Absa Bank’s acquisition of LeasePlan South Africa received the green light after the deal was approved by the Competition Tribunal. This approval allows Absa to merge its own fleet management business with LeasePlan. The acquisition through Absa’s vehicle and asset finance division will add more than double the size of its fleet.
Invented in 1986 as a light-hearted guide to whether currencies are at their "correct" level, <i>The Economist</i> magazine’s Big Mac index is used to gauge purchasing power between countries. South Africa’s Big Mac rate is R4,28 a dollar — when the rand touched a record worst level in 2001 a South African Big Mac cost less than a dollar.
New Minister of Education Naledi Pandor has acknowledged that it going to take a little longer than the end of the financial year to ensure that there is no longer a school pupil learning under a tree. She was referring to President Thabo Mbeki’s promise that the problem will be eradicated by the end of the financial year.
The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) was drifting in the red in noon trade on Friday, with heavyweight resources stocks dragged down by a stronger rand. Lack of buying interest also weighed on the local bourse, dealers said. By 11.50am, the all-share index was 0,62% weaker.
The South African government is looking into ways of cushioning the anticipated price rises for petrol and diesel in June, Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena said on Friday. Given the sharp increases in the global price of oil, the retail price of petrol will need to rise by 38 cents a litre on June 2.
Until November 2002 Bulelani Ngcuka enjoyed an enviable reputation. As head of the National Prosecuting Authority he is South Africa’s top prosecutor, and by all accounts, Ngcuka, who is also in charge of the elite Scorpions, is a hard-working and dedicated prosecutor.
Northern Cape businesswoman Maud Dikgetsi was adamant this week that she had done nothing wrong by doing business with the Northern Cape government while her husband was a provincial minister. Dikgetsi also insisted no conflict of interest could arise in such a situation. She emphasised that she was only empowering herself ”as an African businesswoman, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination”.
Gauteng’s drinking water is under threat as a result of a decision by the East Rand Proprietary Mines to stop pumping water from its Boksburg workings, the United Association of South Africa said on Thursday. The trade union on Thursday called on the government to intervene urgently in the matter.
The South African Police Service, led by national commissioner Jackie Selebi, has been quietly conducting a criminal investigation into National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka and other officials in the National Prosecuting Authority.
Deals paving the way for an end to 21 years of civil war in southern Sudan have prompted international praise, tempered by fresh warnings about a humanitarian catastrophe in the western region of Darfur. The United Nations has called the conflict in Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.