Star 2024-02-19

TECH GIANTS including Meta, Microsoft and TikTok signed a pledge on Friday to crack down on AI content intended to deceive voters ahead of crucial elections around the world this year. The accord commits the companies, including Google and OpenAI, to develop ways to identify, label and control AI-generated images, videos and audio that aim to mislead voters. “I think you need all the players from the source of the generation to the actual consumption by the user involved and that’s why I think having everybody, 20 companies, sign up to this is so impactful,” said Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs at Meta. Among the 20 signatories of the deal, presented on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, were also X, formerly known as Twitter,…

COSATU said last week it was “deeply disheartened” by the slaps on the wrists sought by the German prosecuting authorities and judiciary for the Steinhoff corruption scandal, and by the even worse lack of action by South African authorities. The South African umbrella labour union organisation on Friday described the 3½ years with one year suspended, and two years wholly suspended sentences, that had been meted out to date by the German courts on two former Steinhoff executives as essentially “meaningless”. Today will see the third trial start in Germany in response to the corruption at the international furniture retail group Steinhoff that shocked the world in 2017 and saw up to R12.5 billion worth of South African workers’ hard-earned pension funds looted. To date, Germany has concluded two…

ECONOMISTS have warned that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana might have to dip into the country’s foreign currency reserves – amounting in total to around R500 billion – to raise additional revenue to shore up the fiscus instead of tax hikes. Market participants have raised the option of using the unrealised gains from the revaluation of gold and foreign exchanges to either cover redemptions on maturing government debt or to finance government expenditure. This comes as Godongwana this week will table the 2024 Budget Review in Parliament amid a pivotal election cycle, possibly the most significant since South Africa’s democratic elections in 1994. Current fiscal indicators show gross tax revenue falling short by an estimated R55bn to R60bn compared to projections outlined in the 2023 Budget Review. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) South Africa…

Africa will account for eleven of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies in 2024 – AfDB SOUTH Africa is missing out on Africa’s growth boom as the Africa Macro-Economic Performance and Outlook (MEO) report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) released on Friday said Africa would account for 11 of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies this year. Africa was set to remain the second-fastest-growing region after Asia. The expectations for higher growth this year came as Africa's economic growth fell to 3.2% in 2023 from 4.1% in 2022. This was below the 3.4% growth the AfDB had forecast in November as geopolitical volatility, Russia-Ukraine war and China’s economic slowdown after Covid-19 knocked growth. On a continental level, Africa’s gross domestic product growth will amount to 3.8% this year, before rebounding…

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana will have a very daunting task as he delivers his Budget speech on Wednesday. He faces the following challenges: – Will the economy grow this year by 1.5% as was predicted in last year’s Budget, or even the adjusted 0.8% that was projected during the October Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS)? If not, the government revenue and debt will remain under pressure. The latest forecast by the International Monetary Fund (January 2024) indicates that: “The economy will likely grow a meagre 1% this year, significantly slower than the IMF’s forecast in October, when it saw South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by 1.8%,” the Washington-based lender said on Tuesday in an update to its World Economic Outlook. – How will government reduce debt service…

OUR COUNTRY is making every effort in line with our Energy Action Plan to address our energy challenges. Interventions are under way to bring new sources of electricity online as well as ensure a reliable energy supply from existing generation units. Our efforts to reduce the frequency of load shedding in the short term and achieve energy security in the long term are, however, being undermined by unscrupulous individuals bent on making a quick buck. A network of coal smugglers operating across the country have been diverting coal trucks destined for power stations to coalyards where the high-grade coal on these trucks are replaced with low-grade coal. The low-grade coal is often blended with scrap or other materials and then delivered to our power stations. When this inferior coal is…