Cape Times 2025-08-15

a big blow for Mozambique economy South32 said its Mozal Aluminium facility, the biggest industrial employer in Mozambique with over 2 500 staff, will be put on care and maintenance when its electricity agreement expires at the end of March 2026. Apart from the employees and contractors that were employed at Mozal in 2024, an estimated additional 21 000 jobs had been created through multiplier impacts on the economy, the mining group said. South32’s share price plunged 5.83% to R33.41 on the JSE early Thursday morning. South32 said in a notice on Thursday that it had continued to engage with the Mozambique government, Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), and Eskom on securing additional electricity, as it has been trying to secure an agreement for over six years. South32 also operates…

The Board of South African Tourism (SA Tourism) has placed CEO Nombulelo Guliwe on precautionary suspension effective immediately, following serious allegations of misconduct. However, the Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille's office has declared the board's decision null and void since it no longer has a chairperson nor a deputy chairperson. SA Tourism is the national tourism agency responsible for the marketing of South Africa as a preferred tourist destination. The action taken by the nine-member Board underscores the gravity of the situation as they embark on a thorough investigation into the claims against Guliwe. Guliwe, a qualified Chartered Accountant, was appointed to the CEO position for a five-year period in February 2024 following a comprehensive recruitment process. In nearly 10 years with the organisation, Guliwe has served in various…

The National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO) announces a sharp rise in digital banking fraud complaints, with cases surging from 1,436 between January and May 2024 to 2,483 during the same period in 2025, a staggering 73% year-on-year increase. The NFO says while ATM card complaints also increase, from 237 to 332, they remain significantly lower than virtual card fraud cases. Between January 2024 and May 2025, digital fraud complaints outnumbered ATM-related complaints by 3,350, signalling a dramatic shift in card fraud from plastic to virtual. With virtual banking cards now available across all major digital banking platforms, and easily loaded onto mobile phones and wearable devices, the NFO confirms that virtual cards are rapidly overtaking traditional physical cards and cash in popularity. “Unfortunately, this digital alternative is also increasingly being…

Retrenchment is more than just losing your job. It can be a deeply destabilising experience that affects your income and savings for years to come. Your pension savings: If you’ve been contributing to a retirement fund through your employer, that money remains yours. But whether you walk away with your full financial potential or take a long-term knock depends on what you choose to do next. Under the two-pot retirement system, your savings are split into two components: a retirement pot (which you can only access when you retire) and a savings pot (which you can withdraw from once per tax year, even while employed). If you joined your fund before August 31, 2024, you will also have a vested pot. Your retrenchment benefit: If you belong to a group…

Standard Bank Group’s share price rose as much as 3.3% on Thursday after reporting a strong interim financial performance and the future retirement plans of its two top executives. CEO Sim Tshabalala and CFO Arno Daehnke are set to retire late in 2027. The board of Africa’s biggest bank by assets in June raised the retirement age of their executives from 60 to 63, but Tshabalala, who was appointed in 2013, and Daehnke, appointed in 2016, will not be impacted by this decision. Tshabalala said in an interview with Business Report that this was because their retirements were part of a longer term, orderly succession strategy. “It was always the plan to retire at 60. We are both energetic… I am sure we will be making further contributions to add…

A bid by billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s investment company, African Rainbow Capital (ARC), to have South African courts hear a dispute over a graphite mining deal turned sour has been rebutted by Pula Group, which argues that the case should continue to be heard before the Tanzanian High Court. Pula Group is a US company with interests in Tanzania. It is suing Motsepe owned companies including ARC and African Rainbow Minerals for R3.4 billion for breaching agreements related to a graphite mining deal in Tanzania. Motsepe and his companies - who have now sought to have the dispute heard in the South African High Court - are accused by Pula of reneging on the Tanzanian graphite mining deal by allegedly investing in a similar project by an Australian rival of Pula.…