Pretoria News 2022-06-08

Experts warn economic ills, energy crisis and KZN floods could pose downside SOUTH Africa’s economic recovery from the depths of the pandemic-induced lockdowns has generally been faster than anticipated, but industry experts have warned that the country’s socio-economic ills, ongoing energy crisis and the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal could very well pose a downside risk to the potential overall growth for 2022. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) said yesterday that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2022, representing a second consecutive quarter of upward growth following an upwardly revised 1.4 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2021. As a result, the size of the economy is now at pre-pandemic levels with real GDP slightly higher than what it was…

SOUTH Africa’s decade-long electricity woes could soon be alleviated as the energy regulator has given the green light for additional generation capacity by independent power producers (IPPs). The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) yesterday approved the registration of a further 16 distri- buted generation projects, mainly solar power, with a combined capacity of 211MW and a collective investment value of R3.65 billion. Nersa said 11 generation facilities would be generating electricity for their own use, while five would be generating for commercial purposes. Cas Coovadia, Business Unity SA chief executive, said yesterday the fact that registration processes for the 16 new generation facilities were processed within 19 days was very encouraging for businesses ready to generate energy. “This amendment goes a long way to unlocking embedded generation…

CELL C WAS the only remaining successful bidder among the six that bought various units of spectrum slots that has not fully serviced its part of the fees, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) chairperson Keabetswe Modimoeng told Parliament yesterday. This as Cell C is technically insolvent and needs a crucial recapitalisation deal struck to recapitalise the company, which is taking place on June 20. Briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications on the recent auction, which raised R14.4 billion, Modimoeng said the regulator had issued Radio Frequency Spectrum licences to successful bidders by May 10 after receiving proportionate auction fees. “One successful bidder has only serviced part of the auction fee. The authority is taking advice on the matter,” he said. He clarified to parliamentarians later that the…

COMAIR, which suspended its flights last week, would most likely not be able to pay its workers salaries for June as pressure mounts for the airline to find an investor in the next few weeks or go belly up, Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) Richard Ferguson told organised labour yesterday. In a brief statement on social media platforms last week, Comair, which operates British Airways and kulula.com, advised the public that its flights had been voluntarily suspended from June 1 pending securing funding to resume operations. The airline’s management along with the BRP told the unions – including the National Union of Metal Workers (Numsa), Solidarity and the Pilots Association of South Africa – that it would not divulge the amount necessary to keep Comair afloat under non-disclosure agreements, but that…

ANGLO Platinum (Angloplat), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Sibanye-Stillwater have struck an agreement for guaranteed power supplies in Zimbabwe in return for hard currency to settle foreign currency obligations accrued by the country’s state power utility. Power outages and foreign currency woes are among the major headwinds for platinum and other miners in Zimbabwe. Electricity shortages have been disruptive to productivity for the three platinum miners and they have had to scramble for a solution to get guaranteed and uninterrupted power supply. “We have had to push for this deal for a sustainable solution to power outages that have been affecting production, with the risk that production was going to be affected,” said one executive with a platinum mining company. He added: “We have previously had to pay for all our…

SAFARI Investments RSA’s board said yesterday Heriot Properties had firmed its intention to acquire Safari “unilaterally” after “unsolicited” terms were handed to Safari’s board. Heriot Properties acquired 32.2 percent of Safari Investments last year, and had indicated subsequently that it wished to acquire more shares over time. The parties had jointly also obtained Competition Commission approval for such a merger. On Friday Heriot said it intended to make a general offer to Safari shareholders of R5.60 cash for every Safari share. Safari’s shares gained 2.50 percent to close at R5.74 on the JSE yesterday. The rarely traded share has risen more than 10 percent from the close on Thursday, prior to Heriot’s announcement on Friday of its firm intentions. Heriot owns a retail, industrial, commercial and specialised…