Tag Archives: Botswana

Anglo American appoints Godfrey Gomwe as Executive Director of Anglo American South Africa

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Anglo American plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Godfrey Gomwe as Executive Director of Anglo American South Africa with immediate effect. He will act as Anglo American’s key representative in South Africa, working together with Anglo American’s Business Unit CEOs to deliver the Group’s strategy in the region.
Mr Gomwe recently served as Head of Group Business Development, Africa for Anglo American plc and was previously Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer of Anglo American South Africa. He has served on a number of Anglo American’s operating boards and executive committees during a 10 year career with the Group and has held a number of directorships in other listed and unlisted companies. Specifically, Godfrey was previously Chairman of Highveld Steel and Chairman of Mondi SA prior to its restructuring. Godfrey is currently Chairman of Anglo Zimele and the Transformation Committee of Anglo American South Africa.
Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive of Anglo American plc, said: “Godfrey Gomwe’s depth of business and leadership experience in the mining and metals industry will be invaluable in his leadership of Anglo American South Africa. His 20 years of industry experience and his intimate knowledge of Anglo American’s operations equip him well for his new role.”
Godfrey Gomwe said: “I look forward to continuing to be involved in leading Anglo American in South Africa and further strengthening the strategic efforts to drive growth and value for the Group as it continues to invest in and grow its mining operations in South Africa. As the Group’s key representative in South Africa, I look forward to reinforcing our relationships with all our major stakeholders.”
Notes to Editors:
Anglo American plc is one of the world’s largest mining groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a global leader in platinum group metals and diamonds, with significant interests in coal, base and ferrous metals, as well as an industrial minerals business. The Group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South and North America, Australia and Asia.
(www.angloamerican.co.uk)
Biography: Godfrey Gomwe
* 20 years experience in executive level positions in the Metals and Mining industry, including 10 years with the Anglo American Group. He has held many directorships in both listed and unlisted companies.
* Currently Head of Group Business Development, Africa for Anglo American. Also Chairman of Anglo Zimele, the Transformation Committee of Anglo American South Africa, and Anglo American Zimbabwe.
* Has served on a number of Anglo American operating boards and executive committees during his time with the Group. He was previously Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer of Anglo American South Africa. He was also Chairman of Highveld Steel and Chairman of Mondi SA, prior to its restructuring.
* During his tenure in these COO and Chairman roles, he has developed and led the execution of major business strategic repositioning and transformation strategies.
* Before moving to South Africa in 2003, he was the Chief Executive of Anglo American Zimbabwe, during which time he was awarded the Anglo Global CEO’s safety award in 2003 (Bindura Nickel) and runner up 2005 (Zimbabwe Alloys).
* He has a developed network of contacts within the current South African administration. He also has a depth of experience in working with African government and political organisations (on projects in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana).
* Ten years of venture capital experience, gained as Chairman of Takura Ventures, one of the most successful funds in the then CDC group.
* Chairman of Tshikululu Social Investments, a leading company that manages the social investments for several companies, including the Chairman’s Funds, First Rand Foundation, Discovery Foundation, De Beers and others.
* Chartered accountant by profession and holds a Masters degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa.
Anglo Zimele, makes a difference through enterprise development and manages three funds:
Supply Chain Fund, Anglo Khula Mining Fund and Small Business Start-Up Fund. Recognising that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in driving economic transformation, in 1989 Anglo American established Anglo Zimele to empower black entrepreneurs through the creation and transformation of SMEs.

Source: WEBWIRE

South Africa to chair new African tax forum

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The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS), Mr Oupa Magashula, was elected unanimously today as the chairperson of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) at its inaugural conference in Kampala, Uganda.

The conference also unanimously voted for South Africa to host the secretariat of the new African tax body. ATAFs goal is to become the central platform for African tax administrators to articulate African tax priorities, develop and share best practices in the region and further abroad, and build capacity in African tax policy and administration.

Mr Magashula will head up a 10 member general council comprising of the heads of tax administrations of the elected countries. The council was elected by the 28 members of ATAF. Each of the five geographical regions of Africa (north, south, east, west and central) elected a regional representative. The remaining four positions on the general council were filled by a majority vote by ATAF members.

The regional members of the general council are:

* South: Botswana

* East: Rwanda

* West: Nigeria

* Central: Gabon

The northern region, comprising Morocco, Chad, Sudan, Egypt and Mauritania requested to postpone the election of a representative from that region.

The four other members who were voted onto the council are: Senegal, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

I am both humbled by your vote of confidence and excited about the challenges and opportunities before us. I would also like to congratulate the members of the first ATAF Council on their appointment, Mr Magashula said.

He said it was appropriate to remind delegates again of ATAFs objectives of improving the performance of tax administration in Africa so that they can more effectively mobilise domestic resources.

This forum will allow us to pursue stronger cooperation and build a united approach in the field of tax policy and revenue realisation among African countries, he said.

The countries of Africa should join hands and overcome the challenges of language, diversity and culture to build effective and efficient tax administrations that can contribute to the development of the continent. This would help contribute to economic growth and increase the accountability of the state to its citizens, he added.

28 African countries have already signed up for membership. Mr Magashula said that though this is an impressive number for a new organisation ATAF wanted more African countries to join.

I urge each and every one of you here today, to speak to your African partners that have yet to commit to ATAF, in order for this organisation to be truly representative and become the central platform for African administrators to discuss and develop tax priorities and policy on the African continent, he said.

The 28 members of ATAF are: Botswana, Benin, Cameroon, Coite dIvoire, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghana, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Niger, Lesotho, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Background Information about ATAF

The idea of establishing ATAF is the result of deliberations at a conference attended by African tax commissioners from 30 countries and representatives of international organisations and donors who met in Pretoria, South Africa in August 2008 to discuss taxation, state building and capacity development. During deliberations at the Pretoria conference it became clear that a new way of thinking about tax collection in Africa was required.

Delegates increasingly became aware of the need to think beyond tax collection as a purely technical or administrative exercise, and rather to understand that the broader role of domestic resource mobilisation is support of social and economic development. In addition delegates realised that the efficient and effective administration of tax collection had wide-ranging political significance in entrenching accountability, promoting democratic governance and state building as it focuses on the relationship between the taxpayer and the government.

The conference mandated a steering group of seven countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda) to work towards the establishment of the forum. In the build-up to the launch, several ATAF technical events have been held and projects begun in collaboration with ATAFs development partners, including the African Development Bank (ADB), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the International Tax Dialogue (ITD).

Membership of ATAF is open to tax administrations of all African states who commit to ATAFs objectives and who pay an annual membership fee.

Information about Mr Magashula

Mr Magashula joined SARS in January 2006 as the general manager: corporate services. He was appointed deputy commissioner in April 2009, became commissioner for SARS in September 2009.

Issued by: South African Revenue Service

19 November 2009

Source: South African Revenue Service (http://www.sars.gov.za/)
South Africa

South Africa capacitates southern African member states to develop tools to collect, collate and measure tourism data and its impact in growing their economies

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Most countries in southern Africa still use tourism data collecting tools or processes that are not yet compliant with United Nations World Tourism Organisations (UNWTO) standards or definitions and as a result tourism statistics that are produced or disseminated by these countries are not comparable with other countries on the continent or globally.

UNWTO identified this lack of uniformity in tourism statistics produced by members states and since this challenge is compounded by the lack of financial and personnel resources as well as the poor emphasis on the importance of the tourism data, it embarked on an initiative to build capacity in tourism statistics for English speaking Africa member countries and to elevate the importance of tourism statistics in their countries. South Africa was identified as a leader in this area of tourism statistics and this resulted in it being nominated to act as the regional hub for the capacity building programme for the Africa Region.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the secretary-general of the UNWTO and the Minister of Tourism whom tasked South Africa with hosting four capacity building workshops and one regional seminar from 2007/09 for member states. To date two workshops have been hosted and a third one is scheduled for 23 to 26 November 2009 at the Emperors Palace, in Kempton Park, Gauteng.

The objective of the workshop, which will be opened by the Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk and the Secretary General of the UNWTO Mr Taleb Rifai, is to ensure that all member states adopt and use UN statistical standards and definitions as well as documenting available tourism statistics and administrative records to measure tourism activity and its contribution to the economy of the country. The member states participating in the programme are Botswana, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

South Africas leadership in tourism statistics is evident in the recently launched Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), in May this year and this important milestone will allow the calculation of tourisms contribution to the economy of the country, because the TSA is an accounting framework adopted by the United Nations (UN) to measure goods and services associated with tourism according to international standards, concepts, classifications and definitions.

The TSA provide stakeholders (governments, entrepreneurs and citizens) with reliable data to assist them in the design of public policies and business strategies for tourism and for the evaluation of their efficiency. This capacity building initiative is hoped to capacitate all member states to be able to also produce TSA for their own countries.

A media briefing has been scheduled for 23 November from 11 to 12 am at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park. It will be addressed by Minister van Schalkwyk and Mr Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the UNWTO.

Media wishing to attend can confirm attendance with:

Lizzy Suping

Tel: 012 310 3310

Cell: 083 758 0553

E-mail: [email protected]

Issued by: Department of Tourism

19 November 2009
South Africa

Former Congressman William J. Jefferson Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Bribery and Other Charges

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Former U.S. Congressman William J. Jefferson, 62, of New Orleans, La., was sentenced today to 13 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for using his office to corruptly solicit bribes. Jefferson was also ordered to forfeit more than $470,000.

&The court’s sentence today reaffirms the principle that all people—no matter what their title or position—are equal before the law,& said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman.&In a stunning betrayal of the public’s trust, former Congressman Jefferson repeatedly used his public office for private gain. The lengthy prison sentence imposed on Mr. Jefferson today is a stark reminder to all public officials that the consequences of accepting bribes can and will be severe.&

&This sentence should be a clear signal that our society will not tolerate bribery; it’s not just another cost of doing business in government,& said Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. &Mr. Jefferson’s repeated attempts to sell his office caused significant damage to the public’s trust in our elected leaders. This sentence will begin to repair that damage and to restore that trust.&

On Aug. 5, 2009, Jefferson was convicted by a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., of 11 charged counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services wire fraud and to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), as well as substantive convictions of bribery, honest services by wire fraud and a violation of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act. Jefferson was acquitted on three counts of honest services wire fraud, an obstruction of justice charge and of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

According to evidence at trial, from August 2000 to August 2005, Jefferson used his position as an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives to corruptly seek, solicit and direct that things of value be paid to himself and his family members in exchange for his performance of official acts to advance the interests of people and businesses who offered him the bribes. The things of value, according to evidence at trial, included hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in the form of payments from monthly fees or retainers, consulting fees, percentage shares of revenues and profits, flat fees for items sold and stock ownership in the companies seeking his official assistance.

Evidence at trial showed that Jefferson performed a wide range of official acts in return for things of value, including leading official business delegations to Africa, corresponding with U.S. and foreign government officials, and utilizing congressional staff members to promote businesses and businesspersons. The business ventures that Jefferson sought to promote included telecommunications deals in Nigeria, Ghana and elsewhere; oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea; satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo; and development of different plants and facilities in Nigeria.

Others involved in this scheme included Vernon L. Jackson, a Louisville, Ky., businessman, and Brett M. Pfeffer, a former congressional staff member for Jefferson. Both men pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of bribes to a public official and were sentenced to 87 months and 96 months in prison, respectively.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark D. Lytle and Rebeca H. Bellows of the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Chief Charles E. Duross of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with assistance of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Source: FBI