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Cape Town - A roundup of Thursday's top economic and finance reads on Fin24.
Listeriosis: Class action suit against Tiger Brands, Enterprise launched in Johannesburg court
A class action suit has been launched against Tiger Brands [JSE:TBS] and Enterprise Foods at the Johannesburg High Court.
The group of ten applicants, who are demanding declaratory relief as well as damages, include:
* Those who contracted but did not die as a result of Listeriosis.
* Those who (in utero) contracted but did not die as a result of Listeriosis as a result of their mothers ingesting food products originating from or having passed through the Enterprise meat processing facility at Polokwane
* Those who were dependent upon persons who died from Listeriosis
* Those who were dependent upon persons who died as a consequence of contracting the disease.
- READ: Listeriosis: Class action suit against Tiger Brands, Enterprise launched in Johannesburg court
The Nkonki Pact Part 2: Eskom’s new billion-rand consulting deal for Essa & Co
National Treasury could hardly have been more explicit: lavish consulting contracts using weird and wonderful pricing models would no longer be tolerated.
For years Treasury had been trying, through memos and practice notes, to drum this into state-owned entities like Eskom – with little success.
Just over a year ago, a damning report warned Eskom that one of these contracts – where global consulting firm McKinsey was paid “at risk”, meaning it would get a percentage of savings it identified – had left the power utility open to “excessive economic exposure”.
Eskom faced a potential R2.8bn claim for savings that might never materialise, the report warned, and was forced to settle for R1.6bn.
Did SARS Gupta VAT refund break financial law?
The pay agent company who received the Gupta VAT payout by the SA Revenue Service was not registered with the Payment Association of South Africa, which means the transaction may have broken financial laws.
It was revealed in October last year during Oakbay’s court case against the Bank of Baroda that the pay agent, Terbium Financial Services, was not registered with PASA.
The association is a payment system management body recognised by the SA Reserve Bank under its National Payment Systems Act, which states that all third-party payment providers must be registered with it.
Court rejects Numsa's urgent bid to block IPP signing
The high court has rejected an urgent application to interdict the signing of 27 outstanding renewable independent power producer (IPP) projects.
The North Gauteng High Court on Thursday struck the application by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Transform RSA from the roll, Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi confirmed to Fin24 by phone. The union will study the judgment to decide if it wants to pursue the matter further.
The matter was heard in court on Tuesday. Numsa’s legal counsel Advocate Nazeer Cassim argued that the signing of the IPPs could be viewed as a form of economic looting, Fin24 reported.
SA has trade surplus in February, rebounding from gap
South Africa’s trade balance swung to a surplus in February after recording the biggest deficit in at least 28 years a month earlier, as exports of vehicles and transport equipment more than doubled and machinery imports declined.
The R431.4m surplus compares with January’s revised R27.1bn negative balance, the SA Revenue Service said in an emailed statement on Thursday. The median estimate of three economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a R1bn surplus. The surplus was R5bn a year earlier.
Positive trade balances have eased pressure on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, boosting the rand. The currency is the best performer worldwide against the dollar since the ruling African National Congress voted for Cyril Ramaphosa to lead the party in December, ending Jacob Zuma’s reign.
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