Table of contents for 2024-09-02 in Star

CLOTHING and apparel retailer Truworths expects the projected easing in monetary policy to boost its credit accounts and breathe impetus into consumer disposable incomes. After facing a challenging full year to June 30, 2024, Truworths expects headline earnings a share for the season to weaken – by between 5% and 9% – to between 795c and 830c. During the period, Truworths focused on containing costs and preserving its profit margins. Despite the expected plunge in earnings, Truworths said it was “encouraged by early indicators that will support the positive trajectory of consumer confidence” in the year ahead. “Monetary policy easing will contribute to improved credit demand and affordability, while prospects of higher growth and lower inflation are expected to boost consumer disposable income and spending in the medium term,” it…

THE RAND STRENGTHENED to a fresh 13-month high on Friday, but stocks on the JSE ended the week lower in a mixed week of trading. The domestic currency surged to around R17.60 to the US dollar, its highest since July 2023, reflecting growing optimism about South Africa's economic prospects and expectations of imminent rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. However, the JSE All Share Index eased by 0.6% to close at 83 749 on Friday, mainly pressured by resource-linked stocks and financials offsetting the advances in tech giants Naspers, Prosus and industrials. The JSE shed about 0.7% for the week but rose 1.2% on a monthly basis. The positive sentiment in the rand, which has gained nearly 4% in the year-to-date, has been supported by the formation…

DIVERSIFIED industrial, logistics and chemical group KAP says challenges within South Africa’s operating environment have persisted, despite the easing of electricity load shedding by Eskom, with economic activity dented by consumer disposable incomes that are under pressure. In the half year to June, KAP raised earnings per share by 106% to 43.8 cents. It attributed this to the inclusion of a R570 million non-cash impairment of intangibles in Unitrans. However, the half year operating profit in KAP before capital items decreased by 11% to R2.2 billion, while headline earnings per share also slowed down by 4% to 45.3%. As a result of this, KAP did not declare an interim dividend for the period, with shares in the company falling 1.78% on the JSE on Friday. The company…

SOUTH African rapper Reason recently shared about the heartbreaking loss of his son, who suffered from cerebral palsy. In a raw and emotional interview on the Choppin It With Budha T podcast, Reason opened up about the struggles his family faced and the pain he continues to carry after his son’s death. Cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects movement and muscle tone, posed significant challenges for Reason’s family from the moment his son was diagnosed shortly after birth. Navigating the complex world of medical treatments, therapy and constant caregiving was not easy but it was a reality they had to face together. Reason recalled how difficult it was when his son died. “When you’re standing at that grave and the casket drops – you need n*****,” he said, illustrating…

Dr Iqbal Survé, Chairman of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH) and Independent Media, has extended his heartfelt congratulations to Justice Mandisa Maya who officially assumed the role of Chief Justice of South Africa yesterday. Her appointment marks a significant milestone, not only in the legal profession, but also in the broader narrative of South Africa’s progress towards equality and justice. Justice Maya’s legal career is distinguished by her unwavering commitment to upholding the principles of justice and her exceptional skills in interpreting the law. With decades of experience in both the judiciary and legal advocacy, she has earned a reputation for her incisive intellect, fairness, and dedication to the rule of law. “Justice Mandisa Maya embodies the values of integrity, wisdom, and determination,” remarked Dr Survé. “Her appointment as Chief Justice…

GAUTENG Education MEC Matome Chiloane is walking the talk as the department ensures no learners are left behind when it comes to exposure to top tier skills. The department hosted its first Multi-Certification Skills Programme (MCSP) mini-festival on Saturday at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Johannesburg. The department said the MCSP is a learner-focused initiative designed to equip every learner in Gauteng with critical and practical skills throughout their schooling journey. Beyond earning a National Senior Certificate, learners will accumulate a minimum of one accredited skill per academic year from Grade R to Grade 12, resulting in a number of skills certifications by the time they complete their basic education, it said. The programme assists in enhancing learners’ creativity, innovation, problem solving, confidence boosting, analytical reasoning, leadership, teamwork, technology skills…

The DA’s virtual petition to fight off Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink’s removal continued to gain momentum on Friday with more than 29 800 signatures from people backing the campaign. This was despite the ANC having temporarily withdrawn its motion of no confidence against Brink, albeit with a warning to bring it back within a month. Brink’s backers, through the online petition, vowed to oppose any attempts to break up the incumbent governing coalition and bring the EFF into power. His imminent removal became possible after the ActionSA caucus announced on Thursday a decision to break away from the multiparty coalition government in Tshwane. The party has expressed its intention to work together with the ANC to unseat Brink and his cabinet. On the other hand, the DA petition mobilised people…

The University of Pretoria (UP) has been tasked with bringing all publicly funded cancer research and innovation across South Africa together into a single, coherent national research strategy. “We want a big strategy and we are not just looking at research, but at the full innovation value chain, from lab to market,” said Dr Rakeshnie Ramoutar-Prieschl, Acting Deputy Director-General of the Department of Science and Innovation and head of Research Capacity Development at the university. She was addressing about 80 UP cancer research stakeholders at a workshop hosted and facilitated by the university’s Faculty of Health Sciences’ Research Support Hub on developing cancer research priorities in early August last month. This was the first in a series of activities planned to develop a national cancer research and innovation strategy rooted…

Shortly after Chidimma Adetshina was crowned Miss Universe Nigeria at the weekend, ActionSA wrote an urgent letter to the Department of Home Affairs, seeking clarity on how Adetshina’s mother travelled to Nigeria. The party’s chief whip in Parliament, Lerato Ngobeni, said Adetshina’s mother was spotted during a TV broadcast of the pageant at the weekend. Ngobeni slammed the department for negligence as travel should be restricted, especially to Nigeria. “It is alarming that the main subject of this investigation was seen in Nigeria.” The beauty queen’s controversial pageantry journey sparked division among South Africans when it was discovered that she was born of a Nigerian father and Mozambican mother. Adetshina’s victory comes amid pending investigations after Home Affairs recently revealed the former Miss SA contestant’s mother allegedly stole the identity…

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT Bank (NDB) is continuing to diversify its funding instruments and used Panda bonds as a financial instrument, according to Zhongxia Jin, the director general, Treasury & Portfolio Management Division of the NDB. Speaking at the 9th annual meeting of the NDB, he said on Saturday that the NDB aimed to ensure that sufficient resources were available to meet its funding and liquidity requirements, while minimising borrowing costs. As of July 2024, NDB’s total outstanding borrowing was around $16 billion (R283bn) in which the US dollar, Chinese yuan (also known at the renminbi, RMB) and the rand accounted for more than 96%. The US dollar alone accounted for more than 61% of the borrowing. Jin said the bank had been working on establishing bond programmes in other…

Zimbabwean-born Sifiso Dabengwa, who was CEO of Africa’s largest mobile network operator, MTN, between 2011 and 2015, died of cancer yesterday morning. Family spokesperson Themba Sibanyoni announced his passing “with deep sorrow” in a media release yesterday afternoon. “Dabengwa was a titan in the telecoms industry and an astute businessman. His tenure as CEO of MTN Group from 2011 to 2015 was marked by visionary leadership, integrity, and dedication that drove significant advancements in the industry,” said Sibanyoni. Sibanyoni said Dabengwa, who leaves his wife and four children, has a legacy that extends far beyond the boardroom. “He was an advocate for education and a fervent believer in the power of technology to transform lives.” However, Dabengwa left MTN under a cloud when the group was under pressure from…

The PASSING on of Professor John Bardill last week drives me back 48 years into my country, the Mountain Kingdom. This is where the late John Bardill cut his teeth as a lecturer of political science. I was a first-year student at the National University of Lesotho and for four years, until 1980, when I completed my junior degree, Bardill had not only lectured me, but was ever present in the community and activities of the university. His primary task was to lecture. Then smoking was allowed, so the lecture theatre, which was always full as he plied his trade and conscientised us through the works of Magubane, Wolpe and Legassick, through the works of Nkrumah, Nyerere’s Ujamaa, Kenyatta’s Mau Mau into Marx and Lenin’s work, was how the youthful,…

SHARES in Northam Platinum plunged by 9.28% on the JSE on Friday after the company confirmed a decline in earnings, despite raising production and sales volumes for the full year to the end of June. Northam traded at R105.43 on Friday, extending its 13.98%, 22.66% and 24.92% weekly, monthly and year-to- date dip in value on the local bourse. Northam, which raised production by 10.3% and bumped up operating profits to R4.8 billion, has reached an agreement to increase its revolving credit facility (RCF) to R11.3bn, although basic and headline earnings for the period were softer. The credit facility was previously capped at R10bn and the company’s chief finance officer Alet Coetzee says the new agreement to extend it to R11.3bn provides the company with balance sheet flexibility. “The…

As Saturday marked the 27th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, a new documentary is set to get to the bottom of it. “The People’s Princess” died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 at 36 years old, alongside her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed and her driver Henri Paul. Now, almost three decades later, Who Killed Diana? looks again into the circumstances around her death. Deadline reported that the show’s team promises rare interviews, including first-ever sit-downs with key sources and is set to “cast new light on the case that has captured the world’s attention for decades”. EverWonder Studio and Empress Films, the company behind Netflix documentaries Depp vs Heard as well as The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe, are teaming up for this three-part series. Deadline added that their upcoming…

African heads of states and government will be joined by representatives of regional and international organisations at the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac) in Beijing, China from Wednesday to Friday. The Focac membership includes China, 53 African states and the AU. The summit, which will be held under the theme, “Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future”, comes at a critical juncture internationally and for Africa. African countries are reeling under domestic and internationally induced socio-economic economic pressures and resultant political instability. Many countries in Africa are buckling under growing sovereign debt, sluggish post-Covid recovery, low inward flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and, in some cases, aid, global geopolitical polarisation and wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The Organisation…

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT Bank (NDB) annual meeting has provided the first seeds of a solution to a seemingly in- tractable problem facing South Africa: How to pay for and build at least 14 000 kilometres of electricity transmission lines required by 2030 for the energy transition. NDB chief operating officer Vladimir Kazbekov said at the BRICS institution’s meeting in Cape Town over the weekend that they intend to use the NDB’s Project Preparation Fund and draw on the expertise of fellow BRICS members countries – and on South Africa’s unique requirements – to prepare a project plan to possibly help fund the expansion of the electricity transmission system. Some 55GW of new renewable en- ergy generation capacity is expected to come on stream in South Africa by 2032 (Eskom…

IN 2013, PRESIDENT Xi Jinping proposed for the first time China’s Africa policy of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith. and the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests. Guided by this policy and principle, China-Africa relations have scaled new heights over the past decade and yielded bountiful results in China-Africa economic co-operation, becoming a model for South-South cooperation. As China’s first fund for investment in Africa unveiled at the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac), the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) has aligned its business with the outcomes of each edition of Focac. Through high-quality investment, it has delivered a strong boost to Africa’s industrialisation and modernisation, playing a pilot role in China- Africa Belt and Road Co-operation. At a new historical starting point, CADFund will act on…

After working on productions like The Bala Family and How To Manifest A Man, Barkers Media’s Mpho Lengane was once again determined to bring South Africans something they had never watched before. As the producer of Shebeen Queens, he believes he achieved that with the new Showmax Original series. “We decided to get involved with the project because we love creating content that is a mirror to society,” he explained. “We enjoy working with personalities who are bold and not afraid to be vulnerable with their truths. We enjoy taking our content to places the viewer has never been before.” Shebeen Queens shines a spotlight on the indomitable women behind some of Soweto’s most popular shebeens. The larger-than-life entrepreneurs from the township’s drinking establishments include Alina Sishange, the owner of…

The recent farewell party for the former Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo, has come under heavy criticism following reports that the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) did not follow proper procurement processes. On August 20, Justice Zondo, who hung up his robes after 27 years, was honoured with a fancy dinner at the Marriott Hotel in Melrose Arch, which a few days later was followed by a special Constitutional Court sitting. Many of the speakers, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, praised him for his ethical and exemplary leadership over the past two decades. Yesterday, The Sunday Independent reported that the OCJ had denied a request to disclose the procurement and financial details of the two-day farewell party for Justice Zondo. According to the publication, there have been concerns about the potential…

Lotus Economic Forum (LEF) mobilised civilians to take a stand against the ongoing violence against minority groups, including Hindus and Christians, in Bangladesh that have left hundreds dead. Marches took place on Saturday in three cities, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban. Satish Komal, chairperson of LEF South Africa, said that the marches were well received. “We sent out a clear message that we will stand against the atrocities that are being perpetrated against minority groups including Hindu and Christian people in Bangladesh. We are grateful for the support that we have received from across all religious groups.” Komal said that the march was against fundamentalists and extremist elements operating inside Bangladesh and various other countries that are perpetuating ethnic cleansing by murdering, raping and torturing innocent Hindus and other minorities.…

THE co-founder and CEO of Waste Partners, Thabang Moeng, has rubbished allegations that he was a hitman and that he intimidates competitors. This comes after businessman Bongani Nhlapo accused Moeng, and his employee, of threatening him after he demanded payment of more than R2 million by the Waste Partners. However, Moeng told The Star that his company did not have a contract with Nhlapo but had a “verbal agreement” with him. He disputed that he owed him R2m. “There is no payment dispute between Nhlapo and ourselves. We are not going to get into the details of our arrangement in the media because we respect his organisation. “We don’t owe Nhlapo R2m, that one must be clear. In a normal commercial environment, whenever there is any payment dispute,…

This past week, India hosted the Global FinTech Festival, themed “blueprint for the next decade of finance”, which is billed to be the largest fintech gathering in the world. For India and other developing countries, fintech provides a platform for collaboration beyond the immediate areas of financial technology and financial inclusion to allied areas such as international trade and industry and digitalisation in general. Digitalisation can make a crucial contribution towards growth and development and transforming economies from developing to developed. Digital transformation of traditional industries, not just finance, is central to economic inclusion, modernisation, increased exports of high-value products and increased productivity while lowering the cost of living and doing business. The Global Fintech Fest is in its fifth edition. For governments in the Global South and their central…

BAFANA Bafana coach Hugo Broos will be heartened by the form of Orlando Pirates players who have guided the team to a historic third consecutive MTN8 Cup final. There were five Bafana caps in the Pirates matchday squad which delivered a masterclass performance on Saturday. This would have been hard to swallow for the hopeful Cape Town City coach, Eric Tinkler. After his side’s 2-0 pasting, there was no sign of Tinkler at the post-press conference. In the absence of an official explanation from City, it can be assumed that Tinkler was distraught after standing by helplessly and watching Pirates rub his team’s noses in the lush Orlando Stadium turf. The Pirates coach felt his team delivered an “excellent performance” in front of a packed stadium. Thalente Mbatha was…

CHARLES Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix yesterday to delight Ferrari’s massed ranks of fans as Lando Norris again chipped away at struggling champion Max Verstappen’s lead in the Formula One drivers’ standings. Leclerc claimed victory at Monza for the second time after winning in 2019, holding off McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Norris in a thrilling race in which Verstappen finished nearly 38 seconds off the pace in sixth place. Huge roars engulfed the stands as Leclerc took the chequered flag for his second win of the season, after his home Monaco GP, after holding out on a set of hard tyres he had changed during his one and only pit stop on the 16th lap. “I thought that the first time would feel like this and the second…