Land of broken promises
Frustrated claimants are dying of old age while government dithers. Glynnis Underhill reports.
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A word, if you will
Veteran Anglo watcher Jim Jones offers unsolicited advice to new chief Cynthia Carroll.
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Kebble had partners in crime
The African National Congress Youth League and Brett Kebble’s other political clients must face facts: the vast scale of the murdered businessman’s crimes has become inescapable. What has also become clear is that Kebble could not have looted and manipulated the companies he controlled without the active or unknowing participation of others.
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Gold’s long, slow decline
Should anyone really have been surprised to read newspaper headlines a few weeks ago bewailing the fact that South Africa’s gold production had fallen to levels not seen since 1931? Well, not really. Gold’s decline has been in place since the early 1970s when it peaked at fractionally more than 1 000 tonnes. It has fallen by almost 70% in the past 30-odd years.
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Showdown at sunset
The dust will soon settle on Harmony’s bid for Gold Fields, but its consequences are a parable for corporate South Africa in general and the declining mining industry in particular. No sooner had the Competition Tribunal given a conditional green light for the hostile bid to proceed, than Harmony and its spin doctors were preparing shareholders for its failure.
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More getting than giving
It is time for Nicholas and Jonathan Oppenheimer to establish their places in the pantheon of philanthropists. They should leave the management of De Beers to professionals who owe their positions to their skills, rather than to historic family connections. Unlike diamonds, the shelf-life of the Oppenheimers at the helm of De Beers should not be forever.
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Broken promises
When Anglo American persuaded South Africa’s government to relax exchange controls and allow the group to shift its corporate domicile to London, a central argument was that London domicile would allow it to raise money more cheaply for investment in this country. Much the same argument was put by BHP Billiton. It has not worked out quite that way.