Star 2022-11-21

Bank seizes and liquidates R4bn estate portfolio to cover R520m repayment WHAT HAS BEEN described as a racial attack on a Cameroonian business tycoon has seen scores of people adding numbers to the high unemployment rate in South Africa. This after First National Bank (FNB) decided to seize and liquidate all properties of businessperson El Hadj Baba Ahmadou Danpullo in South Africa in 2020. FNB’s decision saw about 800 people lose their jobs. When reached FNB refused to respond to questions, saying the bank could not disclose the details of any specific bank accounts due to client confidentiality. “The bank offers clients a range of options for rehabilitating outstanding debt, based on the unique merits of each case. If a customer fails to meet their credit agreement obligations, despite our…

THE NUMBER of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold in South Africa increased 245.1% in the first nine months over the same period last year, Naamsa, the automotive business council said Friday. For the first nine months, 3 092 NEVs were sold, compared to 896 NEVs sold during the full year 2021. NEV sales by 13 industry brands in the third quarter increased 29.1% to 953 units, from 738 units in the second quarter. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition published an Automotive Green Paper on the introduction of NEV’s in May 2021. The paper highlighted that the NEV challenge in South Africa was two-dimensional, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations, and that it was an inevitable transition, as it is the future driving technology adopted by…

THE SOUTH African government has taken a stringent decision to ban trade in scrap metal in a bid to address the damage to public infrastructure and the economy after seeking extensive legal opinion. Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele on Friday said the Cabinet had considered and approved the comprehensive package of measures to restrict trade of waste scrap and semi processed metals. This follows the gazetting for public comment of the draft policy proposals by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Ebrahim Patel, in August. Gungubele, however, said that the details of the measures to be implemented will now be processed for publication in the Government Gazette by the relevant ministries. “A detailed media release containing details of the measures will be released by GCIS as…

SOUTH Africa remains a long way away from restoring its sovereign credit ratings status back to investment grade, despite making serious progress in its fiscal discipline and debt metrics. On Friday, S&P Global Ratings agency maintained South Africa’s government bonds below investment grade, but acknowledged the improvement in the fiscus. South Africa’s sovereign credit ratings status – as set by major ratings agencies Moody’s Investor Services, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global – is deep in junk territory. Only the newly-established Sovereign Africa Ratings (SAR) pegged the country’s sovereign bonds at investment grade with a medium risk of a default in September. S&P Global affirmed South Africa’s currency debt ratings at “BB-” and “BB”, respectively, and retained a positive outlook. On Friday night, S&P said the government’s economic and fiscal reforms…

RICHEMONT is cutting energy costs by 10% at its offices and boutiques in Europe over the next six months and aims to source 100% renewable electricity ahead of its target for the end of calendar year 2025. This is according to the luxury goods group’s chairperson, Johann Rupert, who said at the release of their results for the six months to September 30, that the group had engaged with several NGOs in the interim period to assess progress on the group’s revised human rights strategy and biodiversity, climate and circularity policies. With climate change, companies are faced with a barrage of tightening environmental, institutional and investment policies aimed at addressing sustainability on the planet. “We are currently rolling out a strengthened sustainability roadmap to drive further environmental and social progress…

WITH THE VOLATILE market conditions prevailing in the world many people are of the opinion the future is unpredictable and uncertain. And to a certain extent recent events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, the energy crisis, high inflation and many more, have contributed to this opinion,. But is the future really as unpredictable as people would like to believe? Jason Clarke, the founder of Minds at Work, does not believe so, since today’s cutting edge technology often was yesterday’s science fiction. In 1966, the well-known and popular series Star Trek featured tablets, smart communicators, Bluetooth and virtual reality holodecks. And Batman had a car phone and GPS. In 1968, the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey portrayed astronauts interacting with artificial intelligence built into the on-board computer, Facetime…