TUESDAY, 10.00AM:
A SOUTH African delegation will meet European Union representatives at EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday in a bid to head off threats to local ostrich meat exports to the European market.
The delegation, led by Land and Agriculture Minister Derek Hanekom and including several government veterinarians, will try to persuade veterinary authorities from several EU member states that SA ostrich meat poses no health and hygiene risks to European consumers.Local ostrich meat exports might be threatened by EU plans to harmonise health import regulations among members.
SA’s ostrich industry faced a crisis last year when the tick-borne hemhorragic illness Congo Fever broke out at an Oudtshoorn ostrich abattoir, leading to the death of an abattoir worker and a three-month ban on SA ostrich meat exports to Europe.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
UNIT TRUST BILL RELEASED DRAFT legislation that will empower the finance minister to prescribe the kind of information that must be furnished annually by unit trust management companies to their registrar and unitholders was published on Tuesday. According to a memorandum attached to the Unit Trusts Control Amendment Bill, the measure will also: Deregulate the amount, and method of computation, of charges levied by a unit trust scheme on a purchaser or holder of units in a portfolio; and empower a trustee to appoint a representative to perform specific functions when it is impracticable for the trustee to do so.
FIRES HIT ECONOMY NEARLY 300 people died and the South African economy lost a record R918,4-million to fires during the course of 1996, according to the Fire Protection Association of Southern Africa. The 1996 figure is R100-million more than 1995’s R814-million, and even well above the 1994 record of R896-million. The loss equates to 0,17% of SA’s gross national product, despite the actual number of fires having dropped from 43 000 in 1995 to 33 650 in 1996, the lowest on record since 1987. The largest single known cause of fires during 1996 was due to electrical faults, costing R94,5-million, followed by arson (R53,5-million), cooking (R52,8-million) and smoking (R11,8-million).
TOURISM IS UP MORE people from overseas are visiting South Africa this year, but there’s been a decline in tourists from mainland Africa. The Central Statistical Services released a report on Monday comparing the numbers of tourists to the country in August 1997 to August 1996. The report shows that while the majority of visitors (71,5%) are still from Africa, there’s been a 6% decline from last year’s statistic. Similarly, the number of overseas visitors has increased by 12,8%. The report also contains August’s immigration and emigration figures.
CSS report
DIRECTORS OF DISGRACED BANK VANISH
A WEEK after his bank was closed down amid controversy, the CEO of Credit Africa Bank, Zahid Nizam, his wife and the bank’s finance director Mahmuda Hossain have quietly left Zambia.
Credit Africa Bank was closed last week by the bank of Zambia “to safeguard the interests of depositors”. A week earlier, narcotics investigators questioned both Nizam and Hossain about money laundering and “procedural banking activities”.
Bank officials insist that Nizam has gone to England to consult a heart specialist, and that Hossain is on leave, but expected back in January.
SAA TO BUY TANZANIAN AIRPORT
SOUTH African Airways is to buy a majority stake in the state-run Dar-es-Salaam Airport Handling Company, an official of the Tanzanian privatisation agency said on Monday. The deal is apparently worth more than $6-million.
RUSSIA BIDS FOR DEFENCE CONTRACT
ARMAMENTS manufacturers in the Russian Federation have submitted a tender for the SA National Defence Force’s re-equipment plan, which includes navy patrol corvettes, submarines, helicopters and jet trainers on its shopping list. The Russians join Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden in competing for the bids.