Star 2021-06-17

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE ALCOHOL industry has slammed the government’s decision to ban alcohol sales over the weekends with fears that the country’s largest brewer, SAB, could once again withhold its intended R2 billion capital investment in the country. The industry said the restrictions would place a major strain on retailers who were still trying to recover from the previous alcohol bans and sales restrictions. The alcohol industry has been advocating for the continued implementation of non-pharmaceutical measures to curb further spread of Covid-19. Last week, SAB said it planned to invest at least R2bn in capital expenditure in the country as it anticipated that there would be no further restrictions on alcohol sales despite the rising Covid-19 cases amid the unstable vaccine roll-out. It said the money would…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za ANALYSTS have warned that South Africa’s delayed vaccine roll-out could halt the country’s economic recovery in spite of the government imposing stricter restrictions to curb further spread of Covid-19 infections. Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said the slow roll-out had reduced the positive sentiment towards the economic outlook and vaccine roll-out that had been growing this year. Bishop said while this and the last month had seen a quickening in the roll-out, the pace was still too slow and South Africa risked substantially more Covid-19 deaths. “The extremely slow roll-out of vaccines means that the country will most likely not reach two-thirds immunity by year end as originally planned,” Bishop said. “Globally, economic recovery remains strong, as are vaccine roll-outs in key economies. (But) South Africa’s weak…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za RATINGS agency S&P Global has raised its South Africa national scale ratings on JSE-listed Exxaro Resources to “zaA/zaA-1” from “zaA-/zaA-2”, saying it had built a track record of stable operational and financial performance despite headwinds from Eskom. S&P said in a note that it believed the lingering risks of payment delays and non-payment at Eskom, Exxaro’s biggest customer, had stabilised for now. The agency said Eskom represented 60 percent of the company’s revenue and this made Exxaro vulnerable to payment delays or non-payments from Eskom due to the power utility's liquidity challenges. “While we continue to see this as Exxaro’s largest risk, we recognise that the coal miner has delivered a stable performance over the past three years and has benefited from reliable and timely…

Sihle Makhowana sihle.makhowana@inl.co.za THE DIRECTORS of Africrypt investment company are alleged to have made off with about $3.6 billion (R49.6bn) of unsuspecting South Africans’ crypto investments, according to papers seen by Independent Media’s investigations unit. The directors, Ameer Cajee and his brother Raees Cajee, allegedly transferred Africrypt’s pooled funds from its South African account(s) through Bitcoin on the blockchain in April 2021 after claiming that there was a breach in the company’s system, compromising client accounts, wallets and nodes. Notably, FNB, which banked Afri- crypt according to documents seen by Independent Media’s investigations unit, allegedly enabled the investment company’s transactions, although the bank has vehemently denied this. FNB risk spokesperson Nadiah Maharaj adamantly refused to acknowledge any relationship with the fraud-accused company. And when probed further FNB opted to…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za ARROWHEAD Properties’ independent board has deemed the proposed merger between the company and Fairvest Property Holdings in the best interest of its shareholders. Arrowhead said in a statement on Tuesday that the independent board was strongly of the view that the benefits of a deal between Fairvest and Arrowhead would best be unlocked through a merger that creates a single, larger, more liquid Reit. The board considered a merger preferable to a transaction that would result in Arrowhead becoming a listed subsidiary of Fairvest, where neither company would fully enjoy the benefits of increased size or liquidity and where there was less ability to take advantage of the synergies or operational efficiencies that may be unlocked through a merger. Engagements had begun with Fairvest, and it was…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za AGGRIEVED residents in the Northern Cape are planning to approach the court to have the mining right granted to JSE- and Australian-listed Orion Minerals Prieska Copper Zinc revoked amid allegations that the company failed to consult the community on the development of the mine. Ronald Februarie, organiser of the Siyathemba Business and Community Forum, said that Orion failed to lead a thorough consultation process with the community on its plans to develop the mine and how it would uplift Siyathemba. Februarie said the Siyathemba community had not participated in the con- struction of solar energy projects in the Siyathemba Local Municipality and did not want to again be sidelined in the construction of the Copperton mine. “We have now more than 5 000 signatures of…