76 Middle East & Africa The EconomistDecember 21st 2019
Y
oumightthinkthatelephantdung
isbestkeptfarawayfromgin,which
mostpeoplefindtastyenoughserved
withtonicwateranda sliceoflime.Not
so,sayPaulaandLesAnsley,SouthAfri-
candistillerswhoinfusetheirswith
pachydermpootocapture“thetextures
andflavoursoftheAfricanbush”andsell
it for 659 rand($46)a bottle.Indlovugin
maybeaimedprimarilyatthosewithan
“adventurousspirit”,butit isonlythe
latestsplashofethanolona marketthat
hascaughtfire.In 2018 SouthAfricans
sipped54%moreginthantheyearbe-
fore,reckonsiwsr, a researchfirm.
Meetingthisdemandaredozensof
newfirms.AttheinauguralsaCraftGin
AwardsinAugusttherewere 110 entries.
“Fordecadeswehavebeendrinking
manyimportedBritishgins,”saysJean
Buckham,whorunsTheGinBox,a sub-
scriptionservicethatdealsexclusivelyinSouthAfricancraftgin.“Untilrecently,
wehadneverreallySouthAfricanisedit.”
In 2015 therewerefewerthana dozengin
distilleries.Nowthereare50,ofwhich 30
areintheWesternCape.Partofthere-
gion’sattractionisitswealthof“botan-
icals”,ornaturalflavourings,which
makeeachgintastedifferent.Inver-
roche,oneofthepioneersofSouthAfri-
ca’scraftindustry,usesfragrantfynbos
shrubs.It makes18,000bottlesa month
andexportsto 17 countries.
ThreefactorsexplainSouthAfrica’s
boom.Thefirstisthatginisbecoming
morepopulareverywhere.Consumption
increasedby8%aroundtheworldand
52%inBritainin2018.Anotherwasa
liberalisationoflicensinglawsafterthe
endofapartheidin 1994 thatmadeit
easiertostarta distilleryandfornon-
whitestoconsumethesametypesof
alcoholaswhites.(Undertheracist
regimeit washardforblackSouthAfri-
canstogotoliquorshopstobuy“white”
booze;insteadtheywenttoinformal
boozerscalledshebeens.)
ThelastisthatproducersofSouth
Africa’smorefamousdrink,wine,are
struggling.A gindistillerycanbesetup
ina warehouse;a vineyardneedssun,
waterandland.AcrosstheWesternCape
vintnersarewrestlingwithrecent
droughts,contestedlandclaimsand
weakprices.bdo, a consultingfirm,
reckonsthatonlyhalfofvineyardsare
makingmoney.
Evenasposhnewcraftginsgeneratea
buzz,mostSouthAfricanssticktothe
cheaperstuff.Ginsthatcostmorethan
225 randa bottleaccountforjust6%of
sales.Butforthosewhocanaffordto
splashout,thedelightsofelephantdung
andtonicawait.Adventurousspirit
AlcoholinAfricaFynbosandelephantdungaddtotheflavourofSouthAfricanginShaken,notturdT
he smallfigures hidden under green
cloaks shuffle forward and give their
testimony through a voice-distorting fun-
nel. “We were taught how to take a woman
by force,” says one boy who was abducted
while walking home with his mother. An-
other says he was recruited at the age of
nine and given medicine to enable him to
rape women. All are giving evidence in the
trial of Ntabo Ntaberi Cheka, a warlord
from eastern Congo who faces charges of
recruiting child soldiers, mass rape and
other atrocities.
The trial has been hailed as a step to-
wards reducing violence and ending impu-
nity for warlords in a part of the Democratic
Republic of Congo that is still largely over-
run by militias. Yet it also highlights the
difficulties of bringing justice to a weak
state in which conflict rages.
Witnesses are too frightened to testify
openly in the trial, which is taking place in
Goma, a city just 130km from Mr Cheka’s
former stronghold. Many of his troops are
still at large. The un is trying to help by put-
ting witnesses up in safe houses or by regu-
larly checking in on them. But not all have
been well protected. One woman, who was
raped by three of Mr Cheka’s soldiers in
front of her young children, says that
shortly after she appeared in court a strang-
er turned up at her door and asked why she
would want to “talk badly” about her
“brother Cheka”. Too frightened to go out,
she has stopped selling vegetables and now
has no income.
One former child soldier says that days
before he was supposed to appear in court
he received a menacing phone call, alleg-
edly from Mr Cheka himself. That is less
implausible than it sounds: the warlord
has easy access to a mobile phone in jail. He
has other surprising privileges, such as be-
ing allowed to have his wife visit to cook for
him over a portable stove in his cell.
The former child soldier decided to tes-
tify anyway. But he is one of a brave few:
only 14 witnesses have dared to show up in
court. The boy who was taught to rape at the
age of nine told the judge that he had come
to testify because: “I want justice to deal
with the person who mistreated us during
our childhoods and to encourage other
children like me to leave armed groups.”
Slouched on a bench in his cell, Mr
Cheka denies doing any wrong and says
that the witnesses are lying. Yet prosecu-
tors and human-rights groups have assem-bled a long list of charges. Among them is
the allegation that in a days-long raid in
2010 his men, along with those of two other
militias, raped 387 women, men and chil-
dren. uninvestigators said the violence
was to punish locals for supporting gov-
ernment forces.
Despite the trial’s flaws, the mere fact
that Mr Cheka is in the dock is a victory.
Warlords in Congo are rarely punished.
Most are given senior positions in the army
if they agree to switch sides. Five rebel
leaders have been sent to the International
Criminal Court in The Hague. Last month
one of them, Bosco Ntaganda, who is
known as “The Terminator”, was sentencedto 30 years in prison for war crimes and
crimes against humanity. He is appealing
against the conviction and sentence.
Crucially, Mr Cheka’s trial is being held
before a Congolese judge in a city close to
the villages where his troops once paraded
severed heads on poles and hung women’s
insides from trees. News that he has been
locked up and is facing justice has already
trickled back to those he terrorised. It may
also deter other militia leaders from com-
mitting crimes. “Cheka was one of the most
feared warlords in the country,” says Elsa
Taquet from Trial International, an ngo
that is supporting the victims’ lawyers. “We
have seen him crumble.”^7GOMA
Prosecuting a warlord in a war zoneJustice in CongoTrial and errors