JOHANNESBURG // In northern Johannesburg, the wealthy residents of Africa's richest city - both black and white - eat at expensive residents, sleep in large, well-guarded houses and shop in sprawling malls packed with designer boutiques.
But an hour or so away, in the townships south and east of the city, tens of thousands of people live in dire conditions, in shacks that do not have running water or electricity - standpipes and paraffin are used instead.
The contrast is stark. Many of South Africa's poor have been waiting for a decade and a half since the advent of democracy and the ascension to power of their own party, the African National Congress (ANC), for material improvement in their lives.
Thabo Mbeki, president for nine years, argued that economic growth was the best way of spreading prosperity to the masses, but as inequalities increased, with the privileged beneficiaries of his Black Economic Empowerment scheme being dubbed the "black diamonds", so did resentment among the poor.
Jacob Zuma capitalised on it to secure the support of the Left in his power struggle with his predecessor, which culminated in his installation as president two months ago after a general election.
But his political honeymoon has proved to be distinctly short. Last week frustration boiled over into riots over what is euphemistically dubbed "service delivery" in townships around Johannesburg and across the country.
The scale of the issue is enormous - the ANC government has built three million free or subsidised houses during its time in power, but inevitably still has a long way to go to make up for decades of deprivation under apartheid.
In Balfour, in Mpumalanga province, police fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds, and scores of foreign Africans, many of them Ethiopians and Somalis, targeted by the mob had to flee for their lives, in echoes of last year's xenophobic violence against migrant workers.
In Meyerton, south of Johannesburg, a burning barricade was set up on the R59, a main road, while Thokoza, a few kilometres away, saw several days of disturbances.
Across the country hundreds of people were arrested, the disorder comes after a series of strikes, by doctors and construction workers among others, with more expected.
The violence has been widely condemned, but commentators point out that the underlying grievances must be acted on. "It is imperative that the government acts swiftly to address people's demands," said The Sunday Independent in an editorial. "President Jacob Zuma ? needs to realise that any further procrastination will not only deepen mistrust and frustration, but will allow the crisis to spiral out of control."
At demonstrations, protesters tend not to criticise Mr Zuma personally, but having created their expectations with his own populist rhetoric, it is unsurprising that they demand he deliver on his promises.
He has had to plead for time. At a rally in his native KwaZulu-Natal this weekend, to thank the people for voting for the ANC, he said: "There are places where there is no delivery. We know that. We have made serious changes and have set up our government in such a way that we can address this problem."
But he added that the new administration was still a "baby". "Give us a chance," he said.
Tokyo Sexwale, the minister for housing and human settlements - who as an ANC grandee turned billionaire businessman epitomises the new South African elite - blamed previous administrations. "There is a disconnect between us and our people," he admitted to the Sunday Times. "This is quite clear. The people are not demonstrating against a three-month-old government.
"They are simply saying leaders in the past have done things wrong and they want to tell us."
But the ANC leadership's difficulty is that while there has been change at the top, and purges of Mr Mbeki's supporters throughout the organisation, at lower levels many officeholders remain the same, and corruption in provincial and municipal structures has been a prime cause of the failure to deliver, diverting resources from investment and spending into the pockets of officials and their relatives.
Mr Zuma declared that he was determined to take action even at the cost of his popularity within the party. "People are going to start hating me because we are going to act," he said.
It is yet another promise, and the danger he faces is that there is only so long that individuals can be blamed before the problem starts being seen as a systemic issue with the party as a whole.
No less a moral authority than Desmond Tutu, the Nobel laureate and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, condemned greed in the ANC last week, contrasting it with the spirit of the struggle against apartheid. "There is something wrong that is happening in this country," he said at a memorial service for two ANC fighters killed 20 years ago. That is not what we struggled for."
It is clear that there are concerns at the highest levels of government. At the same event, Trevor Manuel, the former finance minister and now one of Mr Zuma's key advisers as a minister in the presidency, recalled a time when "we didn't dream about possessions, we didn't dream about deficits, or surpluses or taxes.
"We dreamed about liberation. We were driven by passion and determination. How did we traverse from that point to where this country finds itself?"
sberger@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Tips to avoid getting scammed
1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday
2) Visit an RTA centre to change registration only after receiving payment
3) Be aware of people asking to test drive the car alone
4) Try not to close the sale at night
5) Don't be rushed into a sale
6) Call 901 if you see any suspicious behaviour
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
TV (UAE time);
OSN Sports: from 10am
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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
Scores
New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs
New Zealand win by 47 runs
Total eligible population
About 57.5 million people
51.1 million received a jab
6.4 million have not
Where are the unvaccinated?
England 11%
Scotland 9%
Wales 10%
Northern Ireland 14%
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Tips%20for%20holiday%20homeowners
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Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Raha%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Kuwait%2FSaudi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tech%20Logistics%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2414%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Soor%20Capital%2C%20eWTP%20Arabia%20Capital%2C%20Aujan%20Enterprises%2C%20Nox%20Management%2C%20Cedar%20Mundi%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20166%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
Europa League group stage draw
Group A: Villarreal, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Astana, Slavia Prague.
Group B: Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Partizan Belgrade, Skenderbeu.
Group C: Sporting Braga, Ludogorets, Hoffenheim, Istanbul Basaksehir.
Group D: AC Milan, Austria Vienna , Rijeka, AEK Athens.
Group E: Lyon, Everton, Atalanta, Apollon Limassol.
Group F: FC Copenhagen, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sheriff Tiraspol, FC Zlin.
Group G: Vitoria Plzen, Steaua Bucarest, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, FC Lugano.
Group H: Arsenal, BATE Borisov, Cologne, Red Star Belgrade.
Group I: Salzburg, Marseille, Vitoria Guimaraes, Konyaspor.
Group J: Athletic Bilbao, Hertha Berlin, Zorya Luhansk, Ostersund.
Group K: Lazio, Nice, Zulte Waregem, Vitesse Arnhem.
Group L: Zenit St Petersburg, Real Sociedad, Rosenborg, Vardar
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Engine: 80 kWh four-wheel-drive
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: From Dh280,000
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
