Times of Zambia
Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa says gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS are interlinked as their major cause is mostly unequal gender relations influenced by social and cultural factors.
04 December, 2007
Gender activists slam women’s league
Business Day, Karima Brown
You don't have to be a "gender activist" to find the women's leagues decision scandalous (BH)
You don't have to be a "gender activist" to find the women's leagues decision scandalous (BH)
Nigeria: Violence hinders nation’s development
Punch
“It becomes more worrisome when such (political) violence is instigated by those applying to lead our people- the political class."
“It becomes more worrisome when such (political) violence is instigated by those applying to lead our people- the political class."
Climate change and Africa: Who is responsible for addressing the consequences?
Cyber Seminar: A climate of greater urgency
Mozambique: FROM AUSTRAL TO BARCLAYS - A troubled history
AIM
The scandal-tainted name of the Austral Bank has passed into history: as from Monday, the bank bears the
name of Barclays-Mozambique. The change in name follows the 2005 takeover by Barclays of the
South African group ABSA. Barclays paid the equivalent of 2.6
billion dollars for a 56 per cent stake in ABSA. Since ABSA owned
80 per cent of Austral, Barclays found itself in control of the
Mozambican bank. In terms of number of branches, Austral/Barclays has the second
largest network in Mozambique. In 2006, it had 48 branches and 71
ATMs.
The bank has a troubled history. It started life, shortly after
Mozambican independence, as the state-owned People's Development
Bank (BPD). This bank did make a serious attempt to provide
savings facilities for farmers, but much of its rural network was
destroyed by the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels during the war of
destabilisation. After the end of the war, the Mozambican government came under
heavy pressure from the IMF and the World Bank to pull the state
out of commercial banking. So the two state-owned banks were
privatised: 60 per cent of the BPD was sold to a
Malaysian/Mozambican consortium in 1997, and the bank was renamed
Austral. The following three years saw a wave of reckless lending that
brought the bank to its knees. When the consortium could not
provide extra capital to cover the non-performing loans, they
simply handed their shares back to the state. The Central Bank had to step in, appoint an interim board of
governors, and try to keep the bank afloat, while attempts were
made to find new buyers. According to Prime Minister Luisa Diogo,
the World Bank told the Mozambican government to liquidate Austral, and even
threatened that there would be no further loans to Mozambique
unless the government followed this instruction.
Diogo (who was then Finance Minister) invited a high level World
Bank delegation to Maputo, and they changed their minds about
Austral after talking to the man the central bank had put at the
head of the new board, Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua.
The bank was saved, and in December 2001 80 per cent of the
shares were sold to ABSA. But by then Siba-Siba was dead,
murdered at his office by unknown assailants on 11 August 2001.
Six years later, despite a forensic audit of Austral, nobody has
been charged with fraud or malfeasance over the collapse of the
bank, and nor has anyone been arrested in connection with the
murder of Siba-Siba.
The scandal-tainted name of the Austral Bank has passed into history: as from Monday, the bank bears the
name of Barclays-Mozambique. The change in name follows the 2005 takeover by Barclays of the
South African group ABSA. Barclays paid the equivalent of 2.6
billion dollars for a 56 per cent stake in ABSA. Since ABSA owned
80 per cent of Austral, Barclays found itself in control of the
Mozambican bank. In terms of number of branches, Austral/Barclays has the second
largest network in Mozambique. In 2006, it had 48 branches and 71
ATMs.
The bank has a troubled history. It started life, shortly after
Mozambican independence, as the state-owned People's Development
Bank (BPD). This bank did make a serious attempt to provide
savings facilities for farmers, but much of its rural network was
destroyed by the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels during the war of
destabilisation. After the end of the war, the Mozambican government came under
heavy pressure from the IMF and the World Bank to pull the state
out of commercial banking. So the two state-owned banks were
privatised: 60 per cent of the BPD was sold to a
Malaysian/Mozambican consortium in 1997, and the bank was renamed
Austral. The following three years saw a wave of reckless lending that
brought the bank to its knees. When the consortium could not
provide extra capital to cover the non-performing loans, they
simply handed their shares back to the state. The Central Bank had to step in, appoint an interim board of
governors, and try to keep the bank afloat, while attempts were
made to find new buyers. According to Prime Minister Luisa Diogo,
the World Bank told the Mozambican government to liquidate Austral, and even
threatened that there would be no further loans to Mozambique
unless the government followed this instruction.
Diogo (who was then Finance Minister) invited a high level World
Bank delegation to Maputo, and they changed their minds about
Austral after talking to the man the central bank had put at the
head of the new board, Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua.
The bank was saved, and in December 2001 80 per cent of the
shares were sold to ABSA. But by then Siba-Siba was dead,
murdered at his office by unknown assailants on 11 August 2001.
Six years later, despite a forensic audit of Austral, nobody has
been charged with fraud or malfeasance over the collapse of the
bank, and nor has anyone been arrested in connection with the
murder of Siba-Siba.
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