With Cape Town dam levels hitting a new high of 81.7% and average Western Cape dam levels set to top the psychological 65% mark, the agriculture and tourism sectors in the province are eyeing better prospects in coming months. Both city and provincial dam levels reached a four-year high in August, following the region’s worst drought in 100 years, which hit the agriculture, tourism and property sectors particularly badly. The City of Cape Town’s latest Dam levels report shows that the Western Cape Water Supply System, comprising the region’s six largest dams,…
Read MoreDay: 22 Aug 2019
Volkswagen on the electric vehicle offensive
Volkswagen Group South Africa is working on a comprehensive electric mobility strategy with the purpose of laying a strong foundation for the introduction of battery electric vehicles into its key brands and removing the risk to its lucrative export business. Read: More EVs for SA roads Thomas Schaefer, chairman and managing director of Volkswagen Group South Africa, said on Wednesday it was a myth if South Africa believed it could carry on producing vehicles with traditional engines when the rest of the world is going electric. Schaefer said at the…
Read MoreUganda forms committee to fast-track penetration into African market after AfCFTA ratification
INTERNATIONAL – After the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Uganda has formed a committee of ministers to fast-track the country’s penetration into the Africa market. Amelia Kyambadde, minister of trade, industry and cooperatives, told parliament on Tuesday that the committee will strategize Uganda’s competitiveness in the market, among others. “With the integration of the African continent, Uganda stands to benefit from expanded markets, stimulation of increased productivity, increase in trade and services and employment,” Kyambadde said. “We are immediately targeting livestock products, coffee,…
Read MoreRenergen signs $40m loan agreement with US govt for gas project in SA
JOHANNESBURG – Emerging liquefied natural gas and helium producer, Renergen, on Wednesday said it had signed a $40 million (R610m) loan agreement with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) for a gas project in the Free State province. Renergen’s principal asset is its 90 percent shareholding in Tetra4, which holds the first and only onshore petroleum production right in South Africa, giving it first mover advantage on distribution of domestic natural gas. OPIC is the US government’s development finance institution that mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and…
Read MoreOPINION: Buy local, people who make those R50 T-shirts work in poor conditions
OPINION / 21 AUGUST 2019, 8:30PM / ERICA LOUW JOHANNESBURG – It’s Women’s Month and I am wearing pants for the first time in years. Not just any pair of pants, a tight-fitting, high-rise linen pair that accentuate every single part of my thick, cellulite rich, frumpy, wobbly, size 24 bottom.You see, I look funny in pants because they just don’t “fit well” on people of my build. For the longest time I have been a supporter of loose-fitting T-shirt material dresses with leggings because they hide my rolls,…
Read MoreGovernment master plan to make producers more competitive
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s embattled poultry industry, which has buckled under the weight of cheap foreign imports, is set to receive a boost from a government-led master plan aimed at making local producers more competitive.The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) said yesterday that the poultry industry and the government had begun work together to open up new export markets for South African poultry. Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said his department and that of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development had met with industry players to thrash out…
Read MoreNot all bad news for manufacturing sector
Durban – KwaZulu-Natal manufacturers are facing a tough time due to low demand brought about by a sluggish economy but the government is intervening by meeting with captains of industry in a bid to stem job losses. KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental affairs acting head of department, Siza Sibande told delegates at the KZN Manufacturing Indaba in Durban last week that it was important for the government to respond to the challenges facing businesses by reassessing its policies and the structure of the economy. He said…
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