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Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za RICHARDS Bay Minerals, a Rio Tinto subsidiary, is restarting operations following the stabilisation of security around the mine, an agreement with host communities and traditional authorities, as well as government support. Rio Tinto Minerals’s chief executive Sinead Kaufman said yesterday: “The safety and security of our people has been our priority throughout, and we recognise the collaboration and constructive dialogue we have had with all stakeholders to get us into a position where we can restart operations and resume contributing to the host communities, KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa.” The company said operations would be ramped up to capacity as soon as possible. The overall impact of the suspension of operations, including the shutdown of furnace number 4 as announced on July 21, was still to be assessed.…
EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za South Africa’s sovereign debt costs rose immediately through the civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month as the buyers of South Africa’s bonds demanded higher interest rates for the additional sovereign risk. This was said by the National Treasury deputy director-general for economic policy Duncan Pieterse yesterday in a presentation to Parliament’s select committee on finance. He said that while the interest rates on South Africa’s long-term bonds had reduced slightly since then, the unrest would undoubtedly have an effect on how much the government pays on interest in future, its fiscal stance, and how it spends the funds that are available to it. He said the interest rate on South Africa’s 10-year bonds stood at 9.06 percent on July 9, but this rose to…
Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is distancing itself from being the stumbling block that led to the suspension of alternative stock exchange ZAR X. In a statement yesterday, the PIC, which holds a 24.14 percent stake on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), said there are no protracted internal issues and governance processes within the PIC. “The PIC subjects investment proposals, including reinvestment proposals, to a thorough investment process for the benefit of clients on whose behalf it invests,” it said. This followed the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) this week suspending the exchange licence of ZAR X, for its non-compliance with the Financial Markets Act (FMA) and FMA regulations relating to an exchange’s liquidity and capital adequacy requirements. The suspension remains effective until…
Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za The RATE OF unemployment in South Africa could threaten the expected economic rebound this year after it worsened to a new record high in the second quarter of 2021 due to more than 500 days of the national lockdown. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday, showed that the jobless rate increased by 1.8 percentage points to 34.4 percent in the second quarter, from to 32.6 percent in the first quarter. This is the highest unemployment rate recorded since the start of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) in 2008. Economist Mike Schüssler said he did not expect the jobless rate to be this high, because economic recovery had started showing signs of improvement. Schüssler said the fiscus would struggle to collect personal income tax…
Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za DIS-CHEM’S founding Saltzman family yesterday announced three major transactions that will substantially reduce their control of the pharmaceutical store chain. The group said the family planned to sell 7.5 percent of their shareholding in the group through its investment vehicle Ivlyn Local Investment Holdings, via an accelerated bookbuild. The divestment involved the sale of 64.51 million Dis-Chem shares. In addition to the bookbuild, family said it would sell up to 32.25 million Dis-Chem shares, representing 3.75 percent of the share capital, to a select number of senior executives. Included in this group was chief financial officer Rui Morais, who had also been approved by the nomination committee as successor to chief executive Ivan Saltzman. The management retention scheme would be vendor-financed by the family at no…
Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE NATIONAL Treasury has rejected a number of proposals in the Pension Fund Amendment Bill 2020 that could allow workers to access a portion of their retirement savings immediately. Parliament yesterday presented a collective of written submissions made by political parties, retirement funds, trade unions, civil society groups and the Treasury on the bill. Presenting a summary of the submissions to the standing committee on finance, Parliament’s legal adviser, Noluthando Ntlokwana, said the retirement funds industry was against the bill. However, Ntlokwana said there was general sympathy towards the objectives of the bill of providing relief to those members of pension funds who were in financial difficulties because of the Covid-9 pandemic. “Cosatu and Fedusa support the provision for pension funds to be utilised as surety for…
