Cape Times 2024-01-23

SASOL shareholders approved its controversial climate-change resolution on Friday after the first meeting had to be postponed due to activist protest, but fewer voted in favour than they did last year. Sasol said yesterday that all the reso- lutions were passed by the requisite majority of voting rights at the shareholders’ meeting on Friday. The first scheduled meeting in November had to be postponed after environmental activists disrupted the proceedings. The chemical and fuel from coal group said its remuneration policy was approved by 84.67% of voting shareholders, significant considering many listed companies fail to get enough shareholder support on this resolution. The resolution on Sasol’s climate change management approach, and its commitment to a decarbonisation pathway towards achieving its 2030 target and 2050 net zero ambition, was approved by…

THE RAND YESTERDAY plunged to its lowest in three months after precious metals prices slid on reduced hopes of rapid interest rate cuts by major central banks, particularly the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The local currency came under more pressure and traded around R19.20 to the US dollar most of yesterday, marking its lowest point since early October 2023, after ending the week at R19.01 to the greenback on Friday. Investors this week are bracing for the release of inflation data and the first rate decision of the year by the SARB, with analysts anticipating the rates to remain unchanged as inflation risks remain. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago said recently that inflation had remained more sticky than anticipated and that it would need to move closer to the target…

Warning that South African companies will continue to be under strain from headwinds PWC HAS WARNED that South African companies will continue to be under strain from international macro- economic volatility and domestic headwinds, including load shedding. In its Economic Outlook 2024 report released yesterday, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), however, said these challenges were more transient in nature and less enduring than the long-term megatrends shaping society. The financial services group identified crises across five areas of South African society. It named the macroeconomic vola- tility, conflict-hit international supply chains, access to scarce resources, access to healthcare, and struggling public institutions, as major constraints to growth. PwC South Africa chief economist Lullu Krugel highlighted that South Africa had its own country-specific structural challenges, including load shedding, high levels of unemployment and crime.…

THE MERGED entity between major domestic appliance manufacturers Beko Europe and Whirlpool Corporation has committed to supporting local suppliers by spending up to 50% of its procurement bill with local providers of raw materials and other inputs. In South Africa, Beko supplies non-branded major domestic appliances to private label suppliers and other manufacturers. Whirlpool, on the other hand, supplies Whirlpool-branded home appliances to the South African market. Marsha Govender, who is director for the commission for legal and compliance at Defy, said yesterday that the merged entity would boost local procurement from 30% to 50%. “We can confirm the 30% commitment and how we intend to draw that up to the 50% mark. And we can attribute our end value to that,” said Govender. However, the two companies could not…

THE CHANGING face of global supply chains demands a new kind of professional – one who is not only a custodian of procurement and logistics, but also a steward of sustainability. The constant changes occurring in the logistics space point to a sector different from what people might have imagined 10 years ago. I believe the supply chain landscape is at a crossroads as traditional paradigms are being disrupted by digitisation. Once characterised by linear processes and limited connectivity, supply chains are experiencing a seismic shift as they embrace the power of the technologies. The transformation is not merely a modernisation of age-old practices; it signifies a reimagining of how goods are produced, distributed and consumed. Moreover, the infusion of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things into…

IT IS IRONIC that Elon Musk, a South African, is the global godfather of the electric vehicle (EV) industry, yet there are no Teslas in South Africa, not even the terrifying Cybertruck, a vehicle well designed for the South African cash-in-transit heist market. He recently observed on X that Teslas are not available in South Africa because “import duties are super high in South Africa to protect the domestic industry. Doesn’t make sense for Tesla, given that electric cars are not locally made”. Musk is right. Despite there now being an EV white paper, published by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), there is no reason to believe our roads will soon silently be flooded with EVs. Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel, in the forward…