Star 2021-10-04

siphelele dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa’s economy is set for a major rebound in the fourth quarter as business activity will benefit from further relaxed lockdown restrictions and rising business activity. President Cyril Ramaphosa last week lowered the country’s lockdown restrictions to the lowest level following the end of the third wave of Covid-19 infections. This means that businesses, especially in the hospitality sector, can now open for longer as the curfew has been pushed out to midnight, alcohol sales are back to licence provisions, and a larger number of patrons are allowed in venues. Ramaphosa said the government’s greatest priority now was to ensure that the economy recovered as quickly as possible so that businesses get back on their feet and jobs can be created. “As part of the effort…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE INDEPENDENT Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) is scheduled to auction high demand spectrum by no later than March, according to a timetable released on Friday. Icasa said the new road map for the expedited licensing of the International Mobile Telecommunications spectrum, also known as high-demand spectrum and the Wireless Open Access Network (Woan) will result in the publication of the Invitation To Apply (ITA) in December this year. Qualifying bidders are scheduled to be announced in February next year. Icasa chairperson Keabetswe Modi- moeng appealed to stakeholders to accept the published timetable for both licensing processes to avoid unduly delaying the release of this much-needed economic stimulus input. “We would like to urge all interested stakeholders to participate fully in this consultative engagement and to engage…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za FOUR OF THE gold industry’s major unions have declared a dispute with precious metals giant Sibanye-Stillwater and are frustrated the company has pleaded poverty during the 2021 wage talks given its record financial results. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Soli- darity and Uasa said on Friday they had rejected Sibanye’s latest wage offer charging it was substantially lower than what was agreed to with peers Goldfields and Harmony Gold Company. The unions believed the group could have tabled a better offer given that it generated a profit of R25 billion in the first half of 2021. They said the group’s offer did not resonate well with members and might lead to labour action. “As workers of this…

siphelele dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE AFRICAN Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will succeed only if there is a huge appetite for infrastructure investment to drive industrialisation, technological developments and large-scale manufacturing. This was among sentiments expressed by various speakers on Friday at the inaugural Africa Trade South Africa (Atsa) 2021 virtual conference. The conference was aimed at exploring South Africa-Africa trade and investment opportunities in relation to the AfCFTA. South Africa has historically been seen as an African powerhouse, and is poised to become a key player in the AfCFTA. However, Africa’s infrastructure investment gap has widened over time, and the Covid-19 pandemic made things worse in 2020, in spite of high demand for projects and a sufficient supply of capital and investors. According to law firm Baker McKenzie’s latest report,…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za Nampak has been granted a reprieve from its lenders from further asset disposals or a capital raise until June 30, 2022, due to improved trading conditions at the packaging group. In terms of funding agreements negotiated in September last year, the groups debt funders had required interest-bearing debt to be reduced by R1 billion by September 30, 2021, through the sale of assets and/or a capital raise. The share price surged 8.9 percent to R3.67 on the JSE on Friday morning after the group’s trading update was released. The group said its lenders had provided the deferral of the milestone date, after considering Nampak’s results for the 11 months to August 30. “The restriction to reduce debt only through asset disposals and/or a capital raise…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za POWER utility Eskom is considering its legal options after energy regulator Nersa last week rejected its MYPD5 (Fifth Multi-Year Price Determination) pricing application, a move the state-owned enterprise considers will create a regulatory vacuum for the electricity supply industry. In a terse response, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told Business Report: “Eskom is considering its options in terms of the law and is committed to ensuring the required legal and consultation processes are followed.” “Eskom has to go back to the drawing board to submit an application for the 2022/23 financial year – based on an interim pricing methodology which would preferably be based on the principles of a new approach being considered.” Nersa said that after due consideration of the rationality and legality of applying an expired…