BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

LETTER: We can’t afford this holidaying

SA is survival mode in the wake of the worst health disaster and economic meltdown in living memory, yet we have to manage this under the most corrupt and incompetent government in our history. There is rampant unemployment, probably well more than 50%, which has been brought about by the…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 1 min

EDITORIAL: MTN retreat could cause its advance

A sharper focus on its home continent could be just what MTN needs to reclaim its position as Africa’s second most valuable mobile phone company. The company, Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers, unveiled plans last week to withdraw from the Middle East, rightly scaling back its ambitions to…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 4 min

Gauteng infections are slowing so focus can shift to the economy, Makhura says

As the rate of Covid-19 infections in Gauteng continues to fall, the province’s focus will now shift to its plans to help the recovery of SA’s economic hub, premier David Makhura has said. Gauteng ordinarily contributes more than a third of SA’s GDP, but this year, in line with devastating…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 3 min

LETTER: Decisions on SAA just do not fly

SAA in business rescue has returned all its leased aircraft to the lessors, in an aviation environment where its more capable global peers (also in distress) are using this one-off global opportunity to negotiate lease terms at rates up to 50% cheaper than pre-Covid. So why not SAA? At the…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

Directive for six-week Ters benefit extension yet to be published

The application process for the extended Covid-19 relief scheme, which would allow workers to receive much-needed money for July and August, is still not open because the government has not yet published a directive on it. The Temporary Employer/Employee Relief scheme (Ters) was initially envisaged to cover April, May and…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 3 min

An African Silicon Valley can happen, but a shift in vision is vital

On July 5 2019, at the inaugural fourth industrial revolution (4IR) summit in Midrand, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced plans to “unlock economic potential and create a Silicon Valley” in SA. A good thought and strong words, although not actually backed up by parliament or legislation. However, with a few small…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 6 min

Mexico using ‘vaccine diplomacy’ for late-stage Chinese trials

Mexico City — Mexico aims to conduct late-stage clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines in development by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and two Chinese companies within months, the foreign minister said on Tuesday, adding that the goal is to secure access to the drugs. Mexico has signed memorandums of understanding with…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

Brazilian state may work with Russia to produce vaccine

São Paulo/Brasília — Brazil’s Paraná state is in talks with Russia to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, the state research institute said on Tuesday, hours after President Vladimir Putin declared his country to be the world’s first to grant regulatory approval for a vaccine. João Pedro Schonarth, spokesperson for the Parana…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 1 min

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Open schools sensibly

Despite all the fears about reopening schools, we actually know a fair amount from watching other countries about how to do it safely. Success looks a lot like Uruguay and Denmark. It does not look like Israel. And it bears no resemblance at all to what’s shown in a photo…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

LETTER: Western Cape will make you eat your words, Tom Eaton

Tom Eaton is partially correct. The government has shown us that it cannot or will not pay the workforce their own insurance money from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) (“Yes, the ANC is a dud but show us the money, opposition parties (”, August 10). Eaton says the opposition “must…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 1 min

LETTER: Why can’t Sars find stolen funds?

Isn’t it incredible how the SA Revenue Service can trace every last cent one has earned and calculate the taxation one owes them? And SMS one with the exact amount due to the fiscus? Yet it can’t help the government find the R50bn stolen from the state, nor trace the…

11 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Support SMEs, not spendthrift SOEs

Once the Treasury had slammed the door in Pravin Gordhan’s face when he requested R9bn to conclude SAA’s “business rescue” (unsurprising given that it doesn’t even want to pay Denel’s wages), the public enterprises minister approached the banks for funding instead. Subsequent delays in concluding a funding deal are not…

11 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Forget about secession

An argument one hears quite frequently these days is that the Western Cape has the right to set itself up as an independent country (and that all it would need to do would be to win a local referendum and obtain recognition from the international community). This is a load…

11 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

Rise in virus cases eclipses India’s early signs of economic recovery

New Delhi — India’s economic activity monitors are beginning to flatline just months after showing signs of returning to life. Latest data from Apple and Alphabet’s Google showed mobility suffered in recent weeks after notching up an increase since May, when Asia’s third-largest economy began exiting a nationwide lockdown to…

11 Aug 2020 10AM 3 min

Time to shift from a profit-driven agenda to a new social contract

The novel coronavirus pandemic and consequent lockdown have devastated much of what we knew of life “BC” — before Covid-19. We will be tallying the toll of opportunities forgone, businesses disrupted or destroyed, lives lost and livelihoods demolished for decades to come. A significant part of that reckoning must include…

11 Aug 2020 9AM 4 min

Basic income grant could make a Big difference to women

Every year in August, gender issues are discussed in a slew of articles. It is not necessarily a bad thing to highlight perhaps the biggest challenge that intersects race, class and economic status in SA. But in 2020, Women’s Day was celebrated in the context of a revived policy proposal…

11 Aug 2020 9AM 6 min

Lebanese economy in tatters, along with its capital

Dubai — A few days before last week’s deadly explosion in Lebanon, Sarah al Sayed sold a $5,000 cheque at her Beirut money-changer for half its face value — just to get hold of physical dollar bills. If she tried today, she says she would get even less, with some…

11 Aug 2020 7AM 1 min

Brazil courts investors after its exploitation of the Amazon

Brasília — Faced with growing global outcry over its environmental policies, Brazil is now inviting foreign investors to help the country preserve the Amazon and other endangered areas of conservation. The approach marks a substantial departure from the combative style adopted last year by President Jair Bolsonaro, who not only…

11 Aug 2020 6AM 3 min

Historic protests in Thailand against army-backed state gain pace

Bangkok — Mostly student protesters in Thailand are stepping up pressure on the military-backed government, with calls for greater democracy and less power for the monarchy — a potentially explosive demand just as leaders struggle to handle the country’s worst economic crisis to date. Thousands of demonstrators gathered again on…

11 Aug 2020 6AM 7 min

Cape Town must talk first and litigate later, judge says in IPP case

The City of Cape Town, which was seeking the right through the courts to procure electricity directly from independent power producers (IPPs), has been told by judge Leonie Windell that it must first attempt to settle matters directly with the department of mineral resources and energy. The city has been…

11 Aug 2020 6AM 1 min