Новости за 28.06.2021

Researchers from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have and continue to develop commercial products using indigenous plants, and have helped the holders of indigenous plant products, communities and traditional healers to produce these products at the same scale, safety and quality standards. CSIR process technologists Lucia Sethunya and Trishen Reddy, during a media briefing on June 28, detailed the approach the team used to identify and develop the use of indigenous plants... Читать дальше...

Financial services company S&P Global Ratings on June 28 revised upward its forecast for growth this year in key emerging economies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). It now expects gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.5% in Poland, 3.7% in Russia and 4.2% in South Africa.

Information and communications technology group MTN has joined the Every Action Counts (EAC) coalition, which aims to empower one-billion “green champions” by 2025 and harness the power of green consumer behaviours to enhance biodiversity and climate efforts. The new coalition, launched by the Green Digital Finance Alliance and funded by the Finance for Biodiversity initiative of the MAVA Foundation, will connect a global network of digital, financial, ecommerce and consumer goods and services companies... Читать дальше...

Hydrogen represents a huge moment of opportunity for South Africa, AP Ventures managing partner Andrew Hinkly said on Monday. AP Ventures began investing along the generally platinum group metals- (PGMs-) linked hydrogen value chain as long ago as 2013 and the $320-million committed in AP Ventures' second fund just closed is continuing to be deployed into the hydrogen sector.

Industry organisation Agri SA is seeking greater clarity on the ban of gatherings at auctions in the latest set of regulations, since South Africa returned to Level 4 lockdown on June 28. “Does it mean that auctions may take place but people may not gather together? Which auctions are applicable here?” asks executive director Christo van der Rheede.

Investment holding and management company Invicta Holdings, consisting of the Engineering Solutions Group (ESG), the Capital Equipment Group (CEG) and the Kian Ann Group (KAG), based in Singapore, reported good results for the year ended March 31, during a period of considerable changes. “The year has been characterised by major but very positive changes for the group, which included the sale of the CEG’s agricultural and earthmoving businesses and the in-principle agreement reached to restructure KAG.

In this opinion article, Mike Roussos suggests that a new renewable-energy utility be established within the public sector to ensure that the State plays a direct role in establishing and guiding a new and cleaner energy dispensation for South Africa.

The South African government is raising efficiency levels for high-consumption electrical products,  like street lights, in an effort to reduce the energy burden on the national grid, especially as State-owned utility Eskom continues to face constraints in supplying electricity. With experts recommending the country should brace for a protracted period of intermittent power cuts, or load-shedding, for at least another five years, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (MRE) and the South... Читать дальше...

Airbus Defence and Space announced on Monday that it had been granted a 12-month contract extension by the UK Royal Navy for satellite-based maritime surveillance services. This contract extension follows the conclusion of a successful proof-of-concept phase. The services will be supplied to the UK government’s Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC). As a result of the new agreement, areas of interest in British waters will continue to be monitored, with the ultimate aim of guarding UK sovereign waters... Читать дальше...

The historic Clairwood racecourse, located just south of Durban, has completed its transformation into a logistics park, and now showcases cutting-edge innovation in storage, transshipment and distribution, says Fortress Logistics national leasing manager Grant Lewington. The R4.5-billion Clairwood Logistics Park is considered a “world-class site” and hosts new road infrastructure, to the value of R150-million, alongside new services connections such as power, water and sewage.

The State-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has disposed of an interest in the ordinary shares of Murray & Roberts (M&R), taking its shareholding to 19.274%. This compares with its previous shareholding in M&R of 20.041%.

US private-sector space company SpaceX, founded and effectively led by South African-born engineer and entrepreneur Elon Musk, hopes to be ready next month to carry out the first orbital launch of its new Starship spacecraft. This was stated on Friday at the (US) National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, the journal Space News reported. Starship prototype SN15 successfully conducted a suborbital flight and subsequent landing on May 5. Читать дальше...

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has again pledged the association’s support to government in efforts to “manage the difficult balancing act” of combatting the Covid-19 pandemic, while ensuring economic recovery doesn’t “veer dramatically off course”. In her newsletter on June 28, Mavuso says South Africa “cannot afford a major new social programme, though we must do what we can to avoid the humanitarian consequences of the restrictions on economic activity that have to happen”.

The latest edition of the Sunday Times gives outgoing Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg a splash ST Insight send-off story ahead of his retirement on Wednesday. Topped by a large all-column picture of a broadly smiling Glasenberg, the broadsheet two-page story carried large twin bold headlines, the first describing Glasenberg as “The almost-Olympian”, a reference to the Wits-educated chartered accountant’s illustrious race walking past, and the second over the page as “A recluse who is king of coal”.

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the move to adjusted Alert Level 4 Covid-19 restrictions and the accompanying ban on alcohol sales, the South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) is requesting government to reassess its measures and to focus on its vaccine rollout rather than prohibiting alcohol sales. The Beer Association of South Africa (Basa) meanwhile, reports that it is seeking legal advice on the “inexplicable” fourth alcohol ban in the interest of protecting jobs and livelihoods.

The creation of a separate State-owned transmission entity, as part of the restructuring of Eskom into three separate entities responsible for generation, transmission and distribution, has been held up by President Cyril Ramaphosa as key to promoting the purchase of the lowest-cost electricity for businesses and households. In his weekly newsletter, which is dedicated to the reforms under way across State-owned enterprise (SOEs), the President said that the transmission company, which is schedule... Читать дальше...

The Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme will not be accepting new applications after June 28, though it will remain in operation until July 11 to allow for in-process applications to be finalised. As at June 19, more than R18.3-billion in loans had been approved by banks and taken up by small businesses under the Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme.

The State-owned gas companies of South Africa and Mozambique have announced that they have exercised their pre-emptive rights to acquire, for R4.15-billion, the 30% equity stake in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline (Rompco) hitherto owned by Sasol. The announcement follows on from Sasol’s May 14 announcement of a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) – subject to the pre-emptive rights held by Central Energy Fund subsidiary iGAS and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos subsidiary Companhia Mocambiçana de Gasoduto (CMG) ... Читать дальше...