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South Africa’s $2 Billion Citrus Industry Sours With Lost Exports to Russia

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left a sour taste for South Africa’s citrus farmers, who are facing millions of dollars in losses due to sanctions that have closed off the Russian market. South Africa is the world’s second largest citrus exporter and farmers are scrambling to find other markets before the fruit spoils.

South Africa normally sends about 10% of its annual two billion dollars in citrus exports to Russia.

That’s now on hold because of sanctions imposed after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Following two years of export disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, unrest, and cyberattacks on the ports, the loss of the Russian market is another blow to South African farmers.

Citrus farmer Piet Engelbrecht pulls a lemon off a tree in the 5000 hectares he farms in Groblersdal, about a three-hour drive northeast of Johannesburg.

“It’s going to be a tough year … Although demand is growing in the current markets, it’s not going that fast, rapidly that it can absorb this, the 10%,” he said.

Engelbrecht was forced to reroute a shipment of lemons this season that was on a vessel bound for Russia.

But finding new markets isn’t simple, say industry insiders, even for well-established family farms.

Justin Chadwick is the CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa. He spoke to VOA via Zoom.

“Our markets are very susceptible to oversupply. And because the product obviously can’t be stored for any length of time, if there’s too much in the market, it either has to be seriously discounted to move the fruit quicker or it just it just wastes eventually,” he said.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has also pushed up production costs with effects beyond the current season.

“A lot of our fertilizer and a lot of our fuel is also from Russia and Ukraine, so… I think it will have more of an effect in the coming few months,” said Engelbrecht.

And it’s not just exporters having to pay higher costs to get their goods to the warehouse and sent to customers.

Rising fuel costs are hitting all areas of South Africa’s transportation and trade.

Economists warn that will have a long-term effect on the economy, mainly for consumers and the poor, who spend most of their income on food.

Dawie Roodt, chief economist for the South Africa-based Efficient Group, spoke to VOA via Zoom.

“We’re going to see inflation going through the roof. What is really, really going to be bad for South Africa is that the kind of inflation that we’re going to experience will be very high levels of food inflation, because of the Ukraine and Russia being major grain producers and also other soft commodities,” said Roodt.

Back at farmer Engelbrecht’s warehouse, workers sort fruit on conveyor lines before it is packaged for export.

While South Africa’s farmers are hopeful that they can survive the loss of the Russian market, if future growing seasons are disrupted, they may have to cut jobs.

With South Africa’s unemployment rate hitting a record 35%, the citrus industry’s 120,000 workers want to see a recovery soon, so their jobs won’t be at risk.

Source: Voice of America

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Police Deploy to Villages in Nigeria’s Plateau State After Attacks Kill 70

Police in Nigeria’s central Plateau state say they have sent extra officers to nine villages where gunmen on Sunday reportedly killed more than 70 people and burned down houses. Police and locals say hundreds of villagers have fled their homes since then. Attacks by armed gangs are becoming increasingly common in northern and central Nigeria.

The Plateau State Police public relations officer, Gabriel Ubah, tells VOA that police have sent reinforcements to the affected villages including Kukawa, Giyanbahu, Dangur and Keren.

“We’re doing our possible best. Security operatives will be deployed to the areas and we’ve also renewed our strategies which will not be made known to the public. It’s an in-house security strategy that has been put in place,” he said.

Ubah said police have yet to determine the number of casualties from the attacks. Local residents say more bodies were discovered Monday.

Armed gangs invaded the villages in broad daylight on Sunday, shooting sporadically and torching houses. Local residents say the victims included farmers who were tilling their fields in preparation for planting. They say the attackers abducted dozens of people, including women and children.

The attacks occurred barely one week after 17 people were killed elsewhere in Plateau during a festival held to pray for peace and a bountiful harvest.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Attacks by marauding armed gangs in northwest and central Nigeria are becoming more common, causing widespread criticism of the Nigerian government.

Last week, gunmen attacked an army base in Kaduna state, killing 15 people.

Late last month, terrorists attacked a train in Kaduna, killing eight people and kidnapping dozens of others. Most of the abductees have yet to be freed. In a video released Monday, abductees were seen calling on authorities for help.

Security expert Kabiru Adamu says authorities must take responsibility for failing to protect the public.

“It is very important that we introduce monitoring and evaluation within the security sector and include in this monitoring and evaluation key performance indicators so that persons who let down the ball and allowed these attacks to happen are held accountable and whatever the punishment or penalty for that is meted out on them. We also need to increase the participation of the communities in the security operations,” said Adamu.

Last week, Nigerian telecommunications operators complied with a government order to bar phone numbers not registered under the country’s national identification scheme, in a bid to track those used by criminals, especially terrorists.

Source: Voice of America

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East Africa faces crises as fuel, commodity prices go up raising the cost of living

NAIROBI, It has been a week of crises in East Africa, characterized by shortages of fuel and rising prices of consumer goods, as the region continued to shake off COVID-19 blues to revive state economies.I

Many areas have recently experienced biting fuel shortages and, where the commodity is available, the price has risen to prohibitive levels.

The cost of living is rising. Inflation is at 6.29 percent in Kenya, 3.2 percent in Uganda, 4.2 percent in Rwanda, 3.8 percent in Tanzania, 13.3 percent in Burundi, 25 percent in South Sudan, and five percent in DR Congo.

In Uganda, where fuel supply has been disrupted since January, there are places where a liter of petrol costs $3.

Kenya was hit by a shortage this past week, crippling public transport services. Traders claimed the shortage had led to an increase in prices of fast-moving goods.

In Kenya, the fuel shortage was blamed on the failure of the government to pay oil marketers their subsidy. Even after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a supplementary budget for the payment of Ksh34 billion ($298 million) to the Petroleum Development Levy Fund (PDLF), the shortage continued on account of a dispute over the amount that the government owes the oil companies. Officials said it was Ksh13 billion ($112 million), but the companies claim they are owed more than Ksh20 billion ($173 million).

Source: Nam News Network

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South Africa’s Zuma to Pursue Private Prosecution Against Prosecutor

JOHANNESBURG — Former South African President Jacob Zuma is pursuing private prosecution proceedings to remove the lead prosecutor in an arms deal corruption trial after failed legal challenges, his foundation said on Sunday.

Last month the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) torpedoed Zuma’s latest bid to have lead prosecutor Billy Downer taken off the case after accusing him of bias and leaking of confidential information to a journalist in contravention of the national prosecution act, among other complaints.

The SCA dismissed the application for leave to appeal on the grounds that there is no reasonable prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard.

The spokesman of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi told a press briefing that Zuma’s instructions to his legal team to institute private prosecution “will now be put into operation in the next few days.”

He also said Zuma’s legal team has filed a reconsideration application to the president of the SCA, a petition to hear the appeal.

Zuma, who was ousted from the ruling African National Congress in 2018 after nearly two decades as president, has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering in the long-running case over the $2 billion arms deal in the 1990s.

The deal case has dogged Zuma since he was sacked as deputy president of the country in 2005. He said he was the victim of a political witch-hunt.

On Monday the long-delayed trail is set to get underway and Zuma will be present in court.

Manyi said Zuma, who turns 80 on Tuesday, is applying for a postponement because “it is very clear that the conditions for a fair trail are non-existent.”

On Monday his team will also respond to the supplementary affidavit served by the National Prosecution Authority where they seek to introduce new evidence in the trial.

“All His Excellency President Zuma really wants is his day in court, in a fair trial and certainly not in a forum which is being rigged by the State,” Manyi said.

Source: Voice of America

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Russia-Ukraine conflict: Pres Ramaphosa, Biden talk after South Africa abstains on UN Russia vote

PRETORIA, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held Friday telephone talks with US President Joe Biden, a day after the continental powerhouse abstained from voting on a resolution suspending Russia from a UN rights body over its aggression in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa, whose government has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow’s bloody invasion of its neighbour, had a day earlier blasted the UN Security Council as “outdated” and in dire need of an overhaul.

Hours later South Africa was among the 58 countries that abstained from voting on the UN General Assembly resolution which suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

It was the third time South Africa abstained from voting on resolutions adopted over the war.

Ramaphosa tweeted late Friday that he had “a productive” telephone call with Biden.

“We shared views on the conflict in Ukraine and agreed on the need for a ceasefire and dialogue between Ukraine and Russia,” Ramaphosa wrote on Twitter.

Local media suggested it was Biden who initiated the phone call to Pretoria.

The high-profile rebuke of Russia at the UN marked only the second ever suspension of a country from the global body’s human rights council — Libya was the first, in 2011.

On Thursday Ramaphosa sharply criticised the UN Security Council for enabling powerful nations to use their clout to make decisions that were at times catastrophic.

“The current formation of the UN Security Council is outdated and unrepresentative,” he said. “It disadvantages countries with developing economies.”

South Africa has maintained a non-aligned stance on the conflict in Ukraine, touting negotiation as the best option to end the conflict despite international outrage and condemnation.

Source: Nam News Network