South Africa captain Senzo Meyiwa shot and killed in Johannesburg

South Africa and Orlando Pirates captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was shot dead late Sunday near Johannesburg, a police spokesman told AFP, with club officials describing his slaying as a “loss to the nation”.

Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said Meyiwa, 27, was gunned down at a house in Vosloorus, a township about 30 kilometres south of the city, and declared dead on admission to hospital.

“We can confirm that Bucs (Pirates) goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa has been shot and sadly declared dead on arrival at hospital,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) said on its Twitter feed.

Police later said there were seven people inside the house, including Meyiwa, when two suspects entered and another remained outside.

“The incident happened at around 8pm SA time in Vosloorus,” said police who did not comment on some media reports that the shooting was sparked by a row over a mobile phone.

“There was an altercation and Senzo Meyiwa was shot. The three suspects fled on foot after the shooting.

“We can assure South Africans that we will do all we can to bring Meyiwa’s killers to book.

“A reward of up to R150000 (Dh51,422) is being offered for any information that can lead to arrests.”

Pirates, one of the most popular and successful South African football clubs, also confirmed that the player had been killed.

“@Orlando_Pirates family has learned with sadness of the untimely death of our number 1 keeper & captain Senzo Meyiwa,” the club tweeted.

Irvin Khoza, the club chairman, added: “This is a sad loss to Senzo’s family especially his children, to Orlando Pirates & the nation.”

Meyiwa played for his club in Soweto Saturday and has been in outstanding form for the national team during recent 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The death of the national football team captain is the second tragedy to hit South African sport within three days after former world 800-metre athletics champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi died Friday in a car crash.

South Africa teammates Dean Furman and Andile Jali were among the first to react to the Meyiwa tragedy on Twitter.

“Beyond devastated at the loss of our captain and friend Senzo Meyiwa. Thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this terrible time,” tweeted England-based Furman, who plays for Doncaster Rovers in the third tier of English football.

“Just got a call and I was sleeping, but now I cannot sleep because of what I just heard,” tweeted Jali, who moved from Pirates to Belgium club Oostende this year.

After many years in the South African football shadows, Meyiwa had a meteoric climb to fame with club and country.

He displaced national squad goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs as first-choice at Pirates, the only South African side to be crowned African champions.

And a recent injury to South Africa captain and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune gave Meyiwa a chance in the national team, popularly known as Bafana Bafana (The Boys).

New national coach Ephraim Mashaba not only promoted Durban-born Meyiwa to replace Khune but also made him captain of a team that has been in the doldrums for some years.

Meyiwa responded to his promotion by leading the team to victories over Sudan and Congo Brazzaville and draws with Congo and Nigeria, a country South Africa traditionally struggle against.

He did not concede a goal in the four matches and if Souith Africa defeat Sudan in eastern city Nelspruit on October 15 they will qualify the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

He was also made captain of Pirates and helped the club defeat Ajax Cape Town 4-1 Saturday in a South African League Cup quarter-final.

Meyiwa gave a flawless performance and the only Ajax attempt that beat Meyiwa came from a penalty kick.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

South Africa captain Senzo Meyiwa shot and killed in Johannesburg

The goalkeeper was shot dead in Johannesburg on Sunday at the age of 27.