1990: Lithuania becomes the first Soviet republic to declare its independence, setting the stage for the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Feel like a nap? Go ahead, on Napping Day, and should your boss wake you, remind him or her that according to a NASA study, short naps may increase performance by 34% and alertness by 54%.

TRANSNET UPS THE ANTE IN WEEDING OUT LOOTERS

Transnet suspended four executive committee members with immediate effect on Friday, including the state-owned entity’s (SOE) group COO, Mlamuli Buthelezi. The other three executives are group HR officer Nonkululeko Sishi; CEO of Transnet Freight Rail, Ravi Nair; and Shulami Qalinge, the CEO of the Transnet National Ports Authority. Transnet and other SOEs were used for looting as part of state capture. Since the new board was appointed in 2018, under the leadership of Popo Molefe, it has been moving to clean up the entity and take action against those implicated in maladministration and malfeasance at the state-owned freight and rail company. Transnet said the four executives’ continued presence in the workplace had the potential to jeopardise investigations into their alleged misconduct. He did not say what charges they were facing. The four have been placed on suspension with full pay and benefits. (BDLive)

SWISS COMPANY BLOWS LID ON KOKO’S KUSILE DEAL

Former acting Eskom CEO Matshela Koko has been accused of promising a Swiss-based engineering giant R6.5 billion in future contracts if it subcontracted work on Kusile power station to Impulse International, a company partially owned by his stepdaughter, Koketso Choma. According to a report by the Sunday Times, the global firm has blown the whistle in reports provided to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), giving details on its dealings with Koko and Impulse. Multi-national electrical engineering firm Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) was awarded a R2.2 billion control and instrumentation contract for Kusile in 2015, and subsequently awarded Impulse R800 million in work – despite the fact that Impulse failed ABB's tests for subcontractor appointments twice and did not qualify to do the work, the newspaper said. (Fin24)

EFF DRIVING POLITICAL AGENDA, SAYS GORDHAN

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan is fighting a bid by axed SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane to cross-examine him at the Zondo state capture inquiry, on the basis, among other things, that Moyane is being used to advance the EFF’s political campaign against him. Gordhan is believed to have raised the fact that Moyane is being represented by advocate Dali Mpofu, a senior office-bearer in the EFF, to make his case that Moyane’s efforts to cross-examine him are being driven by political, rather than legal, considerations. (BDLive)

ALARM BELLS RINGING AT TONGAAT HULETT

Troubled sugar and property group Tongaat Hulett issued a preservation order to its stafF, instructing them that they are required to provide their full co-operation to PwC, which has been appointed to assist with a comprehensive review of the group’s previously stated financial accounts. The order was issued at about the same time the group released a Stock Exchange News Service statement informing shareholders that a strategic and financial review, which continues, has revealed "certain practices" that might require remedial action, and that PwC has been appointed to help with a "comprehensive review". By the close of business on Friday, Tongaat’s share price had plunged more than a third to a record low of R22. The preservation order, signed by recently appointed CEO Gavin Hudson, directed staff to meet the PwC team and respond to all questions and provide all data requested, including e-mails. "We also require all staff to preserve all Tongaat-related information, data and documentation and not to delete or destroy the said documents and data," Hudson said. (BDLive)

DEBT CONCERNS DRIVE DOWN ASPEN STOCK

Shares in Aspen Pharmacare plunged as much as 50% to R70 on Friday — the worst level in nearly nine years — after the drug maker’s interim results disappointed the market. The company's market capitalisation has now halved to R32 billion. Aspen said normalised headline earnings in the six months ended December fell 9% to R3.6 billion as revenues edged 1% higher to R19.7 billion. Of more concern to investors is that borrowings, net of cash, increased by R6.7 billion to R53.5 billion. The increase was due to the weaker Rand — its debts are largely in euros, deferred payments relating to acquisitions of R4.9 billion and capital expenditure of R1.5 billion. (BDLive)

AYO AND PIC ON OPPOSING SIDES OF SAME FIGHT

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Ayo Technologies have both turned to the courts to set aside the compliance notice from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) to recover the R4.3 billion invested in Ayo Technologies. But it appears that the applications are for different reasons; the PIC is arguing the 14-day deadline is too short for the recovery, while Ayo is opposing the order, but in the guise of collaborating with the PIC. Yesterday, the PIC issued a press statement in response to what it said were “misleading articles” published in various titles of Independent Media. “The titles and contents of the articles are couched in a manner that suggests that the PIC is collaborating with Ayo Technology in opposing the Compliance Notice issued by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission against the PIC directors, directing them to recover funds invested in Ayo,” the statement says. (BDLive)

FAIRNESS TO BE THE NEW LEGAL YARDSTICK

The champions of a draft bill aimed at policing conduct of insurance companies say only decisions that will be legal in future are those that will be fair to both consumers and financial institutions. The Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill was published by the National Treasury for comment in December. “Historically the sector looked at what is legal as opposed to what is fair. What this bill seeks to do is to say: your legality now relies on whether your decision was fair. Even if they are right in terms of contract laws, financial institutions now have to ask themselves if the contract itself [is] fair,” said the Treasury’s Katherine Gibson. The bill is part of the Twin Peaks architecture established by the Financial Sector Regulation Act that became law in 2017. The act proposed two regulatory houses: the regulator-facing Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) which would monitor conduct of all financial institutions that face customers. (BDLive)

PRUDENT MANAGEMENT PAYS OFF FOR MMI

MMI became the first long-term insurer to report an increase in net profit this year, thanks to a conservative approach that  involves investing company reserves mostly in bonds and cash. However, strong cost containment and improved productivity in the sales force also helped the country’s third-largest life insurer to post a 2% increase in net profit to R1.6 billion in the six months to December 2018. Other long-term insurers’ full-year results for 2018 were negatively affected by equity market losses. The JSE gave up 11% in 2018, its worst performance since the 2008 financial crisis. MMI increased sales volumes 19% to R28.8 billion while the value of new business grew 12% to R355 million. The insurer’s biggest division, Momentum Life, was the stellar performer, growing net profit 35% to R462 million in the six-month period. (BDLive)

MAY’S BREXIT DEAL GOING NOWHERE FAST

Brexit could be reversed if legislators reject the government's exit deal, British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt says after two major eurosceptic factions in parliament warned that prime minister Theresa May was facing a heavy defeat. Just 19 days before the UK is due to leave the EU on March 29, May is scrambling — so far unsuccessfully — to secure last-minute changes to an EU exit treaty before parliament votes tomorrow on whether to approve the deal. If she fails, MPs are expected to force May to seek a delay to Brexit which some fear could see the 2016 decision to leave the bloc reversed. Others argue that without a delay Britain faces an economic shock if it leaves without a deal (Reuters)

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