WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM:
ROYAL Swazi Airlines on Tuesday chose SA Airlink as its preferred partner, after inviting 24 sub-regional airlines to submit proposals for an alliance or joint venture.
Announcing its choice, the Swazi cabinet said it is hoped the move will end continuing losses at Royal Swazi. After years of crippling losses, Royal Swazi recently came under management of a United Kingdom-based airline consultancy, which has had some success in reducing its losses.
Swazi Public Works and Transport Minister Dumisani Masango said the alliance will improve air service to sustain Swazi development, as well as removing the subsidy burden on taxpayers.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
KENYA PROSPECTING FOR OIL
Kenya’s National Oil Corporation on Wednesday said it may begin exploiting oil reserves in the country’s north in the next three years. Pan African News Agency reports that corporation chairman Bethuel Ogot said that prospecting in parts of northern Kenya has already revealed oil reserves. “We have seen tangible signs of oil in the northern region, but they are not commercially viable and we are now concentrating on searching for larger quantities,” Ogot said. He added that a Canadian company, contracted in 1997 to prospect for oil in the region, has already started drilling wells.
FIRE SERVICE CONTRIBUTES TO FIRES
THE South African Insurance Association on Wednesday said it has the backing of the finance ministry to support an investigation into the extent inefficiency in the fire service has contributed to massive losses caused by fire damage. Association chief executive Barry Scott said it is clear from industry reports that the situation is severe and that the main problems experienced by the fire services is lack of manpower, resources and low morale. Preliminary research conducted by the industry show 56% of the fire brigades do not meet acceptable staff levels, and when the minimum of staff required to man a station do not report for duty, that station is often closed for a shift.
SA RAFTERS BLOCK POWER PLANS
SOUTH African rafting firm Nile River Explorers is involved in a battle with the Ugandan government to stop its planned hydropower station across the Nile River’s Bujagali rapids. Nile Independent Power, local subsidiary of Applied Energy Service of America, plans to build a 290MW power station over the rapids, a popular site for rafting trips. The rafters plan to appeal to the WorldWide Fund for Nature. Said Energy Permanent Secretary Kallisa Kabagambe: “It is a question of priority. You cannot have rafting and remain in darkness.”
BUSINESS BRIEFS
REDDY DEMANDS REINSTATEMENT
FIRED South African Broadcasting Corporation executive Govin Reddy on Tuesday demanded his “immediate reinstatement” on the grounds that he was unfairly and unprocedurally dismissed. Should his demands not be met, Reddy said, he will take legal action against the corporation. SABC spokesperson Marj Murray confirmed that a letter from Reddy has been received, but refused to disclose its content. Reddy was fired last week after the board, furious that he had publicly accused the SABC of racism when he failed to get the position of group chief executive, refused to ratify a consolation position offered to Reddy.
NUM DECLARES DISPUTE
THE National Union of Mineworkers on Tuesday declared a dispute against Durban Roodepoort Deep Limited and Harmony gold mine after rejecting an opening wage offer tabled by the two. The dispute came in the second day of the wage negotiations, when the union rejected wage offers ranging from zero to 3% increases. The union is demanding 12%. Durban Roodepoort MD Mike Prinsloo said he was shocked by the union’s “premeditated approach” of declaring a dispute in the opening round of negotiations.
MALUTI EYES SAB STAKES
MALUTI Foods & Beverages has informed South African Breweries it is interested in acquiring SAB’s stakes in Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery, Distillers Corporation and Ceres Fruit Juices, SAB said on Tuesday. SAB group corporate finance director said that Maluti has approached SAB, but no formal offer has yet been tabled.
ZIM CELLULAR LAUNCH
ZIMBABWEAN company Econet Wireless is preparing to launch its mobile cellular service in the capital Harare and Chitungwiza on Friday. A company spokesman said hundreds of customers who have applied for service in Harare have already begun collecting their Sim cards ahead of Friday’s launch, while some are already making calls on the Econet Service, Pan African News Agency reports. The launch comes after completion of a Z$4-million interconnector project which involved the construction of a microwave link between Econet’s main base station in Harare and the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation’s main telephone exchange.
AIR AFRIQUE SELLS JETS
HEAVILY indebted West African airline Air-Afrique on Tuesday turned over one-quarter of its jet airliners to pay off creditors, the company said. The airline, co-owned by 11 countries across West Africa, turned over four Airbus jets to go toward its $300-million debt. This leaves the airline with 11 aircraft. The airline said it is to keep its routes between member states running, but will curtail its long-haul flights to the United States, France and South Africa.
PUNT LIQUIDATED
DEBT-RIDDEN Afrikaans talk radio Punt Geselsradio was granted a voluntary liquidation order in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. Main shareholder Boland Financial Services applied for the liquidation after discovering the radio station has debts of over R26-million.
AVMIN TO INVEST $20m IN ZAMBIA
AVMIN Mining Corporation of South Africa confirmed on Tuesday that it plans to invest over $20-million in prospecting for copper and cobalt deposits near Zambia’s state-owned Konkola North Project. Avimin spokesman Julian Gwillim said the exploration is expected to take four years, after which full-scale mining may start.
FOREIGNERS INTERESTED IN CEMENT FIRM
A NUMBER of foreign firms have submitted bids for Blue Circle Cement, a Murray & Roberts Holdings subsidiary, as an entry ticket to South Africa’s fiercely competitive cement market. M&R’s executive chairman Dave Brink said the company decided to seek an international equity partner, or a buyer, when the Competitions Board ruled against its proposed merger with competitor Alpha. After the longstanding cement cartel was broken up a few years ago, Pretoria Portland Cement has risen as the leading producer, with Blue Circle and Alpha lagging behind.