South African Tender Bust Bolsters Ramaphosa’s Anti-Graft Fight

South African Tender Bust Bolsters Ramaphosa’s Anti-Graft Fight

JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s Hawks special investigative unit detained seven people on Wednesday in the first major arrests following revelations that a services company, Bosasa, looted billions of rand from the state by bribing officials. The arrests follow an investigation that found almost 1.6 billion rand ($119 million) may have been misappropriated when the Department of Correctional Services awarded prison tenders to Bosasa or its units, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation said…

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Ex-Barclays Trader Says Bank Should Face Rate-Rigging Trial

Ex-Barclays Trader Says Bank Should Face Rate-Rigging Trial

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – An ex-Barclays Plc trader in court on allegations that he conspired to rig a key benchmark says his former employer should be the one on trial. During the cross examination of Carlo Palombo, a prosecutor for the U.K. Serious Fraud Office said that Barclays didn’t want its traders making requests for submissions to Euribor that would benefit their own positions.  “They wholly disapproved of this practice in 2019 in a courtroom,”…

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Zambia Finance Chief Mwanakatwe Targets IMF Program by Year-End

Zambia Finance Chief Mwanakatwe Targets IMF Program by Year-End

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia’s Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said she’s in talks with the International Monetary Fund about securing a financial package and has taken the necessary steps to ensure the southern African nation qualifies for support. “I would want to see a program with the IMF, I think it would be good for us,” Mwanakatwe said in an interview in Cape Town on Tuesday. “I would love to see something in place by…

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Billionaire Robert Friedland Plans World’s No. 2 Copper Mine

Billionaire Robert Friedland Plans World’s No. 2 Copper Mine

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Billionaire investor Robert Friedland said the copper deposit Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. is developing in the Democratic Republic of Congo has the potential to become the world’s No. 2 mine for the metal. “Kamoa-Kakula will become the world’s second-largest copper mine with peak annual production of more than 700,000 tons of copper metal,” Ivanhoe founder Friedland said Wednesday at a mining conference in Cape Town. Friedland announced the findings of an independent…

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What Mines Mean for South Africa Communities: Violence, Sickness

What Mines Mean for South Africa Communities: Violence, Sickness

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mines in South Africa, which has the world’s fifth-biggest mining sector, are seen as a benefit by only 13 percent of people who live in their proximity, a report on the industry’s social impact said. Four out of five people see no positive impact at all and 8 percent said mines brought “sickness, dispossessions and damages,” ActionAid said in a report released Tuesday. South Africa’s economy during apartheid was…

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Eskom Bonds Are Trading Like There’s a Rescue Plan in Place

Eskom Bonds Are Trading Like There’s a Rescue Plan in Place

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – There’s been enough bad news about South Africa’s state-owned electricity company in recent months to rattle the hardiest bond investor. Or so you’d think. Even before President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday the nation won’t allow Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. to fail, the company’s bonds were trading as if its troubles were over. The premium investors demand to hold the company’s 10-year dollar bonds rather than U.S. Treasuries dropped this week to the lowest…

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Zambia Finance Minister Holds Firm on Increased Mining Royalties

Zambia Finance Minister Holds Firm on Increased Mining Royalties

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, sees recent changes to its mining royalties regime as fair and won’t consider a review despite warnings from the industry that it could deter investment and result in job losses, Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said. “There is no renegotiation taking place because a law has been passed in parliament to change the tax regime,” Mwanakatwe said Tuesday in an interview in Cape Town. “We don’t want…

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