Star 2023-08-25

DENYS Denya, the Africa Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) executive vice-president in charge of finance, administration and banking services, and one of three executive vice-presidents, told Business Report on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg that this was the first time the bank was attending a BRICS Summit, but given that Egypt, which is where the bank is headquartered, and Ethiopia will join South Africa in the BRICS Group from next year, he was certain that this debut would be the first of many attendances at BRICS Summits. “We came here as the theme of the Summit is about including African countries and we have 50 African countries as shareholders, so this aligns with our mandate of promoting economic development in the African continent,” he said. The theme…

WORKFORCE Holdings, the Level 1 B-BBEE human capital services group, experienced difficult trading in the six months to June 30, because of the low economic activity, load shedding, high interest rates, lack of client confidence and less demand for personnel services. The company, which operates through four clusters comprising Staffing and Outsourcing, Training and Education, Healthcare, and Financial Services, lifted revenue 7% to R2.1 billion, with the growth mainly due to the financial services cluster ensuring continued market presence, CEO Ronny Katz said at the release of the results yesterday. He said overhead costs increased 12% because of high inflation rates and operating expenses geared for growth that did not occur due to the prevailing economic climate. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) fell sharply to R32.8…

UNIONS and civil society bodies have had a mixed reaction as the National Minimum Wage Commission calls for public submissions on the increases for 2024. This comes after the commission asked the public to comment on a possible adjustment to the minimum wage by Friday, September 8. According to the commission, the comments concerning possible adjustments to the national minimum wage will be considered by it before it publishes its annual report and recommendations on the annual review of the national minimum wage (NMW) later in the year. The current NMW jumped from R23.19 to R25.42 for each ordinary hour worked, effective March 1, 2023. Labour law specialists, Confederation of Employers in South Africa (Cofesa) has called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to scrap the NMW. According to Cofesa, last year…

SOUTH African consumers can breathe a sigh of relief as experts foresee food prices continuing to moderate in the weeks ahead, despite some upside risks. Consumer price index data showed that consumer food inflation moderated to 10% in July this year, down from 11.% the previous month. Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz) chief economist Wandile Sihlobo said while there were renewed risks in global agriculture – such as India’s decision to ban specific categories of rice exports and the Black Sea Grain Deal Initiative that facilitated grains and oilseeds exports from Ukraine terminated – they were still optimistic that South Africa’s consumer food inflation would continue to slow during this second half of this year. The products that could underpin the slowing food inflation trend would likely remain similar to those…

The Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (PFA) has been inundated by a raft of complaints about unnecessary delays in the payment of death benefits. Three recent cases involved Old Mutual Superfund Provident Fund with Old Mutual Life Assurance (SA) Limited being the administrator. Although the adjudicator, Mu- vhango Lukhaimane, dismissed the three cases as the benefits were eventually paid, she had some strong words for the tardy manner in which the fund had acted. In all three cases, she said had she had the powers, she would have granted compensation to the complainants for the delays they had suffered. In one complaint, the spouse of the deceased said she was aggrieved with the delay in the payment of the deceased’s death benefit. She had claimed a death benefit on…

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has implemented some big changes to personal income tax returns, trust tax returns and pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) penalties for the Filing Season 2023, that affect individual taxpayers, trustees, employers and tax practitioners. Each year, there are several changes in tax legislation, which means keeping up to date with and understanding the legal intricacies can be challenging. Fortunately, there are experts who can navigate this quagmire. Tax practitioners keep informed about all tax legislation updates – so that you don’t have to. “The purpose of tax practitioners is to provide you with assurance that you don’t under-claim, and that you are safe and sound from a Sars audit,” said Keith Engel, the CEO of the South African Institute of Taxation (Sait). It is important to check…