Star 2021-05-19

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za TRADE, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel yesterday unveiled South Africa’s policy proposals to accelerate electric vehicle (EV) production. Patel said in his budget vote that the policy would create a strategy to put South Africa at the forefront of advanced vehicle and vehicle component manufacturing. Dr Norman Lamprecht, the execu- tive manager for trade, exports and research at Naamsa, the Automotive Business Council, said the Green Paper was necessary to speed up the creation of the “vast” ecosystem that went with EV production. Lamprecht said this would include charging infrastructure, battery waste facilities, and incentives to stimulate demand for EVs in the local market before local production could ensue because locally-made EVs would have to be 60 percent local content to be able to be…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE TOURISM sector is set to receive financial rejuvenation of almost R3 billion in the 2021/22 financial year to recover from the impact of Covid-19 on its operations. Tourism Minster Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane yesterday said during her department’s budget vote speech that the funding would be implemented through several initiatives, some of which have already been launched. Kubayi-Ngubane said the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan (TSRP), Destination Development Programme, Tourism Transformation Fund, Tourism Equity Fund and the Incubation Programme to support youth-owned small, medium and micro tourism enterprises would put money into the hands of tourism stakeholders to aid the recovery of the sector. “From the time of level 5 hard lockdown last year, the road to recovery for the tourism sector has been a rocky one,” Kubayi-Ngubane…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE DEPARTMENT of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said yesterday that Eskom was set to provide more households with reliable power during the 2021/2022 financial year through the implementation of the Integrated National Electrification Programme (Inep). The department said the programme would help to connect 180 000 additional households to reliable energy above the 166 886 connected in 2020/21 financial year. It said it would allocate R4.8 billion to Eskom and municipalities for the implementation of the Inep. DMRE said Eskom would receive R2.8bn, while R2bn was allocated to various municipalities. It said service providers would be given R232.3 million for the implementation of the non-grid electrification programme, while R220.9m had been allocated to municipalities for the Energy Efficiency Demand Side Management programme,…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za WORKING and studying from home was a major boost for Vodacom during the year ended March 2021, with revenue climbing to almost R100 billion and shareholders receiving a bumper final dividend. Vodacom said group revenue in- creased to R98.3bn, 8.3 percent higher than the R90.7bn reported a year earlier thanks to the 5.8 percent increase in service revenue to R77.6bn. “This is particularly pleasing in a difficult trading environment and is testament to the rapid manner in which the company and its employees adapted to the crisis,” chief executive Shameel Joosub said. The group declared a R7.52bn final dividend, representing R4.10 a share, underscoring the business’ strong fundamentals while the ordinary dividend a share for the year was 5.1 percent higher at…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za TELKOM’S share price rose by more than 11 percent on the JSE yesterday afternoon after the telecommunications company released a strong trading update that expected a huge surge in earnings for the year to the end of March. Telkom said it expected its headline earnings per share to increase by between 145 and 155 percent, to between 509.9 cents and 530.7c a share, up from 208.1c last year. Its basic earnings per share were likely to rise by between 300 and 310 percent, to between 484.4c and 496.5c, up from 121.1c reported a year earlier. The group attributed the expected increase in earnings mainly to the 20 percent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) during the period compared…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za PUBLIC Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu has slammed the conduct of the Public Servants Association (PSA) during crucial wage negotiations between the government and public sector unions. PSA acting deputy manager for members’ affairs Reuben Maleka on Monday went on a media roadshow alleging that the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) had excluded them from the facilitation process. Maleka said the decision to exclude them from the current public service wage negotiations was childish and displayed a lack of vision by the PSCBC while Cosatu-affiliated unions remained at negotiations. “It is ridiculous and short of any sense to exclude a union in the process to find a solution and which is salaries,” Maleka said. “We are unhappy about the exclusion from the facilitation, but we…