Latest News

SA, China sign science, technology deal

14th March 2003 South Africa and China signed an agreement on future scientific and technological collaboration at a ceremony in Pretoria this week. →

Maize market rises on dryness fears

14th March 2003 South Africa's maize futures market rose this week, extending gains made since last week when fears that good weather might desert the crop at the last minute brought an end to a steep slide in prices. →

Jasco announces empowerment transformation

14th March 2003 Telecommunication, security and manufacturing firm Jasco Electronics Holdings yesterday announced that it has become the first black majority controlled public company in the electronic and electrical equipment sector on the JSE Securities Exchange SA. →

Limpopo sets aside R30 million for BEE

14th March 2003 Limpopo government has set aside about R30-million to focus on the black economic empowerment (BEE) sector. →

R20m gold-chain factory opens

By: Martin Creamer 13th March 2003 A milestone in South Africa’s precious metals beneficiation progress was reached yesterday with the opening of a R20-million gold-rope chain production facility in the Free State Province. →

Big jewellery export drive launched

13th March 2003 South African jewellery manufacturers, with the assistance and participation of Trade and Investment South Africa (Tisa), yesterday launched a jewellery Joint Action Group (JAG) to promote the export of South African jewellery. →

Spare Opec capacity squeezed – energy agency

13th March 2003 Spare Opec oil production capacity has been squeezed to just half the volume of Iraq's exports, exposing world markets as war looms, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday. →

Jacob Modise joins the Altron board

13th March 2003 Electrical engineering and electronics holding company Altron Group announced this week the appointment of Jacob Modise as an independent non-executive director to the Altron board, effective from March. →

R62m for SA-Lesotho transfrontier park

13th March 2003 The World Bank has committed about R62-million towards the creation of a massive transfrontier conservation and development programme that will encompass areas in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Free State and Lesotho. →

Lockerbie deal may see re-entry of US firms into Libya

13th March 2003 US oil companies could be one step closer to restarting their long-mothballed operations in Libya, after the energy-rich nation reportedly reached an agreement with Washington and London this week to accept responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. →

Food aid for 245 000 poor households

13th March 2003 South Africa is rolling out a hunger relief package to feed a quarter of a million of its poorest households, to counter high food prices and to also help them grow their own supplies, officials said yesterday. →

Limited impact on SA from Alstom shake-up

13th March 2003 The independently-managed South African arm of French multinational Alstom says it will not be materially affected by the decision announced yesterday to sell its transmission and distribution (T&D) division. →

KZN chemicals firm given clean-up ultimatum

13th March 2003 The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, yesterday handed over a National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998, Section 28) directive to Livingston Leandy Attorneys in Durban, who have been appointed by Guernica Chemicals (previously Thor Chemicals)... →

Eskom tariff decision ‘unfortunate’ – govt

13th March 2003 The South African Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) expressed dismay today over a proposal by electricity parastatal Eskom to increase its rates by more than inflation. →

New R65m steel-beneficiation plant for Saldanha

By: Terence Creamer 12th March 2003 The steel division of construction and steel company Aveng will begin construction of a R65-million steel-beneficiation plant downstream of Saldanha Steel and Duferco at Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape within the next month. →

SA motor sector in top gear

12th March 2003 South Africans love luxury German cars, but despite their hunger for them, most of the massed ranks of shining new saloons rolling out of BMW's plant in Rosslyn are destined for foreign shores. →

Opec seeks to prevent energy shortage in war

12th March 2003 The Opec cartel prepared yesterday to reassure anxious world energy markets that it could prevent an oil shortage during any war on Iraq. →

European power plants show interest in olive waste

12th March 2003 European power stations are showing increased interest in burning olive waste, with Greece and Tunisia grabbing a large slice of the green power business, an Italian olive oil industry official said yesterday. →

Strong rand knocks Trencor’s earnings

12th March 2003 Trading income from Trencor Limited’s mainly core dollar-denominated operations showed an improving trend to R563-million for the year to December 31, compared to trading income for the 18 months to the end of 2001 of R616-million. →

Energy Africa buys into E Guinea block

12th March 2003 South African-based oil and gas exploration and production group, Energy Africa Limited, has announced that a farmout agreement has been signed with Chevron Equatorial Guinea – affiliate of ChevronTexaco – to acquire a 20% interest in Block L, Equatorial Guinea. →

Manufacturing central to Telkom BEE drive

12th March 2003 South African telecommunications company Telkom said it would be paying special attention to the construction, manufacturing, assembly and IT sectors in its black economic empowerment (BEE) initiatives this year, as it moves towards delivering quality service to its customers. →

Eskom to spend R50bn on upgrade of power stations

By: Martin Zhuwakinyu 11th March 2003 Electricity group Eskom Holdings is to spend about R50-billion on capital projects over the next five years, largely on the replacement of its power stations. →

New R870m comonomer project for petrochem giant

By: Martin Czernowalow 11th March 2003 South African petrochemicals giant Sasol is in the process of spending R870-million on another comonomer project, Engineering News Online can today exclusively report. →

Construction group’s revenue rises by 18%

11th March 2003 Construction-related group Aveng Limited reported strong interim results yesterday for the six months to December 2002. →

Power group to maintain BEE procurement policy

By: Martin Zhuwakinyu 11th March 2003 Power group Eskom Holdings will this year maintain purchases of goods and services from black economic-empowerment (BEE) companies and small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) above R5-billion. →

Tanzania to produce natural gas by May 2004

11th March 2003 Tanzania could produce natural gas to be used to produce electricity by May 2004, becoming the first country in the East Africa region to do so, officials of companies undertaking a gas project said. →

Foreign currency allocation brings down Zim’s electricity debt

By: Martin Zhuwakinyu 11th March 2003 Although Zimbabwe’s electricity utility still owes Eskoms Holdings huge sums for electricity imports, it has started whittling down the arrears that have accumulated over recent years, thanks to increased foreign currency allocations by the government. →

Steel sector recovery remains fragile

By: Terence Creamer 10th March 2003 It is remarkable what a period of just one year can have on the fortunes of a cyclical commodity such as steel. At the beginning of last year, steel prices were languishing at between $150/t and $170/t; lows previously witnessed three decades earlier, and well below the cost of production of... →

Metals summit likely to have a job focus

By: Terence Creamer 10th March 2003 The long-awaited metals-sector summit is likely to take place in the second half of this year, with preparations beginning to pick up pace following some initial delays. →

Kenya plans to privatise power utility

10th March 2003 Kenya's Energy Minister said last week he would lay off hundreds of staff at the loss-making utility Kenya Power and Lighting (KPLC) to reduce tariffs, and privatise the firm within two years. →

Private equity fund for ‘missing middle’ launched

10th March 2003 A recent Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) survey of the venture capital market in South Africa, shows that although micro-finance is widely available in South Africa, very few financiers service the SME segment, which typically requires financing in the R100 000 to R5-million range. →

Gem miner builds R4,2m sports complex

10th March 2003 The first sod has been turned to mark the construction of a R4,2-million indoor sports centre at Cullinan, just north of Pretoria. →

WTO could admit Algeria in early 2004

10th March 2003 Algeria may be able to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in the first half of 2004 as it has requested, a top WTO official said Saturday according to news reports. →

SFF recovers $2,9m from irregular contract

10th March 2003 The Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) has successfully recovered US2,9-million paid to a company in terms of an "irregular" contract for the sale of the SFF's strategic stock, Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Monday. →

Peer review praises SA’s competition authorities

By: Martin Czernowalow 7th March 2003 South Africa’s competition authorities were found to be ‘notably competent and serious’ during an evaluation by a global peer review panel, a conference, hosted by the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal in Johannesburg, heard yesterday. →

SA business confidence declines slightly in Feb – Sacob

By: Martin Czernowalow 7th March 2003 The South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) said yesterday its business confidence index (BCI) for February was lower than in January, dropping from 105,7 to 105,2. →

SAA raises $260m for Airbus deal

7th March 2003 State-owned South African Airways (SAA) said yesterday it had raised $260-million from financial institutions to fund the acquisition of three of the 41 new Airbus aircraft ordered last year. →

Quantity surveyors criticise engineering firms

7th March 2003 Engineering firms compiling bills of quantities for public service contracts have been rapped over the knuckles by Des Linder, president of the Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS), for undertaking work they were not trained or qualified to perform. →