Star 2022-09-12

AS THE COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world of work, South African organised business, government, communities, labour and civil society have been urged to be proactive in transitioning to remote working which is enabled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This was the main theme at the 27th National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) Annual National Summit on Friday in Johannesburg. Nedlac is the vehicle by which the government, labour, business and community organisations seek to co-operate, through problem-solving and negotiation, on economic, labour and development issues and related challenges facing the country. Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said the Nedlac council needed to be proactive, taking the lead in tackling the major challenges the country is facing – for a just transition, sustainability, digitisation and the…

THE ADDITIONAL duties on tyres from China levied by the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) will be devastating for South African motorists, public transport users and the trucking and logistics sector, fostering higher prices and less choice, industry pundits said on Friday. The provisional payments on the respective tariff classifications that will be in place for a period of six months, from September 9 to March 8, 2023 are 38.33 percent ad valorem. The Road Freight Association (RFA) and the Tyre Importers Association of South Africa (Tiasa) said on Friday that the additional duties on top of the existing import duties, of between 25 and 30 percent, were simply another form of tax on the consumer and on businesses. This left them to questioning whther Itac and the…

Confirms that he and partner not after Airports Company SA, as rumoured BILLIONAIRE private investor Rob Hersov will be directly approaching the Department of Public Enterprises with a daring R2 billion bid to buy six regional airports owned by the state. Speaking exclusively to Business Report while in Europe on Saturday, Hersov confirmed that an informal offer he and his business partner Nick Ferguson made for the airports was completely rejected by the government. Hersov said they were not bidding for Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) as was rumoured, but instead his company RSA.aero would bid for regional airports. These regional airports are George, Gqeberha, East London, Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Upington, and would add to the Cape Winelands Airport RSA.aero already owns on the outskirts of Cape Town. Hersov…

INTERNATIONAL brewing giant Heineken has agreed to cough up a roughly R10 billion investment among other public interest conditions to seal its €2.2bn (R38.3bn) purchase of Distell.Heineken announced its offer to buy the South African company in November. The offer splits Distell into two businesses, with its wine and spirits brands to be combined into a new company (Newco), with Heineken Southern Africa’s business and the Dutch interest in Namibia Breweries. In a statement on Friday the Competition Commission recommended the deal gets the green light from the Competition Tribunal, but imposed a number of tough public interest conditions. On Twitter, The Passive Income Guy (@hazelwood_dave) said, “Tough conditions imposed on Distell/Heineken merger. You’d swear foreigners were falling over themselves to invest in our country … ”. Conditions included…

AYO Technology Solutions has applied for an urgent interdict against Access Bank South Africa in a bid to restore two accounts that the bank closed without notice. Judge Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood reserved judgment on Friday in the Cape Town High Court in a case that AYO’s legal counsel, advocate Tanya Goldin, said was “extremely urgent” because the listed technology company had no banking facilities, was being forced to operate unsustainably as an investment holding company instead of as an operational trading company, and the future of thousands of employees hung in the balance if its bank accounts were not restored. She said a large portion of the funds affected by the closure of the accounts had been sent to Ninety-One, and AYO had no access to these funds as the asset…

SOUTH32, the diversified miner listed on the JSE, ALX, and London Stock Exchange, has set a new goal of net zero Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In its 2022 annual report released on Friday, the group said it had developed its Climate Change Action Plan in this. “The plan describes the actions we are taking to address the risks and opportunities which climate change presents, including producing the metals that support the transition to a low-carbon world, in a way that minimises our impact,” the group explained. Chief executive Graham Kerr said South32’s Climate Change Action Plan outlined measures the company was taking to address specific risks and opportunities that climate change presented for its business. “We understand the need for action on climate change, and we are…