Fiona Zerbst's occasional blog

Why socially responsible investing affects you

2011-09-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

Investors -- including more than 1 000 institutions that owned portfolio stock in BP to the combined asset value of $2,7-trillion -- took a serious hit.

BP lost more than half its market value, which fell as low as $26,75 a share by June 28, though it rallied to above $40 a share in August. Its weight in the FTSE 350 index fell from about 7,1% to 4,6% and for a time investors' hearts were in their mouths.

Assuming BP can contain the cost of the spill in the coming months, it may be business as usual for the multinational oil company. But investors may well hesitate to put their money into BP stock, particularly as BP faces 300 federal lawsuits and has had to set aside $20-billion for a claim fund.

Institutional investors are also threatening to sue, claiming the company inflated its share price by misrepresenting its safety record. Environmental activist George Monbiot writes caustically about this on his website, monbiot.com: "They might not have been warned by BP, but they were warned repeatedly by environmental groups and ethical investment funds."

Assessing risk
After the disaster, fund managers scrambled to gain assurances from oil-industry players that any possible future accidents could be handled so that investors would not be the losers. But can oil companies give them the assurances they need?

Deepwater offshore oil and gas drilling is notoriously risky. Quite apart from spills, deepwater drilling can throw up toxic metals from mud, which may end up in our seafood. At best, the ethics are dubious; at worst, environmental catastrophes are a very real possibility.

Of course, one might argue that, after a decade of deepwater drilling without incident, one accident is an anomaly. But the fact is, the risk remains. BP's 2009 annual review, titled "Operating at the Energy Frontiers", spells this out clearly: "Risk remains a key issue for every business, but at BP it is fundamental to what we do. We operate at the frontiers of the energy industry, in an environment where attitude to risk is key. We continue to show our ability to take on and manage risk, doing the difficult things that others either can't do or choose not to do."

Terence Craig, writing for Element Investment Managers' quarterly newsletter, poses a crucial question -- why did analysts not highlight the risks posed by BP's drilling activities? With enough research into BP's safety record, could they not have factored this risk into their valuations of the company? Craig points to a US government department study showing that, during the past three years, BP violated no fewer than 760 health and safety regulations. By contrast, Sunoco and ConoPhillips recorded eight violations, Citgo two and Exxon one.

"Shareholders and analysts should have been focusing more on BP's safety standards and procedures to prevent such a disaster," Craig suggests.

Potential claims
Prasheen Singh, head of RisCura Investment Consulting in South Africa, says that investors need to know what effect any potential claims against a company in the future might have on that company's bottom line. "When managers assess the value of the company for investment, some of the measures that they may look at are how much free cash they have, and what their earnings growth potential is, and so on -- in the case of BP, for example, the effect on earnings as a result of potential claims against the company should also be factored into the assessment of the company and understood."

The event has highlighted something investors and analysts can no longer choose to ignore -- environmental impact. Yes, analysts have taken corporate governance and social issues into account with regard to valuation, but environmental matters are increasingly a factor.

"BP's drop in share price represented a loss of £63,2-billion in market capitalisation -- in rand terms at end-June this represented a R723-billion loss of value -- more than the value of Anglo American, Sasol and Standard Bank combined," Craig said. "Given that most UK [and possibly global] pension and mutual funds will have been invested in BP, an understanding of environmental risks is clearly material for investors."

Socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing (SRI), also known as values-based or ethical investing, has traditionally looked at social infrastructure, development, roads, rails and so on here in South Africa.

The safety record of mining companies and the possibility of asbestosis claims are already taken into consideration by analysts. However, Singh feels that environmental issues should be top-of-mind for asset managers in today's investment climate. "Look at the potential of a company down the line and the legacy we leave behind for future generations," says Singh. "Responsible investing is increasingly on the agenda in South Africa, but it's not yet mainstream. And yet asking if companies are serious about accountability is a very important question."

Analysts are slowly starting to factor in investments that are not just secure and promise adequate financial returns, but which are also ethical. Ethical investments are inclined to focus on avoiding companies that causes illness, disease and death and which may damage or destroy the environment. Tobacco companies therefore get the cold shoulder, as do companies that pollute the environment or produce biohazardous products.

The pension-fund scenario
If your pension fund is invested in a company, it's essential to ask some questions, as diversifying into publicly offered funds seems to be the most sensible way to structure such an investment:

It is not possible to predict which companies will have accidents, though some ventures are obviously riskier than others, as inherent sector risk is a fact of life. The question to ask is, how will the company I'm investing in manage any fall-out? How will the balance sheet, the share price and cash-flow be affected? Are they responsible in the management of these risks?

Pension funds should disclose how their responsible investment strategies are put into practice. What are the exclusions and affirmative criteria? Can your analyst explain how the shortfall risk has been minimised?

Does the fund have a large surplus and how does it intend to invest this?

A company may be heavily involved in alternative energy initiatives, but look at the bigger picture -- what does its core business entail? BP is an object lesson, because about 3% of its capital spending is in renewable power: wind, solar and biofuels. So BP may have a better reputation than its peers -- like ExxonMobil, for example, which invests only 1% in renewables -- but does this make a difference in the face of the oil spill?

Singh points out that South African pension funds of companies are separate legal entities and thus the assets of members may not be used to fund claims against the company. In terms of the members' exposures to the company assets, pension-fund regulation in terms of prudent investment guidelines stipulates general maximum limits for investment in certain asset classes, and further restricts the investment in sponsoring employer assets.

First published Mail & Guardian's Smart Money site, 26 August 2010.

Is your divorce a corporate risk?

2011-08-25T03:50:00.000-07:00

There's only one thing more fascinating than a celebrity marriage, and that's a celebrity divorce. Particularly when it's messy, vituperative and, yes, expensive.

But it's when we think of divorce as a corporate risk that it takes on another whole dimension and provides cautionary tales to give CEOs nightmares. It may be bad enough that the dirty laundry of CEOs is aired in public, but the whole process can cause a chain of complex reactions: damage to company brand; shareholders asking questions, which can ultimately benefit the public but not necessarily the company; and the tricky financial fall-out of some truly convoluted deals.

Not to mention how the hits a company takes may affect the average employee.

Take Elon Musk's divorce from his wife Justine, for example.

Musk ploughed most of his own money into Tesla, off the back of his sales of Zip2 and PayPal to Compaq and eBay respectively. Tesla has been his 'baby' in a certain sense -- his electric car venture has consumed him. He netted $48-million in income investments between 2005 and 2008, which were sunk back into Tesla and SpaceX, a space exploration concern. But court filings brought his cash-flow problems to light, revealing he was living off personal loans from friends since October 2009.

Tesla also had cash-flow problems and had borrowed from the United States government (a cool $465-million in low-interest loans) through a Department of Energy loan programme.

At the time, Tesla was looking to go the IPO route -- but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pored over Musk's personal financial affairs, asking whether Tesla was forthright enough in its filings regarding how his impending divorce would affect the company's bottom line. Tesla was relying heavily on Musk's continued financial interest in his entrepreneurial venture, reimbursing him for his private jet flights in return, as well as awarding him 6,7-million stock options in December 2009.

The situation looked liked this. Musk's shares in his company, Tesla Motors Inc, were held in private trust -- but his wife sought half his stock in Tesla and 5% in his stake in SpaceX as part of a divorce settlement. If Musk's shares had been declared marital property, he would not have been able to sell his holdings without permission from his ex-wife. If he lost a large shareholding, Tesla would be in default of the Department of Energy loan and the company's IPO could have been in jeopardy. (As it happens, the IPO went ahead -- Tesla raised more than $226-million.)

Justine, a fantasy novelist, went into some detail about the divorce on her blog (http://moschus.livejournal.com), stating: "For those who want to know the extent of my golddigging, this is what I asked for, from my ex-husband and the father of my five children Elon Musk, who is a billionaire -- albeit with cash/liquidity issues, which I would work with him to work around -- and utterly brilliant.

The house

Alimony and child support

6-million cash

10% of his stock in Tesla

5% of his stock in SpaceX (and he retains all voting rights)

A Tesla Roadster (I really, really want one...)"

During divorce proceedings, Justine contended that the postnup Musk had asked her to sign could be dismissed as fraudulent as the value of his X.com stock was millions of dollars more than he had reported on the postnup (a postnup, unlike a prenup, requires complete financial disclosure because of 'marital fiduciary duty').

Musk eventually won the case 'due to a technicality', Justine wrote.

This, then, is how corporate divorce can wreak havoc. The personal goes public and legal wrangling can affect shareholdings -- and investors.

What shares and perks are worth
"Few shareholders would consider that the divorce of its CEO could affect their investment, but the risk exists," says Colm Tonge, national leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Disputes practice. "A difficult scenario which has emerged in the US is where the divorced spouse could be awarded shares in a divorce settlement introducing risks of tactical voting, boardroom battles and takeovers. A company can be in breach of debt covenants if a key shareholder's stake is reduced."

Another key issue is the valuation of shares or share options. In Musk's case, he has little cash but his net worth is inextricably linked with the future success of the business. In many cases, it takes a public listing to unlock these.

"This holds true of BEE transactions in South Africa, where it is normal for shareholders to be locked in for a period of time," says Tonge. "In divorce cases, there needs to be a division of assets. One of the most contentious issues is often a spouse's interest in unlisted businesses or entities in which he or she is integrally involved. Valuation of shares or share options, vested or not, is often a major argument."

Typically, the 'breadwinner' will argue that options that have not vested are worthless and cannot be accessed or turned into cash at the date of divorce. But share options usually have a 'future value', says Tonge, or they would not provide the kind of incentive for which they have been designed.

Tonge says the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model is often used to calculate the value of share options. But calculations can vary widely, depending on the assumptions used, so this can be a lucrative battleground for lawyers. Gone are the days of going after assets like a house or a car -- 'soft' assets like unvested stock options and pension benefits are now brought to the table.

Another international headline-making case was the divorce of Jack and Jane Welch (Beasley). The founder of General Electric (GE) found himself outplayed by his mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer spouse, who divorced him after 14 years of marriage. When Welch drew up a prenuptial agreement, Beasley insisted on a 10-year time limit to its applicability, so she left the marriage with about $180 million.

Beasley's attorney published an affidavit revealing a retirement package that allowed Welch unfettered use of corporate jets (worth more than $290 000 a month), a limousine, a cook and country-club memberships. The Securities and Exchange Commission duly took a closer look at the perks.

"A reasonable shareholder would certainly wonder how these expenses serve the organisation, assuming that is was aware of them in the first place," says Tonge. "Potential shareholders may shy away from organisations that are perceived to put the lifestyle of management before the company's interests. And how are those 'perks' to be valued?"

How indeed?

When it comes to divorce, settlement is the one thing that can make it all go away, but to achieve that seems well-nigh impossible in some cases. Forensic accountants are called in to examine tax returns, accounting records, invoices, contracts, financial projections. They search for hidden assets or hidden income. They perform business valuations and examine tax consequences.

"A major issue in divorces of the rich is offshore assets," says Tonge. "Most large estates will include some allegations of property and bank accounts in other jurisdictions. It was hoped that the South African tax amnesty of 2003 would minimise these issues but the reality is that if the assets were undeclared and undetected to that point the temptation to keep them overseas was real."

In fact, it is difficult for forensic auditors to trace overseas assets without knowing where to start looking. Periodically topped up overseas funds and a transfer of assets after divorce proceedings have been instituted can be detected. But if assets have been lying untouched for years they may remain hidden.

"Once identified, such assets can be ordered by the Court to be repatriated," says Tonge.

Reputational damage
Liza Segal, an advocate specialising in divorce and family law and a co-founder of Ad Idem, a family and divorce settlement mediation company, says that, in the majority of divorces in South Africa, the claim for a portion of the other's estate is a monetary claim and not a claim for a particular asset, that is, shares in a company. As such, the settlement agreement should not affect the other shareholders. Unless the parties specifically agree that the wife will acquire shares in the company in lieu of money, the wife will not become a major shareholder in the company.

What may affect shareholders in a company, or cause shares to decrease in value, is public perception regarding the stability or integrity of the particular director who is involved in divorce litigation. Usually, the company is not a direct party to the proceedings and, in the absence of the company being joined as a party, the court cannot make orders binding it.

Segal's business partner, Deanne Kahn, says that the only way around a messy, expensive, litigious process is through settlement mediation. "The mediator provides guidance for the couple on the anticipated range of likely court outcomes and helps them to reach a mutually acceptable resolution," she says. In other words, the outcome will be the same whether the matter goes to court or not -- but the process will be less protracted, less costly and, perhaps most importantly, not as disruptive to business. "The incessant flow of applications and counter-applications, pleadings and affidavits can be avoided," says Kahn.

Of course, both parties have to want to settle. By all accounts, both Musk and Welch resisted and the escalating hostilities played out on the pages of newspapers around the world. Embarrassingly, they're still on the internet for leisurely inspection. And although we might feel a certain schadenfreude seeing the cheating wealthy come unstuck in a way that smacks of karmic justice, we should also spare a thought for the employees, families and shareholders who stand to lose just as much, in their own way, when corporate divorce turns ugly.

How can you find out where your partner's wealth is kept?
Kahn says the first step would be to extract as much information as possible on a voluntary basis by requesting details of all assets, both movable and immovable, locally and abroad. In the event that this proves insufficient or unsuccessful, it is possible to subpoena third parties to produce documentation and to testify at court and to compel the other party by way of court order to produce the desired documentation.

Also, it is not unusual for parties to appoint a forensic auditor in complicated matters, or in matters where large estates are involved, to investigate the extent of the opposing party's wealth and to produce a forensic report containing details of that party's estate.

Geraldine Macpherson, a legal marketing specialist with Liberty, says that many wealthy business owners transfer their assets (including their shareholding) to trusts and set up multiple trust structures, to confuse matters more. If the soon-to-be-ex spouse can show that the trusts were not being correctly administered and used, she can potentially lay claim to the trust assets.

"In the case of Badenhorst v Badenhorst 2006(2)SA755(SCA), Mrs B, on divorce, was granted a share in the trust because the court found that Mr B basically ran the trust as if it were an alter ego of himself -- he used the trust assets as if they were his own, the other trustees were not actually consulted or involved in the administration of the trust and for all intents and purposes the trust was merely a sham," says Macpherson.

"From what I see in practice, most people who establish trusts do not run them correctly and in fact incorrectly consider the trust as their own personal property. If the spouse is a co-trustee, she will have a good idea of whether she was actually ever consulted on any trust matters and whether her input was actually given due consideration. If not, the information can be more difficult to come by, but a sharp attorney would be able to get his or her hands on it -- records of trustee meetings should be held, trusts need to have separate bank accounts and so on."

Macpherson says that trusts do not necessarily provide the protection that one thinks they do. She also says that if a spouse is married in community of property, she should have given her consent for assets to be moved into a trust -- if this was not the case, she has a right of recourse and may be entitled to share in the trust assets.

* First published December 2010, Mail & Guardian

Janet van Eeden interviews me about Oleander

2011-07-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

Fiona Zerbst, author of Oleander, in conversation with Janet van Eeden Fiona Zerbst , Janet van Eeden

Mediocre poems are just not good enough.

Fiona Zerbst’s fourth collection of poetry, Oleander, shows a poet at the height of her craft. Zerbst confronts a diverse range of subject, from the ephemeral Butterflies, Moths and Wings to grittier topics such as the aftermath of Cambodia’s brutal past in Remembering S-21, Cambodia. All are approached with masterly skill. Zerbt’s control of poetic traditions enlivens her thought-provoking poetry. She is able to wield her pen with a surgeon’s skill as she dissects all aspects of the human condition. It’s a long time since I’ve read poetry which was written with such technical prowess while also resonating with the sensitivities of its perceptive author. JvE

JvE: You have travelled a great deal in your life Fiona and this comes through in your poetry. In fact it seems that your journeys into less than touristy areas such as Vietnam and Cambodia, the Ukraine and Russia for example, seem to inspire your work. Does your love of travel go hand in hand with your love of writing poetry? Which do you think comes first: the travelling or the poetry?

FZ: The love of poetry came first, before I had travelled anywhere. But when you travel you engage with so much – people, places – that you inevitably feel the need to talk about what you experience. Also, it is easier for me to talk about the politics of other countries than of my own country. It is easier to find a language, a lexicon, and achieve the necessary distancing.

JvE: I was very impressed with your style of writing. In the age of free verse it is refreshing to find such well crafted poems. You use all the literary tools which the master craftsmen/women of poetry used to have at their disposal: rhyme, meter, assonance for example in some of your poetry. I quote an example here where you use these devices in the beautiful poem Butterflies:
II
It was more
like seeing nature panic
than unhand that stir
of wings, a beauty
much too strange
to hold. In salt-worn
shells, the core
of death lay hidden
but, like duty,
life, unbidden,
rose on flaky wings
to beat as living things.

JvE: (Cont) So the question is what makes you draw on traditional poetry structure these days when it is regarded as slightly unfashionable?

FZ: I think a poet needs to master his or her craft before writing free verse successfully. Once you are comfortable in the language of tradition, you can begin to move away from it. Otherwise you may think you're writing effective poetry when in fact you're writing quite bad poetry. Poetry is a discipline, like any other art form, and as a young writer this was impressed upon me by the editors who mentored me. I'm very thankful to them.
For me, the most charged, intense, passionate poems are those that wrestle with their own constraints – they create tension and tension within a poem can be a wonderful force. There is nothing more irritating than loose, meandering, badly written free verse – it goes against the whole rhythm of what makes poetry an art form. However, some poets do use it to great and extraordinary effect – but usually because they have been ‘blooded’ in the veins of tradition.

JvE: Tell me more about your writing background. You have your Masters degree and I wondered if it was in English. Is that why you like traditional poetry forms perhaps?

FZ: Yes, I have a Masters in English, and I retain a fondness for more traditional poets. Every poet should read widely, without skipping the classics. How can you attempt to 'transcend' a tradition when you haven't explored its boundaries and structure? It takes a lifetime to absorb and use and pay homage to and then move away from a tradition, with your own voice and your own excellence. There are no short cuts in poetry, nor should there be. Some of my favourite poets - among them Joseph Brodsky and Derek Walcott - were sticklers for tradition and form and it served them very well. They haven't 'dated' in any sense. I know I will be reading them until I die, with a never-ending appreciation of their technical mastery and emotional range combined.

JvE: Do you see writing as way of expression of your views of political events? Your poem Remembering S-21, Cambodia resonates with your abhorrence of the atrocities which took place in that country. I quote this passage from the poem:

This was a school,
with blackboards, white-
and-tan-tiled floors. Children
filled the concrete stairwells.
Then it was wire, shackles,
prisoners taken
from their families. They were beaten,
starved, herded like children,
helpless, fed a gruel
of watery rice. Obedient,
they still starved.

FZ: I am outraged by these things, but it is often difficult to write about them. James Fenton has written (mostly) very good poetry about Cambodia – he was a reporter in Vietnam and Cambodia – and his poems inspired me to write simply and passionately about politics. After all, politics is about human beings.
When I visited S-21, where so many ordinary Cambodians were tortured and killed, what struck me was the very ordinariness of the place. And many people have said that about Dachau and Auschwitz and so on. It is almost unimaginable that awful things happened there. And that defines our own limits; we cannot get beyond the wall that is the present. It is an existential anguish, which is why writing about these experiences is difficult and why the writing frequently causes anguish in the reader. Think of how effective the poems of Paul Celan and Anna Akhmatova are, for example.
Of course, I wasn't in Cambodia at the time of the genocide, so I cannot write with authority about what people went through. But we have records; we are seeing trials taking place now; we have so many memoirs of survivors and of witnesses. So imaginatively speaking it is possible to respond to the events as a writer. But at the same time you have to choose your words very carefully. Rhetoric, cliché and false sentiment are so readily apparent in bad political poetry. You still have to write the poem from a place inside yourself. If you don't, your poetry will be disingenuous.

JvE: Apart from travelling, where do you get your inspiration for writing poetry from? What purpose does writing poetry play in your life?

FZ: I have been writing since I was 10 so I have never lived without poetry and I am not sure where the inspiration came from. It was a compulsion, unfortunately. I don't write as much now, but at least I have a sense of technique now, so I can say what I want to with fewer false starts. I was depressed for much of my young life, so that fuelled a lot of the poetry, I suppose. Depression is rather crippling in other ways, so poetry helps.

JvE: Do you regard yourself primarily as a poet or as a freelance writer? Would you ever consider writing a novel for example?

FZ: I consider myself a poet first. That is what I measure everything else against. The freelance writing is a way of making a living and it is a good way to live, but I have never striven to be a journalist in the way I have striven to be a poet. I love John Pilger and Robert Fisk and they represent the kind of journalism I would want to write if I were to dedicate my life to journalism, but I am really living to write another poem, then another, and, I hope, another.
I will probably try to write a novel, but I have no expectations as to what it will be like. If it is appalling, I will of course accept that I was not born to write fiction. But it might be fun to try.

JvE: What are you working on at the moment? And what direction would you like your writing to take over the next few years if you could have everything happen according to plan?

FZ: I am always writing poems, though fewer than I used to, and I am about five poems into my next collection. But as the last one took me about eight years to write, it seems unlikely I'll have another ready soon. I could write and publish a lot, but quality always trumps quantity. I think only about ten percent of my total output has been publishable, though. I am very hard on myself, very rigorous, and if a poem has even one false line in it, that I feel cannot be changed, resolved or made to 'talk to' the other lines in the poem, I abandon the poem. I know I could churn out lots and lots of fairly good poetry, but I don't want 'fairly good'. I stand by, and live by, what I write. So I want it to be my testament. Mediocre poems are just not good enough.

Mail & Guardian Smart Money article

2011-07-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

Making strides in shariah-compliant investing

FIONA ZERBST | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Dec 08 2010 10:57

You don't need to be Muslim to invest in shariah-compliant investment products -- as the credit crunch and fall-out showed, Islamic banking and investment products fared well by avoiding interest-bearing assets and securities, focusing on commodities and profit-sharing, for example.
As more shariah-compliant products hit the market, Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) has launched what it believes to be a unique product, largely because it's bespoke. The equity portfolio is tailored for an individual's particular needs and is not a "one-size-fits-all" option.
"With unit trusts, you are to some extent stuck with what you get," says Yusuf Moola, fund manager for the product. "But here, a client can say, 'Here's R5-million I've inherited -- I want R20 000 a month and the rest invested.' We'll then assess how to invest the balance. We look at quality stocks and we prefer well-known companies with sound management principles, high dividend yields and a positive cash position."
Moola says that mid-caps are preferred for diversification because, realistically, finding shariah-compliant companies is just that little bit more tricky. For example, Tiger Brands has pork operations and this makes up 7% of its business -- 5% would be acceptable because the earnings would be purified through the dividend.
Companies that operate in sectors such as gaming and casinos, tobacco and alcohol, arms and
weaponry and amusement and recreation are also avoided, and investments in the financial sector are eschewed because of the interest that financial firms pay.

The cost structure

How do the costs work? The minimum investment is R1-million, and the initial management fee is 1,5% for the first R500 000, 1% on a further half-a-million and 0,75% on the following R2-million. The next R8-million is at 0,75% and after R10-million it's negotiable.
"There are no upfront fees and no performance fees, nor are there exit fees, and there's no difference between buy and sell costs."
According to Moola, what makes the product unique is the fact that it's tailor-made, unlike other
shariah-compliant unit trusts on the market, and each investor's personal risk profile is carefully
considered before the funds are invested. No two portfolios have to be alike.
Moola and his team focus on quality, heavyweight blue chip stocks like Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Sasol. The portfolio is 13% invested in Billiton, 12% in Anglo and 10% in luxury goods group Richemont. Then 17% of the portfolio is invested in cash, and investing in shariah-compliant bonds is the strategy with regard to the risk-averse.
"Our minimum investment is R1-million and this new portfolio accommodates the investment of both long-term discretionary and non-discretionary funds, including retirement funds," says Moola.
The JSE shariah All Share Index advanced more than 10% for the year to October 12. Although that is less than the All Share Index's 16% gain over the same period, Moola says shariah investing is in general more conservative because it hand-picks shariah-compliant companies.
Sanlam Private Investments will consider launching more shariah compliant products for Muslim investors in the future -- it's currently looking into a shariah-compliant property portfolio, which would look to invest in property unit trusts listed on the JSE.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-12-08-making-strides-inshariahcompliant-
investing

Cellphones at the forefront of the literacy drive

2011-07-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

SAVE THE TREES!
GET YOUR NEXT MAGAZINE ON YOUR CELLPHONE

Cellphones are at the forefront of the literacy drive in South Africa, as well as already being the first port of call for many avid readers. So what can you read on your cellphone these days? Fiona Zerbst investigates.

Kenny, 19, is in many respects your average young South African. He is studying full-time, likes music and soccer, and would love to buy a car in the not-too-distant future. He also loves his cellphone.

Like many of his peers, Kenny enjoys reading about what’s happening around him: news headlines, weather, gossip, soccer results. Best of all, he can read it all on his phone, thanks to the growing power of the mobile web.

Mobile content for cellphones is diverse, customisable and user-friendly. Take Kenny’s favourite mobisite, Soccer Laduma (soccerladuma.mobi). Breaking news, live scores, photos, polls, fixtures, TV schedules … everything Kenny wants to know about soccer can be found on his phone. And he enjoys reading the short, punchy articles.

According to Brett St Clair, country manager of AdMob, Soccer Laduma has about 5.4 million page impressions each month. To feed the insatiable hunger of soccer fans, live journalism keeps readers in the picture pretty much 24/7. “The stories and snippets are very popular,” says St Clair. “While most people blame cellphones for the death of reading and spelling, I believe that we need to explore this medium and exploit its benefits,” says Steve Vosloo, project manager of The m4Lit (mobiles for literacy) project, funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation. “South Africa is a book-poor but cellphone-rich society.”

It’s the content that counts
Both St Clair and Vosloo believe that teens and young adults are engaging with content on their cellphones in a way that is quite unprecedented, enabling educators and companies to take their content directly to a hungry audience.

“The most popular site is m.news24.com, which has concentrated on both the mobile web and mobile applications. Currently, mobile web consumption outstrips mobile application use, but this segment shows 30-40 percent growth a month, so applications should not be ignored.”

Another popular site is Independent Online (m.iol.co.za), which has outsourced its content to mobile solutions provider Thumbtribe. IOL, a news site offering the traditional bouquet of news, sport, weather, motoring, business and entertainment – everything you find in your daily newspaper – relies on excellent content.

Meanwhile, the Thumbtribe site itself offers readers a “Best of the Mobile Web” experience, including access to some of South Africa’s favourite magazines, like Heat, FHM, Getaway, Go!, CARmag, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, PC Format, Shape, Sports Illustrated and many more. Other much-viewed sites include The Times (m.timeslive.co.za) and the Mail & Guardian (m.mg.co.za).

Even books make it to mobi
Steve Vosloo’s m4Lit mobile literacy project has even brought books to the mobile web – no mean feat! “The project is about using cellphones as a way for teens to read and write,” says Vosloo. “We provide mobile novels (m-novels) to read, as well as inviting writing in the form of reader comments and writing competitions – all on cellphones. If teens don’t read and write enough, but love their phones, then that is what we have to work with. Go fishing where the fishes are!”

Vosloo’s popular, successful m-novels can be found on a mobisite (www.yoza.mobi) and on MXit at MXit Cares > mobiBooks > Yoza.

The first two m-novels in the Kontax series were read over 34 000 times in seven months!

“Our goal is to build a library of cellphone-based stories in multiple genres – called Yoza – that is available to teens not only in South Africa, but ultimately throughout Africa,” says Vosloo. “For the foreseeable future, the cellphone, not the Kindle or iPad, is the e-reader of Africa. We will exploit that to improve Africa’s literacy levels.”

Kontax is a teen adventure story about four graffiti-loving friends in Cape Town. It was first written in English by Sam Wilson and then translated into isiXhosa by Nkululeko Mabandla. Readers asked for soccer stories too, so Charles Human wrote Streetskillz: Golden Goal, about an aspirant young star in Du Noon township, Cape Town.

“Also on offer is Confessions of a Virgin Loser by Edyth Bulbring, about a boy in Jozi who has to navigate around issues of peer pressure, teenage sex and HIV/Aids while just trying to be a cool kid at school. Fiona Snyckers, who has written the Trinity Rising series, penned Sisterz, about two girls in Johannesburg who can’t stand each other - only to find out that they are half-sisters. It’s high drama in the teen chick-lit genre,” says Vosloo.

Most of the stories follow the same format: chapters of around 400 words, told in daily serialised form.

Like teenagers in Japan, who sent the popularity of m-novels soaring, Kenny enjoys m-novels. “They’re easy to read and you really, really want to know what happens next!” he smiles. He may not be able to afford books every day, but Kenny can get all the information and inspiration he needs on his cellphone. Who says cellphones aren’t driving the most powerful revolution in Africa?

My interview with Stefan Hundt, curator of the Sanlam Art Collection

2011-07-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

What a first-time art investor needs to know

Fiona Zerbst | Johannesburg, South Africa - Mar 31 2011 14:05

Investing in art may seem like an arcane or dubious investment practice to the uninitiated, but we do know it can bear fruit. Art does have investment potential -- it's considered an alternative investment that offers investors the chance to diversify out of equities and bonds. It can enrich a portfolio and, of course, it rarely shows vulnerability when it comes to the vagaries of financial or property markets.

Stefan Hundt, a specialist at Sanlam Private Investments' (SPI) art advisory service, and the curator of the Sanlam Art Collection, is well-placed to advise a first-time art investor of what to look for. For one thing, the art market isn't liquid, so you need to think long-term about this kind of investment.

"Selling a piece on the open market isn't easy, particularly if you want to realise full value," Hundt says. It's a slow process and you really do need to understand this before jumping in: "For part-time art aficionados and buyers, it's vital to understand that, like any investment, timing is crucial; as is good advice," he says.

Research your potential investment

It's vital to build up knowledge about the sort of art you'd like to collect. Research the artist and the market in general and speak to experts in the field, and artists themselves. You'd research a company before investing; the same applies here.

"Take your time, think beyond aesthetics and if you are only interested in the 'marketability' of a piece be careful not to become too emotionally attached to it," says Hundt. "Know that the value is not in the signature on the artwork, but the individual work itself. Consider the longevity of a painting, how prolific an artist is currently and what is unique about the art, the artist or the context for the art."

The tricky thing about buying on the basis of reputation alone is that this might not be the best kind of investment -- past performance doesn't indicate future performance. "Look beyond past performance and delve into the fundamentals of an artist's success before you invest," says Hundt. Basic advice is free and you can find information on the internet, in galleries and by speaking to artists themselves.

Get independent quality advice

Perhaps you're not familiar with the art world, but don't make assumptions about it. Don't purchase art without getting quality, independent advice. Hundt suggests you speak to dealers, agents and auctioneers with a long-term stake in the market, who also want to develop a long-term relationship with clients. They can provide good advice even when it isn't going to directly promote the stock they sell because they realise a healthy, growing art market is worth more than a quick sale. Ask around -- find out who can provide this kind of advice.

Avoid dodgy dealers

"Beware dealers, auctioneers and galleries without a fixed premises to trade from, and/or who promise unusually good returns, or describe each painting they offer as an 'investment'," says Hundt. "They have a stake primarily in their current stock only and this is what they will promote aggressively."

The art market is an unregulated industry (valued at about R2-billion a year in a recent survey), which simply means that anyone can participate, irrespective of knowledge or experience. Unfortunately, this means you may well come across unethical, unprofessional sellers, producers -- even buyers. "

Importantly, don't be put off by arrogance or haughtiness, because it could be
masking incompetence," says Hundt. Don't be afraid to ask "stupid" questions -- it's your money, after all. Discussions need to be transparent and information comprehensible.

What should I pay?

It's difficult to say what a beginner investor should pay, because it depends on your financial position and your capabilities. Investing in art shouldn't be done in isolation from other investments. You're best placed to know if an investment is feasible and affordable.

"You could acquire a good representative etching or lithograph by an artist with a growing reputation, or a smaller painting from an emerging artist with a good fundamental background and history, for as little as R5 000," says Hundt. Should you have more to spend, you need to refine the strategy, prioritise and differentiate between long-term, medium-term and speculative purchases.

With about R65 000 upwards, you'd be able to buy a good representative work by a recognised young contemporary artist well on their way in the market. If you have more substantial resources available you would be able to acquire a good artwork from a well-established artist from R100 000, Hundt says. "When purchasing art for investment, stick to your strategy and realise that sometimes you could be wrong. However, over the long term, the art market does prove to have some 'logic', and quality prevails."

Two other pros to investing in art: no capital gains tax is payable on art if it's owned by you as an individual, for your personal use; and you get to enjoy the ownership of the work and marvel at it hanging in your living room. Note that it's different when it is owned by a company or a trust, in which case the capital gain could be deemed as income.

Returns on investment

Although Hundt is confident about the art market's expecting, on average, returns of between 10% and 15% for good works, he says this isn't set in stone as expected returns are hard to predict. He says leaving an art investment to your children is an ideal way to transfer wealth without impairing investment -- inherited artwork often becomes a substantial store of wealth. But inheritors naturally need to care for the work in question: it could conceivably lose its colour, or mould could grow on the paper. Work that's inappropriately mounted means that the acid mounting has all but destroyed the integrity of the paper, making the work valueless.

Hundt's final advice is to have the work valued from time to time, like any other asset, as it forms part of a personal estate.

* Hundt has been the curator of the Sanlam Art Collection since 1997. The collection boasts a representative overview of South African art valued conservatively at R128-million.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-03-31-what-a-firsttime-art-investor-needs-to-know

Mail & Guardian Smart Money article

2011-07-06T02:10:00.000-07:00

How the new carbon tax will affect you

FIONA ZERBST JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Aug 20 2010 16:23

The already struggling motor industry will be dealt a blow on September 1 when the new C0² vehicle emissions tax comes into effect. And the bad news is that the consumer will be absorbing the costs.

In effect, the tax will be charged on all new cars and light commercial vehicles. Buyers will pay R75 for each g/km of C0² emissions above a threshold of 120g/km, the lowest threshold in the world. The price hike? About 2,5%.

In the case of higher fuel consumption vehicles, the tax and the price effect could be as high as 6%. So the tax burden amounts to about R1,6-billion a year, in respect of new cars. A further R800-million taxes in respect of light commercial vehicles is also anticipated.

To put that in real terms, it will theoretically add:

R525 to a Yaris T1 1.0 3-dr MY 08 -- ( C0² emission is 127, so you calculate the cost in terms of however many grams over 120 x R75).

R3 675 to a Corolla 1.8 Advanced MY09 ( C0² emission is 169).

R5 250 to a Mercedes Benz B200 Turbo MPV MY08 ( C0² emission is 190).

To calculate the cost on another vehicle go to: http://naamsa.co.za/ecelabels

The tax regime, originally applying to new passenger cars, has been extended to include light commercial vehicles -- though minibus taxis are exempt. South Africa is the first and only country in the world to introduce this tax on light commercial vehicles.

The tax is ostensibly being introduced to offset carbon emissions and encourage road-users to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

All well and good, but the knock-on effect may be quite different, as consumers resist buying news cars. And our fuel quality hardly meets international standards, as it is -- local low sulphur diesel contains 50 parts per million (0.005% sulphur), but in Europe even 10 parts per million is not considered clean.

Locally produced petrol is also emission-unfriendly, sitting at Euro 3 standard, while modern fuel and emission efficient engines are rated to use Euro 4, 5 or 6 standard petrols, preventing them from being supplied to South Africa.

So how are we achieving a green objective by slapping a one-off tax on motorists?

"This is an ad valorem tax, so it will be part of the price of the car," says Tony Twine, senior economist at Econometrix. "This will escalate, as you will pay VAT on it, and the ad valorem duty will be applied to the car at factory gate, with a dealer margin added to that.

So the retail price will escalate by more than the tax, while the tax will be invisible to the purchaser, defeating any attempt to sensitise car and LCV buyers to the vehicle's emission levels.

No data available

Worryingly, there is no data available with regard to the C0² emissions of light commercial vehicles, so it will be hard to explain to buyers just where these figures are coming from. No details as to how this tax has been calculated have been given to car dealers and it is unclear what this tax will be used for.

If it is not being earmarked for green investments, it will simply go straight into the fiscus, propping up tax collection in a falling tax revenue environment.

Gary Ronald, head of public affairs at the Automobile Association (AA), has this to say: "Government has not given an assurance that this tax will be set aside for green investments -- it has said 'where possible' the money will be allocated in this way, but that is not specific enough. It should be ring-fenced -- say, to subsidise filters and scrubbers, or wind-farms, or something consumers will approve of.

"We also feel that this tax is not equitable -- why a carbon tax on new vehicles when you could simply introduce cleaner fuels? And what about checking annual tail-pipe emissions? That was supposed to be introduced in terms of the Clean Air Act, but nothing was done.

"The AA has strongly advised that the government introduces an abbreviated safety check alongside testing for carbon emissions on all vehicles to improve the standard of roadworthiness."

The consumer as fall guy

Roadworx's motoring expert, Adrian Burford, says: "The consumer is the fall guy as manufacturers must recover costs from dealers, and dealers will have to recover costs from the consumer. You're looking at a good R15 000 to R16 000 being added to your retail price if you're buying a car with a seriously big and powerful engine."

Twine believes that the tax is being introduced now to show that South Africa is compliant with green legislation, making the country an attractive destination for climate-change events.

Clean-up economics makes us credible in the eyes of the international community -- as the Kyoto Protocol expires, South Africa will host a conference, probably in Durban, that may reach an international agreement that will replace the Kyoto protocol. That would be a huge diplomatic feather in the South African government's cap. After all, we held the world summit on sustainable development in 2002.

Burford recommends that the consumer, lacking breathing room, should try to find some creative solutions to the problem. "Maybe you're a Corolla family and you now have to find a Yaris-sized car," he says. "If you struggle to accommodate your family and your luggage, you may have to look at, say, a Thule roof-box, to improve carrying capacity. That's one way around the problem."

The tax may be a one-off cost, but that cost is substantial, so the consumer may simply be unable to get the necessary financing.

And that will be bad news for the economy, as car sales have been nowhere near as good as they were a few years ago. The impact on employment may be significant, as an added tax burden of about R2,5-billion on consumers will depress sales and affect the vehicle and component manufacturing industries.

* First published on Mail & Guardian's Smart Money site on 20 August 2010.

Ovid's Metamorphosis choreographed

2011-07-06T01:59:00.001-07:00

Meta/physical

By Fiona Zerbst

Posted on November 1st 2008

Belgian choreographer Frederic Flamand and Brazilian design duo Humberto and Fernando Campana give life to Ovid's Metamorphosis poems.

Ovid poems

Ted Hughes's muscular versions of Ovid's Metamorphosis poems brought this mythological Latin poem of strange, magical transformation to a new generation of readers. Now Belgian choreographer Frederic Flamand and Brazilian design duo Humberto and Fernando Campana have given the extended series of poems new life on the stage.

Combining elements of dance, architecture and digital imagery, with the Ballet National de Marseille at centre stage, the theatrical performance unfolds 75 minutes of chaos, birth and change. The dancers enact the transformation of mortals into plants, gods into beasts, and heroes into rocks.

From the early movements of the tentative unfolding of the cosmos to the coronation of Julius Caesar, who is turned into a star, the tragic, spectacular, frightening and poignant stories are lovingly recreated.

The Campana Brothers bring their visual and design flair to the sets and costumes, drawing on Brazilian street life and carnival culture, and using found and recycled materials for inspiration.

Circular, multidimensional and suspended sculptures provide a backdrop, as do the floating film projection screens. An eclectic mix of musical styles and pieces completes the kaleidoscopic picture, which is a triumph of design and visual poetry.

* Published in Design Indaba magazine Q408: Macronutrients.

My review of The 2009 Flux Trend Review

2011-07-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

Futures to believe in

By Fiona Zerbst

Posted on February 1st 2009

Dion Chang has put together a series of essays on the way the world will be very soon in The 2009 Flux Trend Review.

Fashion guru-turned-trend analyst Dion Chang has put together a series of essays on the way the world will be very soon in The 2009 Flux Trend Review. In the preface, Chang observes that 2008 was a difficult year to learn from. As a result he predicts that the younger generation will come to demand more action as styles of global leadership change, environmental issues move to the foreground of our consciousness and consumers become less passive.

The book is divided into two sections – a corporate review and a lifestyle review. Each essay is written by an expert in his or her field – Justice Malala, Ferial Haffajee, Toby Shapshak and Brian Steinhobel, to name just a few.

The corporate review looks at politics, the economy, healthcare and related matters and is in general very solid, with one exception: Edwin de Lange’s frankly bizarre essay on “faithmentalism”, which suggests that religion accommodate advertising opportunities as it is a “brand” in itself. To stuff one of the few remaining quiet spaces in human experience with jingles and inane messages is, in my book, plain Orwellian. This essay should have been omitted.

The lifestyle review is serious fun, from contemplations on the decline of gastroporn and luxury brands to the rise of compressed leisure, entrepreneurial societies and spirituality in the digital age. These well-researched essays are easy to read and easy to digest. In fact, there’s a lot to nibble on here, for anyone interested in a taste of the future.

International trend forecaster Li Edelkoort has said, “People think I am some mystic or gypsy. But what I really do is pay attention. Then I have the nerve to say what I believe.” Chang has amassed essays by people who pay attention and write what they believe. The result is a digest that will hopefully come out annually and tell us what we should be focusing our attention on. In the end, it’s the things we pay attention to that we act on.

Interviewing Marian Bantjes

2011-07-06T01:55:00.001-07:00

A spoonful of sugar

By Fiona Zerbst

Posted on February 1st 2009

Fiona Zerbst chats to Marian Bantjes about typography, image making and creative restlessness.

If I Want to Explore a New Direction Professionally, it is Helpful to Try it Out for Myself First, 2007. Using sugar, this work was created for Stefan Sagmeister’s Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far.

Whimsical, feisty and just plain beautiful, Marian Bantjes’s work has escaped the confines and conventions of style and genre, unfurling like a long, gorgeous ribbon, among many strands of visual communication.

With a solid background in typography and illustration, and loads of experience in design, Bantjes has taken her work from an island off the west coast of Canada to the global stage. And we are the richer for it.

Born in 1963, Bantjes began her career in visual communication as a book typesetter for 10 years (from 1984 to 1994). From 1994 to 2003, she worked as a partner and senior designer at Digitopolis in Vancouver, creating designs for corporates as well as educational and artistic organisations. In 2003, she went solo in order to pursue her own projects and ot od since then that she has come into her own.

Labels one wants to stick to her tend to slip off. As a visual designer, she has tackled a variety of media and multiple projects. Most often praised for her delicate handwork and ornamental style, her work is personal, fluid, looping and intense. Working in vector art, glitter, fur, ink, oil, dirt, sugar, pencil, watercolour and more, Bantjes is following her bliss – carefully, obsessively and exquisitely.

Fiona Zerbst: What techniques and formal values have you learnt from typography? How has it formed your style?

Marian Bantjes: Possibly too many to accurately list: when you know something really well, it’s hard to define or quantify what you know. But I am aware of the influence of structure on my work.

As a typesetter, 20 years ago, I worked on books, which is a very structured, rule-bound environment. That carries through to my work today, though it’s not always evident. Also, just knowing quite a bit about letterforms – although this is something I still consider myself weak on – has helped make my work be... well… a lot less sloppy than that of many other people’s.

Your influences seem to be predominantly those people, objects, buildings and artists that have surface as an independent value. How important is surface and the techniques that make it up?

I am an image maker. That is, as opposed to a “conceptual” designer, or someone who relies on process or the user experience as an interactive thing. So, in that sense I’m all about the image/the surface.

But within that there is often a complexity that goes beyond the immediate image. I like to make things that need to be figured out or pondered in some way. As such, there is some kind of intended “experience” that goes beyond the first impression.

On what basis do you choose your projects? You seem to have the luxury of choice, which is always nice. So where do you start?

It comes and goes. Sometimes I just accept everything, but then I start running into trouble: maybe the clients are asking for something I don’t want to give, or maybe we’re not communicating well, or maybe I’ve taken on too much and I get tired... and then I switch and reject everything.

I’ve come to recognise the signs of the good and the bad. Good projects come from people whom I know and trust (such as Michael Bierut at Pentagram or Stefan Sagmeister), or which are fairly open in the brief.

I look for people who are hiring me for something new and unexpected. People who are willing to trust that I can figure it out and make the right decision. These people will give me little to no direction. On the opposite end, I am increasingly wary of people who say they like my “style” (which one would that be, I wonder). I’m nervous about those who send me selected images from my website for direction, and I outright reject anyone who sends me images of someone else’s work.

I prefer people who tell me what their budget is up front, and like them even more if it’s a healthy sum – though I will trade a smaller budget for creative freedom provided it’s not advertising or a large client. I know when people have the money and I get very pissed off when ad agencies or well-known brands approach me with small budgets! I’m prejudiced against Canadians and Canadian companies (I very seldom work for people in my own country).

These days, I’m in a difficult space because I outright reject almost anyone who asks for anything pretty or swirly. It doesn’t mean I’ll never do it again, it just means I’ll only do it if I decide I can find an interesting way of doing it. Mostly I hate to be bored, and repeating myself is usually boring, which is why I really need people who are willing to take a leap of faith with me.

Which are your favourite materials to work in, if you had to choose?

I can’t say. It depends on what I’m doing, what effect I’m trying to get – and I’m always trying new things. I really don’t have a favourite. But if I was stuck on a desert island, I’d die without a pencil.

What has been your most satisfying project to date?

Well, I think my best work is the Sustainability poster, which was done over a year ago. The Design Ignites Change poster was also very satisfying – maybe even more so than Sustainability, as the proceeds went to a good cause. And of course the Creative Review monograph, Love Stories, was very satisfying because it was all personal work.

* Published in Design Indaba magazine Q109: The Cr*ft

Paying homage to the Tesla Roadster

2011-07-06T01:52:00.000-07:00

Electric avenue

By Fiona Zerbst

Posted on August 1st 2007

To paraphrase Mark Twain, rumours of the electric car's death have been greatly exaggerated. Fiona Zerbst discovers the Tesla.

With the demand for reduced carbon emissions coupled with the challenge of design innovation, the motor industry has simultaneously given the electric car a face-lift and a new lease on life.

So is there a swing back to "electric"?

Tesla Motors is banking on it, with its ultra-sporty, energy efficient Roadster. The two-seater Roadster, fresh out of Silicon Valley, is now on sale. The first 100 Roadsters were pre-ordered in three weeks, making this baby the sexy "must-have" of the quarter.

It made Time magazine's list of top inventions for 2006 and is now close to hitting the road.

The Roadster's birth marks an interesting juncture in the growth chart of electric cars. For one thing, it's not a prototype, unlike the Lightning and the Wrightspeed X1. It is powered entirely by lithium-ion batteries (the same battery that drives most laptops and cellphones); and it can clock 0 to 60 mph in four seconds, scotching fears that it may be underpowered. The lithium-ion batteries are expected to last about 100 000 miles or more and pack replacement would likely be equivalent to engine replacement, in terms of timing and possible cost.

The Roadster's battery technology and software are held to be superior, and excellent performance is assured by Tesla. Curiously, the Roadster has been built on the chassis of a Lotus Elise, though the Elise's reputation for good handling on the road probably explains the decision.

At about $100 000, the vehicle's price is probably too steep for most of us, but if you have a little squirreled away in the bank, you could invest in the future of motoring. At this stage, though, you'll probably need to drive it in California, Chicago, New York City or Miami, where you can expect support and service. Beyond that, you'll be paying heavy premiums for transportation, for one thing. So the Roadster is very much for the United States market – for now.

The shape of things to come

Tesla is confident that the Roadster is the shape of things to come. Interestingly, its sheer functionality augurs well for more affordable electric vehicles that cater for the mainstream market.

Tesla itself is an interesting company. Funded by South African Elon Musk, of PayPal fame, and founded by CEO Martin Eberhard, a technical guru, Tesla's aim was to combine entrepreneurial savvy with design wizardry while producing a superior vehicle for the road: A beautiful, high-performance vehicle for the green generation.

Future vehicles from Tesla are predicted. Indeed, Fortune magazine recently revealed that a family-friendly, four-door sedan is scheduled for production in 2009. This car will cost half of what the Roadster costs, despite being, well, bigger.

Detractors have suggested that the Roadster and cars of its ilk are more "hobby horse" than functional vehicle, largely because of the price tag. But Tesla genuinely wants to popularise the electric vehicle, suggesting that its first vehicle was a high-end sports car only to "capture the imagination of people as to the possibilities of EVs".

"To build the kind of electric car that I personally would like to drive is really why I started," Eberhard told Jon Alain Guzik in an online interview recently.

Musk suggests that Tesla will succeed in its aims as hybrid cars have already become popular due to rising petrol prices and fears concerning global warming. The next step is going electric, as consumers will want cleaner vehicles that are cheaper to run in the long term, while still being eye-catching on the road.

It's worth noting that electric cars aren't entirely pollution-free. They can't claim to be "zero-emission" vehicles. Still, they're said to produce half the carbon dioxide per mile of a hybrid car, which makes them cleaner than any other vehicles on the road. Also, seeing as the emissions are at the power plant, sustainable energy sources and carbon sequestering become viable alternatives.

General Motors was one of the first companies to pursue – or revive – the electric dream in 1996, in the form of the EV1. GM leased 800 EV1s and counted Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson among the vehicle's fans. But even the celebrity support couldn't win the battle and the vehicle was discontinued, ostensibly due to lack of consumer demand. The documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? claims that the oil lobby, motor manufacturers and weak regulators were unwilling to entertain the dominance of the electric car, so ending the "electric dream" in California. But not everyone believes a conspiracy was afoot, suggesting that battery technology was unsophisticated and problematic.

This problem is unlikely to beset the electric car now. With more vehicles in the pipeline, including the eBox, Phoenix Motorcars's sports utility truck (SUT), ZAP-X, Tango, Th!nk and General Motors's Chevrolet Volt sedan, electric is making a comeback, albeit in slow and experimental stages.

Celebrities are once again behind the experiment, with Condoleezza Rice and Arnold Schwarzenegger praising the Roadster's look and, above all, performance (Rice calls it "a little rocket ship").

Time will tell whether the electric car becomes the vehicle of choice for global consumers. In the meantime, it's worth watching their designers' dreams taking shape.

* Published in Design Indaba magazine Q307: Green Living: The Burning Issue

My Alexandra Fuller interview, Fairlady magazine

2010-06-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

Meet Alexandra Fuller

We talk to the author of: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Scribbling the Cat, and The Legend of Colton H. Bryant.

By Fiona Zerbst

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Alexandra Fuller says she wanted to write ‘as soon as I could hold a pencil’. Telling stories – her own and other people’s – propelled her into non-fiction, beginning with her memoir of her African childhood, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, followed by Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier and her latest, a hybrid of biography, eco-politics and poetic tribute, The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. Set in Wyoming, where Fuller now lives with her husband and three children, the book traces the all-too-brief life of an engaging ‘redneck’, Colton Bryant, whom we first meet as a bullied eight-year-old shaking off cries of ‘retard’ with the mantra, ‘Mind Over Matter. I don’t mind so it don’t matter.’

On Wyoming

Wyoming is tough, and the gritty poetry of place is rendered beautifully. Colton is an engaging mix of toughness, fire and innocence – but on the oil rigs, where production is everything and safety not a concern, he’s ‘just another redneck’. This drove Fuller to write the book. ‘Wyoming not only has the highest rate of worker fatalities in the nation, but we also have the highest percentage of rig deaths, and oil and gas companies in Wyoming are protected from lawsuits brought by maimed rednecks or the families of dead or maimed rednecks,’ Fuller explains. ‘The fines imposed on drilling companies for safety violations are pathetic.’ It’s this passion for people, environment and accurate observation that has made Fuller one of the most risk-taking writers around.

'I felt like a traitor...'

Charting the often agonising experiences of her family’s years in then Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia, Fuller has an unflinching gaze and an uncompromising way with language. Her family was hardly overjoyed by the revelations, but she regards Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight as a loving memorial – which, in a sense, it is, despite the frailties uncovered. ‘I felt like a traitor to my family, the people who had raised me,’ she confesses. ‘It was awful. I think it hurt my mother terribly, and I never intended to hurt her, and I think it embarrassed my father and sister. I’m glad i did it – but I don’t think I would have done it if I’d known what the consequences would be.’

On writing The Legend

The Legend of Colton H. Bryant is the result of Fuller’s working closely with Colton’s parents, Bill and Kaylee, and the rest of his family. She says she initially intended to write a book about the oil boom in Wyoming and its social consequences (Wyoming also has one of the highest suicide rates in the US), but Colton became the focal point. ‘Kaylee and Bill started to tell me about Colton, how he had been born going 70 miles an hour in a 1976 Ford thunderbird and how he had been in a rush ever since. There were all the Colton stories, these truly incredible, made-for-a-book stories – and I think fairly soon I realised that I wanted to write about Colton and no one else,’ she says.

Though Colton’s fate is hardly unique, he is anything but a statistic. Fuller makes you fall in love with him – his gentleness, his quirky cowboy sayings, his old-fashioned uprightness. It’s a loving portrait of a soul crushed by the heartlessness of what Fuller calls ‘America’s violent and unsustainable energy policy...’. ‘I wanted [the book] to read like a novel, so that people actually felt Colton in their hearts, and felt the pain of losing him,’ she says.

The result is an authentic portrait of a part of a community Fuller says is not far removed from the white Zimbabweans who raised her – ‘tough, hospitable, sometimes closed-minded, pragmatic, self-defeating, suspicious of change and utterly attached to land and place. ‘Maybe it just shows you that people who live in remote places, love land and are frightened of change aren’t so dissimilar from one continent to the next,’ she concludes.

Book SA's crime page publishes my poem on crime fiction. Called, er, 'Crime Fiction'.

2009-09-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Fiona Zerbst : a poet's perspective on crime fiction
by Barbara on 02 Sep 2009 |

‘I’m a big fan of crime fiction, especially the really ‘dark’ stuff,’ says Fiona Zerbst who crystallises her take on the genre in a poem from her fourth volume of poetry ,Oleander, which was published recently by Modjaji Books. ‘It occurs to me that there are formulae to follow but, within those formulae, there are entire, expansive, human stories that find expression. So it’s possible to get to the heart of human nature, not just because of the genre, but because of the challenges presented by the strictures of the genre.’

Crime fiction

There’s always a lake,
a body on ice,
a man alone.

Slab-cheeked policemen,
frigid women,
the silent phone.

Controlled addiction,
dictionary clues,
a cross-hatched bone,

a broken marriage.
Foibles of life
lived out at home

where money’s scarce,
children intrude,
peace is hard-won.

There’s always the night,
a sequel to write,
a crime to condone.

I’m drawn to the scene,
a place I’ve been to:
innocence gone.

Fiona Zerbst works as a freelance writer and has a Masters degree from UCT. Previous volumes of poetry include Parting Shots (1991), The Small Zone (1995) and Time and Again (2002).

My story on Michael Souter's makaraba soccer hats

2009-07-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

Published in Design Indaba magazine

Head start on 2010 fever

Posted Sun, 01/02/2009

In just over a year's time, the world stands to be introduced to South Africa's unique soccer culture. Michael Souter, a Fine Art-trained graphic designer, is adding to this with his “makarabas” (sculpted hard hats), which fuse urban culture, design and sporting passion.

Saffers have been wearing hard hats to soccer matches for more than two decades now - fans having adopted them to protect themselves from flying bottles! But after an enterprising Kaizer Chiefs fan decorated his helmet to show support for his team, rival fans took up the challenge and the makaraba was born. “The word 'makaraba' is a Xhosa variation of 'makarapa', which literally means 'migrant worker'. These workers were known by their safety hats as they were predominantly miners,” explains Souter.

Fascinated by the concept, and inspired by an Orlando Pirates-Ajax Cape Town soccer match he went to, Souter began working on a series of sculptures capturing the colourful dynamism and bizarrely heraldic value of the fans' hats-turned-statements. The safety hat, sourced from local hardware suppliers, is the core of Souter's sculptures. He then makes some sketches, creates templates from cardboard and uses the polypropylene plastic helmet to build a firm “silly hat” that is then primed and finally painted with enamel paint.

“I've had interest from as far afield as Europe and orders for English soccer teams like Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea,” he explains. “These hats are very much part of South African culture, but they are also mobile billboards - and the limits of what can be done with them are defined only by imagination. Whichever team you favour, you can express your individuality and support.”

Souter has even made headgear for corporate gifts and fulfilled commissions for TotalSports and Anglo Coal. He also supplied models with makoya makarabas for the 2006 Nokia Cape Town Fashion Week. Nonetheless, he prefers to sees his hats as art, not merchandise, as they are individually made and mass marketing production of the same style would undermine their quirky value.

Author:

Fiona Zerbst

An update on the UCT Writers Series

2009-07-20T04:35:00.000-07:00

UCT Writers Series

Time and Again, by Fiona Zerbst

Fiona Zerbst was born in Cape Town in 1969. She has lived in Johannesburg and Cape Town and spent six months in Ukraine and Russia in 1995. Her two previous books of poetry are Parting Shots (Carrefour Press, 1991) and The Small Zone (Snailpress, 1995). Her poems have appeared in the anthologies The Heart in Exile (Penguin), The Pick of Snailpress (David Philip) and City in Words (David Philip). She holds a Masters degree from UCT and works as an editor.

Review:
‘There is in Fiona Zerbst’s poetry a vein of pure lyricism which, whether sorrowing or rejoicing, goes back as far, and as deep, as Sappho.’ Stephen Watson

ISBN:
9781874923602

Retail Price:
R80

Buy this book:
Kalahari.net
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Books

The cover of my book...

2009-05-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

Covers of two of the four new Modjaji Poetry books unveiled

May 22nd, 2009 by Colleen

Helen Moffett’s collection Strange Fruit and Fiona Zerbst’s Oleander are both at the printer. The covers are voluptous, mysterious, rich, textured and vibey. I can’t wait to get the actual books into my hands. See what you think…

The final two books to be launched in June, are Sindiwe Magona’s Please, Take Photographs and Joan Metelerkamp’s Burnt Offering. These will be unveiled next week.

All four books are being launched at the Cape Town Book Fair on Sunday June 14th at 5.30 to 6.30 pm at the DALRO space in the Exhibition Hall.

Strange Fruit - Poems by Helen Moffett

Oleander poems by Fiona Zerbst

Sunday Independent poetry reviews

2009-05-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

Recent outpouring shows poetry is alive and kicking

March 09, 2008 Edition 1

Review by Fiona Zerbst

A slew of poetry volumes published last year shows that poetry prevails in South Africa despite the vagaries of the economy. This is heartening. Most of this poetry is good, some even excellent, showing that South Africans are taking stock of our changing history with intelligence and, in some instances, wit and irony.

The four volumes I have chosen to review reflect a diversity of tone and theme, but all claim for themselves a confidence, a conviction, with regard to their visions.

Syntax seems to gain importance in succeeding volumes of Stephen Watson's poetry. It may be that, as a poet, he is recognisable as much for his syntax as for his treatment of the themes of love, despair and redemption.

In his latest volume, The Light Echo and Other Poems (Penguin), the urgency of his language seems further heightened. Long lines, clauses and sub-clauses build up in intensity to apparently muted conclusions, which in fact reveal more than one at first expects them to. So even though one may find Watson's images en route to be lovely - "… the lamp left burning, its mellow/glow, winter aureole, the colour of a ripened pear" (The Light Echo); "… the ear-bone of a whale, or head-gear of the Herero - this section of the universe mounted in a light-box" (Two Occasions) - he has become, or seems to be, less a poet of image and object than of idea: whether his poems traverse familiar Watson territory (the Cape's changing landscapes; lovers together or apart) or reach into new avenues (antiquity; illness) for self-expression.

These ideas are developed slowly, surely, painstakingly, through syntax, which renders Watson more opaque and complex than, say, a poet preferring short, declarative sentences. A reader need not be daunted, though, and The Light Echo offers much for old and new Watson readers alike.

Whether inside, looking out, at the lives of others, at the errors and foibles of those much loved, or observed with disdain or compassion, or outside, looking in, at the mysteries of self-knowledge and the self's placement in a landscape like Italy or the Himalayas, Watson's poems are exquisitely crafted, tender and moving.

There is a dusky plaintiveness in the volume that is given off like a particular scent. It suggests, to me, a poet's need to wander, geographically and linguistically, or stagnate. However many domestic interiors Watson paints with a faultless hand, there is a sense that his canvas is much, much wider, if we could but see it. This reaching is as much a task for the reader as the writer, and it is a pleasurable one.

Immanuel Suttner puts me in mind of Billy Collins, a poet of apparently haphazard and informal speech.

Collins is perhaps one of the most enjoyable, and enjoyed, poets writing in the world today, for the reason that he is both modest and accessible. Suttner, too, is of this poetic ilk.

Still, under the flippancy and lightness of tone there is something profound and dark.

The strongest poems in his volume Hidden and Revealed (Snailpress/Quartz Press), such as Ma (Carpe diem, 15th September 1953) and Jerusalem, offer moments of humour and levity, but the weight of the poems rests in their crevices; the darkness spoken and the even darker unsaid. Jerusalem is one of the finest poems I've read in a long time. Suttner, a Jew, speaks to me, a Muslim, about beauty, atrocity and ambivalence in a way that bridges gaps, despite our differing political affiliations:

"Jerusalem/it's not working, I still don't feel happy about your arms sales to/Pinochet or Apartheid"… "Jerusalem here's your sickness:/The ones who covet you/put stones before blood/and that's why your stones are so stained with blood/starting way back with the psalms").

Suttner also reminds me of Jeremy Cronin, largely thanks to his experiments in language (De Jerusalem dub), his political musings (Joburg 1994), his vital way of teasing truths out of everyday phrases, different ways of speaking, other languages.

The book is a joy to read (though Suttner's and my politics differ, an overriding sense of compassion is what I have retained from my readings of the volume) and the poems are fresh, vital, wholly without dullness and pedantry, as one can expect from books produced by publisher Gus Ferguson.

Two other volumes deserve a mention. Mark Espin's offering, Falling from Sleep (Botsotso), is spare, thoughtful and, for the most part, beautiful.

Though I feel some poems are not as "finished" as they could be, and some are a little flat, pieces such as Water and Solitude and Self-Portrait have a crystalline loveliness that one looks for and longs for in poetry.

Inheriting Eccentricity and Inheriting Rage are wonderful vignettes. Poems that pay homage to Joseph Brodsky, Wislawa Szymborska and Miles Davis are also highlights. This is an accomplished volume that repays a few careful readings.

Mike Alfred's volume Poetic Licence (Botsotso) is predominantly a razor-sharp look at Johannesburg, old and new, with its urban decay and its merciless modernity.

These nervy, ironic, descriptive poems tell it, as they say, like it is, whether we're shown "Sandton City's heart fibrillated/under a constriction of/credit cards" (Collapse) or the "sudden, unbidden/memories" (Kite) that make up one's life.

Among the bitter musings there are some gentle poems about love and family (such as Visitation) that show another side of the poet's vision. South Africans would do well to dip into this volume and recognise themselves - the good and the bad - with a wry smile.

An interview with Lucy Bushill-Matthews, published on Fairlady's website

2009-02-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Keeping the faith

Fiona Zerbst speaks to Lucy Bushill-Matthews, author of ‘Welcome to Islam - a convert’s tale’, about balancing the realities facing Islam with humour.

I wrote the book because moving back to South Africa two years ago changed everything. In England I was engaged daily and practically with my community. Uprooting and moving to South Africa gave me the mental and physical space to write about a subject that seems to be of global concern. I wanted to write a book that would be informative about Islam, and realistic about some of the issues Muslims face, but in an accessible way.

We are living in an era where certain experts are talking about the insurmountable differences between “them” (the Muslims) and “us” (everyone else). This attitude can carry down through the generations. When I visited one school in the UK to talk with the children about the Muslim experience of Ramadan, a child who had five Muslim schoolmates in his classroom asked me innocently: “What’s the weather like in their world?”

The best way to break down barriers between people who come from different communities is to get to know each other. And for me the best way to break down barriers is over a cup of tea in the kitchen! This book is the result of numerous cups of tea, and equally numerous conversations.

I have tried to show in the book the ways in which Muslims differ from each other in their practice of Islam - and how it’s okay to be different. I have also come across Muslims judging non-Muslims (eg a mosque committee decreeing they did not want a playground in the mosque grounds in case non-muslim women came to use it wearing mini-skirts) as well as the reverse (eg a taxi driver asking me what it was like being oppressed). So let’s all just relax a little bit and see the common humanity in each other!

Humour makes it easier to make a serious point. It’s more memorable when you do it in a light-hearted way. But the BBC asked on its website recently “Does Islam have a sense of humour?”… I think if I didn’t laugh about it, I would cry.

I was interviewed by The Sun newspaper, but my interview was replaced at the last minute with a two page spread about an English woman captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan, headlined ‘The Taliban banned my nail varnish’.

In South Africa, people openly admit they know little about Islam, and they usually do not have the prejudice against the faith that is so prevalent in the UK. It helps that South Africa is a genuinely multi-cultural society and that Muslims are seen as South African as anyone else. South African Muslims are interested too: converts seem somewhat of a rarity here.

My favourite books about Muslims include the fictional novel by Khalid Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Whilst it didn’t exactly portray men in a very good light, it explored the depth and strength of character hidden within the dark all-encompassing burkas of two very different Muslim women. I have also enjoyed The Meaning of the Life of Muhammad by Swiss-born European scholar Tariq Ramadan. He focuses on applying how Muhammad - peace be upon him - lived to the lifestyle we live today. Did you know he refused two dinner invitations on the grounds that his wife wasn’t invited? The third time she was invited too and he finally accepted.

In the UK, there was an understanding that 9/11 was the action of a few, not of Muslims as a whole, but the tube bombs in July 2005 changed that. The “them” and “us” rhetoric from fundamentalists on both ends of the spectrum eventually filters into the mainstream. A recent large-scale Gallup survey showed that while 98% of Iranians polled identified aspects in the West to admire, just under a third of Americans believed there was nothing to admire in the Muslim world.

Being in South Africa as a Muslim is like being on holiday. Our relocation agent tells me one area is up-and-coming as Muslims have moved into it - I thought I had misheard. The newspaper features a woman wearing a scarf on its front page - and the story is about her comments as an HIV/Aids expert, not about her dress sense. Woolworths puts notices up wishing its Muslim customers Happy Ramadan. Halaal restaurants are everywhere and non-Muslims are happy to eat in them. I also appreciate the opportunity here to make a difference - however small - in the lives of people in some of this country’s poorer communities. I wanted to write about South Africa too, but there wasn’t space, so that will just have to be in my next book…

A review of Random Violence by Jassy Mackenzie, published by Fairlady

2009-02-20T01:04:00.000-08:00

Random Violence

by Jassy Mackenzie (Umuzi)

Reviewed by Fiona Zerbst

Mackenzie’s debut novel is a gripping thriller that puts sassy private detective Jade de Jongh through her crime-busting paces. Jozi-flavoured and fairly fast paced, the book is a hugely creditable foray into a tricky genre.
Divorcée Annette Botha is murdered in what appears to be an attempted hijacking, but Jade and newly promoted police superintendent David Patel are suspicious. As they investigate Annette’s murder, they become targets themselves. They also have their own problems to contend with – Jade’s investigation into the unsolved murder of her policeman father as well as her undeniable attraction to David, who has his own dark secret. Best of all, Mackenzie doesn’t give away the ending until, well, the ending, which makes for an exciting last 50 pages.
Don’t miss this book if you’re a fan of crime-writing or South African fiction.

My review of Rozena Maart's book Rosa's District 6, published in the Canadian Women's Post

2009-02-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

Coping in the Cape

Rosa’s District 6

Rozena Maart

TSAR Publications

248 pages, $18.95

Rozena Maart, winner of the Journey Prize for emerging authors, offers five intriguing short stories in her debut collection Rosa’s District 6.

District 6, apartheid South Africa’s famous home to non-whites, children of immigrants and former slaves, is the setting of these heart-wrenching stories. Each story looks at crises of identity, race, class or sexuality in the characters’‚ lives and Maart does not shy away from drawing painful conclusions. However, the stories are lightened by the presence of Rosa in each of them – Rosa, a precocious child who sees and hears everything and who keeps a writing slate around her neck on which to record her impressions. She is the mini-author of these stories, drawing them together and standing as the not-quite-innocent witness of family heartache and striving.

Rosa’s District 6 is, after all, a place of sadness and imprisonment as much as a home for its pleasure-loving residents, who seek to blot out the anguish of apartheid’s strictures with drugs and alcohol on the one hand, and faith in God and the a sense of community on the other.

Loss and the past are plaintively evoked in The Green Chair, something of a ghost story, while the legacy of sexual violence haunts and affects two families in Ai Gadija. The Bracelet is possibly Maart’s most probing story, examining the crushing effects of a gay married man’s double life.

Maart’s realism is tempered with a fascination for tales of spirits, erotic awakenings and mental illness, exploring the effects of day-to-day pressures on people’s psyches. As such, these stories do more than offer straightforward narratives – they dig deeper, and the effect is sometimes macabre, often shocking. You will find yourself catching your breath frequently as you read these stories. The dangers and pleasures of life are laid bare and Maart reopens the various wounds of District 6 living, but in such a way as to make a new place of this Cape Town legend.

A glossary of South African idioms makes the book more accessible to an international readership; unfortunately, though, the book’s numerous typographical errors detract from the overall compelling effect of the stories.

Fiona Zerbst is a South African poet. She has had three poetry volumes published and her work has appeared in various South African and international anthologies. She works as an editor in Cape Town.

My fourth volume of poetry will be published by Modjaji Books

2009-02-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

Forthcoming attractions from Modjaji Books for 2009

Eleven books wait in the wings to be published this year by Modjaji Books. First up is Invisible Earthquake by Malika Ndlovu, due out towards the end of March 2009. A powerful, moving journal about a mother’s journey through and with the experience of stillbirth. Malika allows us into her secret, dark place of grief and coming to terms with the terrible loss of her third child. The book speaks into the silence around this issue. Like miscarriage, stillbirth is something women are supposed to get over and move on with. The book is placed in the wider South African context by Prof Sue Fawcus, from Mowbray Maternity in which she writes tenderly and expertly about stillbirth from the point of view of a medical practitioner, and expert obstetrician.

Four books of poems are due out in time for the Cape Town Book Fair, by Joan Metelerkamp, Sindiwe Magona, Helen Moffett and Fiona Zerbst. Watch this space for more information. Modjaji has received a small grant from the Cape 300 Foundation which will go towards the printing costs of the first two books.

Also due out before the Book Fair if the right sponsors come to the table is a wonderful book called Hester se Brood by Hester van der Walt.

Hester se Brood is a charming book: part memoir, part how-to book, part journey of discovery as the writer learns about bread and bread-making and shares her journey with us. The book is illustrated with beautiful drawings done by Lies Hoogendoorn. The illustrations capture something of life in McGregor as well as offer step-by-step instructions on how to knead or fold dough in each recipe. Hester’s bread making activities have already been the subject of a Sunday Times article in 2008.

The Bed short stories by Southern African women writers, will be out towards the end of the year, if all goes well.

Collections of stories by Meg vandermerwe, Arja Salafranca, Lauri Kubuitsile and Wame Molefe are also due out this year towards the end of the year.

And Makhsazana (Khosi) Xaba’s novel - Befallen - is also in the pipeline!

Interview with Ruben Reddy

2009-02-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

My interview with Durban-based architect Ruben Reddy:

http://www.designindabamag.com/2008/2nd/rubenreddy.htm

Copyright Design Indaba magazine

Durban architect Ruben Reddy has been accelerated into the fast lane of international sporting structures. He tells Fiona Zerbst what goes into designing the cathedrals of the 21st century.

REDDY STEADY...

Ruben Reddy's passion for designing sports facilities was probably influenced by his immersion in sport, as both a competitor and a spectator.

The Durban-based architect played cricket competitively for 20 years and later threw his weight behind the redesign of the North Stand of the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium, which is his favourite completed project to date. Interestingly, the building was originally designed by another sporting architect, Tommy Bedford, a former Natal rugby captain and eighth man.

"We added a new floor and created the world's longest ''long room' for the 2003 Cricket World Cup, which is what the VIP lounges are called at cricket grounds," Reddy said of his work on the stadium.

Reddy and the team followed a lightweight, easy-to-erect construction methodology and the building was put up in record time during the cricketing off-season, using steel, timber flooring and fibre cement siding. The overhanging roof protects it from the weather. Together with the structural engineer, they won the National Steel Award for the building in 2004.

"Spatially, it's a grand space with a perfect view of the entire oval - there are no sightline compromises," said Reddy. "We created a long sub-divisible space that is also a very popular room for functions. It remains a good conference facility for the city."

Having built a few cricket stadia and the ICC Arena, which is an indoor facility, Reddy branched out into Olympic-sized projects - quite literally. His company is currently designing a football stadium that will host the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and house 45 000 people.

"Football stadia are generally considered the 'cathedrals' of the 21st century in building terms. Our job is to make them safe, functional, comfortable, family-friendly and at the same time attractive," explains Reddy.

Reddy has also been tasked with building the Ice Hockey arena, which will house 12 500 people. These two structures are the largest facilities to be built for the Olympics. As briefs go, these are enormous projects by any standards.

"Sports buildings are primarily about engineering," explains Reddy. "One of my influences is my current associate in the Organising Committee for 2010, Eugene van Vuuren. I'm also inspired by the work of Schlaich Bergermann from Stuttgart, with whom I'm going to engage with on the Olympic projects in Sochi."

The challenges of designing sports stadia are unique, as Reddy knows: "They present the challenge of a large spanning and imposing built form around a large tract of land - the competition area of the sport surface. It is all about how large forms and structures are integrated into an elegant, built form in the landscape.

"One needs to be conscious of the urbanity in which these stadia are located and there should be sensitivity to the cost and operation of the facilities so they are not, ultimately, a burden or a white elephant!"

One of Reddy's many other significant achievements includes having co-authored FIFA's official guide to football stadia, Football Stadiums: Technical Recommendations and Requirements, which is in its fourth imprint. He has subsequently also been tasked with making sure that sports stadia in South Africa meet the requisite safety requirements, which are stringent, following many stadium disasters around the world.

With this level of expertise, it's not surprising that Reddy won an Olympic tender in Sochi. But other projects keep him busy too.

A recent challenge is to design a massive complex in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Private developer Joc Pececnik, an Internet gaming wizard and founder of the Elektroncek Group, is behind the venture. The complex will incorporate a sporting stadium, a 20 000 m2 shopping area, a four-star hotel, billiard rooms, a 10-pin bowling alley, a 25 m shooting range and a boutique football stadium.

Another project closer to home, Reddy's firm is one of five to be working on the brand new R7,2-billion King Shaka Airport. Distinct from Durban International, the King Shaka Airport must be ready in time for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

THE DRILL

When and where you were born? Where did you study?

I was born in Durban North, close to Umgeni, in 1962. My grandfather's property was affected by the Group Areas Act and we were forced to leave in 1964. This may well have influenced my family's political consciousness. I studied at the University of Natal, Durban, from 1982 to 1988 and dived straight into practice. I broke all the rules for registration that demanded I work for someone for two years. In retrospect, I should have done this! It would have given me a better understanding of the business of running a firm.

What drew you towards architecture?

I think I was looking for the perfect balance of the arts and science. I did not know any architects, so I was entering uncharted waters.

Your initial projects were politically motivated to a degree, which projects were these and what did they mean to you?

I took a conscientious decision to not do any work that would in any way compromise my political views. So while colleagues were benefiting from the House of Delegates school building programme, I refused to apply for those appointments.

Rather, I spent hours dealing with community and proposed development issues with organisations like the Umkhumbane Residents Association, a community in Cato Manor. The Cato Manor Development Association, then in its infancy, would try to engage people with complex planning proposals through a participative process and attempt to get people to respond. Someone needed to get people to understand drawings and reports - that someone was me!

That was the beginning of my involvement with non-statutory bodies and the creation of opportunities for previously disadvantaged people in the built environment.

Who are your architectural heroes?

As a book collector, it is difficult to identify one architect. Buildings I appreciate include Renzo Piano's stadium in Bari, Michael Hopkin's Rose Bowl in Southampton for the Hampshire Cricket Club, Santiago Calatrava's roof on the Athens Olympic Stadium and many others. The writing and work of Louis Kahn stands out, as well as the sensitivity of the work of Glenn Mercutt in Australia and Geoffrey Bawa in Sri Lanka.

Spending three days driving around KwaZulu-Natal, judging architecture with Jack Diamond, ex-South African, now Canadian starchitect, will stay with me forever! The man studied under Kahn at Penn, taught at Penn and held the chair in Toronto before forming his own office andÂ winning numerous competitions across the world.

What is your favourite building in the world?

If there is an architect who could answer this, he or she should read more!