Star 2023-09-26

Agoa has helped to promote the export of African goods to the US . . . and there is scope to deepen its impact, says Patel SOUTH Africa’s government has moved to strengthen its trade relations with the United States as both countries have confirmed the date of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). This comes after trade relations between South Africa and the US nearly broke down, with the US threatening to remove South Africa from Agoa after the US Embassy to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, accused the government of selling arms to Russia. However, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel on Friday announced that South Africa will host the 20th US-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Co-operation Forum (Agoa Forum)…

THE MARITIME Business Chamber (MBC) has sounded the alarm that South African Revenue Service’s (Sars) impounding of five vessels providing bunkering services offshore of Gqeberha may lead to ships no longer refuelling at South Africa and an entire industry that is also providing opportunities for small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMME) may be lost. MBC chairperson Nathi Sonti said in a letter to the government on Friday that to support their concern, “as things stand between today September 13, 2023, and September 24, there are about 31 vessels lined up for bunkers that cannot be supplied by a single operator at South African ports for bunkering”. Despite a meeting with Sars on August 23, Sars had apparently “not noted the impact of its actions which talks to business’ left unsustainable with…

As South Africa’s national carrier, South African Airways (SAA), celebrates a two-year milestone after returning to the skies in September 2021, the airline said it was intent on regaining its position as a leading African airline. This after it emerged from bankruptcy proceedings after a decade of financial losses, with Covid-19 and national lockdowns the final straw. In August, the Competition Tribunal of South Africa approved the proposed merger between SAA and Takatso Aviation, with divestiture and employment conditions, however so far it has been mum on sharing more details of this controversial deal. Reflecting on the occasion, interim CEO Professor John Lamola said that in the world of aviation, resilience played a major factor in the success of airlines, particularly as many continued to weather the storms of the…

STATISTICIAN-General (SG) Risenga Maluleke had his back against the ropes in Parliament last week on the definition of races as classified by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), which was described as not compatible with line departments, leading to misunderstanding in the reading of data such as unemployment and poverty landscapes. Economic Freedom Fighters MP Mzwanele Manyi took umbrage with the StatsSA definition of Black as Black, Coloured and Indian whereas the employment equity Act and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) legislation defined all three as one category. Manyi called an alignment of the definition as used by the government line departments and that used by StatsSA so the categories were clear instead of having Blacks and Africans as a separate category. “I am African, I reject the notion of Black African, I…

NICHE bank and wealth management group Investec on Friday said its underlying franchises performed well in the five months to August 31, in spite of the challenging economic environment. The positive trading update saw its share price tick up 2.27% to R110.11 on Friday, that was also a substantial increase on the price a year ago of R74.47. “Our ongoing strategic execution and strong balance sheet, position us well to support our clients and achieve our financial targets,” the JSE and London-listed lender said. Headline earnings per share was expected to increase between 6% and 12% for the first half of the 2024 financial year, at between 33.8 pence (R7.76) and 35.8p, which includes the cost of strategic actions. Adjusted pre-tax operating profit was expected to be between…

THERE are several projects in the pipeline at the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in various sectors, including logistics, agro-processing, chemical, and general manufacturing clusters, Coega Development Corporation management said last week in an interview. This as the Coega SEZ recently hit the 120 000-jobs milestone since inception in 1999 with 15 222 jobs created in the last financial year as it counts on bigger opportunities rolling in with the announcement of the global carmaker Stellantis’s R3 billion coming on stream in 2026. Coega said in an interview last week with Business Report it also antici- pated to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area, which aims to create a single market for goods and services across Africa. In the first quarter of this financial year,…