Star 2024-05-21

THE COMPETITION Commission has slammed a proposed merger between Vodacom, Vumatel, and Dark Fibre Africa as being “anticompetitive and having the potential to create a pivotal shift in the telecoms sector, taking the industry backwards”. The proposed merger will effectively result in a new company Maziv being created through the combination of Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa – making Maziv the largest fibre infrastructure player in South Africa. Maziv will be partially owned by Vodacom, while South Africa’s largest mobile operator will simultaneously hold on to its mobile business, long-haul fibre assets, and retail ISP business. Advocate Daniel Berger, SC, delivering his opening statement on behalf of the Competition Commission yesterday at a Competition Tribunal hearing, argued strongly that the proposed deal be prohibited, because “the merger, if allowed, will…

THEBE Investment Corporation has remained cautiously optimistic that the dispute over the evaluation of its 28% stake in Shell Downstream South Africa (SDSA) will be resolved within the next three months by arbitration as the two-year period after which its notice to sell its shareholding would have lapsed. This comes as the 22-year relationship between the British multinational oil and gas company and its South African empowerment partner has hit rock bottom, following Shell’s decision to divest its downstream operations. Shell will divest its majority shareholding from the South African downstream unit and leave more than 600 forecourts after operating in the country for more than 120 years, following a comprehensive review by Shell of its businesses across all regions. However, it also coincided with the dispute over the value…

THEBE Investment Corporation has refused to state publicly how much its 28% stake in Shell Downstream SA (SDSA) was worth, saying it preferred to leave its valuation to independent experts. This comes as news reports emerged that Thebe was claiming the value of its stake in SDSA was worth R3.7 billion, as Shell’s local empowerment group seeks to sell its equity after 22 years. Thebe board member Dr Molefe Tsele told Business Report on Friday it would be premature to put a figure on Thebe’s stake, as many factors needed to be considered when doing a proper valuation of their investment. “No, we have deliberated on that question, and then we took advice to let’s allow arbitration to deal with that. Because the reality of the matter is that…

THE AFRICAN Truck Drivers’ Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF-ASA) has mobilised its own inspection teams, drawn up a list of defaulting companies countrywide, and is holding daily virtual meetings across all provinces to monitor the government’s commitment to attending to its grievances as a condition to withdrawing the national shutdown which was slated for yesterday. This is as the forum on Sunday held an emergency meeting with officials from the departments of Home Affairs, Transport, Labour, the Presidency and the SAPS to avert the shutdown that had been planned barely a week ahead of the national elections. ATDF-ASA secretary-general Gugu Sokhela yesterday said the forum had acquiesced to the request to temporarily suspend the shutdown after the government entities undertook to intensify physical inspections on the list of companies…

IMPALA Platinum (Implats) has picked up Siyanda Resources and Bokamoso Consortium as black economic em- powerment (BEE) partners for its Rustenburg and Bafokeng operations in a transaction worth R9 billion that will also include community and employee share-ownership schemes. Post the empowerment transaction, Implats will retain 87% in Impala Rustenburg with the Community Share Ownership Trust (CSOT) holding 4%; the existing employee share-ownership trust company gaining a similar 4% control; and the Bokamoso Consortium holding a 5% stake in the Rustenburg operations. Concurrently, Impala Bafokeng Resources (IBR) will retain a 50% stake in the Bafokeng operation while community, employee share-ownership schemes and the Bokamoso Consortium will have similar 4% and 5% interests, respectively. IBR is a subsidiary created by Implats after Implats acquired Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) last year,…

The TURNAROUND time for trucks exporting cargo to eSwatini at the Oshoek/Ngwenya port of entry in Mpumalanga has been reduced from 1 hour 42 minutes to just 10 minutes, and the import of similar cargo has seen the time spent at the border slashed from 42 minutes to 10 minutes. This is according to the Time Release Study (TRS) released yesterday which was conducted jointly by the South African Revenue Services (Sars) and the eSwatini Revenue Service (ERS). Officials of both entities yesterday said the study had helped identify bottlenecks which led to long delays at the border crossing, as plans were afoot to have a “one window” experience for truck drivers processing freight. The Oshoek border post was identified as the busiest port of entry in the Southern African…