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Lockdown day 138: Pictures of the day

A round-up of the best pictures from day 138 of the national lockdown

11 Aug 2020 4PM 1 min

Mauritius to seek compensation after oil spill off its coast

Mauritius is seeking compensation from the owners of the cargo carrier that run aground and spilt oil off its coast, causing the island’s worst ever ecological disaster. More than half of about 1,000 tonnes of fuel that leaked from the MV Wakashio has yet to be removed from the sea…

11 Aug 2020 4PM 2 min

Unions demand labour representation on new railway regulator’s board

Trade unions have called on transport minister Fikile Mbalula to review his decision to appoint a new board for the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) without labour representation, despite a standing resolution to include them. The unions say this decision will make it hard for workers to keep the board in…

11 Aug 2020 2PM 2 min

New Zealand locks down Auckland after new Covid cases found

Wellington — New Zealand announced on Tuesday it was shutting down its largest city, Auckland, after four new cases of Covid-19 were discovered in the city, the first evidence of domestic transmission after being coronavirus-free for 102 days. New Zealand's successful fight against Covid-19 was hailed globally and the Pacific…

11 Aug 2020 2PM 3 min

Everyone associated with Zuma is painted as corrupt, says Des van Rooyen

Des van Rooyen, the minister with the shortest stint at the National Treasury, opened his testimony at the state capture inquiry with a 20-minute political speech on Tuesday. He requested the commission to expand its terms of reference to look into the influence of “white monopoly capital” on the SA…

11 Aug 2020 1PM 2 min

Gold’s record highs come to an abrupt halt

New York — The huge rally that pushed gold to record highs above $2,000 an ounce has come to an abrupt halt, with the safe-haven metal heading for its biggest drop in seven years after bond yields spiked higher. US treasuries and European bond yields climbed, cutting into the negative…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 2 min

Wall Street heads for pre-Covid peak

Bengaluru — The S&P 500 closed in on its February peak on Tuesday, returning to levels last seen before the onset of the coronavirus crisis that caused one of Wall Street's most dramatic crashes in history. The benchmark index was about half a percent below the all-time high it hit…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 3 min

LETTER: Equity sell-side analysts need to be more dynamic

As an equity sell-side analyst I perform “fundamental” research into a listed company’s business prospects to determine whether its stock is mispriced. This information is used by asset managers to enable more efficient allocation of funds to those businesses that are likely to outperform in the long term. I often…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 2 min

LETTER: We can’t afford this holidaying

SA is survival mode in the wake of the worst health disaster and economic meltdown in living memory, yet we have to manage this under the most corrupt and incompetent government in our history. There is rampant unemployment, probably well more than 50%, which has been brought about by the…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 1 min

EDITORIAL: MTN retreat could cause its advance

A sharper focus on its home continent could be just what MTN needs to reclaim its position as Africa’s second most valuable mobile phone company. The company, Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers, unveiled plans last week to withdraw from the Middle East, rightly scaling back its ambitions to…

11 Aug 2020 12PM 4 min

Gauteng infections are slowing so focus can shift to the economy, Makhura says

As the rate of Covid-19 infections in Gauteng continues to fall, the province’s focus will now shift to its plans to help the recovery of SA’s economic hub, premier David Makhura has said. Gauteng ordinarily contributes more than a third of SA’s GDP, but this year, in line with devastating…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 3 min

LETTER: Decisions on SAA just do not fly

SAA in business rescue has returned all its leased aircraft to the lessors, in an aviation environment where its more capable global peers (also in distress) are using this one-off global opportunity to negotiate lease terms at rates up to 50% cheaper than pre-Covid. So why not SAA? At the…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

Directive for six-week Ters benefit extension yet to be published

The application process for the extended Covid-19 relief scheme, which would allow workers to receive much-needed money for July and August, is still not open because the government has not yet published a directive on it. The Temporary Employer/Employee Relief scheme (Ters) was initially envisaged to cover April, May and…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 3 min

An African Silicon Valley can happen, but a shift in vision is vital

On July 5 2019, at the inaugural fourth industrial revolution (4IR) summit in Midrand, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced plans to “unlock economic potential and create a Silicon Valley” in SA. A good thought and strong words, although not actually backed up by parliament or legislation. However, with a few small…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 6 min

Mexico using ‘vaccine diplomacy’ for late-stage Chinese trials

Mexico City — Mexico aims to conduct late-stage clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines in development by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and two Chinese companies within months, the foreign minister said on Tuesday, adding that the goal is to secure access to the drugs. Mexico has signed memorandums of understanding with…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

Brazilian state may work with Russia to produce vaccine

São Paulo/Brasília — Brazil’s Paraná state is in talks with Russia to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, the state research institute said on Tuesday, hours after President Vladimir Putin declared his country to be the world’s first to grant regulatory approval for a vaccine. João Pedro Schonarth, spokesperson for the Parana…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 1 min

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Open schools sensibly

Despite all the fears about reopening schools, we actually know a fair amount from watching other countries about how to do it safely. Success looks a lot like Uruguay and Denmark. It does not look like Israel. And it bears no resemblance at all to what’s shown in a photo…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 2 min

LETTER: Western Cape will make you eat your words, Tom Eaton

Tom Eaton is partially correct. The government has shown us that it cannot or will not pay the workforce their own insurance money from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) (“Yes, the ANC is a dud but show us the money, opposition parties (”, August 10). Eaton says the opposition “must…

11 Aug 2020 11AM 1 min

LETTER: Why can’t Sars find stolen funds?

Isn’t it incredible how the SA Revenue Service can trace every last cent one has earned and calculate the taxation one owes them? And SMS one with the exact amount due to the fiscus? Yet it can’t help the government find the R50bn stolen from the state, nor trace the…

11 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Support SMEs, not spendthrift SOEs

Once the Treasury had slammed the door in Pravin Gordhan’s face when he requested R9bn to conclude SAA’s “business rescue” (unsurprising given that it doesn’t even want to pay Denel’s wages), the public enterprises minister approached the banks for funding instead. Subsequent delays in concluding a funding deal are not…

11 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min