Governance & Politics - 11 March 2024

11 Mar 2024

GOVERNANCE & POLITICS

• The DA is asking powerful Western countries such the US and the UK to make resources available to bolster the deployment of independent domestic election observers ahead of the May 29 vote. In a letter to US secretary of state Antony Blinken and 13 other foreign ministers, the DA requests support for local efforts to safeguard the credibility of the elections if the government does not grant international observers permission to monitor them. The letter has been sent to the foreign ministers of countries including France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland and the EU. The move has been slammed by the ANC, which said it amounted to mortgaging the country. (Source)

• Pravin Gordhan to retire. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan (74), a prominent figure who has occupied strategic positions in the government since the 1994 transition to democracy, is to retire from active politics in the coming weeks. The general election on 29 May is expected to mark the end of an era for Gordhan, who said yesterday the time had come to pay more attention to his personal health and his family. (Source)

• Cele to pay R93m. The Pretoria High Court has ordered Police Minister Bheki Cele to pay R93 million in damages to the underwriters of Nedbank, whose cash was stolen by members of the police service in 2014. The court found that Cele was vicariously liable – a legal principle that holds a person responsible for the actions of someone who is under their supervision – for the actions of his officers who were convicted in 2018 for robbing a cash storage company in Witbank while on duty, and used their police uniforms and vehicles to facilitate the heist. (Source)

• Moody’s downgradedEkurhuleni by a notch and put Tshwane on notice for a further downgrade, meaning the junk status rating remains in place. A statement released by the agency on Wednesday morning indicated that both cities failed to submit their audited financial statements to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) within the 29 February deadline. Tshwane and Ekurhuleni are among the major centres plagued by the political chaos that has been associated with multi-party coalitions. Municipalities have debt securities with the JSE, meaning they have to abide by the stock exchange’s debt listing requirements. (Source)

• E-Tolls. The Gauteng provincial government (GPG) has approached financial institutions to raise money required to honour its contractual obligations ahead of the March 31, 2024, target date to scrap the tolling of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).  Gauteng Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo said:  “ As part of the winding down process, statutory authorities at national level, National Treasury, the Department of Transport and the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) will carry out all the necessary steps to cease the collection of e-tolls and gazette accordingly,” he outlined. Gauteng road users will no longer be charged for the use of the Gauteng freeways 14 days after the publishing of the deregulation gazette. (Source)

• The US announced that it would terminate sanctions against Zimbabwe, ending a 21-year campaign introduced under the presidency of the late Robert Mugabe as punishment for corruption and human rights abuses. The partial lifting of sanctions is not because of any improvement in corruption or human rights abuses but because of a change in strategy where the US intends to target the individuals and entities it deems responsible for these abuses. Among those targeted by the US are Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga “for their involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse”. Also targeted are retired brigadier-general Walter Tapfumaneyi and Kudakwashe Tagwirei, one of Zimbabwe’s wealthiest businessmen. They are among the 11 individuals and three entities targeted by the US. The US government says it is employing new tools in Zimbabwe, including the Global Magnitsky sanctions programme, “to make clear that the egregious behaviour of some of the most powerful people and companies in Zimbabwe matches the actions of the worst human rights abusers and corrupt actors globally”. The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, named after Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody in 2012, can be applied worldwide by the US and allows for targeted sanctions against individuals and entities deemed responsible for human rights abuses and corruption. (Source)

• The multi-billion-rand expansion plans for Cape Town International and OR Tambo International airports, which were delayed and much-needed, are back on the radar of the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) after being forced to be put on ice when the Covid pandemic hit in 2020. Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga confirmed that ACSA has been given the green light for an ambitious R21.7 billion capex plan over the next five years. She was speaking at a broader civil aviation industry briefing, which included announcing ACSA tariff increases for the period. South Africa’s two busiest aviation hubs, in Johannesburg and Cape Town, are expected to get the lion’s share of the planned investments. (Source)