Star 2025-05-06

South Africa’s economy continues to be threatened by illegal trade, specifically in sectors such as alcohol, tobacco, food items, pharmaceuticals, agri-chemicals, counterfeiting, mining, and wildlife trafficking. Illicit trade in tobacco and alcohol alone is estimated to cost government R30 billion a year in lost revenue. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s recent reversal of a 0.5 percentage point VAT hike will leave the fiscus with an estimated shortfall of R75bn. This is according to the South Africa Illicit Economy 2.0 Report, launched by the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) in conjunction with Business Unity South Africa. “Illicit trade continues to pose a serious threat to South Africa’s economic stability, governance, and international standing,” the report said. This comes at a time when the country is endeavouring to get itself removed…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a stark warning in its April 2025 outlook, highlighting the critical issue of rising global debt. As nations grapple with increasing public finances, the IMF suggested that a re-evaluation of fiscal frameworks was imperative to navigate an uncertain economic landscape. According to the IMF, existing major policy shifts—particularly recent tariff announcements by the United States, which have prompted retaliatory measures from other countries—were driving financial market volatility and weakening growth prospects. This backdrop of escalating uncertainty was exacerbated by already high levels of debt in multiple countries, further strained by the necessity of accommodating indelible increases in spending, including defence budgets. The IMF projects that global public debt will surge by 2.8 percentage points in 2025, more than double the estimates for the…

Power utility outlines comprehensive plan to ensure a more stable electricity supply Eskom is entering the winter of 2025 with a renewed sense of optimism, reporting significant improvements in its performance metrics while acknowledging ongoing operational challenges. In the latest winter outlook from 1 April to 31 August 2025, the power utility on Monday outlined a comprehensive plan aimed at ensuring a more stable electricity supply during the colder months. According to Eskom CEO Dan Marokane, the winter preparations were a testament to the hard-earned victories achieved over the past year. “Against this progress, we have seen some setbacks in operational excellence, as evidenced by the recent loadshedding requirements between January to April 2025,” Marokane said. “A targeted plan has been put in place to reinforce operational discipline and accelerate…

The South African rand strengthened on Monday to its highest levels in five weeks, after state utility Eskom said it was optimistic about the power outlook over the southern hemisphere winter, aiming for no electricity cuts in the next four months. Africa's most industrialised nation has experienced recurring power cuts for more than a decade that have constrained economic growth. Despite Eskom's efforts to significantly reduce outages from the record levels seen in 2023, investor confidence remains shaky due to 14 days of power cuts in January-April this year which Chief Executive Dan Marokane described as a temporary setback. At 1110 GMT, the rand traded at 18.2850 against the dollar , roughly 0.7% stronger than Friday's close. The greenback last traded slightly weaker against a basket of currencies as investors…

South Africa's Democratic Alliance party is going to court to challenge a new employment law that sets racial targets for large employers in an attempt to address the economic inequality that is a persistent legacy of former racist white minority rule. The Employment Equity Amendment Act, which came into effect in January, allows the labour minister to set targets per sector for the number of non-white people and women who should be in management-level and professionally qualified roles. The DA, the second-biggest party in government, will argue in court on Tuesday that it is unconstitutional, party officials said on Monday, in a case that is causing further friction with its bigger coalition partner, the African National Congress. The topic is especially heated since U.S. President Donald Trump condemned South Africa…

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has proposed the establishment of three dedicated war rooms focusing on pivotal areas: the economy and jobs, poverty and hunger, and clean governance. Speaking at a business breakfast session and launch of the Transformation Fund at Freedom Park Heritage Site and Museum in Pretoria, Mashatile on Monday said the country currently faced one of the highest levels of economic inequality globally, with a Gini co-efficient of 0.63 and a poverty rate of 17.82% highlighting the significant disparity in income and wealth. "The war rooms will not follow the normal Cabinet process but instead, they will take a deliverology approach, which is the discipline of getting things done. We will do stock takes, deep dives, and intervene decisively where there is no progress," Mashatile said. He said…