Jonathan Crush

WHILE there is much talk in globaland national policy arenas about therelationship between migration anddevelopment, the link betweenmigration and food security rarelyenters discussions.

At the same time, those debatingfood security disregard migration intheir focus on enhancing agricul-tural production by smallholders.

And while these policy conver-sations are happening, rural house-holds throughout southern Africaare buying more and more of theirfood, rather than growing it, anddoing so with cash that they receivefrom household members who havemoved to cities within the countryand across borders to earn money.

The reality is that migration is acritical food security strategy forrural, and many urban, households.

The evidence for southern Africais that households that receive re-mittances do not invest this moneyin agriculture but in basic necessi-ties – mostly food.

Research by the Southern Afri-can Migration Programme hasfound cash remittances to be themost important source of income inall Southern African DevelopmentCommunity countries, with 74 per-cent of all migrant-sending house-holds receiving remittances (with asmany as 95 percent in Lesotho and83 percent in Zimbabwe). In-countrywage employment was a source ofincome for 40 percent of households,followed by remittances in kind,including food (37 percent).

At the other end of the spectrum,only 8 percent of households receiveincome from the sale of agriculturalproduce and only 5 percent receivesocial grants.

This means that rural food secu-rity may be improved but will not beresolved by the current approachthat focuses only on agriculture.

The simplest way to examine therelationship between internationalmigration and food security is toascertain how migrants addresstheir own food and nutrition needsin the country they move to, as wellas what happens to the income theyearn there.

These questions are related be-cause the amount of money avail-able to send home is to some degreecontingent on the food-relatedexpenditures of the breadwinner inthe destination country. Migrantsrarely live alone and their incomemay often support people in theirnew households who cannot findwork.

Migration within and to south-ern Africa has changed significantly

and all the evidence suggests thatthe region is undergoing a rapidurban transition through internalmigration and natural populationincrease. There has also been signi-ficant growth in the numbers ofpeople who cross borders for shorttime periods. They almost all headfor cities.

The primary determinant of foodinsecurity in South Africa’s cities isnot production shortfalls but peo-ple’s lack of access to food, which iscaused by not having the regularincome they need to buy it.

In its research, the Cape Town-based African Food Security UrbanNetwork (Afsun) found that evenwithin the poorest areas of Joburg,Cape Town and cities in neighbour-ing states, having enough food tomeet households’ needs varies con-siderably. Factors influencing thisare wage employment, other

income-generating activity, the sizeand structure of the household, theeducational level of members,access to social grants and thestrength of social links.

Afsun conducted a survey in 11cities in nine countries in the regionand found that four out of five house-holds sampled had insufficient foodto meet their needs.

Researchers found there is no sim-ple and direct correlation betweenhousehold income and food security

because of many variables, includingthe price of food and the cost of othernecessities such as clothing, shelterand transport. Their statistics alsoshowed a gender dimension to foodinsecurity, with female-centredhouseholds the most insecure.

The research probed whethermigrants are more food insecurethan other residents of the poorerareas of southern African cities andfound that, while levels of food inse-curity are alarmingly high amongeveryone, migrant households havea greater chance of being food inse-cure, with all of its attendant healthand nutritional problems.

The rapid urbanisation and in-creased movement across bordersthat has led to the growth in thenumber of migrants in cities islikely to continue. Most poor house-holds in southern African cities nowconsist entirely of migrants or a mix

of migrants and locally-born. Theimpact of this on food securityneeds to be recognised by policy-makers and acted upon.

While improving food securityfor the poor at the same time asaddressing the problems inherent inthe current growth trajectory ofcities is an enormous challenge, itcomes with major opportunity.

Addressing sustainability fromthe point of view of food securityprovides a tangible approach to cre-ating healthier, more economicallystable and resilient cities.

● Crush is the CIGI chair in

global migration and development at

the Balsillie School of International

Affairs and honorary professor at the

University of Cape Town. He will be

a key speaker at a November 26-27

conference in Cape Town at which the

links between food security, urbanisa-

tion and migration will be explored.

9INSIGHTCAPE TIMES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2012

Is President Jacob Zuma competent?KEEPING TRACK OF SCANDALS

Allister Sparks

WHEN Judge Chris Nicholsonthrew out the corruption chargesagainst Jacob Zuma on proceduralgrounds four years ago – only tohave a full Bench of the SupremeCourt of Appeal scathingly overturnhim soon afterwards – he warned,prophetically, that unless the armsdeal scandal was fully investigatedand ventilated, “a cloud of suspicionand scandal” would continue tohang over the government.

That little white cloud has nowbillowed into a dark and thunder-ous-looking cumulus nimbus.

Last Saturday night, journalistsand lawyers were back in court asthe National Prosecuting Authority(NPA) made a desperate last-minutebid to stop the presses rolling out theSunday Times’s latest exposé ofleaked documents throwing furtherlight on acting NPA boss MokotediMpshe’s controversial decision todrop the case against Zuma.

And so the arms deal scandallives on 13 years after the deal itselfwas signed in November 1999 andseven years after Zuma firstappeared in court following the con-viction of his then-financial man-ager, Shabir Shaik.

It is also nine years since I wrotethe first of many columns warningthat if the full details of the scandalwere not cleared up swiftly, it wouldbecome an ongoing saga that“threatens to tear the government,the country and some of our mostimportant institutions apart”.Which indeed it has done and willcontinue to do.

Citing the Watergate scandal thatbrought down US President RichardNixon, I noted, too, that in suchcases it was the cover-up that turnedout to be more damaging that thescandal itself.

Now we appear to have entered asecond generation, as it were, of thiskind of political folly, with Fridaynight’s court action amounting to anattempt to cover up the originalcover-up of secretly taped conversa-tions, the so-called “spy tapes”, thatsupposedly provided the groundsfor withdrawing the charges.

The court action failed, so now

we know that in withdrawing thecharges against Zuma, Mpshe actedagainst the overwhelming advice ofthe top prosecutors involved in thecase.

The question is, Why? And is thatdecision now challengeable?

Meanwhile, Zuma’s lawyers arein default of a court order to handover the actual tapes which led tothat decision, which compounds theissue and darkens the cloud of sus-picion further.

What is it they are so anxious tohide? Who did the secret taping?Was it legally done? And was it legalto hand the tapes over to Zuma’slawyers for them to use to get him offthe hook?

I also wrote, when Zuma became

president in 2009, that he would gonaked into the world as the leader ofour country.

Naked in the sense that he wouldhave trouble ever defending himselfagainst accusations of malfeasance.Because to sue anyone for libel orslander would require him to entera witness box and face cross-exami-nation under oath by skilled lawyerswho would question him relent-lessly about his role in the arms dealto establish how much of a charac-ter he had to defame.

It is something to which I sug-gested he would probably not wantto subject himself.

I thought of that column againthe other day when at the lastmoment, Zuma dropped his libel

action against Zapiro, the cartoonist– offering some unsuspected sensi-tivity to possibly harming freespeech as his reason.

Now Zuma is grappling with theeven more daunting issue ofaccounting for the public moneyspent on upgrading his privatehome, or compound, at Nkandla.

The two cases are in fact con-nected: the original charge sheetincluded the cost of buildingNkandla among the many perksZuma received during his 10-yearrelationship with Shaik.

That charge sheet accused Zumaof receiving 783 payments totallingR4 072 499.85 from Shaik between1995 and 2005 – a piffling sum com-pared with the R158 million of pub-

lic money being spent on upgradingthe security features at Nkandla.

All of which, of course, makesthe funding of Nkandla even moreintriguing. If the original buildingcosts came out of the stream ofmoney that allegedly reached Zumafrom his crooked financial manager,why then did he still need a bond,which he says he is paying off – butwhich City Press’s investigativereporters say doesn’t exist?

So what kind of bond is this? Aloan from another friend or benefac-tor, perhaps?

Zuma has also been reported assaying his family paid for the build-ing of Nkandla, and that the R158mof public money being spent on theproperty is only for security

upgrades, including bullet-proofglass, a bunker with elevator andhouses for security guards outsidethe complex.

So how much was paid by Shaik,if anything, how much by the family,and how big is the bond, or loan, orwhatever it is? Why is there such astaggering difference between build-ing costs and the cost of securityupgrades? And why such extrava-gant security? Not even the loathedOu Krokodil had a bunker.

Zuma says he can’t account forthese puzzling figures because he isnot a bookkeeper, and presentingParliament with a breakdown of thecosts is not his job.

But accounting for the expendi-ture of public money on private

property is somebody’s job – some-body in government, of which Zumahimself is the head.

I think it was President HarryTruman who said, pointing to hisdesk, that when it came to govern-ment accountability, “the buck stopshere”.

So, I’m afraid, President Zuma,that in this whole horribly entan-gled mess of your lavish public andprivate expenditures, the buck doesstop right there, on your desk.

You may not be a bookkeeper, butyou are accountable for explainingthe mess to the taxpaying public, alot of whose hard-earned money isinvolved. Even if that requires hir-ing a bookkeeper to disentangle itfor you.

Meanwhile, that dark cloud isgrowing darker and heavier. My ownsuspicion is that our president hasbecome so confused by the multi-tude of scandals and explanationsand cover ups of cover-ups that hegenuinely doesn’t know what isgoing on.

I think it was probably exaspera-tion at this damn buck that justwon’t go away that brought himclose to tears in Parliament theother day, rather than outrage atpeople suggesting he is corrupt.

To be fair, there is still the factthat Zuma has agreed to the appoint-ment of a commission of inquiryinto the arms deal. It was patentlyobvious, though, that he did so toward off the tenacious Terry Craw-ford Browne’s move to have the Con-stitutional Court order such aninvestigation.

However, the pace at which thecommission is moving makes itquestionable whether it will com-plete its work in Zuma’s lifetime.

Packaging all this stuff togethergives one cause to ponder the factthat Zuma, with all his problems andcover-ups, is going to be with us foranother seven years.

And what the ANC needs torealise is that by sticking to him sotenaciously it is making all thoseissues its own.

Zuma comes as a long-term pack-age of problems.

● Sparks is a veteran journalist

and political commentator.

NEWS that the French research shipMarion Dufresne had been holed offCrozet Islands in the SouthernOcean last Thursday brought animmediate response from theFrench operators of the cableshipLeon Thevenin who dispatched herfrom her Cape Town base to theislands on Friday night.

As most of her compartments arestill watertight, Marion Dufresne isin no danger of sinking and will prob-ably be anchored in the lee of theislands; however, a severe turn in theweather could aggravate the damage.

To accommodate the 80 scientistswho were aboard the research ves-sel, several crew members disem-barked from Leon Thevenin prior toher departure from Cape Town.

Carrying a large consignment ofsalvage equipment and a Smit sal-vage team that includes divers, thecableship is expected to reach thedamaged vessel today. That thecableship could sail from Cape Townthat quickly is due to the splendidco-operation among her owners,agents, World Shipping, the salvageteam and insurance underwriters.

The salvors will assess the dam-age before the ship heads to SouthAfrica for repairs for which East Lon-don’s under-utilised drydock wouldbe ideal. Thevenin will escort thedamaged vessel during the voyage.

Although the Crozet Islands fallwithin the SA maritime monitoringzone, the South African Navy couldnot dispatch a frigate to undertakethe transfer of the scientists.

For the Antarctic summer win-dow, the first polar ships are headingsouth. Chartered by the IndianAntarctic team, the ice-breakerVladimir Ignatyuk left last week tobreak open a passage through theice for Ivan Papanin, following a fewdays astern of the ice-breaker. She isalso ready to assist with the Crozetevacuation operation if required.

The smart Danish vessel MaryArctica, carrying supplies for theBelgian, Norwegian and BritishAntarctic bases, and the Germanship Polarstern will arrive in CapeTown next Tuesday, also en route tothe ice. SA Agulhas 2 will leaveearly in December on her maidenvoyage to Antarctica with the SouthAfrican polar research team andstores for the base.

On her return voyage fromAntarctica, Mary Arctica will bring50 containers of rubble from the dis-mantled British Antarctic base that

was replaced by a modern one,much of which was manufacturedin South Africa and moved southtwo years ago in the Russian vesselIgarka. I understand that a good con-signment of containers has beenbooked from South Africa to Europeaboard Mary Arctica when she sailsfrom Cape Town in January.

Research teams venturing intothose high latitudes is understand-able, but the wisdom of passengerships going south is questionable. Nomatter how competent the officers, orto what ice standards the ship is built,or how thoroughly certain areas havebeen surveyed, abnormal conditionscan develop very quickly. Only calmweather and the close proximity ofanother ship saved a perilous situa-tion when a small cruise ship sanktwo years ago in southern latitudes.Next time a passenger vessel gets intodifficulties down there, sea condi-tions could be extreme and the near-est ship may be hundreds of milesaway. And our frigates might not beavailable to help!

● German cruise ship Deutsch-land berthed at A Berth on Monday,the first to berth there for a while.The smaller Hanseatic and largeMSC Opera arrived yesterday, thelatter to begin her anticipated cruiseseason in southern African waters.

brian@capeports.co.za

Rescue remedy for deep southANTI-NUCLEAR energy activistsput up a rather impressive show onNovember 10 as they marched tothe Department of Energy to pres-ent their memorandum. It is a pitythere was no one from that depart-ment to receive them.

They looked like a decent num-ber as they marched with theirneat posters opposing the inten-tions of our country to buildnuclear power stations. SouthAfrica is doing this in an effort tocreate an electricity generation mixincluding coal, solar, wind andnuclear in suggested proportions.

This is a tough balancing act asnone of these sources of electricityis without its pros and cons. Coal isa cheap and plentiful fuel. Althoughit is dirty and responsible for ourcountry being the biggest polluteron the African continent, it is un-realistic to suggest that our countrystop using it with immediate effect.

We have such vast reserves ofcoal that it should be assumed thatwe are going to burn it for a verylong time to come. However, weneed to put our scientists to work tofind cleaner technologies for theburning of coal and therefore dras-tically reduce its emissions of theundesirable greenhouse gases.

Authorities have to contend withprotests from business and citizens

on the high price of electricity,while environmentalists demand areduction in our reliance on coal.

The imperatives of climatechange demand that we do our bitagainst global warming. Althoughthere is no definitive proof thatextreme weather occurrences suchas superstorm Sandy that hit theUS and Haiti with devastating forceare consequences of climatechange, it would be foolish to closeour minds about this issue.

We have had our own experi-ences with destructive floods inMpumalanga and the Eastern Caperecently, wreaking havoc in theirwake. We are duty bound to sit upand take notice of the warningsgiven frequently by scientists.

Nuclear energy is clean, reliableand safe, except when somethinggoes wrong. Japanese nuclearpower stations have withstood fre-quent earthquakes, yet the latesttsunami crippled a nuclear station.Radiation from the damaged powerstation overshadowed the tsunamiitself.

The storage of nuclear waste,

with its long life, continues to pro-vide a headache for scientists. Ofcourse, anti-nuclear energy cam-paigners seize upon these two fac-tors to mount their occasional toyi-toyi against this power source.

Wind energy is a sexy, dandy andsqueaky clean one that invites apassionate embrace. But its short-comings are daunting.

You do not have wind blowing allthe time and the technology to storeelectricity that might be generatedwhen you do not need it, is not yetin place. Further, you need a lot ofthose windmills to produce enoughelectricity to make a dent on thepower requirements of a country asbig as South Africa.

There was a faint suggestion bysome scientists that the windmillsare dangerous to birds and thatthey affect the breeding habits ofsome insects. Now, insects have avery big say in every aspect of ourlives. We don’t want to mess withthem, particularly their ability toreproduce.

With wind energy being soexpensive and our population beingso unwilling or unable to pay forexpensive electricity, we cannotplunge head first in that direction.We would be hurt.

Solar energy is just as much adarling as wind energy and with us

being so blessed with plenty of sun-shine the whole year round, it iscapable of playing an importantrole in our power configuration.

However, the technologies asso-ciated with this area are still beingdeveloped and are therefore expen-sive. Wholesale adoption of thistechnology would put the powerauthority on a collision course withsociety.

The energy area is difficult andcomplex and requires that we crafta balanced and prudent path. Weneed to listen to one another andwhere possible accommodate differ-ent views and concerns.

It would have been great if theanti-nuclear protesters had beenreceived by the relevant authori-ties. Let all ideas, protests and pro-posals see the light of day.

What should be taken to heart isthat it is not helpful to have funda-mentalists who demand that onlytheir way should be embraced bythe country. If we have zealots whobelieve that only their ideas arevalid and everybody else should goand jump into the sea, then wewould have more problems.

By the way, the relevant electri-city generation authorities need toadd fuel cells to the mix as an ex-tremely promising source of elec-tricity, especially for rural areas.

Recipe to generate right mix of electricity

COMPOUNDED: Whether on the arms deal or Nkandla, President Zuma must be confused by the multitude of scandals, explanations and cover ups of cover-ups, says the writer.

Rural households are buying more food and growing less and lessFour out of fiveAfrican householdssurveyed sufferedfood shortages

brian ingpen

Port Pourrimosibudi mangena

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