Pretoria News 2022-05-12

SOUTH Africa is facing a sugar shortage, the new “white gold” with local mills unable to meet the local demand, Chris Engelbrecht, the chairperson of the Association of Southern Africa Sugar Importers (Asasi) warned yesterday. This is a further blow to South Africans, who are facing soaring food prices, exacerbated by supply chain woes due to the war in Ukraine, which has seen countries banning the export of key crops such as palm oil in the face of rampant inflation. Engelbrecht said sugar was like white gold, adding: “White sugar is now selling at R16 500 per ton (excluding VAT). The usual price is R11 500 per ton (excluding VAT).” He said the current sugar import duty was R4 148 per ton, which was adjusted on March…

SOUTH Africa’s economic outlook has weakened on the back of protracted rotational power cuts, expected high interest rates and disrupted industrial activity due to floods in KwaZulu-Natal. This comes as power utility Eskom yesterday warned that the national electricity grid remained constrained, with an elevated risk of load shedding over the winter period, particularly during the morning and evening peaks. Eskom has implemented load shedding for 32 days from January 1 to May 10 this year due to low plant availability. This is six days more than the 26 days of load shedding during the same period last year, with the grid sitting at more than 15 000 megawatts of total unplanned outages. “The onset of winter has seen increased demand and this will lead to capacity…

THE INSTITUTE of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA) has slammed SAA for appointing Professor John Lamola as the executive chairperson and chief executive of the soon-to-be-privatised airline. SAA’s board appointed Lamola to the position last month, to assume his duties from May 1, following the departure of interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo after a year at the helm. IoDSA said yesterday that Lamola’s appointment to the dual roles suggested that the state had not learned the lessons of the past few years regarding the importance of good governance. IoDSA chief executive Parmi Natesan said the Zondo Commission’s reports had shown that governance lapses in terms of appointments, oversight and accountability were some of the fundamental causes of the implosion of our key state-owned enterprises, among them SAA. Natesan said it…

GREEN mining is the industry’s new frontier, and there are significant financial pressures driving the change apart from climate change, mining in- dustry speakers and conference dele- gates said at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. “Developments in the renewable energy sector will run parallel to and intersect with technological and social developments in mining. “It is imperative that the industry plays a critical role in the transition to cleaner energy and serves as one of its major driving forces,” said Mazars audit partner and National Head: Mining, Thinus de Vries. Mark Dickson, the global head of Energy and Decarbonisation at the mining safety, operations and energy transition consultancy firm DSS+, said in an interview that the key take-out for him from the conference was the need for mining companies…

IN A BID to reposition itself for growth, Net 1 UEPS Technologies, a financial technology company, while releasing its results yesterday, announced that it had launched its new brand identity and named itself Lesaka. The JSE-listed company that provides fintech products and services in South Africa and internationally said the branding was effective from May 18. “The word Lesaka means kraal in Setswana and Sesotho, which aptly represents our new group and its vision,” the company said. It said it was important for it to have a new identity to express its commitment to the local communities it serves authentically. “Our ambition is to drive financial inclusion by giving ordinary people and small businesses access to essential financial services,” the company said. Lesaka Group chief executive Chris Meyer said: “We…

SOUTH African motorists could see fuel prices increasing by nearly R2 per litre in June due to elevated global oil prices if the rand remains at the current weak level against the dollar. This would be a blow for struggling consumers after the government announced in April a two-month reprieve in the form of a R1.50 decrease per litre in the general fuel levy. FNB Agri-Business senior agricultural economist Paul Makube said yes- terday that a fuel price hike would be a blow for consumers if relief measures were not implemented. Makube said farmers were facing a hefty fuel bill next month as the general fuel levy intervention lapsed. “The R1.50c/litre will be back in the fuel calculation … considering the exchange rate depreciation of 9 percent month-on-month and…