Steinhoff Paid Ex-CEO $380,000 for 2018 Fiscal Year, Pepkor Says

Steinhoff Paid Ex-CEO $380,000 for 2018 Fiscal Year, Pepkor Says

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Steinhoff International Holdings NV paid former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste about 5 million rand ($380,000) for the two months he worked for the South African company in fiscal 2018, before he quit suddenly amid an accounting scandal. The payment was disclosed in a report published Thursday by Pepkor Holdings Ltd., a clothing retailer with more than 5,200 stores that was spun off by Steinhoff in 2017. Danie van der Merwe, who took over from…

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How South Africa Could Fix Distressed Power Utility Eskom

How South Africa Could Fix Distressed Power Utility Eskom

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s government will announce within a month how it plans to fix Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the embattled state utility that supplies more than 90 percent of the nation’s power. There are no easy remedies. The company is 419 billion rand ($30.9 billion) rand in debt, is losing money hand over fist, has way more staff than it needs and its aging and poorly maintained plants can’t always…

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South Africa’s World-Beating Bonds Have Room to Extend Gains

South Africa’s World-Beating Bonds Have Room to Extend Gains

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Benchmark South African bond yields dropped to eight-month lows in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s more dovish stance — and there may be more to come, with inflation expectations plummeting and investors pricing out any chance of a rate hike in the next two years. Yields on government securities due 2026 fell 16 basis points on Thursday to the lowest since June 1 on a closing basis. South African local-currency bonds have…

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Facebook No Substitute for Vote, Embattled Sudan Leader Says

Facebook No Substitute for Vote, Embattled Sudan Leader Says

SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa)  – Sudan’s embattled president took aim at activists who’re using social media to organize demonstrations calling for his ouster, saying only elections can bring political change in the protest-wracked African nation. “Changing the government can’t be achieved by using WhatsApp or Facebook, it is only through the ballot box and the Sudanese people are the only body that can determine who is supposed to rule this country,” Omar al-Bashir told a televised…

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South Africa Mines Minister Mantashe Named in Bosasa Scandal

South Africa Mines Minister Mantashe Named in Bosasa Scandal

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s minister of mineral resources and chairman of the ruling African National Congress, is facing allegations that he took bribes from Bosasa, the services company accused of paying off politicians in order to win state contracts and avoid prosecution. Richard le Roux, a former regional technical coordinator for a unit of Bosasa, on Thursday told a judicial inquiry that’s probing government corruption how the company spent…

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Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission Officials Quit En Masse

Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission Officials Quit En Masse

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – The head of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and other officials resigned with immediate effect, the government said. Chairman Job Whabira and the other commissioners will step down on Thursday, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda said in a statement handed to reporters in the capital, Harare. “All commissioners have gone on leave pending the finalization of their terminal benefits,” Sibanda said, without providing a reason for…

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Kenya’s CBA Gets 53% of NIC in Biggest Bank Deal in Decade

Kenya’s CBA Gets 53% of NIC in Biggest Bank Deal in Decade

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd. and NIC Group Plc agreed to combine their operations to create Kenya’s third-largest lender in the biggest banking tie-up in at least a decade. Privately-held CBA will get 53 percent of the merger entity, while NIC Group will hold the balance, NIC’s Chief Executive Officer John Gachora told investors at a briefing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The merged bank will have a combined asset base…

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