Cape Times 2024-04-12

AIRPORTS Company South Africa (Acsa) has confirmed it is talking with relevant parties in a bid to resolve the ongoing tax dispute between fuel suppliers and the SA Revenue Service (Sars), which could potentially impact supplies of jet fuel at OR Tambo International Airport. Business Report (BR) reported on Monday that the busiest airport in Africa could face yet another fuel supply challenge in the coming weeks if the dispute between fuel suppliers and the tax revenue collector over duties was not resolved speedily. According to sources close to the situation, stocks of jet fuel at the Acsa fuel farm in Kempton Park noticeably declined in the past week to below the acceptable benchmark of five-days supply. In a statement to BR yesterday, Acsa said that it was asked to…

SUZUKI Auto South Africa bust through its 50 000 sales barrier for the first time in April as local consumers increasingly chose its many modern, value-for-money models in the tough economic environment, where vehicle sales at an industry level are falling. The brand said yesterday it had received its final sales figures for the financial year to end-March 2024. It showed 51 969 new Suzuki models were sold in the 12 months, setting a new all-time record. Suzuki, which supplies the local market with vehicles built in India, is one of a handful of brands that have managed to grow sales and market share in a sharply declining market – in March the new vehicle market fell by 11.3% over the same month the previous year, the eighth…

LABOUR unions have blamed poor leadership and management of Siban- ye-Stillwater for failing to turn around the company’s struggling shafts after it announced plans to begin consultations that could affect about 4 000 employees from its South African gold mining operations. The multinational mining and metals processing group yesterday said that it would enter into consultations in terms of section 189A of the Labour Relations Act (s189) with organised labour and other representatives of affected non-unionised employees, regarding the proposed restructuring at its South African gold operations and its southern Africa region services functions. Further worsening the retrenchments by Sibanye at its South African gold mining operations is a rationalisation exercise for its southern Africa services. Sibanye’s spokesperson, James Wellsted, said this was further to previous restructuring, which was…

THE COMPLAINT by commercial airlines Airlink and Global Airways Operations to aviation authorities to level the playing field with their competitor Safair Operations over the latter’s suspected majority foreign ownership of 74% could possibly be withdrawn if parties reach an agreement. Airlink and Global – the co-owners of the domestic airline Lift – have lodged a formal complaint to the International Air Services Council and the Air Services Licence Council, saying that foreign investors and shareholders predominantly owned Safair, the owner of FlySafair, thus breaching the Air Services Licensing Act and the International Air Services Act. Safair’s lead advocate, Thembeka Ngqukaitobi, told the International Air Services Licensing Council yesterday that they were requesting a postponement of the hearing, which had been set for yesterday at the headquarters of the South…

IN A GOOD first step the government, through an accelerated depreciation allowance, would promote the production of electric vehicle (EV) in South Africa, Automotive Business Council (Naamsa) CEO Mikel Mabasa said yesterday. He said in an interview with Business Report that the investment allowance was particularly generous, considering the state of the fiscus and local economy and that there were a great deal of competing needs for government support. In the National Budget in February, an investment allowance for new EV investments was announced. Set to commence in March 2026, the allowance will see businesses and investors involved in EV production claim 150% of their qualifying investment spending in the first year. He said although the number of EVs was growing fast, they amounted to about less than 1…

SOUTH Africa’s largest and oldest crypto asset service provider, Luno, has secured a licence from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to operate as a financial services provider. Luno is the first dedicated crypto asset service provider in South Africa to be awarded its financial services provider licence, following the FSCA’s declaration of crypto assets as a financial product in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS). In 2022, the FSCA declared crypto assets to be financial products and said they needed to be regulated in order to protect financial customers from risks and prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. Roughly 60 crypto platforms are set to be licensed in South Africa. The FSCA said last month more than 300 crypto-asset providers had sought approval. Christo de…