1ST XI CRUMBLES
By Jacqui Pile
With the retirement of five of the 11 constitutional court judges in 2009, the last judges from the brilliant Class of '95 - the first bench appointed - will leave SA's highest court. The retirement will mark the biggest turnov...
PUTTING DOWN STRONGER ROOTS
By Stephan Hofstätter
As a rudderless Land Bank lurches from scandal to scandal, government is desperately trying to turn the ailing parastatal around. Senior officials, remaining Land Bank board members, agricultural economists and black and white far...
OIL KEEPS BARRELLING ALONG
By Nicky Smith
Oil prices are on the verge of breaking the US$100/barrel level - but the future is uncertain because supply and demand issues are clouded by geopolitical and financial pressures. With oil at record highs and calls on oil producers ...
QUIETLY GROWING
By Claire Bisseker
SA's economy is proving remarkably resilient - despite higher interest rates, rising inflation and a strong rand - with GDP growing at a surprisingly robust 4,7% in the third quarter, well above consensus expectations of 4,2%. The...
BUILDING UP STEAM
By David Williams
Transnet's financial results and annual reports are presented in a way that doesn't appear to differentiate it from listed companies. There is certainly substantial disclosure and plenty for analysts to mull over, and few could complai...
GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE
By Jacqui Pile
SA business can expect stricter regulation and green taxes as government increases efforts to curb the emission of greenhouse gases. Last week, the first carbon disclosure project report into SA's top 40 listed companies showed that...
FIGHTING FOR TARIFF INCREASES
By Nicky Smith
As pressure mounts on regulators to reject Eskom's request for 18%-plus tariff increases, the electricity utility is fighting back. Finance director Bongani Nqwababa says it will need "balance sheets other than our own" to raise the f...
LEG-UP FROM THE UN
By David Furlonger
The department of trade & industry (DTI) has agreed in principle to support a new United Nations programme to make SA's automotive components sector more competitive. Though the programme is independent of the DTI's motor industry d...
WITHSTANDING THE HEADWINDS
FNB economist Cees Bruggemans (CB) recently convened a panel of economists - Bureau for Economic Research (BER) Chief economist Pieter Laubscher (PL) and BER senior economist Charles Martin (CM), SA Federation of Civil...
ROOM TO MOVE
By Heather Formby
Hollard has a low-key public profile. Many know it best for its short-term insurance company, SA's third-largest. Yet the group's capital and short- and long-term insurance licen ces are used as the backbone for other better-known bran...
