Star 2023-12-11

This is the first time Eskom gets a permanent head since the resignation of Andre de Ruyter exactly a year ago ESKOM has confirmed that Dan Marokane will be returning to the struggling power utility as its new group chief executive by no later than March 31 next year. This will be the first time that Eskom gets a permanent head since the resignation of Andre de Ruyter exactly a year ago. The Eskom board announced Marokane’s appointment on Friday afternoon, saying he was returning to the power utility after he and three other senior executives were suspended following an ethical stand they took against State capture, fraud and corruption. Marokane, a qualified chemical engineer with an MBA, is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years senior leadership experience.…

FRIDAY’S scheduled meeting of Tongaat Hulett’s lenders to decide the future of South Africa’s biggest, but indebted sugar group was put on ice due to court applications against the company brought by the Sugar Association of South Africa (Sasa) and rival foods group RCL. RCL subsidiary RCL Food Sugar & Milling, and Sasa launched the applications to prevent the meeting of Tongaat’s creditors to vote on two bids for Tongaat, one from RGS Group Holdings (which comprises mainly a family sugar and foods business from Mozambique) and Vision Investments (which is linked to businessperson and ANC funder Robert Gumede) who wish to bring Tongaat out of business rescue. This followed the rejection by the High Court last week of an application earlier this year by Tongaat’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs)…

ANGLO American has reduced capital expenditure across its operations by $200 million (R3.79 billion) after cutting production at Kumba Iron Ore and moving to only one plant at the Los Bronces copper mine in Chile as it pursues lower costs to survive tough market conditions and near-term constraints. For 2023, Anglo American had capex of $5.8bn, a reduction of $200m compared to the previous year “due to prioritisation” of capital. By mid-next year, the company plans to reduce costs by a further $500m and an additional $500m by year-end 2024 on account of streamlined efficiencies. The group said it continued to improve its cost performance and cash generation through the reconfiguration of operational assets. This was being implemented to “adjust the production profile to near-term constraints and market…

AIRPORTS Company South Africa (Acsa) has assured the public that it was ready to welcome large volumes of travellers to its airports across the country this festive season, with contingency plans and strategies in place to deal with the busiest days of the year. Acsa is currently in its peak season, which started at the end of October and runs until the end of March next year, for which preparation started three to four months ago. The group is now ramping up to ensure smooth operations and a seamless travel experience during the busy December-January time frame. Acsa group executive for operations management Terence Delomoney on Friday said their peak season strategy will ensure that the airports were adequately resourced, positioned and capacitated to handle the huge volumes of passengers.…

SOUTH Africa needed to encourage the manufacturing of local goods rather than export raw material and then buy back the finished products, says South African Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa) chief executive Peter Besnard. It was imperative the country encourage investment, reopen factories, create employment and cast aside or amend the rigid labour-related regulations in place, he said in an interview with Business Report. The mindset of all South Africans needed to change, Besnard said. “As you are aware, the Covid-19 pandemic plunged the country into utter despair, completely derailing many industries. “To the extent that some have been unable to recover and were forced to wind down their plants, and with it (brought) further unemployment woes to a population that has increased to 60 million.” The…

KUMBA Iron Ore continues to deliver operational stability even though, beyond the mine gate, logistic constraints have placed big pressure on the value chain, and production forecasts for the next three years have had to be lowered, chief executive Mpumi Zikalala said on Friday. In an update of their full year 2023 guidance and the outlook on production and cash unit costs for 2024 to 2026, she said stock has reached unsustainable levels due to the logistics constraints, and current production had to be slowed. End of the year production was expected to be between 35 million and 36 million tons (previously 35 million to 37 million tons) and sales at 36 million to 37 million tons (previously 36 million to 38…