Category Archives: South African News

eNCA | Health unions, govt come to agreement on mortuary ‘strike’

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PRETORIA – Health unions and the Gauteng government have reached a deal to end the ongoing strike by mortuary workers.

The public health bargaining council said the agreement was in principle for now.

Unions and the health department have put their heads together to try and end the strike in a bid to relieve the backlog at the province’s state mortuaries.

The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) said it would only sign once workers had agreed to all the terms.

Mortuary staff downed tools two weeks ago, demanding better pay and recognition for out-of-scope work.

They insist they were not on strike, but are simply refusing to do work they are not contracted to do, like dissecting bodies.

Union leaders said cleaners, drivers and other untrained staff have been conducting post-mortems for years now.

The move resulted in bodies piling up, leaving bereaved families frustrated, and unable to bury their loved ones.

READ: Court orders autopsies as mortuary strike continues

Public Health Bargaining Council’s Phumelelo Sibiya said that workers “don’t want to continue doing it but they want the employer to recognise the fact that they are performing those particular functions.”

Health Bargaining Council Chairperson Mahmood Fadal said, “The parties indicated by Friday they would conclude that process and once they sign, as you’ve indicated that unions were not in strike but working out of scope so it’s not going be complicated.”

Nehawu’s Thhegofatso Moralo said, “The employer will access the backlog and then if there’s a need for our members to perform overtime to deal with backlog that will be arranged with the employees and it will be an authorised overtime if employer feels that they need extra time to do that.”

The deal, if accepted by union members, will affect forensic pathology officers countrywide.

eNCA

News24.com | Rival faction planted cocaine in underworld bust – claims surface

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Cape Town – The arrest of a key security industry insider for cocaine dealing is the work of rival underworld players who conspired with others including an investigator to set him up, sources insist.

Jacques Cronje, who was previously involved in an illegally operating bouncer company, and who has had run-ins with the law before, was arrested in the city centre on Sunday morning after about 22 packets of cocaine were discovered in the vehicle he was driving.

He appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

underworld
Cocaine seized in the city centre on Sunday. (Facebook, Cape Town Central CPF)

Police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said he was charged with drug possession.

However, a court document listing cases, seen by News24, said he appeared for drug dealing.

Six sources, with ties to the underworld and police matters, have told News24 that Cronje may have been set up and that the cocaine could have been planted.

Four of the sources have pointed the finger at members of a rival underworld faction who they believe are intent on tripping up Cronje and those associated with him.

News24 understands that Cronje had given a lift to another underworld figure, who is from the Ukraine and also involved in the nightclub security industry, before the drugs were found.

‘Planted cocaine’

Sources say this man had been wearing gloves while Cronje transported him and may have been the one to plant the cocaine sachets.

Bruce Hendricks, of Hassen-Harme Attorneys who is representing Cronje, confirmed to News24 on Tuesday that his client’s defence was that he was set up.

He did not go into detail about this.

Cronje was arrested in the midst of an intensifying underworld battle related to the club security industry in the Western Cape.

A newer underworld faction, said to be headed by businessman Nafiz Modack, has been taking over security at nightclubs from an older underworld faction.

This older faction is now said to be striking back.

Anti-drug claims

The new faction, according to an informant linked to this grouping, is intent on ridding the city centre of drugs.

Cronje is affiliated to Modack and his arrest therefore flies in the face of what the new faction allegedly stands for.

The sources say if the drugs were indeed planted with Cronje, this was therefore a masterful act as it targets the very issue the new faction claims to be tackling.

A man, who said he is a private investigator and who goes by the name Shaun Herman, told News24 via SMS late on Monday that he was probing the drug bust.

His identity could not be confirmed.

The unconfirmed information he provided was corroborated by other sources.

The ‘setup’

Herman said the setup had been organised last week and had involved two businessmen and apparently a police officer.

It was allegedly agreed that the underworld player from the Ukraine would ask Cronje for a lift to sneak the drugs into the vehicle.

This man denied involvement in the matter and declined to comment on the record as he said he was not part of what had happened.

Herman claimed the Ukrainian businessman had worn gloves in the vehicle Cronje was driving on Sunday and that about five minutes after getting out of it, police stopped the car and searched it.

One of the officers, he said, was not meant to be working that day.

Herman said officers went “direct whr an envolpe (sic)” was in the vehicle and in which the cocaine was concealed.

He said former members of the now-defunct Scorpions had been tasked to probe the matter.

Herman said he was part of this investigation.

Private bodyguard

Cronje was apparently employed as a private security guard to protect a specific person.

This person’s identity has not been made clear.

Police confiscated firearms from Cronje and several other men who had gathered outside a popular city centre strip club in April.

In a notice of motion filed in the Western Cape High Court in May, relating to the seized weapons, Mark Visser of Eagle VIP Security said he and Cronje, an employee, had been there on the night of April 21 to provide protection to private clients, who he did not name.

Cronje, according to an affidavit, had a Canik 55 9mm parabellum, licenced to Eagle VIP Security, concealed on his wrist.

Firearms and shootings

The seized firearms – three shotguns, three Taurus pistols, a 9mm Browning and two 9mm Caniks – were tested for links to a shooting in which two men were wounded in Café Caprice on April 17.

These were later returned to the men.

Cronje has been involved in club security for years.

Years ago, underworld kingpin Cyril Beeka, who was killed in 2011, ran the company Pro Security along with Cronje.

Cronje was also involved in the bouncer company Specialised Protection Services, which was run by, among others, controversial businessmen Andre Naude and Mark Lifman.

But it was soon shut down as it was not registered with Psira.

Cronje later fell out with his SPS associates as he faced allegations of misappropriating company money, assault, and missing meetings.

The latest ructions in the underworld have resulted in several shootings.

At least three people have been shot in Cape Town establishments since April.

Several killings have also been linked to it.

                                   

News24.com | Bheki Cele out of hospital after car crash

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Durban – Deputy Minister of Agriculture‚ Forestry and Fisheries Bheki Cele has been discharged from hospital following a car accident on Tuesday.

Speaking to News24, his spokesperson Nonkululeko Mbatha said Cele had been travelling with his security personnel on the M1 south when a car knocked into his BMW X5.

Mbatha said Cele had been on his way to a media engagement when the incident occurred.

“He has been discharged, with no injuries. The rest of his security team and officials are also fine. He received treatment at hospital.”

eNCA | Mboweni comments on Public Protector report

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JOHANNESBURG – Former governor of the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb), Tito Mboweni, on Tuesday waged in on the Constitutional amendment into the powers of Sarb as proposed by the Public Protector, saying that they were too fundamental.

This comes after Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Monday criticised Sarb for failing to recover R1.125 billion from Bankorp Limited/ABSA Bank which was advanced as an “illegal gift” to the Bankorp group, which was bought by ABSA in the early 1990s.

The Bankorp lifeboat matter dates back to 1998 when a British bounty hunter approached the democratic government alerting it to a R1.5 billion loan that the apartheid government had given to Bankorp, and also saying that ABSA was liable to pay it back with interest over the years.

READ: Absa denies apartheid-era debt

Mkhwebane ordered remedial action directing Parliament to effect a Constitutional amendment to the powers of the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb), from targeting inflation to promoting economic growth.

Mboweni, who is currently in Europe on business, was instrumental in instituting an investigation into monies loaned to Bankorp by the apartheid government during his tenure as Sarb governor for 10 years from 1999 to 2009.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday, Mboweni said a high-level panel had investigated this matter and tabled its report.

“As soon as I assumed the office of Governor of the SA Reserve Bank, I instituted an independent investigation headed by a Judge. It comprised of a panel of highly qualified people in economics, finance, accounting and political complexities, black and white with international expertise,” Mboweni said.

“Their report was also submitted to the Public Protector. This report, it would seem, at reading the media reports, was ignored or might have been complex. I do not want to be judgemental.”

Mboweni said on the basis of that report, and its recommendations, the matter was concluded.

“Yes, I must admit, that a different panel might have come to a different conclusion as these matters normally are the case,” Mboweni said.

“But to cast negative judgement on their genuine professional work is both ingenious and unfair. It might be impugning on their professional standing in their professions, society and capabilities.”

Mboweni emphasised the importance of the independence of the Reserve Bank, saying it was unwise to try and change this at the slightest political provocation.

Mboweni said he hoped that Mkhwebane had consulted widely about her proposals in this regard because this was too fundamental a proposal to be treated simply as the impact of any proposed changes were huge for the country.

“My suggestion is that all political parties must carefully discuss the ramifications of the Public Protector’s recommendation in this regard.

“I will respond to the Public Protector’s report in due time. I don’t think that the Public Protector’s report was meant to fuel political issues in this year of schizophrenic political tensions. She was just doing her job within the available capabilities.”

African News Agency

eNCA | WATCH: Does the Public Protector’s Absa recommendations hurt or help the economy?

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Full Quarterly Bulletin – No 284 – June 2017

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Publish Date: 2017-06-20
Category: Quarterly Bulletins

​Global economic activity expanded at a faster pace in the first quarter of 2017 than in the final quarter of 2016, supported by stronger growth in emerging market economies. Output growth accelerated meaningfully in Brazil, China, India and Russia. By contrast, real economic growth moderated in the advanced economies, led by a loss of momentum in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK).

International commodity prices were elevated in the first quarter of 2017, particularly for energy as well as metals and minerals. The prices of most commodities have since softened, especially for crude oil, owing to increased US shale production as well as market disappointment with the extent of the production cuts agreed to by the major oil producers. The uptick in these commodity prices caused advanced economy inflation to accelerate in the first quarter, even as core inflation remained fairly subdued. By contrast, inflation in emerging market economies benefited from stronger exchange rates and the effects of previous policy adjustments.

The South African economy has entered a technical recession, having contracted for a second consecutive quarter in the first quarter of 2017. Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annualised rate of 0.7% in the first quarter of 2017, as the real output of the secondary sector contracted further while that of the tertiary sector declined for the first time since the second quarter of 2009. By contrast, the real gross value added by the primary sector rebounded strongly in the first quarter of 2017, with significant increases in both mining and agricultural output. Mining production was supported by increased global demand and higher international commodity prices, while the end of the drought underpinned the strong recovery in agricultural output.

The decline in the real output of the secondary sector in the first quarter of 2017 was broad-based. Manufacturing production contracted for a third successive quarter as weak domestic demand and low business confidence continued to suppress output. Real output also contracted in the sector supplying electricity, gas and water as well as in the construction sector.

Real economic activity contracted in all the tertiary subsectors in the first quarter of 2017. The gross value added by the commerce sector decreased notably as wholesale and retail trade activity contracted on account of weak demand. Real output in the transport sector was weighed down by lower activity in the road and rail passenger subsector, while real output in the finance sector contracted largely due to lower non-interest income of commercial banks and reduced trading activity in the derivatives market.

Although real production contracted further, real gross domestic expenditure (GDE) switched from a contraction in the fourth quarter of 2016 to an annualised increase of 1.2% in the first quarter of 2017. The expansion resulted from the accumulation of real inventory holdings, largely in the wholesale trade sector, and from an increase in real gross fixed capital formation. By contrast, real final consumption expenditure by households contracted notably while that by general government also decreased in the first quarter of 2017.

Viewed from the expenditure side, real net exports and real final consumption expenditure by households subtracted significantly from growth in real GDP in the first quarter of 2017, while the change in real inventories made the largest positive contribution.

Real final consumption expenditure by households contracted in the first quarter of 2017, following three consecutive quarters of expansion. Real spending on semi-durable goods in particular contracted sharply, exacerbated by strong sales in the fourth quarter of 2016 following extended Black Friday promotions. Households’ real expenditure on non-durable goods also contracted notably, as spending on food, beverages and tobacco as well as on petroleum products declined. In addition, real outlays by households on durable goods contracted anew in the first quarter of 2017 following a moderate increase in the final quarter of 2016. Real spending on services advanced further in the first quarter of 2017, albeit at a slower pace. The contraction in households’ real disposable income in the first quarter of 2017 curtailed their ability to spend.

Real gross fixed capital formation increased at a slower pace in the first quarter of 2017. Following five consecutive quarters of contraction, growth in real capital spending by the private sector turned positive, mainly due to increased capital outlays on residential buildings and on machinery and equipment. Growth in fixed investment spending by general government slowed but remained fairly brisk. By contrast, real fixed capital formation by public corporations contracted in the first quarter of 2017.

Formal non-agricultural employment increased marginally by 0.2% on an annual average basis in 2016. Despite the contraction in real output, the private sector nevertheless managed to create new employment opportunities in the fourth quarter of 2016, while the decrease in public sector employment resulted largely from the termination of the contracts of a large number of temporary municipal-election workers. The number of unemployed South Africans looking for work rose at a faster pace than the number of employed persons, resulting in a further increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, to 27.3% in the first quarter of 2017.

Real wage growth per worker slowed notably in 2016 as nominal remuneration per worker moderated somewhat while consumer price inflation accelerated markedly. When adjusting for election-related employment, growth in labour productivity in the formal non-agricultural sector moderated to 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016 and to 0.4% in 2016 as a whole. Growth in nominal unit labour cost moderated to 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2016, remaining well within the inflation target range.

Headline consumer price inflation slowed from a recent peak of 6.8% in December 2016 to 5.3% in April 2017. The moderation in consumer price inflation was fairly broad-based, as the slowdown in domestic food price inflation, weak consumer demand and the continued benefit from currency appreciation in 2016 all contributed to easing inflationary pressures. Core inflation also moderated to its lowest level in 51 months in April 2017.

The external value of the rand appreciated further on a trade weighted basis up to the final week of March 2017, buoyed by higher international commodity prices and prospects of improved global and domestic economic growth. However, heightened domestic political uncertainty at the end of March resulted in a sharp depreciation in the external value of the rand and culminated in two prominent international credit rating agencies downgrading South Africa’s long-term foreign currency credit rating to sub-investment grade in April. Subsequently, the external value of the rand appreciated again, supported by the continued search for higher yields by international investors. South Africa’s sovereign credit rating was also downgraded by a third rating agency in June, but this rating remained investment grade.

South Africa’s trade surplus was sustained for a second consecutive quarter in the first quarter of 2017. The value of net gold and merchandise exports increased slightly in the first quarter of the year alongside a marginal increase in the value of merchandise imports. Mining exports increased for a second successive quarter while the value of manufacturing exports decreased for a third successive quarter, in step with lower manufacturing output. The higher value of merchandise imports was underpinned by increased imports of crude and refined oil-products.

The shortfall on the services, income and current transfer account widened in the first quarter of 2017, largely due to a widening in the net income deficit following a significant decrease in dividend receipts from abroad. Combined with the broadly unchanged trade surplus, this led to a widening in the deficit on the current account of the balance of payments, from 1.7% of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 2.1% of GDP in the first quarter of 2017.

The financing of the current account shortfall through the financial account of the balance of payments mainly took the form of net portfolio and other investment inflows in the first quarter of 2017. South Africa’s net international investment position retreated further to 3.6% of GDP at the end of December 2016, as the market value of the country’s foreign assets declined at a much faster pace than that of its foreign liabilities.

Growth in money supply moderated in the first quarter of 2017 and remained broadly aligned with growth in nominal GDP. The deposit holdings of households continued to grow at a faster pace than those of the corporate sector. Growth in the deposit holdings of non-financial companies in particular slowed notably. Growth in aggregate bank credit extended to the domestic private sector remained weak in the first quarter of 2017, largely due to subdued growth in loans and advances to the household sector. Nevertheless, credit extension to the corporate sector also advanced at a slower pace in the first quarter of 2017.

South African bond yields initially trended lower in the opening months of 2017, reflecting expectations of lower future inflation and remaining in line with movements in the rand per US dollar exchange rate. However, between the final week of March and the first week of April, this downward trend was briefly interrupted in response to domestic political developments and South Africa’s sovereign credit rating downgrades. Bond yields subsequently trended lower again as the international search for yield continued. Share prices on the JSE Limited (JSE) rose in the first five months of 2017, largely due to a notable increase in the share prices of industrial companies, before receding more recently.

National government revenue and expenditure for the full 2016/17 fiscal year were both lower than the original 2016 Budget projections and the revised 2017 Budget projections. The revenue shortfall resulted largely from lower-than-expected collections of personal income tax, import value added tax and import duties. Revenue undershot projections by a wider margin than expenditure, resulting in a marginally higher cash book deficit. However, as a ratio of GDP, the cash book deficit amounted to 3.9% in fiscal 2016/17 compared with 4.2% in the previous fiscal year. The non-financial public-sector borrowing requirement narrowed as national government experienced a smaller cash shortfall and local governments experienced higher cash surpluses compared with the previous fiscal year. By contrast, non-financial public enterprises and corporations recorded a larger cash deficit in fiscal 2016/17. Government revenue collection could remain under pressure given the contraction in real output and consumer spending in the first quarter of 2017.

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June 2017 – Note on the flow of funds in South Africa’s national financial account for the year 2016

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Publish Date: 2017-06-20
Category: Quarterly Bulletins Articles and Notes
Author: C Monyela and S Madonsela

​The nominal value of financial flows in the South African economy declined in 2016, in step with weak gross domestic product (GDP) and income growth, tight credit conditions and subdued business and consumer confidence. Inflows from the foreign sector also decreased in 2016. A decline in equity inflows reflected the effect of generally accommodative global monetary policy in advanced economies whereas the concomitant search for yield supported inflows in the bond market. These inflows were sufficient to offset the overall domestic saving investment gap. This note presents a brief overview of trends in the 2016 flow of funds, captured through real and financial transactions amongst all institutional sectors. The quarterly flow of funds accounts are appended to this note and the annual summary appears on pages S–46 to S–47 of this issue of the Quarterly Bulletin.

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eNCA | Gauteng mortuary strike continues

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JOHANNESBURG – The stand-off between Gauteng’s forensic pathology officers and the provincial health department continues.

Talks between Nehawu and the authorities are only set for Thursday.

Some families have obtained court orders, allowing them to collect the bodies of their loved ones.

READ: Court orders autopsies as mortuary strike continues

Many forensic pathology workers have been on a go-slow for weeks now.

Nehawu claims its members aren’t on strike, but are merely doing the work they have been hired to do.

At the same time, the DA says the government is too soft on striking employees.

It’s urging authorities to obtain an urgent court order compelling them to return to work.

eNCA