Star 2023-06-09

THE extension of the validity of Zimbabwean exemption permits by a further six months will enable them settled in South Africa to apply for substantive work visas and also help avoid bureaucratic and legal chaos for Pretoria. Dr Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics, said: “The permit extension saves chaos in Zimbabwe which is going to the polls to choose a new administration in August. “Zimbabwe is also tipping deeper into economic chaos, with prices rocketing, and its local unit of exchange free-falling after the country’s reserve bank adopted a ‘market determined’ exchange rate regime this week. “The permit extension means no huge influx of returnees before the election. An extra six months, that is, until the end of 2023, basically to avoid bureaucratic and legal chaos. “But that…

Activity in the manufacturing sector is expected to remain volatile in the months ahead, especially if electricity supply deteriorates in winter in spite of production rebounding at the beginning of the second quarter. Data from Statistics SA (Stats SA) yesterday showed that manufacturing output increased by 3.4% year-on-year in April following a downwardly revised contraction of 1.8% in March, buoyed by increases in metals and machinery, and food and beverages. This first annual gain in six months marked a better start to the second quarter and reflected a rebound from five consecutive months of annual decline. Stats SA said the largest contributions came from production of basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery, which rose by 5.3%. Food and beverages production increased by 4.6%; petroleum, chemical…

QUALIFYING depositors of Habib Overseas Bank (HOB), which is in curatorship, are in line to be repaid R100 000 starting on June 12. On March 26, the minister of finance, on a recommendation from the Prudential Authority at the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb), placed HOB in curatorship to deal with its governance, compliance, and operational failures. In a statement by Sarb yesterday, it said, “Since the commencement of the curatorship, in-depth investigations and analysis undertaken by the curator found that HOB’s financial position was significantly worse than initially anticipated. This resulted in a moratorium imposed and the closure of HOB branches by the curator to enable his team to undertake financial and operational assessments given the governance, compliance and operational failures.” Sarb said that with the support of the…

This is enough electricity to ease at least one stage of the country’s load shedding THE Cabinet has given the greenlight to Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s plan to import enough electricity to deal with at least one stage of load shedding from South Africa’s neighbouring country, Mozambique. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni yesterday said the power purchase agreement between South Africa and Mozambique was one of the issues deliberated on during the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. This comes a week after Ramokgopa travelled to Maputo to meet the Mozambican mineral resources and energy minister Carlos Zacarias to discuss the additional sale of power from Mozambique to South Africa. Ntshavheni said the Cabinet welcomed the recent deliberations between Ramokgopa and Zacarias to secure additional power from Mozambique. “In the…

Labour union South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) and Makro, a subsidiary of Massmart have finally signed a wage deal, ending a more than a year-long strike after negotiations stalled. The strike took 14 months to conclude. The parties have agreed on a multiyear agreement, which would cover the 2022/23; 2023/24; and 2024/25 financial years. The agreement was facilitated through a CCMA Section 150 intervention, the union said in a statement yesterday. For the financial year 202223 the parties had agreed on a 4.5% incease or R450, whichever is greater. For 2023/24 the parties agreed on an increase of 5% or R480, whichever is greater, and in 2024/25 a 5% increase or R500, whichever is greater. The agreed wage increase would be backdated from April 1 last…

Two rulings against (unnamed) banks recorded in the latest annual report of the Ombudssman for Banking Services show that customers often fall through the cracks of banks’ automated systems, especially when it comes to the repayment of debt. In the first case, the bank clearly transgressed consumer-protection laws governing credit; in the second, the ambiguous wording of the terms and conditions of a housing loan resulted in higher costs for the borrower. Case 1: ‘In duplum’ and prescription Mr A lodged a complaint with the ombudssman on the grounds of reckless lending, but it turned out the real issue was that his loan had sat idle on the bank’s books for more than three years accumulating interest without any intervention by the bank to prevent the balance from rocketing to…