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Proposed code changes add to BEE complexity – Grant Thornton

27th February 2012 The proposed changes to the broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) Codes of Good Practice will cause additional complexity for businesses, Grant Thornton verification services MD Wade van Rooyen said on Monday. “This will set companies back as they come to terms with additional... →

Special economic zones to accelerate industrial development – DTI

By: Idéle Esterhuizen 24th February 2012 Special economic zones (SEZs) would go a long way in addressing South Africa’s socio-economic challenges, the department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) head of regional and spatial economic development Alfred Tau said this week. Speaking at a public hearing session held by the DTI on the... →

SA’s coal fleet has 2 GW of CSP-hybrid potential - Alstom

By: Terence Creamer 24th February 2012 South Africa has the potential to augment its existing coal-fired power station fleet with as much as 2 000 MW of hybrid solar thermal capacity, which would immediately lower emissions and create a more cost-effective entry point for concentrated solar power (CSP) solutions, Alstom director for... →

New green ETF for environmentally conscious investors

By: Megan van Wyngaardt 24th February 2012 South African banking firm Nedbank has launched a new green initiative, the BettaBeta Be Green (BGreen) exchange traded fund (ETF), aiming to attract environmentally conscious investors. →

Diesel engine components remanufacturer tackles skills shortage

By: Gia Costella 24th February 2012 A shortage of skilled labourers remains one of the biggest challenges in the automotive industry, Germiston-based Metric Automotive Engineering operations manager Andrew Yorke tells Engineering News. →

Education a click away, online retailer argues

By: Dimakatso Motau 24th February 2012 Digitisation of the South African schooling system could prove beneficial for learners, states online retail giant kalahari.com →

E Cape IT graduates receive open source boost

24th February 2012 Thirty-five unemployed information technology (IT) graduates have boosted their marketability and chances of finding employment after an intensive, week-long open source software workshop organised by information communication technology (ICT) incubator, the Eastern Cape Information Technology... →

SA moves to find consensus on how to tackle tyre-mountain scourge

By: Schalk Burger 24th February 2012 It is common cause that South Africa requires a plan to deal with its growing ‘tyre mountain’ problem, which is growing at a rate of about 200 000 t a year, or one-million waste tyres each month. →

Physical and virtual retail dynamics to be explored at conference

By: Dimakatso Motau 24th February 2012 Multichannel retailing or selling to the public, through a mix of shops, online or catalogue, is a trend that is dominating retailer strategies globally. →

Cips and UP team up on supply chain management

By: Natasha Odendaal 23rd February 2012 The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (Cips) Southern Africa and the University of  Pretoria (UP) have partnered to further professionalise the procurement and supply chain profession, Cips announced on Thursday. The parties signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on... →

Investors want State to deliver before unlocking savings – economist

By: SA News 23rd February 2012 Government needs to prove that it can spend on infrastructure before the private sector will invest in new build projects, Standard Bank chief economist Goolam Balim said on Wednesday. →

Levy on power from nonrenewable sources to increase

By: Natasha Odendaal 22nd February 2012 South Africa would increase the levy on nonrenewable electricity sources by 1c/kWh to 3.5c/kWh, from July 1, 2012, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday. He pointed out, however, that there would be little overall impact on electricity prices. →

Moves under way to tighten procurement as R1.1tr Budget is unveiled

By: Terence Creamer 22nd February 2012 The South African government was moving to tighten its procurement systems, with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan acknowledging on Wednesday that government would not receive full value from its R1.1-trillion 2012 Budget unless material strides were made to improve spending efficiency and to... →

R9.5bn set aside for economic competitiveness package

By: Terence Creamer 22nd February 2012 More details have been provided as to the composition of a six-year, R25-billion economic competitiveness package first unveiled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in October last year. The 2012 Budget sets aside R9.5-billion for the scheme for the three-year period starting on April 1, 2012,... →

Infrastructure allocations could be withdrawn from chronic underperformers

By: Terence Creamer 22nd February 2012 Departments and municipalities that persistently failed to spend, underspent, or misspent their capital expenditure budgets risked losing their allocations, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday. He warned, too, that officials would be held liable for such misdemeanours and that the... →

No fiscal slippage, but growth outlook poor

By: Terence Creamer 22nd February 2012 Despite concerns of so-called ‘fiscal slippage’ as a result of higher expenditure demands, slowing growth and a modest recovery in tax collections following the 2009 recession, South Africa has revised its budget deficit figure lower to 4.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2011/12, from 5.5%... →

Big business unveils ‘beyond advocacy’ plan for SA

By: Terence Creamer 21st February 2012 The new head of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), Thero Setiloane, has laid out his “beyond advocacy” vision for the organisation and its future engagements with government and other social partners, including organised labour. The initial initiatives, which will be rolled out during... →

Eqstra to boost technical education, use air team to attract young to study

By: Keith Campbell 21st February 2012 Industrial and mining group Eqstra is to invest some R36-million in supporting technical education in the country over the next five years. “We’ve adopted ten technical high schools around the country,” reported company CEO Walter Hill on Tuesday. “All these schools have got boarding facilities... →

Engen, Shell agree to pay penalties in bitumen cartel case

By: Idéle Esterhuizen 21st February 2012 The Competition Commission has reached settlement agreements with oil companies Engen Petroleum and Shell South Africa Marketing after they admitted to having fixed the price of bitumen. Engen agreed to pay a penalty of R28.8-million an →

Engineers back govt’s ‘integrity pact’ idea

By: Creamer Media Reporter 20th February 2012 Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) said on Monday that it fully supported a proposal by Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel that companies doing business with government sign an ‘integrity pact’ in which they promised to behave ethically and refrain from anticompetitive practices.... →

Transnet’s new procurement policy to demand transformation spinoffs from R300bn investment

By: Terence Creamer 20th February 2012 The board at State-owned company (SoC) Transnet will complete a wide-ranging review of the group’s procurement policies by the end of March and the new policy, which will have a strong transformation underpinning, will have implications for the procurement approach pursued during the... →

SA seeks to align education strategy with big projects push

By: Natasha Odendaal 17th February 2012 The Department of Higher Education and Training is preparing to move forward on strategies to meet the skills requirements for South Africa’s ambitious infrastructure programme announced last week, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Friday. In his recent State of the Nation... →

Study shows up correlation between school management, matric pass rates

By: Megan van Wyngaardt 17th February 2012 An exercise to measure the link between matric results in KwaZulu-Natal and the introduction of school management programmes in the province shows up a strong correlation between the efficiency of school management and pass rates. Principals Management Development Programme (PMDP) project... →

Poor maths results hamper engineering sector, says recruitment firm

By: Dimakatso Motau 17th February 2012 Less than 105 000 matriculants out of the 496 000 that sat for their final exams in 2011, are able to pursue studies in engineering this year. →

Samsung honours first crop of electronics graduates

By: Dimakatso Motau 17th February 2012 Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy’s first class of matriculants graduated last month, at a ceremony held at the Alberton Civic Centre, in Boksburg, Gauteng. →

SA’s finance professionals more bullish than global peers

By: Dimakatso Motau 17th February 2012 Despite another rollercoaster year, finance professionals in South Africa have shown notable resilience to the ongoing turbulence of the global economy, states the 2011 members’ salary survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). →

BEE a priority for companies, survey finds

By: Dimakatso Motau 17th February 2012 Advisory firm KPMG’s 2011 and sixth yearly Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) survey results have shown a significant improvement in participating companies’ scorecards. →

SA to be hub in ABB’s assault on Africa’s ‘enormous’ power, resources potential

By: Terence Creamer 16th February 2012 Despite challenging market conditions in South Africa, global power and automation technologies group ABB has selected the country as one of two hubs from which it will pursue an even more aggressive assault on the African market, which has been selected as a key future growth jurisdiction – the... →

Lowest earners likeliest to lose jobs

By: Sapa 16th February 2012 Employment has increased among higher-income groups in South Africa, while many of the country's lowest earners have lost their jobs, according to a transformation audit released on Wednesday. →

Online maps to help attract investors to Southern Africa

By: Henry Lazenby 15th February 2012 A project by the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti’s) Regional Spatial Development Initiative (RSDI) would soon provide free online maps to help attract investors to Southern Africa, geographic information system (GIS) consultancy Aspire Solutions said on Wednesday. The RSDI, which was... →

Posco teams up with IFC to pursue African investments

By: Henry Lazenby 15th February 2012 The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and South Korea's Posco, the world's No 3 steelmaker, on Wednesday announced a yearlong memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on business development in sub-Saharan Africa. Under the accord, the two organisations will pursue investment... →

Proudly SA pushes ‘buy local’ campaign on Valentine's Day

By: Natasha Odendaal 14th February 2012 A Proudly South African Buy-Local campaign event on Tuesday, aimed at creating awareness for the support of local goods, products and services, was deemed a success. Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Thandi Tobias-Pokolo joined a number of South African personalities, celebrities and Proudly SA... →

Minister Pandor announces 60 new research chairs

By: Henry Lazenby 14th February 2012 Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor has appointed 60 new research chairs as part of the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), which is aimed at retaining excellence in research and innovation in the South African science system. The new research chairs increased the total... →

Tribunal gives Actom, Savcio deal conditional thumbs up

By: Natasha Odendaal 13th February 2012 The Competition Tribunal on Monday approved, with conditions, a merger between electrical equipment manufacturer Actom and electrical service, repair and import company Savcio. The tribunal supported the Competition Commission’s proposed stipulation that, following the merger, Actom should... →

Control Risks sees no major SA policy changes this year

By: Idéle Esterhuizen 13th February 2012 Major policy changes in South Africa are unlikely this year ahead of the December national conference of the governing African National Congress (ANC) in Mangaung, Control Risks said on Monday. In its latest version of the yearly ‘RiskMap’, it stated that a measured evaluation of government... →

Survey shows trade conditions slowly recovering

By: Natasha Odendaal 13th February 2012 Trade conditions recovered slowly in January, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Monday, when it published its latest trade conditions survey. The monthly survey showed that the nonseasonally adjusted trade activity index (TAI) recovered to 48 in January 2012,... →

SA to strengthen economic ties with Turkey, Saudi Arabia

By: Creamer Media Reporter 13th February 2012 Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies will travel to Turkey this week to cochair the second session of the Turkey – South Africa Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting, which is aimed at promoting trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two countries. The Department of Trade... →

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