| BUSINESS WATCH |
Competing subsidies fail to ignite solar geysers  2010-07-30 04:00:01 Coming in the next five years to a roof near you: one of a million solar water heaters. That is the government's plan but there is no clarity on how the target is going to be met, as the industry is governed by an incomplete regulatory system and important policy decisions have yet to be taken. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Vavi looks to China for ideas on controlling rand 2010-07-29 04:00:01 Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi this week called for research into how other emerging markets were keeping their currencies competitive and stable. This came after rand strength helped shave off 61 000 South African jobs in the second quarter. [Full Story...] 1 Comment Wiese considered stash of cash safer than a bank 2010-07-28 04:00:01 The touted stress test on EU banks, which was aimed to demonstrate to the world that the EU banking system was sound, seems to have crashed against a wall of cynicism. It thus seems to render most of the test's objectives pointless. European commentators are already arguing that the test was designed to ensure that most banks would pass and suggest that it does nothing to resolve concerns about the strength of the banking system. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Cigarette makers are still rolling their own profits 2010-07-27 06:00:01 WHILE many an ex-smoker may find the idea of sharing space with smokers appalling, the return on investments into tobacco companies is almost as attractive as that drag they gave up all those years ago. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Let's hope new Armscor chief is straight shooter 2010-07-23 04:00:01 ARMSCOR, the country's defence acquisition, disposals and research and development agency, is looking for a new chief executive. Applications opened this week and they close on Friday. [Full Story...] 2 Comments Demanding Ngqula return some gravy seems just 2010-07-22 04:00:01 Two years ago, then-SAA boss Khaya Ngqula, under pressure over controversial multimillion-rand retention bonuses paid to senior executives, responded on national television to claims that the bonus system gave him an extra R70 000 a month with the choice comment: "Bullshit." [Full Story...] 0 Comments Joule in the crown bags R128m as pebbles sink 2010-07-21 04:00:01 JUST AS Parliament's standing committee on public accounts was told yesterday that there would be no further transfers to the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company - although it has already cost the state R8 billion since the programme's conception - Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor indicated that an entity under her department had spent R128 million since 2005 on the development of the Joule electric car project. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Sasol's new governance leaf gives it a dilemma 2010-07-16 04:00:01 Whoever would have thought, when Sasol initiated an internal review of competition law compliance two years ago, it would sell five fertiliser plants to appease South Africa's competition authorities? [Full Story...] 0 Comments UK activists to vote against six SABMiller directors 2010-07-15 04:00:01 PIRC, the UK-based independent research and advisory consultancy, will be voting against the re-election of six board members at SABMiller's annual general meeting next week. Heading PIRC's list of targets is chairman Meyer Kahn, whom PIRC believes lacks independence, and Cyril Ramaphosa, who also lacks independence and has too many commitments elsewhere, according to PIRC. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Sasol wins the prize for most improved customer 2010-07-14 04:00:01 It wasn't too many years ago that Sasol, a powerful player in the South African petroleum market, went before the Competition Tribunal trying to persuade its members that a merger between itself and Engen, another powerful player, would not be a threat to competition but would be in the interests of the country. [Full Story...] 0 Comments World Cup success shows potential of united SA 2010-07-13 04:00:01 There is little doubt that the World Cup forged some unity across party political lines despite a public hullabaloo over the rocketing cost of tickets bought by government entities for their buddies and concerns about a post-event hangover. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Is HSBC eyeing Nedbank to be its local bank? 2010-07-09 04:00:01 From 2008 South Africa's flavour of the day for international investors was cellular group MTN. But a deal with Zain has been concluded, and MTN's position as the nation's premier corporate catch appears to have been filled by Nedbank. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Davies uses World Cup to lure Chinese investors 2010-07-08 04:00:01 As President Jacob Zuma urged fund managers this week not only to invest in South Africa but look to an integrating southern African region and a continent that plans a free trade area from Cape to Cairo, his Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies was in Shanghai wooing Chinese investment in South Africa. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Central bank MPC keeps mum about differences 2010-07-07 04:00:01 South Africa is not the only country where members of the central bank monetary policy committee (MPC) have diverging views on the future of interest rates. The Bank of England's MPC due to meet tomorrow is clearly divided, according to Barclays Capital.The UK central bank's benchmark rate has been at 0.5 percent since early last year. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Kortbroek reappears after making UN short-list 2010-07-06 04:00:01 SOUTH Africa's almost invisible Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk sent out a missive yesterday expressing the hope that the country was "ready to capitalise" on the success of the World Cup and the "invaluable branding exposure our destination has enjoyed". [Full Story...] 0 Comments Killing over 'stolen' jobs is a cry of desperation 2010-07-02 04:00:01 This week at the Blackburn informal settlement in Phoenix, Durban, Ntsindiso Ngwadla was killed and two of his friends seriously injured by an angry crowd who accused them of stealing jobs. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Eskom sticks its head in the sand over big issues 2010-07-01 04:00:01 An offer of an 8.5 percent wage increase and R1 000 monthly housing allowance was not enough to satisfy workers at Eskom, who plan to strike from next week. [Full Story...] 2 Comments Captains of US finance thank BP for dirty wind 2010-06-30 04:00:01 Even those American bankers with large yachts moored in the Gulf of Mexico must be hugely relieved by BP's devastating oil spill. That particular man-made disaster has ensured the spotlight that was shining very brightly on the other man-made disaster, the trillion-dollar bailout of major financial institutions, has been toned down significantly. [Full Story...] 0 Comments Pity Davies, caught between a rock and a hard place 2010-06-29 04:00:01 It'S difficult not to feel some sympathy for Rob Davies, the Minister of Trade and Industry, as he tries to resolve some of the problems created during the complicated - at times too slow, at times too fast - process of drafting completely new company legislation. This, after all, is a project commenced and erratically nurtured by his predecessor. [Full Story...] 0 Comments NUM blames Eskom's no-strike claim on hangover 2010-06-25 04:00:01 According to National Union of Metalworkers (NUM) spokesman Castro Ngobese, Eskom's human resources manager Bhabhalazi Bulunga, "must have been babalaas (hungover)" when he claimed yesterday that Eskom workers could not strike. And Ngobese maintains that the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) that is mediating the negotiations is deliberately dragging them out "to get us beyond the World Cup". [Full Story...] 0 Comments |
