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Friday, March twenty eight, 2008

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brindaveni Naidoo.

Making headlines today:

State-owned broadband infrastructure company, Broadband Infraco, has secured private sector participation from companies for its submarine cable project from South Africa, along the West Coast of Africa, to the UK.

Broadband Infraco, through the Department of Public Enterprises, would hold a 26% stake in the cable and its capacity, and 74% of the total capacity was earmarked for the private sector.

A memorandum of understanding outlining the principles of operation of the system was signed at the end of February between Broadband Infraco, and the private sector participants. The shareholders' agreement would be signed on April 15, with financial close on the same day.


The world's biggest mining group, BHP Billiton, will take two comma four billion rands worth of yearly business away from South Africa's Standard Bank, after one of the bank's top executives made "reckless, provocative and irresponsible remarks" about one of its businesses, daily Business Day said on Friday.

The newspaper reported that an unnamed top Standard Bank executive had suggested at a recent high-level business and government meeting, that Billiton's Hillside aluminium smelter be shut down to save electricity.

It said that the banking executive said he believed that the power-guzzling aluminium smelter did not add any economic value to the country.

However, BHPBilliton South Africa chairperson Vincent Maphai says that "this attitude is completely misplaced".

Diversified products group, Royal Philips Electronics, has entered into a joint venture with demand-side management initiatives company Karebo Systems, and the State-owned Central Energy Fund to establish a compact fluorescent lamp integrated, or CFLi, light bulb manufacturing facility in Lesotho.

Construction of the facility has already begun in the country's capital, Maseru, and the first bulbs are expected to be released to South African and other African markets in September, Philips chairperson and CEO Ian Murdoch said on Thursday.

Philips GM Luc Escoute explained that it would take between six and twelve months to ramp up production to the fully operational output of some fifteen million CFLi bulbs a year.

Philips chairperson and CEO Ian Murdoch:
(audio clip)


Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Thursday added his voice to calls for a judicial inquiry into the multi-billion rand arms deal.

In the prepared text of his speech for the Dullah Omar memorial lecture at the University of the Western Cape, he said South Africans could not pretend corruption was no longer a serious problem.

Tutu's call for an inquiry into the deal, echoes those made recently by opposition parties, and follows the tabling of a fresh set of parliamentary questions to President Thabo Mbeki about his role in it.

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma is due to go on trial in August on a charge of corruption related to the deal.


Also making headlines today:

Power shortages a stress rather than a ratings threat

Producer inflation jumps, heralding a rate hike

South Africa bans the use of asbestos

Stanlib says South Africa's power shortage won't pull the plug on the resources boom

Teck Cominco and Inmet agree to go ahead with Panama copper project

The Dutch fear anger as anti-Koran film hits the Web

500 foreign doctors have been appointed in South Africa in 16 months

And, Mugabe could hang on despite formidable challenge

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories, visit engineeringnews.co.za, miningweekly.com and polity.org.za