Inhoudsopgave van 2024-04-17 - Star

THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered South Africa’s growth forecast for 2024 slightly as Africa’s most-industrialised economic growth stalls, in spite of the global economy remaining remarkably resilient. In its World Economic Outlook for April published yesterday, the IMF said South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 0.9% this year and 1.2% next year. This growth forecast is slightly down from the 1% the Washington-based lender projected in January, but significantly lower than its forecast six months ago in October 2023 when it saw growth expanding by 1.8% in 2024. It is also in line with Fitch Ratings agency’s forecast, but detracts from Moody’s more optimistic 1.5% forecast and the SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) 1.2% GDP growth for this year. Momentum Investments economist, Sanisha Packirisam, said the…

Volkswagen Group Africa has announced a R4 billion investment in its car manufacturing plant in Kariega, near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, in a bid to upgrade the facility as it prepares it for the production of a third model, an SUV, from 2027. The car manufacturer said yesterday that most of the R4bn investment would be allocated to capital expenditure for production facilities, manufacturing tooling, local content tooling and quality assurance. Nearly R877 million will be spent to enhance automation in the body shop while an estimated R418m will be used to procure new press tooling in the press shop. The first phase of the plant facility upgrade will begin at the end of 2024 during the plant shutdown. Volkswagen Group Africa chairperson and managing director Martina Biene…

AFRICA’S total investable wealth stands at $2.5 trillion and its millionaire population is expected to rise by 65% over the next decade. This was according to the 2024 Africa Wealth Report that is published by wealth advisory firm Henley & Partners in collaboration with wealth intelligence partner New World Wealth. Now in its ninth edition, the annual report revealed that there were 135 200 high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), with liquid investable wealth of $1 million or more, living in Africa, along with 342 centi-millionaires worth $100m or more, and 21 dollar billionaires. Africa’s “Big 5” wealth markets are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco that together account for 56% of the continent’s millionaires and more than 90% of its billionaires. Henley & Partners’ group head of Private…

JSE-LISTED Balwin Properties, one of South Africa’s leading residential property developers, announced that two of its Western Cape lifestyle estates have joined the City of Cape Town and Eskom’s Load Curtailment programme. The lifestyle estates De-Aanzicht in Richwood and Greenbay in Gordons Bay could be exempt from load shedding, should residents collectively demonstrate a track record of reducing power consumption during load shedding phases. Balwin said that this was the first time that sectional title developments have joined the Load Curtailment programme. Steve Brookes, CEO of Balwin said, “Load Curtailment places the power in residents’ hands as case studies have shown that by reducing power consumption during the various phases of load shedding, outages can be avoided altogether. “Load Curtailment is an excellent alternative to battery back-up or diesel power…

PETRA Diamonds, which bagged $49 million (R927.25m) from its latest diamond tender, will commission additional production tunnels at its Finsch mine by June this year, despite a reduction in ore processed during the quarter to the end of March. This comes after the diamond miner issued retrenchment notices to employees at its South African operations earlier this month as it intensifies cost-cutting initiatives. Finsch is one of the world’s most significant diamond mines and South Africa’s second-largest diamond operation by production. Petra Diamonds has also announced that it was forging ahead with the disposal of its stake in the Koffiefontein diamond mine. The company’s fifth diamond tender was completed during the period under review, achieving $49m from the sale of 362 000 carats. Average diamond prices per carat…

DECLINING mineral prices and El Niño-induced drought has started to affect Zimbabwean companies as the government shifts spending towards drought relief. Zimbabwe is heavily reliant on mining and agriculture, key sectors powering up the country’s economy in the midst of currency woes, hyperinflation and constrained consumer spending. However, South Africa’s northern neighbour has been caught up in the middle of a drought that has negated agricultural output. According to the UN’s World Food Programme, the El Niño pheno- menon has “sparked drought, threatening agriculture and communities (and) risking food production” capa- city. Gregory Sebborn, chairperson of construction company Masimba Holdings (formerly Murray and Roberts), yesterday said they feared that the group’s order book of more than $200 million (R3.8 billion) may be affected by the shift in…

The South African version of the widely popular Netflix dating show, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, is set to air on the global streaming platform next month. This follows the success of the series in the US, France and the “Queer Love” version. The Mzansi iteration of the global hit social experiment will be hosted by power couple Salamina and Howza Mosese. They will follow in the footsteps of Nick and Vanessa Lachey, who host the US edition of the reality show. As hosts of The Ultimatum South Africa, the actress and her musician and media personality husband will encourage couples to put their love to the test, while having encounters with other potential matches over eight weeks. The nine-part series will see six couples undergo a test of…

THE City of Tshwane has embarked on a process to audit water meters in Hammanskraal. The plan is to install new meters to many households ahead of the completion of the Klipdrift water package plant in September, followed by the supply of potable water to residents. The process to prepare municipal water infrastructure for water supply comes a week after Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu promised that Klipdrift water treatment works would be upgraded from 42 to 92 megalitres a day to ensure many households in the township receive a reliable water service. The Klipdrift plant upgrade would take place alongside a long-term project to refurbish the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works through partnership between the Department of Water and Sanitation, the City and the Development Bank of Southern…

FRESH from suffering a thorough pasting at Stellensboch FC in the Nedbank Cup over the weekend, SuperSport United host Polokwane City in the DStv Premiership tonight eager to make up for the humiliation by bagging maximum points. Gavin Hunt’s men were smashed 4-0 in the quarter-final of the competition they love to win and it will be interesting to see how the highly decorated coach lifts his team from the doom and gloom when City come to visit. Having expressed a desire to return to continental competition again next season, the elimination from the Nedbank Cup has now left Hunt having to lead SuperSport to a runners-up berth in the championship to realise that goal. It is a tough ask. Matsatsantsa a Pitori are currently in sixth place, four points…

The pressure that comes with Mamelodi Sundowns being perennial contenders to win the quadruple doesn’t faze the team, says Rulani Mokwena. Sundowns’ local dominance, which has seen them win the DStv Premiership for the last six seasons, is well-documented. But they want to take that up a notch this season, and add the Champions League and Nedbank Cup to the African Football League (AFL) title that they’ve already won, with the league title all but secured. The Brazilians are where they want to be: winners of the inaugural AFL, top of the log standings, and in the Nedbank Cup and Champions League semi-finals. Coach Mokwena’s men will meet Stellenbosch in the Ke Yona Cup but before that they’ll turn their focus to African football on Saturday. Sundowns left for Tunisia…

As if all the flak around picking a “B team” last week and sustaining several injuries weren’t enough to deal with, Bulls boss Jake White has another major worry ahead of Saturday’s massive United Rugby Championship showdown with Munster at Loftus Versfeld (5.05pm kickoff). Star No 8 Cameron Hanekom received a citing complaint yesterday for his dangerous tackle on Northampton centre Fraser Dingwall during last weekend’s 59-22 Champions Cup quarter-final defeat at Franklin’s Gardens. Hanekom receive d a yellow card in the 49th minute, and that contributed to the second-half blow-out for the Pretoria side, who were still in the contest at halftime, when they were just 28-22 behind. The 21-year-old Hanekom was one of the few Bulls players who took the fight to Northampton, producing an industrious performance in…

STER-KINEKOR has confirmed that it has been forced to issue retrenchment notices to 236 employees as it restructures its business and streamlines costs due to dwindling attendance numbers at its South African cinemas, coupled with other challenges. The cinema group said all staff members had been issued with notices informing them of the company’s intention to proceed with a restructuring exercise under Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act. “In recent months, the business has suffered a significant decline in attendances,” the company said in a statement to Business Report. “This is largely as a result of a challenging economic environment, prolonged and more intense load shedding as well as the impact of the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes.” Ster-Kinekor said the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike in 2023 had…

AFRICA needed to raise $1 trillion (R19 billion) to achieve Africa Union’s flagship project for an African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM) by 2040, Amani Abou-Zeid, the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the AU Commission, said yesterday. The commission has amassed R30 billion to date for the project. Abou-Zeid was talking on the sidelines of the 14th Assembly of International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) convention on Monday, which officially kicked off yesterday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and runs for two days. The creation of AfSEM – one of the largest electricity markets in the world, covering a population of more than 1.3 billion – requires physical interconnection of Africa’s continental energy infrastructure. “We can do it,” she said, adding that while it was an…

THE RIGHT skill set is vital to enable the clean energy transition, according to Jean-Françoise Gagné, the head of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Secretariat, talking on eve the 14th Assembly of International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) on Monday at the Youth Summit. Irena’s14th Assembly kicks off today in Abu Dhabi, from April 17 to 18, 2024. The youth have a critical role to play across many aspects of the energy transition, including employment, entrepreneurship, digitalisation, education, and advocacy. Gagné said: “Our job is to understand what everyone has set as ambitions and then develop the tools to be able to implement actions to support those ambitions.” In order to do that, he said, one needed to build coalitions and alliances that could take down barriers to achieving the…

AS THE COUNTRY continues to breathe a sigh of relief at almost 10 days of no load shedding, one unfortunately has to burst the bubble and express the other reality we are urged to ignore in our hunger for energy and electricity – that reality is the health impacts of current electricity generation and the deliberate sidelining of the same in the current energy planning thinking as reflected in the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). In its formal submissions on the IRP, the Presidential Climate Commission argues correctly that the consideration of air pollution cannot be ignored in any future energy planning. The recommendation, informed by science, as should any climate and energy policy be, states that “the argument that you need to choose between energy availability and air quality is…

TRANSNET Port Terminals’ (TPT’s) Saldanha Iron Ore Terminal has embarked on a five-day shutdown for the maintenance and servicing of equipment on two tipplers. The tipplers – critical machines in the terminal’s operations – facilitate the offloading of iron ore from train wagons on to conveyor belts, before it is loaded into vessels scheduled for export. The Saldanha Iron Ore Terminal forms part of a network of 19 port terminals and is responsible for loading and offloading cargo aboard vessels. There are two iron ore berths operational in the Port of Saldanha, with the current installed and theoretical capacity of 60 million tons per annum, respectively. TPT acting Western Cape Region managing executive, Oscar Borchards, said this was preventive maintenance to avoid disruptions at the port. “The mini shutdown is…

The parents of late rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes have distanced themselves from Melinda Ferguson’s new book, When Love Kills: The tragic tale of AKA and Anele, describing it as “distasteful and opportunistic”. With the book set for release this week, excerpts have since been published which provide details about the couple’s fractured relationship. It also describes how, just a month after paying lobola for Anele Tembe, she had allegedly thrown her engagement ring at AKA the night before she died. The book shares details about Tembe being uneasy about DJ Zinhle, the mother of AKA’s daughter, Kairo. It is alleged the couple had been arguing about her the night before she died. Tembe’s father, Moses, is quoted as saying that his daughter had reported that the late rapper was…

Joburgers will get to witness Brent Palmer’s award-winning urban drama, King George, at the Theatre on the Square for a limited run from next week. Palmer, who plays George Megalos, wrote the play in 2020. In a recent chat with the respected theatre writer, who is also known for his work as an actor and director, he shared: “I made a short film for which I was funded. We shot the short film, and on the back of it, I decided to sit down and take the protagonist and antagonist from the story and retell it in a play form. “I enjoyed the writing process of putting these two characters together on stage. We then staged the play at the Masambe Theatre – The Baxter in November and December 2023.…

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga has outlined measures put in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils at schools. This comes after DA MP Marina van Zyl wrote to Motshekga asking for full details of the plan. Van Zyl noted that the SAPS crime statistics revealed that there were seven murders, 24 attempted murders and 252 cases of assault with intent of grievous bodily harm committed on educational premises between October 2023 and December 2023. She also said the crime statics showed that 38 pupils were raped in the same period. Motshekga said national and provincial departments continued to implement the National School Safety Framework in addressing all violent incidences in schools, including drug abuse. “It empowers schools to identify and manage safety threats in schools and establish…

Ingredients 1kg tiger prawns in their shells with heads on Ina Paarman’s Fish Spice 1 t (5ml) Ina Paarman’s Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning 1 T (15) cornflour 400g chicken mini fillets or 4 chicken breasts cut into strips ¼ cup olive or canola oil 1 x 200 ml Ina Paarman’s Peri-Peri Coat & Cook Sauce 1 cup coconut cream or fresh cream 4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced and then chopped ¼ cup chopped parsley grated rind of one lemon Method Defrost the prawns in lukewarm tap water. Slash open along the backs, remove the black vein that runs along the back. Spread each prawn open and spear flat with a toothpick. Pack prepared prawns out on a platter and season the meaty side lightly with Fish Spice.…

A new study published recently in the journal Nature Aging has uncovered a potential link between a specific type of fat molecule and the ageing process. Researchers have identified Bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP) as a lipid that accumulates at higher levels in the muscles of older individuals, with short periods of exercise shown to significantly reduce BMP levels, suggesting a potential strategy for reversing age-related changes in muscle tissue. The study, led by Dr George Janssens, an assistant professor of genetic metabolic disease at Amsterdam UMC, utilised advanced lipidomics technology to analyse the fats of both young and old mice. Further investigation involved analysing muscle tissue biopsies from human volunteers. One of the most striking findings was the rapid reduction in BMP levels observed in individuals who engaged in short-term exercise. Even…

THE NATIONAL Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) and the National Rationalised Specifications (NRS) Association have painstakingly explained that the NRS 048-9 Third Edition of the load reduction and load shedding protocol was not a clarion call for up to stage 16 or 32 hours without power. However, the organisations yesterday said this was an upgrade of the guide to avoid a national emergency in the yet-unlikely stage 8 load shedding happening in the current scenario. In a briefing yesterday, Nersa and NRS said the revised standards had helped eliminate human error as the previous guidance was up to stage 8 only. The briefing was to calm the hyper-reaction to the recently announced approval of updated guidelines for Eskom’s load-shedding procedures by Nersa, now formally including provisions…

ESKOM, in its 2023 December annual financial statements, stated that it generated around R259.5 billion in revenue. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has granted a revenue application to Eskom, to increase in its revenue recovery to R318bn for Eskom for the 2023/2024 and R352bn for the 2024/2025 financial years. The 100 day test: The board announced the arrival of group chief executive Dan Marokane. Over his 46 days in operations, while achieving 22 days of no load shedding, Marokane has managed to dodge and defuse the prodigal Eskom poisoned chalice of load shedding and he has done well in keeping the lights on. He has had only 46 days in operation while keeping the Eskom ship afloat. He has shockingly over-performed while he is aiming to achieve…

DAYBREAK Farms will now operate under the new name of “Daybreak Foods Proprietary Limited” following the successful registration of its company name change with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission. Daybreak management yesterday announced that the decision to change the company name was approved by the board of directors, and endorsed by the shareholders on March 14. It said this transition marked a significant milestone in Daybreak’s journey towards renewal, reflecting the board’s commitment to corporatisation ambitions for the company. Daybreak Farms, one of the largest integrated poultry producers in South Africa, is wholly owned by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). Last month, they appointed four additional non-executive directors to the board of Daybreak to bolster its corporate governance following an overhaul of the company’s board in 2022 in light…

The Joy have been on a high since their performance on Sunday at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, USA. The male a cappella group, made up of Pastor (Ntokozo Bright Magcaba), Duzie (Melokuhle Mkhungo), Guduza (Sphelele Hlophe), Sthombe (Phelelani Sithole) and Marcus (Sanele Ngcobo), were the opening act for award-winning superstar Doja Cat, who later upstaged her 2022 Coachella performance. The Paint The Town Red music artist hand-picked the choir after they collaborated with her on two recently released singles, Acknowledge Me and Shutcho, which were re-imagined to incorporate lyrics in Zulu. Doja Cat’s arty set included backup dancers, lasers, flames and wild visuals. The rapper started with Acknowledge Me and transitioned to Shutcho, led by The Joy. This big moment for the group arrived hot…

WITH political parties gearing up for national and provincial elections in less than 45 days, the City of Ekurhuleni has cautioned parties to ensure compliance over postering. The city’s Outdoor Advertising unit announced that political parties contesting the elections were exempted from tariffs regarding the erection of election posters, but there were guidelines that still had to be adhered to. The city said election posters had to be affixed to lamp posts by means of a suitable cord. No metal clamps or wires could be used. No posters could be nailed to trees or used to advertise a commercial event. The posters were also to be placed at least 50 metres from an intersection, with the number of permitted posters per post restricted to three. According to the municipality, no…

THE three-day C40 African Water Safe Cities Forum, which started yesterday at Tshwane House, will afford delegates from six cities across the continent opportunities to share their experiences on strategies to address water challenges. The host, the City of Tshwane, said the conference was staged at a time when many cities were grappling with water supply challenges. Convened under the theme "Unlocking Water Resilience for African Cities: A Path to a Sustainable Urban Future" the conference attracted participants from cities such as Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, the City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Johannesburg. It is expected that the forum would empower African cities with a better understanding of their water security needs, priorities and collaborative opportunities to address water supply challenges. Addressing the audience, Tshwane…

A 3-month-old baby has undergone cleft lip repair surgery at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital as part of Smile Week, an initiative of the Smile Foundation. Farai Mugobogobo of Soshanguve, the mother of baby Junior, said his quality of life was set to improve as she was now able to feed him. She said that she had accepted that her child was born with a cleft lip and had loved him just the way he was. But it had hurt her when some members of the community stigmatised her child’s looks. “Accepting that you have given birth to a child with a cleft lip is not easy at first; for some it takes time, but for me, the bond started immediately after birth,” she said. Mugobogobo said that she was…

South African Music Awards-winning afro-soul singer, Zamajobe, will celebrate 20 years of her smash debut album and single, Ndawo Yami (My Place), with a three-date tour next month. The tour starts with a set at the Lyric Theatre on May 24, and the singer has promised fans an epic nostalgic night of feel-good melodies coupled with striking notes. Boasting three studio albums, the tour celebrates Zamajobe’s resounding musical flair as a singer and composer. With smash hit Ndawo Yami being one of her top songs, 20 years later melomaniacs still sing along to this timeless number. She is looking forward to perform- ing chart-topping fan favourites such as Magic and Hey Hey Hey. The 20 Years of Ndawo Yami tour will also include exclusive preview performances of new music from…

Kaizer Chiefs need to get back to winning ways in their remaining matches in the DStv Premiership or run the risk of finishing outside the top eight. It was just yesterday when Chiefs’ supporters backed their team to finish in the top three and return to continental football next season. But such has been their rapid decline, that they run the risk of finishing outside the top eight if they don’t get their house in order and start winning games. Yes, Chiefs are staring down the barrel as they’ve struggled to win matches this year, winning only one league game, drawing three and losing three. To make matters worse, interim coach Cavin Johnson lost the last two games – to Stellenbosch and Chippa United – as they fell down the…