Star 2025-10-30

Investment will support development of 80 000-ton-per-year titanium dioxide plant at the RBIDZ The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $75 million (around R1.28 billion) in financing for South Africa-based Nyanza Light Metals to advance large-scale titanium processing and strengthen Africa’s industrial base through mineral beneficiation. The investment will support the development of an 80 000-ton-per-year titanium dioxide pigment manufacturing plant at the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone for local market and export to the rest of the African continent, Europe, Americas and the Middle East. The project aims to process locally and regionally sourced titanium ores into high-value pigment used in paints, coatings, cosmetics, and medical applications—industries currently dependent on costly imports. Of the total financing, $25m will come from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), a joint initiative…

The National Treasury has unveiled a bold plan to strengthen South Africa’s carbon credit market, paving the way for greater private investment in emissions reduction and low-carbon projects as part of the country’s transition to net zero. The consultation paper, Developing the South African Carbon Credit Market, released on Wednesday outlines a comprehensive framework to expand the carbon offset system and improve market integrity, regulation, and liquidity. It aims to make South Africa a leading destination for climate finance in Africa by modernising market architecture, clarifying the legal status and financial regulations of carbon credits, linking domestic trading with international carbon markets and stimulating investment in South Africa’s low-carbon projects. By reducing administrative barriers and enhancing the role of financial institutions and regulatory bodies, Treasury believes that these reforms would…

Africa is losing billions of dollars every year through illicit financial flows (IFFs) from its mineral sector, undermining the continent’s potential to benefit from the global clean energy transition, according to a new report by Greenpeace Africa on Wednesday. The report, titled “Africa’s Critical Minerals: A Development Lifeline or a New Green Resource Curse?” warns that IFFs have become “increasingly widespread and complex,” allowing multinational mining companies to avoid paying taxes and depriving African governments of vital revenue. It estimates that South Africa has lost more than $10 billion (more than R170bn), while Nigeria loses more than $17bn every year through corporate tax evasion and profit shifting in the extractives industry. Citing the African Union’s African Minerals Development Centre, the report notes that since 1980, about $1.3 trillion has left…

The PayInc Net Salary Index, which tracks the average nominal net salaries of approximately 2.1 million earners in South Africa, increased for the sixth consecutive month in September 2025. This steady increase aligns with the gradual improvement in economic activity and reflects the labour market’s resilience over recent months. Shergeran Naidoo, the head of Stakeholder Engagements at PayInc, said, “The PayInc Net Salary Index reached R21 428, which was 0.3% up on August’s level and 2.3% higher than a year ago.” The average net salary continues to strengthen, showing a 4.3% rise in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the corresponding period in 2024. According to a PayInc Net Salary Index analysis of the number of salaries paid, just more than 175 000 additional salaries were disbursed during…

What does it say about South Africa’s financial services sector when, in searching for a CEO for one of the country’s top investment firms, only 14% of the candidates are women, and even fewer are black? Despite two decades of transformation policy, the female leadership pipeline remains worryingly thin. And while the gender imbalance is not new, the urgency has intensified. Succession challenges, the emergence of new banks, and a rapidly evolving consumer landscape have created a real scramble for leadership talent…and the pool is not deep enough. This is not just a gender issue, it’s a broader talent crisis. Over the past five years, South Africa’s financial services sector has undergone a quiet but significant shift in how it sources and evaluates leadership. The traditional pipeline, once dominated by…

South Africa’s food security is getting worse, despite the government spending billions to try to stop hunger levels rising. It is a losing battle, because the government strategy is flawed. Instead of policies that would reduce the number of poor people, it is throwing huge resources at efforts to make an increasing number of poor people less hungry. The result is that food security surveys regularly show that the number of hungry people is rising, and every quarterly jobs report shows that, even when percentages improve slightly, the actual number of unemployed people is going up. One of the world’s highest unemployment rates results in high levels of poverty, hunger and starving children. Even though South Africa is food secure at national level, producing enough to export, the situation…