Star 2023-12-12

TRANSNET Pipelines (TPL) said yesterday that it welcomed the 10- and 15-year jail sentences handed down by the Vosloorus Magistrate’s Court to two fuel thieves. In a statement, the State-owned company said that the individuals were apprehended while attempting to escape Mapleton, Ekurhuleni, in a truck carrying six flow bins, with five of them containing diesel. A total of 4 570 litres of diesel was recovered from the flow bins, with an approximate value of R152 638. The court handed down the following sentences on the two counts: ■ Count 1: 15 years for tampering with essential infrastructure. ■ Count 2: 10 years for fuel theft; half of the count 2 sentence will run concurrently with the count 1 sentence. Transnet said it commended the magistrate for considering…

TRANSNET National Ports Authority (TNPA) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the appointment of suitable terminal operators to fund, design, develop, operate, maintain and transfer the liquid bulk and/or green fuel terminals for a concession period of 25 years for the Port of Richards Bay’s South Dunes Precinct. This comes as the struggling State-owned logistics company is implementing a recovery plan to clear the months-long backlog of container vessels and cargo trucks stuck outside its ports on the back of equipment failures and collapse of the railway network. Transnet yesterday said the RFP was issued as part of Phase 1 of the South Dunes Precinct development, which includes five sites identified by TNPA, and aligned to the Master Plan for the Port of Richards Bay. These sites will…

IMPLEMENTING the National Health Insurance (NHI) with the NHI Bill in its current form would undermine it, Discovery CEO Adrian Gore said yesterday. He said yesterday the country did not have sufficient money to buy comprehensive benefits for South Africans. “The fundamental problem here is the lack of funding. That is the core of the problem,“ he said. Gore said the NHI Bill in its current form would seriously destabilise taxpayers to funding the NHI. “That is problematic, so it seems in a sense irrational when you look at the funding levels of what is available,” Gore said. South Africa faced the “tragedy” of a narrow tax base and high levels of unemployment. Discovery reiterated that from the word go they had declared their support of the NHI. “We…

THE AGBIZ/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) deteriorated by 10 points to 40 points in the fourth quarter (4Q) of this year to reach its lowest level since the sec- ond quarter of 2020, which was at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic hard lockdown restrictions. Critically, the reading was below the neutral 50-point mark, implying that South African agribusinesses were downbeat about business conditions in the country. The index attributed the pessimism ema- nated from the numerous challenges facing the sector such as the intensified delays and inefficiencies at the ports, deteriorating rail and road infrastructure, worsening muni- cipal service delivery, increased geopolitical uncertainty and persistent episodes of load shedding.This survey was undertaken be- tween the last week of November and the first week of December, covering busines-…

Government adopts framework for private sector participation in railway network STRUGGLING State-owned logistics company Transnet Freight Rail could be in for serious structural reforms in the new year as the government has given the green light to the long-awaited road map and also adopted the framework for private sector participation in the railway network. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni yesterday said the Cabinet, in its last meeting for the year, considered and approved for publication the Freight Logistics Roadmap, as well as the Draft Rail Private Sector Participation Framework. The Roadmap for the Freight Logistics System in South Africa draft document, which was published on the Department of Transport’s website, will be released for broader public consultations before returning to the Cabinet for approval. Ntshavheni said the Freight Logistics…

INCREDIBLE as it sounds, according to the Q3 Trade and Industry Policy Strategies (Tips) report, South Africa ranks alongside economic catastrophes Libya and Iraq as having the lowest rates of investment in the world – all below 16% among upper-middle-income economies. Crippled economies such as Argentina and Russia rank better than us. China’s investment rate was 42%, while the average was 22%. In the harsh realm of global economics, South Africa stands not as a beacon of opportunity but as a cautionary tale. The recent Tips report, revealing the country’s abysmally low investment rates, is more than a statistic; it’s a glaring signal of a nation in peril, with ramifications that cut deep into the core of general inward investment, the broader business sector and employment rates. If South Africans…