CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA // As the city settles into late-summer languor, it is easy to envision a successful World Cup, now just 104 days away.
The dazzlingly new 68,000-seat Green Point Stadium, the site for eight matches, including a semi-final, gleams in the morning sun. Afternoon temperatures hover in the mid-30s. As night falls, men and women crowd the bars and restaurants of the waterfront not far off, where the South African businessman Sol Kerzner, the developer of Dubai's Atlantis on the Palm, has just added a new Xanadu to his menagerie of hotels.
Along with nearby bohemian Long Street, with its verandaed Victorian buildings alongside landmark mosques, a more perfect location to celebrate victory or drown defeat could hardly be imagined. Or so it seems.
Yet amid all the fuss about whether South Africa will be ready to host the world's biggest sporting event, what routinely is overlooked is the weather.
Yes, the weather. Look at a map or desktop globe and the issue will immediately be clear. Come June, while the northern hemisphere is bathed in summer, the opposite side of the globe - not least, the continent's southern tip - will be nestled deeply in winter.
Cape Town, where France and Uruguay face off on the tournament's opening day, is likely to be cold and wet. At an elevation of 1,753 metres and far inland, Johannesburg, the site of the final, will be freezing.
Among the nine cities and 10 stadiums where Africa's first ever World Cup is to be contested, only the Indian Ocean port of Durban can expect good weather. Surprised? You're not alone. When did you last hear a television announcer or an official for Fifa, football's world governing body, refer to "this winter's World Cup"? Case closed.
The impending rain and cold is not foremost on the minds of hundreds of weekend partiers who have converged on M'zolis, an outdoor dance club and bar in the black township of Guguletu, near Cape Town's international airport, to stave off the afternoon's 38-degree heat.
The partiers, in their Saturday-night best, pours out onto the street from under a canvas overhang. A portable sound system thumps out a bass beat that seismologists probably can detect two continents away. It is all a respite from the grim realities of a community where unemployment is estimated at 50 per cent and 30 per cent of the 350,000 residents are believed to be HIV-positive.
While the World Cup is eagerly awaited at M'zolis, the winter weather that accompanies it is not.
"Don't believe what anybody else tells you differently," chides Benjamin Vencio, 28, an Angolan construction worker who has lived in South Africa for 12 years. "It rains a lot in June and July, sometimes for six or seven days straight. You don't see the sun."
The prospect of bad weather is not the only question in the air. There are signs that the love affair with Fifa and its president, Sepp Blatter, is wearing out, too.
Trade union leaders alleged last week that Fifa is importing World Cup-related clothing and souvenirs from China, rather than purchasing them from South African manufacturers.
That accusation came on the heels of Fifa's announcement that it would only accredit reporters to cover the tournament who agree not to publish or broadcast anything that will bring the organisation into "disrepute".
Fifa officials appeared unaware that this condition mirrored a notorious old apartheid law and violated the South African constitution.
Amid such vitriol, the weather may not be the tournament's biggest problem. International tour operators are reporting a 25-year low in bookings of World Cup travel packages. Furthermore, less than two per cent of the available tickets have reportedly been sold to football fans in African countries outside South Africa. Half-empty stadiums will hurt the all-important global television ratings, which is why Fifa last week announced it was discounting the prices of more than one million tournament tickets, much to the chagrin of those who had already bought them. Local attendance is deemed ever more critical to the World Cup's success.
Yet not even a marked-down ticket may lure Alex Pieters to Green Point from his home in Paternoster, 145km north of here. Mr Pieters, like other white Afrikaaners, favours rugby and cricket, and admits to having little understanding of football. For him - guess what? - weather will be a critical factor.
"If it's a sleeting rain, they'll have to play. But I'm not sure I'll go. It'll be more comfortable to sit on the sofa in front of the telly," Mr Pieters said.
Inclement weather and soggy, if not frozen, pitches may not faze some football fans - Scots, Norwegians and Russians come immediately to mind.
This World Cup was already poised to be a salutary reminder that many, if not most, of the hundreds of millions of people who play, watch and cherish the game are poor. What this World Cup could also turn out to be is a reminder that football is a game not only for the fleet of foot but for mudders, too. Most certainly, it will be a reminder that football is a game for all seasons.
Even winter.
cnelson@thenational.ae
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.”
How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
