West African leaders have agreed to work together to tackle the growing menace of terrorism in the sub-region by providing the much needed financial backing to the campaign. As part of this, the leaders pledged the sum of $1 billion to acquire weaponry and provide training assistance to their military. This was made known yesterday in a communiqué signed after their meeting in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso yesterday. The United Nations warned few months ago that Islamist attacks were spreading so fast in West Africa that the region should consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts.
Speaking on the development, The President of Republic of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou said that ECOWAS has decided that it is time to take the issue of spiraling banditry and terrorism in the region serious and to match words with action, the member countries have decided to finance the project by contributing 1 billion dollars to the financing of the joint forces and to the reinforcement of the operational capabilities and of state intelligence.
The pledge which is to be funded from 2020 to 2024 was announced on Saturday at the end of the Economic Community Summit of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
West African Leaders After a Meeting
Groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region this year, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The fifteen members of the West African bloc and the presidents of Mauritania and Chad had gathered for an extraordinary summit in Burkina Faso’s capital to address the growing insecurity.
President of Republic of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou
President Issoufo blamed the international community for the crisis saying that they are the cause of the Libyan crisis and the Libyan crisis is responsible for the banditry across the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin, thus the need for the region to rise to the occasion and tackle the situation headlong. He added that the Sahel region and Lake Chad expected a bigger contribution in the fight against radical Islamists from the international community which he said caused the Libyan crisis that was putting pressure on the region.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
Mobile operator Vodacom has partnered innovation hub Smart Lab to launch a digital accelerator programme to help early-stage and growth-stage Tanzanian tech startups become profitable.
Vodacom Tanzania managing director Hisham Hendi.
The programme, funded to the tune of US$150,000 by Vodacom Tanzania and facilitated by Smart Lab, will run annually and aims to support startups in the mobile, fintech, media, health, education, and e-commerce spaces.
During the three-month programme, participants will have access to Vodacom’s corporate resources, networks, mentors and partners. It will culminate with a demo day, with winners gaining a further six months of support.
“Vodacom always aims to create impactful sustainable change in the societies where we operate, in line with our strategic business focus, and the Vodacom Accelerator aims to do just that,” said Vodacom Tanzania managing director Hisham Hendi.
“Digital technology is not only changing the way we do business in Africa, but also revolutionising the way we perceive and solve issues of development. It is therefore with great honour that we will once again create an opportunity for such ideas to be recognised, supported and transformed to maximize social impact.”
Smart Lab chief executive officer Edwin Bruno said his company was excited to be part of the initiative.
“Together with Vodacom we hope to create a brand-building platform for the tech-savvy youth. This programme is in line with our corporate strategy to drive messaging around youth support in the digital age, and we are grateful for Vodacom Tanzania who saw the need to create the next round of success stories for African entrepreneurs building fast-growing technology companies coming from within the country,” he said.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa has asked fellow African countries for forgiveness over the xenophobic attacks that took place in his country in the last two weeks. President Ramaphosa who spoke on this over the weekend during the state funeral for late President Robert Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe is said to have engaged in people diplomacy to put the matter to rest. Also there has been series of peaceful protests by South Africans across different cities against xenophobia in their country.
Xenophobic attack on Africans in South Africa
The South African government has sent out high-ranking emissaries to different African countries to assure them that their citizens are welcome in his country, despite the wave of xenophobic violence earlier this month. The mission, led by former Minister Jeff Radeba, left South Africa over the weekend scheduled to visit Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, the president announced on today. Our sources in Abuja say that the South African delegation is already in Nigeria. In an unprecedented move, hundreds of migrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique had fled from South Africa recently while Nigeria air lifted 600 of its citizens back home after they were targeted in the violence.
It could be recalled that President Cyril Ramaphosa had his speech at the state funeral of late President Robert Mugabe severally disrupted with boos and jeers from the crowd over the xenophobic attacks on African nationals in South Africa. President Ramaphosa punctuated his speech with an apology saying “I stand before you as a fellow African to express my regret and apologise for what has happened in our country”, a gesture the crowd refused to accept. His comments were met with cheers and blasts of air horns from the crowd.
The South African business leaders earlier warned that the fallout from the attacks has had a negative impact on businesses and the country’s statistics agency said that business confidence is at its lowest in the last 30 years, a sign that the economy is feeling the heat of the negative publicity. South Africa, the continent’s second largest economy, is a major destination for other African migrants. But they are often targeted by some locals who blame them for a lack of jobs.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
Intellectuals and experts in the field of human resource management from across Africa have urged African leadership to adopt a more innovative approach in efforts at tackling unemployment in the continent.
This becomes necessary as innovative thinking about Africa’s conventional employment issues is what takes centrestage at the African Development Bank’s new policy research document titled:Creating Decent Jobs: Strategies, Policies, and Instruments.
The report which elicited strong presentations and debate during the Report Launch in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire attracted senior management of the Bank, diplomats, staff, and media representatives.
Mr. Charles Boamah Senior
Speaking at the event, Mr. Charles Boamah Senior Vice President of the Bank pointed out that the issue of employment is “at the top of the agenda of every African leader”, and said that the report was “the first of its kind in challenging and unveiling some of the misconceptions that many experts have about the nature of under-employment and unemployment in Africa.
“The report signals the start of some fresh thinking about the nature of employment creation on the continent and clarifies which development strategies and policy interventions are needed for low-income countries in Africa”, Boamah said. He went on to predict that the report would “serve as a reference document on employment in Africa for some years to come”.
Introducing the report, Celestin Monga, the Bank’s Chief Economist, remarked that part of its appeal was in applying innovative thinking to conventional employment issues. For example, one problem identified was that domestic economic progress was often assessed by the allocation of public funding to priority sectors or by analyzing the number of reforms carried out to improve the business environment. In this context, he observed that several of the world’s top-performing countries had low rankings for the ease of doing business.
He also remarked that the official unemployment figures of many African countries were so unrealistically low that policymakers found it difficult to explain how demand for labor in markets was so buoyant.
Africa was also the world region with the highest proportion of its workforce in vulnerable employment, which served to hide rather than clarify the essential issue of employment in Africa. A new model for measuring employment that related to actual conditions in Africa was needed, he said. The report should also be seen as a manifesto for African jobs.
Finally, he praised the painstaking work of his co-editors, and particularly recommended a focus paper written by Andinet Woldemichael, principal research economist, entitled “The Missing Women in African Labor Markets” in the report.
In the face of rapidly growing populations and heightened risks of social unrest or discontent, jobless growth was the most serious concern for African policymakers, said Abebe Shimeles, manager in the Chief Economist’s complex, who spoke on the highlights of the report. “One problem”, he added, “was already well known – that employment and unemployment needed to be more closely defined in their relative context, a task that had already caused difficulties in other development finance institutions.
Traditional labour market economists were not capable of accurately defining the particular African employment phenomenon”. In addition, he pointed out that the status of the ministries of work or labour in many African countries was often not important enough to be considered as a critical policy sector, reflecting the low priority given to making a serious difference to the continental employment challenge facing all the African countries.
Reacting to the issue of unemployment in Africa, the Minister of Youth Promotion and Employment of Cote d’Ivoire, Mr. Mamadou Toure highlighted on the interconnections that existed around the jobs issue pointing out that “this cannot be resolved on its own, and certainly not without considering carefully other related aspects, such as skills, education, training, enterprise and social services”.
Professor Tchetche N’Guessan, of the University of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Cocody, Cote d’Ivoire; and Mr Freddy Tchala, CEO of MTN in Cote d’Ivoire. Also spoke, discussing different aspects of employment, education, training, skills and government measures for the promotion of youth entrepreneurs.
This Report,its promoters say would be of immense assistance to government and the private sector alike in understanding the dynamics of Africa’s job market and also help in fashioning out modalities towards finding solutions to it.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
The Group or Five (G5 )Sahel heads of state have thrown their weight behind the Desert to Power, an Africa Development Bank led initiative aimed at providing electricity to the region. This was agreed on during the G5 Heads of State summit in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso on Friday.
This is based on the belief that one of the major factors responsible for the worsening security situation in the region is growing poverty, and the absence of opportunities for people to make a living from. This frustration is fuelling most of the banditry in the region, thus improved infrastructure like energy would make huge impact, analysts say.
President Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso.
The summit, “Harnessing solar energy for the socio-economic development of the G5 Sahel countries” came on the heels of a high-level technical meeting attended by Ministers of Energy from across the Sahel region, and development partners including the World Bank, and regional institutions such as the West African Economic and Monetary Union and ECOWAS.
Equally in attendance is the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who participated as the Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. He also endorsed the initiative.
Speaking on the development, the President of the G5 Sahel President Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso urged the private sector to support the Desert to Power and underscored the strategic and critical role of power provision in the Sahel region.
The President further noted that “the African Development Bank is our bank and the private sector must be involved in this important initiative for our countries. I have no doubt that with technical leadership of the AfDB, we will be able to mobilize the necessary funds. Access to electricity is key for the economic development, prosperity and security of the G5 Sahel countries” Kabore said at a joint press conference hosted with the President of the African Development Bank.
The goal of Desert to Power is to propel the Sahelian economies to higher growth and prosperity.
Adesina outlined the initiative’s ambitions of providing 10,000 MW of solar-generated electricity to 250 million people across the Sahel.
“The African Development Bank is fully ready to work with all partners to make this Baobab of Energy a success. Your strong political support and policies to make solar energy affordable across the Sahel will be critical,” Adesina said.
“Generations of people in the Sahel have waited for light for too long. Generations today and in the future can wait no longer! The time for action is now. The time for Desert to Power to provide electricity for all in the Sahel is now,” he urged.
G5 Sahel heads of state acknowledged that limited energy access and a dependence on fossil fuels underscores the necessity of an energy shift and the need to accelerate the economic development of the region and ensure its stability.
Five priority areas for the G5 Sahel include expanded utility-scale solar generation capacity; extending and strengthening power transmission networks; accelerating electrification through decentralized energy solutions; revitalizing national power utilities; and improving business climates for increased private sector investments.
A joint Task Force and a coordination unit, to be hosted by the African Developmemnt Bank, will be set up to improve legal and institutional frameworks, to ensure that priority in energy provision is given to rural communities.
Donor and development partners were asked to help mobilise $140 million for the initiatives project preparation phase.
Desert to Power has already galvanized huge political support at the global level. during the recent G7 Summit in Biarritz, France.
The Desert to Power initiative covers 11 countries: Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti, Senegal and Chad and is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Renewable Energy Initiative for Africa.
“If the Sahel is blessed with this super abundant natural resource, it simply means God intended for us to have electricity. 100% through the sun. it is, therefore, time to turn the Sahel’s largest natural resource – the sun – into the most powerful driver of its growth and prosperity. That is why we are here,” Adesina said.
This is a big shot from Naspers, Africa ’s most valuable company, which in terms of GDP, would be richer than the West African country of Liberia. In its latest move, Naspers has listed its international internet assets on Amsterdam’s stock exchange. By doing so, it has carved out the biggest consumer internet company in Europe.
“There’s this great pent-up demand for great technology and internet companies,” Naspers CFO Basil Sgourdos said. “We’re now the largest — we’re actually three times larger than the next biggest tech company and that will attract lots of interest”.
Here Is All You Need To Know
On the Euronext Stock Exchange, Amsterdam Netherlands, Naspers’ new company is called Prosus. This week, upon listing, it got a valuation of $105 billion. By far, these figures have now made it the largest ever Europe ‘s consumer publicly listed internet company. Far off the tech board on the exchange, overall, Prosus is now the third most valuable company listed on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam.
Each of the company’s shares soared as much as 29% on its first day of trading.
Naspers is smarter anyway; it is only floating 27% of Prosus, holding onto the remaining 73% stakes.
Apart from Prosus, Naspers owns a third of Chinese tech giant Tencent. Its stake in Tencent is valued at $130bn.
Prosus is holding many Naspers’ assets including Naspers’ Tencent stake as as well as investments in Swiggy, the Indian e-commerce startup and Mail.Ru, a major Russian internet platform.
Naspers’ smart international moves include more than doubling its $616 million investment in Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce company, when it sold its 11% stake for $1.6 billion last year.
Prosus will trade on Euronext with “PRX” as its ticker.
Prosus also houses Naspers other inter assets, which include all of its interests in online classifieds, food delivery, payments, etail, travel, education, and social and internet platforms sectors. Apart from Tencent, these include mail.ru, OLX, Avito, letgo, PayU, iFood, Swiggy, DeliveryHero, Udemy, eMAG, and MakeMyTrip.
Why Is Naspers Listing All of These Assets In Amsterdam, Netherlands?
Naspers reasons for listing all of these assets may not be unconnected with its size on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where asset managers were cautious about their exposure to a single share.
Listing on Euronext, Amsterdam will therefore give the internet giant an opportunity for “opening up investment to a broader category of investors,” says CEO Bob van Dijk, while diminishing the valuation gap between Naspers and Tencent.
From A South African Newspaper Publisher To A Global Brand
Naspers’ success stems from a vertical change in strategy. Originally a newspaper publisher, Prosus’ listing comes as part of its long-term strategy to transform the century-old newspaper publisher into “a global consumer internet company.”
The net effect of the Prosus listing will also be felt in South Africa as it trims Naspers’ weighting on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to 15% — down from around 25%. Being listed only in South Africa had limited Naspers’ pool of accessible capital and its dominance on the local stock exchange also constrained local investment managers.
From the pie chart above it is clear that majority of revenue for Naspers comes from Internet services, which contributed 69.34% to NPN’s revenue, second biggest revenue earner was E-commerce with 15.2% or $1.987 billion dollars followed by video entertainment, with 14.1% or $1.834 billion.
In a more strategic move, earlier this year, Naspers appointed Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, 48, as its new chief executive of its South African unit. This appointment makes her the first ever female and first black chief executive of the 104-year old company. Mahanyele-Dabengwa, previously chief executive of Shanduka Group, an investment company founded by Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, will lead Naspers’ drive for major African tech startup wins with a $314 million fund announced last October.
She will also oversee Naspers Labs, a social impact and skills acquisition initiative for South Africa’s unemployed youth, and to Bob van Dijk, group CEO of Naspers.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
In a perfect world of the gig economy, James should be able to hire a car from a rental service store, present his driving license and other certifications to Uber (a car hailing service, for instance), get registered if he is considered qualified based on a series of paper checks and tests, and take to town helping online car hailers to reach their destinations, at an automated pay rate, and of course, as long as he fully complies with the terms and conditions of his engagement with Uber. In this arrangement, although James uses the Uber hailing service as a vehicle to carry out his business, he is still considered by Uber as an independent contractor who works off the controls and the supervision of Uber, except on occasions where he is skidding off his original rules of engagement. Thus, in a gig economy, James should not be on Uber’s payroll and is not even qualified to be classified as an employee of Uber. But all that has been shaken up, disrupted by the Californian state legislature, in a landmark new bill that has just scaled through the last phase in parliament, pending an assent by the Californian state governor. If other jurisdictions draw inspiration from California’s new standards, then all logistics, transport and other similar startups that have built their business models around independent contracting would be back to square one; that is, to the previous era when there was little or no disruption.
Bradley Tusk, president of Tusk Ventures and Uber’s first political strategist, told The Verge, “A domino effect [is] not just possible, it’s all but guaranteed.”
First Here Is What The New Law Proposes
The bill has changed the criteria for being an independent contractor.
Now, for a company to classify a worker as an independent contractor, it must prove three things (you may hear this being called the “ABC Test”). If they can’t, then the worker is treated as an employee.
First, companies must prove “the worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work.” In other words, companies can’t manage contractors the way they would employees. As an example, if a catering hall contracted a chef to prepare food events, but controlled how the chef prepared the food — giving them custom orders from customers, giving a strict schedule for production, and instituting standard procedures — they would likely not satisfy this part of the test.
Second, companies must prove “the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.” This means a company like Uber has to prove that driving users from location to location is outside the company’s usual course of business. Uber said as much in a press release, contending that the company is actually a “technology platform for several different types of digital marketplaces.”
Third, the companies must prove “the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed.” For example, an electrician doing contract electrical work is still a contractor. It’s unclear if ride sharing or meal delivery companies will be unable to clear this bar.
Consequently, under this new law, all of these independent contractors could earn employee status if the companies can’t satisfy the ABC test — which greatly increases the company’s overhead. Worker’s comp, benefits, tax implications — it would be a serious reshaping of these companies’ finances.
Applying The New Californian Rule To Similar African Startups
There is no specific legislation on independent contractors in two of Africa’s largest economies — Nigeria and South Africa. However, the English common law standards have continued to apply.
The common law recognises a distinction between a contract of service (an employer-employee relationship under which the employee subordinated his or her services to the authority of the employer — a locatio conductio operarum) AND a contract for services (a principal — independent contractor relationship where the former contracts the latter to deliver certain services and there is no subordination by the contractor, who instead is answerable to the service deliverables contracted for — a locatio conductio operis).
Who Therefore Is An Employee Or Independent Contractor In South Africa?
Since there is no express law that draws a distinction on who an independent contractor or employee in South Africa is, courts in the country have often adopted an approach that can best be described as a “reality approach”, which involves assessing the reality of the relationship by taking account all of the relevant factors on a substance-over-form basis, the public interest and the fact that parties have no licence to artificially take themselves out of the scope of important legislation such as the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (“LRA”) the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (“BCEA”) and the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (“EEA”) in existence in the country. Consequently, there is currently in place in the country an authoritative judgement on the issue. By the rules, in arriving at whether a person is an independent contractor or not, questions must asked on whether:
The principal has rights of supervision and control over the contractor, i.e. whether the contractor is obliged to follow the instructions of the principal, including whether the principal is able to dictate to the contractor when he/she is required to render their services, the manner in which such services are rendered and generally whether the contractor is at the principal’s ‘beck and call’
Whether the contractor forms an integral part of the principal’s organisation, e.g. whether the contractor participates or is an integral part of the principal’s internal management and/or staff structures; whether the contractor is ‘part and parcel of the organisation’ or whether the work done is for the business but is not integrated into it and is only accessory to it; whether the contractor would appear to an outsider to be an employee of the principal.
The contractor is economically dependent on the principal or whether he/ she is free to derive income from other sources as well. Thus, a person who is truly self-employed cannot be economically dependent on their “employer” when he or she retains his or her ability and power to contract with and render services to other persons or entities.
The above three factors are not exhaustive of all the factors to be taken into consideration when considering whether a person is an independent contractor or not.
The South African parliament has however gone ahead to incorporate these three conditions (considered as presumptions which can be rebuttable) as part of South Africa’s national legislation on employment.
Consequently, under the LRA and BCEA, a person who earns less than an earnings threshold amount determined by the Minister of Labour in terms of the BCEA3, and who works for or renders services to another person, will be presumed — until the contrary is proved and regardless of the form of the contract — to be an employee of the other person if one or more of the following factors are present:
• the manner in which the person works is subject to the control or direction of the other person; • the person’s hours of work are subject to the control and direction of the other person; • in the case of a person who works for an organisation, the person is a part of that organisation; • the person has worked for the other person for an average of at least 40 hours per month over the last 3 months; • the person is economically dependent on the other person; • the person is provided with tools of trade or work equipment by the other person; or • the person only works for or renders services to the other person.
The effect of this classification into the status of an employee or an independent contractor is that in the Fourth Schedule to the South Africna Income Tax Act, only employees and not independent contractors are entitled to earn “remuneration”. That is, a person can only earn ‘remuneration’ if their services or duties are required to be performed mainly at the premises of the client and:
the worker is subject to the control of any other person as to the manner in which his duties are or will be performed, or as to the hours of work; or
the worker is subject to the supervision of any other person as to:
the manner in which his duties are or will be performed; or
the hours of work.
This will also mean that the independent contractor would not be part of certain benefits applicable only to employees such as a working period of not more than 45 ordinary hours in any week, fair termination of employment among others. As opposed to employees, independent contractors are only entitled to such “benefits” and terms as have been agreed to between the independent contractor and his / her client. Again, the termination of independent contracting relationships is governed only by the agreement between the parties.
Who Is An Employee Or Independent Contractor In Nigeria?
Nigeria’s case is very much the same with South Africa’s. Both countries have no legislation that specifically defines who an independent contractor is, except of course the application of the common law principles of contract of service and contract for service. Nigeria’s Supreme Court, in Shena Security Co. Ltd v. Afropak (Nig.) Ltd & 2 Others [2008] 18 NWLR (Pt. 1118) 77 SC; [2008] 4–5 SC (Pt. II) 117 has laid down the some extensive factors that should guide courts in determining which kind of contract the parties entered into –
If payments are made by way of “wages” or “salaries” this is indicative that the contract is one of service. If it is a contract for service, the independent contractor gets his payment by way of “fees”. In like manner, where payment is by way of commission only or on the completion of the job, that indicates that the contract is for service.
Where the employer supplies the tools and other capital equipment there is a strong likelihood that the contract is that of employment or of service. But where the person engaged has to invest and provide capital for the work to progress that indicates that it is a contract for service.
In a contract of service/employment, it is inconsistent for an employer to delegate his duties under the contract. Thus, where a contract allows a person to delegate his duties there under, it becomes a contract for services.
Where the hours of work are not fixed it is not a contract of employment/of service. See Milway (Southern) Ltd v. Willshire [1978] 1 RLR 322.
It is not fatal to the existence of a contract of employment/of service that the work is not carried out on the emjployer’s premises. However, a contract which allows the work to be carried on outside the employer’s premises is more likely to be a contract for service.
Where an office accommodation and a secretary are provided by the employer, it is a contract of service/of employment.
These factors, as in South Africa’s case, would also provide a guide in considering whether the benefits and the responsibilities expected of the independent contractor or the principal as the case may be.
The Implication of The Positions of The Law in the Two Countries In Relation To California’s New Rules
The above explanations are important because in both countries, courts will not usually be bound by the labels that parties chose to attach to their relationship or defer to the declared intent of the parties in this regard, whether in their contract or elsewhere. Thus, stipulating in a contract (or elsewhere) that a relationship is one between independent contractor and principal or referring to the contract as an independent contractor or consultancy agreement, when the relationship between the principal and the contractor is, in reality, one between employee and employer, does not make the relationship any less of an employment relationship, and vice versa.
Comparing South Africa and Nigeria’s case on the one hand and California’s case on the other, it is obvious that California’s case went too far in establishing who an independent contractor is. For instance, apart from the fact that in California’s case, companies must prove “the worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work,” companies must also prove “the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business” and that “the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed.”
While the first test, i.e. that of control, appears to still conform to the basic standards used in determining who an independent contractor is, the second and the third tests tend to have looked beyond these basic features of control and supervision to question the need for independent contractors when the engaging companies could as well themselves do the work. This, in all ramifications, is predatory legislation, and which would be very hard to found followership in other jurisdictions.
Do African Startups Need To Re-Adjust In Time?
As a matter of strategy, remodelling the nature of services African startups offer on the basis of this new Californian legislation would, of course be a matter of long-term strategic plans for startups. African government’s demeanour towards this is such that it does not seem that they are very much in a hurry to change the status quo. Unlike, other jurisdictions that have clear-cut definitions of who an independent contractor is, most African countries are yet to come up with even a legislated definition of the term. California’s case cannot be unrelated to the continuing agitations by Uber drivers in the state, of exploitation by the multi-billionaire dollar car hailing company. In March, Uber agreed to pay $20 million to settle a nearly six-year-old lawsuit by California and Massachusetts drivers over their classifications. The case is McRay v Uber Technologies Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, №19–05723.
Uber, rival Lyft Inc and food delivery service DoorDash, on their own, have pushed for separate legislation to boost driver pay and benefits while preserving their independent contractor status.
African startups with similar business models as Uber, Lyft Inc, DoorDash, Fiverr, Upwork, and others should however, keep this in mind. It not only has the capacity of suddenly bringing to an end the gig economy, it also has the potency of sending all new disruptive business models that rely on public workforce into an abrupt extinction.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.
Reports from South Africa say that about a thousand Nigerians who would like to return back to Nigeria using the open window of evacuation organized by the Nigerian mission in South Africa but are still trapped there due to the slow process of the evacuation programme. While about 600 registered to be part of the evacuation, documentation challenges have prevented many from leaving as only about 180 made it with the first batch. But more are still trooping into Johannesburg from many cities across the country.
It could be recalled that the first batch arrived Lagos from Johannesburg last Wednesday and were received by the Chairman of Nigeria in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri among other top government functionaries. The evacuation plan by Air Peace was delayed due to documentation process by both the South African government and the Nigerian Missions in South Africa.
Chairman of Nigeria in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri
The Nigerian High Commission in South Africa was said to have arranged temporary Travel Certificate (TTC) for most of those that had offered to return home, many of whom do not have valid passports. Aside Air Peace’s offer, the government is said to have made arrangements for the immediate voluntary evacuation of all Nigerians.
In the latest outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa, deadly riots in Pretoria and Johannesburg killed at least 12 people and targeted foreign-owned businesses. There are fears that another round of attacks may follow because there is still tension in the country and comments attributed to some South African leaders are not helping matters are critics and civil society organizations blame the government for the negligence at the root of the whole xenophobic attacks. This concern about another wave of attacks is responsible for the voluntary repatriation from South Africa .
However, sources at the Nigerian Mission in Johannesburg say that efforts are being made to mop up the remaining people after they have been properly documented. However, a representative of the Nigerian community union in South Africa has blamed the officials of the Nigerian Mission in South Africa for the delays saying that the documentation process is so slow that it has become frustrating. Aside this group, there are others who arrived Johannesburg from different parts of South Africa to participate in the evacuation process even though the cities they live in did not experience the xenophobic attacks. A source who spoke with this Correspondent noted that some of those who arrived from farther place such as East London, Port Elizabeth, Durban, and Cape Town
Another source that spoke with this Correspondent say that many of those who volunteered to participate in the process was seen sleeping in the open at the High Commission with no shelter over them for three years. It was not until two days ago that the Mission provided hotel accommodation for them while the processing of their papers is ongoing.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
One of the fallouts of the retribution attacks on South African-owned businesses in Nigeria is an opportunity for greater collaboration and engagement between the Nigerian Police Force and citizens in affected communities to track and contain the looters. The Police would have to drive the engagement for optimal returns to all stakeholders. It is the opportunity for Nigerians to act as one in the matter of crime detection and containment.
The opportunity is the application of the Neighbour Principle. The Neighbour Principle draws from English Law and stipulates that each person should take care to look out for his neighbour and ensure not to cause injury to her. It is a significant pillar of insurance practice.
Chido Nwakanma
The heist committed by looters against various shops in malls with Shoprite Stores as anchor tenants is a threat not only to the affected shop owners but to consumers of goods and services stolen from those shops. More people are at risk than is apparent. Make no mistake about it. Thieves used the opportunity of the mob to rob.
They will now attempt to sell off those items in the market. The Nigerian Police has rendered the first public service by warning potential customers against patronising items offered at ridiculously low prices. They need to do more.
The Police should open a register in the stations or District Offices closest to each of the affected shops. Shop owners should collaborate with the Nigerian Police. They would offer a detailed inventory of their stolen stocks such as they would do to their insurance companies. That inventory would include tracking identifiers such as registration or license numbers, product and device IDs for laptops, certificate numbers for Iphones and things like IMEI numbers for every other type of phones. Watches, electronics and most such items have serial numbers.
Citizens have a role to play in collaboration with the Nigerian Police. Blow the whistle communally if someone suddenly has an unexplained device purchase. Look closely and check with the Police if you buy an item at prices that are not congruent with existing market rates.
The Shoprite Heist happened at a time of moral crisis for Nigeria. Recently, the FBI drew up a list of 77 persons wanted for fraud in the United States. Some of those already identified are persons who often made a show of their new money to the applause of many. No one could account for their cash or its source.
Moreover, a central pillar of the allegations by the South Africans is the claim that Nigerians in their country are at the vanguard of criminality in the illicit drug trade and others. Nigerians counter and say, while there may be some criminals, they do not describe our country.
Our country had communal values against theft, unexplained wealth and inventory in homes and on persons. Societies work through collaboration. As an old radio jingle stated, “armed robber no be spirit”. They live in the community.
In a shop at the Sangotedo neighbourhood in the week of the heist, the shop attendant, his friends and his madam were discussing the incident. Their consensus was that those who got the items were “lucky”. I hushed them, pointing out that it was thievery. No, they claimed. They claimed that security personnel including soldiers, allegedly allowed or encouraged the crowd to move in. I said it was untrue and impossible. Even if it were so, the security personnel do not own the shops. We all know right and wrong.
Suddenly Madam Shop Owner agreed. She said her husband took umbrage with her when she regretted to his hearing not being on hand to participate in the bazaar. He condemned the notion.
Citizens are confused as to what moral values to uphold. We must collectively as a society proclaim and defend the correct norms to eliminate that confusion for the average citizen.
Reclaiming the moral virtues of Nigeria would be central and contributory to any effort to reposition our reputation. No amount of news releases or press conferences would make a dent. Actions provide the basis for narratives and repeated narratives establish a reputation. Once the activities of Nigerians change, the stories would change.
Everywhere law enforcement works with citizens to uphold the laws. Laws draw on the moral codes of society. Ultimately, the police can only do so much as citizens empower them to do based on shared values.
The very professional team of the Nigeria Police Communications Division would drive this effort through public service messages that link the public interest with the role of the police. Do the right thing. Do it right.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
The Liberian President George Weah has mulled plans to print new currency notes worth about L$ 34 Billion in line with advice from the Central Bank of Liberia.The decision according to government sources is aimed at stemming the runaway inflation the Liberian economy is facing presently. The Central Bank of Liberia is said to have informed the President advising that the Liberian economy may be in serious problem if nothing is done urgently. This is because of the high rate of unaccounted local currency infused into the economy that is causing high inflation, thus the recommendation for the printing of new local currency to replace existing ones.
Liberian Dollars
Observers say that President Weah’s quest to print new bank notes may not be unconnected with the controversies trailing the country’s financial system especially the central bank due to the issues relating to the executives of the apex bank who were facing trial for illegally printing over L$16 billion during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
While notifying the country’s Senate about the decision, President Weah notes that “the decision needs to be made now to address this issue that impacts the economy, it is important to note that the printing of new banknotes will require your approval, in accordance with Article 34(d) through the 1986 Constitution,” he added. Though the CBL has not defined any set values or pattern to limit the printed amount of currency (new money), it should be enough to provide services, transfer goods and also regain the value of currency that is in circulation.
President Weah told the Senate that in view of the Central Bank’s advice, it became imperative to discuss the matters with the apex bank for their approval to on the way forward to enable the CBL to move in a timely manner to conclude arrangements for the printing of the [new] currency. After the president’s address to the Senate, a motion was moved to direct the Senate committee on Banking and Currency to appropriately advise plenary.
Critics however, say that the problem plaguing the Liberian economy is beyond printing of a new currency, the challenges are mostly fiscal indiscipline thus printing of new bank notes may not have the desired effects. Moreso, there are allegations that President Weah’s notification to the Senate was simply a window dressing because the apex bank already had the new currency printed. This claim could not be independently verified as at the time of going to press. Whether the printing of the new currency would help address the challenges being faced by the country is left to be seen.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
