Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·14 Oct 2022

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

• PetroSA CEO’s golden handshake: PetroSA’s CEO, Pragasen Naidoo, has been paid millions to go away. The troubled state-owned oil company revealed it had made a loss of R1 billion in the financial year 2021/2022 during a parliamentary meeting with the committee on mineral resources and energy. PetroSA Chairperson Nkululeko Poya confirmed that there was an agreement reached between the board and Naidoo, and that agreement did come with costs. Naidoo’s annual salary was in the region of R5.4 million. [News24]

• JMPD fed up: Several senior Johannesburg metropolitan police department (JMPD) officers say they are “fed up” with newly employed junior officers earning higher hourly rates than them. A senior officer said that long-standing officers earn R151 per hour while newer recruits earn up to R170 per hour. The officer added that this might not be much, but it equates to R29,000 compared to R32,000 per month. The City of Johannesburg says the pay disparity dispute will be settled by October 21. [TimesLIVE]

• Transnet digs its heels in: Transnet CEO Portia Derby said that the company could not afford to yield to worker demands, potentially setting the stage for a protracted standoff with labour unions. She added that it is not sustainable to have about 66% of your operating cost being labour costs. The unions have rejected Transnet’s latest offer of 5.3%, as the strike continues to cost the South African economy billions daily. [BusinessLIVE]

• Bain & Co. wants ban removed: Bain has appealed to the National Treasury to revoke the decade-long ban, saying its own investigation found no evidence of fraud or corruption on its part. South Africa banned the consultancy firm from public contracts for a decade after it emerged that the firm was key in weakening South Africa’s revenue collector SARS. The company has also been banned from the UK for a period of three years for the same offence. [EWN]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand weakened in early trade on Thursday (13 October) as traders braced for U.S. consumer price inflation. The Top-40 and the broader all-share indexes dropped around 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. The rand is currently trading at R18.19/$, R17.79/€ and R20.59/£. Brent crude is trading at $94.61 a barrel. [Nasdaq]