1969: Apollo 11 landed on the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon, allowing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to become the first humans to walk on the Moon.

Those with a penchant for moving pieces on a chequered board, take heart, it's International Chess Day.

AIRLINK TO GROUND PMB-CAPE TOWN FLIGHT

The decision by Airlink to suspend the daily return flight from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town in October was met with disappointment in the city. The airline said the route was not profitable, despite efforts to promote the route in conjunction with marketing initiatives by the Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business. The flight, inaugurated in February 2017, had “not developed as we expected it would," said Karin Murray of Airlink. Also playing a part is the current economic climate, the small catchment of Pietermaritzburg, and an apparent inability to win more support from travelers in and around Pinetown, Kloof, Hillcrest, Howick, and the Midlands. PCB CEO Melanie Veness said she was disappointed at the decision and attributed to the relative unaffordability of the flights due to the size of the 37-seat Embraer ERJ135LR aircraft. Veness suggested that a larger aircraft and fewer flights during the week might improve the scale of economy. “A bigger plane would definitely allow flights to be more competitive. I have no doubt that the demand is there,” she said. Customers with queries can call the Airlink Agent Helpline on (011) 451 7350/7337/ 7371/ 7338/ 7395 or at customercare@flyairlink.com.

RESERVE BANK DIALS DOWN GROWTH PROSPECTS

The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) said yesterday that it had slashed South Africa’s GDP growth outlook for this year by 0.5% from 1.7% to 1.2%. Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the domestic economic growth outlook for this year was weaker than previously anticipated in May. The Bank expects the growth rate to accelerate to 1.9% in 2019 and 2% the following year, still a percentage point below the 3% rate that President Cyril Ramaphosa is targeting for the current year, a figure that is also out of line with the Treasury’s predictions. The economy probably grew marginally in Q2 2018, meaning that SA at least avoided slipping to its first recession since the outbreak of the global financial crisis a decade ago. GDP shrank 2.2% in the first three months of 2018. (BDLive)

TRADE WARS WILL PUMMEL SA, SAYS KGANYAGO

Small open economies like South Africa are likely to suffer due to global trade wars, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. When asked what would be the impact of the US-China trade wars on the SA economy, Kganyago compared the actions of the global community following the 2008 global financial crisis to those during the Great Depression in 1929. As a solution to the global financial crisis, the global community decided to restart global trade flows, he explained, in contrast to the 1929 economic crisis, when there was a surge in protectionism which depressed global trade. "What you are going to have now if trade wars materialise and [if] there is a rise of protectionism, is that small open economies will feel the pain immediately. For many small economies, we are hooked into global value chains," said Kganyago. With protectionism, small open economies dependent on exports will no longer be able to sell to major markets. (IOL)

BRICS BANK TO LEND MORE TO SA

The New Development Bank plans to lend as much as US600 million about ZAR8 billion) more in South Africa this year in an effort to level the playing field among its five member states. The lender, backed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, started operations in 2015 to support infrastructure projects and sustainable development initiatives in emerging economies. Leaders of the informal Brics club of nations will be gathering in Johannesburg next week for its 10th summit. The NDB in May announced a US$200 million loan to Transnet, the state-owned ports and freight operator, to rehabilitate container terminals in Durban on the country’s east coast. (IOL)

IT’S HIGH NOON FOR MOYANE AND RAMAPHOSA

The first round in the bout between suspended South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Tom Moyane and President Cyril Ramaphosa kicks off tomorrow. The stage has been set for a bruising tussle in the hearing before disciplinary inquiry chairman Azhar Bham SC. Moyane has objected to the disciplinary inquiry against him being conducted in writing and to former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, now public enterprises minister, deposing an affidavit as a witness in the matter. Moyane has objected to the running of a separate commission of inquiry into governance and administration at SARS in parallel to the disciplinary process, arguing this amounted to "double jeopardy". In return, Ramaphosa labelled Moyane’s objections as "irregular", saying they flew "in the face of sound legal principle". Moyane and Ramaphosa have for months exchanged correspondence over the process, with threats by the former to take the president to court at almost every step. Tomorrow marks the first open confrontation between attorneys representing the pair. (BDLive)

DODGY DEALS AT PUBLIC WORKS ON AGENDA

The government is gunning for several landlords, construction companies and its employees involved in stealing billions of rands through inflated leases and dodgy building projects, including renovating the parliamentary precinct. The projects were sanctioned by the national Department of Public Works, and preliminary estimates show that at least ZAR3 billion may have been looted through ghost leases, inflated rentals, fraudulent tax clearance certificates, and landlords claiming value-added tax (VAT) when they’re not supposed to. Yesterday, public works minister Thulas Nxesi said announced that he had asked president Cyril Ramaphosa to authorise a probe into 16 000 dodgy transactions worth ZAR2 billon for day-to-day emergency maintenance of his department’s clients. (IOL)

SARS SETS SIGHTS ON WIESE

Sars filed a legal claim against billionaire Christo Wiese and former executives at law firm ENSafrica for more than ZAR217 million in unpaid taxes, court documents show. The papers filed in the Western Cape High Court is part of a wider ZAR3.7 billion claim by the South African Revenue Service, according to a report in the Financial Mail published yesterday. ENSafrica created a tax structure to help pan-African crude-oil explorer Tullow Oil shift assets valued at ZAR3.9 billion out of the country, dodging taxes in the process, the magazine said. The story was written by journalists at the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism. Wiese and the three ENSafrica representatives should pay the R217 million personally, according to the court documents. (Bloomberg)

MTN’S VAN COLLER OFF TO EOH

MTN’s Stephen van Coller will join EOH as its new group CEO, effective from September 1. He resigned as a vice president at MTN Group yesterday after two years with the mobile telecommunications provider. Van Coller’s appointment follows the announcement last month that EOH would be split into two operating companies, namely EOH and Nextec. Zunaid Mayet, who had served as EOH’s group CEO, has resigned to take the reins at Nextec, while Rob Godlonton will lead the new EOH subsidiary. Van Coller, who is an accountant by training, was head of Absa’s Corporate and Investment Bank before joining MTN in 2016. Before that, he spent almost a decade at Deutsche Bank, heading its global banking business in South Africa. (Moneyweb)

EMIRA LEADS WAY IN LOW CARBON TARGETING

Emira Property Fund has become the first African and South African company to have a greenhouse gas emissions target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The initiative is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) which mobilises companies to set science-based targets and boost their competitive advantage in the transition to the low-carbon economy. Emira has committed to reduce by 13% absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2022, from a 2015 base year. Ten other South African companies, namely Exxaro, Growthpoint, Mediclinic, Netcare, Pick ‘n Pay, SPAR, Tiger Brands, Tongaat, Virgin Active SA and Woolworths have committed to the international effort to limit global temperature rise with the SBTi, but have yet to have their emissions targets validated. (ANA)

APPLE TAKES GREEN FIGHT TO CHINA

Apple, who is expanding its environmental efforts, announced a US$300 million (about ZAR4 billion) fund to promote clean energy in China. The iPhone maker said it's creating the fund to boost the use of renewable energy in its supply chain, which is primarily spread across regions in China. The company and 10 of its key suppliers and manufacturing partners, will contribute to the fund over the next four years, the company said yesterday. The money will go toward developing projects totaling a gigawatt of renewable energy in China, Apple said. (Bloomberg)

HIGH-END WATCHES BACK IN VOGUE

Swiss watch exports had their strongest first half in six years as demand for high-end timepieces rose in Asia and the US. Shipments rose 11% to 10.5 billion francs (about ZAR142 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement on Thursday. That’s also the first time they breached the 10 billion-franc mark since 2015. (Bloomberg)

Protection afforded to spouses married in terms of Islamic law

On Friday 29 June 2018, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment concerning section 2C(1) of the Wills Act, and declared it constitutionally invalid.

In this case, the deceased married his first wife in 1957 in terms of Islamic law. He thereafter married his second wife in 1964, also in terms of Islamic law. The deceased formalised his marriage to his first wife in 1982. This was done with the consent of his second wife.
 

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