Luxury yachts: A South African business success story

South Africa has been relegated to the sidelines by international investors following credit ratings agency downgrades to ‘junk’ status earlier this month. This is a great pity for the country’s marketing efforts as there are many pockets of excellence. For example, South Africans are masters at building yachts for the world’s wealthiest. Here’s a primer on what you need to know about these luxury sailing vessels before you put money into one. By Jackie Cameron 

European yacht investor Tamas Hamor only buys South African yachts. He was quickly converted to models produced on the tip of Africa after he spotted his second yacht and realised that learning to sail in the world’s most treacherous seas has given these boat designers and manufacturers a distinct advantage.

‘South Africans are pioneers in catamaran building. They have developed their expertise because at the Cape of Good Hope they are always sailing in windy conditions, and usually at high speed,’ Hamor says of the unpredictable and often stormy seas around Cape Town.

He recently bought his third yacht, a luxury sailing catamaran with four en-suite cabins, from a South African manufacturer. A former property developer in Spain, Hamor decided to turn his love for sailing – and South African yachts – into a business. 

He is selling Western Cape-manufactured luxury yachts to international buyers. A sideline is a yacht charter operation, catering for guests who can afford to pay more than US$20 000/week (about R200 000/week) in the Caribbean. This enables him to cover the costs of maintaining and running his own yachts.

‘I have always enjoyed sailing. I went from constructing houses to constructing yachts,’ says Hamor, who speaks to Signature from a boat show in Miami. 

The Xquisite Yachts chief executive officer is hoping a demonstration model, and a try-before-you-buy programme, will attract orders for sail and power catamarans. Hamor could be in for entrepreneurial success, as he has opened his doors to coincide with an uptick in demand for luxury yachts. Sales were hit by the financial crisis in 2008, but there are recent indications that they are starting to pick up. 

Laurent Perignon, chief operating officer of luxury yacht specialist Camper & Nicholsons says that the top end of the superyacht sector – vessels longer than 60m – was never affected by the global economic shock. The rich have continued to commission ever-larger high-prestige craft. 

However, the market for smaller, yet still very expensive, yachts has only recently started to return to normal. This has followed a big increase in pre-owned boats for sale, he notes.

‘It is still a buyers’ market but things are gradually stabilising. We’re no longer seeing the fire sales and big discounts that we were seeing before,’ says Perignon in a Knight Frank report on how the world’s wealthiest are spending their money. Demand is coming largely from the US and Europe.

Cape Town-based yacht broker Rob Sharp agrees that the worst seems to be over for the luxury yacht market. After a tough period in which many boat-builders and others connected to the yacht industry have been forced out of business, local demand has improved. ‘Last year was our best year since 2008. We are selling sailing and power, mono hull and catamaran in equal numbers,’ he says of the boats his clientele – mostly South African – are favouring. 

Many buyers already have yachts and have been upgrading to much larger yachts in the luxury segment, says Sharp. Innovation in ownership models is spurring demand too. The broker cites the example of a buyer who came to the David Abromowitz & Associates offices wanting a power boat for deep sea fishing and left with shares in a luxury yacht moored at the V&A Waterfront.

Although Sharp is undoubtedly a good sales consultant, the buyer realised that his needs and lifestyle were best suited to fractional ownership. Instead of owning a boat outright and not getting full use of it, for a similar amount of money the investor acquired a shareholding in a 17m (57-ft) vessel, which comes with a crew to take care of sailing, catering and ongoing maintenance. ‘He gets to use the yacht for a certain number of weeks a year, which is the most he would have time for,’ says Sharp of the Johannesburg buyer.

How do you decide what type of yacht is right for you? Price is the first consideration. 

If you don’t have close to R1m (US$75 000), you are unlikely to be able to buy a share of an entry level luxury boat, while you need many millions of rands to invest in one for your exclusive use. Expect to spend about 10% of the value of your boat each year on maintenance, say yacht owners, while additional costs include boat insurance and salaries for crew.

If you’ve been eyeing one of those 60-ft (18m) yachts that bob around in the waves off Clifton on a Sunday, bear in mind that you are unlikely to get any change out of R25m, says Sharp. A second-hand one might be in reach, though, for about R3,5m.

About R850 000 could get you a piece of a luxury sailing catamaran moored in Mauritius where salaries for crew and the costs of maintenance are more attractive than other jurisdictions. Expect to spend at least R50m to buy a new 85-footer (25m) while R300m is what you are looking at to buy a yacht that is the envy of all other boat owners, says Sharp. He points out that foreign currency exchange rates make South African-built yachts attractive.

Yacht industry stakeholder Clinton Johns, of Cape Town, says your choice will also depend on the type of sailing you envisage. The person who wants to feel the sea spray on his or her face and wants to do the work of managing the boat on the waves is likely to opt for a yacht with sails. ‘A real yachtsman or yachtswoman wouldn’t be seen dead in a motorised boat,’ points out Johns, who has been sailing boats since the age of seven.

Others may prefer to sit back and enjoy the exhilaration of a boat ride, without getting too occupied with the work of getting the vessel across the sea. If you are that kind of buyer, opt for yacht with an engine – and preferably a crew.   

Increasingly popular, says Johns, is a hybrid boat. You can put some energy into sailing by helping to hoist the sails, but you can also simply turn on the engine and head off into the big blue.

These days, says Johns, there’s very little sailing that is necessary. ‘Even the yachtsman has an iPad, which becomes part of the equipment, for navigation, looking up weather patterns and more. Technology can even allow you to dock the boat using your finger on the screen – at your peril,’ he adds, wryly.

Your biggest risk on the oceans is yourself, so opt for a yacht that is suited to your sailing expertise, advises Hamor. Also think about where you want to go on your yacht. You will pick a completely different boat if you plan to travel around the world compared to if you want to cruise within 1 000km of port.

‘Moving very big boats from one ocean to the next is not so easy. We find that the people with the biggest yachts usually have more than one; they have one in the Mediterranean, another in the Pacific and perhaps a third in the Caribbean,’ says Hamor.

What you shouldn’t be thinking about when buying a yacht is how much profit you might be able to make later. This is a purchase that, with few exceptions, should be strictly for pleasure.

Sharp notes that a yacht is like a car – it depreciates steadily after you take ownership. ‘It is a lifestyle investment,’ he says. Adds Hamor: ‘I have never met anyone who has made money buying a yacht.’

• Jackie Cameron is a freelance business and financial journalist. This article first appeared in ‘Signature’ magazine. Contact her at jackiecameron.uk@gmail.com for content ideas for your website or magazine.

Pepe Marais: champion for Joe Public. Now, let’s put him forward for the Presidential race.

I hope one of my former colleagues decides to put himself forward as a Parliamentary candidate one day. If anyone is an exemplary new South African, it is Pepe Marais.

I was absolutely delighted when he connected with me on Twitter recently. I was also surprised. He is so busy and I took it for granted, quite wrongly, that he must have much more on his mind than taking a few minutes to catch up with people who have passed him briefly on his swift journey up the career and business ladder.

Of all the people I worked with in my first job after graduating from university, Pepe Marais is undoubtedly the one who has given the impression of achieving the greatest success in his career. He has won so many creative awards, I can’t imagine he has been able to keep count.

Pepe Marais and I worked together at an advertising agency in Cape Town. I was a junior copywriter and he was a junior graphic designer. We spent much of our time working on advertising and marketing campaigns for the liquor industry.

In addition to his artistic talents, Pepe is an entrepreneur, creating jobs and contributing to the economy. He founded Joe Public, a thriving advertising agency that came up with the novel idea to serve advertising with a take-away theme to keep costs contained for clients. It has evolved over the years, now focusing on “media agnostic strategies” and growth. Joe Public has been a trend-setter in a very trendy environment.

If you know the advertising industry, you will be aware that the people who work in this sector have a reputation for being materialistic, brand conscious and generally self-serving. There again, Pepe Marais bucks the trend.

His focus on Joe Public has spread beyond his capitalist endeavours. Pepe’s priority these days is a project called One School at a Time.

Pepe told me that he keeps working on his business so that it can feed into this project, which is aimed at improving the quality of education in impoverished communities. He has roped some of his clients into One School at a Time.

Pepe is incredibly ambitious for this programme, which has a funding element but more importantly requires much time and individual input by him and the other people who support the project.

He started One School at a Time after coming to the conclusion that the only way to really improve life in South Africa is through education. Many other people, well-connected influential people, know this too, but few have taken steps like Pepe Marais has to transform convictions into actions.

A few months ago I was asked to write a feature on corporate social investing (CSI) for an upmarket magazine aimed at higher net worth individuals. It was the perfect opportunity to connect with Pepe once again and hear more about One School at a Time.

The project, as you might expect from one of the best creative brains in South Africa, takes an innovative approach to making a difference to people who need it the most. Of course, that’s what everyone who has a CSI project will say, but in this case the commitment of the people driving the programme goes beyond numbers and reporting in a glossy brochure for shareholders. They also take advantage of their lateral thinking abilities.

For example, One School at a Time ran a radio campaign which demonstrated a young South African’s progress after receiving regular English lessons. Another media campaign uses radio frequencies to speak to people in their cars about why people beg in South Africa.

The creative work to raise awareness is only a small aspect of the project. Marais and his team spend much time at schools, for example brainstorming ideas with school managers on how to do things differently in circumstances that require fresh thinking.

As you probably know, I’ve got a thick skin so not much moves me to tears in the work environment. Chatting to a principal at one of the schools receiving Marais’ support did, however.

I interviewed the head of the Johannesburg secondary over the phone, from my work base near Edinburgh.

This is a school where 70% of the pupils are orphans. Only they don’t live in an orphanage.

These teenagers are running households of children whose parents have been wiped out by HIV/Aids. It is a school where pupils are genuinely excited when they win a carrot or some other vegetable as a reward for a successfully completing a maths exercise or for picking up litter in the school grounds.

Can you imagine a whole community of children growing up without parents to love and look after them, serve as role models and motivate them to improve their circumstances? These are young people living off modest social grants and tips they receive for waving motorists into parking spots at shopping centres; children who have to find their own rent, albeit for squalid accommodation, and are supposed to scrape together modest school fees.

Of this I have no doubt: Pepe Marais is playing a role where it is needed the most. He is also doing this from the bottom of his heart for the people who matter to him the most – his fellow citizens.

You can read the magazine feature that highlights One School at a Time on my blog.  Find out more about One School at a Time.  

Here comes the hairy white beast

One of the best editors I’ve ever worked for has an amazing way to diffuse tension in a newsroom. Borrowed from conductor and inspirational speaker Benjamin Zander, he calls it Rule 52. Basically it is this: let’s not take ourselves too seriously, people.

I’ve been having a few rough weeks. So, in the interests of my own sanity, I am applying Rule 52 to myself.

I have decided to publish a piece I wrote some time ago, reflecting on an experience back in China. Because, if you can’t laugh, then why are we here? Besides, it is nearly Valentine’s Day – and the theme of this piece has some romantic angles, if you will.

To give a bit of context: Before I moved to China, my life in South Africa looked something like this. I spent most of my hours wearing away laptop keyboards in my study, while a wonderful woman called Letticia worked for me in the house and babysat my children when they got home from school (more about her, soon). My tiny study looked out onto Bantry Bay, quite possibly the most beautiful stretch of coastline in Cape Town, where I could see whales and yachts and the evening sun setting over the Atlantic Ocean. From the other side of my home (in Kloof Road, in case you are interested), I could look up at the side of Table Mountain. Beyond the burglar bars and alarms, I drove a smart 2×4 with bullet-proof windows to the nearest shopping centre.

I took a lot of stuff for granted, like highlights and french manicures.

Flash forward: My life in China entailed living, communist style, in an apartment which looked identical to the homes of everyone else who worked for the organisation that hired my husband. The same couches, beds, tables, wok, Chinese cutlery, Chinese laundry room – and the same Ayi sharing her time (and gossip, it must be said) between apartments. There was no point reading any of the mail I got from a bank, or anyone, because I couldn’t understand it.

There was no communication via social media with the outside world because the government blocks all access. No western music. Very little English is spoken in China. As for transport: my preference was to snuggle up to the locals in ovecrowded buses and trains. Occasionally, though, I ended up on the back of a pedi-cab, which is basically a person-drawn cart, with western-style food piled up next to me on the seat and around my feet after a ‘Metro’ (or Med-a-long, as you would say in China) shop some distance away from home.

And, I could take nothing for granted. After my first visit to a hairdresser in Beijing, I was transformed from a sun-streaked blonde to orange-with-gentian-blue-stripes (basically a blue-rinse redhead). The young man who did my hair was very excited because he’d never worked on Caucasian hair before. My visit to a beauty salon proved even more memorable.

I hope you enjoy this little piece. But be warned: if you are squeamish about pubic hairs and stuff like that, or don’t like the sound of Rule 52, this one is not for you. Or, if you’d prefer to read something more serious, or analytical on China, please hit the ‘World Views’ tab on my blog instead. – JC

Here comes the hairy white beast 

What’s a Caucasian girl to do to keep her bikini line trim if she lives in China? Jackie Cameron steps behind the pink curtain for a unique salon experience.

Ever had what Oprah Winfrey calls a light bulb moment? You know, a sudden moment of clarity, when you see a situation for what it is?

I had such a moment watching that famous scene in Sex and the City, the movie, when the Mexican sunlight catches Cynthia Nixon – aka Miranda Hobbes –along the bushy red shoreline of her swimsuit. You may recall that blonde TV orgasm queen Kim Cattrall let out a gasp of horror at the untidy strands of hair peeping out at her?

Miranda’s excuses that she was too busy in her career to wax were quickly shrugged off by her New York city girlfriends. There’s no excuse for not taking care of yourself in that department, was the resounding message to Miranda.

I felt for Miranda, really I did. In fact, the same problem was growing on me, though for different reasons, and I felt a hot twinge of emotional discomfort about it.

Heaven forbid my husband would feel compelled to make a similar admonishing remark to me as Cattrall’s Samantha Jones did to her hapless red-head lawyer friend. I had to do something about this, I thought, spurred on by the “Sex and the City” girl talk. I would make a similar, Cynthia-style clean-up operation my mission.

Come into my parlour…

After months of living in China, I had yet to make contact with a beauty salon that did waxing. Or, shall I say, a beauty salon that did some waxing in those parts for the usual reasons, and had some interest in selling such a service to foreigners.

I’d trawled through pages of glossy hard-backed menus at various, sweetly-scented spas. Face massages, foot massages, exotic anti-pigmentation procedures, road surfacing-like skin peels: you name it, you could probably have it done for you in China. All except a bikini or leg wax, it seemed.

When at last I finally spotted a wax advertised among the offerings at a 5-star city hotel’s salon, the lady on duty at reception mustered enough words in English to make it clear this service was no longer available. Didn’t women in China wax, I wondered? Maybe the local women didn’t have hair down there? I mean, what did I really know about the Chinese?

There was one last place I hadn’t tried, however. And it was for a reason. You see, Chlitina, I had been told amid a group of giggling ex-pats, was where women went for their jollies. It looks like a beauty treatment spa, but it’s really a front, a business that looks like one thing but is actually something else, Mrs Canada had said authoritatively.

It’s where you go for a full body massage that includes a “happy ending”, gushed Mrs Canada, scarcely containing her excitement. She knew, she relayed to a captivated room, because her unnamed friend had told her all about politely pushing away a vibrator at the end of a massage that very week. No word of a lie!

Chlitina – yes, that’s really its name and you pronounce it CLIT-EE-NA – advertises in the Chinese English media. They have “waxing services for people with too much hair. 180 yuan (about US$30) for one body area, like two arms, or two legs,” goes its local city listings’ guide, no doubt eliciting a few chortles from witty English readers.

Nudge, nudge; wink, wink

With an urban legend like the one that had come out of Mrs Canada’s lips, and the entrance of the local Chlitina situated not far from Mrs Canada’s front door, how could I dare pop in? What if Mr or Mrs Canada or one of the others who knew about what really went on in there spotted me in the vicinity of Chlitina?

What would they be saying about what I get up to while the children are doing their homework? Even my husband had given me a knowing look when, soon after Mrs Canada’s revelation, the old Chinese dear in his office let slip she was off for her regular Friday afternoon massage as we passed her in the corridor.

This massive national Chlitina chain, I had wondered: were so many thousands of Chinese women really being helped to climax daily in these little pink-and-white shops to be found everywhere in all of China’s cities? On one hand, such a conservative society; on the other, bringing new meaning to the “mass” part of turbation.

It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I finally entered the mysterious halls of the Chlitina group. I thought I’d come armed with my bikini bottoms so that I could accurately demonstrate the required area of operation if hand gestures were required for communication, as is so often the case for me given my limited Chinese vocabulary. There would be no room for error if they got the request, through my pointing and motioning, wrong.

“I mean, what if they think I want the vibrator service,” I had asked of my husband a little earlier. “Oh,” he replied mischievously, “just enjoy it.”

Sign language

Yes, the five young uniformed shop assistants nodded in unison, they understood wax. Yes, they immediately understood bikini wax. Yes, that will cost….The elegantly-dressed manageress tapped out the price on a calculator so that we could all be clear on the number.

I hadn’t thought I was particularly hairy but the price was not an insignificant sum. In a nutshell, it would have paid for a nice dinner for four at one of the city’s smarter restaurants.

I baulked – but only briefly as the memory of Sam ticking off Miranda came back into my head. There are some things that have just got to be done, I reminded myself as I was ushered through to the inner sanctum and asked to put on a pair of slippers before being led up two flights of stairs into a dimly-lit, incensed suite complete with shower and luxury bath.

I felt nervous as I was asked to remove my trousers and get onto a massage bed made up with fluffy towels. A white towel was handed to me so I could cover my upper thighs, and then the two beauticians got down to business.

Pain first, then pleasure

It was a wax like no other I have had. First they brought in shiny interior decor magazines, and ripped out pages of beautifully-styled apartments and laid them around me on the bed where there was space.

Then, one attendant opened a jar of what looked and felt like cold honey and spread it using a flat metal nail file over the salient parts as though it was being applied to a piece of toast. Magazine pages, in turn, were placed over the sticky “wax” and the two beauty therapists got to work rubbing and rubbing the pages with their hands and until the pages stuck to me.

Finally, they ripped the pages off me, collecting very few hairs along the way. So they repeated the process, again and again. Occasionally they took a damp cloth and wiped me to remove the traces of sepia ink that had been left behind by the photographs. They did a bit of plucking with a tweezer, too, until more than two hours later I suggested we call it a day.

It’s painful to be beautiful, I’d remembered my grandmother saying as I nobly steeled myself for one magazine page after the next. I had taken comfort in the fact I am supposed to have a high pain threshold as the procedure moved on to progressively more delicate terrain. And I had wondered as I lay there, holding my breath through the worst bits, whether I was the only one at a Chlitina who wasn’t having a relaxing afternoon.

I don’t believe I was the only one. For, at the very least, if others were having more fun, surely I would have heard the tell-tale drone of battery-operated toys in full throttle from beyond the frosted-glass panel door of my cubicle.

Evidently not all services at Chlitina come with that so-called happy ending. Still, I reckon Samantha would have been proud of me for attending to some essential female business. As for my husband, his text message to me as soon as he got news of my departure from Chlitina said it all: “Shorn at last? Looking forward to an inspection later.”

You can catch up on the Miranda bikini moment scene here: http://youtu.be/jm8lWi5X73U

• Jackie Cameron lives in Scotland, where there’s no shortage of spas and over-the-counter hair removal kits. Her advice to China newbies? Only believe half of everything your fellow foreigners will tell you about the city and other expats. And bring your own waxing kit.

A very special Christmas with Nelson Mandela

My husband, Adrian Hadland, is a prolific and incredibly fast writer. He has written so many books that I lost count after 15. I’d like to think I’m a good influence on this score, not least of all because I force him out of bed every day at the crack of dawn (and often before) to get to work while he has a book underway. Call me a slave-driver!

His industry hasn’t made him rich, but it has brought in some nice pocket money from time to time. Adrian used the proceeds of “The Life and Times of Thabo Mbeki”, an unauthorised and controversial biography of South Africa’s second president, to take me on a memorable trip to the exotic Indonesian island of Bali.

A very important aspect Adrian has carefully mulled over each time he has completed a book has been his dedication.  “The Life and Times of Thabo Mbeki” was dedicated to me and the co-author’s wife Pearl Rantao.

Adrian’s latest book, a weighty academic work that could possibly be his magnum opus and which is currently being examined by a US publisher, is dedicated to my 7-year-old, Timothy.

Only a handful of very clever people are expected to appreciate Timothy’s work when it gets into print. Timothy’s name is on this one because, as the youngest, he is the only person in the family who has not received a book dedication from Adrian – and that’s what there is available at this time.

Although Adrian produces very serious pieces he also has this rare ability to write for children. One of his books for the Under 12 market  – and one dedicated exclusively to me – is called “Nelson Mandela: The prisoner who gave the world hope”. Published by Short Books, it is on school and library lists in various countries, including the UK.

When we first arrived in Scotland, my eldest son told some children at school that his Dad had written books, including on Mandela. One boy and his family were so certain Nicholas was fibbing that the mother took the trouble to tell me that my son had been lying about his father meeting Mandela and that these kinds of tales were not going down well.

Later, Nicholas came rushing home with the news that some classmates had found “Nelson Mandela: The prisoner who gave the world hope” in the school library. On the one hand, Nicholas was relieved because there was independent evidence that he had been telling the truth.

On the other, there was much talking about – gasp of embarrassment – a spelling mistake! It turns out his classmates and their parents thought “Afrikaans” should have been “Africans”.  (Just in case you don’t know: Afrikaans is a language which has Dutch roots.)

So, for the record, Adrian Hadland did meet Nelson Mandela many times. Perhaps the most special Christmas celebration of all for Adrian was the one he spent with Nelson Mandela at the first black South African president’s home in Qunu. Adrian reflects back on it in an obituary he wrote for a UK newspaper, which I thought I would republish here on my blog this month as South Africans everywhere mourn Mandela’s loss.   – Jackie Cameron

A tribute to Nelson Mandela.

By Adrian Hadland*

One of several books on Mandela, by Adrian Hadland. This one is dedicated to “Jackie, my wife and muse”.

On August 4^th, 1981, Glasgow became the first city in the world to bestow the freedom of the city to Nelson Mandela. In its time, this was a bold statement.

In many parts of the globe, including the UK, public sentiment was not very favourable towards the man who hadn’t been seen in public life for almost 20 years. Lucky to escape the hangman’s noose, Mandela was imprisoned for life in a Pretoria courtroom on charges of terrorism in 1964.

After his conviction, he was immediately shipped back to the terrifyingly harsh Robben Island prison where he chopped rocks with a hammer in the harsh sun for most of the next two decades.

Here, in the UK, Margaret Thatcher had only been in power for a year or two by 1981 and quickly lost interest in the plight of Mandela and the liberation movement he led. Supported by US President Ronald Reagan and by the interests of global big business, she quashed efforts to impose economic sanctions on South Africa’s whites-only regime. Instead, she invited South African President PW Botha to visit the UK in 1984, encouraged trade and castigated Mandela’s beloved African National Congress (ANC) as “a typical terrorist organisation”.

So it was no mean feat for Glasgow to step forward in the early 1980s to publicly acknowledge the qualities of a man who, not too many years later, would be hailed as one of the world’s greatest leaders.

Glasgow’s recognition was extraordinarily prescient. Even among the senior leadership of the ANC at that time, it wasn’t widely known that Mandela, deep in the confines of his stone prison, had begun to work his magic.

As South Africa tipped into violent conflict and moved inexorably toward a race-based civil war, he secretly met with Botha’s emissaries, including the Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee, and began to talk about the country’s future.

What sort of terms would be needed to bring about peace in South Africa? Who would negotiate such terms? What kind of model of democracy would be needed to shift the nation away from the brink of war and toward tolerance and justice?

Offered freedom on condition he eschewed violence, Mandela refused. Before the ANC would drop its weapons, he demanded certain guarantees including universal franchise, democratic government, the unbanning of political parties, the release of political prisoners and the end to racial segregation.

Holding out while these talks continued for many years came at considerable personal cost. He went on a prolonged hunger strike to improve conditions in the prison. His wife, Winnie Mandela, ran off the rails and they were divorced not long after his release. He was unable to attend the funeral of his eldest son, Thembi, killed in a car crash. And the deprivation he suffered on that small island in the Atlantic for more than 25 years can only really be appreciated if you make the two hour boat journey from Cape Town harbour to ‘the island’ and see for yourself.

Remarkably, Mandela managed to convince both the apartheid authorities and his own party leadership that there was a route through the barriers of hate and history toward freedom. By the early 1980s, Mandela had so won over his prison guards he was free to roam the island. By 1988 he had moved into a vacant prison warder’s house on the mainland. And on February 2 1990, after more than 10,000 days in jail, he walked free.

Mandela: A LIfe (also by Adrian Hadland) was translated into several languages and proved popular in France.

When I visited him a few years later, in the remote town of Qunu on the east coast of South Africa, he had painstakingly rebuilt an exact replica of that prison warder’s house and made it his home.

Outside, it was a rather ugly, face-brick bungalow set amid the green, rolling hills of the area known as the Transkei. He loved the house. It represented his first taste of freedom for 25 years. On the inside, the house thronged with the noises of his family, of his grandchildren, as they prepared excitedly for Christmas lunch.

It was Mandela’s first Christmas as the newly-elected president of South Africa and I felt very fortunate to have been invited. At the time I was the senior writer of a new newspaper, the Sunday Independent. As a political correspondent who covered his ascent from prisoner to president, I had enjoyed a front row seat of Mandela’s difficult but fascinating journey to power.

On that Christmas morning of 1994, he and I (and a handful of his security guards) wandered the pathways of his youth. He showed me the rock he had played on as a child, the cluster of huts where he had slept. We met simple country people, many on their way to feast on the slaughtered cow now turning over a fire in his garden. They raised their arms and called ‘Madiba’, his clan name, for Mandela was a Xhosa prince as well as a democrat. When he went to court expecting the death sentence in 1964, he went in his tribal robes and prince’s crown.

There are so many moments to recall in my time with Mandela, good and bad. I was a few feet away when he swore the presidential oath of office at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and the airforce fighter jets roared over our heads to salute their triumphant new commander. I was also in court when he filed for divorce. He was as grim and somber as one could be.

I recall how he joked that when he moved into his vacant office in the Presidency there wasn’t a single chair, pencil or phone left behind by his predecessor and fellow Nobel peace prize laureate, Mr FW De Klerk.

Nelson Mandela and Adrian Hadland share a private joke, on Christmas day at the first black South African president’s home in Qunu, Eastern Cape. This picture was taken by Anton Hammerl, an award-winning South African photographer who was killed while covering the Arab Spring in Libya.

There were challenges to the press corps when covering such a man. He was adored and celebrated. He could do no wrong. This was not a journalism we were used to. Where was the scandal? The mistakes? The complacency of power? He would call on the phone to chat and laugh about the stuffy ambassador he’d just met or give some background on the press conference that would be called in the morning. He was totally disarming, as almost all who came to his world, friend and foe, soon realised.

He would have been the first to admit he wasn’t perfect. I learned this the hard way. One day he took off his reading glasses during a speech and announced that everyone over the age of 13 would get to vote in the next election. Sensation! We rushed to file our stories. The next morning, front page leads were laden with banner headlines and gaudy editorials.

Alas, this was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, a “Mandela-ism” as they became known to us in the corps. It had not even been discussed by the ANC who soon smilingly discarded the crazy notion into the dustbin of history. We learned our lesson. When he took off his glasses and moved off the prepared script, we put down our pens and notebooks.

He was also prone to the odd temper and on one occasion – the aftermath of the infamous Boipatong massacre – literally shouted at and abused his counterpart, De Klerk, in public.

The challenges he faced in rebuilding South Africa after 300 years of colonialism and apartheid were also truly overwhelming. He presided over more than 500 Acts of Parliament in his first and only presidential term, many fundamentally rebuilding the country’s governmental and social structure.

It will take many more years before the normalcy he dreamed off is achieved or the equality and development he yearned for will be realised.

Perhaps what Mandela is best known for, his greatest gift, was his capacity to forgive. He suffered greatly, beyond comprehension at times, but was able to win the admiration, trust and cooperation of his fiercest adversaries. He was a man of great principle, never compromising on his need to sound out opinion and decide things collectively.

Mandela learned true democracy at the fireside in an African village as he listened to the elders, including his father, debate and argue the issues of the day: All were listened to, all respected. If some opposed the way forward, the discussion was put off to another day. Only decisions that gained the support of all were adopted.

His roots and his beliefs are a reminder that democratic values form part and parcel of the ancient fabric of human life, going back to the earliest of times. Over the centuries, many have sacrificed their lives for such values and many more have blossomed in their light.

Scotland is part of this journey. Here too we ponder the true meaning and future of democracy. Here too we see a fork in the road ahead and wonder which way is the right one.

Mandela will soon be gone, but his legacy will endure. He was truly a great man, and it is to Glasgow’s credit, that it was the first city to say so.

* Dr Adrian Hadland is the director of the journalism programme at the University of Stirling. He worked as a political journalist in South Africa for 15 years covering the country’s transition from apartheid to democracy. He has published several books and book chapters about Mandela.

A shorter version of this obituary  appeared in The Herald newspaper in Scotland.

Smart, sassy – and scarily ambitious: asset management entrepreneur Magda Wierzycka goes for total market domination

This morning an interesting bit of news appeared in my in-box: it was a strategy overview from one of the women I most admire in South Africa’s tough, male-dominated asset management industry, Magda Wierzycka.  

She was announcing the details of how she is going to ensure her company, Sygnia, becomes the largest passive investment manager in South Africa.  For starters, she has fired the first salvo in what could easily develop into a price war in the index tracking fund arena.

Magda is one of those people who has it all: she is stunningly beautiful, has boundless brain power – as her qualification as an actuary attests – and the guts and acumen to make it in a fiercely competitive business sector. She married a man who evidently isn’t intimidated by women who have high earning power and she manages to spend quality time with her family, too. Having all those attributes has a downside: it inevitably attracts much jealousy.

I have been following Magda’s progress closely over the years. I have written about developments in her professional life as well as how she views investing and the industry for a variety of news organisations, from Leadership magazine to Moneyweb.co.za. 

This week’s announcement reminds me of her plans when she became CEO of Sygnia in 2006. Over the past seven years, Magda has built what was a small company with a “happy family feeling” into the country’s second-largest institutional multi-manager. It now has assets under management in excess of R100bn (more than £6bn).

You can read more about Magda’s next steps at biznewz.com, where I’m working with Africa’s top business broadcaster Alec Hogg and a number of other journalists on building an exciting new independent news outlet.  On my blog this week, I’ve posted a piece I wrote about Magda when she announced Phase 1 of Sygnia’s plans to grow in the investment world. I was Financial Services Correspondent for a business and investment news organisation at that time.

If you have any doubt that Magda will achieve her freshly revealed ambitions, I’m sure you will find that this question mark in your head has disappeared by the time you get to the end of this article (see below). What Magda says she does. Her competitors must – to borrow a phrase from journalist colleague Barry Sergeant – be trembling in their socks.  

 

Asset management entrepreneur Wierzycka takes on big guns in R200bn industry. She spoke to Jackie Cameron.

Asset management entrepreneur Magda Wierzycka is set to take on the big guns in the R200bn multi-management industry, she told Moneyweb.

The 37-year-old Wierzycka, who recently made a cool R80m through the R300m sale of a stake in African Harvest Fund Managers to listed financial services company Cadiz late last year, has launched her own financial services group, Sygnia.

Business is already booming since Sygnia’s doors opened in December.

Magda Wierzycka is CEO of Sygnia, a group of six companies.

Staff numbers have grown from 15 to 20. Sygnia is looking for more people to join its team and Wierzycka is contemplating expanding her V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, operation to bigger premises.

Wierzycka nurtured the assets under management of African Harvest from R10bn to R32bn when she was CEO.

Then, Mzi Khumalo’s Metallon decided to sell its stake in African Harvest to free up some cash.

Wierzycka, who initially sold IQuest – a hedge fund of funds business she owned with husband Simon Peile – to African Harvest, kept that operation. It has been renamed Sygnia Asset Management.

With about R4bn under management, it continues to build customised multi-manager funds for pension funds and structure hedge funds of funds.

Also in Wierzycka’s stable is Sygnia Life, which gives the company the opportunity to structure investment products through its life licence.

Sygnia Systems, meanwhile, is an information technology company with a system, Sygnia Platinum, designed specifically for asset managers.

That product, which houses all the software requirements of an asset management company in one integrated system, was seen as a major competitive advantage for African Harvest Fund Managers where it was developed.

The team who created it, however, did not wish to move to Cadiz, hence Wierzycka kept that part of the operation, she said.

Sygnia will market the software to other asset managers.

Wierzycka said this week that after being in long-only asset management, it was time for “something new” in her career.

There was no time to take a break because many staff followed her, a number of whom also moved from Coronation Fund Managers where she was responsible for institutional business before it listed about five years ago, and they needed jobs.

In addition to seeing much more room for growth in the hedge funds of funds space, Wierzycka has her sights set on becoming a major player in the multi-manager arena.

She plans to take on companies like Investment Solutions, Advantage Asset Management, Old Mutual’s Mutual’s SYmmETRY Multi-manager and Sanlam Multi-Managers, who together control about R200bn of the country’s savings.

Wierzycka, an actuary who started her career as an Alexander Forbes consultant, said she believes there is room for a competitor – particularly one that offers greater transparency and lower fees to retirement funds.

“This is a segment of the market where you have very little competition,” she noted.

In addition, the idea is for Sygnia to offer customised multi-manager solutions to pension funds. “With customisation, we don’t squeeze the underlying managers,” Wierzycka said of the way fees are structured.

The aim is to produce better performance, through a combination of a better selection of managers and lower fees.

Sygnia also offers structures that can give retirement funds the risk-return profile of hedge funds without pension funds falling foul of legislation, she said.

Wierzycka is hunting for an additional investment professional to join her team, someone who has been a portfolio manager and knows the right questions to ask other fund managers.

Empowerment will also have to be addressed, she said.

For now, Wierzycka said she is enjoying that “happiness club” feeling that comes with owning a small business where everyone enjoys working together.

Clearly she has her sights set on building a massive organisation because, as she says, a successful multi-manager business requires volumes.

Her competitors should be quivering in their boots. If anyone knows how to attract flows to an asset management company it is Wierzycka.

Glamorous, blonde and undeniably astute, she is known as a master of marketing. The flip side of this is that all these traits, together with her wealth, leave some decidedly green with envy.

She also has a keen understanding of the financial services sector, not least of all that it is one of the most lucrative industries where basis point fees translate into “humungous amounts of money”.

Leaving nothing to chance in her new venture, Wierzycka has hired a London advertising agency to design Sygnia’s logo and help develop its brand.

“We wanted something fresh, modern and that would appeal to institutions and bodies around the world,” she said.

No doubt, the financial services industry is going to be seeing and hearing a lot more from Wierzycka.

* This article about Magda Wierzycka was published by Moneyweb.co.za. You can find the original article here.

Your best money tips, please

Hello all. I’ve got a favour to ask. I’m working on a follow-up to this personal finance piece (see below), published last month on Biznewz.com, and would greatly appreciate hearing your money management tips. I’m looking for fun, unusual and real life dos and don’ts we can all use. Please mail me yours, as soon as you can. Just a line or a quick pointer would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great weekend.

Jackie

5 of the best money tips I’ve ever heard, some in strangest of places

The turning point in my personal financial management didn’t come as a result of an accounting course I took to brush up on my number-crunching skills. Or because of any detailed discussions with financial intermediaries or bank managers in my early years of work.

No, my first and most lasting personal finance lesson was delivered to me in an unmarked police car when I was a crime reporter. The tutor was a detective with a handgun strapped to each of his calves, another tucked into the back of his trousers and who knows where else.

It was about 2am in the morning. We were watching dozens of cops in bullet-proof vests quietly scouring a Hillbrow, Johannesburg street, some slipping into the stairwells of dilapidated apartment blocks, as an anti-drugs police operation kicked into gear.

It was a very exciting event, particularly later when residents accused of being drug dealers were forced out of their slumber, ordered to make themselves decent and frog-marched to armoured vans. The odd gunshot or two punctuated the air, but that’s what you’d expect on any night of the week in Hillbrow.

It was in the slow, quiet build up to the manoeuvre that this policeman shared his tips on how to grow a portfolio of assets out of a limited income. He told me how he managed his own saving and investing strategy.

I won’t go into the full details now, but the main take-aways were these: he had developed a portfolio of residential properties by maintaining a good credit rating, saving deposits and then borrowing money from a bank to fund the balance of his purchases. He had picked his properties with great care in order to secure reliable tenants.

He didn’t buy properties without secure parking, for example, because the most valuable possession a tenant is likely to own is a car, was his thinking. Go for relatively low-maintenance properties and make absolutely sure that the rentals in the area are in line with what you will need to fund the mortgage, was another point he made.

He didn’t sell properties, either. His main aim was develop a passive income stream net of costs.

By getting started as soon as possible after working, he had achieved just that by his early 30s. Just goes to show: you don’t need to be corrupt to build assets as a policeman.

Another person who has given me sound money advice has been my mother-in-law. A bit scatty (in the nicest possible way), and best known for her philosophical thoughts on religious matters, she once offered this pearl: if you possibly can, try to live off one salary before you have children.

This way you can save a lump sum to fund a decent investment later or cater for a period in your life when cash proves to be a bit tight. And, because you are used to living off half of what you earn, it won’t come as a shock when you really do need to be clever with a limited income.

Now, I must confess, although these are some of the best money tips I’ve ever heard, I’ve had some of the lessons reinforced the hard way. For example, I haven’t always bought property with secure parking – and that has generally not been to my advantage.

However, while I am not known for listening attentively to my mother-in-law at the best of times, I have paid heed to that little nugget. It really is amazing how much you can save in a relatively short period if you consistently hive off half your income.

Five great money tips

1. Do whatever it takes to maintain your good reputation for repaying loans and accounts. With a good credit record, it is easier to borrow money from a bank for big asset purchases.
2. Buy property as soon as you can. It is an asset class that can help ordinary salary earners grow their wealth. But it takes time, so you do need to start early.
3. Don’t just buy any property. Research the area, particularly average rentals, so that you can increase your chances of your bond repayments being covered by a tenant.
4. Never buy a property without secure parking. In South Africa, keeping your car safe is more important than a nice garden or a good view.
5. Before you have children, try to live off one salary and save the other. This way you’ll build a nest egg that you can put to good use later – for example, to use as a cash deposit to fund a property purchase – and you can get used to managing your money on a tight budget.

China unpacked; plus an update on an old relationship

When you’re a freelance journalist, no response from a client is usually a good sign – provided, of course, your piece gets published and the editor is keen for you to write more. Editors are busy and few have time to get back to you with some positive affirmation that you are on the right track.

 

So, when I get enthusiastic feedback, it makes my day. Alec Hogg, a South African media entrepreneur and undoubtedly the country’s top business broadcaster, is that rare breed of editor who does take time to acknowledge efforts.

 

At Moneyweb, a media company he started from scratch and got listed on Johannesburg’s stock exchange, he took positive affirmation that step further by sharing the company’s profits through quarterly bonuses based on performance with his team of journalists.

 

Last week, Alec announced that I would be doing some work with him on his exciting new business and investment website, biznewz.biz.

 

I must confess that I was tickled when he posted some flattering commentary about me in the introduction to a piece I wrote. So, please allow me the indulgence of reposting it here. After all, this is my blog…

Jackie Cameron is one of the finest journalists it has been my privilege to work with. Having started life as a crime reporter on a major newspaper, she migrated to deputy on Personal Finance with Bruce Cameron (no relation). Convincing her to come across to Moneyweb was one of my better days. Jackie and I worked together for many years. She has it all – the courage to ask the tough questions up front (you’d be amazed how few journos do); a wonderful writing style; an incredible news-sense; the critical curious gene; and an in-built Bullshit detector with a permanent on-button. She is also consistent. Whether visiting Mrs J Arthur Brown’s pole-dancing studio or blowing off some overfed lawyer’s bluster, Jackie retains the same calm demeanour. Maybe that’s her background covering crime. Or from being a mom. Or perhaps it comes from being married to a globe trotting professor (previously in China, now in Scotland). Whatever the reason, I’m delighted that my friend and long-time colleague has agreed to have some fun with us on Biznewz. Am sure you will be too.               

As for this piece, Jackie put her Chinese residency to good use. She says: “China might be the world’s second-largest economy and an impressive copycat of all things American and European, but don’t be fooled by the cosmetic details. Very little is as it seems in this fascinating land of unrivalled money-making possibilities, as I found when I lived there. After two-and-a-half years in China, I felt like I was leaving another planet to return home.” – AH

Before going to China on business – read this. Tips from one who has lived in the quirky land of opportunity

A cluster of skyscrapers stand together in the Pudong New Area, home of most of the newest buildings in Shanghai. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Jackie Cameron*

When you first touch down in Beijing or Shanghai, you could be forgiven for thinking you have landed in a city as easy to get around as New York, Sydney or London. Everything at first glance looks so familiar.

Shimmering glass-and-steel skyscrapers as far as the eye can see appear to be modeled closely on international real estate icons. On the network of multi-lane highways that weave intricately around their lower levels are a proliferation of car makes you see at home.

Then there are the ubiquitous global coffee shop and restaurant chains, with their comforting signage beckoning you in to refuel on tried-and-tested fare. Also putting you at ease, perhaps, are the excesses of luxury European brands: international supermodel faces dominate giant billboards advertising expensive perfume and handbags; loud facades draw fastidiously groomed shoppers into well-stocked stores.

But, don’t be fooled by the trappings of western-style commercialism. It won’t take you long to discover that, while much has changed since communist China opened its doors to the world 30 years ago, the country has evolved with many idiosyncrasies deeply entrenched.

Even seasoned business travel expert Michelle Jolley of Corporate Traveller South Africa admits: ‘China can be a bit of a culture shock, though it is an interesting place to visit. English isn’t widely spoken, not even in the big cities.’

Eat, drink and be merry ― then have a siesta

Menus tend not to be in English. ‘Anything that crawls, slithers, walks or flies is available to eat,’ says the marketing executive, ‘so if you want to sample food like a local, you have to be very adventurous because you may not know what you are chewing on.’

If you have specific meal requirements for religious or health reasons, you might have a job on your hands finding suitable dishes. It is not impossible, though.

Jolley says some high-end restaurants are equipped to cater for these needs. Ask your travel agent to contact your hotel’s concierge in advance to request special meals, she advises.

It is important from a cultural perspective to not be too fussy about what you eat, or how food is eaten, as you could cause offence. As Len Deacon, a Cape Town-based health risk  management specialist with interests in China, notes: important business discussions happen around food in private rooms attached to restaurants.

‘The better negotiations are going, the more lavish ― and exotic ― the meal. Everyone shares out of multiple dishes,’ he says. That often means dipping chopsticks you’ve used to get food into your mouth in and out of communal bowls.

Smokers light up at the table throughout a meal. Your hosts will chew loudly and slurp their tea, and feel free to do the same, as acknowledgement that the food is delicious.

Special toasts are to be knocked back quickly and enthusiastically, however it is socially acceptable to refrain from heavy drinking if you do so back home. Be warned, too: lunch starts early in China, from around 11am and is generally over by 1pm.

When the last dish is done you are expected to immediately leave the table. If you are really culturally sensitive, you will understand your host is likely to enjoy a short post-pranial afternoon power nap, so don’t arrange important meetings around that time. If you do, don’t be surprised if your business counterpart comes across as grumpy.

An Elegant Party (detail), an outdoor painting of a small Chinese banquet hosted by the emperor for scholar-officials from the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Although painted in the Song period, it is most likely a reproduction of an earlier Tang Dynasty (618-907) work of art. The painting is attributed to Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1125 AD). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Give, give, give ― with both hands

Do pack a large supply of business cards, preferably with one-side printed in Mandarin characters, as you will be expected to present these repeatedly. Says Glenn Ho, head of KPMG’s China Business Desk for South Africa and a regular visitor to China since the late 1970s: “The business etiquette is to hand cards over with both hands and accept cards in a similar manner. Studying cards attentively is also important to show respect.”

Expect to receive gifts, and to disappoint your hosts if you don’t immediately reciprocate with something small that looks like you have brought it for them specially from home. Ho reflects: ‘I remember visiting a large company in China with others from South Africa who had not brought a gift. I suggested that we present my gift, some South African nougat, on behalf of the South African group to avoid any embarrassment.’

Money is handed over with both hands, too. Your credit card will work in some places, but generally expect to work with cash. Jolley, national marketing manager for SA Flight Centre’s Corporate Nation brands, suggests you draw a large wad of notes from an airport ATM when you arrive in the country, as it is not possible to source Renminbi (RMB) in South Africa. US dollars can easily be exchanged for Chinese currency, she says.

Feeling rich, famous and foreign

Although China is awash with pirate copies of Hollywood movies, it is still unusual for locals to see someone who isn’t Chinese in the flesh. Expect to be stared at, photographed and occasionally have your hair stroked, whether you are in the cities or countryside.

Visitors to China will tell you it won’t take long to start feeling like you are as famous as Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt. Occasionally, you may even ponder whether you have arrived from another planet ― which makes China such a fun place to visit, even if you’re on business.

Jolley had such thoughts while recently exploring a hotel room in China. There were gas masks in the cupboard, which she theorised might be for some kind of emergency or pollution overload, while the bathroom held an adventure all of its own.

‘The toilet was ridiculously complex. It had a heated seat and push buttons for hot and cold water and air – and a mechanism to powder your bottom,’ says Jolley with a chuckle.

She described the experience as ‘very strange, but interesting’, rather than enjoyable.

The most sensible way for first-timers to China to get around is like a VIP, says Nick Walker, managing director of Blue Corporate Travel. Taxis are relatively cheap, but opt for a hotel transfer ― which usually comes as a large black luxury car ― for your first journey.

This way you don’t have to immediately start negotiating your way around using your own brand of sign language, translation booklets and the help of passers-by with a smattering of English.

‘You can easily employ translators for a modest day rate who will act as guide, personal assistant and translator,’ he points out. Remember, says Walker, they do not always translate accurately and may miss certain technical nuances.

Make your life easier by staying in a western-style branded hotel. ‘You are more likely to receive the necessary supporting services, from staff who speak English and appreciate the customs of foreigners,’ he says.

Extra insurance for medical purposes, over-and-above what your credit card covers, is also recommended, advise Walker and Jolley. This way you can be certain of receiving first-class care in an international hospital in China, or be flown elsewhere if necessary. Medical costs can easily run into the millions, and treatments and procedures are different from what you might expect back home.

Getting comfortable with China

Business visas can take time to get, and usually require an official letter of invitation ― with a formal stamp ― from a Chinese host, so some executives opt for tourist visas. But, after you have cracked the official nod for the first time, visas are processed more swiftly, reckons Deacon.

The same goes for travelling in China: it gets easier. You will soon be able to communicate some basic pleasantries and instructions in Chinese. You could start to enjoy previously unthinkable delicacies, like pickled ducks’ feet and chillied tree fungus.

You will find yourself holding your position in queues and lifts just as the locals do, in the jostle for space. In time, you might even find you are given a special Chinese name, particularly if yours is a bit of a tongue-twister for a Mandarin speaker, is the message from Walker, whose Chinese name (Ni Ke Xiang) aptly means ‘the one who flies high’.

*  ‘China Unpacked’  is an article that first appeared in Signature magazine earlier this year. Incidentally, Signature also has a wonderful editor. 

Write to me at jackiecameron.uk@gmail.com

Related articles

• Shanghai Tower to be world’s second tallest (thehindu.com)
• China completes world’s 2nd-tallest building in Shanghai (cbc.ca)
• China’s top restaurants reeling over new austerity (kansascity.com)
• What China’s Rich Want: Gold-Plated Cars And Tiger Bits (wnyc.org)
• Why Twitter and Facebook are too late in China – Sam Flemming (chinaherald.net)

Keeping skin youthful without surgery: What medical experts do

The editor of an award-winning lifestyle magazine recently asked me to interview medical experts for their tips on how to keep looking young without resorting to surgery and other invasive procedures.

Among those who generously shared advice was Dr Des Fernandes, founder of Environ, South Africa’s best-known international cosmetics brand. Dr Fernandes looks decades younger than he is, which is no mean feat in one of the world’s harshest climates.

Also offering fascinating insights into cosmetics and nutritional supplements that really seem to work were pharmaceutical whizz Brent Murphy of SOLAL Technologies (SA) and Europe-based Dr Erich Schulte who has developed the QMS Medicosmetics range. Scroll down to read what they told me.

Skin Deep

Forget about what your mother and your grandmother taught you about looking after your skin. Little pots of home remedies and old cosmetic counter favourites might feel nice on your face but in the race to remain youthful you are likely to come last if you don’t update your beauty regimen.

Medical advances have ensured that some creams, serums, gels and face masks work much better than others. With huge money at stake in the anti-ageing global product market, experts are working harder than ever in their laboratories to create highly effective skincare ranges.

Scientists are also continually improving ways to make sure you turn back the ravages of time from the inside, so supplements have become more advanced too. Ordinary vitamin tablets are great for overall wellbeing, but they don’t necessarily do the best job of boosting your complexion and smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles.

Beauty from within

As Brent Murphy, director at Johannesburg-based vitamin and supplement manufacturer SOLAL Technologies, says: ‘Short-term, a topical application will work better for appearance. In the long term, oral supplements will probably offer more benefit to skin health, and therefore appearance. They should both be used because neither can completely do what the other does.’

With a massive and ever-growing selection of cosmetics in the world, it can be hard to identify what’s best for you. The proprietors of new patented technologies are secretive about the finer details of how ingredients work, to prevent others from copying their valuable recipes.

You also have to think about what ageing theory works best for you. Experts generally agree that sun, or photo, damage is the significant factor in changing skin texture.

Current thinking in some research circles is that introducing plant stem cells to the skin, in order to activate the growth of new cells in your own skin, is rejuvenating. Other medical specialists emphasise topping up the skin’s chemistry with antioxidants, which basically clean up microscopic debris that builds up over time and wears down cells.

Alternative anti-ageing remedies, like Chinese teas, fall into the antioxidant category. They may have general skincare benefits, but they can’t reverse harm from the sun’s rays.

Choose with care. Murphy notes: some imported teas contain very high levels of pesticides. Some scientists favour coaxing your epidermis to produce more collagen, which is a type of protein that keeps your skin looking supple and firm by working on connections between your skin cells.

Dr Erich Schulte, Europe-based developer of the QMS Medicosmetics range, says: ‘The ageing appearance of skin is also due to lack of collagen, as production of collagen slows down with chronological ageing. Thus, the most effective treatment for wounded, exposed and ageing skin is absorption of collagen.’

Many skincare product developers target the skin from various angles. Dr Patricia Farris of NeoStrata Company argues: ‘Since the effects of intrinsic ageing and photodamage on skin are multi-factorial, no single ingredient can address them all.’

New offerings emerge daily, some very pricey and others aimed at lowering your cosmetics bill and keeping your daily skincare routine simple as well as effective. Many formulations are available over-the-counter.

Others are more like medicines than pampering creams, and can combine anti-ageing promises with other benefits, such as anti-pigmentation treatments. These cosmeceuticals, as they are often called, require a consultation with a dermatologist in order to determine what’s best for you.

Many active ingredients are fairly benign. There are those, though, that can be very bad for your skin if applied excessively or in combination with other, clashing chemicals. Check the labels and stick to usage recommendations, which may include alternating formulations as your face becomes accustomed to a powerful ingredient.

So how do you choose a facial rejuvenation cream that is right for you? An obvious starting point is to look at skincare ranges designed specifically with South African conditions in mind. Commonsense suggests that what works best in cold, wet northern climes does not necessarily do the optimum job in the hot, dry interior of the country or our humid, warm coastal zones.

Turning back the clock with vitamins

Dr Des Fernandes, who started the Environ skincare company, one of South Africa’s best-known local brands and exports, says there may be slightly different requirements depending on your ethnic group. ‘Colours and oil contents are different, although the basic physiology and chemistry is the same,’ he says.

The plastic surgeon is a firm believer in the wonders of vitamin A. Looking through the many developments in skincare ranges around the world, Dr Fernandes says: ‘Nothing has taken the place of vitamin A. It is like you are never going to replace water as something you have to have every day.’

He says that when the sun damages your skin it also depletes your vitamin A. ‘Vitamin A controls how cells grow and mature. You simply can’t do without this master ingredient. Most of us live our lives with deficient levels of vitamin A. It doesn’t mean cells are non-functional; they are just not working properly.’

Gradually, says Dr Fernandes, the deficiency you have in your teens manifests as wrinkles in your 30s and 40s. In the worst case scenario, having low levels of vitamin A manifests as skin cancer.

What sets his vitamin A-infused creams apart from others, he says, is the higher dosage and better skin penetration. Dr Fernandes recently introduced a needle-like applicator to push active ingredients into the deeper layers of the epidermis. He also has cream that relies on electric currents between molecules to help draw the active ingredients, as a magnet would, into the skin – as do other product providers, like QMS Medicosmetics.

Words like ‘ions’ and ‘micro current technology’ are clues your anti-ageing serum is relying on an electric field to enhance its efficacy. Dr Fernandes, who looks at least two decades younger than he is, recommends vitamin A as an anti-ageing drug. ‘I have personally taken 40 000 to 60 000 IUs of vitamin A for the past 19 years.’

Others are more circumspect about ingesting large quantities of vitamin A. Some studies warn there may be links between some forms of cancer and high intake of vitamin A.

Says Murphy: ‘To err on the side of caution, I don’t suggest doses above 10 000 IU daily, unless this is supervised by a healthcare professional. Many experts believe that much higher doses may be required for anti-aging and other health benefits, and they may be correct. However, there is also debate about whether these higher doses are completely safe.’

Also important for Dr Fernandes, though not as important as vitamin A, are antioxidants in the form of other vitamins, including Coenzyme Q10, also referred to by some as vitamin Q. ‘We have quite a good antioxidant network in our skin. If one vitamin is a bit deficient, the others make up for it. They recycle each other.’

Don’t underestimate protein in helping to maintain your skin quality, says Dr Fernandes. ‘Peptides are proteins. They are the building blocks to make proteins. If you want good, beautiful skin you have to have enough protein. Collagen and elastin are also proteins and for your body to make these you must be protein-rich,’ he says.

You also need amino acids, so that your skin can make good collagen. Treat the surface of your skin well with good products, based on research into what really rejuvenates. Also eat well, and take supplements to ensure you aren’t missing out on the substances that slowly disappear with age, is the message from skin experts who practise what they preach.

***

Super skin foods

Pharmaceutical expert Brent Murphy of SOLAL Technologies rates these as the top 5 anti-aging nutrients:

1. Omega 3 oils, from fish, krill or algae. ‘Omega 3 from flaxseed works, but is many times less effective.’
2. Resveratrol, an extract found in red wine and red grape skins. ‘This helps slow cellular aging. You’d need a bottle-and-a-half of red wine to get enough of it, so not a good idea to rely on wine.’
3. Co-enzyme 10 (Q10). Protects cells.
4. Vitamin A. ‘Wear a good sunblock because it makes your skin more sensitive.’
5. Polypodium fern extract. Used in the manufacture of sun blocks, it contains biological compounds that help protect the skin from ageing caused by sun exposure.

Help your hands

A good skincare routine can help you take five years off your face, but don’t neglect your hands, advises Dr Erich Schulte of QMS Medicosometics. He says he always has a good hand cream – his own product – next to his computer. ‘Your hands give away your age. They show the truth as they are exposed to environmental aggression.’

* Other samples of my work can also be found on my blog under the Recently Published Elsewhere tab. If you found this piece interesting, have a look at this article – Tick Tock, Turn Back the Clock – published by the same magazine last year.

 

And remember, I’m always open to hearing your proposals for feature pieces, and will happily contribute a list of story ideas to your publication for consideration, so please drop me a line at jackiecameron.uk@gmail.com. 

Beautiful skin (Photo credit: dermatology.com)

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Drug mules: dicing with death in China

Two young British women in the news after being caught with cocaine in their luggage in Peru are lucky that the Peruvian authorities are so lenient about drug trafficking. They face trial and possibly lengthy jail terms. In other countries, particularly in Asia, the ordinary course of action is execution. 

Here’s an article I wrote after a South African woman accused of being a drug mule  was given a lethal injection in China in a cruel chain of events.

English: The room at , completed in 2010. Español: La cámara de ejecución de la Prisión Estatal de San Quentin, construido en 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The chilling execution of a South African woman accused of smuggling drugs into China is a reminder that either South Africa is really quite insignificant to the world’s newest superpower or President Jacob Zuma is embarrassingly impotent on the global political stage. My money is on the former.

South Africans were variously shocked and delighted  at the news that 38-year-old Janice Bronwyn Linden was given a lethal injection the same day she was told the appeal against her sentence had failed. She was sentenced to death for about 3kg of tik (crystal methamphetamine) found in her luggage when she arrived in China in the southern city of Guangzhou three years ago.

In China, the news of Linden’s death-by-lethal-injection barely registered. Executions are commonplace, with thousands receiving the death penalty in China each year for at least 55 offences ranging from selling tainted food and corruption to murder, so one could perhaps argue they no longer represent interesting news items for Chinese folk.

However, black women are a rarity in much of China, attracting stares and touches from locals amazed to see an ethnically different person. There has also been much talk about black people in Guangzhou, where many African immigrants live in an area called Chocolate City, causing trouble in the region.

Some Chinese officials speak of Africans in Guangzhou of being “three illegals foreigners”. The “three illegals” refers to their contraventions of entry, residence and employment laws in China.

The Chinese have never fully recovered from the ordeal of the Britain-instigated opium wars in the 19^th century, and China takes a hard line on drug offences, so at the very least you’d expect them to trumpet their proud achievement of culling another drug mule. But, unlike the news and accompanying protests around a Filipino migrant worker’s executionfor drug trafficking a few days earlier, not even a mutter was audible on the news of Linden’s passing.

Some South Africans called on President Zuma to appeal to the Chinese authorities for mercy. Indeed he said he did just that, though it didn’t delay the execution at all and before long the young woman’s ashes were en route to her grieving family back in KwaZulu-Natal.

The South African authorities conceded the matter would not have an adverse effect on relations between China and Africa. Some will be relieved that it is business-as-usual between South Africa and its biggest customer, China.

Exports from South Africa to China reached an estimated US$6bn in the first six months of 2011. If President Zuma did register his dissatisfaction vigorously to Chinese leaders, there would inevitably be an outcry in some quarters that he had jeopardised the country’s most important trade relationship.

But it seems unlikely he did get stroppy with the former president, Hu Jintao, over the untimely departure from this world of Ms Linden. After all, China’s president is the de facto emperor of the developing world and China is Africa’s prime benefactor, with many lucrative opportunities for the continent’s elite – just ask Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who has had a very cushy ride thanks to his Chinese friends.

Besides, we have already had strong indications that humanitarian values are not a prerequisite of doing business in the new era. Just take the hullaballoo over the Dalai Lama, the man-of-the-cloth China believes is a political devil.

Zuma and friends have been unrepentant about South Africa’s failure to grant the dear old gent a visa to travel in the country, including to his pal Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80^th birthday bash earlier this year. If Zuma was unfazed by the outcry around the Dalai Lama’s visa woes, it is unlikely he would lose any sleep about a poor KZN woman.

So let’s assume for a minute that President Zuma did indeed put a call through to President Hu on their direct line to discuss Linden’s alleged naughtiness and strongly urged him to reconsider the penalty. Clearly the answer wasn’t yes.

China’s president is the most powerful person in a totalitarian, undemocratic state where there is no justice or legal fair play as we know it. It is highly unlikely he wouldn’t have been able to put a stop to his henchmen readying the lethal syringe.

So then, that only leaves the probability that Hu doesn’t give a hoot about what South Africans think about what he does to South Africans. In other words, we are pretty much irrelevant to China.

This irrelevance to the world’s second most powerful nation should hardly surprise us. Although we wax lyrical back home about how wonderful China is, China seldom mentions South Africa when it boasts about its international trade achievements.

South African companies, from a South African perspective, are noticeably absent from China’s corporate landscape and Africans, let alone South Africans, are barely seen among the foreigners in many cities in China. There’s not much going on visibly between Africa and China in general – certainly not much compared to what China is up to with other countries.

China is effusive with its praise for its resource-rich neighbour Russia and others in Central Asia and clearly cherishes its relationships with its friends in South America. It is determined to gain ground in the US in international trade and holds European countries in high regard.

South Africa for China is interesting, but not indispensible. We provide cheap resources, are an easy market for poor quality goods and blithely kiss the emperor’s foot whenever it is required – from agreeing with the One China policy to pledging support at important global meetings.

So, does China really care about what ordinary Africans think and feel? Janice Linden, who protested her innocence until her last hours, saying the drugs were planted in her case, may have been a woman about whom many think good riddance to bad rubbish.

However, her death also serves as a reminder that, in the eyes of the Chinese, ordinary South Africans and our cherished ideals, as espoused in our Constitution, are inconsequential. It also raises the question once again of whether we should be embracing a country like China to the extent we are doing instead of focusing on also growing other trade relationships.

Many of us are making money on the back of China: but at what price?

By Jackie Cameron

This piece was published by Moneyweb (a media company listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange) in December 2011. Write to Jackie Cameron at jackiecameron.uk@gmail.com. 

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• China’s god
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Should we keep China away from our intelligence networks?

The US and the UK aren’t the only states with dirty intelligence secrets. China is also building its intelligence networks. I recently wrote a column on the blossoming relationship between Chinese and South African intelligence agencies, for a South African news organisation.

HONG KONG:  China and South Africa have agreed to work together on anti-crime fighting measures. There is an element of police training involved but mostly the talk has been about swapping intelligence to uncover criminals and curb cybercrime.

A nation that has failed abysmally in its attempts to fight crime – as South Africa’s shockingly high murder, rape and robbery statistics attest – presumably the country is hoping to receive more than it gives to China on the training front.  Unlike the case for commercial sectors such as banking, South Africa cannot claim to be a world leader in effective policing.

But, do we really want China to roll up its sleeves on South Africa’s crime problem?  Do we want it slipping its tentacles into African spying operations and getting its hands dirty in covert internet-based information gathering?

China has a lot to offer the world. When it comes to anti-crime advice and intelligence collaboration we should generally keep the Chinese away.

Fine line between crime-fighting and spying

Spy vs. Spy (2005 video game) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

China getting involved in our crime intelligence, law enforcement and punishment issues is scary for many reasons. For starters, there are stiff penalties for activities that are considered crimes in China but are regarded as basic rights elsewhere.

It seems inevitable that China will expect co-operation from South Africa at some point for help in dealing with a matter that is not, in South African eyes, a crime – like freedom of speech. An obvious area of concern is where Chinese people challenge the legitimacy of the Communist Party to rule China.

The Chinese government keeps tabs on people in and outside China and takes out its punishment on those within. Anti-communist party talk is a crime in China that gets you a hefty jail term as happened to Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

The fact that this basic democratic right is illegal in China, as are other similar rights, is underscored through protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong to remind the world about what is carefully referred to in China as the “Tiananmen event”. That was the fateful day in 1989 when Chinese soldiers killed student protestors in Beijing.

In China, internet access around these times is at best shaky as the government uses its massive arsenal of cyber tools to control mainland citizens’ access to the worldwide web, no doubt to reduce the chances of anyone there getting it into their heads to embark on similar action. Intermittent internet access has been a feature of life in China since unrest started in north Africa and spread across the Middle East.

China: What’s a crime?

There are many other pointers in China that its view of what constitutes a crime is different from how others in the world define what should be illegal and what should not.

The Chinese government has repeatedly made noises about clamping down on intellectual property transgressions in discussions with western leaders.  In reality, it has done nothing to stop the spread of what other countries consider a vicious economic crime on its turf.

In South Africa, and elsewhere, we are repeatedly reminded that to buy a pirate DVD is tantamount to stealing from the artists, and carries stiff penalties. Chinese cities are awash with sub-titled pirate copies of Hollywood movies, western television shows and pop music CDs.

These are not copies hidden under a flea market counter and furtively traded. They are on open display in well-fitted retail outlets in shopping malls, usually with signs forbidding shoppers from taking photographs and with shop assistants diligently keeping a look out for shoplifting – which would probably get you behind bars in China.

The Shanghai Fake Market, where you can buy knock-offs of clothing, personal goods and sporting equipment from any western brand imaginable, takes up extensive floor space in a central city building and is a popular shopping venue for locals and tourists. Stall holders brag about being fake goods’ merchants on their business cards and you can even expect to find a policeman patrolling in the vicinity to help them protect their wares. Beijing’s Silk Market is a similar concept.

Another area that is hazy when it comes to whether the Chinese authorities will view something as criminal is the trade in marine resources, like abalone (perlemoen) and sharkfin. Drug and perlemoen organised crime syndicates are interconnected in the Western Cape and Chinese triads have been involved in international perlemoen smuggling for many years.

China highlights perlemoen as a “must try food” in South Africa on its government China-Africa website. You’d be hard-pressed to find perlemoen in a South African restaurant and taking them out of the sea without a permit can land you in deep trouble with the authorities.

It seems implausible that China will help South Africa in any meaningful way to clamp down on Chinese nationals that get these, and other, rare delicacies to Chinese plates. It would be just as difficult to ask South Africans to give up their favourite beef snack forever and turn in biltong sellers to a foreign police agency.

Upmarket restaurants have abalone, mostly very small ones, on their menus and endangered species are a common item on restaurants everywhere. Exotic animals are de rigeur at weddings and are linked to personal pride, libidos and deep-seated cultural issues.

There are many other areas where there are huge cultural differences over what might constitute a crime, like talking to the foreign media (doing just that landed a journalist who merely repeated what was already published in China in jail for 15 years) and diamond-buying (blood diamonds are apparently no big deal for the Chinese).

Can we really work together on crime-fighting when our ideas of what are and aren’t crimes are so different? It seems unfair to the people who will unwittingly become the focus of intelligence operations.

* This is an edited version of an article first published by Moneyweb.co.za. Contact the writer at: jackiecameron.uk@gmail.com

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