KHARTOUM (Reuters) &#8211; Sudan’s amended budget for 2020 includes a currency adjustment programmme beginning in August that aims to reach a full currency float in two years, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.



The country’s currency recently fell to a record low of 150 Sudanese pounds to the dollar on the black market, compared with 55 at the official rate. The black market rate was 140 pounds to the dollar on Wednesday.



A little over a year after a popular uprising that put Sudan on a shaky path towards democracy, its economy is at risk of freefall, hammered by an inflation rate of more than 100% and frequent shortages of bread and medicine.



The private sector will be allowed to import unlimited quantities of fuel to address shortages, which will lead to a “rationalization” of its price, Acting Finance Minister Hiba Mohamed Ali said, referring to a removal of subsidies to help meet the reform demands of international donors.



The government source said the sector would be allowed to import fuel using dollars at the free market price in August.



Fuel imports would be secured through a previously announced trade financing fund, Ali said. The fund has a $1 billion portfolio to be used for imports, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said in a speech on Wednesday. Resolving the country’s trade imbalance is a priority for the government, Hamdok said.



In an exception to the “rationalization” drive, subsidized fuel could still be sold to productive sectors like agriculture.



The reforms come as part of an adjusted 2020 budget to be passed by Sudan’s cabinet and sovereign council, acting in a parliamentary capacity, within days, the government source said.



Ali said a budget adjustment was necessary to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which had cut public revenue by 40%.



Khartoum is in desperate need of international financial help to reorganise its economy, and the government is printing money to subsidise bread, fuel and electricity. The finance minister said the government would continue to subsidize bread, medicine and cooking oil as part of the 2020 budget.



Foreign donor nations in June pledged $1.8 billion at a conference hosted by Germany to help Sudan ease an economic crisis hampering its transition towards democracy. Ali said that $484.7 million of that money has been set aside for a cash transfer programme to support poor families.

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Sudan 2020 budget will adjust currency, aim for float in 2 years -government source

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Petra Diamonds shares fell on Thursday after it reported selling 23% fewer diamond carats for 36% less revenue in the year to June 30 as the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a fresh blow to a struggling diamond industry.



Petra sold 2.9 million carats in its full-year 2020, down from 3.7 million in the previous year, while revenues dropped to $295.8 million from $463.6 million.



The falls reflect already weaker diamond prices to February this year, which were exacerbated when the pandemic disrupted sales cycles. Petra shares were down 5.8% at 1.55p by 0758 GMT. The stock has fallen 81% this year, Refinitiv data showed.



Petra cancelled May and June tenders because of travel restrictions and low demand from the midstream. It plans to hold its next tender in September.



The African diamond miner is restructuring debt. It said discussions with noteholders and South African lenders continued and it expects to announce progress this quarter.



Production fell 7% year-on-year, partly because Petra’s Williamson mine in Tanzania has been shut since the start of April. It remains suspended due to the impact of low pricing on its liquidity, the company said.



South Africa’s coronavirus lockdown also caused Petra’s mines there to shut for three weeks from March 26.



Petra said it is targeting a ramp-up to pre-COVID-19 production levels, and will give production guidance for 2021 once it reaches a “sustainable level of operational stability”.



Petra’s free cash flow fell to $53.6 million by June 30, from $64.2 million on March 30, while net debt rose to $658 million from $601 million.



As South Africa’s COVID-19 epidemic worsens, Petra said 39 workers have been confirmed coronavirus positive at its South African operations so far, and one worker at the Cullinan mine has died of the respiratory disease.

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Petra Diamonds full-year revenues drop 36%, COVID-19 weighs

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a roughly 5 billion rand ($300 million) loan to the South African government to help it fight the COVID-19 pandemic and support its budget, the bank said on Wednesday.



Africa’s most industrialised economy was in recession even before COVID-19 started ravaging its economy. Forecasts are now for gross domestic product to shrink by at least 7% this year, and a budget deficit of around 15% of GDP.



The country has recorded the most coronavirus infections in Africa, with more than 380,000 cases.



The AfDB said in a statement that the loan was to protect lives and promote access to essential medical equipment, to protect livelihoods by preserving jobs, and to support companies in the formal and informal economy.



“South Africa’s ability to respond to the pandemic has implications for neighbouring countries as well as the continent as a whole,” the bank said.



South Africa has also approached the International Monetary Fund for financial support in its fight against the coronavirus. The IMF is expected to consider its request next week.



The development bank of the BRICS group of nations approved a $1 billion COVID-19 loan for South Africa earlier this year.



($1 = 16.4914 rand)

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African Development Bank approves 5 bln rand loan to South Africa

The South African government has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $4.2 billion. The money would come from a facility that provides financing to countries



facing an urgent balance of payments need, without the need to have a full-fledged program in place.



According to the IMF managing director this means that the recipient can spend the money freely but should keep the receipts. Nevertheless, reports that South Africa has been negotiating a letter of intent with the IMF suggests that at least part of the financing will be linked to tougher IMF conditionalities.



The letter of intent is a letter from the government to the IMF in which it sets out the policies that it intends to implement to correct the macro-economic problems that caused it to seek IMF support. The IMF board decides to provide a country with financing on the basis of this letter. Its contents are the core of the conditionalities attached to IMF financing.



South Africans will learn the actual terms of the IMF financing at the end of July when its board of directors considers the country’s request for financial assistance.



But many have already made up their minds about this transaction. Some see it as a humiliating defeat in which the country will be forced to surrender its sovereignty and accept demeaning and immiserating economic policies. Others see it as the first step back from the abyss. They expect the IMF to force the country to take its medicine, as bitter as it may be, and regain economic health.



Both these views are overwrought and ultimately misleading. South Africa has more bargaining power in its relationship with the IMF than either view suggests. In the end, the terms of the IMF arrangement will depend on how effective the government was in its negotiations with the IMF.



To understand this, we need to answer three questions: Will South Africa have to surrender part of its sovereignty to the IMF? Is the IMF a particularly unreasonable negotiating partner? What responsibilities does the IMF have in negotiating the conditions?



The three questions Will South Africa have to surrender part of its sovereignty to the IMF?



Sovereignty is a complicated and sensitive issue. It raises concerns about a state’s autonomy and ability to control its own destiny. One manifestation of sovereignty is a state’s decision to sign an international agreement. It shows that it is an actor on the international stage capable of reaching binding agreements with other subjects of international law – states and international organisations like the IMF.



Nevertheless, most international agreements restrict the sovereign’s freedom of action.



Consider, for example, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. This agreement obliges South Africa to open – and keep open – its economy to trade with the rest of Africa. Before agreeing to this limitation on its freedom of action, South Africa negotiated with its co-signatories to minimise the cost of its commitments and maximise the benefits it expects from the arrangement.



South Africa’s arrangement with the IMF is similar. It is exercising its sovereign prerogatives when it decides to enter into an arrangement with the IMF. Before doing so, the country should negotiate for the best possible deal with the IMF.



Is the IMF a particularly unreasonable negotiating partner?



No bank, charitable foundation or international financial institution provides large amounts of financing without attaching conditions designed to ensure that the recipient uses the funds responsibly and pays them back as agreed. These conditions can range from demanding collateral to requiring promises that restrict the recipient’s future conduct in some way, such as limiting the ways in which it can use the funds.



The IMF conditions its financing on policy measures rather than on collateral or promises about the use of the funds. Historically, these conditions were ideologically driven and controversial. They included reducing the economic role of the state, making economies more market friendly and more globalised.



More recently the IMF leadership has incorporated issues such as inclusiveness, sustainability, social safety nets and gender parity.



It is not easy to predict what the exact mix of conditions will be in any particular case. The experience of other countries suggests that the actual mix is a negotiated outcome. Consequently, the conditions’ content and wording will depend on the country’s economic situation, its willingness to engage in tough negotiations with the IMF and on how effective it is in convincing the IMF of the validity of its positions.



What responsibilities does the IMF have in negotiating the conditions?



The IMF’s Articles of Agreement states that it should help countries



correct maladjustments in their balance of payments without resorting to measures destructive of national or international prosperity.



Thus, the IMF should demonstrate that whatever conditions it attaches to its funding are consistent with the recipient’s prosperity over the medium term. It must also show that it is not helping one IMF member state at the expense of its responsibilities to other member states.



In addition, the IMF, like any international organisation, should comply with applicable customary international law principles.



First, it must respect the sovereignty of its member states, including their laws. Second, it must respect their international legal obligations and not undermine their ability to meet these obligations. Third, the IMF, which is a specialised UN agency, should, pursuant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, [contribute to securing the



universal and effective recognition and observance&#8221; of human rights.



Based on these principles, the IMF has three responsibilities in regard to its arrangement with South Africa. First, it must ensure that the conditions attached to its financing are consistent with the South African constitution. In particular this means that the IMF must ensure that its conditionalities are consistent with the bill of rights in the constitution.



Second, the IMF must make sure that it does not require anything that is inconsistent with South Africa’s treaty commitments. These includes the state’s international human rights and environmental obligations. Out of respect for South African sovereignty, the IMF must defer to South Africa’s interpretation of these commitments, provided they are not inconsistent with international law.



Third, the IMF should explain how it has determined that the effect of its conditionalities is consistent with the applicable international legal principles. It is important to note that this requirement does not mean the IMF cannot require the state to take such actions as cutting its budget. But it does mean that the IMF has a responsibility to show that these cuts are the least cost way of achieving its objectives.



South Africans should not view the IMF either as the protagonist in its nightmares, or as its saviour. Instead the country should treat it as it would any other financial institution. It should demand that it live up to its own international responsibilities and demonstrate why it thinks its agreement with the government will benefit all South Africans.

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South Africans should accept that the IMF is neither their worst enemy nor their saviour

(Reuters) &#8211; Tesla Inc (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TSLA.O">TSLA.O</a>) on Wednesday posted a second-quarter profit as cost cuts and strong deliveries helped offset coronavirus-related factory shutdowns, sending its stock up 4.4% in after-hours trading and clearing a hurdle that could lead to the electric carmaker&#8217;s inclusion in the S&amp;P 500 index&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/markets/index?symbol=.SPX">.SPX</a>.



Tesla said it earned net income of $104 million from April to June, or $0.50 per share, marking the first time the company has posted a profit for four straight quarters, a condition for it to be considered for the stock index of the largest U.S. companies. (See graphic:&nbsp;<a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/3hw2RwV">tmsnrt.rs/3hw2RwV</a>)



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GettyImages-1175368064-1110x740.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-361863"/><figcaption>SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk speaks in front of Crew Dragon cleanroom at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California on October 10, 2019. (Photo by Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



The performance is a major accomplishment for Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose mission of leading the global auto industry into an electric future has frequently been questioned by investors who doubted Tesla’s viability.



Its shares have gained more than 500% over the past year. Many analysts believe the rally has been fueled in part by expectations of Tesla’s imminent inclusion in the stock index, which would unleash a flood of demand for shares.



Musk on a conference call on Wednesday said Tesla would prioritize growth over profit going forward and focus on making its vehicles more affordable.



“The thing that bugs me most right now is that our cars are not affordable enough, we need to fix that,” Musk said on the call. “I think we just want to be like slightly profitable and maximize growth and make the cars as affordable as possible.”



The price of a Model 3 sedan, its most popular vehicle, starts at $37,990 in the United States.



Musk also announced that Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, would be the site of Tesla’s new factory. The area had been competing with Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the new plant, which promises to create at least 5,000 jobs.



Musk said the factory would produce Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for the Eastern United States, as well as a new semi-truck called the Tesla Semi and the carmaker’s futuristic Cybertruck.



Tesla on Wednesday affirmed its goal to deliver at least half a million vehicles by the end of 2020 despite production interruptions, including the shutting of its California factory for nearly six weeks of the quarter on orders of local authorities. The company delivered more than 90,000 vehicles in the second quarter, surpassing analyst expectations.



“While achieving this goal has become more difficult, delivering half a million vehicles in 2020 remains our target,” the company said.



Musk said on Wednesday’s call that the real limitation to Tesla’s growth is battery cell production at an affordable price, and said the company would expand its business with Panasonic Corp (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/6752.T">6752.T</a>) and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/300750.SZ">300750.SZ</a>).



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://t.co/jmkacbRb5D">https://t.co/jmkacbRb5D</a>&mdash; Tesla (@Tesla) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1286057855422881792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Tesla will introduce new low-cost, long-life batteries in its Model 3 sedan in China later this year or early next, Reuters reported previously.



Tesla’s second-quarter revenue fell to $6.04 billion from $6.35 billion a year earlier, but surpassed analyst expectations for revenue of $5.37 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.



Tesla reported $5.18 billion in second-quarter automotive revenue, but its share of income from regulatory credits &#8211; payments the company receives from other carmakers to offset emissions &#8211; increased to $428 million from $354 million in the first quarter.



That revenue could dry up as more manufacturers develop and sell electric cars, but many rivals are still focused on reaping the high profit margins from fuel-guzzling trucks and SUVs.



“Right now in the EV market, it’s Tesla’s world and everyone else is paying rent, a dynamic shown front and center this quarter,” Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst, said in a note.



Tesla’s rapid rise to become the world’s most valuable carmaker could mark the start of a new era for the global auto industry, defined by a Silicon Valley approach to software that is overtaking old-school manufacturing know-how.



The company said higher income from those regulatory credits in combination with temporary employee salary cuts during the pandemic and $48 million in deferred revenue from its yet-to-be-released self-driving feature offset the cost of factory shutdowns.



Musk on Tuesday qualified for a payout worth an unprecedented $2.1 billion, his second jackpot since May from the electric car maker following its massive stock surge.

How Elon Musk Took Tesla To Hell And Back With The Model 3

Tesla’s profit sets up S&P 500 entry, while African born Elon Musk pushes for growth

NEW YORK (Reuters) &#8211; Corporate America is downsizing its real estate footprint as companies allow more employees to work from home, a growing threat to the bottom line of owners of traditional office buildings and a sign that companies are looking for ways to cut costs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.



A Reuters analysis of quarterly earnings calls over the past week revealed more than 25 large companies plan to reduce their office space in the year ahead, a move designed to reduce the second-largest expense after payrolls at corporations.



Energy company Halliburton Co said it intends to close more than 100 facilities. Financial services company State Street Corp said it is going to nearly double the workers assigned to one office before adding additional space, based on the assumption that a significant portion of its workforce will continue to work from home even after a vaccine for COVID-19 emerges. Bedding company Sleep Number Corp plans to slow the growth of its total square footage as more consumers shop online.



“You should expect and hold us to a much lower footprint really starting quite soon,” State Street Corp’s CEO, Ronald Philip O’Hanley, said on the company’s July 17 earnings call.



Regions Financial Corp, meanwhile, told analysts: “Whether through increased use of hoteling, work from home or modified scheduling, we are confident overall office square footage will continue to decline,” as some workers share desks or stop coming into the building.



Analysts say the plans to cut back on real estate are likely the first wave of cost-cutting measures to hit office workers as companies try to maintain margins going into what may be a long recession. So far, the majority of the 14.7 million U.S. jobs lost during the pandemic have been in hard-hit areas such as restaurants, travel and retailers.



Reductions in office spending could likely be followed by layoffs and investments in technology that should help improve productivity with a reduced workforce, said Bill McMahon, chief investment officer of active equity strategies at Charles Schwab.



“Clearly, we’re seeing businesses starting to rationalize their physical plants and at some point they will turn to labor too,” he said.



Morgan Stanley in June forecast that work-from-home policies will increase vacancy rates in office buildings. Vacancy rates in New York will reach 10%-12% in the next two to five years from 8.7% now, while San Francisco will reach 7-9% from 5.8%, it predicted.



So far, concerns about declining office space use have not hurt commercial mortgaged-backed securities, with the iShares CMBS ETF up 4.4% for the year to date.



While companies tend to cut back on their real estate needs during typical recessions, the last four months of economic lockdown have shown that many workers can remain productive at home, said Danny Ismail, an analyst at independent research firm Green Street Advisors. As a result, the cutbacks that companies are making are more likely to be permanent, he said.



“Every company just went through a mass work-from-home experience and for the majority it was mostly positive,” he said.



Green Street Advisors expects that office demand will be reduced by up to 15% as a result of work from home policies once the coronavirus pandemic is contained.



That reduction in necessary space will most likely hurt real estate investment firms with large exposures in cities such as San Francisco and New York as workers are expected to be given more freedom by employers to live in lower-cost areas away from the coasts, Ismail said.



“Even before COVID-19, you’d seen a migration from majority coastal cities along the Northeast and West Coast to Sun Belt markets,” he said, referring to the region stretching from Florida to Southern California, collectively known as the Sun Belt. “We think that will accelerate in the future as the cost of living, quality of life and ability to keep your job is much better in a post-COVID-19 world than before.”

wall street

Who needs an office? US companies cut back

(Reuters) &#8211; Tesla will build its next factory near Austin, Texas, Chief Executive Elon Musk announced late on Wednesday.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="410" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1155740300-594x594.jpg" alt="Billionaire Elon Musk: I am not Warren Buffett’s biggest fan" class="wp-image-351991" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1155740300-594x594.jpg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1155740300-594x594-300x207.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1155740300-594x594-100x70.jpg 100w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gettyimages-1155740300-594x594-218x150.jpg 218w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption>Billionaire Elon Musk: I am not Warren Buffett’s biggest fan (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for E3/Entertainment Software Association)</figcaption></figure>



The 2,000-acre site on the Colorado River is about 13 minutes from downtown Austin, Musk said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.



“It’s going to be an ecological paradise &#8230; open to the public,” he said.



Musk said Tesla would consider site runner-up Tulsa, Oklahoma, for future production.



Musk and his team met earlier this month with officials in both states, which were competing to land the $1.1 billion plant.



Musk on Wednesday said the plant will build Tesla’s new Cybertruck and its heavy-duty Semi truck, as well as the Model 3 and Model Y cars for eastern North America.



Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement on Wednesday: “Tesla is one of the most exciting and innovative companies in the world, and we are proud to welcome its team to the State of Texas,” said Governor Abbott. “Texas has the best workforce in the nation and we’ve built an economic environment that allows companies like Tesla to innovate and succeed.”

African born Elon Musk’s Tesla selects Texas as site for Cybertruck factory

It says a lot about the character of Andrew Mlangeni that when he was released from prison in 1989 – for crimes he didn’t commit, by the way – he returned to his humble abode in Dube, in Soweto, near Johannesburg; the very family home where police burst into his bedroom in the middle of a cold winter’s night in 1963 to arrest him.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-1110x738.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-376816" width="569" height="377" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-1110x738.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-2048x1362.jpg 2048w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-1068x710.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-1920x1277.jpg 1920w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_1392-1-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 569px) 100vw, 569px" /></figure>



This home was as humble and wholesome as the man’s approach to life. Sure, Mlangeni enjoyed a convivial party and the golf course, but not for him sipping Chivas Regal in a polo club, nor huge flashy houses, nor the latest luxury cars; never greed, nor vast wealth, for Andrew Mlangeni. For what? He would have said. During all those murky years of the President Jacob Zuma, when did anyone ever see the name of Mlangeni come up? Never.



“He was a principled man, of note,” says former finance minister and parliamentary colleague Nhlanlha Nene.



Principle that cost Mlangeni &nbsp;more than a quarter of his life behind bars for something he didn’t do. He told me that the police merely transferred the charges of sabotage levelled at his comrade, the late former defence minister Joe Modise, to him.



“I didn’t do anything!” Mlangeni told me half a century later. He pleaded guilty with Nelson Mandela &nbsp;and his comrades in a show of solidarity intended to put the apartheid government on trial. It worked and overnight the accused transcended criminal charges to be seen as the freedom fighting Benjamin Franklins of Africa.



Mlangeni grew up in Soweto as a towering man of principle, who never backed down. When he was arrested in 1963, police tortured him brutally with electrodes and their fists. In a chance meeting in 2010, ironically in the colonial splendour of the Rand Club in downtown Johannesburg, Mlangeni &nbsp;puffed on a Consulate cigarette, with a group of friends,as he told me of this torture 50 years before. The police tortured him with electrodes and dished out arguably the worst beating inflicted on any of the Rivonia trialists. He said at one point the police were waterboarding him; that is, holding a bag over his head while they poured water through.



“I felt my lungs fill up, I was drowning, I was gone…then one of the police hit me hard in the stomach and all of the water spurted out of me and I was OK!”



All of us listening, over post lunch drinks, laughed including the late veteran photographer, Alf Kumalo, who once had his skull cracked in police cells. If you have suffered through politics or journalism, as Alf had in both, you tend to see the funny side of the ugliest of moments.



Everyone has and Andrew Mlangeni story including Sello Hatang the chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.



“He called me Murwa because I shared a first name with his son. He always made time for me, and always brought a smile to my face with his dry, self-deprecating sense of humour. When asked one day about his lifelong smoking habit, for instance, he responded: It has ruined my singing voice.’’ When asked on another occasion, late in life, if he was still playing golf, he said: ‘If not for my knee I would still be out on the tee,’” recalls Hatang.



It was fitting, in 2018, that Mlangeni was awarded the prestigious freedom of Johannesburg – the city where he was put in chains and incarcerated a lifetime ago. A precious gift of freedom to a man who knew how hard and painful it was to achieve. &nbsp;

Andrew Mlangeni

How a brutal torturer saved Andrew Mlangeni from death by drowning.

Andrew Mlangeni represented the views of the working class, a young lion, a man of integrity, and a person who advocated the political revolution for South Africa. He was active in the struggle against apartheid. The rights of especially the black majority were seriously curtailed and they did not have the right to vote and they were stripped of their citizenship, which led many of them fail to acquire basic education and better healthcare and now post democracy, black people started to have electricity and basic human rights. Our generation has a lot to do in continuing to transform South Africa, and above all, we must learn from this generation that was very smart to have a project preparation for South African democracy, a room for shared growth, inclusive growth and stakeholder capitalism.



Isithwalandwe Andrew Mlangeni was very discipline, very strong and tough. He was not defining a revolution through holding a political position but to serve where he was requested by the movement. He was a Rivonia Trialist, a trained silent revolutionary, with traits of Marketing the revolution and recruiting the right future legionaries. was active in the struggle against apartheid



Andrew Mlangeni had national purpose influence to others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. He remained a humble leader. He believed in African Nationalism.



Apartheid was a policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. South Africans were banned from interracial marriage and the government had complete authority to keep any areas for whites only. Thousands of homes in racially mixed areas were destroyed. Dennis Goldberg was one of the leaders who wanted to see a united South Africa and decided not to enjoy the benefits.



Apartheid was officially described as a crime against humanity by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966, its eradication is one of the major positive human rights stories of the 20th century.



South African youth must embrace transformative constitutionalism and at the heart of it, is a commitment to substantive reasoning, to examining the underlying principles that inform laws themselves and judicial reaction to those laws. Ethics, Practical wisdom and courage is required from all South Africans alive, to build a better future for generations to come.



Andrew Mlangeni, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg and others were sentenced to life in prison on charges of sabotage on June 12, 1964. He was released in 1989 after negotiations with the apartheid government started. Now we are talking because they were pacesetters and had wisdom to sacrifice for all of us to have a better future.



In 1999 Mlangeni was awarded the Order for Meritorious Service Class I: Gold. In 2016 he received the Freedom of the City of Johannesburg. In July 2018 he received the prestigious Freedom of the City of London, after being unable to travel to the United Kingdom when the honour was originally bestowed on him in 2016.



May His Soul Rest in Peace.



Miyelani Mkhabela

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Andrew Mlangeni, a working class young lion of Africa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Thousands of South African restaurant and bar owners placed tables and chairs on the streets outside their premises on Wednesday in a nationwide protest against lockdown restrictions that prevent them from selling alcohol or trading after 9 p.m.



The nation’s hospitality sector is one of the hardest-hit by government restrictions imposed at the end of March to curb the spread of the coronavirus.



At the end of June, restaurants were allowed to offer sit-down services again, but at limited capacity and without serving alcohol.



But that is not enough for Llewy Mateza, owner of The Local Grill in the Parktown North suburb of Johannesburg.



“I’d like the government to reinstate the sale of alcohol, which would then make my business sustainable to a certain extent. Alcohol in my restaurant accounts for 40% of my sales,” Mateza said outside his 150-seater steakhouse that has not re-opened since the end of March.



He has not laid off staff, but about 70% of them have not received any money yet from the government’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), which has been paying out COVID-19 relief payments to employees who cannot work as a result of the restrictions.



The Department of Employment and Labour has said the delays in payments have been due to a lengthy vetting process and adapting its systems to cope with a ten-fold increase in benefit payments.



Mxolisi Mhlongo, a waiter at The Local Grill, said he was selling fish and vegetables from his garden to fend for his wife and three children.



Waiter Devin Moyo, who works at nearby restaurant Rockets, said he had not been able to afford the smallest things for his family.



“Just to pay the bills has become a problem. The government hasn’t done enough in helping us with the UIF so most of the families are going to bed hungry,” Moyo said, holding a placard reading #JobsSaveLives.



Wendy Alberts, chief executive officer of the Restaurant Association of South Africa, said about 400,000 jobs have been lost in the sector since the end of March, with more businesses closing their doors permanently every day.



A recent survey by Esus-Group found about 67% of restaurants were receiving less than 20% of their usual monthly turnover compared to July last year, while 90% of fine-dining restaurants had stayed shut since the lockdown began.

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South African restaurants plead for end to ‘job-killing’ restrictions

FRANKFURT/BEIJING/DETROIT (Reuters) &#8211; Tesla Inc’s (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/TSLA.O">TSLA.O</a>) rapid rise to become the world’s most valuable carmaker could mark the start of a new era for the global auto industry, defined by a Silicon Valley approach to software that is overtaking old-school manufacturing know-how.



Tesla’s ascent took many investors by surprise. But executives at Daimler AG (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/DAIGn.DE">DAIGn.DE</a>), the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, had a close-up view starting in 2009 of how Tesla and its chief executive Elon Musk were taking a new approach to building vehicles that challenged the established system.



Daimler, which bears the name of the man who invented the modern car 134 years ago, bought a nearly 10% Tesla stake in May 2009 in a deal which provided a $50 million lifeline for the struggling start-up.&nbsp;&nbsp;



That investment gave Mercedes engineers an inside view of how Musk was willing to launch technology that wasn’t perfect, and then repeatedly upgrade it, using smartphone style over-the-air updates, paying little regard to early profitability.



Mercedes engineers helped Tesla develop its Model S luxury sedan in exchange for access to Tesla’s partially hand-assembled battery packs, but in 2014 Daimler decided to sell their stake amid doubts Tesla’s approach could be industrialized at scale.



Tesla would go on to pioneer new approaches in manufacturing, designs in software and electronic architecture which enable it to introduce innovations faster than rivals, leaving analysts to draw comparisons with Apple (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/AAPL.O">AAPL.O</a>).



Three people directly involved with the Mercedes side of the collaboration said the brief partnership highlighted the collision of old and new engineering cultures: the German obsession with long-term safety and control, which rewarded evolution, and the Silicon Valley carmaker’s experimental approach which embraced radical thinking and fast innovation.



“Elon Musk has been walking on the edge of a razorblade in terms of the aggression with which he pushes some technologies,” said a former Mercedes engineer who worked on the partnership.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RELATED COVERAGE</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-singapore/tesla-hiring-servicing-staff-in-unsupportive-singapore-idUSKCN24N0EF">Tesla hiring servicing staff in &#8216;unsupportive&#8217; Singapore</a></li></ul>



By contrast, Mercedes and other established automakers are still not comfortable about releasing a new technology, such as partially automated driving, without years of testing.



Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.



Investors favor the Tesla model, in an industry undergoing fundamental and dizzying change even though the U.S. carmaker will face an onslaught of competing electric vehicles from established automakers during the next few years.



They are putting their money on Musk and his company, even though Mercedes-Benz alone sold 935,089 cars in the first half of 2020, dwarfing the 179,050 delivered by Tesla in the same period.



Today, Tesla is worth nearly $304.6 billion, more than six times Daimler’s 41.5-billion-euro ($47.7 billion) market capitalization.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://graphics.reuters.com/AUTOS-TESLA/NEWERA/bdwvkerrkvm/img/tesla.JPG" alt=""/></figure>



GRAPHICTesla electrifies the auto industry’s new era



TWO CULTURES COLLIDE &nbsp;



Daimler and Tesla began collaborating after Mercedes engineers, who were developing a second-generation electric Smart car, bought a Tesla Roadster. They were impressed by the way Tesla packaged batteries, so arranged a visit to Silicon Valley to meet Musk in January 2009 and ordered 1,000 battery packs.



The collaboration expanded. At a joint press conference in the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart in May 2009, Tesla said the partnership would “accelerate bringing our Tesla Model S to production and ensure that it is a superlative vehicle”.



For its part, Mercedes wanted to use Tesla’s batteries to power an electric version of its compact Mercedes-Benz B-Class. The Tesla Model S would hit the road in 2012. An electric B-Class, arrived in showrooms two years later.



Despite having batteries supplied by Tesla, the Mercedes had a shorter operating range after Daimler engineers configured the B-class more conservatively to address their concerns about long-term battery degradation and the risk of overheating, a second Daimler staffer who worked on the joint projects told Reuters.



German engineers found that Tesla engineers had not done long-term stress tests on its battery. “We had to devise our own programme of stress tests,” the second Daimler engineer said.



Before starting production of a new car, Daimler engineers specify a “Lastenheft” &#8211; a blueprint laying out the properties of each component for suppliers. Significant changes cannot be made once the design is frozen.



“This is also the way you can guarantee that we will be profitable during mass production. Tesla was not as concerned about this aspect,” the second Daimler source said.



Daimler’s engineers suggested the underbody of the Model S needed reinforcing to prevent debris from the road puncturing a battery pack, the first Daimler engineer said.



To quash doubts about safety and security, following a series of battery fires, Tesla raised the ride height of its vehicles, using an over-the-air update, and a few months later, in March 2014, said it would add a triple underbody shield to new Model S cars and offered to retrofit existing cars.



Musk was able to make adjustments quickly thanks to Tesla’s ability to burn through more cash during development.



“At Mercedes you can make such adjustments every three years at best,” the engineer said.



The Model S, a four-door electric sedan would go on to outsell the flagship Mercedes-Benz S-Class in the United States in May 2013, and outstrip S-Class deliveries globally by 2017.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MUSK: INNOVATE OR GO</h3>



Musk&#8217;s relentless focus on innovation explains, in part, why he has disrupted the traditional auto world. In an interview&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp8smJFaKYE">here</a>&nbsp;at the 2020 Air Warfare Symposium, published on YouTube, he was asked about the importance of innovation among his employees.





“We certainly need those that do advanced engineering to be innovative,” Musk said. “The incentive structure is set up &#8230; such that innovation is rewarded. Making mistakes along the way does not come with a big penalty. But failure to try to innovate at all &#8230; comes with a big penalty. You will be fired.”



Established automakers are playing catch-up to Tesla, designing their own software operating systems and dedicated electric cars.



Mercedes will release its EQS next year &#8211; a four-door limousine built on a dedicated electric vehicle platform, with an operating range of 700 km. A new version of the Mercedes S-Class, which will have combustion and hybrid powertrains and semi-autonomous driver assistance systems, is due this year.Slideshow&nbsp;(4 Images)



From an investor perspective, traditional players face billions of dollars in restructuring costs as they transform product lines and factories to move away from internal combustion technology



“No one is going to give an OEM (established automaker) a five-year window to say &#8230; you can totally retool your business, and I am going to buy in and fund this journey,” said Mark Wakefield, co-leader of automotive and industrials practice at consulting firm AlixPartners.



Start-ups, however, get time from investors to learn, make mistakes and grow, he added.



Investors are betting on Tesla’s ability to scale up manufacturing just as they once backed Toyota Motor Corp (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/7203.T">7203.T</a>), which defined the auto industry’s last era with its mastery of highly efficient, high-quality lean production.



Toyota overtook the market capitalization of former industry leader General Motors&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/GM.N">GM.N</a>) in 1996, though it wasn’t until 2008 that it sold more vehicles than its Detroit rival.



The Japanese giant also cultivated ties with Tesla, with the U.S. startup helping it design an electrified RAV4 compact sports utility vehicle under a 2010 deal.



Toyota was impressed by the speed with which Tesla came up with the new design, but ultimately decided Tesla’s methods were not suitable for mass production by a mainstream manufacturer when Toyota’s standards for product quality and durability were applied, two company insiders familiar with the partnership said.



Toyota said the joint project involved cooperation on the development of electric cars, parts and production system.



“Toyota accomplished what the project set out to achieve, and it ended in October 2014 after Tesla delivered roughly 2,500 electric powertrain systems over three years” for an electrified RAV4 crossover SUVs, a spokeswoman said.



Both the Toyota and Daimler collaborations were agreed before the Volkswagen (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/companies/VOWG_p.DE">VOWG_p.DE</a>) emissions-cheating scandal in 2015, which prompted a global regulatory backlash and forced carmakers to step up investments in electric cars.



“That was all before dieselgate, which changed the economics of electric and combustion-engined cars,” a senior Daimler manager said. “Tesla has a lead. Let’s see if they can scale up.”

Elon Musk At SpaceX Headquarters

How Tesla and Elon Musk defined a new era for the global auto industry

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African retail sales fell 12% year on year in May following a 50.4% contraction in April, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.



On a month-on-month basis sales were up 74.2% compared to 50.7% monthly contraction in April, and in the three months to the end of May sales shrank 19.5% compared with the same period last year, the statistics body said.

retail-1424043_1280

South Africa’s retail sales down 12% year on year in May

The next director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will replace Brazilian Roberto de Azevedo, who has served since 2013 and plans to step down at the end of August, a year before the conclusion of his term.



Of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/wto-leadership-contenders-auditions-global-trade-body-200715090700814.html">eight candidates</a>&nbsp;who have thrown their hats into the ring, three are from Africa. They are the former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the former Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohamed, who also previously served as chairperson of the WTO General Council; and Abdel-Hamid Mamdouhm, an Egyptian lawyer who is also an erstwhile WTO official.



The WTO does not operate on the basis of a regional rotation principle. But there is recognition that it has never been led by an African since its creation in 1995. Africa represents a key bloc within the WTO.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wto.org/">It accounts</a>&nbsp;for nearly 27% of membership and 35% of members from developing countries.



Past directors-general have come from Europe, Oceania, Asia and South America.



The challenges facing the WTO are numerous and complex. Since&nbsp;<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2008/07/267842-collapse-doha-round-global-trade-talks-disappointing-says-ban">the collapse</a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/update_e.htm">Doha Round of trade talks</a>, the multilateral trade system has stalled and it needs to be revived. Launched in 2001, the Doha Round failed to respond to the development interests of poor countries, most of which are African.



The organisation has also been at the receiving end of&nbsp;<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/09/trumps-real-trade-war-is-being-waged-on-the-wto/">persistent attacks</a>&nbsp;from the Trump administration, which has accused it of failing to protect American interests. This has been aggravated by trade wars between the US and China. And the organisation’s dispute settlement system has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50736344">paralysed</a>&nbsp;by the refusal of the US to approve appointments of judges to its appellate body.



Concerns have also been voiced by the US, Japan and the European Union (EU) about the WTO’s rules. There’s a strong lobby to have them modernised to take account of the impact of the rise of developing countries and Chinese industrial subsidies. The EU, in particular, has protested against the overuse of the “special and differential treatment” rules designed to afford poor nations more favourable trade terms,&nbsp;<a href="https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2005/april/tradoc_122306.pdf">regarding this as creating a second tier membership</a>.



What’s more, Washington, Brussels and Tokyo have jointly formulated proposals&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3046108/us-eu-and-japan-target-china-new-global-trade-rules">to curtail state support to businesses and industries</a>.



Also, the WTO has had to grapple with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news20_e/serv_29may20_e.htm">massive dislocations</a>&nbsp;in international trade brought about by the coronavirus global pandemic.



In our view, of the three African contenders, none is better qualified than Okonjo-Iweala to lead the WTO in the next phase of its 25-year history, which is poised to be the most fractious and challenging.



The WTO plays an important confidence-building role in the global economy, and the interests of poor countries will be best served in a stronger multilateral trading system that is responsive to their development concerns.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What’s needed</h2>



The nature of the institution requires a leader with significant political heft and who commands the respect of all member countries, rich and poor.



The WTO’s director-general and secretariat wield&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wto.org/">very limited executive power</a>. They can inform, manage, coax and oversee. But they can’t decide. Decision-making in the WTO is consensus-driven, and any member country can scupper a trade deal.



This is unlike the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership">World Bank</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imf.org/en/About">International Monetary Fund</a>, where decision-making is based on shareholding, which is dominated by industrialised nations.



Okonjo-Iweala is suitably qualified to serve at the helm of the institution. She is a Harvard-educated political heavy-hitter with the skill and experience to cajole, knock heads together and break logjams. She is regarded as a consensus builder who enjoys the confidence of governments, business and multilateral institutions. As Nigeria’s finance minister,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/africa-eyes-the-worlds-top-trade-job-wto-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-but-spars-over-its-candidate/">she successfully spearheaded </a>&nbsp;the negotiation of an $18 billion debt write-off for the country with the Paris Club creditor nations.



Her political acumen and extensive negotiating skills could contribute towards restoring the multilateral trade agenda. This has collapsed amid the Trump administration’s hostility towards multilateralism.



With her origins from a neutral developing country, she could be the right candidate the embattled WTO needs to broker a truce between the US and China and end their trade conflict, which has led to institutional collapse.



Okonjo-Iweala also boasts a credible track record of economic reform and political sway.



Following a long stint as a senior executive at the World Bank, she twice served as Nigeria’s finance minister between 2003 and 2015. During this period, she took on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/africa-eyes-the-worlds-top-trade-job-wto-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-but-spars-over-its-candidate/">vested interests and implemented far-reaching reforms</a>. These included overhauling a corrupt fuel-subsidy scheme, cutting delays at the country’s ports, creating an oil fund to stabilise the economy, increasing transparency by publishing the government’s monthly finances, and introducing an electronic tax system that curbed illegal diversion of funds.



Okonjo-Iweala does not have WTO experience. But she knows and understands the workings of multilateral institutions, honed over many years as an international public servant. She is a seasoned global finance expert, economist and development practitioner with decades of international experience.



Her global finance expertise, in particular, would serve the WTO well given the nexus between trade and finance in the world economy, accentuated by the current economic crisis. By not being a WTO insider, she would bring a much-needed fresh perspective to the institution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Crossroads</h2>



The WTO is at a crossroads. Since the launch of the Doha development agenda, it has been buffeted by one crisis after another. This has occurred at a time when the drivers of world trade have been undergoing seismic transformations, stemming from the ascent of new actors, notably China, the advent of new technologies and production methods, and changes in global demographics.



Compounding the institutional sclerosis has been the growing rivalry between the US and China, which has brought the institution to a halt.



In the absence of a multilateral architecture to govern trade, there has been a surge in tit-for-tat economic policies, which have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/07/10/the-post-covid-19-world-economic-nationalism-triumphant/">disrupted supply chains and stifled trade and investment flows</a>.



These are desperate and perilous times for the WTO and they call for a credible and effective leader who is qualified to lead the institution at this critical point in its history. Okonjo-Iweala fits the bill. African countries must coalesce around and actively champion her candidacy.

WTO.

Why one of three African candidates fits the bill as the new head of the WTO

The last survivor of the courageous band of young men who faced unflinchingly the death penalty with Nelson Mandela has died aged 95.



The quiet and steely revolutionary Andrew Mlangeni was the last of the survivor of the Rivonia trial, ending in 1964, that saw Mandela and his comrades sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the underground movement that ran a sabotage campaign as part of the armed struggle against apartheid. Denis Goldberg, the other survivor, died in Cape Town in April.



Mlangeni served 27 years in prison, his release came only in 1989, on charges that he had nothing to do with. In later years he used to smile that he had served a life sentence for principle and nothing else. Like all the Rivonia trilaists he pleaded guilty to all the charges, in the hope of putting the government in the dock; it turned out to be so with the international press writing them up not as criminals, but as the Benjamin Franklins of Africa.



The last survivor of the courageous band of young men who faced unflinchingly the death penalty with Nelson Mandela has died aged 95.



The quiet and steely revolutionary Andrew Mlangeni was the last of the survivor of the Rivonia trial, ending in 1964, that saw Mandela and his comrades sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the underground movement that ran a sabotage campaign as part of the armed struggle against apartheid. Denis Goldberg, the other survivor, died in Cape Town in April.



Mlangeni served 27 years in prison, his release came only in 1989, on charges that he had nothing to do with. In later years he used to smile that he had served a life sentence for principle and nothing else. Like all the Rivonia trilaists he pleaded guilty to all the charges, in the hope of putting the government in the dock; it turned out to be so with the international press writing them up not as criminals, but as the Benjamin Franklins of Africa.



“All the things that were done by Modise (Joe Modise the late former defence minister) &nbsp;were put on me by the state witness. Everything; I didn’t do anything, I was out of the country. Even when they were concerning bombs etc. That was in 1961 and I was not here!” he told me in 2010 at his home in Dube, Soweto.



Mlangeni was under military training in China in 1961 where, along with Modise, he was to become one of the founder members of Umkhonto We Sizwe the military wing of the African National Congress. He even knew little of the underground’s sketchy plan –Operation Mayibuye- for the armed overthrow of South Africa. This half-baked plan imagined small armed groups of men landing on the beaches of South Africa and taking on one of Africa’s toughest defence forces. This was one of the main planks of the prosecution case at the Rivonia trial.



“We were fresh from China and eager to fight, so things such as documents we said let them go to the intellectuals,” said Mlangeni &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Mlangeni , who grew up in Soweto just outside Johannesburg, was born to question the system that condemned thinking men, like he, into a life of poorly paid servitude. He became an activist at an early age, politicized by the injustices he saw in his first job in a factory. &nbsp;Later,he was to organize bus drivers in Johannesburg in going on strike.



On his emergence from prison, Mlangeni returned to the small house in Dube that he was arrested in during the winter of 1963. He became an ANC MP and in his mid 80s was very active and opened a constituency office in Dube to help serve the people. &nbsp;&nbsp;







Mlangeni was under military training in China in 1961 where, along with Modise, he was to become one of the founder members of Umkhonto We Sizwe the military wing of the African National Congress. He even knew little of the underground’s sketchy plan –Operation Mayibuye- for the armed overthrow of South Africa. This half-baked plan imagined small armed groups of men landing on the beaches of South Africa and taking on one of Africa’s toughest defence forces. This was one of the main planks of the prosecution case at the Rivonia trial.



“We were fresh from China and eager to fight, so things such as documents we said let them go to the intellectuals,” said Mlangeni &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Mlangeni , who grew up in Soweto just outside Johannesburg, was born to question the system that condemned thinking men, like he, into a life of poorly paid servitude. He became an activist at an early age, politicized by the injustices he saw in his first job in a factory. &nbsp;Later,he was to organize bus drivers in Johannesburg in going on strike.



On his emergence from prison, Mlangeni returned to the small house in Dube that he was arrested in during the winter of 1963. He became an ANC MP and in his mid 80s was very active and opened a constituency office in Dube to help serve the people. &nbsp;&nbsp;

End of an era: firebrand Andrew Mlangeni  the last of Nelson Mandela’s band of brothers dies aged 95.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The South African rand weakened early on Wednesday as investors took profits after a rally that took the currency to a one-and-a-half month peak.



The rand was 0.5% weaker at 16.4950 per dollar at 0730 GMT, having reached 16.3600 overnight for its best since June 10 in a broad rally spurred by a landmark European Union economic rescue package.



The EU will pump at least 750 billion euros ($865 billion) into a package aimed at helping the hardest-hit economies. Part of that stimulus is expected to spill into emerging market investments.



But with COVID-19 infections continuing to climb locally and abroad, and keenly watched United States initial jobs claims data due on Thursday after South Africa’s central bank decides on lending rates, investors opted to pocket gains from the recent rally.



The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) concludes its three-day policy meeting on Thursday, with lending rates expected to be cut by 25 basis points.



But with inflation dipping below the bank’s target range of 3-6% for the first time in two decades and fellow emerging market banks continuing to ease policy there is growing probability of a deeper cut, analysts say, keeping big bets at bay.



Bonds prices were also softer in early trade. The yield on benchmark 2030 government paper was up 2.5 basis points at 9.33%.



($1 = 0.8671 euros)

ArcelorMittal South Africa fined R3.64 million over hydrogen sulfide emissions

South African rand softens after rally as investors await data signals

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) &#8211; Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan have agreed to resume talks to break a deadlock on the Grand Renaissance Dam reservoir on the Blue Nile, the leaders of the three countries said on Tuesday.



The announcements made separately by Ethiopian leader Abiy Ahmed, Sudan’s Abdalla Hamdok and Egypt’s presidency, followed a virtual mini-African Union summit that was called after they failed to reach an agreement earlier this month. 



“The extraordinary meeting&#8230; concluded with all parties reaching a major common understanding which paves the way for a breakthrough agreement,” Abiy’s office said in a statement which was posted on Twitter.



South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chaired Tuesday’s online meeting of the AU, confirmed there would be further negotiations.



“The trilateral negotiations remain on track,” Ramaphosa wrote on Twitter.



Sudan and Egypt both fear the $4 billion hydroelectric dam could lead to water shortages in their own countries.



The project has raised concerns in Egypt that already limited Nile waters will be further restricted. The Blue Nile is a tributary of the Nile from which Egypt gets 90% of its fresh water.



‮”‬It was agreed, at the conclusion of the summit, to continue negotiations and focus for the time being on giving priority to developing a binding legal agreement on the rules for filling and operating the Renaissance Dam,” a statement issued by the Egyptian presidency said.



Ethiopia, which says it needs the dam to generate electricity for its people, has already achieved the first year of filling its dam due to the rainfall season in the area, the statement from Abiy’s office said.



“The dam under construction is already overtopping,” it said, adding that Ethiopia was committed to a “balanced and win-win” negotiation that ascertains that the river will benefit all the three countries involved.

July_20,_2020,_First_filling_of_the_Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam,_elevation_560mASL

Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to hold more talks on Renaissance dam

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Radisson Hotel Group has added six hotels to its African portfolio, the company said on Tuesday, as it pushes ahead with its expansion strategy on the continent despite the COVID-19 pandemic.



Global hotel chains, including Marriot International and Hyatt Hotels have increased investments in Africa, which has some of the world’s only growing economies even after the impact of the pandemic, and a rising middle class.



The addition of the new properties in Mali, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and two in South Africa means Radisson manages nearly 100 hotels in 32 African markets.



“We aim to further accelerate our presence across the continent through conversions, especially as liquidity remains a critical challenge,” said Ramsay Rankoussi, Radisson’s vice president for development in Africa and Turkey.



“We have revisited our brand architecture to enable us to quickly integrate existing hotels to our network.”



He did not give any figure for the amount invested.



The first of the new hotels will open in Bamako, Mali within the next six months with the last &#8211; a 258-room facility in Nigeria’s capital Abuja &#8211; is expected to launch in 2024.



Grounded airlines and tight travel restrictions meant to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 have hit the hospitality sector hard.



In Africa, the safari and wildlife tourism sector &#8211; a major draw for international travellers &#8211; has seen widespread job losses.

Newsletter

Sudan 2020 budget will adjust currency, aim for float in 2 years -government source

Petra Diamonds full-year revenues drop 36%, COVID-19 weighs

African Development Bank approves 5 bln rand loan to South Africa

South Africans should accept that the IMF is neither their worst enemy nor their saviour

Tesla’s profit sets up S&P 500 entry, while African born Elon Musk pushes for growth

Who needs an office? US companies cut back

African born Elon Musk’s Tesla selects Texas as site for Cybertruck factory

How a brutal torturer saved Andrew Mlangeni from death by drowning.

Andrew Mlangeni, a working class young lion of Africa

South African restaurants plead for end to ‘job-killing’ restrictions

How Tesla and Elon Musk defined a new era for the global auto industry

South Africa’s retail sales down 12% year on year in May

Why one of three African candidates fits the bill as the new head of the WTO

End of an era: firebrand Andrew Mlangeni the last of Nelson Mandela’s band of brothers dies aged 95.

South African rand softens after rally as investors await data signals

Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to hold more talks on Renaissance dam

Radisson adds six hotels in Africa in bet on future growth

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Newsletter

Sudan 2020 budget will adjust currency, aim for float in 2 years -government source

Petra Diamonds full-year revenues drop 36%, COVID-19 weighs

African Development Bank approves 5 bln rand loan to South Africa

South Africans should accept that the IMF is neither their worst enemy nor their saviour

Tesla’s profit sets up S&P 500 entry, while African born Elon Musk pushes for growth

Who needs an office? US companies cut back

African born Elon Musk’s Tesla selects Texas as site for Cybertruck factory

How a brutal torturer saved Andrew Mlangeni from death by drowning.

Andrew Mlangeni, a working class young lion of Africa

South African restaurants plead for end to ‘job-killing’ restrictions

How Tesla and Elon Musk defined a new era for the global auto industry

South Africa’s retail sales down 12% year on year in May

Why one of three African candidates fits the bill as the new head of the WTO

End of an era: firebrand Andrew Mlangeni the last of Nelson Mandela’s band of brothers dies aged 95.

South African rand softens after rally as investors await data signals

Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to hold more talks on Renaissance dam

Radisson adds six hotels in Africa in bet on future growth

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Advertise With Us

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