory and other
approvals is still on-going,” said Ban-
cABC parent company ABC Holdings
in a statement.
BancABC has banking operations
in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana,
Mozambique and Tanzania.
Recently BancABC went on a restruc-
turing exercise in its units in Zimba-
bwe and Mozambique in preparation
for controlling stake take over by
Atlas Mara in the pan-African banking
group.
In December, Atlas Mara raised $325
million to invest on the continent. The
group announced recently at it had
secured $300 million from a recent
private placement and a commitment
agreement for a debt facility of up to
$200 million to finance its pan African
drive.― VenturesAfrica •
8 NEWS
Atlas Mara still in negotiations for 50.1%
Private sector involvement key in empowering women

9. AdM-DI156506-
BH24

10. The equities market has maintained
a negative run, declining by 0.24 per-
centage points.
Following today's trades, the indus-
trial index dropped a further 0.44
points to close at 186.12 points in
thin trading.
Cafca and OK Zimbabwe were a
cent lower at 23 cents and 17 cents
respectively. Turnall eased 0.50 cents
to close at 3 cents, Cottco went down
0.10 cents to 0.90 cents and ZPI
(ZPI.zw) lost 0.05 cents to trade at
0.95 cents.
On the upside, three counters traded
in the positive territory. Seed manu-
facturer Seedco added 1.10 cents to
close at 75.10 cents, RTG gained 0.30
cents to trade at 1.30 cents and ZHL
was up 0.05 cents to close at 0.85
cents.
Volumes on the ZSE were down on
yesterday’s trades, and the value of
trades stood at $752K, boosted by
trades in OK, Seedco and Delta.
The mining index retreated 0.09
points (or 0.16 percent) to close at
56.97 points following a drop in Bind-
ura which slipped 0.01 cents to 4.50
cents.
Falgold, Hwange and Riozim main-
tained previous trading levels. -
BH24 Reporter •
10 ZSE REVIEW
Bourse extend losses

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BH24

12. Latest inflation figures from the Zim-
babwe National Statistical Agency yes-
terday point to a slight thawing of the
present deflationary state.
Zimbabwe's year-on-year inflation rate
for the month of June 2014 stood at
-0,08 percent gaining 0,11 percentage
points on the May 2014 rate of 0,19
percent.
Thisisthesecondsuchgainintheinfla-
tion rate in as many months.
To the extent that economic observers
have attributed these slight gains to
revenues that are being realised from
the sale of the county's tobacco output,
this clearly shows the main challenge
that the economy is facing.
Zimbabwe is simply suffering from a
liquidity crisis, otherwise as notable
players such as Reserve Bank of Zim-
babwe governor John Mangudya has
all too pointed out, most of our eco-
nomic indicators are just fine.
The slight rise in the inflation rate over
the past two months also points to the
solution: capital injection.
What Zimbabwe needs right now is
massive capital injection.
There is need for extensive levels of
capital to get the local manufacturing
sector going.
With a vibrant industry more jobs are
created and a wider base of the pop-
ulation will have significant disposable
incomes. The issue is that people
are not spending, and that's simply
because they do not have the money
to spend. Hence the low aggregate
demand.
If the country fails to access the
required funding in quick time, the
implications of the present deflationary
state can be severe.
The basic consequence is a cyclical
decline in domestic aggregate which
will further squeeze margins for com-
panies thus pushing more into closure.
But the main problem for the Zimba-
bwe is that it has very limited options
in fighting deflation, that is, injecting
cash into the economy. For instance,
the Government's hands are seriously
tied with respect to accessing offshore
credit.
It is therefore critical that, at least, in
the long-term we try and boost our
local productive sectors' output.
If tobacco output can make a slight
impact on improving the liquidity situ-
ation in the country, isn't it a given that
if Zimbabwe boosts its exports of other
products the current situation can be
turned around?
It can. There simply needs to be ade-
quate production taking place in the
industries. This takes us back again to
the issue of funding.
Those industries require capital.
If indeed, most of our economic indi-
cators point to a strong economy, then
we simply need to boost investor con-
fidence. •
12 BH24 COMMENT
Slight inflation rise show need for capital
RBZ Governor Mangudya

13. BH24

14. South Africa's rand weakened slightly
against the dollar on Tuesday, with
scope to extend losses as the country's
largest labour union enters the third
week of a wage strike that has hit the
operations of major auto makers.
At 0646 GMT the rand was trading
at 10.7050/dollar, down 0.28 per-
cent from its previous close. In fixed
income, the yield for the 2026 bench-
mark added 1 basis point to 8.335
percent while the 2015 paper at the
short end of the curve was flat at 6.67
percent. Leaders of the National Union
of Metalworkers of South Africa are
expected to draw up plans on widening
a strike that has dealt another blow to
an economy still counting the cost of
a five-month platinum sector stoppage
at the start of the year.
"While strikes are very familiar to
investors, they nonetheless have a
dampening effect on confidence," Rand
Merchant Bank analyst Mamello Mat-
ikinca said in a note.
"South Africa will struggle with narrow-
ing its current account deficit as import
growth remains strong."― Reuters •
U.S. motor company Ford (F.N) has
suspended production at one of its
South African plants and Japanese car-
maker Toyota (7203.T) plans to follow
suit as a manufacturing workers' strike
hits suppliers of car components.
The two-week-old strike by 220,000
NUMSA union members, who are
seeking 12-15 percent annual
increases, follows on the heels of a
five-month strike in the platinum sec-
tor that stunted economic growth and
export earnings.
The strike, which has hit the supply
of beverage cans made by packaging
firm Nampak (NPKJ.J), has damaged
wider investor sentiment in Africa's
most advanced economy, which is tee-
tering on the brink of recession after a
first-quarter contraction caused in part
by the platinum strike. Ratings agency
Standard & Poor's cut South Africa's
credit rating last month while Fitch put
it on negative watch, both citing poor
growth prospects mainly because of
strikes.
Ford spokeswoman Alicia Chetty said:
"Production at our Silverton assembly
plant has been temporarily suspended
due to the strike." She said only the
company's Pretoria plant was affected
and its other plant in Port Elizabeth was
operating normally.
Jeff Nemeth, Ford's South Africa head,
told Talk Radio 702 suspension at
the plant - which assembles the Ford
Ranger pick-up truck - would mean the
loss of about 350 units a day. Nemeth
saidcontinueddisruptionsintheflowof
products might affect corporate invest-
ment decisions in Africa's most devel-
oped but ailing economy.
Toyota said it would halt some produc-
tion from Tuesday because of supply
chain problems related to the stop-
page. ― Reuters •
14 REGIONAL News
South Africa's rand vulnerable to more wage strikes
Ford, Toyota halt some South African output due to strike

15. BH24

16. 16 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
14 July 2014
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 421 MW
Kariba 750 MW
Harare 45 MW
Munyati 29 MW
Bulawayo 0 MW
Imports 0 MW
Total 1245 MW
16July -MobileMarkets&TelecomsForumCon-
ference & Exhibition, Place: Holiday Inn (Harare),
Time: 8:00am
23 -25 July - Mine Entra, Place: Zimbabwe Inter-
national Exhibition Centre, Bulawayo
24 July - OK Zimbabwe Thirteenth Annual Gen-
eral Meeting Place: OKMart Functions Room,
First Floor, OKMart, 30 Chiremba Road, Hillside, Time:
15:00 hours.
1 August - Sixteenth Annual General Meeting
of the members of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe
Limited, Place: Econet Park, 2 Old Mutare Road,
Msasa, Harare, Time; 10.00am
THE BH24 DIARY

17. BH24

18. 18 zse
ZSE
Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
RTG 30.00% 1.30 Turnall -14.28% 3.00
Zimre 6.24% 0.85 Cottco -10.00% 0.90
Seedco 1.48% 75.10 OK -5.55% 17.00
ZPI -5.00% 0.95
Cafca -4.16% 23.00
BNC -0.22% 4.50
Indices
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 186.56 186.12 -0.44 points -0.24%
Mining 57.06 56.97 -0.09 points -0.16%
Stocks Exchange

19. BH24

20. 20 AFRICA StockS
Botswana 8,664.65 -11.96 -0.14% 12July
Cote dIvoire 246.37 +2.18 +0.89% 07Mar
Egypt 7,949.60 -75.68 -0.94% 06Mar
Ghana 2,352.45 +6.43 +0.27% 27June
Kenya 4,885.09 +51.07 +1.06% 30June
Malawi 12,662.47 +0.00 +0.00% 07Mar
Mauritius 2,074.51 -3.51 -0.17% 07Mar
Morocco 9,544.10 +21.01 +0.22% 07Mar
Nigeria 42,482.49 +714.93 +1.71% 30June
Rwanda 131.27 +0.00 +0.00% 24Oct
Tanzania 2,018.97 +25.40 +1.27% 07Mar
Tunisia 4,624.39 -39.32 -0.84% 07Mar
Uganda 1,503.90 +0.81 +0.05% 10Sep
Zambia 4,242.74 +14.95 +0.35% 10April
Zimbabwe 186.56 -0.52 -0.28% 30June
African stock round up Commodity Prices
Name Price
Crude Oil 1,300.91 -0.21%
Spot Gold USD/oz 1,292.63 -0.26%
Spot Silver USD/oz 19.38 -0.46%
Spot Platinum USD/oz 1,421.25 -0.33%
Spot Palladium USD/oz 798.50 -0.64%
LME Copper USD/t 6,770 -0.18%
LME Aluminium USD/t 1,780 -1.17%
LME Nickel USD/t 18,230 -1.73%
LME Lead USD/t 2,095 -1.41%
Quote of the day — "The secret
of business is to know
something that nobody
else knows." - Aristotle
Onansis
Globalshareholder.com

21. BH24

22. European stocks were little changed,
after their biggest jump in more than
a week, as investors awaited Federal
Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s semi-an-
nual testimony. U.S. index futures were
also little changed and Asian shares
rose.
SoftwareAGlost14percentafterlower-
ing its operating-margin forecast. Drae-
gerwerk AG dropped 10 percent after
cutting its projection for sales growth.
Gjensidige Forsikring ASA advanced 3.9
percentaftersayingprofitclimbedmore
than analysts had estimated.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped
less than 0.1 percent to 339.66 at 8:08
a.m.inLondon.Itadvanced0.9percent
yesterday after falling the most since
March last week on concern over Por-
tuguese banks. Standard & Poor’s 500
Index futures gained less than 0.1 per-
cent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index
climbed 0.4 percent.
Yellen delivers her semi-annual testi-
mony to the Senate today and to the
House Committee tomorrow. She said
last month that the Fed will keep inter-
est rates low for a considerable time
after ending its asset-purchase pro-
gram, even as it saw improvements
in the economy and the labor market.
In the U.K., Bank of England Governor
Mark Carney testifies to the House of
Commons Treasury Committee on the
June Financial Stability Report.
A report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington
may show U.S. retail sales rose 0.6 per-
centinJunefroma0.3percentincrease
in May, according to the median esti-
mate of economists surveyed by
Bloomberg. The New York Fed’s Empire
manufacturing report probably fell this
month, a separate release may show.
― Bloomberg •
22 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
European stocks are little changed as software retreats

23. By Memory Dube
The emergence of the BRICS (Bra-
zil-Russia-India-China-South Africa)
grouping coincided with the notion of an
‘Africa Rising’, a term coined following
Africa's growing economic prosperity.
The rise of BRICS also overlapped with
their increased involvement in Africa.
ConcomitanttotheAfricarisingdiscourse
is a debate on Africa’s new friends, old
friends and good friends.
BRICS in this instance would be the new
friends while the likes of the US, EU and
Japan(typifiedbytheG-7groupofcoun-
tries) would be the old friends.
The question is: which group makes up
Africa’s good friends? And is the BRICS
part of this group?
BRICS political and economic influence
in Africa continues to grow in leaps and
bounds every year. In the economic
sphere, growth has been spurred by
China and India’s growing demand for
natural resources.
This has been juxtaposed against the
economic slowdown in advanced indus-
trial economies, which reduced demand
for basic commodities in these countries.
FiguresfromStandardBankSouthAfrica
put the trade between BRICS and Africa
at US$340 billion in 2012, represent-
ing a ten-fold increase from 2002, and
estimates project this figure to exceed
US$500 billion by 2015.
While there is no consistent measure-
ment of BRICS FDI flows into Africa, all
the BRICS countries, with the exception
ofRussia,rankinthetoptierofcountries
investing in Africa and indications are
that their investment in manufacturing
and services is also on the increase.
23 Analysis
Brics and Africa: A lot to be done yet

24. The Africa agenda is closely linked to
the sustainability and viability of BRICS
as a co-author of a new and more rep-
resentative global order post the global
economic crisis. T
his is also for geopolitical considerations,
as Africa, with 54 countries, holds signifi-
cant influence in multilateral forums that
use purely democratic decision-mak-
ing, especially in such groupings as the
United Nations General Assembly.
Africaisthelastfrontierforresourcesand
is also important for its market. Africa is
also a relatively unsaturated market for
investment where investors have the
opportunity to pave the way without as
much fierce competition as would be the
case in regions such as Europe or Latin
America for instance.
BRICS involvement in Africa has been
haphazard and uncoordinated, driven
by member countries’ self-interest, but it
would be prudent to add a parallel coor-
dinated agenda to their engagement.
Africa is therefore a natural, common
agendaitemforBRICSanddevelopinga
BRICSoutreachwouldactuallyaddvalue
totheirbilateralinitiativesasitcouldlead
togreaterregionalcohesioninAfricaand
harmonisation of regional projects. This
would identify BRICS as good friends of
Africa.
Another motivating factor is the fact that
Africa’s old friends have concentrated
a significant part of their international
engagement in the development arena,
and indeed in peace and security initia-
tives, in Africa.
TheG7/8grouphasannualconsultations
with African leaders on the margins of
their Summits, from the 2001 Summit
held in Genoa, Italy and various action
plans have emerged from these consul-
tations.
Progress cannot be measured by the
eventdeclarationsandactionplansbutit
reflects,attheveryleast,apoliticalcom-
mitment. While the G7/8 has not lived
up to all of its commitments to Africa,
they have certainly made an effort to
streamline their activities in Africa and
theircontributiontodevelopmentcannot
be disregarded.
If the BRICS are to become active par-
ticipantsinthecreationofanewinterna-
tionalparadigmandbeacounterpointto
the G-7/8 group of countries, then they
need to get involved where the tradi-
tional powers are also present and step
it up a notch.
One tool that can be utilised by BRICS in
this process is the BRICS Development
Bank.
The BRICS-Africa agenda did receive
some attention in 2013 when South
Africa hosted the fifth BRICS Summit
in Durban under the chosen theme of
'BRICSandAfrica:PartnershipforDevel-
opment, Integration and Industrialisa-
tion'.
At the Durban BRICS Summit in March
2013,theleaderscommittedthemselves
to the establishment of a BRICS Devel-
opment Bank which is expected to play
a big role in financing infrastructure in
Africa.
TheysignedtheBRICSMultilateralInfra-
structure Co-Financing Agreement for
Africa which will be a vehicle to facilitate
co-financing on infrastructure develop-
ment projects in Africa.
They also held a retreat with African
leaders after the Summit, themed,
'Unlocking Africa’s Potential: BRICS and
Africa Cooperation on Infrastructure'
and which served as an opportunity for
BRICS and African leaders to discuss
ways of strengthening and deepening
their engagement for the economic
growth and development of Africa.
Theoverallimpressioncreated,however,
is that the Africa agenda was a South
African initiative, undertaken without
much consultation with the other BRICS
members; hence BRICS outreach to
Africa has not been very enthusiastic.
South Africa may have jumped the gun,
introducing the initiative too early in the
lifeoftheBRICSgroup,butthisdoesnot
take away from the merits of the idea
and initiatives.
It is becoming increasingly clear that
the BRICS-Africa agenda will not feature
prominently on the list of Brazilian prior-
ities for the 2014 BRICS Heads of State
summit in July.
It is likely that the communique will
feature some generic remark on the
commitment of BRICS to Africa’s devel-
opment but nothing bigger than that is
anticipated. - SAIIA
MemoryDubeisaseniorresearcher
with South African Institute of
International Affairs (SAIIA)’s Eco-
nomicDiplomacyProgramme. •
24 Analysis