1994: Germany makes Holocaust denial illegal when the Federal Constitutional Court ruled against a far-right party that sought legitimation of its view that the Nazis' genocide of six million Jews never occurred. 
Today is also Richter Scale Day in honour of the device that measures the strength of an earthquake.

SAFTU FLEXES ITS MUSCLE

The first public showing by the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) may not push the government into scrapping any labour laws, but it has demonstrated that the year-old organisation enjoys significant support. Hundreds of bus drivers holding out in a wage negotiations impasse may have bolstered the strike. Yesterday, major cities across the country were transformed into a sea of red that resembled marches by Cosatu in its glory days. Thousands of workers from different sectors, the majority of whom were members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), Saftu’s biggest affiliate, joined in the mass action against the newly enacted national minimum wage rate of ZAR20 an hour. They are demanding ZAR12 500 per month. (BDLive)

POLITICAL CHANGES SPARK ALL-TIME HIGH CONSUMER SENTIMENT

Consumer confidence in South Africa touched an all-time high in Q1 2018, as positive political and economic developments made consumers much more willing to spend. The consumer confidence index, sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, improved to +26 from -8 in Q4 2017. Consumer confidence surged across all income and population groups in the period, the survey showed. South African retail sales rose 4.9% year-on-year in February after increasing by a revised 3.3% in January, data from the statistics office showed on yesterday. (Moneyweb)

… AS RECORD FUEL PRICES LURK

There is a strong likelihood of a fuel price hike to record levels in May, the Automobile Association (AA) said yesterday. It believes this is because the Rand is currently weakening against the US Dollar and international petroleum prices are also rising. The AA said the increase in toll fees across South Africa by between 6% and 7% signals yet another financial blow to already cash-strapped South Africans. It said the increases come at a time when fuel is touching on record high levels, in part because of the hefty increases to indirect taxes added to fuel prices at the beginning of the month. At the beginning of April fuel levies increased by 52 cents a litre and value-added tax (VAT) went up by one percentage point to 15%. (Fin24)

VULNERABLE SOES HOLD CREDIT RATINGS TO RANSOM

The Reserve Bank has warned that the rising contingent liabilities of state-owned entities (SOEs) remain a concern and could lead to further credit ratings downgrades. Since last year the bank has revised SA’s growth outlook upwards from 1.4% to 1.7%, while confidence has improved. At the end of March, Moody’s affirmed the country’s sovereign credit rating at investment grade with a stable outlook. However, although fiscal consolidation and debt stabilisation measures announced in the February budget were well received by credit ratings agencies, SA still has a vulnerable domestic fiscal position. This is according to the first edition of the Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Review published yesterday. Of particular concern are the rising contingent liabilities of the government to SOEs such as Eskom and the Road Accident Fund (RAF). Eskom got government guarantees of ZAR220.8 billion in 2017-18, while the RAF got guarantees for ZAR189.2 billion. (BDLive(

TOUGH MARKET SHATTERS CONSUL’S IPO

Glass packaging manufacturer Consol Holdings Limited announced yesterday that it was pulling its proposed relisting on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The glass giant had hoped to list on the JSE on May 4. It was set to release the results of its initial share offer on April 30. In its pre-listing statement, it said it was hoping the private placement of 761 million ordinary shares would raise ZAR3.5 billion. "In light of challenging market conditions, the board of directors and shareholders of Consol have resolved that the prevailing environment is not conducive to the offer achieving their valuation objectives and that it would not be in the best interests of the company to proceed with the offer at the current time," it said in a note to investors. Consul did not say whether it would again consider listing on the local bourse if market conditions improved. (Fin24)

DEADLINE FOR JOOSTE TO SELL HIS ASSETS

Steinhoff International Holdings’ former CEO Markus Jooste has been thrown a lifeline by banks as the global retailer he oversaw for 18 years struggles to survive an accounting scandal that happened under his watch. His personal investment company Mayfair Holdings owes Sanlam’s capital markets arm, Investec and Absa, a banking unit of Barclays Africa Group, a combined ZAR959 million backed by Steinhoff stock, according to an agreement between Mayfair and its creditors. After Steinhoff shares crashed when the company reported a hole in its accounts in December, Mayfair defaulted on the loans as it wasn’t able to immediately repay them. That gave the banks an option to liquidate the company or come up with a break-up proposal to release capital. The lenders agreed that the latter would realise more value, and have given Mayfair until the end of this year to sell as much as ZAR2.08 billion in assets ranging from real estate to racehorses to repay almost ZAR1.6 billion of loans to the banks and other creditors. (BDLive)

LISTERIA HYSTERIA SLAUGHTERS PORK PRICES

South Africa’s pork industry took a heavy blow as the listeria scare sent prices tumbling and created a supply glut that the industry is still struggling to recover from. Senior agricultural economist at FNB’s agri-business, Paul Makube says the loss to the value chain could exceed ZAR1 billion. Pork prices fell by almost 30% to 40% as prices dropped from ZAR30 to ZAR23 in a matter of months at Country Meats in South Africa, according to Sernick Group CEO Carel Serfontein. The listeriosis scare impacted the sales of pork in particular, since fewer pork products were being produced by cold meat producers, he says. When news of the listeria outbreak surfaced in early March, the minister of health called for all processed meat products, including polony and cold meats to be taken off retailers’ shelves as a precautionary measure, which caused an unexpected dent in the pork industry. (Moneyweb)

COURT PAVES WAY FOR TRANSNET PENSIONERS TO GET THEIR DUE

Thousands of Transnet pensioners scored a major victory yesterday when the Constitutional Court gave them the go-ahead to recover billions of Rands from the freight, rail and logistics giant as well as the Transnet Second Defined Pension Fund and the Transport Pension Fund. The court gave Transnet and the pension funds 20 days to respond to the claim, which is estimated at ZAR80 billion. The ruling brought to an end an ongoing legal wrangle between Transnet, the two pension funds and the approximately 60 000 former workers who took the company to court in 2013 over pension pay-outs. (IOL)

STANDARD BANK CHIPS AWAY AT FOREX CASE RECORDS

The Competition Appeal Court (CAC) heard arguments on an appeal by Standard Bank to a decision by the Competition Tribunal that the bank is not yet entitled to have access to the commission's investigation record in a case in which 18 banks are respondents.The matter relates to the so-called forex case in which the 18 banks are accused of being involved in global price-fixing and market division in terms of currency trading - including the Rand. The tribunal agreed with the commission's argument that the bank was not allowed to gain access to the record of investigation via this route, as it was a litigant in the matter and should wait until the discovery phase during the pre-trial proceedings - in other words until after the close of pleading. (Fin24)

NAVARA TO ROLL OF NISSAN’S SA PLANT

Japanese motor company Nissan will manufacture the upmarket Navara pick-up in SA from 2020, sources in the company say. The South African subsidiary would continue, they said, to build its two existing products, the NP300 one-ton bakkie popularly known as Hardbody, and the NP200 small bakkie. It has been an open secret for years that Navara is the preferred product for Rosslyn, which builds only bakkies. The double-cab Navara, which is imported, competes against top-end versions of the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger, which are produced in SA and therefore available in bigger volumes. (BDLive)

BRITISH PRODUCTIVITY PLUMMETS TO NEW LOWS

Britons were only beginning to use steam engines, canals and factories the last time the UK experienced such a poor decade of productivity. Total factor productivity since 2007 was the worst since the late eighteenth century, around the time of the industrial revolution, according to a Bank of England (BoE) blog post yesterday.Average productivity growth was negative for the first time in almost a century, BoE researcher John Lewis said. Output per worker in the UK has failed to recover its pre-crisis trend, eating into the economy’s potential growth rate. Possible explanations include the UK’s current reliance on services, which lag manufacturing in terms of efficiency growth, “zombie” firms that have been kept alive by loose monetary policy, and limits in the flow of people between companies. Some economists say Brexit could exacerbate the problem, since reducing trade with the European Union risks curbing productivity-enhancing innovation and investment. (Fin24)

TRADE, INVESTMENT PROMOTION & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 

Starts: 24th May 2018

The Trade, Investment Promotion and Economic Development Programme (TIPED) is designed to provide a seamless pipeline to build South Africa’s capacity to lead and manage strategic and sustainable investment, both inwards to the country and in building the country’s export capacity to global markets, in line with the strategic goals and objectives of key stakeholders. The stated strategic plans, included in the National Development Plan, provide a useful benchmark against which to assess progress being made.

Delegates will be engaged and supported by academic practitioners, experts and thought leaders, both local and international. Where feasible, real time case studies and business examples will be reviewed and analysed with the actual investors and stakeholders, to assess the value, risk and long term benefits of investment initiatives.

Duration:

Option 1: Core Programme
Six days (3 modules – 1 per month)

Option 2: Advanced Programme
Four days (2 modules – 1 per month)

Contact:

For more information please contact Hameeda Cassim 
T: +27 31 260 4913 
E: cassimh@ukzn.ac.za