Star 2023-04-11

AS THE ECONOMIC woes for South Africa continue to pile up and the situation for consumers growing dire day by day, President Cyril Ramaphosa said a plan had been put in place to deal with the logistical issues that the country is facing. This comes after a number of proposals were put forward to the President to improve road, rail and ports infrastructure. Ramaphosa said the government would consider them and announce a set of measures in the coming weeks. The proposals were made to Ramaphosa during a virtual meeting last Wednesday, where the President interacted with chief executives from exporting economic sectors, such as mining and minerals, the agricultural and forestry sectors, and the auto- motive and freight forwarding industry. “We need to take urgent measures to resolve…

Moti has big plans for African Chrome Fields, ‘his baby’, and a hi-tech aluminothermic factory as a cash cow BUSINESS tycoon Zunaid Moti, the founder of the Moti Group, may have recently stepped away from the group’s multi-billion-rand helm to allow for fresh leadership and growth, but he has a double-pronged strategy to generate further wealth. The Moti Group is a private family- owned investment group of roughly 250 companies, with interests in a wide range of industries such as property development, car financing, aviation, mining and beneficiation. While Mikaeel Moti, the executive chairperson, and the former director-general of the National Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, the CEO of the Moti Group, restructure the family-owned business and beef up corporate governance, Moti is doubling down on African Chrome Fields, one of…

DURING the last week of March the prominent European Patent Office (EPO) issued its annual Patent Index of 2022. Since the registration of new patents generally provides an early insight into the latest innovation and inventions, the index offers some interesting information regarding the innovation performance of countries. One of the main benefits of patent registration is that it provides legal protection for new inventions and ideas, allowing inventors and businesses to protect their intellectual property and commercialise their innovations. It is this protection that often encourages entrepreneurs and investors to invest in research and development, as it provides a mechanism for companies to recoup their costs and profit from their inventions. Patents further facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and technology, as they require inventors to disclose the details of…

ARCELORMITTAL South Africa’s new chairperson Bonang Mohale has called for the stabilisation of State-owned enterprises (SOE) in order for South Africa to not become “yet another failed African state”. In ArcelorMittal’s 2022 integrated annual report, Mohale who was appointed in May 2022, said behind the woeful state of the SOEs, there was “a sinister, thieving hand of State capture”. “The intent of those calling them- selves our leaders has been not about the service delivery as they profess, but to brazenly plunder the resour- ces and institutions that rightfully belong to us, the people … For the 28 years that we have been free, more than half of it has been spent in the dark. So, we have a euphemism for blackouts, which we call load shedding. Now…

HARMONY Gold and its partner Newcrest Mining have signed a framework Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the independent state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for the joint multi- billion dollar Wafi-Golpu project. In a statement, Harmony said the MOU was an affirmation of their intent to proceed with the Tier 1 Wafi-Golpu Project, subject to the finalisation of the permit process, and approval by both the Harmony and Newcrest boards. Harmony and Newcrest each own 50% of the project through their respective subsidiary WGJV (Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture) participant companies. Harmony Gold CEO Peter Steenkamp said the MOU was important to progress with the permitting of the Tier 1 Wafi-Golpu Project, one of the world’s premier, undeveloped copper-gold deposits. “I wish to thank Prime Minister James Marape and his government for…

Showmax and Moja Love have announced that they’ve teamed up for a new 13-part reality show, titled kuRuff, which premières on Showmax on April 17, with an episode releasing every Tuesday thereafter. The two platforms have paired the announcement with the show’s official trailer, which they shared on social media. kuRuff tackles the burden that comes with being a sole breadwinner to several dependants and homes in on the theme of “black tax”. kuRuff will be hosted by Wright Ngubeni and in each episode Ngubeni will speak and engage with both the sole breadwinner and their dependants before attempting to try to improve the situation with an intervention. “There is no set of rules of what black tax is and how one can handle it,” says Ngubeni. “It’s rough. I…