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A collapse of economic freedom has driven South Africa's unemployment rate to 42 percent.
After more than a year of enterprise-killing lockdowns, and a decade of declining economic growth, South Africa was gripped by violence and looting in July.
In the decade up to 2019, South Africa's GDP growth averaged 1.4 percent. The credit rating is currently at junk level, and the government's debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to breach 100% in the next few years. This would add further pressure on the private sector, and the government will become ever more desperate to control any and all possible sources of revenue.
chief executive of SAPOA (SA Property Owners Association) shopping malls and retail outlets in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng suffered more than R20 billion ($1.4 billion) worth of damage. About 800 stores were looted and 100 malls were either burnt down or suffered significant fire damage. Further, the eThekwini Economic Development and Planning Committee indicated that about R1.5 billion in stock ($102 million) had been lost, over 50,000 informal traders lost their livelihoods, and approximately 1.5 million people lost their potential to earn an income. Some 150,000 jobs are at risk.
https://fee.org/articles/south-africa-descends-into-looting-and-violence-amid-economic-turmoil/
Southern Africa’s relationship with Russia amid the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine is difficult to discern. Since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), a trade and economic union of 16 countries, has assumed a neutral position.
While some member states are committed to not taking sides, South Africa is a different story. The regional powerhouse of 60 million people, with Africa’s second-largest economy, has a cozy relationship with Moscow even as Pretoria claims neutrality.
Earlier this year, South Africa hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and participated in military drills with Russia as part of a series of events coinciding with the anniversary of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. This has had diplomats in Pretoria scrambling to defend such actions. President Cyril Ramaphosa also put forward a peace initiative in which he and other African leaders visited Kyiv and Moscow on June 16-18 and met respectively with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
South Africa’s true intentions came under further suspicion when United States Ambassador Reuben Brigety in May accused Pretoria of loading weapons and ammunition on a sanctioned Russian vessel docked at Simon’s Town naval base near Cape Town in December 2022. The government initially denied the allegations and claimed that Ambassador Brigety had apologized for his public statement. However, due to both local and international pressure, the government launched an independent investigation into whether arms and ammunition were being sent to Russia on the vessel.
South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), has its hands full as the Russian crisis is becoming controversial domestically, adding to the woes of a party that struggling to deliver services to the nation and address the scourge of corruption that has engulfed the country’s politics.
https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/south-africa-russia-war/
Average salaries in South Africa declined last month as rising inflation, low business confidence levels and rolling power cuts continued to weigh on the labor market, a BankservAfrica report showed.
The average nominal monthly salary measured in the BankservAfrica Take-home Pay Index slipped 2.7% to 14,457 rand ($785) in May from the year before, while take-home pay adjusted for inflation fell 8.8% to a record low.
“An environment of such low confidence is not conducive for job creation or comfortable wage increases,” said Elize Kruger, an independent economist.
South African business confidence has slumped for five consecutive quarters and is at its lowest level since a lockdown instituted during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, surveys conducted by Rand Merchant Bank and the Bureau for Economic Research show. The mood has been soured by the state power utility’s inability to meet demand for electricity, which has resulted in a series of outages.
The country is also contending with a 33% unemployment rate and the nation’s economic outlook remains bleak.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/south-african-salaries-dip-amid-declining-confidence-power-cuts-1.1936116
The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has awarded a loan to Angola’s Ministry of Energy and Water to deploy two large-scale solar power plants.
EXIM has agreed to provide $900 million in funding to Angola's Ministry of Energy and Water for the deployment of a 500 MW of utility-scale PV capacity.
“This transaction not only aligns with President Biden’s PGII initiative, but also advances EXIM’s efforts to promote clean energy exports, strengthen the US-Africa commercial relationship and support U.S. exporters and American workers facing foreign competition,” said EXIM President Reta Jo Lewis.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/06/09/us-export-import-bank-provides-900-million-for-500-mw-of-solar-in-angola/
Global intelligence analysts, political risk consultants, and members of security establishments are warning of the “probability” of Russia interfering in South Africa’s election next year.
“The goal of the interference would be to ensure that a pro-Russian government is elected in one of the world’s most resource-rich nations, and that means the Kremlin-funded Internet Research Agency (IRA) could be used to influence voting in South Africa,” said Brendan von Essen, an international relations expert and political and security risk analyst based in Johannesburg.
The date for South Africa’s polls is yet to be confirmed but several government sources told The Epoch Times it would be in April 2024.
Von Essen told The Epoch Times: “South Africa’s very important to Moscow. It’s the second-largest economy in Africa, with its gold and platinum mines and lucrative financial sector.
“Make no mistake, Moscow is heavily invested in making sure that South Africa stays firmly in the Russian camp,” said Von Essen, who gives advice to multinationals, foreign governments, and others about political and security risks in South Africa.
In recent months ANC ministers have made several unexplained visits to Moscow, and have also been keynote speakers at Russian “security conferences.”
Electricity and water outages lasting days, sometimes weeks, are common. Violent crime is rampant, with South Africa now having the third-highest murder rate in the world.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/wagner-group-set-to-launch-information-war-to-keep-south-africas-anc-in-power-say-analysts_5320874.html
Tony - Giving advise as a retired department of health employee really adds value in the mining industry , Could be seen the same as Theorist the bankrupt giving advise. Both of you add no substance just unsubstantiated noise.
Theo - Good for you , As really shows your character as a Schadenfreude , Quite disgusting really and you should be ashamed of yourself as is the lowest form of human behavior , Also your sickness of trolling this thread over and over for your own pathetic gratification is deplorable.
South Africa could become a "failed state" but has yet to reach that point, a senior official of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said.
The admission by ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula comes as South Africa experiences power cuts, known as load-shedding, of up to 10 hours a day.
"This load-shedding has just made a mess of our country," he told the BBC's HARDtalk programme.
The power cuts have worsened South Africa's economic crisis.
The country is also battling high levels of corruption, all of which has damaged confidence in the ANC government.
"If certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state, but we are not journeying towards that direction," Mr Mbalula said in an exclusive interview with BBC HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur.
"South Africa is undergoing challenges like many other countries but I think to put it into the category of a failed state is an exaggeration," he added.
While external forces such as global economics, the impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine had all played a role in battering South Africa's economy, blame also lay partly with "some of our own weaknesses in terms of managing the economy well", Mr Mbalula acknowledged.
South Africa has an official unemployment rate of about 33%, one of the highest in the world.
One in two young South Africans is unemployed and 60% are living under the poverty line.
South Africa's state-owned power utility Eskom has $26bn (£21bn) of debt, old infrastructure, and power stations that do not work properly.
It has led to South Africa's worst-ever power crisis, and Eskom has warned that the situation could worsen in the winter months of July and August.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65683674
The current legal obligation on South Africa in terms of domestic and international law and legal precedent is absolutely clear: the government must arrest and surrender Vladimir Putin to the International Criminal Court (ICC) should he enter South African territory.
Since the eruption of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in February 2022, South Africa has maintained a “non-aligned” approach, arguing that “peaceful dialogue”, “mediation”, “negotiation” and “diplomacy” are the only “constructive solutions” that will end the conflict.
Further, it has abstained from voting in favour of every resolution by the United Nations General Assembly’s Emergency Special Session that has condemned Russia’s aggression and commission of gross human rights violations.
Yet, doubt is increasingly cast upon South Africa’s proclaimed neutrality on the conflict.
Some recent examples include joint military drills with Russia and China that overlapped the first anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict, International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor’s repeated emphasis that Russia is a “historic friend”, allegations that the government supplied arms and ammunition to Russia, chief of the South African army Lieutenant-General Lawrence Mbatha’s meeting with his Russian counterpart, General Oleg Salyukov, “to discuss matters of mutual interest”, as well as a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and SA President Cyril Ramaphosa where they “expressed a desire to further step up mutually beneficial ties in various areas”.
Another factor casting serious doubt on South Africa’s proclaimed neutrality is its response to the ICC’s arrest warrant against Putin. Putin is accused of the war crime of unlawfully deporting and transferring children from occupied territory in Ukraine, but the ICC is also investigating genocide and crimes against humanity.
Earlier this year, Putin was formally invited to attend a BRICS summit scheduled to take place in South Africa in August. However, there are already strong indicators that the government will not execute the warrant should he attend in person.
The Department of International Relations indicated that it was seeking a legal opinion on whether there is indeed an obligation to arrest and surrender Putin to the ICC.
In April, Ramaphosa sowed confusion when he stated that South Africa would withdraw from the ICC, contradicting a December 2022 ANC resolution that the government must “rescind” its withdrawal from the ICC.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2023-06-04-the-law-is-clear-putin-must-be-arrested-if-he-sets-foot-in-south-africa/
JOHANNESBURG, June 5 (Reuters) - South African private sector economic activity contracted for a third consecutive month in May as rolling power cuts and inflationary pressures continued to weigh on business, a survey showed on Monday.
The S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 47.9 in May, the lowest level since July 2021, from 49.6 in April. Readings above 50 indicate growth in activity.
"After a promising (albeit slight) uplift in new business during April, customer demand was back in negative territory, adding to a steep and accelerated drop in output," said David Owen, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
He added that firms continued to face severe inflation, driven by weakness in the rand, high electricity costs and elevated wage pressures.
South Africa's state power utility Eskom has also warned that it may have to increase power cuts to an unprecedented level this winter, as the country grapples with its worst power crisis on record.
"The bleak energy outlook over the winter suggests that more companies will look for alternative electricity sources, pushing costs and customer prices even higher," Owen said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-african-business-activity-falls-almost-two-year-low-pmi-2023-06-05/?rpc=401&
Theo - Your assumptions and predictions have all been wrong over the last 2 years , Not one of your ramblings have come to light , You really have a serious inferiority complex by trolling this thread constantly trying to grandstand your ignorance and lack of intelligence , Go and find a life outside Pensana and you might find someone to listen to your inaccuracies , Quite sad really your cries for attention on a public forum.
Theo -
Elon Musk’s Tesla recently broke ground on a new lithium refining facility in Texas.
Musk acolytes took this development as simply another small step for mankind amid many more giant leaps that SpaceX and Tesla are taking elsewhere.
But the significance of the lithium refinery is strategic and not just local.
Musk knows, and has tweeted about, lithium supply chains.
Not everyone agrees with his assessment of the abundance and availability of lithium in the earth’s core, but there isn’t much debate about China’s control of the supply chain.
Also getting in on the act is Pensana, which will mine rare earths in Angola which it will feed into a new processing plant at Saltend in the UK. Pensana also talks about developing “a circular economy” and plans to plug into as much green energy as it can.
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1015935/junior-miners-are-moving-up-the-battery-metals-value-chain-in-a-bid-for-higher-ratings-1015935.html
Pre-emptive rights ensure fairness in the issuance of new shares by allowing existing shareholders to acquire shares prior to those shares being offered to third parties. This means that existing shareholders have the opportunity to maintain their proportionate ownership in the company, even if new shares are issued.
M&G, which is one of the UK’s leading investment institutions and Fundo Soberano de Angola
(“FSDEA”), which is the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund, remain strongly supportive of the Company and its business plan and have each requested and been granted the right to participate in any future equity or other fund raising undertaken by the Company on a pro rata basis for the next two years.
Smartpunter - You started posting your crap first thing this morning on the PRE thread , if you take Tony's deal all will stop , the ball is in your court.
Hi Hogsnipe
Looks like T20s roll overs.
At the first BRICS Sherpa and Sous-Sherpa Meeting on February 1, 2023, the BRICS chair gavel was officially handed over to South Africa from China.
During China’s chairship last year, one of the highlights of BRICS meetings was the Global Development Initiative. This initiative for development, proposed by President Xi Jinping of China in September 2021 during the general debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, was brought up at BRICS-related meetings, sending to the world a strong message of putting development front and centre on the international agenda.
The theme for South Africa’s 2023 BRICS chairship is: “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism”. It seems that South Africa, as this year’s chair, will build on China’s focus and success in promoting global development and continue to put development issues high on the BRICS agenda.
The BRICS expansion started long ago with South Africa being the first beneficiary to join in 2011 at the Sanya summit hosted by China.
The Beijing Declaration adopted at the 14th BRICS summit paved the way for membership expansion. It voiced support for promoting discussions among BRICS members on the expansion process and stressed the need to establish clear guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for expansion.
The expansion of BRICS membership is a solid step toward that goal and is highly consistent with the theme of South Africa’s chairship this year.
http://za.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/sgxw/202304/t20230414_11059500.htm
Hi - Valuation-it-is
It is the Angolan Sovereign wealth Fund.
Dumbo by name and nature, last time I looked at a map I couldn’t find Angola in South Africa…….
Dumbo - You might want to have a good read below
The new U.S. sanctions apply to multiple sectors of the Russian economy.
The metals and mining sector received particular attention in the newly announced sanctions, with a policy allowing sanctions on anyone operating in the sector.
Also announced were new tariffs on 100 Russian metals, minerals and chemical products worth about $2.8 billion.
Nearly 90 Russian and third-country companies were added to the Department of Commerce’s “Entity List”, which will prohibit the listed companies from purchasing some items made in the United States or containing U.S. components.
The new sanctions
Full blocking sanctions have been imposed on 22 individuals and 83 entities across a broad swath of the Russian economy, including financial services, wealth management, aerospace, electronics and metals and mining. The United States has also designated more than 30 individuals and companies outside of Russia that have assisted Russia to evade previous U.S. sanctions.
Together with the sanctions announced on February 24, 2023, the United States will increase tariffs on more than 100 Russian metals, minerals and chemical products worth approximately $2.8 billion to Russia. It will also increase, by up to 270%, the costs for aluminum that was smelted or cast in Russia to enter the U.S. market. The U.S. Department of Commerce further added nearly 90 Russian and third-country companies, including companies in China among other countries, to its “Entity List”, which will prohibit the listed companies from purchasing items, such as semiconductors and software made in the United States or made abroad and containing U.S. components.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=af3c4098-1445-4870-9d46-9e42be48de78