Sunday Tribune 2025-05-11

It has now been more than two years since Tongaat Hulett, South Africa’s 130-year-old sugar giant, entered business rescue. What was supposed to be a bold restructuring has instead devolved into a slow, painful erosion of shareholder rights, creditor value, and public confidence. As of yesterday, the Vision consortium – heralded as the saviour of Tongaat – has failed to deliver even a cent of the promised funding. The April 30 deadline, the fifth to be missed, has passed with silence. No explanation. No accountability. No money. And yet, somehow, the show goes on. Illusion of progress On April 16, a SENS announcement confirmed that the Zimbabwean competition commission had approved the sale of assets to Vision. According to the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs), this was the “last required competition…

Towards the end of the month, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be meeting to make its latest decision on the repurchase rate (repo rate) for the country. Despite inflation being the lowest it has been since June 2020, economists widely anticipate that the central bank will keep the repo rate unchanged in May. Lead economist at KPMG, Frank Blackmore, told Business Report that there is a difference between what the SARB will do and what he thinks the should do. Blackmore said that the SARB’s MPC made it clear that its decisions are data-dependent, relying on both current inflation readings and future inflation expectations. “The latest inflation rate of 2.7% is well below the midpoint of their target (4.5%) and even below the lower…

The pain continues for millions of South Africans who have battled their way through the past year, despite the cost-of-living crisis that has all but decimated household budgets across income groups, with no easing up of their financial burden on any front whatsoever. “The past few months have been among the toughest yet for citizens from all walks of life and the tiny petrol price cut announced by the Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (DMRE) this week will make no discernible difference in the lives of consumers who are still facing prices above R20 per litre at the pumps. “In addition, rocketing food prices and unsustainably high interest rates keep them locked into a debt cycle that they cannot escape,” CEO of Debt Rescue Neil Roets said. This week…

The Mommy Club is bringing all the drama and hopefully some resolution to its two-part reunion, hosted once again by the ever-glamorous Ntombee Ngcobo-Mzolo. The TV presenter, actress, and singer is back on the reunion throne for a second year, and she’s ready to hold all the mommies accountable. This season has been the show’s most explosive yet, spiritual warfare, shifting alliances, and epic fallouts have left the cast divided down the middle. The tension? Palpable. The shade? Premium. The finale? Nothing short of chaotic. So who better to bring order to the mommy madness than the stylishly sharp, cool-headed Ngcobo-Mzolo? “I’m thrilled to be back to help unpack all the drama that’s unfolded this season,” Ngcobo-Mzolo says. “Season three has been nothing short of must-watch television, and I’m taking…

It’s Mother’s Day, and spoiling the special woman in your life takes centre stage. However, once the celebrations wind down, I would suggest some downtime on the couch, watching Court – State vs. A Nobody on Netflix. It’s a powerful underdog courtroom drama, centred on family, a mother’s unconditional love, and justice, underpinned by a love story. Unpacking powerful themes of misogyny, corruption, poverty, and politics, this Telugu movie is presented with English subtitles. Written and directed by Ram Jagadeesh, who makes his filmmaking debut, the film follows Mettu “Chandu” Chandrasekhar (Harsh Roshan). Chandu’s life is upended when the family of his 17-year-old love interest, Meruvalli Jabilli (Sridevi), falsely accuse him of statutory rape, leading to legal repercussions. With his fate almost sealed, his friends plead with Surja Teja (Priyadarshi…

Gail Mabalane is arguably one of the most talented yet overlooked actresses in South Africa, a claim I don’t make lightly. Mabalane may not have the lengthy acting credentials of her peers, but she has a profound understanding of the craft and exhibits significant commitment through her method acting approach. I still can’t understand why she didn’t bag a South African Film and Television Awards nod for her magnificent portrayal of Zenzi Mwale in the first season of Netflix’s Unseen. Seriously, how could she have been snubbed? After being mesmerised by her performance in the first instalment, I didn’t think she could surpass it. I was mistaken. She blows that performance out of the water in the follow-up season. Gambit Film’s second instalment of Unseen debuted without much fanfare on…