The National Treasury, on December 20, published the local government revenue and expenditure report for the first quarter period from July 1 to September 30, which showed that aggregate spending by municipalities was 21.6%, or R140.4-billion, of the total adopted expenditure budget of R649.9-billion for the financial year ended February 2025. Aggregated billing and other [...]

A family trust linked to Koos Bekker — one of South Africa’s richest people — sold about €156-million of shares in Internet investing giant Prosus to fund building operations at hotels in South Africa, the UK and Italy. The trust associated with the billionaire who chairs the company sold 3.9-million shares over three days this [...]

The biggest vessel-ordering program since the eve of the global financial crisis is putting a squeeze on the shipbuilding industry’s capacity to construct new vessels. Owners plowed more than $188-billion into newbuilds in the first 11 months of the year, on course for the strongest pace in terms of both value and capacity since 2007, [...]

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday assented to the National Nuclear Regulator Amendment Bill, which provides for nuclear safety oversight, ranging from the decontamination of defence facilities to airline pilot safety. The Amendment Bill amends the National Nuclear Regulator Act of 1999 to align it with current international regulatory best practices as determined by the International Atomic [...]

State-owned power utility Eskom has reported a R25.5-billion loss before tax for the financial year ending March 31, 2024, following a year marked by operational setbacks, financial strain and systemic inefficiencies. With 329 days of loadshedding and heavy reliance on costly open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) during the 2024 financial year, along with escalating municipal debt, the [...]

New York- and Toronto-listed Barrick Gold Corporation on Wednesday, December 18, confirmed that its operating entities in Mali, namely Société des Mines de Loulo SA and Société des Mines de Gounkoto SA, have submitted a request for arbitration to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, in accordance with the provisions of their [...]

Distressed JSE-listed sugar producer Tongaat Hulett has announced that it will sell all its assets and operating businesses in South Africa to Vision Sugar South Africa. The purchase price for Tongaat Hulett's South African assets will be the fair market value determined by an appointed independent valuer, whose decision, absent any manifest error, shall be [...]

Investment company Futuregrowth Asset Management has invested R150-million in small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) finance and specialist supply chain support financial technology (fintech) company Sourcefin. Sourcefin works to bridge the critical R300-billion gap in SMME financing and empowers businesses to overcome working capital challenges and successfully fulfil public and private sector purchase orders, which are [...]

Industry regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has approved mobile network operator Telkom's R6.75-billion disposal of its Swiftnet business, which houses its masts and towers business. The decision obtained from Icasa on December 13 results in a change of control of Swiftnet’s licences and fulfils one of the suspensive conditions for the [...]

Blyvoor gold mine, the restarted underground Witwatersrand gold mine west of Johannesburg, is on the way back up. South African mining company Aurous Resources reported on Monday, December 17, that rising gold prices and Blyvoor’s improved operational performance has increased the Carletonville mine’s operating profit by 59%.

The final assay results from diamond drill holes completed to test strike and down-dip extensions of the high-grade copper mineralisation at the Flat Mine South deposit, part of the Okiep Copper Project in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The latest results add further momentum to mine development company Orion Mineral’s development strategy for the Okiep [...]

From the moment Mpho Putsoenyane's daughter Hlompho was born in Zamdela, a South African township beside the smokestacks and gas flares of Sasol's oldest coal-to-liquid refinery, the baby struggled to breathe. Last year, when she was four months old, she turned purple and started gasping. Her parents rushed the baby to hospital, where medics only [...]