BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa // In the backstreets of Bochabela, a township south of Bloemfontein city centre, stands a decaying white building.
The windows of Klein Magasa Hall are covered by metal grilles, the paint is flaking, the structure is covered in graffiti and rubbish litters the ground outside.
But in 1912 it saw the formation of the South African Native National Congress, which went on to become the African National Congress, the heart of the struggle against apartheid, and for the past 14 years the country's ruling party.
Now, though, and like the building in which it was founded, the organisation is cracking.
A few kilometres away, at the University of the Free State, a breakaway party was launched last week, in an atmosphere of feverish excitement for 4,000-odd delegates. The Congress of the People (Cope) is being led by Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota, a former ANC chairman, and most of its members are renegades from the ANC.
The event could not have been more symbolic. Bloemfontein is replete with history, having hosted the creation of the National Party, which instituted apartheid, as well as that of the ANC. Moreover, Cope's founding conference culminated on Dec 16, the most important date in the Afrikaner cultural calendar, marking the anniversary of the Battle of Blood River, when Boer forces massacred the Zulus of Dingane in 1838, so many being killed that the waters of the Ncome River ran red.
In post-apartheid South Africa, the occasion is commemorated as the Day of Reconciliation, a public holiday, but the divisions within the ANC are so deep, and so bitter, that such a prospect within the party is infinitely remote.
Days after he was released from 27 years of imprisonment in Feb 1990, Nelson Mandela went to the city to declare: "The ANC is a child of Bloemfontein. The umbilical cord of the ANC is buried here. Today, we are like children returning to their mother.
"We have never faltered in our quest to create a South Africa where freedom, peace, justice and equality prevail. This is the noble mission of the ANC and one which we will never forsake."
With the ANC family riven by feuding, delegates at the Cope launch disagreed profoundly. Patricia Harris, 56, from Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape, said the new party had been necessary "because of the corruption of the ANC".
"What Nelson Mandela built up [the current ANC president Jacob] Zuma flushed down the lavatory and he flushed us with it, so we had to form Cope."
The reality is somewhat more nuanced and complex, according to analysts. The ANC has struggled to develop from a liberation movement - which it still considers itself - to a political party, and its power structures have failed to adapt to changing circumstances.
"The biggest threat to the ANC is the ANC itself," said Allister Sparks, an author and commentator.
After Mr Zuma ousted Thabo Mbeki from the party leadership one year ago, Mr Sparks pointed out, the new leadership's supporters "set about capturing control of every branch" from the 40 per cent of the party that had backed the deposed president, thereby threatening the victims' livelihoods.
"The ANC has become a huge employment bureau; it's no longer an idealistic organisation," he said. "Ultimately the committees control the election lists, and these are jobs for thousands of people at national and provincial levels, thousands more at municipal level, which bring with it control of tenders and patronage.
"These are the aggrieved who quit the ANC because they were driven from it."
But whatever self-interest is behind its creation, Cope offers black South Africans a plausible electoral alternative to the ANC for the first time, advancing the chances of truly competitive multiparty politics, and demonstrating the political development of the country - most post-colonial African states, which won their independence decades ago, have yet to reach it.
"Previously there was no exit option and that's one reason why the ANC leadership has been able to contain internal discontent," said Anthony Butler, professor of public policy at the University of Cape Town. "I think they are worried."
And Cope has the opportunity to capitalise on deep levels of disappointment among the many South Africans who have not seen material benefits from democracy and economic growth.
Opposite Klein Magasa Hall, Eugene Jacobs sat swigging from a large bottle of Hansa beer. "We don't have work, we are always drinking, as you now see," said the 26-year-old, who has never had a job.
"I blame the leaders of the ANC. When it comes to the elections they always promise people they are going to do one, two, three, create some jobs, but now I'm here. I have got a matric [the 18-year-old school leavers' qualification in South Africa] and I'm not even working. As you can see there are no tarred roads."
sberger@thenational.ae
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, Friday, March 29, 5pm at The Sevens, Dubai
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
