Star 2025-10-27

Harmony Gold Mining Company, which has ended its 2025 year to June 30, with R11.1 billion in cash, said Friday it has completed the R18.4bn acquisition of MAC Copper, securing full ownership of the CSA mine and unlocking immediate copper production. MAC Copper owns the high-grade CSA copper mine in New South Wales, Australia. Harmony is South Africa's largest gold producer and its chairman Patrice Motsepe said in the integrated report released Friday, that they expect copper will contribute around 40% of group production by the 2035 financial year, ensuring structural resilience through commodity cycles and aligning Harmony with global decarbonisation trends. The MAC Copper transaction, first announced on May 25, 2025, was implemented Friday via a Jersey law Scheme of Arrangement. Harmony acquired 100% of MAC's securities at $12.25…

Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter says delisting is a vote of confidence in SA’s progress South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list after nearly two years of intensive reform is being hailed as a milestone for the country’s financial sector—yet experts warn it marks the beginning, not the end, of deeper structural changes. On Friday, the FATF announced that South Africa was among four African countries who had been delisted from its “grey list” of countries under increased monitoring for deficiencies in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. South Africa was placed on the grey list in February 2023 after the FATF identified 22 shortcomings in the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) framework. FATF, the global financial crime watchdog, had instructed the country to…

South Africa’s fiscal outlook is once again under the spotlight as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana prepares to deliver the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) next month on 12 November. The statement is expected to set the tone for the remainder of the fiscal year, providing updates on growth forecasts, inflation expectations and government spending priorities. Frank Blackmore, Lead Economist at KPMG, said the upcoming statement would be a critical moment for assessing whether South Africa’s economic recovery is on track. “The focus will be on revising economic growth and inflation forecasts. The growth was predicted at 1.4% for this year and expected to rise to 1.7% in 2027, but this will likely need to be downgraded,” Blackmore said. According to Blackmore, any downgrade in growth projections will have a…

The South African Post Office (SAPO) is preparing to announce a strategic investment partner as it moves closer to exiting business rescue — a turnaround now proceeding without the R3.8 billion in funding initially promised by the National Treasury. Briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies on Friday, the department’s Director-General Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani confirmed that invitations for potential partners had been published to ensure transparency, even though several investors had already expressed strong interest. "The reason we want to advertise is purely from a transparency perspective. There are so many partners who are absolutely keen to come on board to partner with SAPO. “What we are afraid of, in terms of considering the unsolicited bids, would be if something else is also out there," Jordan-Dyani said. "People have…

There has been widespread welcome to the announcement by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) that food inflation has declined for the second consecutive month — offering some relief to consumers after months of high prices. According to the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), consumer food price inflation slowed to 4.4% in September 2025, down from 5.2% in August. The moderation comes despite headline consumer inflation (CPI) edging slightly higher to 3.4% from 3.3% in the previous month. Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at Agbiz, said the decline was driven primarily by lower prices for fruit and nuts, vegetables, oils and fats, milk and dairy products. “The price inflation of cereal products also remained fairly moderate, which illustrates the benefits of the ample harvest and the easing of grain…

Transnet has announced a major boost to capacity and efficiency at the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) Pier 2 with the introduction of four new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes valued at R967 million. The State-owned logistics group said the new cranes are part of a broader effort to modernise its infrastructure, improve turnaround times, and enhance South Africa’s global trade competitiveness. According to Transnet, the cranes—manufactured by Liebherr Africa—will replace an ageing fleet that has reached the end of its operational life. “Two of the cranes are being commissioned, with endurance testing and operational handover scheduled to start in the last week of October 2025,” Transnet said. “The remaining two cranes are being assembled and are planned to undergo commissioning and operational handover by the end of November 2025.” The new fleet…