AFRICAN BUZZ
Innovation Day hosted by Johnson Controls at the Sandton
Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa recently.
Held under the theme of ‘Talking Tomorrow, Today’, the
event engaged a range of stakeholders to not only make
them aware of the complete solutions available from
Johnson Controls, but to stimulate an important debate
about the increasingly critical role played by technology.
Designed as a showcase of innovation, the event gave a
comprehensive overview of smart city technology, green
building solutions and energy efficiency, and infrastructure
and human capital investment. Here the focus was
buildings across the board, from hospitals to universities.
“Our aim was to engage with important stakeholders in
order to understand what is on their wish list in terms of
benefiting their end users,” Archibald F. Makatini, general
manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at the Johnson Control
MEA headquarters in Isando, Johannesburg, says.
Smart cities are not only about ‘bright shiny new buildings’
but must focus on developing infrastructure that caters to
the overall needs of society, according to Makatini. Makatini
says Africa presents many opportunities. “Africa is primed
for infrastructure growth across the board,” he says.
Johnson Controls is ideally positioned to assist cities like
Johannesburg revive their dilapidated building stock, as it
grapples with a growing deficit of affordable housing. “A lot
of these buildings do not even have simple functionality
such as air-con. We as a company can assist in turning
Johannesburg around. We have the knowhow to turn those
buildings into liveable environments,” Makatini says.
In 2017 the Tanzanian government amended Mining Act
2010, which, inter alia, abolished the legislative basis for
the retention licence classification with no replacement
classification. On 10 January 2018 Tanzania published
the Mining (Mineral Rights) Regulations 2018. Under
Regulation 21 all retention licences issued prior to 10
January 2018 were cancelled and transferred to the
government of Tanzania.
On 19 December 2019, the Mining Commission of Tanzania
announced a public invitation to tender for the joint
development of areas previously covered by retention
licences, including SMP’s retention licence. As a direct
result of legislative, regulatory and other measures by the
government of Tanzania, Winshear is in danger incurring a
significant loss as the project, today, has no value.
With the Notice of Intent, the company’s hopes to preserve
its rights to initiate arbitration should a resolution with the
Tanzanian government not be reached. The filing of the
Notice of Intent initiates a six-month consultation period
between the parties during which time they are to attempt
to amicably settle the dispute. If no amicable settlement
is reached in that six-month period, the company may
then initiate international arbitration proceedings against
Tanzania in accordance with the BIT.
If a mutually accepted outcome is not reached within the
next six months, Winshear will have no alternative but to
pursue its claims before an international tribunal and seek
full compensation for damages the company has suffered
as a result of Tanzania’s acts and omissions. Winshear has
retained international arbitration counsel to advise.
Johnson Controls, known traditionally as an HVAC company,
has subsequently moved away from its exclusive focus on
chillers and air-con equipment to completely integrated
smart building solutions. “In addition to our technology
and long-term R&D commitment, we are also an Original
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). This means we can offer a
turnkey design-and-manufacture capability, guaranteeing
both performance and quality.” ANGOLA:
NEW VISAS BENEFIT
BUSINESS
TANZANIA:
WINSHEAR IN DISPUTE The Angolan government has been introducing several
initiatives to encourage investment and business
opportunities in the oil rich country since former president
José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down.
Tanzania offers many opportunities for exploration
companies, but the risks can be extremely high, as the
recent case of Canadian company Winshear Gold clearly
illustrates.
Canadian company Winshear Gold has formally declared
an investment dispute with the government of Tanzania.
According to a statement by Winshear, the Tanzanian
government is in breach of the 2013 Agreement for the
Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investment
(Bilateral Investment Treaty or BIT) between Canada and
Tanzania. Winshear has given notice that it will submit a
Claim to Arbitration.
The matter relates to the company’s investment on the SMP
gold project in the south west of Tanzania. Winshear started
exploration work at SMP in 2006, and was granted, through
its Tanzanian subsidiary, four retention licenses which were
valid for five years and could be extended for another five
years before applying for a mining license.
www. africanmining.co.za
African Mining Publication
The first new president in 38 years, João Lourenço, took over
at the end of 2017. One of his first initiatives was to relax the
visa requirements for countries like Botswana, Mauritius, the
Seychelles, Zimbabwe and notably Singapore.
Citizens from Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, the
Cape Verde, Rwanda and Zambia can enter Angola without
having to apply for a business or tourist visa.
“It is clearly an effort by the Angolan government to
encourage business and investments into the country,
and to alleviate the unavailability of foreign currency in
the country and the challenges behind that,” says Tarissa
Wareley, immigration specialist at Xpatweb.
She says another innovative decision is to allow people to
conduct business under a tourist visa. This is a concession
to investors from countries who are still required to enter
the country with a visa. “A tourist visa will now suffice,
even though visitors will be doing business or negotiating
investments.”
African Mining
African Mining February 2020
11