Forbes Africa March 2013 (e-magazine full)

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6 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
VOLUME 3 NUMBER 2
CONTENTS — MARCH 2013
10 | EDITOR’S DESK // Chris Bishop
12 | BRIEF 360°
FORBES FOCUS
24  BISMARCK STARES THE BEAST IN THE EYE AND DARES NOT BLINK
Tendai Biti—the rough tough nance minister of Zimbabwe they call Bismarck—has the toughest job in the
world, especially on days when the country has only $217 left in the bank. He believes President Robert
Mugabe should have resigned years ago.
BY LAZARUS HLENGA
28  DIGGING FOR PROFITS
Every citizen of our world will need 1,343 metric tons of minerals, metals and fuels in their lifetime. That
helps explain why Cape Town’s annual Mining Indaba—the third largest in the world, arguably at the highest
level—is a huge event.
BY PETER SULLIVAN
30  SPECIAL REPORT: THERE’S ONE FLYING NEAR YOU
There is a swarm of stealthy machines. You may not see nor hear them but they are about to transform your
life. There are thousands of them ying as you read this. This month, FORBES AFRICA brings you a special
report on drones in Africa.
BY HAMILTON WENDE
COVER IMAGE BY MARK CAMERON FOR FORBES AFRICA; ASSISTANT: GAVIN VAN DER BERG
RETOUCHING BY THE VANILLA RAIN CREATIVE

“The objective for people like myself is not to
see how much money you can make, because
there’ll always be somebody richer than you
are. So what the heck?”
— Christo Wiese
Chairman of Pepkor
PAGE 14
“We opened the rst foreign exchange bureau
called Crane Forex Bureau. Within six months we
were doing more business than the banks’ foreign
exchange departments.”
— Sudhir Ruparelia
Ruparelia Group Chairman
PAGE 46
“He inclined his head, made the Indian ‘Namaste’
spiritual greeting sign with his hands and said:
‘Forgive me but I do not want to talk about it’
before diving into his waiting limousine.”
— Robert Friedland
Founder of Ivanplats
PAGE 44
FORBES
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 7
ENTREPRENEUR
40  NO NAIL LEFT UNPOLISHED
If someone were to tell you that a thriving beauty chain was started by a 50-something-year-old man
who had dropped out of university, you may nd it hard to believe. But once you talk to the man
himself, it starts making sense.
BY LERATO SEKO
48  GO WEST!

Each year, increasing numbers of business and leisure tourists head for West Africa.
Paul Ansah is waiting for them.
BY ABISOLA OWOLAWI
LIFE
50  THE CAR THAT CHAUFFEURS YOU
Imagine a car you could put on autopilot so you can sit back and relax.
BY PETER PIEGL
52  NO LAW AGAINST CHASING LIGHT
Photographer Kelechi Amadi-Obi turns in his barrister’s wig and gown for a zoom
lens and pixel power.
BY RADITHEBE RAMMUTLE
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUPPLEMENT
54  DAVID TAKES AIM AT GOLIATH
Alpesh Patel plans to down the Goliaths in the battle for half a million cellphone users.
BY LUKE MULUNDA
56  HOW AFRICA CONECTS  Infographics
INVESTMENT GUIDE
70  MINING THOUGHTS  Brendan Ryan
SPORT
80  MBA! ON A SUNDAY OF MADNESS AND GLADNESS
Nigeria is back on top of African football and it means their jubilant fans
will expect even more from the Super Eagles.
BY CHARLES IDEM
82  KIRSTY’S ON A MISSION WITH THE COMMISSION
Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry wants a better deal for athletes.
BY MILLIE PHIRI
THIS IS AFRICA
84  QUOTES FROM THE MINING INDABA
Page 74
“If we can nd a way to

partner with African
exchanges, so that we
use what we do well
and what they do well.
What we do well is
deep markets, lots of
capital, lots of clients
committed to us. What
they do well is access
to the clients in their
home market etc. If we
can partner together
to provide investors
through us, access to
capital and that would
be a win. That’s what we
want to do.”
— Nicky Newton-King, CEO of the JSE
BY TSHEPO TSHABALALA
FOLLOW FORBES AFRICA
8 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
MANAGING EDITOR
Chris Bishop
GENERAL MANAGER
Davlynne Lidbetter
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Vuyo Mvoko
SUB-EDITOR
Iga Motylska
BDM - EAST AFRICA

Govenor Makhubela
BDM - WEST AFRICA
Radithebe Rammutle
ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR
Lieria Ferreira
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Shanna Jacobsen
DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR
Gillian van Zyl
JUNIOR JOURNALISTS
Lerato Seko, Mpho Raborife, Abisola Owolawi
FORBES
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MARCH 2013 – VOLUME 3 NUMBER 2
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FORBES
EDITOR’S DESK — CHRIS BISHOP
“Carpe Diem”
Mining Puts Its Money
Where Its Mouth Is
BY CHRIS BISHOP, MANAGING EDITOR
of cynicism among journalists. One joked
that Motsepe had already done his bit for
charity by bankrolling South Africa’s strug-
gling premier league team, Sundowns.
Joking apart, at the very least, Motsepe
is trying to do something for his fellow
man. Talk is cheap and a wise man once
said that the only time you can be sure of
a person’s sincerity is when he or she puts
their hand in their pocket. Motsepe has a
very large pocket at that. He could empty
it quite easily by buying every
house, toy and car known to
man; instead he is trying to
spread a little wealth where it
is most appreciated.
True, Motsepe is not the

first billionaire to hand over
his hard earned millions.
There have been billion-
aire benefactors from John
Rockefeller to Warren Buf-
fett and Bill Gates. They are
made even more remarkable
in that often those who have amassed a
fortune can—in my dear late grandmother’s
words—be as mean as charity.
Let’s hope that many other wealthy
Africans will follow suit and make this con-
tinent a better place to live. Africa’s richest
man, Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, told me last
year that he is thinking of doing the same.
As for Motsepe, I saw him at the Mining
Indaba in a very warm Cape Town, early
in February, and wished him well with his
bold move. This year’s Mining Indaba was
a gathering of more than 7,000 of the great
and the good, to chew over the issues of
the day. It is the best place for the inside
E
very time I appear on a radio
station talking about my favor-
ite subjects—journalism and
FORBES AFRICA—one tweet
is inevitable. It usually goes
something like this: “How can you celebrate
rich people when most people in Africa

have nothing?”
It is an uncomfortable thought. Africa
has one of the widest gaps between rich and
poor and it is little to be proud of. In the last
20 years, I have been fortu-
nate to walk the road less
travelled: from Khartoum
to Kigali; Goma to Giyani;
Maputo and Lusaka to Lu-
anda and Lilongwe. That is
the road that starts with the
five-star hotel red carpet,
leading to the sandy lines
through the shanties and on
to the dusty villages where
water, food and doctors are
scarce; where people scrape
by on less than a dollar a day. If you have
walked that path, you know; you don’t need
anyone to tweet about it.
That is why the news that South Africa
billionaire Patrice Motsepe is to give away
a large slice of his family fortune to those
who have not, warms the cockles of the
heart—it’ll go to education, health and the
promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit.
Analysts calculate that around R360 million
($40.3 million) from the Motsepe Founda-
tion will change hands, each year.
When Motsepe made the surprise an-

nouncement at a luxury Sandton hotel in
late January, there was the usual sprinkling
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 11
Views expressed by commentators in this publication are not necessarily those held by FORBES AFRICA or its members of sta. All facts
printed in FORBES AFRICA were confirmed as being correct at the time the magazine went to print.
A factual mistake occurred due to miswording in the February article The Return Of The Technocrat. It should read: “Growth markets
contributed 22% of IBM’s geographic revenue in 2011, up from 11% in 2000 and we expect them to approach 30% by 2015”. The image for
Driving Ambition should have been of the ML350 CDI 2012 model and not the ML350 2003 model. Apologies from the FORBES AFRICA
editorial team for any confusion this may have caused.
running on mining.
Over the course of my four days there, I had scores of
conversations with experts, ministers and miners that
would take ten columns to document. Instead I will give
you the edited highlights.
Well, it seems that South Africa’s crown as the king of
African mining appears to have slipped a little further. In-
vestors are concerned about threats of government inter-
ference in mining, lingering talk of nationalization—even
though the Mining Indaba heard a number of times that it
was o the table—plus costly wildcat strikes.
Chinese investment is heading this way in abundance
as the world’s super power scours the earth for strategic
resources to keep its gargantuan economy ticking over.
Wealthy state companies are leading the way into a number
of African countries.
Experts say there is going to be sti competition be-
tween African nations to secure the lion’s share of Chinese
investment. The deal is infrastructure in return for market
access; a prime example being the newly opened 1,000km
railway line between Lagos and Kano in Nigeria; Kenya has

new roads and Mozambique a new airport. On the other
side of the coin, experts fear that Africa may not be able to
strike good deals for its resources because it does not have a
united voice.
Overall, many nations are on the prowl for Africa’s high-
grade, low-cost resources. Melbourne-based global mining
leader for Deloitte, Philip Hopwood, told me that Australian
mining companies get excited when they find 1.5 g of gold in
a ton of rock at home but are flabbergasted by the 30g-a-ton
they find in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially
when it costs a mere two thirds of what it would cost to
extract at home. True, the roads and refining are not the
same in the DRC as they are in Australia but the margins are
handsome for anyone with a steady nerve and deep pockets.
Among the surprises at the Mining Indaba was the news
that Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a gold producer
with four mines ready to go; Malawi wants to produce a
million tons of coal a year and become an exporter. It wants
to piggy back on a railway line Mozambique plans to build
through Malawi to carry coal from its booming Moatize
coalfields to the sea.
One last surprise was my friend Frans Baleni, a member
of the executive of the South African Communist Party and
general secretary of one of the most powerful unions in Af-
rica, the National Union of Mineworkers. I greeted him and
asked him why he was rubbing shoulders with capitalists.
“I am trying to convert them,” he said with a laugh.
As supporters of the entrepreneurial spirit, FORBES
AFRICA hopes he does not succeed!

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12 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
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CHOKRI BELAID DEATH:
TUNISIANS MASS FOR BURIAL
Chanting loudly and waving flags, tens of thousands gathered
for the funeral of Chakri Belaid a Tunisian opposition leader,
whose assassination sparked political uncertainty and violent
protests. The 48-year-old was shot at close range on his way
to work on February 6, by a gunman who fled on a motorcycle.

Unions say the government, led by the Islamist Ennahda party,
is to blame for the killing, an accusation which it denies. Prime
Minister Hamadi Jebali has tried to defuse tensions by calling
for a non-partisan technocratic government. However, his party
has refused to accept this.
HEALTH WORKERS
SHOT DEAD IN
NORTHERN NIGERIA
Unidentified gunmen killed at
least 12 health workers who were
administering polio vaccinations in
the northern Nigerian city of Kano,
police say. The attacks, in two
dierent locations, happened in
early February. Witnesses said the
attackers arrived on three-wheel
taxis and opened fire, also killing
the vaccine workers’ driver. Kano,
Nigeria’s second largest city, has
been regularly targeted by Boko
Haram—an armed group, which
has condemned the use of West-
ern medicine. Nigeria remains
one of the few countries where
polio is endemic. Several years
ago religious clerics encouraged
their followers to stop receiving
the vaccines, saying that it would
sterilize their children.
Nigeria’s four main opposi-

tion parties have merged
to form the All Progressive
Congress party that will
challenge President Good-
luck Jonathan in the 2015
election. The four merg-
ing parties are the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
All Nigeria People’s Party
(ANPP), All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) and
Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC). Chairman of
the merger committee of
NEWS LINES
CHAMPIONS: Nigeria’s Super Eagles
were crowned the 2013 Africa Cup of
Nations winners, after beating Burkina
Faso 1-0.
DISAPPOINTMENT: South African musi-
cian Hugh Masekela lost out on another
Grammy award, after being nominated
for the second time in his 57-year musi-
cal career.
REVOLUTION: Sudanese pro-
democracy activists staged a wave of
small protests against Omar Hassan
al-Bashir, who has been in power since
1989.
RESIGNED: Pope Benedict XVI, 85,

stepped down on February 28 saying he
no longer had the strength to fulfil his
duties. He became the first ponti to do
so since Gregory XII’s resignation in 1415.
SENEGAL: A tribunal investigating
atrocities committed by ex-Chadian
president, Hissène Habré, started last
month. It’s the first time a former Afri-
can leader faces trial in another African
country.
TAX: The Guardian reported that Zambia
lost more than KR41 billion ($7.7 billion)
in the last decade through tax evasions,
traced mainly to mining multinationals.
the ACN, Tom Ikimi, said the
need for a formidable party
to challenge the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP)
is more urgent than ever.
National chairman of the
PDP, Bamanga Tukur, told
The Punch that his party
is unfazed by the merger.
Referring to his party as
the Lionel Messi of Nigerian
politics, he said the merger
is not a threat to his party.
The new party controls 10 of
the 36 Nigerian states.
NIGERIA UNVEILS NEW OPPOSITION PARTY

SOUTH AFRICAN
PARALYMPIC ATHLETE
ALLEGEDLY KILLED
GIRLFRIEND
South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius
was charged with murder in February after a
shooting that killed his 29-year-old girlfriend
Reeva Steenkamp, at around 4am on Valentine’s
Day at his house in Pretoria. South African
Police Services confirmed that Steenkamp was
shot four times and she died on the scene. The
26-year-old athlete was taken into custody after
being questioned by police and appeared in
court the same afternoon. At the time of going
to print, Pistorius was due to appear in court for
his bail application and was forming a legal team
to defend the charge of premeditated murder.
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 13
ISTOCKPHOTO
360°
THE GOOD
The Ethiopian government launched a one-
stop facility for the payment of utility bills
in a commitment to provide better services.
The system, known as Lehulu, is powered
by an Ethiopian company Kifiya Financial
Technology. It is the first such initiative in
Africa. Addis Ababa currently has 2.1 million
monthly transactions and 1.1 million bill-
paying customers.

A prosecutor’s oce has ordered
the autopsy of Mohamed Al-Gendy
whose attorney argues was tortured
to death after his arrest by Egyptian
police. Three other detainees, who
were kept with Al-Gendy, testified on
the injuries sustained by the victim,
who was announced dead due to
haemorrhaging, by Helal hospital.
After paying public workers’ salaries in
January, the balance in cash-strapped
Zimbabwe’s government public
account stood at just $217, according to
finance minister Tendai Biti.
Zimbabwe’s economy went into
free-fall at the turn of the millennium,
after President Robert Mugabe began
seizing white-owned farms.
THE BAD AND THE UGLY
DRC COUP PLOTTERS ARRESTED
IN SOUTH AFRICA
Nineteen alleged coup plotters from the
Democratic Republic of Congo were charged in
a South African court for having transgressed
the Foreign Military Assistance Act. The rebels
are accused of plotting to stage a coup in their
home country. South African police received a
tip o in September and managed to infiltrate
the group, which conducted its meetings in
Limpopo province. The group is accused of

preparing to receive military training to topple
President Joseph Kabila and was subject to
a special police sting operation. Government
prosecutor, Shaun Abrahams told the court that
the men were members of the Union of Nation-
alists for the Renewal (UNR) of the DRC.
WORST TRAFFIC ACCIDENT IN ZAMBIA’S HISTORY
At least 53 people were killed in a crash involving a bus and lorry in Zambia, in what is being
called one of the worst trac accidents in the country. The accident occurred around 100km
north of the capital, Lusaka, on a two-lane highway known for heavy trac. Poorly maintained
and overloaded vehicles are commonplace in Zambia. President Michael Sata conveyed his
government’s “deepest condolences” to families of the victims. Police are investigating the
cause of the crash. According to reports, the bus was operated by the Zambian postal service,
which provides passenger services on buses which carry post.
CHINA ‘SMUGGLES’ MOZAMBIQUE TIMBER
Nearly half the Mozambican timber exported to China is
illegal. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said
its undercover investigation showed that Mozambican politi-
cians and Chinese traders were systematically involved in
timber smuggling and illegal logging. Of all the Mozambican
timber exported to China last year, 48% was thought to have
been illegal. This has caused Mozambique to lose tens of
millions of dollars a year in tax revenues. China’s demand for
raw timber is having a devastating eect on Mozambique,
which is one of the world’s poorest countries. High-level poli-
ticians, working with Chinese traders, are breaching Mozam-
bique’s export and forest laws. The EIA said the Mozambican
government should introduce an immediate timber export
ban and investigate corruption in the forestry sector.
18 million

The number of Kenyans who use mobile
phones as a bank account.

Source: IBM
RUSUMO FALLS HYDROELECTRIC
PROJECT TO DISPLACE 680
HOUSEHOLDS
At least 640 households could be aected by the
construction of a hydro-electric power dam on
the Akagera River along Rwanda’s border with
Tanzania. According to the provisional results from
the project development studies, the households
to be aected are mostly on the Rwandan side,
while others are on the Tanzanian side. Burundi is
seems to be in the clear of any human displace-
ments. The Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project is
a multi-state venture involving Burundi, Rwanda
and Tanzania. It is expected to cost the three
countries around $440 million to produce 80MW
of electricity to be shared among the states.
PHOTO BY BRETT ELOFF FOR FORBES AFRICA
14 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
F
rom a confiscated briefcase
at Heathrow Airport to being
lambasted by the press over
his business with the tax man,
Christo Wiese has no airs
about him. Only his gold Rolex watch
gives you a glimpse of his wealth.

There is no doubt that Wiese is a
formidable businessman, who has
made a meaningful impact in the South
African retail industry. As he sits in
his boardroom—which is larger than
his family’s first store—overlooking
Industria, Cape Town, he’s either on
the phone making arrangements, giving
assurances or chatting to his broker. This
is a far cry from his childhood in a small
South African farming town, a place he
calls an oasis.
Wiese’s father was a farmer and
businessman in Upington in the
Northern Cape, like many in his family
before him, armed with basic informal
schooling and his entrepreneurial spirit.
Wiese is proud when he talks about how
his parents never worked for anyone.
“I grew up in a household where that
[entrepreneurship] was the way one
approached life, which I found was a
great benefit to me,” says Wiese.
Wiese shows much aection towards
THE KING
OF RETAIL
He is the third richest person in South Africa, the sixth in
Africa and the 367th in the world but Christo Wiese
takes it with a pinch of salt.
BY LERATO SEKO

PHOTO BY MARK CAMERON FOR FORBES AFRICA; ASSISTANT: GAVIN VAN DER BERG
CHRISTO WIESE
his late mother, referring to her as a woman
of great wisdom with a lot of drive, who
had a strong influence in his life. She was a
housewife who eventually owned her own
business too.
Unlike his father, Wiese spent his last
two years of high school at the prestigious
Paarl Boys High school and moved to
Cape Town to study further at UCT. After
a year, he dropped out and moved back to
Upington to join his father in business.
At 21, Wiese left Upington to study law
at the University of Stellenbosch, whose
alumni include some of South Africa’s
wealthiest: Johann Rupert, Koos Bekker,
GT Ferreira and Jannie Mouton. Wiese’s
parents co-founded Pep Stores in 1965
and were its second largest shareholders.
He worked for the company during his
vacations, driving around the country with
the major shareholder looking for locations
to open new shops.
Wiese graduated in 1967 but returned
to the family business instead of practicing
law. There, Wiese dealt with administrative
duties such as keeping minutes and
updating share certificates. He got stuck in
it and did what needed to be done.

In 1973, law came calling and Wiese
practiced at the Cape Bar until 1979. During
this time he bought a stake in a diamond
FORBESFOCUS
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 15
FORBES FOCUS — CHRISTO WIESE
FORBES
16 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
mining company, the largest in South Africa not belonging
to De Beers.
A businessman at heart, Wiese bought the controlling
stake in Pep Stores from the founder in 1981, at the age of
36, and renamed it Pepkor Limited.
The decision to expand Pepkor’s footprint to Europe
in the early ‘90s came about as Wiese realized that
international brands would be coming to South Africa
to compete with them. Once again, proving to be a
savvy businessman, Wiese made the choice to take the
competition to the rest of the world, with what he deemed
a good formula that could be transferred to developed
economies.
“We realized that as South Africa was opening up to the
world, the world was opening up to South Africa,” says
Wiese.
Pepkor’s business model is simple: high volume, low
margin. If you look at the group’s history all the businesses
follow this model except Stuttafords. The premium
department store caters to the high-end customer and was
a default acquisition when Pepkor bought Greatermans
Department Stores in 1991. This was not the business the

group wanted; their target was the Checkers supermarket
chain, Stuttafords was sold a few years later.
Wiese’s Shoprite became the first of the group’s
companies to expand into Zambia. The old OK Bazaar chain
was bought from the government after being nationalized
and run into the ground by the Kaunda government. The
chain was rejuvenated and Pep opened in Zambia in 1994.
In 1999, Pepkor delisted from the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange, at $331.4 million, after being listed for 27 years
as Pep Stores. Pepkor had been approached by Brait, a
private equity company, which advised them to delist. Brait
proposed that Pepkor would do better at that stage as an
unlisted entity. Following this, management acquired a
substantial stake in the company. Brait owns a 37% stake in
Pepkor. Wiese says the group, or parts of it, could be listed
in the future.
Pepkor’s success has led it to have Pep, Ackermans, Best
& Less, Dunns, Pepco Poland, John Craig and Shoe City in
its stable.
As cut-throat as business can be at times, those that
are successful have spent years building and maintaining
good relationships. Wiese and South African investment
millionaire Jannie Mouton go a long way back. The two sit
on the board of KWV Limited and Wiese used to sit on the
board of Mouton’s PSG Holdings. Mouton has nothing but
admiration for Wiese.
“I think what’s important is that he understands risk.
He’s not scared to take risks. He believes in himself and
he will back it, he’s not scared to raise money for a good
business proposition,” says Mouton.

Wiese’s investment strategy is three pronged: get the best
possible returns; invest in ethical businesses and remember
that investing is a long-term game. This is the philosophy
of the chairman of Pepkor, Shoprite, Tradehold and non-
executive chairman of Invicta Holdings and Brait SA.
Tradehold is an investment holding company listed on
the main board of the JSE, its main interests lie particularly
in property in the United Kingdom, which is hoping to
expand. Wiese owns around 80% of the company, with a
market capitalization of around $137.5 million.
Invicta is an investment holding and management
company with a market capitalization of around $770.6
million. The company controls and manages assets of
$934 937 and finalized an acquisition in Singapore, its first
outside Africa. Wiese owns around 37% of the company.
Wiese feels that the driving force of any entrepreneur
should be to build businesses and help people develop.
This, he says, is the true measure of success.
“The objective for people like myself is not to see how
much money you can make because there’ll always be
somebody richer than you. So what the heck?” says Wiese.
“I often say to people that I know a lot of people who’ve
made a lot of money in dierent businesses, in dierent
formats, with dierent styles but the one golden thread is
that to make money takes decades.”
Pepkor is testament to this in its 57 years; Wiese has
been part of 47 of them. As the man behind this growth,
Wiese points out that it was a step-by-step process that
had its ups and downs. His worst knock happened in 1985
when the rand collapsed. The company bled money, when

the rand lost 50% of its value in a few months because of its
significant dollar exposures. The balance sheet was under
strain and the company had to be restructured. Shoprite
was listed separately and some of the non-core assets
were sold o. In one year, the company went from interest
bearing debt of R140 million to having R110 million in the
bank, at the time.
Getting out of a corner is something, Wiese says, only
experience can teach you.
As a man who has done business across the continent for
decades, Wiese calls himself a committed and optimistic
African. He feels that Africa is shedding its old image;
“It’s my money. I didn’t steal it from anybody. I didn’t defraud anybody.
It’s my money and it’s certainly my right to do with it as I please”
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 17
FORBES FOCUS — CHRISTO WIESE
FORBES
18 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
that a new Africa is emerging. He
marvels at how people can still look
at the continent with, what he calls,
“old eyes”. He says that whenever
something negative happens in Africa
the “afro-pessimists”, as he calls
them, turn it into a catastrophe but if
the same were to happen anywhere
else, it would purely be a setback. He
considers the events at Marikana,
where Lonmin mine strikes turned
violent, a prime example.

Although Wiese is best-known for
his business interests in retail, he has
also tested other waters. Wiese was
not looking to get into the hospitality
industry when he bought the Lanzerac
Wine Estate in 1991, on the outskirts of
Stellenbosch. With a five star hotel on
the premises, Wiese bought it as a new
home for his family but as much as
they loved the estate they loved their
Clifton beach house even more.
Wiese chose not to walk away from
Stellenbosch when his family did,
simply because the place gave him
too much pleasure. The wine estate
was run down and the vineyards had
been neglected for 25 years. But he
saw something in it. Wiese spent a
lot of money refurbishing the hotel,
replanting the vineyards, building the
cellars and developing the property.
The magnificent 300-year-old estate
was sold in 2012. The billionaire now
“The objective for people like myself is not to see how
much money you can make, because there’ll always be
somebody richer than you are. So what the heck?”
owns Lourensford Wine Estate in
Stellenbosch, bought in 1998.
On the rare occasions when Wiese
isn’t too busy buying companies and

making deals worth millions, he enjoys
hunting, clay pigeon shooting, playing
with his dog, catching up with old
friends and spending the last three
weeks of the year at his beach house.
None of this compares to his private
game reserve in the Kalahari. Wiese
always dreamt of owning a farm close
to where he grew up but never spends
more than two or three days at a
time there. It’s his way of giving back
through conservation, while running it
as a business to keep it sustainable.
“If it pays and washes its own
face and gives a little of a return
on the capital employed, then it is
sustainable,” says Wiese.
Wiese is no stranger to making
headlines. In 2009, Wiese was stopped
by customs ocial at London’s
Heathrow Airport where he was
carrying a briefcase filled with just
over a million dollars. The money
was confiscated and the matter went
to court. Wiese insists that he acted
on the advice that it would not be an
issue. Wiese’s advocate stated that the
money was less than what his client
made in a week. The courts ruled in
his favor and the money returned.

“It’s my money. I didn’t steal it from
anybody. I didn’t defraud anybody. It’s
my money and it’s certainly my right to
do with it as I please,” he declares.
The media criticized the earnings
of Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson,
who topped the list of top earning
executives in 2010, which was released
by the Business Times. Basson earned
more than $82.7 million that year
but dropped in rankings to 20th the
following year. He did however earn
the largest bonus of $4,398,470 in
2011. Wiese counters that Basson is
underpaid for the work he does and
all he has produced for Shoprite’s
stakeholders. Wiese says it’s too big a
job for him to ever be tempted to do it
himself.
Shoprite was bought in 1979 for
R1 million, with fewer than 500
employees and eight stores. Basson
Lanzerac Wine Estate
PHOTO BY NEIL AUSTEN ON BEHALF OF LANZERAC HOTEL
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 19
was put in charge and the company
is now Africa’s largest food retailer
with a reported turnover of more
than $9.25 billion for the year ended
June 2012. Shoprite has a market

capitalization of more than $23.23
billion and 2,033 stores across Africa,
including the group’s subsidiaries.
Wiese is the largest shareholder of
Shoprite.
“I’m not an entrepreneur…
You could best describe me as an
entrepreneurial financer or investor,”
he says.
But he understands entrepreneurs,
which is exactly why he thinks so
highly of Basson. He has brought
others into businesses who are the
opposite of Basson. These individuals,
however, either didn’t grow the
business or ran it down, despite their
impressive credentials and promises.
In return Basson thinks highly of
his boss.
“Christo Wiese is probably the
most respected businessman in South
Africa. He has the ability to dissect
problems and opportunities without
emotions or personal complexities. As
non-executive chairman of Shoprite
and a close personal friend we not
only respect his judgments but also
seek his advice,” says Basson.
Another painful media experience
for Wiese was about his tax payments.

He was reported as owing the South
African Revenue Services, SARS,
$274.905 million in unpaid taxes.
While it’s unlawful to disclose a
person’s tax aairs, he says that he
doesn’t settle his legal matters in the
press and that SARS has not dragged
him to court regarding this.
“Personally I don’t have, as an
individual, any taxable income
because my income comes from my
companies and that income comes
from dividends, which are not
taxable. If I owe you money, sue me,”
challenges Wiese.
Wiese’s company Tradehold won a
court case against the commissioner of
SARS regarding additional assessment
of $48,533,200 on the company’s
capital gains in 2003.
This newsworthy 71-year-old
billionaire is not looking to retire
anytime soon. He wouldn’t know
what do with himself if he did. He
is, however, grooming his eldest
son, Jacob (30), to take over the
business. Wiese also hopes that both
his daughters, one a non-practising
lawyer, like her father, and the other
a recent graduate from the London

School of Economics, will join the
family business someday.
“I asked Rob Walton, of the
Walton family, whether their
children are in the business and he
said: ‘No’ and I said: ‘Well, what
do you teach your children then?’
and he said: ‘We teach them to be
responsible owners.’ And maybe
that’s a good thing,” says Wiese.
The next 10 years for the Pepkor
Group are said to be very much
like the last 10: a continued high
growth path focused on plugging into
technology.

PHOTO BY MARK CAMERON FOR FORBES AFRICA; ASSISTANT: GAVIN VAN DER BERG
20 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
PHOTOS BY BRETT ELOFF FOR FORBES AFRICA
MY WORST DAY
FORBES
RAN NEU-NER
Jobless
Hopeless
Zero Condence
Down on his luck, down to his last dollar,
desperate Ran Neu-Ner cold-called his
way out of a spot.
BY SIYAVUYA MADIKANE
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 21

R
an Neu-Ner was looking
forward to the day at
his technology start-up
company, Wealth Maker.
When he arrived he
found the doors locked and a sheri’s
note declaring the company investor’s
bankruptcy.
Eleven years later, Neu-Ner, 36,
is the Group CEO of South Africa’s
leading activations agency—The
Creative Counsel (TCC). The company
makes an annual turnover of R500
million ($57 million) and has 650
permanent employees around the
country.
On any given weekend 15,000
promoters can be seen promoting
some of TCC’s clients’ products. With
a 50% market share of the promotions
space, the company is not doing too
badly. But the picture was not always
so rosy.
“We lost everything in an IT
venture during the dot com bubble.
It was supposed to be South Africa’s
first online stock trader website. Our
investor went insolvent and we shared
the same building. The sheri came

and locked us out. I had invested
everything; my business partner, Gil
Oved, had invested everything,” Neu-
Ner says.
After arriving at the oce that
fateful day, Neu-Ner summoned his
business partner to a coee shop in
nearby Norwood.
“We wrote on a serviette all the
things we had. We worked out that we
needed to pay everyone who worked
for us in the IT business. We paid our
sta salaries and then we were jobless
and hopeless,” he says.
At the time the two entrepreneurs
were 25 years old and everyone around
them was making a bit of money as
employees in the corporate world.
However, neither of the two was
willing to look for a job.
Neu-Ner credits his business
partner and co-Group CEO, Gil Oved,
for sticking it out during those dark
days.
“There is nothing worse than not
having direction, an income or job.
You lose all your confidence and
self-worth. When I didn’t believe, he
pushed me. When he didn’t believe in
himself, I pushed him. That is what is

good about having a partner,” he says.
The partners go way back, when
they met in grade 10.
“We started our first
entrepreneurial business in matric
selling make-up kits imported from
China to pharmacies and hair salons.
Literally, going from door to door. We
set up a company called Still Thinking
so that when people asked us what the
name of our company was we would
say, Well, we’re still thinking’. It was a
great conversation starter,” says Oved.
After six months of doing nothing,
the two came across an opportunity
in the promotions space. They had no
plans to make it a long-term business.
They just wanted something to keep
them busy. They needed R100,000
($11,000) to get started but there was
no money lying around. Oved took a
job as a computer consultant and the
money he made he gave to Neu-Ner to
start the promotions company.
“The first six months were the
continuation of the worst period of my
life,” says Neu-Ner.
The two business partners took to
“cold-calling” companies in the yellow
pages telephone directory. And then

one day, it looked like their luck was
about to change for the better.
“I cold-called Danone, by luck
the company that did their in-store
promotions had closed down.”
The requirements from the dairy
and dessert producer’s marketing
team were high and included the
instruction, “Never break the cold
chain and execute with the highest
standards of execution and creativity”.
Unfortunately, they were up against
more established companies, who also
wanted the account.
“I created a PowerPoint
presentation and arrived to present it.
Once I got there, the agency before me
walked out and there were five of them
carrying briefcases. In that moment I
just decided to ignore the PowerPoint
presentation and speak from the
heart,” says Neu-Ner.
Neu-Ner’s moving speech won
them their first big client. The two had
to promote Danone’s products at 12
stores, simultaneously, and came out
with flying colors. However, challenges
still lay ahead.
“One of the promoters on the first
day decided to steal from the stores on

my first show piece.”
Luckily, this was only a small
glitch. Neu-Ner—who has been an
entrepreneur since a young age,
when he sold cut-out calendar photos
in an Israeli neighborhood before
he moved to South Africa with his
engineer parents—had arrived. He
managed to put things right with his
entrepreneurial flair.
“I was always an entrepreneur. I
had many ventures when I left matric.
I didn’t spend too much time at
university. I studied and finished my
degree [he has a finance degree] but I
was never there. I love business,” he
says.
Oved agrees that his partner has
always been a driven individual and
“It is important
to make mistakes
because you learn
much, much more
from your mistakes
than from your
successes.”
22 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
MY WORST DAY — RAN NEU-NER
FORBES
oers some light-hearted criticism.

“This means he accepts brilliance or nothing from
himself and all those around him. People who work with
him get swept away and are therefore willing to sacrifice
and give their all to him. Sometimes his uncompromising
nature is hard. Some people struggle to accept such
toughness,” he says.
TCC has been rolling out its expansion program over the
last couple of years; they bought 50% of the well-known
Mr Delivery franchise, which home delivers food from
restaurants and fast-food chains. The delivery business is
one of many subsidiaries falling under the TCC umbrella,
such as the events companies, Minanawe and PopiMedia, a
social media specialist.
While the company has grown beyond what the two
could have hoped for in the early days of 2001, the partners
want to expand even further.
“We are using South Africa as a springboard for the next
step, which is how to get into Africa,” says Neu-Ner.
“We also believe that unlike the days of the past where
everything started with a TV ad; in the future concepts will
become agnostic of medium. The start would often be in
activations where consumers interact with the brand on a
personal basis and mediums such as TV, radio and others
will be support functions,” adds Oved.
The two have traveled a long road to becoming a major
promotions company in South Africa and have picked up a
couple of lessons along the way.
“It is important to make mistakes because you learn
much, much more from your mistakes than from your
successes. If you are a real entrepreneur by blood, don’t

give up. What separates the men from the boys is those who
carry on even when it is looking bleak,” says Neu-Ner.
And that’s exactly why they made it.

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.
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 23
T
he wise, white-haired
lawyer who has seen a
thousand trials, nodded
sagely as he spoke
about the shooting that
shocked the world. He believes the
South African Police Services and
government will pay for the deaths
of 34 miners at Lonmin’s Marikana
mine in Rustenburg, north-west of
Johannesburg.
London-based criminal defense
lawyer James Nichol traveled 5,600
miles to Johannesburg for a couple
of weeks, to give his services for free.
Those weeks turned into months of
shocking evidence.
“There is no question of self-defense
here, these are police ocers who had

gone completely berserk and had fired
into these people. And in some cases
there’s evidence of a number of strikers
who had been shot in the back,” says
Nichol.
The hearings are revealing evidence
on how the miners died and 78 others
were injured. The week before, 10
people—six miners, two police ocers
and two Lonmin security guards—were
killed as thousands went on a wildcat
strike, over pay.
When Nichol saw the images of
the Marikana massacre in his living
room in England, it reminded the
67-year-old of the shock he felt about
the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. On
that fateful day in the township south
of Johannesburg, the police shot into
a crowd of around 5,000 unarmed
anti-pass protestors, killing 69 people—
many shot in the back—and wounding
more than 200.
At 15 years of age, he took to the
streets, in his hometown of Newcastle,
calling to boycott the apartheid regime.
Nichol knows how hard mining is.
He started work as a miner at 15, while
his father worked at a coal mine from
age 14 near Newcastle. Nichol senior

died from dust related heart disease
when he was just 40. It left Nichol
bringing up his siblings—their mother
had died earlier from tuberculosis.
Nichol worked his way up to
specialize in miscarriages of justice and
is a lawyer for the Socialist Workers
Party, of which he is a member. He
defended miners during the famous
miners’ strike in Britain between 1984-
1985.
With the help of a legal team from
the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of
South Africa (SERI), Nichol represents
the families at the commission, which
is chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam.
It is examining whether the police
were justified in using lethal force,
whether union rivalry triggered the
violent strike and whether Lonmin
played a role.
Nichol says the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM) had abandoned
its members. He says the union did
not write to the bereaved families or
represent them at the commission.
“I can think of no graver betrayal
than to do nothing for the family of a
dead member of your union.”
The families were wholly ignored

by the state until Nichol and Joseph
Mathunjwa, the president of rival
union the Association of Mineworkers
and Construction Union (AMCU),
found them.
“It seemed to me that it was wrong.
I knew then that I was here to stay,”
says the lawyer.
However, NUM’s general secretary,
Frans Baleni, says that it is the
responsibility of the company or the
owner of the infrastructure where the
incident happened, to call or write to
the bereaved families. He added that
the families would have had to give
consent to be represented by the union
and its lawyers.
Nichol believes that the killings
could have been avoided because
stopping the strike was not about
public order but more about strike
breaking.
The evidence suggests the police
set up an operation of 800 ocers the
night before the massacre, including
several machine guns, rifles with stun
grenades, gas grenades and water
cannons, plus helicopters and razor
wire. The operation also organized
ambulances and fire brigades.

“The decisive point for me that
this was not about public order and
more about strike breaking came on
the morning of August 16, when two
statements were made: one by the
police commissioners when she said:
‘This strike stops today’ and one by the
head of press for SAPS when he said:
‘Today is D-day.’ Why? Why did it have
to be today?”
Many witnesses will appear over the
next few months. A ruling by Farlam
is expected in May. Nichol will be
listening.
FORBES FOCUS — MARIKANA INQUIRY
TSHEPO TSHABALALA
“It Seemed To Me That It Was Wrong”
James Nichol
PHOTO BY TSHEPO TSHABALALA FOR FORBES AFRICA
24 | FORBES AFRICA MARCH 2013
ZIMBABWEFORBES/FOCUS
Bismarck Stares The Beast
In The Eye
And Dares Not Blink
Tendai Biti—the rough tough nance minister of Zimbabwe they call Bismarck—has the
toughest job in the world, especially on days when the country has only $217 left in the
bank. He believes President Robert Mugabe should have resigned years ago.
BY LAZARUS HLENGA
I
n the last decade, Zimbabwe’s

economy has twisted slowly in
the wind. It has broken records
for all the wrong reasons: the
highest inflation the world has
ever seen and 80% unemployment.
After a disputed 2008 election, a
creaky political agreement ushered in
a power sharing government. In this
brave new world the task of running
treasury was given to a man, who calls
himself a poor constitutional lawyer;
an Arsenal fan, who thinks Arsene
Wenger’s time is up.
Tendai Biti, 47, is a workaholic
who without education would
be a demon. They called him
Bismarck at university—after the
iron-fisted military founder of a
united Germany—because of his
uncompromising approach to debate.
Bismarck is bitter about Wenger:
“He has been torturing us with poor
results. He must do the right thing”.
The analogy is irresistible and perhaps
Wenger would feel the same way in
return.
The main entrance to the seat of
power has tinted windows and an
intercom. It is possibly the only oce
at the new government complex

oces, in the capital of Harare, with
such an electronic device. The voice
of the security guard asks politely:
“How can I help you?” These security
measures are not surprising—a group
of war veterans once threatened to
throw Biti from his sixth floor oce.
PHOTOS BY PRIVILEGE MUSVANHIRI FOR FORBES AFRICA
MARCH 2013 FORBES AFRICA | 25
Inside, his desk is full of
paperwork. Biti wears a blunt face as
he speaks to a mystified oce aide
who is handed back a file.
“He doesn’t want this and that
signature. I don’t need to sign this
paper. Where is he? He should be
doing this and that. I don’t like that.
This is nonsense,” says Biti.
Suddenly, I’m told: “Let’s do the
interview now, I have no time.” No
smile. No greeting. He starts swiping
across his iPad and ignores several
incoming phone calls.
Biti has been at the helm of the
leaky financial ship that is Zimbabwe
for years. He took the job in 2009, in
the midst of the global financial crisis,
with the aim of achieving a tough
balancing act for a nation floundering
in a dreadful recession. For a country

with a power-sharing government
and several power centers wanting
money, especially state security, Biti is
also in the midst of ugly politics. It is
a job that needs guts, patience and the
gonads of an elephant.
He stormed out of a cabinet
meeting, which until then was
unheard of in conservative Zimbabwe,
stunning both President Robert
Mugabe and prime minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
I ask him how he manages his
emotions, after telling him he can be
very dicult.
“Yes, I do have mood swings but I’m
a very vulnerable person. I hide in a
shell of machoism. I’m very emotional,
too emotional. I think and act with my
heart. I know I can be a disaster. I get
so angry and I speak my mind. What
aects me are the tiny little things.
People who are late; people who are
sloppy; typographical errors kill me;
bad English; bad grammar,” he says.
But why did he storm out of a
cabinet meeting in July 2010?
“The discussions were going
nowhere and I knew I was right
so I just expressed my right of

disassociation. I don’t like people who
are dishonest. I also feel that I don’t
owe you, so let’s be objective, let’s be
impartial,” he says.
This year could make or break it for
Zimbabwe. If the elections go ahead,
with violence along the way, the
country could go o the rails, taking
investment hopes with it.
“Zimbabwe has been scued
so much, suocated so much
by mediocrity, dictatorship and
mendacity when other countries
are moving. The election in 2013
must make a distinction. It’s a vote
between the past and the future; it’s
a vote between opportunity and the
liquidation of opportunity,” he says,
with a stern face.
Investors are apprehensive about
elections. Like eagles, they are keeping
an eye on the country from a distance.
Biti has been wooing European
investors but the odds are against him.
His boss is a hard sell abroad. And
what more can he expect, he doesn’t
like him either but is managing him
in a fragile coalition government in
which the right hand, doesn’t know
what the left hand is doing.

So far, the economy is fairly stable
but the manufacturing sector is dead
and investors are still watching,
reluctant to walk through the open
door.
Biti says they should get a bit
of credit for cutting half a trillion
percent inflation to 7% in a matter of
months.
“What we did bordered on the
miraculous… It has never been done;
I don’t think it will ever be done
again. You wear and tear, the arrows
are thrown at you, pressure is like a
tornado, it aects even your marriage
and it’s phenomenal,” he says.
The Zimbabwe Accelerated
Debt Arrears Clearance Debt and
Development Strategy (ZAADDS)
has been crafted to deal with the
extensive debt. It is just as well as the
country has a staggering $10 billion
foreign debt, and will be negotiating
its arrears with a visiting IMF team
this quarter. Biti says they will try to
negotiate out the arrears but the debt
remains a structural issue dependent
on elections.
“The country has two choices:
the crocodile scenario and the

cheetah scenario. I don’t want to be
a crocodile… I want to be a cheetah. I
want to sprint,” he says.
African Investment Markets’ Farai
Dyirakumunda says Zimbabwe is on
the radar.
“A lot of investors gave a wide array
of investment opportunities with
good upside potential. Some will sit
on the fence during the election year
due to uncertainties but there will be
an eventual influx of foreign capital
under the right conditions,” he says.
Hope pales in the face of reality.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) painted a desperate
country teetering on the brink, late
last year. Several banks have closed,
the liquidity crunch is stalling
domestic investment and the CZI
“Zimbabwe has been
scued so much,
suocated so much by
mediocrity, dictatorship
and mendacity when
other countries are
moving. The election
in 2013 must make a
distinction. It’s a vote
between the past and

the future; it’s a vote
between opportunity
and the liquidation of
opportunity.”