Новости за 15.05.2024

President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged the fear that his signing of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law had generated in and address during a signing ceremony held at the Union Buildings on Wednesday. However, he described the NHI as an opportunity to break with the prevailing inequality in the health system and called on stakeholders to work with government to make it work.

The Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) negotiations have concluded with a 7% wage increase over the next year for entry-level workers in the metals and engineering industry and a 6% wage increase over the next year for skilled workers. Entry-level workers will receive a 6% wage increase during the subsequent two years until June 30, 2027, and skilled workers will receive a 5% increase over the same two-year period. The increases are based on the minimum rates of pay, and not on the actual rates of pay.

Nonprofit monitoring organisation Corruption Watch (CW) has confirmed in its latest report that there are significant concerns about the impact of corruption in the country, particularly a marked lack of confidence in the efficacy and ability of law enforcement agencies to tackle corruption. The report, titled ‘The impact of corruption: insights from a perceptions and experiences survey’ has been informed by interviews with more than 1 500 respondents over a two-month period across all provinces.

The Competition Tribunal has ordered the Emfuleni local municipality to provide various documents to steel producer and electricity consumer Cape Gate, which alleges that the municipality excessively charged it for electricity in 2016/17. In its answering affidavit to the tribunal, the municipality denied the allegations against it. The tribunal has granted Cape Gate’s discovery application and has ordered the municipality to provide documents which the municipality had objected to producing during... Читать дальше...

Finance institution Nedbank on May 15 announced the launch of the R10-million Indalo Fund at the Indalo Inclusive Symposium at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria. The Indalo Fund is designed to change the way entrepreneurs are funded, creating a pipeline of viable businesses that will be ready to attract high-ticket investment, Nedbank points out.

The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) has started to prepare the site at the Coega Special Economic Zone for the construction of the new Stellantis vehicle-assembly plant, says the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic). The CDC is supplying the land on which the factory will be built.

South African banking group Absa and the International Finance Corporation (IFC – part of the World Bank group) will jointly provide a commodity trade finance facility, worth up to $60-million, to a leading global green coffee merchant, Volcafe. This facility will strengthen Volcafe’s operations in East Africa and support thousands of coffee farmers in that region, by providing working capital for the purchase of coffee cherries (the fruit from which the coffee beans are extracted) from ...

The Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ) on May 14 celebrated the first cohort of 526 local youths trained in safety, health, environment and quality to participate in different parts of the automotive value chain. These skills are critical in all aspects of the automotive value chain, said TASEZ CEO Dr Bheka Zulu.

The International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) has asked the South African Reserve Bank to impose provisional duties on imports of active yeast originating in or imported from Zimbabwe for six months while further investigation into allegations of dumping is under way. Itac has been investigating the alleged dumping of active yeasts originating in or imported from Zimbabwe since August last year.

The Competition Tribunal has conditionally approved the proposed merger whereby subsidiaries of JSE-listed seafood and aquaculture company Sea Harvest intend to acquire certain subsidiaries of Terrasan. The subsidiaries being acquired are those engaged in the catching, processing and sale of pelagic fish, as well as in the farming, processing and selling of abalone.

A consortium led by private equity firm Alterra Capital Partners and including broad-based investment holding company the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) and independent private equity house Admaius Capital Partners, will acquire a majority stake in beverage company Chill Beverages from Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE). This acquisition marks the first investment by Alterra’s Africa Accelerator Fund.

Qatar Airways will soon announce an investment in an airline in Southern Africa, its CEO said on Wednesday, part of the Gulf carrier's drive to expand its network in Africa. "We are at the final stage of an equity investment in an airline in the southern part of Africa," Badr Mohammed Al Meer said on a panel at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, saying the deal could be announced in two to three weeks.

The number of US visitors to South Africa is now higher than it was in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, United Airlines director sales continental Europe, India, Israel, Africa & Middle East Thorsten Lettnin tells Engineering News, in an exclusive interview. In 2022, the total number of travellers to South Africa from the US was some 350 000, a number on par with that for visitors to South Africa from the UK. “Since Covid, we have seen stronger demand on our South Africa routes,” he reports. Читать дальше...

Mounting price pressures from the resurgence of the dollar, foreign-currency crunches and adverse weather conditions are set to lead to delayed and shallower interest-rate cuts for African central banks this year. Over the next three weeks, analysts predict Nigeria, Angola and Zambia, who are still fighting double-digit inflation, will raise interest rates and only start reducing them next year.

Forensic Pathology Services have, as at 06:00 on May 15, identified 18 of the workers killed in the collapse of a partially-built building in George. The death toll has reached 33, while 19 people are still unaccounted for eight days after the building's collapse.

Equipment manufacturer John Deere South Africa will continue to focus on pursuing innovation on its machines and technology as it looks to strengthen its footprint in Africa. Tasneem Bulbulia tells us more.