Innholdsfortegnelse for 2024-02-27 i Star

PETROCHEMICALS giant Sasol has cited economic volatility as well as power supply and logistics constraints for its 34% lower profit for the first half year to December 31, a period in which it also recorded R3.9 billion in impairments from the Secunda liquid fuels refinery. Impairments in Secunda have been remeasured from R8.1bn a year earlier. The R3.9bn suffered on Secunda brings up the total for Sasol’s remeasured items – including impairments on Chemicals Africa – to R5.8bn compared to R6.4bn. The impairments on Secunda have been driven by a further deterioration assumed on the macroeconomic outlook, including Brent Crude oil and electricity prices, which have driven up the full amount of capital expen- diture incurred during the period of the facility. An impairment of R1.2bn has also been…

This is testament to a sector that continues to perform and remains resilient, says expert Total agricultural exports reached a new record of $13.2 billion last year, up 3% from the previous year, surprising on the upside, according to data from Trade Map, a provider of world trade data. This was stronger than expected with modest export activity predicted this year despite numerous challenges at the ports and various export markets. The products that dominated the export list were citrus, maize, apples and pears, nuts, wine, soybeans, sugar, wool, grapes, berries, avocados and fruit juices. Wandile Sihlobo, the chief economist at Agbiz, said this improved export activity was a function of improvement in volumes and prices. “That said, pricing developments over the year were significantly more varied than the average…

ONE OF THE key pieces of the economic growth puzzle for South Africa is the logistics sector in our country. It is clear that South African policymakers are going to have to adopt a more collaborative and forward-thinking approach to our national logistics framework in order to get our economy working again. While the economic impact of load shedding has dominated news headlines for the last couple of years, business has become increasingly more vocal around the state of our rail and port infrastructure and how this is directly impacting economic growth in the country. With the National Elections on the horizon, there is a challenging dynamic playing out for the government who have favoured centralised control and State-owned-entities (SOEs) over private sector participation in the logistics network. Historically…

I’m pumped to induct a column feature that you should expect to recur. As opportunity allows, I’ll invite Africa-focused tech ecosystem personalities from all over Africa and the world to share their experiences and perspectives. Without any ado, here to kick off the column hijack tradition with a fitting follow-up share to last week’s digital transformation strategy pulse check is Russell Southwood. Southwood is the British author of the book, “Africa. 2.0: Inside a continent’s communications revolution”, published by the Manchester University Press. As the CEO of Balancing Act, a consultancy that has specialised in telecoms, internet and media in sub-Saharan Africa for more than 20 years, he has been privileged to land front-row stadium seats to many of the historical sketches he shares in the book. The book thoughtfully…

PETROCHEMICAL firm Sasol is committed to a 30% cut in carbon emissions by 2030, but wants “a balanced debate” that weighs the economic impact of climate targets, its chief financial officer (CFO) said yesterday. Sasol, the world’s biggest producer of fuels and chemicals from coal and gas, and a major carbon emitter, has recently faced criticism from environmental activists and some investors over its climate targets. The company was forced to cancel its annual general meeting last November after it was disrupted by climate protesters. A major part of Sasol’s plans to cut emissions is a 25% reduction in the use of coal, both as a key input and energy source. It plans to replace coal as a raw material, first with gas and eventually biomass, once it becomes…

AS SOUTH Africans gear up for the general elections on May 29, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) asserted that political parties were given enough time to adhere to the signature requirements and election date. The IEC briefed the media yesterday on the state of readiness ahead of the 2024 elections. IEC commissioner, Nomsa Masuku, told those who complained about the date to get along with it because “nothing was surprising”. Masuku said the portal for capturing signatures was open since January 26, so contestants had enough time to start with the process. She emphasised that anyone who prepared to contest the elections should know “the train starts moving when the date is proclaimed”. She responded to complaints about the time that was given to parties for signature collection. IEC…

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) says that it will continue to host online classes until issues affecting students and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) have been resolved. The senior director of corporate affairs at the university, Alan Khan, said that according to the feedback they received, the primary issue of the protest action last week was related to some of the NSFAS student beneficiaries not receiving their allowances. “While DUT is aware of the concerns related to NSFAS, the university assures students and staff that there is daily engagement with NSFAS in order to try to resolve matters. “The university is also regularly updating and engaging with the SRC, who have publicly condemned the disruption of lectures,” said Khan. He said that on Friday, the Executive Management…

The secretary-general of international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF), Christopher Lockyear, used his recent address at the UN Security Council (UNSC) to highlight the failures to effectively address this conflict. He also called on the UN body for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza and the unequivocal protection of medical facilities, staff, and patients. “We have watched members of this council deliberate and delay while civilians die. This death, destruction, and forced displacement are the result of military and political choices that blatantly disregard civilian lives. These choices could have been – and still can be – made very differently.” About 30 000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza amid Israel’s constant bombing and attacks since October. MSF said about 1.7 million people – nearly…

The leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, Jacob Zuma, says his party would bring legal reforms that would ensure that the youth were protected against Roman-Dutch law. Addressing an MK rally at the weekend, Zuma said his party would also introduce a year mandatory military training for the youth after matric. MK would also bring back corporal punishment to deal with ill-discipline that had allowed children to call the police on parents when they were being disciplined, he said. The re-introduction of corporal punishment was to instil discipline, he said, and respect for parental authority. “We will change the laws. We will do away with the Roman-Dutch law, imposed on us as black Africans. “We must be governed through our own laws; through appropriate African law which is fair…

Alexei Navalny is dead! Going up against President Vladimir Putin heralded the demise of the Russian politician. Putin’s stranglehold over Russia is like a rock python’s coil around its prey – powerful and deadly. Navalny knew he was going to die. He was treated like smelly dung by his jailers. Underfed and malnourished, his body succumbed. This then reflects the measure of Putin, a sadistic, hard-core communist with a penchant for Western excesses, a sickening glutton who will hold onto power no matter what. Any Russian going up against him is as good as dead. No one survives. After this sad event, Putin’s Russia will be further isolated, leaving clear-thinking human beings across the world with one thought: “How in God’s name, can one man exert so much negative power,…

BUSINESS Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said yesterday that South African resource groups that have been laying off thousands of mineworkers have no option but to reduce production as a result of higher stockpiles due to port and rail challenges. Describing the latest wave of mining industry retrenchments as “depressing,” Mavuso said stockpiles of key commodities were rising. Sibanye-Stillwater, Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and ArcelorMittal South Africa were among the resource groups hardest hit by South Africa’s rail and port inefficiencies. They have put up some operations at halt and retrenched employees from others, heralding a sharp turn for an industry battling cyclical commodity prices downturn. “It is depressing reading of retrenchments taking place in the resources sector as commodity prices slide, but also because mining…

The HALLENGES facing the mining industry must concern everyone. Cosatu and its affiliates, in particular, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), are deeply concerned about the alarm bells that have been ringing in the mining sector. The mining industry has been the backbone of South Africa’s economic and industrial development for more than a century. It is no accident that our currency, the rand, derives its name from this sector that has left its indelible footprint from the diamond mines of Kimberley to the platinum belt of the North West to the coal mines of Mpumalanga. There is no corner of the country, from Springbok to Cala, that has not been touched by the mining industry, for better and worse. While the mining industry’s legacy has been a mixed bag…

IN A WORLD where our lives are inter- woven into an intangible reality, the complexities of how we access, create and digest digital content are constantly evolving. One wonders whether Alan Turing (regularly credited as the father of artificial intelligence) anticipated that his initial re- search on machine intelligence in the 1940s and 1950s was the inception of and would lead to the synthetic reality that we contend with some 70 years later. The term “artificial intelligence”, coined at some point in 1956, represents a complex field of study to explore the parameters for computer systems to replicate rationality, reasoning, natural language and in essence, human intelligence. The advent of so-called deep learning, which has become…

Household goods, beverages and foodstuffs investment company Libstar soared above South Africa’s persistent load shedding, supply chain bottlenecks and suppressed consumer spending power, saying yesterday that it expected to raise headline earnings per share (Heps) for the 2023 full year to December to between 55.6 cents 57.8c. This compares with 45c in Heps recorded for the 2022 comparative full-year period. The company’s higher Heps performance was recorded despite a decrease of at least 2.2% in the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), which is expected to be between R988 million and R1 billion. In September, Libstar said it had anticipated “challenging market conditions to continue to impact consumer behaviour (in the second half to December 2023), placing strain on particularly retail channel” volumes. Libstar…

GLOBALLY renowned a cappella group, The Soil, might have spent the past seven years away from the music scene but they promised their fans that they would return bigger and better than ever before. “Our sound has become more intense, mature and even more spiritual,” the acclaimed music group told Independent Lifestyle. “The context speaks to all the lessons learned and life fully lived during our hiatus.” Comprised of lead singer Ntsika Ngxanga, his brother and the group’s beatboxer Luphindo, and newest member, vocalist Theo Matshoba, The Soil’s comeback album, Reimagined, was released on Friday. And as their latest offering showcases the group’s evolution and musical prowess, it also offers a fresh and innovative sound. The Soil’s fans are delighted with their musical return. The group said that since they…

Following the announcement of the crime figures by Police Minister Bheki Cele, a security company has highlighted the significance of citizen participation in the battle against the scourge. According to statistics, murder cases had increased by 2.1% while sexual offences went down by 1.7%. Police registered 7 710 murder cases between October and December 2023, up from 7 555 during the same period the previous year. They opened 15 284 sexual offences cases, down from 15 545 in 2022. Charnel Hattingh, group head of communications and marketing at Fidelity Services Group, said neighbourhood watches were an integral part of any community, serving as the eyes and ears of the police, law enforcement agencies, and security companies. “South Africa has thousands of police officers on duty every day, backed up with…

Nationalism and identity politics are poised to play significant roles in the general elections, marking one of the most fiercely contested in the 30 years of democracy. This is according to political analyst Professor Andre Duvenage. Duvenage yesterday said these politics were not going to influence only KwaZulu-Natal, but other parts of the country as well. “This can be used to the advantage of parties like the IFP and Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party but to the disadvantage of the ANC. “This would cripple the ANC as the party had suffered deep division in 2016, when there was a contestation between (President Cyril) Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.” The split began to grow bigger at the conference in 2022, he said. Even though Ramaphosa managed to bring many together, he excluded…

Limpopo police paid tribute to a K9 unit Belgian shepherd dog named Bina, after she was killed by a python on Saturday. “It is reported that Bina was found killed by a python in her kennel at the Lephalale K9,” said Limpopo provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba. He said Bina was 7 years old and was trained at SAPS’ K9 Academy in Roodeplaat, Tshwane, in June 2019 as a narcotics detector dog. “She established herself as one of the top dogs in SAPS Lephalale K9 and assisted in solving drug-related cases in Limpopo,” said Ledwaba. “Just before her death, Bina had helped in the arrest of three suspects found with crystal meth, nyaope, and ‘cat’ drugs worth around R75 000 in Lephalale.” Her body was brought to the veterinary…

KwaZulu-Natal police have dismissed reports that two suspects who were arrested in eSwatini were linked to the shooting and murder of award-winning rapper Kiernan Forbes, known as AKA, who was gunned down in Durban. The iconic musician was shot dead, together with his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, outside the Wish Restaurant on Florida Road, Durban, on February 10 last year. Yesterday, there were reports suggesting that suspects linked to the murder were arrested in eSwatini and are waiting to be extradited to South Africa. However, KZN police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi dismissed these reports. He said that any developments regarding the murder case will first be communicated with the concerned families as well as the media. “Investigations into this particular matter are at a sensitive stage and the police do…

As the world reacts with mounting alarm at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared goal to level Rafah to the ground, the spotlight falls on Egypt. Will the North African powerhouse stand idly by, allowing Israel to intensify its genocide in Gaza, or make good its threat to annul the “peace treaty”? Authorities in Cairo would know that plans by Israel to populate Gaza with Jewish settlements requires Egypt’s collaboration to absorb Palestinian refugees into parts of the Sinai. What it translates to is that Gaza is ethnically cleansed of 2.3 million Palestinians and replaced with a Jewish colony. However, the sticky point is Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians, who were violently forced to evacuate their homes in the north, are huddled in tents and makeshift shelters, facing…

The National Agricultural Marketing Council’s (Namc) 28-item urban food basket increased by 11.5% year-on-year. The cost of the urban food basket increased by 11.5% in January from a year ago to reach R1 261.29, an increase of nearly 22 cents from the prior month, according to the Food Basket Price Monthly Report for February 2024 released yesterday. This was up from the urban food basket of R1 239.59 reported in December last year. The report was compiled by Namc’s Thulani Ningi, Corné Dempers and Dr Moses Lubinga. “Between January 2024 and January 2023, among these 28 items, 17 witnessed price increases that exceeded the inflation target set by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) of 6%. Notable products in this category include oranges, which experienced a substantial price surge…

CHATGPT got most people excited about artificial intelligence (AI). Although AI has been with us for some time, recent developments have increased its adoption. Before then, and through this era of AI euphoria, I’ve been concerned about what it means for countries with limited AI capabilities. The concern has been mainly around the extent to which countries could retain data sovereignty. In simple terms, how can countries use AI without the need to hand over their data to countries that are leading in the AI race? Recently, it was encouraging to learn from the man of the moment, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, that his company has built capabilities to enable sovereign AI. It encompasses a nation’s approach to harnessing AI for its socio-economic, cultural, and geopolitical context. Essentially, it stands…

THE CLOSURE of two South African gold shafts and halting of a Zim- babwean platinum group metals (PGM) project has reduced Sibanye-Still- water’s gold and PGM minable resources, although the company has reported an increase in its lithium reserves at Keliber in Finland. Sibanye-Stillwater has been engaging workers’ unions regarding rationalisation of its gold and PGM mining operations in South Africa. The cessations of production at Kloof 4 and Beatrix shafts have reduced its gold mineral resources by 23% to 41.2 million ounces while the available reserves of the precious metal have also fallen by 15.7% to 10.9 million ounces. “The change in mineral resources can mainly be attributed to the closure of Kloof 4 Shaft, the exclusion of the below infrastructure EBA area at Kloof 7 Shaft…

The Competition Commission has approved the acquisition of German healthcare company Fresenius Medical Care’s 41 Fresenius Medical Care renal dialysis clinics in South Africa by Life Healthcare Group, SA’s second-largest private hospital group. The acquisition was first announced in May 2023. In a statement issued yesterday, Life Health- care announced the expansion of its renal dialysis presence, increasing from 33 Life Renal Dialysis units to 74 units across six provinces. This expansion aims to establish a comprehensive renal dialysis network spanning the entire country. The deal includes five renal clinics in Namibia and one in Eswatini, taking the total number of clinics to 47. The deal is subject to a few outstanding conditions precedent being completed with a take-on date of April 1, 2024. Adam Pyle, Life Healthcare’s CEO for…

TREVOR Noah always comes home for his birthday to celebrate with his closest circle. According to Noah, it doesn’t matter what they do; all he wants is to be surrounded by his friends. In celebrating his milestone birthday, Noah gathered his best friends, award-winning radio personalities Anele Mdoda and Sizwe Dhlomo, with best-selling author Khaya Dlanga behind the scenes to shoot a special episode of his podcast What Now? with Trevor Noah. In the pre-recorded episode, titled Trevor and Friends: Trevor Turns 40!, Noah, Mdoda and Dlomo discuss whether birthdays matter, if it’s possible to reinvent yourself and whether Noah’s age influenced him to leave The Daily Show. The three have shared a friendship spanning over two decades. The Grammy-host said: “My birthday is upon me. This is my 40th…

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has accused bus operator Putco of mistreating its suspended workers. This comes after more than 120 employees, mostly bus drivers, were suspended for participating in an illegal strike in 2022. Since then, the employees have been attending their disciplinary hearings on a regular basis at the company’s Soweto depot. The latest accusation comes just when the back-and-forth war of words has intensified after the union also accused the bus operator of dumping human waste in the bush located next to its Soweto depot. According to Independent Media, a suspended employee recorded a video of a van carrying a mobile toilet dumping alleged faeces in a bushy area within the Putco premises. In a statement at the weekend, Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola…

Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will in the next fortnight unveil a plan on the mechanism of funding the expansion of the transmission grid, which could unlock more than 2 300 megawatts of energy in the short term. This comes as South Africa needs to expand its electricity transmission lines by more than 14 000km over the next few years to accommodate the additional generation capacity from renewables not connected to the grid in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape. The government is also ramping up investments in renewable energy with opening new Bid Windows and has now increased the limit for renewable energy projects that can qualify for the carbon offsets regime from 15MW to 30MW. Ramokgopa said he would outline the plan for the work…

According to Affinity Health, a leading provider of high-quality health coverage, love goes beyond emotions; it influences physical and mental health. “As we celebrate the month of love, it’s essential to recognise that beyond the emotional and romantic aspects, research has shown that love in its various forms can positively affect our physical and mental health.” Here’s how being in love can improve your overall well-being: 1. Stress Reduction and Emotional Resilience Being in love may significantly decrease stress and increase emotional resilience. According to studies, people in romantic relationships had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Lower cortisol levels are associated with fewer stress-related health issues, including anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular diseases. 2. Enhanced Immune System Your body produces oxytocin, the love hormone, when you’re in love. Oxytocin…

IN A poignant celebration of Rotary International's 119th anniversary, six prominent Rotary clubs in Pretoria united to champion the cause of peace-building and conflict resolution. Against the backdrop of the Premier Hotel in Stanza Bopape, members from the Rotary Club of Waterkloof, Pretoria West, Pretoria East, Pretoria Sunrise, Capital, Ladies of Peace Organisation and Rotary Community Corps Tshwane South Quadrant gathered to mark the occasion. Rotary International, with a storied history dating back to 1905, has been at the forefront of numerous humanitarian efforts globally. Among its pivotal initiatives is the campaign for polio eradication, a cause that has seen remarkable progress over the years. However, on this significant day, the focus shifted to another critical aspect of Rotary’s mission: peace-building and conflict resolution. The event, held on Saturday, coincided…