MONDAY, 11.00PM:
POSTS and Telecommunications Minister Jay Naidoo said on Monday that the Post Office’s restructuring exercise has resulted in a business plan that will see it break even in the 2000/2001 financial year.
The service’s anticipated total loss during the current financial year is R507-million, while last year it was R702-million and the previous year R536-million, he said in a written reply to a question from Louis Swanepoel (NP) in the National Council of Provinces.
The service’s annual operating loss is subsidised by the state, Naidoo added.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
CLINTON PLANS AFRICA TRADE TRIP
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton plans his first visit to Africa next year to promote a US-Africa trade and investment initiative. The Africa Trade Bill, to reach Congress by April, calls for a new US trade and investment policy for sub-Saharan Africa and an office responsible for promoting the region. Clinton’s trip, in the first quarter of the year, will include Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana and Mauritius — but not South Africa or Zimbabwe.
ELECTRIFICATION GATHERS PACE
ESKOM connected 307 047 households to the electricity grid last year, Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau told Parliament on Monday. Meanwhile, Minerals and Energy Minister Penuell Maduna said 55% of homes in the country have been electrified. Detailing his ministry’s work over the past three years, Maduna said electrification had mainly been concentrated in urban areas, but that rural areas are beginning to be electrified. He said government is working towards providing rural communities with the barest minimum supply of electricity to meet the basic needs. “We have electrified rural schools and clinics.”
DEELKRAAL TO LAY OFF 1 900
FOLLOWING the rebundling of Deelkraal mine’s assets with the contiguous Elandsrand mine, Deelkraal management is to go ahead with retrenching 1 900 mineworkers. National Union of Mineworkers regional spokesman Francis Baleni said at the weekend the union opposes the whoesale extension to Deelkraal of a recently negotiated retrenchment agreement at Western Deep Levels. He said it is unlikely that affected workers will accept the offer.
HIGHLANDS WATER LOAN
THE Trans-Caledonian Tunnel Authority, which operates the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, has signed a loan agreement for R305-million with the Development Bank of Southern Africa. The 20-year loan will help finance Phase 1A of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, expected to be completed in early 1998. The DBSA will finance 7,9% of the total estimated cost of R3,9-billion. The loan is subject to a floating interest rate linked to the bankers’ acceptance rate, but holds an option for a fixed interest rate.
LOCAL FIRM BUYS US BROKER
BARNARD Jacobs Mellett Holdings, SA’s biggest independent stockbroker has bought out US independent broker-dealer Rand International Securities in its entirety for an undisclosed amount.
PERSETEL BUYS INTO SWISS CO
INFORMATION technology giant Persetel Q Data Holdings has acquired a controlling stake in Swiss network and data communications firm Datalec. Persetel’s purchase of 90% of Datalec will be financed from cash reserves, payable in three tranches and dependent on Datalec’s profitability in the next two years.
PORTNET STRIKE THREAT
THE Maritime Industries Trade Union of South Africa (Mitusa) has served notice on Portnet of its intention to embark on a strike over what it called “major disputes which remain unresolved”. But Portnet on Monday rejected the notification, calling it “invalid” because it did not specify the place and time of such action. A strike by the union’s members — who include tug boat, pilot vessel and dredger officers and crews, as well as berthing staff, marine pilots and port control officers — could effectively paralyse the movement of shipping in South Africa’s seven major commercial ports.