BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

Dear Mr President: End the political errors and insincerity

Dear Mr President,I hope this finds you well after your small triumph in seeing off the hyenas who wished to use the weekend’s meeting of the ANC’s national executive council to attack you.The desperate attempt at scapegoating by your predecessor did not do justice to the ink spilt on it…

2 Sep 2020 2PM 1 min

A bad week for Andile Lungisa

A good week Local hit song Jerusalema has not only held its ground on home turf, but has become a global sensation, giving South Africans reason to celebrate. The smash gospel hit by Master KG, featuring Nomcebo Zikode, achieved a phenomenal milestone last week when it reached 100-million views on…

2 Sep 2020 2PM 1 min

WHO recommends cheap and readily available steroids as Covid-19 treatment

London — Treating critically ill Covid-19 patients with corticosteroid drugs reduces the risk of death by 20%, an analysis of seven international trials found on Wednesday, prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to update its advice on treatment. The analysis — which pooled data from separate trials of low dose…

2 Sep 2020 1PM 3 min

EDITORIAL: Don’t bank on a consistently stronger rand

For the rest of us, according to Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda, the “flood of money means that the disconnect between equity markets and the real world is set to continue for some time to come”. He was responding to dovish comments from some of the world’s…

2 Sep 2020 12PM 3 min

Joburg may have to cut frequency of waste collection to trim costs

Johannesburg is considering reducing the frequency of waste collection in some areas in a bid to cut costs amid low revenue collection. Africa's wealthiest city could also see increased water interruptions and load-shedding. In a statement released by Joburg's finance department on Wednesday the city said revenue was undercollected by…

2 Sep 2020 12PM 2 min

London Marathon goes ‘virtual’ with times recorded on an app

London — More than 45,000 people have signed up to run the first “virtual” London Marathon in October after the actual race, already postponed from April, was cancelled last month due to the risk of coronavirus spread. A multi-lap elite race, headlined by Kenyan world record holders Eliud Kipchoge and…

2 Sep 2020 11AM 1 min

UK’s economy has rocky road ahead

London — Bank of England (BOE) policymakers painted a gloomy picture of the UK’s economic outlook, warning that the nation faces a long road back from the hit of the pandemic. Governor Andrew Bailey told legislators on parliament’s treasury committee that the risks to growth remain to the downside, while…

2 Sep 2020 11AM 1 min

Lesotho should prioritise affordable internet access for all its people

In 2018 a study commissioned by the Lesotho Communication Authority (LCA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) found that mobile phone penetration in Lesotho was at 78.65%, while internet penetration stood at only 30%, with 83% of rural dwellers not using the internet at all. In urban areas, half of…

2 Sep 2020 11AM 5 min

Public servants getting away with doing business with the state

It is criminal for public service workers to do business with the state, but the number of those caught doing so seems not to scratch the surface of the extent of corruption in the state. It is a criminal offence for public servants to conduct business with organs of the…

2 Sep 2020 11AM 4 min

Zimbabwe high court frees protest organiser on bail

Harare — Zimbabwe’s high court granted bail on Wednesday to an opposition politician detained after calling for anti-government protests in July over corruption and the worst economic crisis in more than a decade. Jacob Ngarivhume was arrested along with journalist Hopewell Chin’ono on July 20, on charges of inciting violence…

2 Sep 2020 11AM 1 min

Investors should weigh hit of high government debt on markets

After a big decline between February and June, consensus forecasts for global growth have stabilised, recent data suggests. Global equity markets have therefore continued their recovery path, fuelled by central banks lowering rates and the gradual reopening of some economies after lockdowns. Though the pace of central bank monetary policy…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 5 min

A fishy donation puts Namibia’s Hage Geingob on the spot

New allegations about corruption and patronage in ruling party Swapo will have left most Namibians feeling they’re not getting value for money from the country’s generous public funding of political parties. "The regulation of party-political finance is a mess," says Graham Hopwood, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 4 min

SANDF has no muscle because funds have been cut to the bone

The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is in deep trouble and will require prompt and serious attention if SA is not to find itself without an effective military. Some will argue that it would not matter, but we find ourselves in an unstable region in an era of great power…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 6 min

Hotel Rwanda hero wants to be tried by an international court

Nairobi — The family of Paul Rusesabagina — hailed a hero in a Hollywood movie about Rwanda’s 1994 genocide but detained in Kigali this week — has demanded that he be tried in an international court, his son said on Wednesday. The Rwandan government dismissed the demand, revealed by his…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 2 min

LETTER: Give CEOs their due

The puerile bleats of Ian Robinson regarding CEO rewards reminds me of communist Russia before things changed. (“Private sector CEOs’ obscene pay sets bad example (../letters/2020-08-31-letter-private-sector-ceos-obscene-pay-sets-bad-example/)”, September 1). What Robinson describes is pure capitalism at work, the notion of dog eat dog. “Profit maximisation” is what makes profitable and healthy…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Act against crooks!

Having just read an article about Hermoine Cronje and the possibility of arrests of high-profile people, I feel the need to say: “The sooner the better!” Such arrests would be received by the average South African as an economic stimulus. It is extremely demoralising for those who want to see…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Time for alternative BEE policy

Correct as he is about the growing chorus of condemnation of black economic empowerment (BEE), a more biting critique of the policy than Andile Ntingi’s contribution is hard to imagine (“BEE fattens the elite and leaves crumbs for the poor masses” (../2020-08-30-andile-ntingi-bee-fattens-the-elite-and-leaves-crumbs-for-the-poor-masses/), August 30). Experience from around the world suggests…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 1 min

Rouble falls as Germany says Alexei Navalny was definitely poisoned

Berlin — A critic of Russian President Vladmir Putin, now in a coma and being treated in a Berlin hospital, was poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok family, a German government spokesperson said on Wednesday. Toxicology tests of blood samples from Alexei Navalny conducted at a German military…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 2 min

LETTER: Frayed ANC ideology needs unpicking

I have a strong suspicion that the conspicuous lack of orange overalls within the SA landscape may bear a strong correlation to the fact that the textile industry in SA was in effect destroyed by the ANC and its blood brothers in the textile workers union. Perhaps it was perceptive…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Paid parental and adoption leave applies to state too

The Labour Laws Amendment Act has been introduced and is operative. Paid parental and adoption leave is effective and has been embraced by the private sector. To hear that the government is once again flouting its own rules and regulations is disgusting (“Government flouts its own laws on worker benefits,…

2 Sep 2020 10AM 1 min