Pretoria News 2022-06-14

THUNGELA Resources’ share price took an almost 10 percent nosedive yesterday after it posted that despite the coal price surge in the past year, its production would decrease due to rail problems at state-owned logistics company, Transnet. The coal producer released a pre-close and trading statement for the six months to end June, saying export saleable production of coal would decrease by 14 percent to 6.1 million tons due to Transnet’s poor performance. Despite this, the group said it had seen continued strong earnings and cash generation for the period January 1, 2022, to May 31, 2022. This was driven primarily by the high coal price, which led earnings per share to R58, an increase of R54.87, or 1 814 percent, compared to R3.13 in the…

Domestic market slips into bear territory, tracking worldwide sell-off SOUTH African markets and the rand yesterday quickly shrugged off last week’s impressive economic growth to pre-pandemic levels as global markets tumbled, weighed down by concerns about a looming recession amid a tightening monetary policy environment. Stocks on the JSE opened the week at an eight-month low, with the All Share Index more than 2 percent lower around the 66 000-point level, the lowest since October last year. The all share index closed 2.1 percent lower at 66 381.03 points. Commodity-linked stocks were tracking a global sell-off as fears of recession gripped the domestic market after trade slipped into bear market territory. The higher-than-expected US inflation of 8.6 percent for May has hardened bets of aggressive monetary tightening…

DEVELOPING countries and the civil rights movement have continued calling for the global pharmaceuticals to fix the patent laws on technologies for the development of vaccines to enable universal access to life-saving drugs. Organisations yesterday said that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was so close, yet so far in approving the Intellectual Property Rights in the Context of Trade (Trips) waiver. The WTO 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva yesterday announced that there was progress in talks with big pharmaceuticals on patent laws regarding vaccines. WTO director-general Ngozi Oko- njo-Iweala voiced “cautious optimism” that member countries will ultimately reach an agreement on patents. South Africa and India have led the charge for improving access to Covid-19 diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics through the Trips waiver proposal. The Trips waiver was proposed as…

AGRIBUSINESS sentiment was dented by unrelenting input cost pressures with fuel and agrochemicals still elevated, aggressive interest rate hikes and ongoing global and domestic logistics challenges in what was supposed to have been a relatively good season, FNB senior agricultural economist Paul Makube said yesterday. Adding to woes was the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which saw bans on South African export products of cloven-hoofed animals. China’s ban was particularly significant given its share of more than 22 percent and 70 percent, respectively, for beef and wool products and had yet to be resolved. The Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Con- fidence Index (ACI), which was released yesterday, moderated further by 2 points to 60 points in the second quarter following a 12-point decline in the first quarter this year. Makube…

PARLIAMENT and the Treasury must be held accountable to the people of the country for the appropriation of revenue. South Africans are beyond sick and tired of corruption, state capture, crime and a total lack of consequence management. If we are unhappy about the government’s handling of illegal actions, how in line are they with the wishes of South Africans? The majority of citizens wish for the country to be a peaceful and safe place, founded by the principles contained in the Constitution, a country that is fair and equitable for all. The following organisations would make submissions on the Appropriations Bill: the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town; the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria; the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, the Public Service Accountability…

IOL REPORTED last week that the country’s financial authorities, including the South African Revenue Service (Sars), have remained tight-lipped on whether they would investigate the matter of an alleged sum of millions of dollars reportedly stashed away on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm, before a gang is believed to have broken in and stolen some of it. As the story continues to gather momentum and spread into international media, pressure mounts on Ramaphosa to stop hiding behind so-called “due process” and come clean, with political analysts saying the situation and his unwillingness to engage severely damages the reputation of the sitting president. According to an affidavit by former SA spy boss Arthur Fraser, in excess of $4 million (about R64m) was concealed at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in the Waterberg,…