Star 2022-02-14

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE elbowing out of taxi moguls Santaco as the preferred bidders for fledging airline Mango has raised more questions than answers, which some analysts have argued is a systematic elimination of competition for SAA, which has yet to confirm a collaboration. There are also questions surrounding the R820 million price tag for an airline that has no tangible assets. Business rescue practitioners (BRP) led by Sipho Sono informed Santaco that their bid for Mango was unsuccessful, in spite of the transport organisation being cash-flush. “The BRP of Mango evaluated all expressions of interest received in relation to the proposed transaction, in accordance with the evaluation criteria and principles set out in the Bid Process letter. “After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that Santaco Services…

Tawanda Karombo THUNGELA Resources shares leapt 11.8 percent to close at R120 on Friday after an impressive trading update that reflected “blow-out earnings” for the full year to the end of December. Formerly owned by Anglo American under its thermal coal business unit, Thungela was a top performer on the JSE on Friday, scaling to its highest share price. This came as investors cheered the group’s earnings, with market watchers saying its valuation has shot up to more than $1 billion (R15.2bn) from an initial valuation of $253 million when it was bundled off Anglo American last year. The company advised shareholders via a trading update that per share earnings for the year period to December 31, 2021 are expected to be between R60.32 and R61.27. This…

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za THE Department of Employment and Labour on Friday filed papers in court against Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies’ South African unit for alleged employment equity violations, in what it said was a “strong message” to all companies operating in South Africa that they must abide by the law. Labour Department advocate Fikiswa Bede said on Friday that Huawei Technologies South Africa (Huawei) faced a potential fine of R1.5 million, or 2 percent of the local firm’s annual 2020 turnover (whichever is greater) for the alleged violations The case comes at a tricky time for South Africa as it seeks to attract more foreign skilled workers to the country, as well as – through the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Department of Labour –…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE GOVERNMENT has given the business sector much-needed certainty of getting the economy going again by setting a final 1-month deadline for ending all restrictive Covid-19 regulations. This comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a radical policy shift to put the private sector at the centre of economic recovery and enable business to thrive by cutting red tape. On Friday the Cabinet announced that it had approved the final extension of the National State of Disaster to March 15 as some of the key departments dealing with Covid-19 had not yet concluded their analyses. Ramaphosa already indicated in his State of the Nation address (Sona) on Thursday that the national disaster would end once measures to manage the Covid-19 response were in place. South Africa has seen…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE take-over battle for Royal Bafokeng Patinum (RBPlat) gathered momentum on Friday, after the board’s approval of Impala Platinum Holdings’s bid. RBPlat’s independent board on Friday advised their shareholders to accept a mandatory more than R40 billion offer from Impala, after Impala announced in December that it had already acquired 35.2 percent of RBPlat. But a Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) probe and other negotiations following a R17bn bid by Northam Platinum Holdings to acquire just over a third of RBPlat, might still see RBPlat shareholders need to decide between two mandatory offers. Implat’s announced in November that it wished to acquire all of RBPlat’s shares. Its mandatory offer is pitched at 0.22 Implats shares for every RBPlat share held. RBPlat on Friday issued an offeree response circular…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa’s ongoing electricity supply challenges could ease slightly as the government’s proposed amendments to the energy policy strip Eskom of its dominant position in the market. The Cabinet on Friday approved the publication of the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill aimed to broaden the national regulatory framework for the electricity supply industry. The bill is envisaged to align the country with the international best practice in energy by enabling the trading and reselling of electricity among private players. This will relieve Eskom of the burden of being the only electricity supplier and take away its monopoly in this crucial industry to economic growth. The regulations also make provisions for the functions of a transmission system operator, and for a licensing framework for power generation, transmission, distribution and…