BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

Dead dolphins wash up on Mauritius beach near site of July oil spill

Addis Ababa — Seventeen dead dolphins washed up on Mauritius’s shore on Wednesday, a government official told Reuters, a month after an oil spill from a Japanese ship that ran aground caused a major ecological disaster in the area. “The dead dolphins had several wounds and blood around their jaws;…

26 Aug 2020 12PM 1 min

EDITORAL: Is Ace trembling over Cyril’s letter?

Nelson Mandela had the "Madiba shuffle". Thabo Mbeki preferred more aloof, urbane pursuits — cigars and cognac and pontificating about such high-minded matters as the link between HIV and Aids, and how to appease Robert Mugabe. Jacob Zuma affably giggled his way through parliamentary question sessions and was wont to…

26 Aug 2020 11AM 3 min

Heroic march to a land marred by hatred

In 1996, a Rwandan former child soldier named Kennedy Gihana wrapped his matric certificate in plastic, taped it to his chest and started walking to SA.Many months and 5,000km later he trudged into Joburg. He had nowhere to live, no job, no food. No prospects.He lived on the streets and…

26 Aug 2020 11AM 1 min

A bad week for Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams

A good week Imagine: an ANC cabinet minister on the right side of an argument, for once. Finance minister Tito Mboweni is one of those rare individuals in the cabinet who knows his field, and the value of a country’s financial institutions — like an independent central bank. A pity,…

26 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

Sweden deploys more forces in Baltic Sea due to higher Russian activity

Stockholm — Sweden is beefing up its military presence in the Baltic Sea amid concerns over increased Russian activity in the region and heightened tensions in Belarus following a disputed election. Sweden has been rearming in recent years after running down its military following the end of the Cold War,…

26 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

Moderna to present Covid-19 vaccine data in older people at industry meeting

Moderna will present safety data on Wednesday from an early trial that provides the first glimpse of how its Covid-19 vaccine stimulates the immune system in older people. The company will present “new interim safety and immunogenicity data from the cohorts of older adults” from its phase 1 trial, according…

26 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

Buoyant markets face critical period as hopes pinned on normalisation of earnings

Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc worldwide, with virtually no area of economic and social activity left unscathed. However, the likelihood of a worst-case cataclysmic scenario is rapidly diminishing, and if there is a “second wave”, governments are unlikely to reimpose harsh lockdowns given the challenges of severe financial cost, public…

26 Aug 2020 10AM 5 min

Vitriol against DA is driving attack on Cheaper Electricity Bill

When any bill is introduced in parliament it follows a defined process. The draft legislation is placed before the relevant portfolio committee, which will be briefed on all aspects of the legislation, including the constitutionality of the proposals and the legality of the various clauses. It may be opened up…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 6 min

Government must learn from mistakes in handing out fishing rights

With the forthcoming allocation of fishing rights to commercial fisheries, the government has a unique opportunity to reward broad-based BEE (BBBEE) and preserve jobs — but first it must learn from its mistakes. This October the department of environment, forestry & fisheries will begin the process of allocating rights to…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 5 min

LETTER: Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s sage advice

It was heart-warming to learn from the media that Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has tested negative, free from Covid-19. This is not only good news for himself, his family and Inkatha, it is great news for SA and particularly the people of KwaZulu-Natal. This country needs Buthelezi’s guidance, leadership and wisdom…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

LETTER: Remove the blinkers

It was refreshing to read Claire Bisseker’s piece on the shortcomings of business’s approach to SA’s economic future (“SA’s political economy is a merry-go-round; no wonder we’re sick to our stomachs (”, August 24). Business’s engagement with the government has failed because it misdiagnosed the problems. We at the Institute…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

THE LEX COLUMN: Ant Group — Jack the giant maker

Ant Group started small. Its name comes from its commitment to serve individuals and small businesses. But there is nothing modest about the Chinese fintech company’s Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing. The initial public offering is expected to raise $30bn. It will be the biggest of the year —…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 2 min

LETTER: Sweet Covid deals

You have price makers and price takers in markets. Consumer protection and competition laws are there to protect the public from suppliers abusing market power by setting unreasonable prices. But what happens when the customer is the price maker and abuses its market power to set unreasonable prices? It’s not…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

LETTER: Assess the veracity of such claims

I quite often read syndicated articles and wonder whether they are chosen by the newspaper for their content or whether it is on the basis of take-it-or-leave-it. The Bloomberg article about the evil one from the Urals comes to mind (“Vladimir Putin will have last word in Belarus — and…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

LETTER: Poison under the bed?

Prominent SA politicians have made a habit of travelling to Russia to seek assistance with suspected cases of wilful poisoning, especially on unscheduled flights. On the other hand, Russian politicians would appear to have an understandable need to head for Western countries to seek similar relief. One is left to…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

Angela Merkel at her wits end with Putin as Alexei Navalny is still in a coma

Berlin — With Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny lying in an induced coma just minutes from Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin, the German chancellor is at a loss over what to do about Russian President Vladimir Putin. The German leader — a key conduit to the West for the Russian…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 5 min

LETTER: Beef is back

Bekezela Phakathi correctly points out that some subsectors of SA agriculture are not in good shape, but he misses the point by highlighting the beef industry as one of these (“Beef industry faces uncertain future (”, August 25). It is true that when the country was in lockdown levels 5…

26 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

NZ mosque murderer hears from survivors before sentencing

Wellington — The father of slain three-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim, the youngest victim in the New Zealand mosque shootings, told the white supremacist who gunned down his son that “true justice” awaited him in the next life and it would be more severe than prison. “You have killed my son and…

26 Aug 2020 8AM 3 min

Does having a woman at a country’s helm help keep Covid-19 deaths lower?

The evidence is in: at least during the first wave of Covid-19, countries with female leaders suffered far lower death rates than comparable nations led by men. This doesn’t mean that the trend will necessarily persist in a second or third wave. Nor does it imply that women are also…

26 Aug 2020 8AM 4 min

ROBIN YOU: Tech cold war will hit global suppliers, but some locals could benefit

These days it is hard to have a conversation about China without considering geopolitical risks. We are seeing a decoupling between China and the US on all fronts — Covid-19, geopolitics, trade and technology. Hong Kong has historically been the financial hub connecting mainland China with global financial markets. China…

26 Aug 2020 8AM 5 min