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Former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe is still dominating business news, while the rand is showing some muscle. Here is a round-up of the top stories on Fin24.
Molefe challenges his removal as Eskom CEO
Molefe isn't leaving the power utility without a fight. Molefe, whose appointment was rescinded on Friday, is challenging the Eskom board's decision to remove him from office.
According to Molefe, he took early retirement in mistaken belief he was entitled to it. This followed a damning report by the Office of the Public Protector into state capture.
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) believes Molefe’s Labour Court action "is an attempt to hold the power utility to ransom".
Staying with Eskom, the power utility is seeking another tariff hike
Eskom confirmed that the board approved a draft revenue application for Nersa’s approval, after a leaked document showed it wants clients to pay 19.9% more in 2018.
“The previous multi-year decision made by Nersa for the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2018 comes to an end on 31 March 2018,” Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh said in a statement on Monday.
“Therefore, there is a need for Eskom to make the next application. Nersa has approved that Eskom can make a revenue application for a single financial year – the 2018/19 year.”
Guptas' troubles mount as another JSE sponsor ditches Oakbay
Group has terminated its role as Oakbay Resources and Energy sponsor on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the Gupta-owned mining firm announced on Monday.
SPECIAL ISSUE:#GuptaLeaks
The River Group decision was based on their “revised assessment of association risk surrounding the company and its shareholders”, Oakbay said in a statement on Monday.
Oakbay Resources is facing mounting
challenges, as media houses published daily exposes from the
#GuptaLeaks, a database of between 100 000 and 200 000 emails that
reveal behind-scenes communications of the Guptas many enterprises. They
family and their companies are the focus on intense scrutiny after
allegations of state capture linking them to President Jacob Zuma and
his political allies.
Oakbay reported an operating loss of R1.279bn for the year ended February 2017, from a prior loss of R1.5m. The firm’s cash on hand dwindled from R225m in 2016 to R2.7m in 2017.
Fin24's Matthew le Cordeur has the story
Cell C's big, cheap data bundles to shake up market
Cell C has slashed its data packages in what is sure to cause upheaval in the data market place, writes Fin24 technology reporter Kyle Venktess.
Cell C said falling data prices in South Africa enabled it to engineer competitive packages. Its new bundle deals now rival Telkom’s FreeMe bundles.
The operator's new deal introduces a range of five new competitive packages as part of their Connector plans to compete directly against Telkom’s competitive FreeMe bundles.
The five new Connector Plans offer customers up to 50GB data and 3000 any-net voice minutes monthly.
All the plans are available as SIM only on a month-to-month, or customers can opt for a 24-month contract term. Patrons can also choose a device and then pay off the device over the contract term.
Rand powers ahead on heightened global risks
Moving on to the markets.... The rand continued to strengthen on Monday morning after gains it made last week in response to the decision by two rating agencies to keep South Africa’s credit rating unchanged.
A strong inflow of foreign capital into the South African bond market, which can easily be turned around at any time in response to political upheaval, pushed the rand to R1.69 to the dollar by mid-morning, the strongest since March 23 this year.
Adding to the rand’s gains were weekend events that dented the dollar and pound, including a terrorist attack in London and the decision by a four-country alliance led by Saudi Arabia to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.
Have a look at Fin24's markets page to track all the movements.
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