Cape Times 2022-04-08

Redundant employees decide to challenge their retrenchment in court GREYHOUND Coach Lines’ sudden resumption of operations has left the company’s former employees hot under the collar as they continue challenging their retrenchment in court. The Democratised Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union (De- tawu) said yesterday that its members had been left out in the cold in the process to revive Greyhound. Detawu general secretary Vusi Ntshangase said the manner in which the owners of Greyhound had gone about selling the company was ”very suspicious”. Ntshangase said this had reinforced their belief that the luxury bus company could have been saved without going through the process of being sold. He said the union had two pending matters in the Labour Court in relation to the procedure and substance of retrenchments…

THE DEPARTMENT of Mineral Resources and Energy’s launch of the sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme this week has been met with a mixed reaction by industry players, with some saying it is no longer a level playfield. An independent analyst, who declined to be named, said the tariffs had become far too low to be completive generally. “There are specific entities now lined up to take over the contracts because of the criteria,” he said, adding that only bidders with deep pockets and connections could compete at that level. “With previous bid windows, the price factors have been very low, but from bid window 5, the factors have been about 90 percent price and 10 percent of other factors…

TECHNOLOGY group EOH’s shares leapt nearly 4 percent yesterday after it announced the sale of two of its businesses to telecoms firm Seacom for R144.9 million as it continues to pair down its debt. The share closed 3.15 percent up at R6.23 on the JSE yesterday. In a statement, EOH said the proceeds from the sale of Network Solutions (EOH-NS) and Hymax would primarily be applied to reduce its debt. EOH had almost R2.1 billion in gross debt at the financial year-end in July 2021, down from R2.4bn in 2020. EOH, which is trying to turn its fortunes around since a corruption scandal, for the financial year 2021 generated an operating profit of R147m following a whopping loss of R1.3bn in 2020. However, the deal still…

SOUTH Africa’s fiscus could be in a unique position to benefit from the global commodity boom while other economies are suffering the effects of rising inflation due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. This is a view that emerged from two separate economic outlook reports yesterday as the global economy is reeling from the effects of the war in Ukraine. Prices of commodities such as oil, coal and gold have risen to decade highs since last month, driven by rising geopolitical tension in eastern Europe and supply-chain disruptions due to crippling sanctions. Russia and Ukraine account for a large share of global energy exports, as well as exports of a range of metals, food staples and agricultural inputs. The Bank of America (BoA) said yesterday that high commodity…

SOUTH African citrus export estimates revealed that the industry would continue to see steady growth across most citrus varietals, with an estimated 4 percent growth in exports across these categories, the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) said yesterday. Justin Chadwick, CGA’s chief executive, said this was good news for the South Africa economy in light of the local industry sustaining 120 000 jobs and bringing in R30 billion in export revenue last year alone. “However, several challenges facing the sector include soaring input costs (including fuel and fertiliser price hikes) and a major increase in freight rates, red tape hampering access to some overseas markets, as well as ongoing operational challenges at the country’s ports, continue to threaten the profitability and future sustainability of growers,” Chadwick said. The…

From page 1 “We are shocked, hurt and sad because we know that teenager. My daughter and Shitino’s father are distraught,” said Van Wyngaard. The family confirmed they now know the details of what happened on that fateful day, but said they couldn’t disclose them out of fear of jeopardising the case. Van Wyngaard said she would never forget how her grandson loved food, laughing and playing. Southern Cape police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said all available resources, including specialised units and experts, were used. “A round-the-clock investigation, spearheaded by the station commander, ensured that sufficient evidence and witness statements could be obtained that linked a 16-year-old suspect to the death of the 7-year-old. Subsequently, the boy was arrested and is currently awaiting assessment by a social worker.” Meanwhile, the body…