Manufacturing South Africa weekly newsletter - 3 Sep 2013

King to pawn...

In an expensive "game of chess", Dave King has finally sorted out his tax issues with SARS and will end up paying over R700m to SARS. As he puts it: "When this tax dispute arose many years ago, I took a conscious decision not to cooperate with the authorities. That was a mistake."

Still on the money front, Satawu says SAA can afford the 12% increase the union is demanding, but if you want to get away from it all... the strikes, the demands, the claims and counter-claims, then Mango has come to your rescue with a scheduled service between Johannesburg and Zanzibar.

Talk about a captive audience... but a nice gesture, so one hopes the inmates took the lessons to heart when Ligwalagwala FM set out to motivate the inmates of Middelburg Prison with a live radio show aimed at discouraging criminal elements and activities amongst youths.

Finally, while no show-off himself, and with no hint of a swagger (but still quite the charmer), our tame motoring editor Henrie Geyser reckons the Renault Clio is a swaggering charmer.

Rod Baker, Content Director

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Geely, Volvo to start production of new vehicle

Geely South Africa's Chinese parent company, Geely Automobile Holdings, who bought Volvo Cars in 2010, is set to start production of vehicles jointly developed with the Swedish company. Read more >>

Amplats to retrench 3‚300
[Max Gebhardt]

Grain SA unhappy over transport costs

Clothing workers reach wage deal with employers

[Paul Vecchiatto] More than 50,000 clothing and textile workers will not go on strike as five out of six employer organisations and the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) have reached a last-minute deal to prevent strike action. Read more >>

BMW, Ford exports affected by motor industry strike

[Karl Gernetzky and Alistair Anderson] As industrial action in the vehicle manufacturing sector continues, the latest National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) data shows that BMW and Ford Motor's export operations have been negatively affected by the labour unrest. Read more >>

August new vehicle sales down 0.3% y/y

Aggregate new vehicle sales of 56‚112 units for August this year reflected a decline of 0.3% or 155 vehicles from the 56‚270 units sold in August last year‚ the latest National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) figures released on Monday (2 September) show. Read more >>

Numsa refuses vehicle makers' wage offer

[Karl Gernetzky] The National Union of Metalworkers of SA's (Numsa's) 30‚000 members in the vehicle manufacturing sector have refused a wage offer tabled by vehicle manufacturers and have demanded further improvements‚ Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said on Friday (30 August). Read more >>

Plaudits for Coca-Cola's container programme

[Khulekani Magubane] Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has hailed the decision by Coca-Cola - the world's largest beverage company - to launch its global Ekocenter container programme in SA as appropriate, as woman empowerment and gender equality were priorities for the government. Read more >>

Shabangu backs PIC on mining executives' pay

[Brendan Ryan] Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has come out in full support of the recent actions by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) in voting against pay increases awarded to the chief executives of various mining companies at annual general meetings held recently. Read more >>

Aspen, Nestlé deal needs further study - tribunal

[Amanda Visser] The Competition Tribunal has requested further analysis of the transaction between SA's biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer, Aspen, and Swiss food giant Nestlé, following some concerns that the transaction does not address the competition authority's reservations about the initial deal between Nestlé and Pfizer Nutrition. Read more >>

Foodcorp purchase puts RCL Foods under pressure

[Zeenat Moorad] RCL Foods‚ formerly Rainbow Chicken, on Tuesday (27 August) reported a 93.2% decline in full-year headline earnings from continuing operations to R18.1m‚ as funding costs from its Foodcorp deal and an effective tax rate of 113.5% weighed down its results. Read more >>

King to pawn...

Weekly top stories

Amplats to retrench 3‚300[Max Gebhardt]

Goldsmith - Cape Town

Social listening is the starting point of a social media strategy [Gordon Geldenhuys]

Five questions that land clients [Donna Rachelson]

Women's bricklaying cooperative gets R100,000 injection [Silas Nduvheni]

Networking activities crucial to SME development and growth [Gugu Mjadu]

Creating a new generation of women [Cristina Teixeira]

DTI fixes up standard form MOIs [Yaniv Kleitman]

Conversion boom running out of steam [Joan Muller]

BCCI at loggerheads: a lose-lose situation for Cricket South Africa [Antoinette Muller]

'Solid organic growth' for OneLogix [Helmo Preuss]

Lifetime award for top scientist [Lucille Davie]

Amplats to retrench 3‚300
[Max Gebhardt]