Star 2025-05-15

Stocks on the JSE defy local employment figures and rally to a fresh record high Stocks on the JSE defied disheartening local employment figures and rallied to a fresh record high on Wednesday, surging past the 93 000-points mark as the easing tensions between the US and China also buoyed global markets. The world’s two largest economies have agreed to cut the hefty import tariffs on each other's goods for 90 days whilst negotiations for a permanent deal are underway. The US will lower those tariffs from 145% to 30%, while China's retaliatory tariffs on US goods will drop to 10% from 125%. US President Donald Trump said weekend talks had resulted in a "total reset" in trade terms between the US and China. As the markets cheered the news,…

South Africa's agricultural industry has highlighted its resilience in the face of many challenges at the 2025 Nampo Harvest Day conference, which entered the second day on Wednesday in Bothaville in the Free State. Brendan Jacobs, head of agribusiness at Standard Bank South Africa, said agriculture was under pressure from rising input costs, extreme weather events, tightening margins, and trade agreement challenges. “Nampo Harvest Day 2025 arrives at a pivotal moment for South Africa’s farming sector. This year’s Nampo is more than an exhibition; it is a rallying point for real-world, farmer-led solutions. "From mechanisation and market access to financial tools and agri-tech, the event brings together farmers, agribusinesses, and financiers to explore what it will take to sustain growth and resilience across the sector.” Jacobs said the discussions at…

Trade unions and other experts have raised concern about South Africa's unemployment rate rising to 32.9% in the first quarter of 2025 from 31.9% in the final quarter of 2024 . According to Statistics South Africa, youth unemployment is currently at 46.1% in the first quarter of 2025. Matthew Parks, parliamentary coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said job numbers typically increase during the festive season as sectors like retail and hospitality thrive. Parks said this decrease in employment was extremely worrying. “We cannot continue to normalise an economy where four out of 10 South Africans cannot find work. Our unemployment levels and the inability of an economy stumbling along 1% growth annually to absorb new labour market entrants must be treated as the existential threat…

The Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Petroleum Resources has resolved to conduct an urgent oversight visit on Alexkor. This follows a briefing from the Equitable Access Campaign (EAC) on its petition for investigations into reports of general accountability failure, maladministration and corruption at State diamond miner Alexkor. This move comes in the wake of the EAC's insistence on launching a public inquiry to address the apparent collapse of accountability mechanisms over the past five years, during which Alexkor has continually received audit disclaimers. EAC's Gavin Craythorne, who this week addressed the portfolio committee after petitioning the Speaker of Parliament, told Business Report on Wednesday that several inquiries into anomalies at Alexkor were shut down without the public getting the answers. These include parliamentary appearances, a forensic investigatipon by Gobodo Consultants,…

South African small businesses are continuing to display resilience, demonstrating remarkable resilience and optimism for the future in the face of political and economic uncertainty. A recent report, The State of South African Small Business 2025, conducted by the global small business platform Xero reveals that a staggering 83% of small businesses witnessed revenue growth over the past year, while 90% expressed confidence in their prospects for growth moving forward. Despite concerns that loom over the business landscape—nearly two-fifths of the surveyed entrepreneurs were worried about political instability, and more than a quarter anticipated service delivery challenges such as load shedding—small businesses are showing optimism for the year ahead. According to the report, within the next year, 42% of small businesses plan to invest in upskilling their staff, while 40%…

South Africa is standing at a critical crossroads. The recent headlines have been dominated by the outcry over a few dozen South Africans, described loosely as "Africans," who accepted an opportunity to relocate to the United States in search of a better life for their families. This has been treated as a national scandal, a media frenzy that conveniently diverts attention from the harsh reality millions of South Africans face daily. While we debate the choices of fifty-odd individuals, the true scandal lies in the staggering unemployment rate in South Africa, which now hovers just under 33%. That is one in every three people without a job. For our youth, the situation is even more dire, with nearly two-thirds of young South Africans locked out of economic participation. This is…