72c Petrol Price Jump Next Month

Fuel prices in Gauteng are set to go up by 72 cents a litre for 95 octane petrol, 69 cents for 93 octane petrol, and 65 cents for both grades of diesel. The main reasons for the fuel price adjustments are due to the increase in the fuel and road accident fund levies of 22 cents per liter and 30 cents per litre, respectively.

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R20Million For Magashule Farewell Party

Former premier Ace Magashule handed over to new Premier, Sisi Ntombela, at a farewell bash attended by several ministers in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) charge the celebration cost government R20 million. Magashule, the African National Congress (ANC)’s newly-appointed Secretary General, leaves behind an office filled with scandal since he assumed office in May 2009.

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EFF Guns For Athol Trollip

Eyes will be on a sitting of the Nelson Mandela Bay council on Thursday as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) tries to remove mayor Athol Trollip. The red berets filed a motion of no confidence against Trollip earlier this month following the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s decision not to support a motion on land expropriation without compensation which was a passed in the National Assembly.

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Interest Rates Cut By 25 Basis Points

South Africa’s Reserve Bank cut its benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, by 25 basis points to 6.5 percent on Wednesday, saying the risks to the inflation outlook had subsided. “While the increase in the value-added tax rate to 15 percent places temporary upside pressure on inflation, this is mitigated by the stronger exchange rate which has contributed to the changing inflation risk profile,” Governor Lesetja Kganyago told a news conference.

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Cape Town Wants 27% Increase In Water Tariff

Cape Town’s executive mayor Patricia de Lille has called for a massive increase in water tariffs across the city. Presenting the city’s budget speech on Wednesday (28 March), de Lille said that the tariffs are set annually to ensure that the city can deliver the level of services required by the its residents.

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SASSA Wont Cover Beneficiary Banking Fees

Grindrod Bank announced on Wednesday that as of April 1‚ the South African Security Agency (Sassa) will no longer carry the cost of bank accounts of recipients – putting the burden of those costs onto grant recipients. Grindrod provides banking services for Sassa grant recipients‚ paying 17-million grants to 10.6-million cardholders‚ amounting to R11-billion per month.

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Capitec Closes On 10 Million Customers

The bank is expecting to top 10-million active accounts by the end of March, helping it close in on Standard Bank as the largest retail franchise in SA. Customer growth helped drive an 18% rise in headline earnings for the year to end-February, to R38.58 a share, an 18% increase in the dividend, to R14.70, and return on equity of 27%. Net transaction fee income climbed 31% over the period, to R5.1bn — fees on bank accounts and not loans now account for 41% of total net income.

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Jooste Snubs Parliament

Lawyers acting for former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste say he won’t be coming to Parliament to answer questions. Jooste was invited to appear before a joint meeting on Wednesday of four committees, including those of finance and public accounts. But his lawyers say that appearing before the committees could put his right to a fair trial in jeopardy.

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R3.9 Bn Siyangena Contracts Unlawful

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) says the R3.9bn contracts it awarded to keep dozens of railway stations safe were unauthorised, unlawful, defined by alleged tender-rigging and, largely, a waste of money. In an explosive affidavit filed at the High Court in Pretoria, Prasa group executive in charge of legal risk and compliance Onica Martha Ngoye spelled out how some of the rail agency’s executives bent over backwards to ensure that IT and security company Siyangena Technologies was awarded lucrative deals without proper tender procedures being followed.

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Durban Beachfront To Get R30m Facelift

The issue of Durban’s famous Golden Mile beach being washed away by the sea will be fixed during a R30-billion facelift. This was the assurance by eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza‚ who has said that the city is in talks with Transnet to help replenish several sand-starved beaches. Authorities are also expecting that local existing property values in the area are likely to increase by at least 10% and the overall CBD property values are likely to increase by 5%. Upon completion‚ rates revenues generated for eThekwini will amount to in excess of R200-million more per annum.

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Auditor General Blast Nomvula Mokonyane

Treasury officials and Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu on Tuesday spelled out in Parliament how the Department of Water and Sanitation went on a tender deviation spree while Nomvula Mokonyane was at the helm. In the process they splurged billions of rand in excessive project management and professional fees, leaving the department in financial distress. The deviations had resulted in the department forking out on excessive construction costs as its fruitless and wasteful expenditure skyrocketed, while it had outsourced its procurement to a private company.

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Glencore Could Buy Back Optimum Mine

Glencore is considering a bid for the Optimum coal operations which it sold in 2015 to a company part-owned by the politically connected Gupta family. Glencore placed the mine in bankruptcy protection in 2015 after Eskom refused to renegotiate an unprofitable supply contract and issued penalties. The asset then was sold to a company owned by the Guptas and Zuma’s son Duduzane, with support from then-Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, who travelled to Switzerland to meet with Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg. The Guptas, Duduzane Zuma and Zwane all deny any wrongdoing.

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Interest Rate May Be Cut Tomorrow

Thanks to Moody’s stable outlook for SA, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) will likely reduce the repo rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday.  This is the conclusion of Nedbank’s Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division after it analysed its latest Interest Rate Barometer. A 25 basis points cut would lower the repo rate, the rate at which banks borrow money from the SARB, to 6.5% and the prime lending rate to consumers to 10%.

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Minimum Wage To Be Delayed

Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant confirmed on Monday evening that it will not be possible to implement the new minimum wage legislation on the envisaged date of May 1 because the parliamentary process will not be completed by then. Oliphant said that the bills were highly contested and “it has become apparent that the ambition for the National Minimum Wage Bill to become law by May 1 2018 may not be practical given the high volumes of public submissions.

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Listeriosis Will Cost Rainbow An Estimated R75 million

Its best estimate of the direct and identifiable cost of the listeriosis outbreak is R75 million, Rainbow Chicken’s parent company RCL told shareholders on Monday afternoon. That includes the costs of recalling its chicken polony, destroying recalled products, testing costs, and advertising and in-store communication. Those are hard to estimate, RCL said, but could be around R20 million in profit lost a month, every month, until things return to normal.

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Mkhwebane Investigating DWS & SAP Contract

The Public Protector is investigating a R671 million ($60 million) government contract with German software firm SAP , which has admitted misconduct in separate deals involving friends of ousted president Jacob Zuma. The Public Protector’s office said it had received an anonymous letter alleging due process was not followed in the award of a contract to SAP in 2016 to provide IT and support services to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

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MTN To Launch Namibian Operation

MTN plans to enter Namibia’s mobile-operator market through a tie-up with a state telecommunications firm. MTN Business Solutions Namibia, which is 30% owned by local shareholders, and local company Demshi Investment Holdings, will enter the market from June 2018 as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). Both operators were in negotiations to use state-owned TN Mobile’s 3G and LTE network. TN has a market share of just 4.5%, while MTC, another state-owned operator, has a share of 95.5%.

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Capitec And Sanlam Announce Bancassurance Deal

Capitec is expected to announce a bancassurance joint venture with Sanlam, alongside its financial results due Tuesday. In an interview with Moneyweb, Sanlam chief executive Ian Kirk said the joint venture would see Sanlam become an insurance partner to the banking group. “We are delighted with the opportunity to partner with Capitec. We like the bank, we think they are quite innovative, they’ve grown well and they’ve identified the need to offer insurance and savings plans to their client base to broaden their offerings and to improve their positioning with their clients in South Africa.

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Western Cape Considering Provincial Fuel Levy

The Western Cape provincial government is looking to introduce a provincial fuel levy, over and above the national levy currently imposed on all South African motorists – but it likely won’t be coming for a while. The decision taken in April/May 2017 by the Western Cape Cabinet is that before any consultation can happen, the fuel levy research which was done in 2005 will have to be updated.

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Currencies: Bcoin R98,550 . Ether R5,648 . R/USD11.66 . R/GBP16.59 . R/EUR14.52

 

Zuma In new Bribery Scandal

Jacob Zuma is reportedly being investigated by the Hawks, following claims that he received a bribe of R1 million to ensure that a cabinet minister did not leave his post. According to a report by the City Press, the cash bribe was allegedly paid by a Western Cape abalone dealer in exchange for keeping Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana in Zuma’s Cabinet.

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Guptas To Appear Before Indian Tax Authority Today

Atul‚ Ajay and Rajesh initially were to appear on March 16‚ but the tax authorities granted them a 10-day extension. The brothers could reportedly be charged with money laundering and fraudulently amassing properties. Amrendra Kumar‚ a senior income tax official in India’s Uttar Pradesh state‚ previously told Reuters the Gupta brothers were suspected of finding ways to bring “illicit money” into India.

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Steinhoff Wants To Pay Directors Huge Bonuses

It wants to pay Steve Booysen and Heather Sonn €200 000 (±R2.9 million) each, and Johan van Zyl €100 000 (nearly R1.5 million). Booysen is head of the audit and risk committee, while Sonn has been acting Steinhoff chairperson since Christo Wiese stepped down on December 14 2017. Separately, the three independent directors were appointed members of an independent board subcommittee in early December.

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Black Business Council Technically Insolvent

As at February 2017, the BBC had total liabilities of R6.2m, compared with assets of R3.6m, which means that its liabilities exceeded its assets by R2.6m, making it technically insolvent, which means the business lobby could struggle to pay its bills at some point. On the same date, the BBC had an accumulated loss of almost R2.6m, up from an accumulated loss of just more than R1mat the end of February 2016.

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FNB Downtime Causes Outrage

Scores of FNB customers took to social media to lambast the financial services provider after downtime hit users on Sunday. In a tweet the company said it was aware of intermittent connectivity issues on select services.

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10 to 15% Less Booking In Cape Town Hotels Due To Drought

Hotels surveyed indicated that they did between 10% and 15% worse in terms of bookings in January and February compared to the same period last year. These hotels also indicated that the situation for the upcoming period from April to September looks worse with bookings down a lot. What is even more concerning to Wesgro is that the survey indicated that hotel reservation books for 2019 are basically “empty” so far compared to 2017.

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Currencies: Bcoin R103,999 . Ether R6,411 . R/USD11.69 . R/GBP16.55 . R/EUR14.46

Trump Tariffs Send Stocks Tumbling

The world’s major stock markets fell on Thursday as sentiment was rocked by new trade war fears as US President Donald Trump unveiled tariffs on Chinese imports of at least $50bn. Saying it would be the “first of many” trade actions, Trump signed the order that will also look at restrictions on Chinese investment in the US.

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Transnet Seals Deal With South32

Transnet yesterday signed a R10.4billion contract with resources group South32 that will see the state-owned freight rail and logistics company transport 2.6million tons of export manganese per annum over seven-and a-half years. Transnet said it planned to seal a number of similar contracts with other manganese producers to have 12.5million tons of manganese ultimately transported mainly from the Hotazel area in the Northern Cape through the Saldanha and Port Elizabeth ore railway lines each year.

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Naspars Sells 2% Of Tencent Shares

The group said on Thursday it would sell up to 190-million Tencent shares to institutional investors, thereby reducing its interest from 33.2% to 31.2%. That 2% stake was worth about $10.6bn (R125bn) on Thursday, close to the market capitalisation of Nedbank.

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Moody’s Ratings Decision Expected Today

By midnight on Friday South Africans should know whether Moody’s has downgraded SA’s sovereign credit rating to junk, or kept the country at above investment grade. Moody’s was the only major ratings agency to not downgrade South Africa to sub-investment grade in 2017. It currently has the country at one notch above junk.

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Uber Stops Autononous Taxi Testing After Crash

Uber Technologies halted autonomous vehicle tests after one of its cars struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona, in what is likely the first pedestrian fatality involving the technology. The 49-year-old woman, Elaine Herzberg, was crossing the road outside of a crosswalk when the Uber vehicle operating in autonomous mode under the supervision of a human safety driver struck her, according to the Tempe Police Department.

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Send Or Receive Money Using Google Assistant

From today, you will be able to send and request money via Google Assistant on your smartphone. Available on both the Android and iOS versions of the Assistant app. Transactions will be handled by Google Pay, and if you’re not already signed up to the service, Assistant will walk you through the set up process before dealing with your request. The person you’re sending money too doesn’t need a Google Pay account to receive funds though.

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Currencies: Bcoin R103,420 . Ether R6,401 . R/USD11.85 . R/GBP16.72 . R/EUR14.61

African Leaders Sign Free Trade Deal

African leaders have signed accords setting up a continental free-trade area that’s expected to boost commerce within the 55-member African Union. More than 40 nations signed the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, or AfCFTA, which commits governments to removing tariffs on 90% of goods and phasing in the rest in future. The agreements will still require ratification by the individual governments and will only come into force when ratified by at least 22 countries.

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Zuckerburg Apologises For Data Breach

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that his company made mistakes in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users and promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to such information. Facebook is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States about a whistleblower’s allegations that London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user information to build profiles on American voters which were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

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Five Million Jobs Losses To AI By 2020

The World Economic Forum predicts that five million jobs will be lost by 2020 as the Fourth Industrial Revolution continues to transform labour markets. Many of the casualties will be repetitive manufacturing and mining tasks and those considered dangerous for humans to perform, but white-collar jobs in banks and other services industries are also under threat.

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Fuel Fund Case To GO To Court

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) and its SFF subsidiary have approached the High Court in Cape Town to have the 2015 and 2016 sales declared unlawful and set aside. Former energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson and the then CEO of the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) Sibusiso Gamede have been named in court papers as the people at the centre of one of the biggest heists of state assets — the secret sale 10-million barrels of strategic fuel reserves in 2015.

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Ghost Students Created To Defraud Universities

Six suspects appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria on Monday after allegedly manipulating a bursary system at the University of South Africa (Unisa) by creating ghost students. According to the Hawks, a Unisa payroll administrator, Thandie Esbie, created ghost students and defrauded the South African Agency for Science and Technology (SAAST), under the administration of the National Research Foundation of South Africa, to the tune of R1.7 million.

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Currencies: Bcoin R111,000 . Ether R6,976 . R/USD11.83 . R/GBP16.74 . R/EUR14.62

Ramaphosa Suspends Tom Moyane

SARS commissioner Tom Moyane has been suspended with immediate effect. According to the presidency, President Cyril Ramaphosa has cited among his reasons the “deterioration in public confidence in the SARS and public finances being compromised” due to the ongoing controversy at the tax agency under Moyane’s leadership. Earlier Business Day reported that Moyane had refused to step down after he was asked to resign by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Mark Kingon has been appointed as Acting Commissioner

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Deloitte Disciplinary Hearing On ABIL Conduct Begins

Public disciplinary hearings into Deloitte’s audit of African Bank Investments Limited (Abil) began on Monday, in what is the biggest case the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) has handled since its formation in 2006. IRBA is also reviewing Deloitte’s audit files on Steinhoff for 2014 to 2016.

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Busses And Taxis Suspended In Ekhurhuleni

Public transport will grind to a halt in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday as the taxi industry will go on strike over the planned roll-out of the bus-rapid transport (BRT) system. As a result of the anticipated protest, the City of Ekurhuleni said that Harambee bus services will be suspended as a precautionary measure for the day following a threat of violence.

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Tiger Brands Sets Aside R425Million For Class Action

Tiger Brands is recalling yet another batch of products, a move that could cost it up to R800m, twice the R324m in operating profit generated by its snacks, treats and beverages division for the financial year to end-September. About R377m of the costs arising from the listeria crisis are attributable to the sales value of contaminated products and the destruction of the items returned. This includes the reimbursement for the recall of products produced at the Germiston, Clayville and Polokwane sites. The remainder of the costs could serve as a payout of an estimated R425m that could be sought in a looming class action case.

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Third Of SA’s Water Lost To Poor Infrastructure

Over a third of SA’s water supply is being lost due to aged and leaking infrastructure before it can be used. That’s according to CSIR principal researcher and research group leader for resource-specific scientific measures Marius Claassen. Claassen, speaking during a panel discussion on Thursday ahead of World Water Day, said countrywide an average of 37% of SA’s water supply was lost before it reached users due to leaks.

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Pick n Pay and Absa Launch New Stokvel Product

The Grocery Stokvel account is the product of a collaboration between Absa Bank and Pick n Pay stores. The aim is to give communities or groups with a common savings goal an opportunity to make purchases of better value and earn interest on their savings at the same time. With the new Grocery Stokvel Account, stokvels are able to earn a very competitive interest rate on balances of as little as R50, and spend their money safely and conveniently at Pick n Pay, where they receive further savings on groceries.

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Currencies: Bcoin R106,602 . Ether R6,763 . R/USD11.99 . R/GBP16.85 . R/EUR14.82

 

Schabir Shaik To Testify In Zuma Trial

Former President Jacob Zuma’s ex-financial advisor Schabir Shaik has confirmed that he has been approached by the Hawks and asked to testify in Zuma’s trial. Shaik was convicted of corrupting Zuma in 2005‚ and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released on medical parole on March 3‚ 2009 after serving just over two years of that sentence. A panel of medical experts had concluded that he was terminally ill. During his trial‚ Shaik remained adamant that the hundreds of payments he made to Zuma‚ then KwaZulu-Natal Tourism MEC and later deputy president‚ were either gifts or part of a revolving loan agreement.

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Gordhan Warns SARS Reshuffle Coming

The South African Revenue Service’s leadership team has no credibility and will soon be changed, according to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. “It’s out there in the public domain that leadership team has lost all credibility and the time for change, it should be sooner rather than later,” said Gordhan, who clashed with Moyane over the management of the tax authority when he was finance minister. Getting the revenue service right, “is not too far away,” he said.

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Gupta VAT Refunds Under Question

Tax boss Tom Moyane aided possible acts of money laundering and fraud while contravening the VAT and Tax Acts when he allegedly pressured SARS officials to illegally effect three VAT payments to the Guptas into the account of a third party. Within two weeks from Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd director Ronica Ragavan’s first “urgent” request dated 22 May 2017, SARS paid the first of three VAT payments amounting to R70-million. Two smaller VAT payments were pushed through in July and August 2017.

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Toll Road Workers TO GO On Strike

National routes across the country are expected to be affected by a toll workers strike on Monday morning. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (SATAWU) said in a statement on Sunday that its members who were employed by Intertoll Africa, a subsidiary of Group 5, will embark on a national strike on Monday from 6am. Routes affected are the N1 from South Grasmere Plaza to Free State, N4 from Magalies to Rustenburg and N2 from Mthunzini to Othangathi

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ANN7 Wants Free To Air License

ICASA said it has received four applications for Individual Commercial Free-to-Air Television Broadcasting Service Licences. Among the applicants is Infinity Media Networks, the parent of former Gupta-owned news network ANN7. The company previously applied for a free-to-air TV licence in 2014, during ICASA’s last Invitation to Apply.

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Gupta’s Dubai Hospital Plans Exposed

The poor in North West and Free State were fleeced to build a billion-dollar hospital for the rich in Dubai, in a plan concocted by the Gupta family. Out of the R954 charged per patient for screening by healthcare provider Mediosa, R650 was to be paid to subcontracted companies from Dubai. The money would then be funnelled into the companies’ United Arab Emirates bank accounts, from where it would be used to fund the Guptas’ new business venture: Dubai Healthcare City.

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Esidimeni Hearings Could Cost R47Million

The total cost of the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearings is expected to cost the Gauteng government around R47-million in total. This was disclosed by Gauteng premier David Makhura in a written a reply to questions in the Gauteng legislature, Gauteng MPL Jack Bloom said. So far, the alternative dispute resolution process has cost R15.7-million. More than half the expense has been spent on the Emoyeni Conference Centre as the venue for the hearings, which cost R8.4-million.

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Currencies: Bcoin R102,580 . Ether R6,702 . R/USD11.98 . R/GBP16.70 . R/EUR14.72

Ramaphosa Clarifies Land reform Plans

South Africa’s government will ensure land reform takes place as a matter of urgency without harming agricultural production, but it won’t allow people to forcibly take over farms, President Cyril Ramaphosa said. A land audit released by the government in February showed that farms and agricultural holdings comprise 97% of the 121.9 million hectares of the nation’s area. Whites own 72% of the 37 million hectares held by individuals, more than two decades after the end of apartheid.

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SOE’s Present Revival Plans

Chief executives of state-owned entities (SOEs) this week presented President Cyril Ramaphosa with ambitious proposals to reignite the South African economy. The business leaders, led by Telkom chief executive Sipho Maseko, said that the plans were aimed at rekindling manufacturing, meaningful employment in the crucial agriculture sector and the development of logistics systems to accelerate economic growth, among others.

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Zuma Should Pay His Own Fees If Guilty

Responding to a question from EFF leader Julius Malema, Ramaphosa revealed that the government had contributed a total of R15.3m towards Zuma’s legal costs since 2006. Of this amount, approximately R7.5m was spent between 2006 and the withdrawal of the corruption charges against Zuma in 2009. The state had paid a total R7.8m on Zuma’s legal costs since 2009. Ramaphosa explained that Zuma had entered into an agreement with the government that the money would be paid back if he is found to have been personally responsible for the crimes he was accused of.

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A Third of Moz Plants Destroyed By Pests And Disease

Pests and disease sweeping through Mozambique have destroyed at least a third of the country’s agricultural crops over the past 11 months, a government spokeswoman said. More than 41,000 hectares of crops in Mozambique have been affected by pests including caterpillars and fruit flies.

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KPMG And Deloitte Fined By US Authorities

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has slapped KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, and BDO for their involvement in audit work that circumvented its guidelines. The firms agreed to settle the charges by paying penalties or disgorging their profits from the audits.Without admitting or denying the findings, BDO Canada agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty, KPMG in South Africa agreed to pay a $100,000 penalty, Deloitte in Zimbabwe agreed to pay disgorgement and interest totaling $99,057, and KPMG in Zimbabwe agreed to pay disgorgement and interest totaling $141,305. 

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Toys R Us Officially Shuts

Toys R Us employees have been informed that the company is selling or closing all its US stores as part of a liquidation plan. According to USA Today, Toys R Us will file liquidation papers in advance of a court hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

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3500 Tons Of Polony And Cold Meat Returned

Tiger Brands had recalled 3 500 tons of its Enterprise ready-to-eat, chilled meat products by Monday. This, as it awaits the outcome of a report it commissioned on why the ST6 strain of listeria was found at its Polokwane facility.

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Bitcoin Drops Below $8000

The price of bitcoin is down to start the day, dropping below $8,000 during early-hours trading on Thursday according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). At press time, the price of bitcoin is roughly $7,811.22 across global exchanges, a figure that represents a decline of over $300 from the day’s open, and the lowest price observed on the index since Feb. 11, when the BPI hit a low of $7,845.13.

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Currencies: R97,904 . Ether R7,325 . R/USD11.77 . R/GBP16.45 . R/EUR14.57

Drought Declared A National Disaster

Government has declared a national state of disaster to deal with the country’s drought and water crisis. Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Zweli Mkhize made the announcement on behalf of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Drought and Water Scarcity during a media briefing in Cape Town on Tuesday. It comes after ratings firm, Moody’s Investors Service warned on Monday that Cape Town would need up to spend up to R12.7 billion ($1 billion) over the next five years on water and sanitation infrastructure to deal with its water crisis.

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Zuma’s Spy Tapes Legal Bill Over R15Million

Former president Jacob Zuma spent R15.3m of the taxpayers’ money in his legal battles to avoid prosecution. Ramaphosa revealed this information to the DA on Tuesday in a bid to settle legal action brought by the opposition party over Zuma’s refusal to disclose his legal fees in what is known as the spy tapes case.

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R385Million Fund Stuck In VBS Bank

A fund, the beneficiaries of which are children of deceased mine workers, has about R385m on deposit with VBS Mutual Bank, which the Reserve Bank placed under curatorship on Sunday. The Financial Services Board (FSB) confirmed that the Bophelo Beneficiary Fund, which with its administrator, Bophelo Benefit Services was placed under curatorship by the board in June 2017, had R385m deposited with VBS. The board was in talks with the Bank to recover this money for the orphans’ fund.

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SASSA Has No Back Up Plan

The South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa’s) contingency plan to manage the cash component of the social grants system, were the Constitutional Court to deny an extension of the invalid CPS contract, was only work in progress. The plan however, would be “very inconvenient” and there is still no “feasible” contingency plan that will guarantee cash payments on April 1.

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Coinbase Gets E-Money License In The UK

Coinbase is officially expanding digital money services in the U.K. and EU. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority granted Coinbase an e-money license, the company announced Wednesday. The license now enables the company the ability to provide payment services and issue digital cash alternatives, which can then be used to make card, internet or phone payments.

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Currencies: Bcoin R113,599 . Ether R8,605 . R/USD11.77 . R/GBP16.45 . R/EUR14.59