BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

Number of Covid-19 infections in SA rises to 642,431, there have been 569,935 recoveries and 15,168 deaths to date

It’s been a while, but SA Inc shares finally copped a break from their general market malaise yesterday. Banking and retail stocks flew — barely 24-hours after the devastation of government’s response to Covid-19 was laid bare in truly horrendous GDP numbers, as the economy contracted 16.4% in the second quarter compared with the first. Shoprite, for example, rallied another 10%,...

A round-up of the best pictures from day 167 of the national lockdown

It is said that protest is the language of the unheard while violence is the language of the disempowered. As we watch members of the EFF physically blocking people from entering the stores of retailer Clicks and, in some cases, trashing stores, we must ask ourselves if the EFF, a party in parliament, feels unheard and disempowered. We must ask: is our constitutional democracy working? How is it t...

Amid a spiralling economic and political crisis, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa addressed the people of his country on August 4. His speech, though sudden — four days after his government’s violent clampdown on the July 31 citizen protests — was highly anticipated. There may have been a desperate hope among some sections of the bruised citizenry that the president would,...

New York — President Donald Trump told journalist Bob Woodward that he intentionally downplayed the severity of the coronavirus in public comments to avoid triggering a panic. “I wanted to always play it down, I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” Trump told Woodward, the author and associate editor for the Washington Post, on March 19 in on...

There is no excuse for the extremely offensive hair advert on pharmacy and cosmetics group Clicks’s website and it is right that those responsible face harsh action. Clicks found itself headline news earlier this week because of an offensive hair-care product advert that described the hair of a black woman as “dry and damaged” contrasted with a white woman’s hair that was &...

Renowned human rights activist and lawyer George Bizos has died. Ahmed Kathrada Foundation executive director Neeshan Balton tweeted that a “towering giant” had fallen. His family said when contacted they are preparing a statement. “We are immensely saddened by the news of the passing of George Bizos, a towering giant in so many facets of our liberation struggle. Now all the Rivo...

Mbombela/Maputo — Mozambique’s armed forces torture detainees and have discarded a large number of bodies in apparent mass graves as they fight an insurgency linked to Islamic State (IS) in an area rich in natural gas, Amnesty International said. The London-based organisation said in a statement on its website on Wednesday that it had verified “gruesome footage” showing cri...

Carol Paton states in the opening paragraph of her analysis of the DA policy conference that “the experiment of playing ANC-lite has been left in the trash heap of history; the DA will now be its own party” (“DA now a party for some, not all, as new race policy entrenches denialism (”, September 8). If that was all you read of her piece, you’d likely conclude that she...

Kuala Lumpur — The coronavirus crisis has pushed the Malaysian palm-oil industry into a labour crunch so severe that it is turning to convicts for help. Producers of the tropical oil are reaching out to prison departments in search of locals for work in the palm industry that is considered dirty, difficult and dangerous, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a growers’ group...

President Donald Trump may have many flaws but to give credit where it is due, he is world-beatingly excellent at causing offence. Not world-leading, to be sure, because any hope that the current US administration is stacked with leaders, as Covid-19 roils from state to state, is surely as forlorn as the hope that it will rain in California’s Death Valley — truly the hottest place on e...

London/Washington — The US announced a further reduction of troops in Iraq, as President Donald Trump underscores his long-standing pledge to exit “endless wars” in the Middle East. “In recognition of the great progress the Iraqi forces have made and in consultation and co-ordination with the government of Iraq and our coalition partners, the US has decided to reduce our tr...

Lesbos — Thousands of migrants were left without shelter on Wednesday after overnight fires gutted their overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, and authorities warned that some asylum seekers who tested positive for Covid-19 could spread the virus. The Moria camp, which hosts more than 12,000 people, was “probably destroyed”, one Greek migration official said. Athens dec...

As investors fret over whether high-flying technology stocks are now too frothy, the recent volatility is not scaring away Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway — at least not when it comes to getting in on the ground floor of what may be one of the year’s most sought-after tech IPOs. Yes, you read that correctly. Snowflake, a fast-growing cloud-software and data-warehousing compan...

Government officials and politicians will no longer have the ability to feign ignorance about the measures that should have been taken to prevent financial mismanagement and corruption, after auditor-general Kimi Makwetu released specific guidelines on this on Wednesday . Corruption and financial mismanagement is a major issue in SA, as has been most notably seen in the recent scandal surrounding...

The government’s relief scheme for workers has been extended until mid-September, but the payment of benefits has been suspended. The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) said the payments of the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) had been suspended on Monday. “The UIF has delayed the Covid-19 Ters benefits payments to mitigate risks identified by the auditor-general in the...

After years of complicit inactivity — also known as "silent diplomacy" — in response to goings-on in Zimbabwe, SA finally took a step forward last month, when President Cyril Ramaphosa sent special envoys Sydney Mufamadi and Baleka Mbete to suss out the situation across the border. It was a damp squib. After promising to discuss matters with relevant stakeholders, the envoys apparently...

It’s not surprising that AB InBev has begun the search for a successor to long-time CEO Carlos Brito. But it’s especially good news that the company is open to outside candidates, as reported by the Financial Times. A fresh face will be better placed to take the hard-nosed decisions on how to shape the maker of Budweiser and Leffe for the future, especially one where the need for socia...

The ANC has had numerous slogans over the years, retreaded for different election cycles. Few will forget the 1994 election debut of the party to the motto of "a better life for all". At the time, it was a galvanising slogan, easy to rally behind. During the Jacob Zuma years, and maybe a bit before, the slogan became a far more pragmatic one, with deep personal resonance for many of the party&rsqu...

For most of the summer, former vice-president Joe Biden has maintained a sizeable polling lead over President Donald Trump in the race for the US presidency. In recent weeks though, the polls have tightened. Some of this has to do with an improving health situation in the US from the pandemic (particularly around mortality rates); some of it has to do with the inevitable economic rebound that come...

Banks have had to change their business models more than in any other industry. New technology and capabilities that have been accelerated through the Covid-19 pandemic have further disrupted banking, including the hitherto slow-moving wealth management business. This has shown the importance and growth of digital banking. But with change comes caution and fear, so it remains key for banks to main...

London — Britain threw Brexit trade talks into chaos on Wednesday by announcing draft legislation that explicitly acknowledges some of its provisions would break international law, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The proposals, which the government has said would break international law “in a very specific and limited way”, have contributed to concerns that Britain could lea...

The declining number of Covid-19 infections in SA may see the country move to level 1 of lockdown in a few days’ time‚ health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday. The news comes as the country sits with a cumulative total of 640‚441 infections and 15‚086 deaths related to Covid-19. Speaking to Radio Islam‚ Mkhize said the worst was over. “We can safely say w...

The National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill has inadequate checks and balances to prevent money being looted on a huge scale, the DA warned on Wednesday. The bill, currently before parliament, is the first piece of enabling legislation for the government’s plans for universal health coverage. It proposes establishing a central NHI fund, overseen by a board appointed by the health minister, that...