Andrew Stegmann

Zimbabweans march through PE demanding that Mugabe must go

Zimbabwean nationals living in the Eastern Cape marched in Port Elizabeth on Saturday to express their anger at their government. The marchers demanded the immediate resignation of president Robert Mugabe blaming him for causing starvation and creating record unemployment.

The protesters, numbering about 200 including children, were not deterred by the cold and rainy weather.

They marched from the corner of Mount Road and Govan Mbeki Street. They turned into Russell Road where the group was joined by other Zimbabweans who are informal traders at the adjacent Main taxi rank. The group finally gathered at the City Hall where they were addressed by the organisers.

The march was organised by #Tajamuka, a group campaigning for Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to step down.

#Tajamuka’s South Africa spokesperson, Shelton Chiyangwa said “The aim of the march is [to express] solidarity with people in Zimbabwe and across the diaspora to demand Robert Mugabe to step down immediately and pave way for a new administration elected under free and fair elections. As Zimbabweans we have been patient enough.”

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Andrew Stegmann

Ethiopia Travel Alert

The State Department alerts U.S. citizens of the risks of traveling in certain regions of Ethiopia due to anti-government protests, some of which have involved violence.

Associated disruptions in telephone and internet services have hampered the U.S. Embassy’s ability to communicate with U.S. citizens in Ethiopia. This Travel Alert expires on February 18, 2017.

Since November 2015, anti-government protests, mainly in the regional states of Amhara and Oromia, have resulted in violent clashes between demonstrators and government security forces. Internet, cellular data, and phone service have been sporadically restricted or completely cut off prior to and during some of the protests, impeding the U.S. Embassy’s ability to communicate with U.S. citizens.

Protests are likely to continue, and could spread to other parts of the country, including the capital, Addis Ababa. U.S. citizens in Ethiopia should increase their level of situational awareness, continuously assess their surroundings, evaluate their personal level of safety, and avoid demonstrations and large gatherings.

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Andrew Stegmann

PwC strategist: How to bridge the gap between strategy and execution

You’ve expanded your business in Africa. You’ve produced a watertight strategy. But how do you secure continent-wide success? This question remains largely unanswered the among those growing businesses in Africa. According to Strategy& (PwC’s strategy consulting company) as many as 66 percent of business expansions into Africa resulted in negative shareholder returns.
To find the answers, African Business Review quizzed strategy specialist Jorge Camarate. Camarate is Partner at Strategy&.  He has spent 12 years consulting across the globe, but has now settled in Johannesburg to advise clients in business strategy. As part of his role, Camarate gives companies tips on how to bridge the strategy-to-execution gap in Africa. We ask him to share his guidelines with us.

Acknowledge that Africa is not a country

Rather, Africa is made up of 54 diverse countries.  According to Camarate, many large Western companies fail to recognise this, instead viewing Africa as a homogenous hub. This perception is “quite prevalent, especially if you talk to companies outside Africa, like multinationals in Europe, the States, or Asia”, Camarate explains. “There are multiple realities that people struggle to understand, like how different two countries can be and the slight nuances that can make a business either very successful or impossible to grow.”

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Andrew Stegmann

Immigrant shop owners in PE township fed up with police

Immigrant business owners in a Port Elizabeth township, KwaDwesi Extension, complain that the police are not doing enough to stop criminals who rob their shops.

On Tuesday a shop was emptied by looters in a xenophobic incident. The violence was sparked by a group of disgruntled residents who accused the ANC ward 36 councillor of not developing their area. The residents then turned their anger on immigrant-owned shops and looted them.

Jilalau Bonger has a spaza shop in Nzo street. “I opened this shop last year in August. From that time I’ve been robbed four times. During the third robbery my brother chased the car the criminals were driving and took the number plates. One community member also recorded the number plates. It  was also later discovered that the criminals were known to the community but with all the information supplied to the police they never even gave us feedback on the cases,” said the 32-year-old Ethiopian.

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