Forbes Africa April 2013 (e magazine full)

SAM JONAH
FROM A SHOVEL
TO A KNIGHTHOOD
ABOUT THIS ISSUE


FORBES

CONTENTS — APRIL 2013

10 | COVER STORY:
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TOUCH
BY LERATO SEKO

20 | EPIPHANY:
NEVER LET A PUNCTURE SLOW YOU DOWN
BY SIYAVUYA MADIKANE

4 | EDITOR’S DESK // Chris Bishop
8 | BRIEF 360°

FORBES FOCUS
16 | ClIppED WIngS
Blacky Komani recalls the exact time he made the decision to suspend
South african airline 1Time. Since then, he’s had a lot of time to think about
what went wrong.
BY UFRIEDA HO

22 | OSCAR’S lOST MIllIOnS
When South african athlete Oscar pistorius shot his girlfriend, reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s day, his sponsors distanced themselves.
BY TSHEPO TSHABALALA AND KARABO SEANEGO

32 | nO BuSInESS AS uSuAl
Thankfully the Kenyan elections turned out to be more of an expensive
nuisance than a violent threat for most of the country’s entrepreneurs.
BY GOVENOR MAKHUBELA

COVER IMAGE BY CHRIS TOWNEND fOR fORBES AfRICA
RETOUCHING BY THE VANILLA RAIN CREATIVE

2 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013


VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3
34 | THREE MEN YOU CAN
BET YOUR LIfE ON
BY CHRIS BISHOP

ENTREPRENEURS
36 | ExplAInIng ThE unThInKABlE
TO ThE gERMAnS
Bunga Kiala left angola to escape the war.
Now, he is blazing a trail in business in Berlin.
BY KRISTIN PALITZA

38 | A pluCKy DAvID BAnKIng
On BEATIng gOlIAThS
From David and Goliath to the giant in Jack and the
beanstalk; who doesn’t like the age-old story about the

little guy taking on the big guy and winning? This is the
story of african banking wizard, riaan Stassen.
BY LERATO SEKO

LUXURY SUPPLEMENT
52 | luxuRy SupplEMEnT | 10 TOP WATCHES fOR 2013
BY TONI MUIR

58 | DAzzlIng DIAMOnDS
AnD AFRICAn gEMS
From the 3,106 carat Cullinan Diamond from South
africa to Tanzania’s rare Queen of Kilimanjaro tanzanite
stone, africa is known for the largest and most radiant
precious gems ever found. africa.com took a closer look
at some of the continent’s biggest and best inds.
BY AFRICA.COM EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITED BY FORBES AFRICA

INVESTMENT GUIDE
68 | MInIng ThOughTS // Brendan ryan
69 | ThE FInAnCIAl COnunDRuM
BEhInD ThE ThREAT OF DARKnESS //
James Styan
72 | THE RISING STAR WITH THE
LAzY LUCkY EYE
BY MICHAEL SHERMAN

SPORT
74 | STAy AWAy FROM BOOzE
AnD BAD FRIEnDS, yOung MAn

african middleweight Tommy “Gun” Oosthuizen is on
the cusp of breaking into the big bucks and pay-TV in
the States—but only if he stays away from quick ists
and fast food.
BY FANIE HEYNS

THIS IS AFRICA
80 | 2013 ACADEMy
AWARDS WInnERS
april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 3


FORBES

EDITOR’S DESK — CHRIS BISHOP
“Carpe Diem”

Bite
The Ballot Bullet
BY CHRIS BISHOP, MANAGING EDITOR

S

o, Kenya has elected its man.
Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the
founding father of Kenya, has a
magic name in politics, if ever
there was one. There can be few

world leaders who have a irst name that
means freedom. Fewer names can evoke
the passion and power of a bygone era of
hope at the dawn of independence. He is
the irst son of a president to take the reins
of power in East Africa and
also the youngest at the age
of 51.
Another dubious irst
has been denied Kenya’s
new president. He is only
the second sitting president
to face charges of crimes
against humanity laid at
the International Criminal
Court (ICC) in The Hague;
the other being President
Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
The charges relate to the appalling election
violence of the bloody Kenyan elections
of 2007, in which more than a thousand
people died. The political rivalry lared into
that most ugly cancer of the world: ethnic
violence.
If I were Kenyatta, my irst phone call
in oice would be to the ICC to arrange
a hearing as soon as possible. I would ly
to The Hague for my day in court, for a
chance to clear my name and clean the
slate. Aside from the moral question,

imagine the political capital that could be
made through an acquittal and triumphant
return to Nairobi. But then again, I am not

4 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

him and the complexity of Kenyan politics
is probably beyond me.
During this year’s election, I caught a
glimpse of the 2007 mayhem on TV that
made me sick to my stomach. It was the
image of a tall man, probably in his forties,
running the gauntlet of a gang of thugs
on a road in the Kenyan hinterland. The
man was in distress; his shirt was torn and
hanging down the back of his legs, a sure
sign he was leeing a beating.
As the sweating man ran past
the camera, one of the thugs
kicked out, slicing the man
down at the knees. As the
man writhed in pain on the
loor the camera cut, probably at the insistence of one
of the attackers.
Now, most of us who have
covered numerous elections
know what happens. The
attackers would kick the man

on the ground senseless—if he was fortunate he would wake up in hospital, covered in blood. People ask me what was the
worst I ever saw on this continent—was it
the tear gas, the bullets, or the blood? My
answer: the looks on the faces of the cowardly thugs who jump onto their lonely
victims in packs. Those gloating, leering
and vicious looks make me shudder. In
fact, I am shuddering as I write this now.
What I am saying is that any hardship
is worth it, if it means avoiding brutality of
this kind that merely breeds more. In my
experience the swallowing of an election
result, no matter how unpalatable, can be
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? WRITE TO US



the irst step to a brighter future.
The opposition in Kenya is appealing the result.
Wouldn’t it be better to draw a line under the election
and start afresh? Surely, it would be better to regroup and
prepare for the arduous task of opposition—keeping the
ruling party to account for its decisions, while redoubling
the eforts of activists on the ground ready for the next
election. In my view, this stoic and patient approach by
opposition parties, in hanging on and stoking debate, is as
much a part of nation building as drawing up policy. Then
again, I believe that day follows night and that the running
man writhing in agony can go back and teach the bullies a
lesson.
At stake, is the long-term prosperity of a country. Foreign investors will always look at the likelihood of successful free and fair elections before they decide to plough

their money into a country. Freedom, conident spending,
business stability and policy certainty usually go hand-inhand.
Let us hope Kenya can sort out its problems on the path

to stability. There is a lot riding on the country and even
the disgruntled opposition can sleep safe in the knowledge
that when a real change is afoot the people vote in a landslide that few can resist. I predict that at least one country
in southern Africa faces such an electoral tsunami this year.
Speaking of powerful forces, after half a century on
earth, I am on Twitter (@ChrisBishopZA). I thought that
if I said it quickly it would sound more familiar. It doesn’t.
I am a man who has built a career in journalism on reading and listening to people. I feel all too often that on social
media, everyone is talking and few are listening. On the
other hand, I felt, as an editor, it was my duty. I will try
to tweet, with a sweet turn of phrase, only those morsels
that could inform and intrigue. It will be journalism and
FORBES AFRICA only.
To put it all in context, I telephoned my 13-year-old
daughter, who has been on social media shortly after going
onto solid food, to tell her of my foray onto Twitter.
“Whatever,” she says casually.
OMG.

Views expressed by commentators in this publication are not necessarily those held by FORBES AFRICA or its members of staf. All facts
printed in FORBES AFRICA were conirmed as being correct at the time the magazine went to print.

FOrBES aFriCa INBOX
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TESTIMONIAL
I was initially very impressed when
the irst issue of Forbes hit my desk –
great content, insights from business
leaders and inspirational tales about
adversity being turned into advantage.
Then it hit me – this can’t go on for
too long, can it? How many positive
stories could possibly come out of
Africa? I waited with anticipation for
the next issue to be proved right.
Issue two arrived with just as much
inspiration about the changing face of
Africa and its people. From stories of
losing your job with no concrete plan
B to big business deals, I’ve since been
sold on the pulsating beat of Africa’s
heart.
Every issue is a lesson in resilience
and for somebody in public relations
consultancy in an increasingly busy
and competitive Lusaka city, the
magazine demystiies business and
enterprise into an endeavor that one
can excel at.

You get knocked down so many
times in business and at times, the
tenacity to get up from the canvas
can be a really grueling challenge.

The inspiration, insight and analysis
by some of Africa’s leading lights in
business makes you feel you’ve got the
right team in your corner, refusing to
throw in the towel even in the twelfth
round.
At the end of each read, you’re not
only inspired but challenged to think
diferently and resist the precedents of
those who have gone without success
all because they did not go down the
path we’ve decided to take.
Forbes Africa is required reading if
the murky, meandering landscapes of
business and enterprise in Africa are
not only to be taken on but relished
as well.

The digital edition of FORBES AFRICA gives our
loyal readers an enhanced experience of the
magazine. Take it with you, wherever you go. Now
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Lusaka, Zambia

april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 5


APRIL 2013 – VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3
CHAIRMAN: zafar Siddiqi
f0UNDER & PUBLISHER : Rakesh Wahi
MANAGING DIRECTOR, ABN GROUP: Roberta naidoo
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Sid Wahi
ExECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Bronwyn nielsen
NON-ExECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Busi Mabuza
NON-ExECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Sam Bhembe

MANAGING EDITOR
Chris Bishop

ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR
lieria Ferreira

GENERAL MANAGER

Davlynne lidbetter

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Shanna Jacobsen

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
vuyo Mvoko

DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR
gillian van zyl

SUB-EDITOR
Iga Motylska

JOURNALIST, WEST AfRICA
Abisola Owolawi

BDM - EAST AfRICA
govenor Makhubela

JUNIOR JOURNALISTS
lerato Seko, Rutendo nyamuda

BDM - WEST AfRICA
Radithebe Rammutle

JUNIOR DESIGNER
Amy Esterhuizen

ABN MANAGEMENT TEAM

Group Head of West Africa: Frederic Van de vyver
Group Head of Sales: Quinton Scholes
Chief Editor, Africa Business News: Godfrey Mutizwa
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Group Head of Technical Operations: Jean Landsberg
Group Head of Events: Zubaidah Hanif
Group Head of finance: Alistair Aitken
Business Development Manager, Africa: Ali Naka
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april 2013


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FORBES

AFRICA IN BRIEF

BRIEF

VENEZUELA: 58-year-old Hugo
Chavez, president of Venezuela,
passed away on March 5. He ruled
from 1999.

NEW POPE IN THE VATICAN
After three days of discussions, Jorge
Mario Bergoglio (76) was chosen as the
266th pontif of the Roman Catholic
Church. Bergoglio, the irst non-European pope in more than 1,200 years, succeeds Pope Benedict XVI who unexpectedly resigned in February. Bergoglio took
the name Pope Francis I, to honor Saint
Francis of Assisi.
“A saint that transcends the Catholic
Church and is loved by all people, a saint
who reached out for simplicity... poverty
and care for the poor,” according to
Reverend Thomas Rosica, spokesman for
the Vatican.
The two African Cardinals in the running
were Ghana’s Peter Turkson (64) and
Nigeria’s Francis Arinze (80).

DEADLIEST NIGERIAN
BOMBING IN MONTHS
Two suicide car-bombers struck a bus
station in the Christian neighborhood of
Kano, Nigeria, killing at least 41 people.
Oicials say that at least 65 others were
wounded. It is reported to have been the
deadliest attack in nine months. Although

no group has claimed responsibility
for the attack, many suspect Islamist
extremist group Boko Haram. President
Goodluck Jonathan condemned the
attack and declared that the government would continue "its unrelenting war
against terrorists".

FEMALE UN CHIEF: Activists from
South Sudan are prompting the
United Nations General Assembly to
consider a female successor to its
current chief, Ban Ki- Moon, after 68
years of male dominance.
AIRPORTS: Airports Council International (ACI) named Cape Town
International Airport the best airport
on the continent, followed by Durban,
Cairo, Mauritius and Johannesburg.
LEADERS: The World Economic
Forum (WEF) named Alex Okosi,
senior vice president and managing
director of Viacom International Media
Networks Africa, a 2013 Young Global
Leader. Okosi was featured in the
November issue of FORBES AFRICA.
INNOVATION: The world’s irst
Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) was
established in Kenya by the World
Bank Group’s infoDev program, to
help companies working with climaterelated technologies turn their ideas
into viable businesses.

SOCCER: According to FIFA rankings:
Ivory Coast is ranked irst in Africa and
13th in the World, followed by Ghana,
which is 20th in the world. Third
is Mali, which is 24th in the world.
Nigeria and Algeria were the other top
ranking African nations.
BOAT: At least 45 people drowned
after a wooden boat traveling from
Nigeria to Gabon sank. The boat,
carrying 166 passengers, capsized
40 nautical miles of Nigeria’s shore.
There were two survivors, the
remainder are unaccounted for.

DANGOTE GETS RICHER
Alhaji Aliko Dangote
moved up 33 places from
the 76th position to 43
on Forbes’ ‘The Richest
People on the Planet
2013’ list. Dangote was
reportedly valued at $16.1
billion in 2013, strengthening his position as the
richest man in Africa, for
the third year in a row.
Other Africans who made
it onto the list include:
Mike Adenuga—the second richest man in Nigeria
and 267th in the world,

with $4.7 billion. Adenuga made his wealth from mobile
telecommunications and oil. Patrice Motsepe is ranked
490th on the list. He is South Africa’s irst and only black
billionaire with a fortune of $2.9 billion.
Ranked at 490 is Isabel Dos Santos, the richest woman
in Africa. Dos Santos’s fortune, from her involvement in
inancial investments is said to be more than $2 billion.

ZIMBABWEANS SUPPORT DRAFT
CONSTITUTION
Ninety four and a half percent of Zimbabweans voted in
favor of the new draft constitution on March 16. A twothirds majority is required in Parliament before it is sent
to President Robert Mugabe for approval.
The referendum took almost four years to produce and
cost $50 million of donor funds. The amendments to
the constitution include: presidential term limits and
eliminating the president’s power to reject legislation; the
banning of cruel punishment and torture; the protection
of the freedom of press and expression as well as a reinforcement of gender equality. The new constitution calls
for the creation of a constitutional court to replace the
Supreme Court as the highest court in the country, which
will enforce fundamental rights.
Zimbabwean elections are expected to take place
between July and October. This is said to be the most
important election since 1980 and could possibly end the
33-year reign of Mugabe. If he approves the new constitution and wins, he could remain in oice for another two
ive-year terms, until he is 99.

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april 2013

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GALLO IMAGES/ AFP

NEWS LINES


360°
RAMPHELE’S AGANG FIGHTS FOR
POLITICAL REFORM
Former Black Consciousness activists Mamphela Ramphele
called for South Africans to support her new political party
Agang, which translates to “Build”. Ramphele, who was a
chairwoman of Gold Fields, will use the political platform
to contest the 2014 elections. The biggest issue raised is
the electoral reform, which needs the signatures of 1 million
South Africans, before citizens, and not political party
leaders, can decide on who makes it to Parliament.
Skeptics believe the party will fail to make a diference, like
Congress of the People (COPE), but only time will tell if the
new political party is a possible solution or just another fad.

RAMPHELE: GALLO IMAGES/ CITY PRESS / LEON SADIKI, MIDO
MACIA: GALLO IMAGES/ SOwETAN / VELI NHLAPO

TOGO MEDIA BLACKOUT
Media organizations and journalists in Togo staged a
nationwide news blackout in protest against a new law,
recently passed by the country’s parliament. The new
regulation allows the High Authority for Broadcasting and
Communication (HAAC), the statutory media regulatory
body, the right to impose sanctions on the media without
going through judicial processes. As part of the three day
protest, journalists wore red and planned a demonstration
in front of the Presidential Palace.

KENYAN ELECTION
RESULTS CONTESTED
BY ODINGA
Uhuru Kenyatta has been
voted the fourth president
of the Republic of Kenya in a
hotly contested election that
saw the highest voter turnout
in the history of the country.
Kenyatta acquired 50.07% of
the votes, which is 4,100 more
votes than required by electoral law. Raila Odinga trailed
behind by more than 800,000
votes at 43.31%.
The announcement of the
results was peaceful. However,

the Independence Electoral
and Boundaries Commission
(IEBC), which was responsible
for the conduct of the election
admitted some challenges
ranging from failure of the
electronic system to server
communication failures. This
amongst other reasons
prompted Odinga not to
concede defeat. He iled a
petition at the Supreme Court
challenging the election of
Kenyatta, on March 15. The
court will have 14 days to rule
as to whether Kenyatta will be
sworn in on 26 March.
Voting day also saw 19
people—including four police
oicers, who were hacked to
death with machetes—killed.
Read about the Kenyan elections on pages 38-40.

TAXI DRIVER LAID TO REST
The 27-year-old Mozambican taxi driver Mido
Macia, was laid to rest on March 9, in Matola,
Mozambique. Macia was tied to the back of
a police van and dragged for 400 meters.
The postmortem indicated that he had died
from head injuries and internal bleeding. The

incident, which was recorded on a cellphone
camera, spread quickly on the internet and sent
shockwaves across the world. The nine oicers
in question were been suspended and face
charges of murder.
A memorial for Macia, in Johannesburg, was
attended by Graỗa Machel and Mozambique’s
ambassador Fernando Fazenda. The South
African ambassador to Mozambique, Charles
Nqakula, pledged that South Africa will provide
logistical support to Macia’s family.
In the wake of this event another incident of
police brutality occurred in Lomanyaneng in the
North West Province. A sergeant was arrested
after he grabbed a complainant by his neck and
dragged him behind a police vehicle for around
100 meters. The complainant sustained injuries
to his feet during the incident and was taken to
hospital by his neighbor. The sergeant has since
been charged with attempted murder.

ThE GOOD

ThE BAD

aND THE UGLY

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola, a South African
romantic comedy, has won the Audience
Choice Award for Best Comedy at the

19th Annual Sedona International Film
Festival in Arizona. The ilm was also
selected to screen at the 39th Seattle
International Film Festival (SIFF) in the
United States in June.

The Seleka rebel military command in
the Central African Republic detained
ive ministers and threatened to break
a peace deal made in January, unless
political prisoners are freed and 400
South African troops, who were sent to
assist President Franỗois Bozizộs army,
are withdrawn.

Seven foreign hostages were
kidnapped from northern Bauchi,
Nigeria and later killed by Islamist
group Ansaru. In another incident,
seven French nationals were
kidnapped by Boko Haram in
Cameroon and are being held in
Nigeria.

april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 9


FORBES/FOCUS

SAM JONAH

THE MAN
WITH THE
GOLDEN TOUCH
it was a dangerous beginning where a dying man could
whisper thanks; it led to riches, acclaim and a knighthood.
BY LERATO SEKO
PHOTOS BY CHRIS TOWNEND fOR fORBES AfRICA

S

am Jonah has broken rocks miles
underground and brokered deals over
the boardroom table. He’s advised
world leaders and discovered a
passion for parrots. He is probably
one of the few men in the world to be knighted
in London nearly 30 years after sweating as a
miner in the searing heat, miles beneath the
country of his birth.
It all began in 1949, Jonah was born in a
military camp in Kibi, Ghana; his father—a
sergeant major and World War II veteran,
served in the Royal West African Frontier Force.
Soon after, Jonah Senior left the army and set
up a construction company. The family moved
to Obuasi where Jonah went to school. It was
after high school that Jonah made the surprising

decision to work underground at Ashanti
Goldields Corporation’s (Ashanti) Obuasi mine,
the only mine in Ghana. Jonah’s classmates were
going into law and medicine, while he was going
to work shoulder-to-shoulder with men who
had barely gone to school.
“My business was breaking rock,” he says.
Jonah saw that mining was run by whites
and wanted to change it. There were tough days
underground. Jonah calls it his most humbling
experience and with merely a high school
certiicate and no experience, he had to sink to
the bottom of the barrel to learn to survive.

10 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

“You learn quickly how to get what you want
from people who are better equipped, who are
better skilled, who are better experienced, who
are much older than you are,” he says.
In his quest for more, Jonah won a
scholarship to study mining engineering at the
Cambridge School of Mines, in England, which
later awarded him an honorary doctorate. He
returned to Ashanti and moved up the ranks.
Then he returned briely to London to study
business at Imperial College, now the University
of London.

It was during these exciting days at Ashanti
that tragedy struck. One day, Jonah was
underground when the chamber’s ceiling fell
in, trapping and killing miners. It was time for
quick thinking. Jonah saw a man trapped under
rubble who showed signs of life by muttering
softly. Under Jonah’s guidance, a team worked
to pull the man free and carry him to the lift.
The miner, whose legs were crushed, drew
Jonah close and thanked him. Four hours later
the miner was dead. This was the life Jonah
chose as a young man; a life he likens to that of
a soldier.
Jonah’s life was moving apace. In 1979, air
force oicer Jerry Rawlings, then 32, led a coup
in Ghana and nominated Jonah, who was the
same age, to be Ashanti’s vice president. In 1986,
the late Tiny Rowland, the founder of Lonrho,


PRESS FOR VIDEO:
BEHIND THE SCENES
WITH SAM JONAH

april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 11


FORBES

FORBES FOCUS — SAM JONAH

which owned Ashanti, appointed Jonah as managing
director. This was at a time when production at the
company’s single mine had deteriorated and the industry
had yet to see a black man at the helm.
Jonah’s father had once said that the day Ashanti was
run by a black man, would be the day he left town. Jonah
had the pleasure of telling his father that the day for him to
pack his bags had come.
In his new position, Jonah introduced his ‘Africanization
Policy’. He wanted to change an industry that was run
by whites. He wanted to attract his countrymen to the
industry to prosper like he had, by forcing expatriates
to fulill their contractual obligations to impart skills.
Moreover, Jonah wanted to cut the expense of expatriates.
Why pay a foreigner four times what you would pay a
Ghanaian to do the same job?
This policy was unpopular among expatriates but it was
all about the big picture in a growing company.
“Glass ceilings were punched through,” says Jonah.
Jonah considers business to be all about people. He
feels that it is a leader’s responsibility to identify talent and
harness it, to set aside one’s ego and surround oneself with
the very best, to make one look good.
“Wisdom does not reside in the head of only one
person,” warns Jonah.
Jonah says his parents taught him all he knows about
leadership. They encouraged humility, told him that good

days are not forever and that he should never give up.
In 1999, Jonah needed all these skills when Ashanti
faced a liquidity squeeze. It came at a bad time for the
company as it was trying to raise $125 million to build a
mine in Tanzania.
The root of the problem was hedging done by the
company when the gold price was low. This was viewed as

producer in the world.
The company was public until the Ghanaian military
government under General Acheampong, took 55% share
in 1972—making it a partnership between the government
and Lonrho. In the quest for growth, Jonah and his team
convinced the partners that better days were ahead if
the company went public again. Once Ashanti listed in
both Ghana and London, the government held 17% of
the company and Lonrho 27%. Between 1994 and 2004,
Ashanti went on the acquisition hunt in an attempt to be
both an entrepreneurial as well as a conservative company.
It extended its operations in Ghana, Australia, Zimbabwe,
Guinea and Tanzania. In 1996, Ashanti became the irst
African-based company to be listed on the New York Stock
Exchange.
There is a saying that goes: “No good deed goes
unpunished.” As Ashanti grew, the hunter became the
hunted. Success attracted the interest of numerous
companies.
Jonah felt the choice was to grow from within, or agree
to be part of a bigger outit. It proved diicult trying to
convince partners that issuing shares, thus diluting power,

was best. The government was faced with a competitive
demand for its money, while Lonrho wanted to focus more
on platinum. With no other defense, a merger was the only
option.
The $1.48 billion merger between Ashanti and
AngloGold, then the seventh and second largest gold
producers respectively, was far from a merger of equals.
“We were punching beyond our weight,” says Jonah.
Despite this, Ashanti’s management secured key
positions within AngloGold Ashanti, with Jonah becoming
the executive president of the merged entity.
After his time at AngloGold Ashanti, Jonah became a

“I came to appreciate the roles of these people [miners], how backbreaking the
job was, how hardworking they were, how committed they were.”
a risk management tool and a price protection mechanism.
Unfortunately for Ashanti, a decision taken by global
central banks saw a sharp increase in the gold price.
The market price was greater than the hedged price and
the company did not have enough cash for margin calls
because it had pumped a lot of money into new mines.
Jonah says this was a bruising time for the company and
the most diicult of his career. The company’s share price
fell to the point that the New York Stock Exchange was
considering delisting it. It took eight months to recover and
years to prosper.
Jonah, the driving force behind Ashanti’s growth, sees
opportunities where others don’t. In his time, Ashanti grew
from a single mine in Ghana to the second largest gold
12 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

serial director. Some junior mining companies approached
him to guide them to success, as he had done for Ashanti.
Equinox Minerals, a mining exploration company based
in Zambia, was at the feasibility stage when it approached
Jonah. Years later, in 2011, the company that had a market
capitalization of $63.1 million in 2006, was sold to the
Barrick Gold Corporation for $7.4 billion. Moto Goldmines,
in Ghana, grew from a $50 million market capitalization
company and was sold to Randgold Resources and
AngloGold Ashanti in October 2009.
Since AngloGold Ashanti, Jonah has sat on at least 18
boards of companies.
Jonah currently sits on the boards of a few companies,
including Vodafone Plc. He is also the founder and


chairman of Jonah Capital, a private investment holding
company, based in South Africa, with interests in mineral
resources, real estate, agriculture, construction materials,
inancial services and oil and gas services.
His counsel has extended beyond the business world.
When former South African President Thabo Mbeki set up
the International Investment Advisory Council in 2000,
Jonah was the irst and only African to sit on it. He has also
been an advisor to Nigerian Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo,
his successor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck
Jonathan. He was a founding member of Ghanaian

President John Kufuor’s investment advisory council and
advised the late president of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa,
on investment promotion. Jonah was also on Koi Annan’s
UN Global Compact Advisory Council. Three years ago
he helped the president of Togo put together a team that
would formulate strategy for the country.
According to his biography, Sam Jonah and the Remaking
of Ashanti by Ayowa A. Taylor, Jonah turned down the
position of Ghanaian vice president twice.
On June 25, 2003, Jonah received an Honorary
Knighthood in recognition of his achievement as an African
businessman at St. James’ Palace, in London. Knighthoods
conferred to foreign citizens are done so on the advice of
the Foreign and Commonwealth Oice. They are bestowed
on those who have made an important contribution to
relations between their country and Britain.
It came from the blue. Jonah took a call from the British
high commissioner in Ghana who, after making sure that
he had sat down, told him that he had received a call from
the British prime minister’s oice informing him that
Jonah’s name had been put forward for a knighthood. The
high commissioner asked Jonah if he would accept the
honor, should the Queen approve. The inal word came
two weeks later, while Jonah was in Guinea. Since Russian
President Vladimir Putin was on a state visit on the day
of the ceremony, the knighthood was conferred by Prince
Charles.
In 2006, Jonah received the Order of the Star of Ghana,
the nation’s highest award, and the Commonwealth
Business Council Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

More recently, Jonah has been appointed—along with 12
other internationally recognized business, academic and
public policy leaders—to sit on the newly formed Bank of
America Global Advisory Council.
A lifetime away from his days of breaking rock
underground, Jonah says: “I saw no barriers. I was
determined to get to the highest [level] in anything that I
did.”
This sentiment is echoed in his biography where Taylor
writes: “Jonah was determined to build a ‘First’ World
company, to dispel the unspoken belief that coming from
the ‘Third’ World implied that he would be a third-rate
businessman.”

Sam Jonah, after being knighted by Prince Charles

Jonah acknowledges the big part that mentorship played
in his success and feels that it is important that those that
have found success pass down their knowledge and not
have the arrogance to think that they did it all on their
own. Jonah has, through the years, been approached by
those seeking guidance and says that there is nothing more
fulilling.
“You must be humble enough to know what you know
and to appreciate what skills you don’t have, and to have a
plan.”
Jonah says it’s sad that young people are no longer as
keen to serve apprenticeships.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Jonah. In 2008,
a conlict of interest arose when Jonah became a nonexecutive director at Metropolitan Holdings Ltd while on

the board of the Standard Bank Group’s Liberty Life. He
stepped down after holding the position for a month. Jonah
refers to this as the shortest directorship in South Africa
and says he failed to see the conlict from the onset as
Liberty Life had a separate board to Standard Bank.
Also making it into the news that year were claims
of insider trading and the resignation of senior staf in a
company chaired by Jonah. Sentula Mining was accused of
april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 13


FORBES

FORBES FOCUS — SAM JONAH

misdeeds worth R242 million ($29.7
million).
Jonah says he was approached
by the family with the controlling
interest in a company called
Scharrighuisen to become the
chairman and shareholder, buying in
on concessionary terms, at around
R2 ($0.25) a share. Jonah went to
distressed shareholders, and some
potential ones, and sold them his
vision to rebrand Scharrighuisen as a
new mining services company to be

called Sentula Mining. Jonah Capital
and Coronation Capital were the two
largest shareholders when they sold
some of their shares, at around R21
($2.60). The combined sales were
reported to amount to R680 million
($85.4 million). The share price
subsequently fell to around R1 ($0.12)
before recovering slightly.
The parties were thought to have
had knowledge that the market did
not. The Financial Services Board
opened up an investigation into the
possible insider trading and trading
was suspended for a few months.
During this time Jonah resigned
as chairman of the company but
maintains that there was no wrong
doing and that they were cleared.
With his focus on the many
possibilities the future holds Jonah’s
Iron Mineral Beneiciation Services
(IMBS) is using industry changing
technology for processing super scrap,
metallic iron, from the waste dump
at Phalaborwa Mining Company, in
South Africa’s Limpopo Province. The
super scrap replaces traditional scrap
in steel making.
Jonah says that when he told

Lakshmi Mittal, of ArcelorMittal—
the world’s largest steel making
company—the chairman and CEO
asked: “Sam, what do you mean? I
have 77 PhDs in Chicago and New
York looking for this technology,
and you’re telling me that two South
Africans have found the technology?”
Jonah is proud of the fact that
while big companies around the world
were writing of lots of money in
14 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

“Africa is all about
entrepreneurship.”
search of this technology, two South
Africans beat them to it. Jonah Capital
has the largest stake in the company,
with South Africa’s Industrial
Development Corporation (IDC) and
Russian company, OAO Severstal,

as partners. The R120 million ($15
million) pilot plant will be up and
running by May.
Despite all this success Jonah
maintains that he is not a wealthy man
and that he is merely comfortable.

He has been reported, by African
journalists and bloggers, as having a
net worth of between $500 and $600
million and has been celebrated as
the richest man in Ghana. His worth
remains a mystery but Jonah says
that he is appalled by the speculation,
adding that his father would be upset
by people saying such things about
him.
“We were not brought up that way,”
says Jonah.
Evidence of this is the inscription
by Jonah’s father placed on the house
he built for his family in 1950. It read:
Wobisa wo din enye wo sika, which
translates to: They ask about your
name, not your money.
“I’d like to be deined more by what
I have done, than what I have…” he
says.
Jonah says that having earned a
monthly salary from the age of 19
until his retirement from AngloGold
Ashanti, at 58, and sitting on boards
and owning shares, means that he has
done well for himself but he denies
being the richest man in Ghana.

Jonah may not be pleased by some
of the reporting about him, but what
pleases him is the way business is
going on the continent.
“Africa is all about
entrepreneurship,” he says.
Jonah feels that people are now
being given the space to grow, that
businessmen like Aliko Dangote, Mike
Adenuga and Patrice Motsepe, are
world-class.
Jonah is also adamant that the
world’s attitude towards Africa
has changed. He feels that Africa’s
potential is now being appreciated and
harnessed, which, he says, is coming
on the back of political and social
change.
The world’s eyes and markets were
on South Africa when the Lonmin
mine workers’ strike in Marikana
turned violent. As the longest serving
director of Lonrho, Jonah doesn’t
want to weigh in too heavily on the
matter but points out that there
are philosophical diferences in the

Sam Jonah with miners at the commissioning of a
shaft at Obuasi

style of management and his own,
inluenced by his time underground.
“I came to appreciate the roles
of these people [miners], how
backbreaking the job was, how
hardworking they were, how
committed they were,” says Jonah.
He believes there will always be
a future in mining as long as there’s
a demand but that miners’ living
conditions are shocking and that
South Africa needs to focus more on
the social aspect of the business.
Jonah has enough thoughts to ill a
book but jokes about not being literate
enough to write it.
Jonah does, however, have a
more relaxed side. The jet-setting
entrepreneur enjoys ishing. His
eyes light up as he talks about it. He
took up golf once again, four years
ago. It brought back memories of a
battle around the golf course nearly
40 years earlier. Jonah challenged
the exclusively white Obuasi Golf
Club, where he was not welcome.
He was determined to learn the
game and when none of the other
members would teach him he went
to the caddies. After 10 lessons, noone wanted to play with him. Jonah

used to go early to the golf course
and play slowly, deliberately, to irk
the white golfers backed up behind

him. It worked and eventually the
invitations to play grudgingly arrived.
On the other side of the coin, some of
his fellow Ghanaians couldn’t see the
victory and sneered that Jonah now
thought he was white.
It is no surprise that decades later
his children tease him about becoming
obsessive about his hobbies. When
Jonah discovered squash, playing
twice a day was not enough so he built
a court at his home. When he took to
the gym, he was there every morning
at 5AM and then built himself one.
You could have guessed that buying
a parrot in Guinea would lead to an
aviary being built back home. It is now
illed with a collection of parrots from
South Africa, Ghana and Brazil.
An avid reader and big fan of
Rudyard Kipling, Jonah recommends
the poem If.
In a speech to inspire leadership
Jonah closed with an extract from
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s A
Psalm of Life: “Lives of great men

remind us that we can make our own
lives sublime and departing we can
leave our footprints in the sands of
time.”
At the very least, Jonah proves that
if you can keep your head while others
are losing theirs and blaming it on
you… you can be a man, my son.
april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 15


FORBES

MY WORST DAY
BLACKY KOMANI

Clipped Wings
Blacky Komani recalls the exact time
he made the decision to suspend
South african airline 1Time. Since
then, he’s had a lot of time to think
about what went wrong.

T

he lights are out at the 1Time oices in Isando
in Johannesburg’s East Rand. There’s no
receptionist on duty and you can park in

anyone’s parking spot.
It’s business unusual for the budget airline
that went into provisional liquidation in November, leaving
the airline with its wings clipped. But group CEO of 1Time
Holdings Blacky Komani is trying not to lap and to keep his
eyes on the horizon.
“It’s true I’m not sleeping at night, I keep thinking about
what else I can do,” he says.
He’s sitting in the very boardroom seat where he made
the decision to suspend all services that irst Friday of
November. He knows it was a Friday because the start of
the weekend would be a critical factor in the perfect storm
he says led to the airline being grounded.
“Once you’re in business rescue, which we were from
August, you have to pay everything in cash and if it’s a
weekend you have to pay for the whole weekend in advance.
If you don’t have a proof of payment by 3PM on Friday for
fuel and other expenses you’ll be grounded,” says Komani.
He says up until just 2PM that afternoon they were
conident they’d make the deadline. Negotiations were
looking good with UK-owned budget airline group Fastjet
and creditors seemed likely to consent to a lifeline. But
the storm got ugly, creditors baulked and Fastjet was sent
scurrying.
At 2.23PM (he remembers the time exactly) he made
the call for suspension of services, leaving hundreds of
passengers stranded and his staf in tears and total shock.
16 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

“I didn’t believe it myself. I remember calling my
wife, Pam, a little after we made the announcement. I
phoned her but I couldn’t say the words ‘We’ve gone into
liquidation’,” he says.
The 49-year-old from Kwelera, East London, had put
up his Bryanston house as collateral when he, as one of
six Mtha Aviation shareholders, went to the Industrial
Development Bank (IDC) for a R49 million ($5.49 million)
loan to buy a 25% share in 1Time. The deal went through
in March 2011.
Komani, who lived in the States for 10 years, was in
New York when the Twin Towers fell in the 9/11 tragedy.
He says watching 1Time implode was like watching those
towers crumble over 11 years ago. It was an emotional
ground zero for him too. He shed tears publicly at the
time and admits to being too overwrought to make media
statements. He says he felt he let down his staf and
members of public, who had come to trust the no-frills
carrier.
“You feel so alone, like you’ve tried everything and it’s
still not enough,” he says.
The abrupt halt to business could not have come at a
worse time, just weeks before Christmas. This weighs
heavy on Komani’s mind, and so too does the suicide of

PHOTOS BY BRETT ELOFF FOR FORBES AFRICA

BY UFRIEDA HO

“You feel so
alone, like
you’ve tried
everything
and it’s still not
enough.”

a pilot who was on 1Time’s payroll, just weeks after the
airline was grounded.
It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. For Komani
entering into the airline industry meant merging his love
for business and his passion for tourism. Giving travelers
greater access to air travel across the continent had to be
the next leap forward for tourism and business, he igured
back in 2010.
But four factors created turbulence 1Time didn’t need.
“The World Cup didn’t deliver what we expected
in terms of business opportunities. We acquired the
maintenance facility Jetworx that came with its own
problems. New player in the market Velvet Sky was taking

a cut of passengers from us and when we’re talking about
the low-cost arena, those last 10 passengers are what you
need to stay in business. The inal factor was that the oil
price never dipped below $110 a barrel. Anything above that
means you’re in a very tight position,” he says.
Critics—including trade union Solidarity, who had access
to 1Time’s records during its period in business rescue—say
1Time was doomed with bad management practices. These

included a glut of staf, especially at Jetworx, even when the
airline was down to a leet of seven aircraft; not clocking
up enough lying hours a month; fat management incentive
payouts when 1Time was loundering; and deiciencies in
credit and cash low management.
april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 17


FORBES

MY WORST DAY — BLACKY KOMANI

What Did I Learn?
Don’t doubt that you can be big. when you do, you
think small and when you think small it is the biggest
barrier to becoming big.

Komani doesn’t believe he iddled while Rome burnt.
He says they knew they were in trouble in May 2011. He
says they started cutting costs and dropped three planes
from their leet of 10. Trimming the fat meant lattening
their management structures, plugging leaks and stopping
wastage and theft. They optimized light schedules and
Komani says he took a 10% salary cut and didn’t take
bonuses.
“Ironically by October last year, just one month before
we suspended lights, our records showed that the company
had actually saved R30 million ($3.4 million) that year

compared to the same igures from the previous year,” he
says.
But it was too late. Even though they managed to sell
Jetworx, saving around 250 jobs by February this year,
liquidators were looking to divvy up the pie to creditors.
Komani and his team’s big hope lies in UK-based Fastjet
sealing the deal. Fastjet is the African version of Stelios
Haji-Ioannou’s EasyJet venture in the UK. They will buy
the company for R1 ($0.10) and inherit the R462 million
($52 million) debt. Fastjet’s designs are to broaden its panAfrican light route.
It’s a tricky deal. Fastjet, headquartered in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania, has been in dispute over unpaid leasing and
maintenance bills to a Canadian aircraft leasing company.
It’s also tangled up in an outstanding tax claim of around
18 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

$2.4 million in the East African country.
Back in South Africa, the deal is still subject to the
thumbs up by South African transport minister Ben
Martins. 1Time will be hoping for a precedent-setting
exemption to allow for more than 25% foreign ownership
in a local airline to meet Fastjet’s majority shareholding
aims. But other domestic airlines have objected to the
application, saying it will erode the position of local aviation
shareholders. A nod from the minister will give Fastjet
international route rights without the company having to
follow standard route license application processes, they
say.

Komani sees it diferently.
“I think the minister understands it’s an important
decision around keeping the low-cost air travel model alive
in South Africa, and also that there are over 540 jobs from
the airline at stake,” he says.
Even if the deal comes through it could leave him out in
the cold. He could be edged out as management structures
are further pared down.
“I have a love of people and right now for me saving jobs
is the most important box to tick. For me, I’ll come right one
way or another.
“The lessons I learnt have been about implementing
rescue measures early on and making sure they take efect
as quickly as possible. Also that loyalty and leadership in
tough times matters—anyone can be a good leader when
things are going well,” he says.
Another worry on Komani’s mind is Skywise—brainchild
of 1time founders Rodney James, Glenn Orsmond,
Michael Kaminski, and Johan Bortslap, and more recently
Wayne Duvenhage. The new budget airline is set to take
to the skies in the second half of 2013, with three daily
lights between Johannesburg and Cape Town and more
destinations to follow. Skywise was granted an air service
licence in March.
He may have lost his appetite for aviation right now but
Komani’s trying to keep his focus and his sense of humor.
So when asked the question: “Chicken of beef?” He says:
“Right now, I think I’m on a diet”.

In the cut-and-thrust world of business we’ve

all experienced a worst day. how did you turn it
around? What can we learn from your experience?




FORBES

EPIPHANY
SINDI ZILWA

Never Let
A Puncture
Slow You
Down
in 1990, aged 23, Sindiswa ‘Sindi’ Zilwa became South africa’s second black
female chartered accountant and it has caused her sleepless nights.

T

here is no air of self-importance surrounding
the co-founder and CEO of Nkonki Inc., Sindi
Zilwa. In fact, if you did not know her, you
would walk past her without a second glance.
Born 45 years ago in the city of Mthatha,
in the Eastern Cape Province, she has come a long way to
become one of the most important women in South Africa’s
corporate world. Zilwa’s dream was to see more black
women become chartered accountants (CAs).
“I lost sleep over the fact that I was the second [black]

20 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

woman to become a CA,” she says.
Nonkululeko Gobodo, executive chairperson of
SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was the irst and because they came
from the same city it was inevitable they partnered to form
Filtane Nkonki Accounting Consultancy in Mthatha.
But before she opened the consultancy, Zilwa had
pursued her dream of producing more black chartered
accountants by lecturing at the University of South Africa
(Unisa) and the then University of Transkei (Unitra).
“I was in a hurry to see more black CAs but the people I

PHOTO BY BRETT ELOFF FOR FORBES AFRICA

BY SIYAVUYA MADIKANE


wanted to see qualifying were not in a
hurry, there was a misalignment.”
“I was so sad when I marked the
scripts and realized that no one with
an ambition to become a CA was
willing to work hard for it. Others
wished to become CAs but they didn’t
do what it costs to become a CA,” says
Zilwa.
Zilwa had come from the same

poverty stricken background—her
mother was a hawker—as her students
and was not willing to take any
excuses.
“Based on that I said, ‘Let me try
to use my time in some other way’.
So, I decided to concentrate on my
practice.”
That practice was established in
late 1992 when Zilwa moved back
to Mthatha after leaving Deloitte
in Johannesburg. Three years later,
the two partners decided to go their
separate ways.
“If the car you are driving from here
[Johannesburg] to Butterworth, a town
near Mthatha, continuously gets tire
punctures, you need to make a decision
whether you want to continue with
that car. For me reaching Butterworth,
the destination, was more important;
I just had to ind another vehicle,” she
says.
That vehicle came in the form of
her brother, Mzi Nkonki, who was
working as a chartered accountant
in East London. The siblings joined
heads and formed Nkonki&Nkonki in
1996. It was clear that Zilwa—whose
maiden name was Nkonki before she

married lawyer Sivuyile Zilwa—would
become the CEO.
“When we won a contract worth
R5 million ($565,000) from the Bisho
government to do their audits, we
really felt our conidence grow,” says
Zilwa.
In 1998, 31-year-old Zilwa
caused waves when she was voted
Businesswoman of the Year by the
Businesswoman Association of South
Africa. The hard work was paying of
and the partners decided to expand
nationwide.

Nkonki Sizwe and Ntsaluba
accounting irms joined hands
to form the irst national
black-owned accounting irm,
NkonkiSizweNtsaluba. Zilwa
was the CEO of the joined entity.
This relationship lasted for six
years before it was disbanded.
Interestingly, Nonkululeko Gobodo
has since replaced Nkonki as part of
SizweNtsalubaGobodo.
“At brand level we did well but
at administration level we didn’t
do so well. I could only share in the
liabilities and proits in the Eastern

Cape but where I was based, in
Johannesburg, I didn’t get anything,”
says Zilwa.
The Nkonki siblings decided to
revert back to working alone after
another short-lived joint partnership.

“If the car you are driving
from here, Johannesburg,
to Butterworth, a town near
Mthatha, continuously gets
tire punctures, you need to
make a decision whether
you want to continue with
that car.”
“We made a commitment never
to burn our ingers again. When you
merge you move ten steps forward
but if it does not work you move
twenty steps back. I think that was the
problem,” she says.
Today, Nkonki Inc. has more than
55 partners and directors based in the
country’s major cities, with 300 staf
and a turnover of around R60 million
($6,7 million). Although it is a thriving
business which counts, amongst
others, South African Airways, Hernic
Ferrochrome and Eskom as clients;
the company still experiences many

challenges.
“As a black irm you are more
inclined to get public sector work
because you get more support from
there. All the medium-sized irms are

owned by the white middle class so
they tend to get private sector business
more,” she says.
Never one to back down from a
challenge, instead of complaining
the mother of two shows that she is a
solutions-driven person.
The irst time she opened her
accounting irm, Zilwa wrote to
the then Reserve Bank governor,
Tito Mboweni, to tell him about the
challenges faced by black accounting
irms.
“I always aspired to audit a bank
because that is an intellectual hub of
knowledge, so I wrote to him because
of the conditions.”
“Companies wanted you to have 10
years of partner experience but none of
us had that experience. Where would
you have been a partner for 10 years
back then?” she asks.
This was to be the beginning of
her other career as a member of a

number of boards including Aspen,
Woolworths, PRIMEDIA and the
Billion Group.
“The deputy governor of the
Reserve Bank gave me call and said I
should come up to Johannesburg to
meet him. That really opened doors for
me,” she says.
The irst board she sat on was the
Wiphold Group, which was once listed
on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Currently, she is making waves as
part of the high performing Aspen
Pharmacare Holdings, led by FORBES
AFRICA Person of the Year nominee,
Stephen Saad, which he started with
deputy CEO, Gus Attridge.
“She is an extremely warm-hearted
person with a great sense of humor,
which makes her instantly likeable.
I admire her career and personal
achievements as a person who has
reached the heights of her profession
when she was aforded no privileges
in her upbringing or early education,”
says Attridge.
Zilwa has come a long way from
being instructed by her brother to
study accounting to being a leader in
the accounting industry.

april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 21


FORBES/FOCUS

OSCAR PISTORIUS

Oscar’s Lost Millions
When South african athlete Oscar pistorius shot his girlfriend,
reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day, his sponsors distanced themselves.

P

istorius has a net worth
of $5 million and is on
bail, accused of shooting
of his girlfriend Reeva
Steenkamp. Whatever
happens during the trial, it is clear
that the life of endorsements and
advertising campaigns is over.
He is estimated to have received
endorsements worth more than
$2 million a year. Amongst them
was sportswear giant Nike, British
Telecommunications, Thierry Mugler
fragrance, Oakley sunglass, and Ossur,
an Icelandic irm that makes the

prosthetic carbon iber blades, which
he wears during his races.
Johannesburg-based marketing
and communications strategist Clive
Simpkins believes it won’t all be gloom
and doom for the 26-year-old athlete,
as it’s believed he is a director of
several companies among many, owned
by the Pistorius family.
“His sponsorship revenues, although
evidently worth a hefty sum of money,
were not his sole means of support.
Even without them, he’s unlikely to
sufer inancial deprivation. Regardless
of the outcome, he’s now pretty much
‘un-sponsorable’, says Simpkins.
He added that no company could
aford to associate themselves with
Pistorius, out of fear of their brands
being eclipsed by the controversial
personality connected with it. As the
Blade Runner prepares to prove his
innocence, the sponsors have moved
away. Nike conirmed to FORBES
22 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

AFRICA that it has suspended its
contract with the athlete, but would

not say how much it was worth.
“We believe Oscar Pistorius should
be aforded due process and we will
continue to monitor the situation
closely,” says Seruscka Naidoo,
communications manager for Nike
South Africa.
The sports apparel giant removed
an advert of Pistorius, which showed

“Regardless of the
outcome, he’s now
pretty much
‘un-sponsorable’.”
him setting of from starting blocks
alongside the tagline “I am the bullet in
the chamber”.
Top sunglass brand Oakley also
severed ties with the athlete but again
refused to disclose the terms of the
contract.
“In light of the recent allegations,
Oakley is suspending its contract with
Oscar Pistorius, efective immediately.
Our hearts are with the families
during this diicult time and we’ll
continue to follow the developments
in this tragic case,” says Cheri Quigley,
spokeswoman for Oakley in the States.
Thierry Mugler—Pistorius was

the face of its A*Men fragrance in
2011—also withdrew all its campaigns

featuring the athlete.
M-Net Movies, a South African
pay TV channel, pulled its TV advert
campaign and billboards featuring the
athlete to promote Hollywood movies,
with the run up to the Academy
Awards. The advert’s tagline was:
“Every night is Oscar night”.
Pistorius was also dropped from
the South African leg of the “It Gets
Better” global video campaign, where
high-proile igures give support to
gay teenagers. He was shown in the
video saying, “Just remember that
you’re special. You don’t have to worry.
You don’t have to change. Take a
deep breath and remember it will get
better”.
Assets that the athlete owns include
three houses and a vacant plot worth a
total of around R8.3 million ($903,300).
The house where the shooting took
place in a gated security village outside
the capital city of Pretoria is worth
around R5.6 million ($609,500). The
luxury home has been on the market
since September 2011. The vacant

plot he owns is located in the Western
Cape, near Cape Town is worth around
$190,000.
In his aidavit Pistorius says that
he has an annual income of around
R5.6 million and movable assets
including household furniture, cars,
jewelry worth around $56,000. He also
has “cash investments” of around R1
million ($108,800) with various banks
in the country.
The athlete is currently on strict bail

SIMON BRUTY/ GETTY IMAGES/ GALLO IMAGES

BY TSHEPO TSHABALALA AND KARABO SEANEGO


PRESS FOR VIDEO:
CHRIS BISHOP, MANAGING
EDITOR ON OSCAR PISTORIUS

conditions and was ordered to pay bail
of R1 million. In March his lawyers tried
to get his bail’s conditions relaxed to
no avail. The 26-year-old was ordered
to hand over his guns and passport and
was forbidden to return to his upscale
home, where the shooting took place.
He may undergo random, mandatory

alcohol and drug tests and also has to
report to a police station twice week
or be visited by a probation oicer.
Pistorius will also have to be in regular
contact with his probation oicials, who
will report on his state of mind. He was
warned against contacting any potential
witnesses in the case against him.
Pistorius was charged with
premeditated murder and will appear in
court on June 4.
The story caught the eye of rogue
trader, Nick Leeson. The man, who at
the time aged 25, broke Barings Bank,
the Queens bank in Britain. Leeson
lost £862 million ($1.3 billion) through
unauthorized trading and spent more
than four years in a jail in Singapore.
He believes that the truth will come
out even though it could take a while.
“The big thing for me is about
accountability. You have to accept
you did something wrong. And
sometimes that’s the most diicult
journey. You need to get that degree of
accountability, otherwise it’s impossible
to move forward. So whatever
happened, he has to come to terms with
it,” says Leeson.
Sage advice from a former young

man to a troubled young man.
april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 23


FORBES/FOCUS

CITIZEN POWER

What You Can Do With
The Bill Gates Dollar
Free wi-i and community participation have made Stellenbosch the second-best
municipality in South africa, and a case study for the rest of the world.

S

tellenbosch has become the
South African pioneer of
a new style of community
development; a technological
hothouse and African
trendsetter with the introduction of
free wi-i, and a partnership with one
of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs
that is set to be rolled out to the rest of
the country.
It is hardly surprising then
that when 102 South African
municipalities were evaluated in 2012,

Stellenbosch was the second-best and
one of two to achieve an astounding 85
out of 100 in the Municipal Financial
24 | FORBES AFRICA

april 2013

Stability Index.
One of Stellenbosch’s pioneer
products is the iShack system, an
innovative approach developed by
postgraduate Stellenbosch University
(SU) students. Its purpose is to make
simple yet signiicant improvements
to the living conditions of residents of
informal settlements.
It is going to be scaled up with a
grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, says Desmond Thompson,
senior writer in the department
of institutional advancement at
Stellenbosch University.
The grant will cover a two-year pilot

project in Enkanini, Stellenbosch. The
eventual aim is to roll out the system to
the rest of the country and beyond.
Between 40 and 100 shacks will be
built or retroitted with a basic solar
energy system and insulated with used

Tetra Pak containers and cardboard
boxes to protect residents from
extreme temperatures.
The iShack system is the result
of a combined research project by
Stellenbosch Universities’ TsamaHub
and the Sustainability Institute (SI)
at Lynedoch outside Stellenbosch, in
collaboration with the Stellenbosch
municipality.

ISTOCKPHOTO

BY FANIE HEYNS


The “i” in iShack stands for
“improved”, and it entails cost-efective
and sustainable modiications to the
basic corrugated iron shack commonly
found in developing countries around
the world.
“The problem with the existing
policy of in-situ upgrading is that
people wait a long time for the
energy and water grids to arrive,
and thereafter for housing to be
constructed,” says Mark Swilling,
coordinator of the sustainable
development program at Stellenbosch

University’s school of public
leadership.
“Research shows that this can take
eight years. What happens in the
meantime? Do shack dwellers just wait,
or are there things that can be done
immediately? The iShack project is
about demonstrating what organized
communities can achieve in a short
space of time.”
Where possible, shacks are
reoriented to face north and will be
provided with a roof overhang for
maximum heat from the sun in winter
and cool shade in summer.
Inside the shack, a clay wall along
one of the sides provides thermal mass
for passive temperature control.
“These strategies are not
alternatives to conventional
approaches. All improvements are
compatible with the conventional
energy and water grids if and when
they arrive,” says Swilling.
“Given that all the technologies
are mature and proven, the real
learning during the pilot phase will be
determining what social, institutional
and inancial arrangements would be
required to make the system viable in

the long run,” he says.
Pieter Venter, head of Stellenbosch
municipality’s inancial portfolio, says
such is the housing backlog nationally
that some residents would have to wait
107 years for a new home.
Therefore ingenious ways of
upgrading informal settlements

and households, like iShack and the
remarkable Langrug-initiative, could
become a blueprint for residential
development in the whole of South
Africa.
In Langrug, an informal settlement
of 4,088 residents near Franschhoek,
a partnership between the University
of Cape Town (UCT), the Community
Organisation Resource Centre (CORC),
Shack Dwellers International (SDI)
and the Stellenbosch Municipality is
coming to fruition.
“We believe community-centered
and driven development—in
partnership with local municipalities,
other non-governmental organizations
and stakeholders—is the best approach
to upgrade informal settlements,”
says Aditya Kumar, Community
Organisation Resource Centre

technical coordinator and a Langrug
project manager.
CORC piloted its unique approach
in Langrug, where strong community
leadership has emerged.
“The Langrug residents have
generated their own developmental
agenda that has shifted the community
mind-set from ‘free state-subsidized
housing’ to ‘community-led settlement
upgrading’,” says Kumar.
Community members conducted
extensive research to determine their
main concerns and probe for possible
solutions, says community chairperson
Trevor Masiy.
“We’ve come up with solutions
and now we’re taking them to the
[Stellenbosch] municipality,” he says.
Some solutions have already been
implemented.
“They have opened access streets,
relocated several families that block
access to the settlement, built grey
water channels, provided play parks
for children, painted ablution facilities
and set up health forums to assist
with HIV/Aids counseling,” Kumar
says in commentary published on the
skillsportal website.

Helen Zille, premier of the Western

Cape in South Africa, recently visited
Langrug and enthused about the viable
partnership between authorities and
the community.
“The exciting thing about this
project is that we are upgrading shacks
where they are instead of moving
people out and starting from the
beginning,” she says.
Stellenbosch is arguably the irst
municipality in South Africa and
Africa that ofered accessible and
free wireless connectivity to local
residents.
According to the World Bank, a
10% increase in high-speed internet
connections results in economic
growth of around 1.3%. In other words,
networked technology is crucial to a
developing economy like South Africa
because the statistics predict good
economic returns on any investment
made in the web.
Stellenbosch municipality partnered
with the former chief executive oicer
of Mxit, Alan Knott-Craig, to initiate
the project. Mxit agreed to donate
not only their excess bandwidth to

the initiative but also infrastructure
support and technical know-how.
“Although free wi-i can never
compete in performance with paid-for
services, it does provide a magnet for
creativity and engineers,” says KnottCraig.
Venter says they planned to give
everybody in the community a cap
of 500 megabytes a day. The next
phase was to extend the network to
the greater Stellenbosch area over
six months, and thereafter target
Franschhoek and Pniel.
Free connectivity and business
partnerships might assist Stellenbosch
in becoming Africa’s technology
capital, and also enhance its reputation
as one of the favorite tourist
destinations in the country.
According to Annemarie Ferns, CEO
of Stellenbosch 360, the Stellenbosch
Tourism and Information Authority
(STI), together with key role players,
april 2013

FORBES AFRICA | 25