Star 2024-03-14

MEDICLINIC said yesterday an independent forensic investigation by law firm ENSafrica had cleared the private hospital group of allegations that it was involved in corrupt billing processes. Mediclinic appointed ENSafrica to investigate allegations made against Mediclinic on August 22, 2023, and the hospital group said yesterday in a statement it had provided the law firm with unfettered access to investigate and determine whether there was any substance to the allegations made against the named six hospitals. The probe began after a whistle- blower, who claimed to be a former Mediclinic employee, emailed the principal officers of prominent medical schemes last year with information about what the person claimed to be their experience as a former clinical case manager at six Mediclinic hospitals. ENSafrica also randomly selected a further six hospitals…

Public trust in SA’s banking sector is not as deep as it should be, he said PUBLIC trust in South Africa’s banking sector was not as deep as it should be, said South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Lesetja Kganyago, giving a keynote speech at a conference of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) yesterday. Kganyago yesterday raised dust over the issue of rand manipulation after appearing to take a step away from the Competition Commission’s work to get to the bottom of the saga through an appeal at the Constitutional Court. He said: “It was remarkable, with the allegations last year about banks manipulating the exchange rate of the rand, how ready people were to believe that there was in fact a giant conspiracy to rig the rand, and…

THE DOMINANCE of solar PV systems continued to grow in South Africa’s journey towards energy security, with predictions that the country would be the 10th-largest PV market in the world this year, according to a recent BloombergNEF report. Dr Rethabile Melamu, the CEO of the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (Sapvia), said as an industry body, they were proud to have contri- buted to this globally respected report. “The statistics generated by our own solar PV dashboard informed this latest BloombergNEF report, and in particular the section that dealt with the South African landscape,” Melamu said. BloombergNEF’s research documents provided a perspective on global commodity markets and the technologies driving the transition to a lower-carbon economy. According to the report, the photovoltaic industry added about 444GW of new capacity in…

THE CONTROVERSIAL Rudland family wants a shake-up of the Quantum Foods board of directors, igniting a potential shareholder dispute days after Country Bird Holdings (CBH) increased its stake in the JSE-listed stockfeeds and poultry business. Quantum has hogged the limelight since Astral Foods disposed of its 9% stake in the company to CBH, which has bumped up its shareholding to above 15%. As if the change in the shareholding structure of the company was not enough, new controversy is dogging Quantum Foods. Amid speculation that CBH was gunning for a controlling interest in the company, Quantum yesterday dismissed this, saying it had received a notification against this action by CBH. “Shareholders are hereby advised that, subsequent to the announcement, CBH addressed a letter to the board of directors of the…

FOR MORE THAN 150 years, the South African sugar industry has been growing sugar cane and has been a consistent supplier of sugar and molasses in the region, contributing to economic growth and providing job creation opportunities in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The industry has, however, faced ongoing challenges that have threatened its sustainability, ranging from natural phenomena through droughts and floods, regional challenges such as increased input costs and civil unrest, and industry-specific challenges which include sugar imports, the insufficient tariff and the implementation of the devastating Health Promotion Levy (commonly known as sugar tax). The levy has had a deleterious impact on the industry, resulting in multi-billion-rand revenue loss, substantial job losses and the permanent closure of two mills (Darnall and Umzimkulu), both located in…

AMID the decline of Transnet’s infrastructure, the South African public should not lose sight of the ongoing developments across the continent, especially in the realm of railway infrastructure. The vision of a railway stretching from Cape Town to Cairo originated as an ambitious idea proposed by Cecil John Rhodes and other colonialists in the preceding century. Nevertheless, in the post-colonial era, there was a notable shift towards automobile transportation for personal travel. Despite this, the realisation of the grand concept of a railway stretching from Cape Town to Cairo is now poised for a potential resurgence with the introduction of Africa’s Integrated High-Speed Railway Network (AIHSRN). Railway continues to be the optimal means for transporting freight, acting as the primary logistics backbone in numerous countries, particularly those lacking navigable rivers…