The process of licensing the majority shareholder in the new Second National Operator runs the risk of being shrouded in secrecy and deterring investor confidence, Mandla Langa, chairperson of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, suggested this week.

Interest rates, not the threat of war in Iraq, are the key factor in the recent surge in the gold price, analysts said this week. ”War has nothing to do with the gold price, to be quite honest,” John Clemmow of Investec said. The price of gold touched an ounce this week.

The National Council of Trade Unions has expelled its treasurer over allegations he made of financial mismanagement.

In line with market expectations, the Reserve Bank has left interest rates unchanged — but economic analysts, business and labour do not expect it to meet its inflation target for 2004.

The planned free trade deal with the United States might not turn out to be a boon for South Africa, argues a prominent economist who also has reservations about the existing African Growth and Opportunity Act.

The only way to finance empowerment in the mining industry is for big mining houses to guarantee loans made to empowerment players, said David Hall, a senior mining analysts at Merrill Lynch.

A group of 54 Indian jewellers will be deported after a year-long stay during which they were unpaid and often unfed. They are the last of a group of 110 left penniless for almost a year after being recruited from their home country with promises of jobs with a state-funded beneficiation project.