Another Transnet tender blunder, and R8.5 billion loan for Eskom cancelled

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

• Transnet’s massive accounting hurdle: Transnet allegedly ignored two warnings about Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services Incorporated (ICTSI) inaccurately using market capitalisation to meet solvency criteria for a 25-year development and management contract of Durban Pier 2 Terminal (DCT2), Transnet’s largest facility. The dispute over ICTSI’s solvency will be examined in court next week as APM Terminals seeks to challenge the contract. Experts and internal audits indicated that ICTSI’s method did not meet tender requirements. [Business Day]

• South Africa’s cancelled R8.5 billion loan: The New Development Bank cancelled a $480 million (R8.5 billion) loan aimed at reducing Eskom’s environmental impact at Medupi, citing standard procedures for projects not initiated. Alongside this, the bank approved loans totalling R23 billion for improving water and sanitation and assisting Transnet in South Africa. At its ninth annual meeting, it was revealed that the bank’s South African portfolio amounts to $6.8 billion, with global investment in 140 projects totalling $33.8 billion (~R600 billion). [News24]

• 2017/18 listeriosis outbreak comes back to haunt Tiger Brands: The legal team for a class action lawsuit, which includes more than 1,000 individuals affected by the 2017/18 listeriosis outbreak, claims that recent ‘breakthrough’ evidence conclusively links the entire outbreak to Tiger Brands, the food producer. The primary mode of transmission for the listeriosis was through contaminated polony. [Daily Maverick] 

• GP Health Department dismisses claims hospitals are shoddy: The Gauteng Department of Health has dismissed claims that its hospitals are in a poor state after a complaint about patients being treated like cockroaches at the Helen Joseph Hospital. Former broadcaster Tom London, who was admitted there, detailed his experience at the facility in a video that has been widely circulated online. The department’s spokesperson has hit back at claims that the hospital has not improved. “Helen Joseph and other facilities are part of the maintenance programme that we are currently rolling out,” he said. [EWN]

• Markets: The rand was stable on Friday as markets looked to U.S. jobs data for hints on the depth of an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this month. On Monday (9 September), the rand was trading at R17.84 to the dollar, R23.47 to the pound, and R19.76 to the euro. Oil is trading at $71.95 a barrel. [Reuters]