Table of contents for 2024-05-27 in Star

VODACOM’S bid in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, to have a 2022 decision by industry regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to allow its competitors to pool spectrum could have consequences for the entire industry. A legal expert in the field, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case was before the court, said on Friday that the entire matter “could turn into a broader fight, regarding all the mobile network operators’ (MNOs) spectrum, which will be a consequence of the regulator taking so long to auction the radio frequency.” Telkom has consistently asked Icasa, including as part of the 2022 spectrum auction preparation process, to review all spectrum sharing and pooling deals, as these have the potential to skew competition. It took 15 years for Icasa…

THE STATE-OWNED Central Energy Fund (CEF) has bought the Sapref Refinery just south of eThekwini, South Africa’s biggest fuel refinery, from BP Southern Africa (bpSA) and Shell Downstream South Africa (SDSA), a spokesperson said Saturday. The CEF has, according to reports, bought Sapref refinery for R1, but substantial investment will be required in future to restart the refinery and upgrade to meet new environmental standards. Sapref, which has been shut temporarily since the end of March 2022, has continued to service SDSA and bpSA market fuels requirements via imported fuels. Shell announced earlier this month that it planned to divest all its businesses in South Africa, following a comprehensive review of its businesses across all regions. According to a statement released on Saturday, bpSA and SDSA had reached an agreement…

FULL-YEAR profits in Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) for the period to end March, slumped to R745.6 million after the company suffered equity losses from its oil and gas prospecting investments. With investments in Tsogo Sun, Southern Sun, Platinum Group Metals and Frontier Transport Holdings, HCI has also made a foray into oil and gas exploration. However, this has dragged down its profitability from R5 billion in 2023 to R745.6m in the year under review. “Oil and gas prospecting equity losses of R528m in respect of Impact Oil & Gas (IOG) includes an effective R483m in equity losses in respect of its investment in Africa Energy Corp (AEC),” the company said on Friday. AEC had recognised a $135m (R2.5bn) plunge in fair value adjustments on its investment in the…

LAWRENCE Ndaki was a skilful diplomat, who understood protocol. My first recruit for field operations in preparation for the Bophuthatswana Census of 1985, Lawrence Ndaki, is no more. He was put to rest on Saturday, May 25. My success and rise in the South African statistical system began in Bophuthatswana in November, 1982, when I had to start from scratch and progressively build a formidable team, over a period of 13 years, that became a reference core for Census ’96, the very first census in a democratic South Africa. As the country completes thirty years of democracy, it was in 1998 that President Nelson Mandela, upon receiving the results of the census, would say: “At last we have the numbers that count for the nation. Numbers that we can count…

MID-TIER GOLD producer, Pan African Resources, has called for a general meeting next month to effect a capital reduction to correct accounting errors for the period 2019 to 2023. The general meeting has been slated for June 10, and relates to an exercise on “capital reduction to enable the company to pay future dividends. It will also address the payment of certain past distributions by the company by way of dividends, and “in respect of certain share buy backs as well as the resultant” related party transactions. “The company now understands that these past distributions have apparently been paid otherwise than in accordance with the Companies Act 2006,” Pan African Resources said on Friday. Keith Spencer, non executive chairperson of Pan African Resources said that the act required that…

The Archbishop Tutu IP Trust has indicated that it has instructed its lawyers to stop the Department of Home Affairs from using Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s name in vain by calling the Marabastad refugee centre, in Pretoria, the “Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre”. This comes after the Special Investigating Officer (SIU) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Directorate (Hawks) conducted raids at various refugee facilities across the country last week. According to media reports, whistle-blowers were the ones who lifted the lid on a fraud syndicate involving foreign nationals who were granted asylum and refugee status without proper vetting and procedures. The raid, conducted by teams from the Hawks, SIU officers in various refugee camps in provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo, uncovered and seized items such…

THE long-overdue project to construct and rehabilitate K69, aka Solomon Mahlangu Drive, in the east of Pretoria is edging closer to completion. This follows the oversight visit on Thursday by Gauteng MEC for Transport and Logistics Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, who said the project was almost 98% complete. The multimillion-rand project, which was launched in 2019, failed to meet its initial deadline of August 2021. Tshwane MMC for Roads and Transport Katlego Mathebe previously cited the encroachment of road reserves as a challenge for the R300 million road upgrade. Diale-Tlabela said the road upgrade spanning almost 10km begins at Road R104 and extends northwards, culminating at Mamelodi’s Tsamaya Road intersection. She said the upgrade was now in its final stage, involving upgrading the road from a single into a dual carriageway, improving…

AS THE country commemorates the life of anti-apartheid activist and union leader Elijah Barayi, it is important to ask if the deeds of those who took the baton from him will stand the test of time. Maria Molefe, 65, recalled how Barayi fought for her rights as a worker after union officials in her sector failed her. Molefe, a divorcee, narrated the story when she was allocated a house at the Elijah Barayi mega project in Carletonville. She lived in a shack for years after her divorce. When completed, the Elijah Barayi mega project will yield 12 000 mixed housing units. Molefe described Barayi as a caring leader, whose office behind the Carletonville post office was open to everyone who needed help. During the inaugural Elijah Barayi Memorial Lecture…

US TREASURY Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday she was trying to save a part of the global corporate tax deal focused on highly profitable multinational firms, but India was refusing to engage on issues important to US interests. Yellen said in an interview on the sidelines of a G7 finance leaders meeting in Italy, that China also had been “all but absent” in the negotiations to finalise “Pillar 1” of the OECD corporate tax deal reached in principle in 2021 that involves 140 countries. “We are actively engaged in this negotiation,” to meet an end-June deadline for the deal, Yellen said. “We’re committed to doing everything we possibly can to make it work.” Earlier on Friday, Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told reporters that the Pillar 1 negotiations were…

The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) will be announcing its latest decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) later this week on the repurchase rate (repo rate) for the country. Hot on the heels of underwhelming inflation data that was released last week, which was well below the Sarb’s target range, it is likely that consumers will not be getting a reprieve with a rate cut. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) this past week showed that headline inflation softened to 5.2% in April year-on-year, down from 5.3% in March and 5.6% in February, as general food inflation slowed except for vegetables, fruit and hot beverages. Nedbank chief economist Nicky Weimar said some upside risks to the inflation outlook also faded over the past month as global disinflation broadly continued.…

DANISH political economist Torben Iversen notes that “labour-intensive, low-productivity jobs do not thrive in the context of high social protection and intensive labour-market regulation, and without international trade countries cannot specialise in high value-added services. “Lack of international trade and competition, therefore, not the growth of these, is the cause of current employment problems in high protection countries”. The outgoing Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel, would almost certainly disagree with him, despite the abundant evidence to the contrary. The well-intentioned master plans and public interest interventions in the merger space are Patel’s attempt to grow the industrial sector of the economy, raising the levels of employment in those sectors. It didn’t work. The clothing and textile sector, the sector whose union Patel led for years, saw employment halve…

IT’S HARD not to get caught up in the P Diddy saga these days; it reminds us of when the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard court case grabbed everyone’s attention. One celebrity who’s been particularly vocal about the situation is rapper 50 Cent. The rapper, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, has been openly sharing his thoughts on the numerous sexual assault allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs, often posting his opinions on Instagram. In the latest news, Netflix has picked up the distribution rights for 50 Cent’s new documentary, Diddy Do It? This project aims to shed light on the sexual assault allegations against the music mogul. And with such a catchy title, it’s already piqued curiosity. According to reports, 50 Cent’s documentary has secured a spot on…

POLITICAL parties have been left divided over recent videos by uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) members alleging “vote rigging” was afoot at the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) centre in eThekwini. While the IEC is reported to be contemplating measures against the MK Party and individuals in videos of alleged vote rigging at its eThekwini sites, political parties remain divided on the safety of the upcoming elections in the country. Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, said they had seen the video of what had happened in Hammersdale, Durban, and after engaging with the IEC the party understood what had really happened. Mncwango said in light of the events, ActionSA was calling on South Africans, especially those in KZN, to calm down as it was normal for the IEC to distribute…

Gen Z and Gen Alpha might have been cut from the umbilical cord but they are tethered by the proverbial cord that constantly keeps them connected to the digital world. Like the umbilical cord, 24/7 internet connectivity links the generation to a vast reservoir of information crucial for their personal and intellectual development. Just as the umbilical cord is essential for sustaining life before birth, the internet sustains their engagement with the world, fostering learning, creativity and social interaction. Unlike previous generations, the young are digital natives, immersed in an environment where the internet, social media and instant communication are integral to daily life. The constant connectivity shapes their interactions, learning styles and problem-solving approaches. They possess the ability to navigate digital platforms, seek information swiftly and adapt to tech…

CAF Champions League football is in the bag. Bravo! But what’s new really, for even last season, Orlando Pirates qualified for the continent’s premier club knockout football competition. Distant runners-up to the marauding Mamelodi Sundowns, who captured their seventh league title in a row, the Buccaneers again played the bridesmaids role in local football’s elite league. They could well still win the Nedbank Cup on Saturday afternoon when they face Sundowns in the final in Mbombela to replicate last season’s feat, but is that something worth celebrating for one of the country’s top clubs? Their fans will probably think so. After all, their bitter rivals Kaizer Chiefs had a stinker yet again, Amakhosi failing to finish in the top eight as they occupied 10th place – their worst finish in…

WHAT does an aspiring athlete do two months away from participating on the world’s biggest sporting stage? Develop tunnel vision, that’s what you do. “You’ve got to get focused, zone in so much on what it is you want to achieve that those around you end up calling you a zombie.” Hezekiel Sepeng should know. He has, after all, shone pretty brightly at the Olympic Games and as the countdown to Paris 2024 begins in earnest, there are few better placed to advice members of Team South Africa than him. Now almost a 50-year-old husband and father whose involvement in the sport is more in an advisory role, Sepeng was a silver medallist in the 800m at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA. He is excited about this year’s Games…

BILLIONAIRE tech mogul Elon Musk has told investors he plans to build the largest-ever supercomputer, called the “Gigafactory of Compute”, to support the development of his artificial intelligence startup xAI, an industry news outlet reported on Saturday. Musk wants the supercomputer – which will string together 100 000 Nvidia H100 chips – operational by the second half of 2025, and “will hold himself personally responsible for delivering it on time”, according to media company The Information. The planned supercomputer would be “at least four times the size of the biggest GPU clusters that exist today”, such as those used by Meta to train its AI models, Musk was quoted as saying during a presentation to investors this month. Since OpenAi’s generative AI tool ChatGPT exploded on the scene in…

QUANTUM Foods Holdings did really well to turn its 13% decline in half-year revenue into a whopping 320% increase in operating profit to R61 million after trading conditions improved for poultry producers, in spite of the impact of avian flu. Headline earnings a share (Heps) increased by 651% to 21.7 cents, from 2.9c in the prior corresponding period. Earnings per share increased by 664% to 22.1c, from 2.9c. Nevertheless, no interim dividend was declared, the same as at the halfway stage last year. Further avian flu outbreaks were reported by SA producers, including at Quantum’s layer farm operations in the northern provinces during the six months to March 31. The value of the birds affected was about R37m versus nil in the prior comparative period. Operational costs were reduced…

4SIGHT Holdings lifted headline earnings per share a whopping 153.8% to 6.04 cents for the 14 months to February 29, compared with a 12 month period to December 31, 2022, and a final dividend of 2.5c was declared after providing technological services and solutions to more than 900 partners. Revenue increased 57.7% to R1.1 billion. Operating profit was up 76.9% to R39.04 million. Revenue was made up mainly of income from licences, software as a service, consulting, support and maintenance and sale of physical goods. Some R660.4m of revenue was derived from South Africa and R397m from the Rest of Africa segment. The final dividend brought the dividend for the year to 5c a share. 4Sight, describing itself as a “global pioneer in diversified technology”, said…

In 2021, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and Netflix entered into a partnership to create opportunities for emerging film-makers on the back of Covid-19’s impact on the industry. The decision to financially back the work of individuals hungry to gain a foothold in the industry has borne fruit with six films: Runs in the Family, Prime, Inkabi, Soweto Blaze, Smart Casuals and Real Estate Sisters. In catching the latter three releases, I was thoroughly impressed by them. Each film, despite the small budget, boasted a solid cast, a compelling story- line and adroit direction. Mzansi is a hotbed of incredible talent. Fact. And one such individual is Reabetswe Moeti, the director and co-writer of Real Estate Sisters. The film was produced by Totem Zea, which she owns with…

IN THE wake of sporadic incidents of violence related to the upcoming elections, the heads of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) have called for political tolerance among voters and members of various parties. During a briefing held at the NatJoints Co-ordination Centre at the SAPS Tshwane Academy yesterday, NatJoints co-chair and Deputy National Commissioner responsible for policing, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili said security stakeholders were pleased that in the short space of time, the centre had assisted law-enforcement officials to fast-track responses to threats and lawlessness. Mosikili said their early warning system had proven to be able to assist with detecting and addressing all identified security risks so far. NatJoints had been able to deal with the anticipated truck protest by members in the Road Freight Industry, as…

Former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and nine former executives are fighting tooth and nail to prevent the public broadcaster from claiming more than R2 million paid to more than 50 “music legends”. This was after the SABC and Special Investigating Unit (SIU) launched an appeal against the Special Tribunal ruling that favoured Motsoeneng and other executives. The money was paid between October 2016 and February 2017, and each “music legend” received R50 000. However, the tribunal recently said an order that Motsoeneng and the executives should pay back an amount of R2.5 million to the SABC has become prescribed. This means that the debt has been erased and the SABC no longer has the right to demand repayment. The debt became prescribed in September 2020 and the SIU…

AWARD-WINNING actress Nambitha Ben-Mazwi has expressed gratitude to her fans, who continue to show love and appreciation for her remarkable role in Empini, a series on Showmax. Ben-Mazwi, known for other robust roles, is starring in her first Showmax Original alongside three-time SA Film and Television Award (Safta) winner Siyabonga Thwala. The star-studded show has been cited as the benchmark for local entertainment, with Thwala and Ben-Mazwi at the helm of it. The show is a highly charged, action-packed thriller following the life of Ndoni Themba (Ben-Mazwi), a deeply tormented private security bodyguard searching for answers. The 52-episode series is set in the perilous world of the private security sector. Thwala portrays Khaya Bhodoza, her mentor and a well-known businessman and political heavyweight. The all-star cast of Empini also features…

Digital transformation has occurred in the past few decades, with the global economy increasingly dependent on technology. This has made tech skills critical tools for development and economic growth. When I heard that women make up about 35% of the tech workforce worldwide – a significant improvement from the early 2000s when that figure stood at 9% – I resolved to use my reign as Miss South Africa to make it easier for women (and men) to enter the crucial field. In South Africa, where IT and technology remain the top employment sectors for earning potential, there are about 44 000 unfilled entry-level digital vacancies. However, the demand for skilled professionals far outstrips supply and there is a severe skills shortage, exacerbated by deep socio-economic disparities, further deepening the real…

THE Lions will have to put the Sharks’ EPCR Challenge Cup triumph out of their minds this week as they prepare for a final, must-win clash that will see them either progress to the URC play-offs, or suffer another disappointing season with nothing to show for their efforts. The Sharks’ big reward for beating Gloucester is free passage to the Champions Cup at the expense of the team finishing eighth on the URC log. In other words, it is the top seven teams after this weekend’s final round of the URC that go through to the top-tier competition next season. The Lions are in ninth position but are locked on 49 points with Benetton (eighth) and Edinburgh (seventh). If the Lions can beat the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday,…