Pretoria News 2022-04-20

THE BUSINESS sector has welcomed the declaration of a National State of Disaster to tackle the severe economic impact of the floods which resulted in deaths, damage to infrastructure and loss of production. Last week’s devastating floods left untold destruction and at least 443 people dead while almost 50 others are unaccounted for. Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) yesterday said the declaration of a disaster signalled the seriousness with which the government was tackling the task, as well as the lessons learned from the emergency responses in the last few years. BLSA chief executive Busi Mavuso said urgent lifesaving support must be a priority, but it was important that businesses and the authorities also focus on restoring transport connections. “The search-and-recovery effort is clearly the priority, while also bringing immediate…

THE RAND YESTERDAY fell to a nearly 4-week low pummelled by a warning of prolonged power cuts, supply chain disruption due to flooding, and a lower global economic outlook. Eskom yesterday ramped up its rotational power cuts to Stage 4 as a result of the failure of two additional generation units, pushing load shedding to remain in force until Friday morning. The power utility warned of 37 days of load-shedding in the best-case scenario while the worst-case scenario could plunge the country to 100 days of power cuts in winter. It is estimated that in 2020 load shedding could cost South Africa’s economy R500 million per stage, per day, as economic activity comes to a halt during power cuts. Reports also suggested that Eskom spent an estimated R235m on…

POWER utility Eskom yesterday moved to Level 4 load shedding and warned of up to 101 days of load shedding over the winter period, which economists said would dampen investment sentiment. Eskom’s Head of Transmission Sekgo- motso Scheepers yesterday said the strain to the system from various assaults risked available capacity dipping to between 37 and 101 days over the winter period, and the utility had to redouble its efforts in fending off the unplanned loss of capacity. Estimates earlier this year by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers were that load shedding in South Africa increased by 38 percent in 2021 with more than 2 400 gigawatt hours lost, which it estimated reduced real GDP growth by up to 3.1 percentage points, costing the economy up to 400…

THE SOUTH African government has proposed R5.2 billion in tax relief while the Department of Small Business Development plans to support at least 15 000 youth-owned enterprises to boost economic recovery and youth unemployment. While the proof is still in the pudding, this is a step in the right direction given that small businesses are the backbone of the economy and youth unemployment is one of South Africa’s biggest and most pressing problems. To ensure the proposed measures have the desired outcome of small business development and youth employment creation, it is necessary that all stakeholders are involved – from government agencies to private sector players and educational institutions. This will achieve greater collaboration and help to understand what support and development the small to medium-sized businesses really…

dieketseng.maleke@inl.co.za GEMFIELDS, supplier of coloured gemstones, said its teams were hosting and welcoming a notable increase in supply chain assessments, and audits, as jewellers and downstream customers strive to better understand and document their logistic networks. Gemfields, which is focused on mining emeralds at the Kagem mine in Zambia and the Montepuez Ruby Mining in Mozambique, released its annual report yesterday. The group said the coloured gemstone sector has long been opaque, and its focus on transparency means that it is uniquely positioned, as the industry rightly shifts to a “mine-of-origin” mo- del and away from “country-of-origin”. “The shift to greater transparency and supply chain certification will ultimately improve and strengthen the evolution of the sector,” it said. According to the company, its board was “aghast and saddened” by atrocities…

MASSMART, the owner of Makro, Builders Warehouse and Game stores said it was poised for accelerated growth as it continued to implement its turnaround strategy, according to its latest integrated annual report. The group said in the report released yesterday that a significant outcome of the turnaround plan to date has been re-organising and introducing new ways of working to unlock the strengths of the group, and deriving the resultant benefit to the business. “This has mostly involved leveraging Massmart scale, and Walmart networks and expertise, to lower the cost base and implement better ways of working to create a significantly more competitive platform for future growth,” Massmart said. The approach was to accelerate omni-focused growth that is responsive to shifting consumer behaviour centred on the Southern African Development Community,…