Andrew Stegmann

City of Johannesburg Identifies Sites for Affordable Housing Conversions

The City of Johannesburg says it has identified 37 abandoned factories in the city that it plans to expropriate in order to convert into low-cost affordable housing.

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba said this came after the council’s resolution last year to make 84 city-owned properties available for the purpose of creating quality low-income housing within the inner city.

Mashaba said the 84 buildings would generate an expected R21bn in investment, 11,000 construction sector jobs and over 6,000 affordable housing units.

“Following on this success in the inner city, the multi-party government has now identified 37 abandoned factories across the city, specifically those located in areas in desperate need of housing opportunities.

“Arising from their large stand sizes, the yield of these properties will offer nearly 3,000 housing opportunities in multi-storey buildings,” Mashaba said in a statement.

He said the abandoned factories that had been identified were located in Kew, Devland, Rabie Ridge, Doornfontein, Booysens and Nancefield.

Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba.

Mashaba said 16 of the buildings were in close proximity to Alexandra, offering a much-needed opportunity to reduce the density of settlement in this under-developed township.

He said the municipality would prepare a proposal to council in August, which would allow the city to begin the legal proceedings to expropriate these properties as abandoned buildings.

Mashaba said these buildings would be expropriated within the existing legal framework of the constitution.

“For this we will utilise the fact that they are abandoned, owners are untraceable and monies owing on these properties exceed their value.“

Mashaba said once the expropriations were approved by council, the city would be able to put these properties out to the private sector and award them on the criteria that achieved the largest number of residential units, the lowest rentals, the highest job creation and investment.

Mashaba said the City of Johannesburg had previously sought to tackle the housing backlog with a reliance upon RDP housing each year. However, the RDP housing could never begin to reduce the housing shortage, he said.

“Our residents cannot wait for dreams of new cities to materialise in the distant future, if at all,” Mashaba said.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], Jacques Nel [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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United States Tells African Countries Not To Expect Debt Relief

African countries running up debt they won’t be able to pay back, including to China, should not expect to be bailed out by western-sponsored debt relief, the United States’ top Africa diplomat warned.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank began the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in 1996 to help the world’s poorest countries clear billions of dollars worth of unsustainable debt.

But Africa is facing another potential debt crisis today, with around 40 percent of low-income countries in the region now in debt distress or at high risk of it, according to an IMF report released a year ago.

“We went through, just in the last 20 years, this big debt forgiveness for a lot of African countries,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy, referring to the HIPC programme.

“Now all of a sudden are we going to go through another cycle of that? … I certainly would not be sympathetic, and I don’t think my administration would be sympathetic to that kind of situation,” he told reporters in Pretoria, South Africa, recently.

Under Donald Trump’s administration, the United States has criticised China for pushing poor countries into debt, mainly through lending for large-scale infrastructure projects. It has warned those nations risk losing control of strategic assets if they can’t repay the Chinese loans.

Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities in its main southern port in the town of Hambantota to a Chinese company in 2017 as part of a plan to convert $6 billion (£4.7 billion) of loans that Sri Lanka owes China into equity.

U.S. officials have warned that a strategic port in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti could be next, a prospect the government there has denied.

From 2000 to 2016, China loaned around $125 billion to the continent, according to data from the China-Africa Research Initiative at Washington’s Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

And a number of African countries form part of China’s $126 billion Belt and Road Initiative to link China by sea and land through an infrastructure network with southeast and central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

China has rejected criticism of its lending in Africa. And debt campaigners point to the fact that much of Africa’s current debt load consists of commercial debt to western financial institutions or Eurobonds, which are more expensive to service than Chinese loans.

“All of these countries are sovereign states, so it’s for them to decide who they want to trade with,” Nagy said. “We feel we have an obligation to point out to them when we believe they are getting into severe economic difficulties.”

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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Five Black Rhinos Have Been Successfully Relocated to Rwanda From Europe

A chartered cargo plane, Boeing 747-400F operated by Air Atlanta under the brand name of ‘Magma’ carrying the five black rhinos touched down at the Kigali International Airport.

Offloading the rhinos from the plane kicked off soon as the plane landed. A team of airport staff first offloaded huge cargo of supplies containing feed for the rhinos.

The three female and two male black rhinos, ranging between two to nine years old, were selected from European zoos. Jasiri, Jasmina and Manny were born in Safari Park Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic. Olmoti comes from Flamingo Land in UK while Mandela is from Ree Park Safari in Denmark.

The Eastern black rhinos follow a batch of other rhinos, which were brought to Rwanda from South Africa in 2017. Officials, including the Head of Conservation at Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and African Parks which manages Akagera National Park, were around to witness the arrival of the critically endangered species.

According to Safari Park Druv Kralove, the plane took off from the Czech Republic at around 7:45 am on Sunday. They were transported to Akagera by three separate trucks. Overall, their transportation to Akagera Park from Czech Republic will have taken around 30 hours. This is the largest ever translocation of rhinos from Europe to Africa.

The translocation of the rhinos is the result of what has been described as “unique collaboration between the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), the Government of Rwanda and conservation NGO African Parks.

It was first announced last year that EAZA zoos had donated the highly endangered species to Rwanda. The Head of Conservation at RDB told The New Times recently that the rhinos will bring considerable benefits to the country.

“Even though we already have rhinos from South Africa, to ensure a healthy population, you have to bring in species that is from a different group to allow integration,” he said.

The more you bring in rhinos to integrate, he added, the more the assurance of strength of genes that are strong and resistant.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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New Air Tanzania and Ethiopian Airlines Routes to South Africa

Air Tanzania

Looking to attract tourists from South African and other business travellers, state-owned Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ATCL) is set to revive its passenger schedule route connecting four major airports in Tanzania with the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, starting June 28.

The four direct flights per week will use ATCL’s recently-acquired Boeing 787- 8 Dreamliner jet, which has the capacity to carry 262 passengers.

This past week, ATCL public affairs spokesman Josephat Kagirwa told The EastAfrican that the four local airports to introduce South African connections are Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar International Airport, Kilimanjaro International Airport in northern Tanzania, and Mwanza International Airport.

Mr Kagirwa said the Dreamliner will be replaced by an Airbus A220-300 on the Johannesburg route from July 16. “We expect to maintain this route as we prepare for long-haul flights to India and China,” he said.

The direct flights to and from Johannesburg will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. South Africa is one of the top profit-making routes for most airlines in the Southern and East African region.

Southern African airports are the main linking points to destinations in Australia and the Pacific Ocean rim that are considered upcoming new tourist markets for Tanzania and other East African states. The Tanzania Tourist Board is working jointly with ATCL to market the destinations. South Africa itself is a source market for about 48,000 tourists annually, mostly adventure and business travellers.

Latest official figures show that about 16,000 tourists from Australia visited Tanzania in 2017, mostly using connections through Johannesburg. In the same year, there were 3,300 visitors from New Zealand and 2,600 from the Pacific Rim (Fiji, Solomon, Samoa and Papua New Guinea).

Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines has commenced its maiden flight from Lagos to Johannesburg with its code-share partner, Asky.

With that service, Ethiopian Airlines/Asky to South Africa has become the only non-South African airline on the route between Nigeria and South Africa. It flight was welcomed with Water Canon salute and received by staff of Asky and Ethiopian Airlines. The Airport Community also joined in the reception. The flight was operated with an Asky B737-700 commanded by Captain Dawit Muluneh. It left Lagos for Johannesburg by 16: 45 pm on Saturday.

The General Manager of Ethiopian Airlines in Nigeria, Mrs. Firihiewot Mekonnen, at the inaugural ceremony said, “Asky is the operating airline, while Ethiopia Airlines is the marketing carrier.”

“Nigeria is one of our biggest markets where we bring the best of our aircraft and we always strive to give our best to Nigerians.

“As part of this motive we found out a lot of Nigerians travel to South Africa so we decided to help improve the connectivity for the passengers.

“We have also availed many promotional fares so we invite Nigerians to use the best deals to Johannesburg,” she said.

The inaugural flight had a 70 per cent load factor. The flights are daily from Lagos to Johannesburg. Some days the flights go through Libreville on other days it will go through Douala.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: Captureson [1], [2].