Open Articles

Richard Somogyvari sees margins where others see empty beds

africasc_admin — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:39:53 -0600

JOHANNESBURG. To sell hotel rooms at a 50 percent discount doesn't sound as a great idea. Clients, burnt by zillions of internet hoax offers, believe that it's a bogus offer and are skeptical about coughing up the membership fee. Hotels think that such a massive discount will ultimately cannibalise on their own fully priced, or more reasonably discounted, offerings. And surely, there cant be much of a margin for the guy who sells the discount package?

Well, think again. Richard Somogyvari has done exactly that. He has convinced, clients, hotels and various marketing partners that there is money to be made from discount beds as much as there is money to be made from bums on otherwise empty plane seats.

Since Richard Somogyvari set up Hotel Express South Africa in 2001 the company has grown to an impressive ZAR 6 million business and he now employ's 18 people in Southern Africa.

"There was a clear gap for this kind of business, which has relatively high acquisition cost and therefore need relatively high margins. The first three years I was on the road most of the time to pitch our services to hoteliers and customers", says Richard Somogyvari.

If nothing else, Richard Somogyvari proves that to be an entrepreneur is never that straight forward as one get told in the text books - the card board box entrepreneur dreams and thinks invention, its in his blood, and somehow, just by doggedly sticking to his instincts and vision it will work.

Certainly, in a way Richard Somogyvari fits the stereotype. He has that particular curiosity that tell you that inside there resides a born salesman. But it wasn't a straightforward journey from A to B.

This particular journey started back in 1999 when Richard Somogyvari and his wife Helene, decided to move on, to start a new life outside their home country Sweden. Richard applied for the sales manager position for the South African licensee of the international directory Kompass. He had worked for Kompass in Sweden for 13 years, so that part of the equation was a natural progression.

There were enough challenges anyway. To move from the southern Swedish city of Malmö, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's hometown, to the bustling mining city of Johannesburg, was quite a change. And though the product he was set to sell was the same, his new colleagues, clients and the way business was done was quite different from home.

"Organisations are not as flat as in Sweden - a factor that drives up the acquisition costs. You simply need to spend more time to get to someone that can make a decision", says Richard Somogyvari.

Which means that to get to a decision maker it takes another decision maker - it is a hierarchical situation and there is very little you can do about it. Besides adjusting your sales strategy.

Nevertheless, he did a good day's work and increased the sales of Kompass considerably. But after a year and a half Richard Somogyvari felt that he'd had enough. What he did at Kompass was very much the same thing, albeit in a new environment, and there was very little in it for him.

Up came an offer from German online travel agency, Flights.com, to set up a South African subsidiary. Richard Somogyvari took up the challenge and ran with it.

"It didn't last very long, it was just before the bubble burst. Suddenly came a letter that no more money would be forthcoming from Germany. It was quite a blow, I really didn't know what to do, one option was to move back home", says Richard Somogyvari.

Of course he didn't. Instead Richard Somogyvari scratched around to see what kind of agencies and opportunities there were. He came across Norwegian hotel discount concept Hotel Express.

"I thought it should work beautifully in South Africa, particularly back then when it was recession and all businesses were trying to save money in one way or the other", says Richard Somogyvari.

So he stuck his head down, shrunk the office to a one room-one staffer situation and put the funky, internet-chique office furniture in storage, and went back to do what he knew he was good at - pitch his product to procurement managers.

"It was very hard, there was a lot of suspicion from the companies that it was a bogus offer, which gave me a lot of motivation to make sure that we would deliver on our word. It's only by keeping what you've promised that you stand a chance to succeed. There is nothing worse for a discount business to not deliver", says Richard Somogyvari.

Hotel Express has been around since 1987 and claims 250 000 worldwide clients. It was started in the US, but was soon bought by the Norwegian franchisee, as they were the most successful of the lot. The concept is simple, to take care of hotel's surplus capacity and add some more revenue to the bottom line instead of stand there and accept what otherwise would be an outright cost. The South African franchisee pays a license fee to the worldwide group mainly for the marketing and international hotel contracts that are maintained.

As clear and simple as this sound, it's still against human nature to undersell your own product. Why should one do such a thing? What if all customers would become clients of a Hotel Express kind of outfit, that would be rather disastrous for the hotels.

To fight that kind of perception, to stick it out, Richard Somogyvari had to sink whatever savings he had, and a quit a bit more. At some point he considered selling the house, his car, whatever, in order to just keep the business afloat. Even to give in and move back to Sweden.

To this day Richard Somogyvari is not too sure why he continued, except that he believed in the concept and that there eventually would be a break through. He continued to be cheerful and have the right kind of positive attitude.

"There was a lot of trial and error. I went to a company and pitched and hoped for the best. When someone actually bought the idea I probably more surprised then they were. That's what happened when I got my first reasonably large contract, with Swedish truck manufacturer Scania. They actually bought it and I was stunned", says Richard Somogyvari.

He tried just about everything under the sun, most of the ideas where never followed through. But those that worked work really well to this day.

"One was to enter bulk contracts. I entered a deal with The Holiday Club, one of RCI International's - the largest timeshare company in the world - major developers. Their members became our members at a massive discount. The assumption, from our point of view was that their members would be marginal users, and that we therefore still would make money from it", says Richard Somogyvari.

The assumption worked. What happened was that these kinds of bulk members used there cards sparsely and when they did they used them during the weekends, which member hotels appreciated.

When critical mass had been achieved and Richard Somogyvari had understood his market a lot better it was time to set up a tele sales centre. Initially it was outsourced, but quite soon he set up his own tele sales operation.

Neighbouring countries have become an important part of Hotel Express's business, to the extent that half his staff are doing sales work, and are sourcing new hotels, outside of South Africa.

"There are three types of clients. We have local businessmen travelling in South Africa and internationally, and they get our discount hotel rates. Then there are regional business men mostly travelling to South Africa and often staying over the weekend. Finally its the bulk clients", says Richard Somogyvari.

Richard Somogyvari is in the final stage of a contract with one of South Africa's major life insurers. The contract is huge and works on the same underlying assumptions as the RCI contract - that the massive bulk discount will pay off due to the sheer numbers it adds.

Richard Somogyvari's next challenge is to set up a new office in Cape Town, were he recently moved with the family. He expects to employ about as many as he has working for him in the Hyde Park, Johannesburg office.

His first reflection, after the move to Cape Town, was how differently everything worked in Cape Town.

"It could as well have been another country. We felt very much outside and longed back to Johannesburg", says Richard Somogyvari.

From a networking point of view it was also very much to start from scratch. But that he knows how to do - as a Swedish immigrant in South Africa he had no social or business networks to fall back on.

"But that have never really been an issue. In many way', I would say people are more curious about what I have to offer as a foreigner. South African's are very often scathing about each other", says Richard Somogyvari.

His recommendation for others to move down to South Africa and start a business is clear.

"It is very easy to set up a business in South Africa. Taxes are much lower and there are massive opportunities just about everywhere. But you must be focused and obviously be prepared to work hard. It is particularly difficult to find good, pro-active staff", he says.

His own solution to the latter have been to employ well educated staff from neighbouring countries, in particular from Zimbabwe.

Richard Somogyvari has loads of ideas of where to take the business next. He believes that the company's core clientele can grow two to three times.

In the larger Hotel Express empire it is Richard Somogyvari's fiefdom that shows fastest growth by far.

So indeed it worked.

ARMS EXCLUSIVE: Saab winds down arms-offset programme as goals about to be achieved

africasc_admin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:59:34 -0600

JOHANNESBURG. Swedish arms manufacturer Saab states that it has started to scale down a joint Saab/BAE Systems offset programme after the South African Government, the company says, has cleared two thirds of a US $ 7.2 billion obligation.

“The South African government’s agency for the national industrialization programme announced late November that offsets to the tune of $ 5.3 billion have been approaved. It means that we are well ahead of our target. As a consequence we are not engaging ourselves in ventures with any new co-operation partners but will stick to those we have already worked up a relationship with. We believe that enough will come up”, says Fredrik Nordh, a Saab’s representative at the joint BAE Systems-Saab South African offset delivery company Sanip, to Africascan.

The Saab/BAE Systems commitment to South Africa’s National Industrialisation Programme, NIP, was the clinch maker when the pair won the contract to deliver 28 Gripen and 24 Hawk jetfighters for a combined $ 2.3 billion to South Africa seven years ago.

BAE/SAAB won the contract thanks to a “non-costed option” introduced by the then Minister of Defense Joe Modise, which made it possible for cabinet to ignore the issue of price as well as technical merits and instead focus on “strategic reasons, including the total benefit to the country in terms of countertrade investment and the operational capabilities of the SANDF”, as it was later stated in a controversial report by the country’s Auditor General - a report that arms critics alleges had been doctored by Government.

For Saab the sale of 28 Gripen jetfighters was particularly welcome. The company had been under a lot of pressure for a long time at home, as it needed to get its first export brake or face possible closure.

The British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has for more than a year tried to verify possible bribes and has so far, according to South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, traced unusually large payments of “commissions” to official agents as well as to former South African Government defense advisors.

Neither BAE Systems or Saab have defended any of these allegations, as they have not been confirmed by the SFO, but various spokespersons have repeatedly stated that everything they have done is legal.

Contractually the South African government could cancel the deal if it was found out that bribes had been paid. But, as insiders note, that is not likely, as the South African government hasn’t shown much willingness to co-operate. President Mbeki has instead publicly critiscised the British PM Tony Blair for closing down SFO's investigation of BAE's massive Saudi deal, stating national strategic reasons, while instead encouraging an investigation into the, for the UK, reasonably insignificant South African deal.

A former ANC representative in the South African parliamentary audit committee, Andrew Feinstein, suggests in a new book that the South African governments unwillingness to allow for a comprehensive arms probe was due to probable payments directly to the ANC’s coffers ahead of the 1999 elections and due to the cover up that followed where individual government ministers also were likely recipients of arms bribes - most prominently diseased former Defense minister Joe Modise and his advisor.

Between the two partners Saab had the overall responsibility to come up with an offset programme and deliver on it with the help of the Swedish Wallenberg group of companies assistance - which had the largest stake in Gripen through Saab and various Swedish subcontractors - while it was BAE System’s responsibility to get the sale through, including excecute payment of commissions to those that facilitated the deal.

It was argued by industry insiders early on that Saab’s creative marketing team had won the contract by getting the Department of Trade and Industry officials - not the least minister Alec Erwin - onboard.

“The South African’s bought it hook and sinker, but the projects included in the original proposal amounted to very little, what was presented then is nothing like what’s being delivered”, a number of Saab sources that were involved in the NIP discussions at the time have told Africascan.

The BAE/Saab offset included many imaginative projects, including plans to manufacture a Swedish transport moped and to build train carriages for export in South Africa, while there were more realistic ones too, such as exporting various car components. The bulk of the projects were confidential, allegedly on commercial grounds.

Many projects failed dismally, most prominently a huge scheme to bring Nordic tourists en masse to the Port Elizabeth beach front, an industrial city that South African’s themselves are shying, and a large gold beneficiation scheme set up together with Harmony Gold - where the Peruvian partners siphoned off tens of millions before the project collapsed and the officials were charged.

By and large Saab learnt from the mistakes - how much it cost the company is a well kept secret though arms analysts point out that offset costs are accounted for in the original arms sales price - and started to re-orientate its modus operandi and invest in “core business” activities. The company, which had to bring in a much larger chunk of offset than BAE, began to purchase defense - and technology companies that could fit into the larger group. Four years ago it bought into listed defense and technology group Grintek, an acquisition that was finalized last year.

But what really saved the day and the offset programme for Saab - and BAE - was Saab’s purchase of Denel Aerostructures earlier this year.

The deal was only worth SEK 60 million on paper, but in offset terms Saab’s CEO Per Erlandsson managed to twist a massive concession out of the South African government. In return for Saab taking management responsibility and a 20 % stake - with an option to purchase outright control - the South African Government agreed to give very generous offset credits that all in all amounted to USD 1.5 billion (ZAR 10 billion).

“The Denel deal is by far the largest part of the NIP (non-defence industustrial participation project). It is an important part of our way to satisfy the offset criteria”, says Fredrik Nordh.

For Saab these investments mean that the company, and rightfully so, now counts South Africa as its “second home” - well beyond the call of duty as far as investment analysts were concerned, but probably necessary from an offset point of view.

It wasn’t an easy bargain to drive home. The South African government effectively, says observers, had to agree to move the goalposts so that the investment in what is essentially an arms company was seen as an investment in a civilian operation and therefore would be accepted as a civilian part of the offset deal - this was crucial for Saab as it had to find ways to catch up with some other failed offset deals.

Four years ago Saab purchased another defense related South African company Grintek for ZAR 500 million - a deal Saab has good reasons to be happy about as it has contributed towards the arms offset and has proven to be a sound investment.

So in the end it was these two, essentially defense related, own investments that have saved the day for Saab and its partner BAE Systems, not their attempt to go beyond their core business and act as an investment- and trading house.

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The Saab-Denel deal markup gives a rare insight to the difference between sales price and offset credits, the latter being negotiated behind closed doors between South Africa’s politicians and the defense supplier, in this case Saab, as they try to beat the deadline, contractual regulations and potential embarrassment.

Saab operatives feel the company has dragged through the mud by unsympathetic media, which favours highbrow moral language and is less than sympathetic to legalistic language.

Legally, as the company rightly points out, the South African government is happy with Saab’s delivery, and has approved the company’s delivery of offset as contractually correct.

Equally Saab officials point out, there is no proofs whatsoever that the Swede’s have been involved in bribery and corruption - the company says it has no knowledge of any bribes being paid and that whatever has been done in that department was done by Saab’s former marketing partner BAE Systems.

This is possible, but not likely. Arms deals, as any massive business deal, are done by flesh and blood businessmen on one side of the negotiating table and politicians and their administrators on the other.

To sum up, the real course of events points towards the following:

• Saab and its partner BAE Systems are on their way to fulfill offset obligations. Rules were always open for political interpretation to help to save face for South African, British and Swedish politicians, as well as for BAE-Saab. If any rules are transcended or not is almost impossible to establish as decisions are political and kept secret for commercial reasons.

• The likelihood of irregular payments of bribes, beyond legitimate commissions, is large but yet unproven. Weather there is a case of bribery of South African officials can possibly be proven in a court of law without assistance from South African authorities, but the likelihood is that politicians can continue to block investigations and cover up for as long as crucial figures can conspire to stay silent. The National Prosecution Agency’s possible charge of ANC president Jacob Zuma early 2008 could offset that balance. The British SFO is not likely to go ahead without further proof. The Swedish Attorney General has decided there is no evidence against Saab.

Volvo gives ZAR 5.5 M to HIV project

africasc_admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:42:39 -0600

JOHANNESBURG. AB Volvo, the Gothenburg-based holding company for the famous Swedish truck- bus and construction equipment maker, has plunged into the world of social causes in South Africa by sponsoring an HIV/Aids information campaign targeted at high schools, with ZAR 5.5 million over the next three years. The amount is larger than what most other Swedish companies operating here have paid out for external social causes in South Africa before. (Ericsson paid ZAR 10 million to a school in Eastern Cape 10 years ago, when “ordered” to do so by Nelson Mandela).

The Volvo-sponsored project is operated by Star Schools, a Swedish NGO founded by IT-billionaire Dan Olofsson, who has raised about ZAR 60 million, so far, among peers and friends to put into his self-styled HIV/Aids campaign in South Africa.

Star School’s Volvo-sponsored project kicked off by opening a school in mid-February and will roll out into eight schools in the vicinity of Volvo’s assembly plant in Durban.

"Star School suits us very well as its core values are similar to ours. We were attracted to the idea of working with young people and help the next generation to a better future," says Anders Lindblad, Volvo Southern Africa's MD.

It’s the first time Star Schools moves into an urban environment. The NGO has been focused on rural areas up until now.

“We have long experience in how to implement our concept... To set up in an urban environment is not that different. Yes, it’s city youth and the have a different attitude, but the programme works the same way”, says Peter Janzon, Star School project manager in South Africa.

From humble beginnings, the Star Schools project has already been introduced to close to 50 schools in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal rural areas. The Star School concept was born, five years ago, when (founders) Christin and Dan Olofsson realized the depth of the problem with HIV/Aids in the neighbourhood of Thanda, the location of their newly acquired fruit farm, turned into luxury game resort.

The actual concept has drawn some criticism for its methods, because it says it aims to “mentally vaccinate” participating youth, up until now mainly from poor rural areas, through a program that emphasizes an “Aids-free life” and preaches self-belief and sexual abstinence.

Olofsson put up a large chunk of the money for the Star School project himself together with prominent Swedish businessmen, including H&M (chain clothing-store) owner Stefan Persson; businessman Jan Barchan; tourism-developer Johan Hansen - who’s set up a Star School in Namibia; and businessman Mats O Sundqvist, Olofsson’s partner in the Thanda Royal Zulu football team.

The Volvo deal is something of a break-through for Olofsson and his peers as they have managed to bring a Swedish multinational subsidiary onboard in South Africa. Subsidiaries here are notorious for not being big spenders when it comes to social causes. Subsidiaries normally pass off those kind of decisions to HQ, as their job is to maximize profits to head office.

"This is indeed a AB Volvo initiative; All big decisions of this nature are taken by HQ, but we are responsible for carrying them out", says Anders Lindblad.

On the political networking side of things, Olofsson has showed that he has what it takes to participate in South Africa’s treacherous political environment. Such political feats include introducing the Zulu king Goodwill Zwelethini to the Swedish royal couple as well as donating money to Nelson Mandela foundations, including raising funds for the World's first Nelson Mandela statue, a six meter high bronze statue, planted on a shopping-mall square in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Back home in Sweden Star School has managed to get some top Swedish artists to perform at concerts and gala dinners. He hasn’t broken into the Swedish development establishment’s purse though. Swedish aid agency Sida says it doesn’t have structures to back NGO’s outside the box, the box consisting of long term framework agreements with e.g Swedish Red Cross and Save the Children.

“We are now working more to raise money from international foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bill Clinton Foundation and other philanthropists ”, responds Peter Janzon, diplomatically.

First map of Namibia rediscovered

africasc_admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 03:20:26 -0600

WINDHOEK. The first map ever done on Namibia, drawn up by Swedish discoverer and entrepreneur Charles Andersson in 1851-2 with extensive help from local inhabitants, is on display in a museum in Windhoek.

The event has historical resonance; it’s the first time this colourful, intricate map is on public display. For the past 150 odd years the map has been stored at the Swedish Royal Academy of Science.

Another map, potentially even more ground breaking, is a map over “what is today northern Botswana and southern Zimbabwe with the Zambezi river and the waterfall Mosi-oa-Tunya”. The map, intriguingly, was also made in 1852, three years before Dr. Livingstone visited the Falls for the first time (1855).

The credit for bringing the map’s back to life goes to Swedish history researcher Christer Blomstrand, who’s been tracing fellow Swede Charles Andersson’s and many other Swede’s contemporaries’ travels in Namibia for quite some years.

“Christer Blomstrand showed up on our doorstep one day and asked if we had any map done by Charles Andersson stored in our archives. And indeed we had, not that we did not know about it, it’s just that the significance of it had to be unveiled, we have thousands and thousand of things just sitting there”, says Dr. Karl Grandin, head of archives at the Swedish Royal Academy of Science, who was present at the launch of the exhibition in Windhoek.

The story of Charles Andersson - Christer Blomstrand have dug up amazing records of close to 100 Swedes who landed in Namibia between 1775 up until the early 20th Century - is up until recently a story untold. A book published last year by historian Peter Johansson, head of Vänersborg museum, a museum in Andersson’s hometown, set the ball rolling again.

“In Vänersborg this history was there all the time, but the fact that the wealth of material was kept in a regional town meant that it didn’t get the attention it deserved up in Stockholm. Then, of course, if we’ve had it in Stockholm it could easily have been kept away in some archive”, says Karl Grundin.

The Swedish presence in what is today’s Namibia was significant. Charles Andersson and after him Axel Eriksson, both from Vänersborg, pioneered in setting up trading stations and formed small towns in Hereroland and Damaraland.

Charles Andersson mapping the vast territory was by no means just his own initiative:

“ In 1850, the Swedish explorer, hunter and tradesman Charles John Andersson and the British scientist Sir Francis Galton arrived at Walvis Bay. Together they travelled through Namibia reaching as far north as Ondangwa. While Galton went back to England in the beginning of 1852, Andersson had decided to stay on but in order to finance for his next journey in Namibia he went to Cape Town.

Here the Swedish-Norwegian Consul at the time, Jacob Letterstedt, asked him to make a map of the area Namibia, they had seen. This land was at the time almost completely un-known in Europe.”

Christer Blomstrand points out that it was indigenous people who “participated to a great extent with information and sketches to the production of the early maps as well as guiding and leading the European, American and Asian explorers”.

“This fact was hardly ever mentioned in the representations that the explorers did, in their home countries, on their discoveries in Africa”, says Christer Blomstrand.

The maps carry a wealth of historical information, as it’s not just about geography but also “ also on the peoples and tribes of Namibia at the time”. Andersson left numerous hand written notes on the maps with information on peoples, there whereabouts as well as on animals and nature.

Besides Andersson also published best selling books, “Lake Ngami” and “Okavango River” published in 1857 and 1861, first in English thereafter in Swedish and German.

First African art fair to open in Joburg

africasc_admin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:39:46 -0600

JOHANNESBURG. South Africa is about to host the first ever art fair dedicated to contemporary African art, putting South Africa and the continent on the map as a place for serious collectors to buy contemporary art. “On sale will be the single largest collection of African and South African contemporary art ever covering 5000 square meters of gallery space. The Joburg Art Fair will establish South Africa as an essential stop-over on the global contemporary art buying calendar” says Ross Douglas, director of Artlogic, event organizer.

This is no art and craft showcase but rather an event which brings high-class museum quality art to local and international buyers. The Art Fair concept is something with which most serious art collectors will be familiar but is new to the African continent. The Basel Art Fair and the London Frieze Fair are the best known and annually bring hundreds and thousands of visitors to the respective cities. The number of Art Fairs have significantly grown in number over the past few years, and there are now about 400 of them each year across the world, Douglass says.

Sponsored by First National Bank, the Joburg Art Fair will be held from 13 to 16 March 2008, in Johannesburg, at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Contemporary African art is the latest hot property for collectors, and the interest in the South African art market is on the upswing. Local art buying is on the up, increasing prices, and there is outsider interest in the South African market, Douglas explains. “The South African art market, in the last four to five years, has picked up,” he says. “International market has picked up on the South African (art) market as under valued, …
(So the art is) seen as an asset.”

Gavin Rooke, owner of Johannesburg Rooke Gallery, one of the gallerists to exhibit at the fair, says the art- and contemporary- art market is favored in general right now. One of the reasons, he says, is that when the equity market is in turmoil, there is generally an upswing in the art market, as it’s then seen as a pretty stable investment. “There has definitely been a boom in the art market during the last four to five years,” he says. “Globally, the contemporary art market has succeeded and is doing fairly well. South Africa has benefited from that broader boom in contemporary art.”

Rooke is doing his bit to grow the art market in South Africa. With a formula that focuses on a small stable of artists, and aggressive marketing campaigns, his gallery shows are very well attended, locally, and virtually, by visitors from across the globe. To make the shows accessible internationally, he provides pod casts, video cast and downloadable gallery books. As a result, international buyers travel to his gallery and he makes online sales. “Every exhibit I have had in South Africa, 40 percent has been sold off shore,” he says.

This adman, turned gallerist, reckons that the potential South African art market is a lot bigger than what’s considered the traditional art market here. While the serious art buyers’ market (including corporate buyers, and individuals buying 3-4 pieces of art each year and subscribing to art magazines) here in South Africa might just be made up of some 5,000 people, Rooke says he thinks the potential market is exponential. “I believe it’s in the hundreds of thousands of people.”

To reach this potential audience, Rooke is applying viral marketing techniques to gallery events; When Rooke sends out notifications to those already on his gallery mailing list, he invites his guests to also invite three of their friends and colleagues. There are people who understand that they are part of the art market, but there are also others who easily could become part of the art market, he explains. “They have the money, but they have never been invited for an exhibition,” he says. If they get the chance, the might just say: ”‘Gosh, I never realized this, but I think I want to buy a piece of art.’ ”

These potential art buyers are often friends of those already considered being part of the art market. Individuals working in the broader creative field, such as in the design and ad markets, for example, are potential ad buyers with disposable income, he says. “They don’t buy art magazines, or attend even art fairs because they don’t see themselves as part of it.”

The Joburt Artfair will feature all types of contemporary, visual arts, including video art. And to make the art at the fair accessible to all buyers, prices will be wide ranging, from about ZAR2,000, for items like photographic prints, to ZAR 1 million to 2 million, says Douglas, who expects about 10,000 people will visit the fair in its first year.

Among the visitors to the first African art fair, Douglas looks forward to welcoming, among others: the South African public; buyers of corporate collections; a couple of certain “high net-worth” individuals, who are building up collections for hotels and museums here in South Africa; as well as international buyers.

The fair promises a comprehensive showcase of the top contemporary artists from Africa. A large number will be the South African “stars” such as Kentridge, Goldblatt, Tillim and Siopis whereas the big international names, some of whom were on view at the recent “Africa Remix, in Joburg recently, will also be showcasing their works. These include Nigerian artist El Anatsui, who was highly prominent at the recent Venice Biennale where his sculptural hanging was draped over the ancient walls of the Palazzo Fortuny. Bill Kouelany, a prizewinner at the last Dakar Biennale and exhibitor on Dakar 12, will also be featured. International contemporary art galleries include the Jack Shainman Gallery from New York, and the October Gallery from London.

With the average gallery representing about 20 artists, Douglas says he estimates that about 500 artists will be represented at the fair.

Art flies off the walls at Joburg fair

africasc_admin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:19:44 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Art was seemingly flying off the walls at the Joburg Art Fair – even before it opened its doors to the public today. A great deal of art was sold last night as the affair was kicked off with a private party, where local and international art buyers came to sample the hottest in South African and African contemporary art. This morning several galleries were scurrying to adorn white patches with new saleable pieces.

“It’s our intention to replace the work sold to give others a buying opportunity,” Ross Douglas, director of Artlogic, event organizer, told Africascan just before the fair officially opened today.

“My sense is that I’m seeing one-third of the work sold, but my sense is also that it’s the most expensive work that was sold,” he said, adding that it was snapped up mostly by institutional investors.

Joao Ferreira, who sold half the works in his gallery space at the party, was busy bringing out new artworks: “At this fair they are encouraging us to transact,” he says. “So we’ve got a lot of stock.” Among his pieces sold: photographic prints by Bridget Baker; a work made with aids ribbon and hypodermic needles by Dan Halter (which sold for ZAR25,000); and an artwork by Mark Hipper (which sold for ZAR40,000).

This is South Africa’s is first ever art fair dedicated to contemporary African art, putting South Africa and the continent on the map as a place for serious collectors to buy contemporary art. On sale is the largest collection of African and South African contemporary art ever, covering 5000 sq meters of gallery space, according to organizers. The Joburg Art Fair runs until 16 March, in Johannesburg, at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The Basel Art Fair and the London Frieze Fair are the best known and annually bring hundreds and thousands of visitors to the respective cities. The number of Art Fairs have significantly grown in number over the past few years, and there are now about 400 of them each year across the world.

Sweden Gives Zim Humanitarian Aid

africasc_admin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:46:04 -0500

HARARE. The Swedish Government – via Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) – has responded positively to the United Nations Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe this year (UN CAP 2008) through a contribution amounting to SEK 44.5 million, corresponding to USD 7.2 million.

The amount of Swedish humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe in 2008 thereby remains at the same high level as in 2007.

The Swedish allocation will be channelled through the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) – SEK 20 million, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – SEK 15 million, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – SEK 2 million, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) SEK 5 million and Save the Children/UK – SEK 2.5 million.

The Ambassador of Sweden to Zimbabwe Sten Rylander expressed his satisfaction with the new Swedish support: "Once again Sweden - through Sida - has been able to respond timely and generously to the 2008 UN Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe. In addition a new contribution is made to World Food Programme. The humanitarian situation is still very serious and there are few signs of an improvement in the near future.

I again appeal to the Government of Zimbabwe - having the ultimate responsibility for the humanitarian situation and long-term development - to work closely with the international donor community, not least the UN and OCHA, in trying to respond to the humanitarian needs and to embark swiftly on the reforms which are necessary for a sound recovery process."

The UN Consolidated Appeal for 2008 for Zimbabwe is aimed at providing timely and adequate humanitarian assistance to those in distress, focusing in particular on reducing food insecurity, the erosion of livelihoods and the weakening of basic social services for the most vulnerable households. It aims to enhance preparedness to sudden emergencies. Both natural and man-made, to provide protection to the most vulnerable and to mainstream and address cross-cutting issues such as HIV\AIDS, age, and gender.

Sweden’s humanitarian assistance is guided by the humanitarian imperative and the principles of impartiality and neutrality. Its main goal is to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity.

Eco Label: Durban Beaches Unclean

africasc_admin — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:47:44 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. When four of Durban’s beaches recently lost their coved “Blue Flag” - a Danish eco label - status, the city manager protested until he was blue in the face, threatening to leave the program, according to a flurry of media articles about the matter. However, as the blue flags had already left him, all his protests seem to have achieved is international attention focused on the faecal state of the beaches in this tourist bather-frequented city.

“The reason why Blue Flag status has been withdrawn on some of Durban’s beaches and why future Blue Flag accreditation may not be given to some of Durban’s beaches is as a result of the water quality at these beaches,” according to Blue Flag. “The levels of faecal enterococcus/ streptococcus in the sea-water along the Durban coastline is the cause for concern.“

The assessment is based on data from the city’s own laboratory, in eThekwini (the larger Durban municipal area).

Originating in Denmark, Blue Flag is an international environmental program that seeks to achieve world-class standards on beaches that assure visitors that the beaches are clean, well-managed, safe and which provide visitors with environmental information. The eco-label is currently implemented in 36 countries across the globe, and South Africa was the first country outside of Europe to fly the Blue Flag and since the country joined the program in 2001.

Blue Flag has to be run by a non-governmental organization in each country, and in South Africa it is run by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).

Mumsie Gumede , CEO, WESSA, on behalf of Blue Flag South Africa, responded to city manager Michael Sutcliffe’s protests of the Blue Flag removals. She explains that the assessment is based on the results of eThekwini’s own laboratory for enterococcus/faecal streptococcus since the testing period for Blue Flag started in October last year.

“We have accepted them (the results) in good faith as an accurate and objective record of water quality on eThekwini’s beaches despite the fact that it is not an independent laboratory as required by Blue Flag,” she said.

The data is based on results for faecal streptococcus/enterococcus and not e.Coli, she added: “To date, e.Coli levels have not raised any red flags as to poor water quality and e.Coli levels fall within the accepted limits,” she said.

“The Blue Flag International Coordination introduced obligatory testing for faecal streptococcus as it is now accepted that this is a more reliable indicator of sewage contamination and is the indicator recommended by the World Health Organization as the most accurate assessment of the health risks of sea-water," according to Blue Flag.

Bildt paved way for Mugabe amnesty in aborted oil-for-retirement deal

africasc_admin — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:55:11 -0500

STOCKHOLM/HARARE. Africascan can today exclusively reveal that Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, on behalf of the UN Security Council, secretly has negotiated an amnesty deal with Zimbabwe’s battered president Robert Mugabe whereby Mr. Bildt also has offered Mugabe a slice of the action in an oil concession in Southern Sudan where the Swedish Foreign Minister used to be the Chairman until he took up his present job.

The top secret negotiations, held in a beduin tent in the middle of the Libyan desert under the auspices of Moammar Ghadaffi, were put in motion a few months ago as part of a package to pave the way for reasonably free and fair elections in Zimbabwe - elections that were held last Saturday and where the result is presently being released at a very slow pace to make sure the numbers add up.

President Mugabe, who last year was stripped off his Honorary Doctorship by Edinburgh University, initially appears to have bought into the comprehensive deal offered by the Swedish Foreign Minister, who’s a former European envoy to the Balkan and a seasoned international security advisor.

But sources close to the discussions say Mugabe suddenly broke off negotiations as he got wind of Swedish involvement in contra-revolutionary mischief in Namibia, where the Swede’s are closing its diplomatic representation and allegedly have bankrolled the launch of a new opposition party.

A source who recently had dinner with Mugabe also revealed to Africascan that Bob Mugabe also felt worried that Bildt would not be able to deliver the international community as promised and that Mugabe would run the risk of ending his days in International Court of Justice prison cell.

Apparently Mugabe’s interest in Mr. Bildt’s old oil shares decreased considerably after he last month struck a much more favorable deal with his old pal Theodore Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Equatoral Guinea whereby Mugabe received a fair sized oil field after he delivered British mercenary Simon Mann, a fellow who’d been hired to overthrough that country. Mr. Mann had been held in a Zimbabwe cell for some years.

No rectraction needed; it's funny

africasc_admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:40:41 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. "No, no, no", giggled Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt's spokesperson Irena Busic when offered a rectraction of Africascan's suggestions in yesterday's April fool's story that Bildt had tried to do a oil-for-retirement deal with Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe in order to get him to resign.

Bildt's office called up Africascan on Wednesday and expressed that the April fool's story was "great fun".

"As long as it’s an April joke we are happy with it, we know with certainty that Bildt hasn't been in any Bedouin tent in Libya", said Busic.

Admittedly reality on the ground quickly caught up with the April fools story and some readers were not entirely sure how to judge the content.

Certainly the possibility of Mugabe stepping down has suddenly become very clear and there is indeed perfectly feasible that an international figure with Mr. Bildt's statue could be involved in doing a deal with Mugabe.

The ailing president, who's party has lost control of the country's parliament, is in great need for warranties that he is not prosecuted before he possibly decides to hand over power after 28 years in office.

Even the Zim Government mouthpiece The Herald on Wednesday admitted that a run-off between Mugabe and his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai was likely, which is a massive admission.