Monday 23 September - DAILY NEWS SUMMARY
Pretoria News (www.pretorianews.co.za) Page 1 – Mayor’s vision for a smart city
The Star (www.iol.co.za) Page 1 – R4m to spy on the EFF
Page 1 – ‘We’ll fight new land use scheme’
Page 4 – Stoking class action coals
Business Day (www.businesslive.co.za)
Page 1 – Investec ready to face SA, Brexit blues — Titi
Citizen (www.citizen.co.za)
Page 1 – Boks lost battle, not the war Page 8 – HOT STUFF (9.21)
Page 24 – Greater plans for 234m skyscraper
Mayor’s vision for a smart city
‘ We have much to learn from China’
MAYOR Stevens Mokgalapa
COULD Pretoria one day be a smart city, like Beijing or Shanghai, where data and technology improve our everyday lives?
Pretoria’s mayor, Stevens Mokgalapa, believes that the capital could be just such a city, given the chance.
Mokgalapa recently visited China, and said the city could learn much from that country on how to implement a smart city – one incorporates information technology to collect data and use this to find smart solutions to the optimum management of assets and resources.
Mokgalapa, who was criticised for being in China while protest action in the city turned violent, said the trip was invaluable in learning more about the Chinese model, and what it could bring to South Africa.
“Smart cities are about how you can manage your services through Integrated Communication Technologies (ICT), making them effective and efficient,” he said.
He added that the concept of a smart city was starting to gain traction, and it was something mentioned by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of the Nation Address.
“When the president made mention of the building of a smart city, people made jokes, but I really delved into that and asked myself what is this thing called a ‘smart city’?
“I then got to appreciate what it is. Maybe he was a way ahead for South Africans who didn’t understand what this concept means. And now I can tell you that I am on his side in terms of building a smart city,” the mayor said.
Among the benefits would be to improve service delivery and guide development across the various regions of the city so that they were co-ordinated and integrated, rather than sporadic.
China is a leader in terms of smart cities, with about 500 smart city pilot projects – or half of those worldwide, according to a Deloitte report. These cover big and small cities, and brand new urban areas China is developing where the Internet of Things is used to ensure residents’
convenience in everything from traffic and public transport to safety and shopping.
Among the best know is the Hangzhou “City Brain” project, created by Chinese company Alibaba, which uses cameras and sensors across the city to collect data on road conditions in realtime, and help ensure traffic flow.
In Beijing, Huawei has rolled out the use of mobile payments for public transport where passengers use their phone app for subway and other trips.
R4m to spy on the EFF
Crime Intelligence slush fund revelations
SHOCKING revelations that about R4 million had allegedly been spent by Crime
Intelligence to spy on the EFF adds pressure on Parliament to speed-up the probe into the intelligence slush fund.
According to The Star’s sister paper, The Sunday Independent, millions from the intelligence slush fund were used to pay informants who supplied information on the
EFF and #FeesMustFall activists, including their meetings, rallies and strategies.
The EFF has threatened National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise with a court action if she fails to expedite the establishment of the standing committee on intelligence by Friday.
The police said yesterday that a probe into those who looted millions of rand from the Crime Intelligence slush fund over the years is at an advanced stage.
National police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said they would get to the bottom of those behind the looting.
This comes after reports that the slush fund was being looted by top cops to pay for their personal expenses.
The Sunday Independent reported that an internal report of Crime Intelligence had revealed how top cops looted the slush fund of the division under the pretext of using them to help infiltrate the EFF and the #FeesMustFall campaign. The money was, however, allegedly used to pay for luxury cars and hotel stays.
Naidoo said while he could not reveal the names of those who were being probed, the investigation into their alleged activities by SAPS officers was at an advanced stage.
“There are several investigations that are ongoing on this matter and, some are about to be concluded.
“But I am not allowed to publicly reveal their names because they have not yet appeared in court,” he said.
According to the report, some of the purported informants in bogus crime intelligence projects, who would “assist” in the infiltration, did not even exist.
More than R5m was allegedly looted from the account.
This comes after senior Hawks detective Colonel Kobus Roelofse, testified before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on how senior officers had looted the slush fund, with the police top brass refusing to declassify the documents which were needed to conduct a probe.
‘We’ll fight new land use scheme’
JOBURG residents across the city have vowed to fight the legalisation of backyard units on residential properties.
This after a new land use scheme was approved in February which combines all the former 16 municipalities and which now allows added densities, the legalisation of additional units on properties and the establishment of spaza shops in residential areas.
Residents from Fairlands to Houghton are claiming their lifestyles and their children’s future will be affected.
They claim there was not sufficient public participation and they have engaged attorneys to fight individual applications.
Said Rosemary Sandison, speaking on behalf of numerous ratepayers’ associations: “Where was the appropriate public participation – it seems there was a draft sent out for comment in 2016/17 and thereafter there were workshops with developers and town planners – not residents or communities.
“The approved document has material changes from the original draft which were not put out for ‘public’ participation. The document was accepted by council and became effective in February 2019. Some communities objected to the land use scheme in its initial draft but were never consulted again.
“Densities across the city are now law. The least impact will be that a single dwelling property can now allow two more houses to be built in the garden, the worst is that should a developer wish to build a high-density development next to your property it will be approved.
If it has ‘inclusionary housing’ (including 20% of new developments going to those earning less than R7 000) the developer may negotiate with council – without neighbours being part of that negotiation – to have a relaxation to no side space and extra height and less parking provision.”
There was not sufficient consideration to services in suburbs in which now, thanks to the land use scheme, developers are targeting and getting approval from the council.
Electricity, water supply, road and other infrastructure would be compromised, Sandison said.
Stoking class action coals
Seriti Resources poised to buy major Eskom supplier warned of looming lawsuit
SERITI Resources, the mining group on the verge of becoming Eskom’s biggest coal supplier, has been warned that it could soon find itself in a class action lawsuit storm.
Lawyer Richard Spoor has revealed that South African Energy Coal (SAEC), which Seriti was about to acquire, is one of four coal mining companies against which a class litigation is in the process.
The litigation would aim to secure compensation for occupational diseases suffered by more than 1 000 retired coal mineworkers.
It was announced by the Catholic Church in South Africa, against the backdrop of a historic R5 billion settlement in the class action lawsuits pursued on behalf of gold mineworkers.
Thousands of gold sector workers who developed silicosis or pulmonary tuberculosis during or after their employment from 1965 stand to be paid between R70 000 and R500 000.
Announcing the latest lawsuit, SA Catholic Bishops Conference director Father Stan Muyebe said the church was working with Richard Spoor Attorneys “to demand compensation from coal mines on behalf of former mine workers who contracted deadly lung diseases in the coal mines”.
Spoor was also a leading lawyer in the class action against the gold mines.
Speaking to The Star, Spoor said he hoped that Seriti was aware of the impending litigation as it negotiated with the Australian group South32 for transfer of its SAEC assets.
South32 announced last month that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Seriti for transfer of SAEC assets. South32 was divesting from South Africa.
SAEC’s mines are in eMalahleni (Witbank) and Middelburg, Mpumalanga. It supplies 14%
of Eskom’s coal through these mines.
Spoor urged Seriti, an 84% blackowned mining company, to take the planned litigation into cognisance.
“We don’t know the terms of the agreement they are negotiating. But I am assuming that Seriti has done a proper risk assessment and that they are aware of the liability,” said Spoor.
“We definitely don’t want them to come and argue later that ‘we didn’t know, we weren’t aware and that it’s not our problem’,” Spoor said.
A Seriti spokesperson said the company was considering all of SAEC’s liabilities as it continued negotiations with South32.
“Seriti is not inheriting anything. It is currently negotiating to acquire the SAEC assets. There is no transaction yet in place.
Spoor said “good progress” had been made towards finally bringing the class action lawsuit to court.
“It’ll still be a little while before we issue out our papers, but it’s going well. We’re confident that we’ve got a large client base (for a class lawsuit),” he said.
“We’re busy working through the medical information. We’ve done the research on the companies.” | @BonganiNkosi
Investec ready to face SA, Brexit blues — Titi
Share price of owner of SA’ s largest asset manager has its worst drop in more than three years
Fani Titi may find himself in the unenviable position of having to revive the weaker part of Investec in an environment where SA’s economy is barely growing.
Investec, which is planning to spin off its UK-based asset manager and list it separately, had its worst drop in Johannesburg in more than three years on Friday, according to Iress, after it said Brexit-induced uncertainty and a weak SA economy would push its earnings down by almost a fifth.
Investec said its bank and wealth business were expected to report lower profit, while asset management would increase profit compared with the prior period.
In SA, Investec’s corporatebanking segment is struggling to grow revenue because of
economic growth of below 1%, jointCEO Titi said on a conference call. Growth at the private bank was supported by income from lending, while costs were kept in line with 2018, he said.
SA has yet to show signs of any meaningful economic recovery after a decade of growth stagnation with the SA Reserve Bank on Thursday maintaining its GDP forecast at just 0.6%
for 2019 and downgrading its 2020 and 2021 forecasts. A depressed economy hits banks by reducing demand for loans while potential business and consumer bankruptcies increase the risk of debt not being repaid.
Titi conceded at the weekend that the economic outlook would make it difficult for Investec’s SA operations to perform strongly in the short term.
“We will have to tighten things up. But we run this business on a long-term basis, and will still look for new growth opportunities,” he said.
Titi stressed there were many legs in the SA business, and some — like the new transactional banking to the mid-market corporate sector — could see the bank increasing market
penetration.
“We’ve always been entrepreneurs, and we think there will still be opportunities in a tougher economy.
“We think we can be both entrepreneurial and frugally minded,” Titi said.
Mergence Investment Managers investment analyst Nolwandle Mthombeni said Investec ’ s trading update was “below expectations”.
“It also doesn’t provide any comfort for the stand-alone bank after the demerger. Ideally, you want to show a good performance before the divisions list
separately,” Mthombeni said. The asset-management business had been “picking up the slack”
when the bank underperformed.
Titi is technically joint-CEO with Investec Asset Management chief Hendrik du Toit, but will singularly be in charge of the specialist bank and wealth and investment divisions after Du Toit’s division, which is run from London, separates.
The asset-management unit’s separation is on track for later in 2019.
The two took over the reins from founders Stephen Koseff and Bernard Kantor, who stepped down as CEO and MD, respectively at the end of September 2018.
The share price of Investec, which has been one of the star performers among JSE-listed financial services companies, fell 5.68% in Johannesburg to R86.46, the most since June 27, 2016. That cut its 2019 gain to 9.44%, comfortably beating the JSE all Africa general financial index, which is down 3.26% in 2019.
Investec is not alone in finding the environment difficult to navigate.
Standard Bank, FirstRand and Absa report single-digit increases in their most recent earnings presented in the past month due to subdued economic activity, which continues to affect banks' ability to lend and grow deposits.
The company said headline earnings per share could drop 15%-18% for the period. Abroad, Investec is also weathering the fallout from Brexit, which may see the UK leave the EU without a deal, three years after the shock referendum result that sparked concern about its longterm future, denting consumer and business confidence.
The UK specialist bank would report adjusted operating profit significantly behind the prior reporting period, Investec said.
“Market variability and persistent uncertainty relating to Brexit and global trade wars has negatively affected investment banking fees and trading income,” it said.
Performance of the asset manager was supported by movements in markets, currencies and net inflows of £3.3bn (R61bn), pushing its assets to £121.3bn.
For the group, assets under management grew 6.7% to £178.4bn, the company said. The separation of the asset-management business is on track and regulatory approval was received in August, according to the company.
The trends reported by Investec were not unexpected, but their effect did seem to be greater than expected, said Avior Capital Markets banking analyst Harry Botha.
“Investec’s banking operations have a higher proportion of deal flow or event-driven
revenues compared to other major SA banks,” said Botha. Many of these revenue streams are under pressure given current conditions.
“Encouragingly, the commentary highlights that Investec continues to attract new customers, resulting in growth in loans, assets under management and certain types of fee income.”
A larger client base increased the level of revenue and profit that Investec could earn when the good times returned, Botha said.
ASSET MANAGER EXPECTS INTERIM HEADLINE EARNINGS PER SHARE TO FALL AS MUCH AS 18% IN THE SIX MONTHS TO END-SEPTEMBER
Boks lost battle, not the war
COACH RASSIE: WE CAN FIGHT BACK. EVEN IN THIS GAME WE FOUGHT BACK
Picture: Getty ImagesSOMETHING POSITIVE. Springbok flank Pieter- Steph du Toit dives over for their only try in the World Cup loss to the All Blacks at International Stadium Yokohama on Saturday.
Next game against Italy has now become a must-win clash.
The All Blacks had won the game rather than the Springboks losing it, according to national coach Rassie Erasmus, after his side went down in a 2313 defeat to New Zealand in their World Cup opener in Yokohama on Saturday.
It was the Boks’ sixth straight loss to New Zealand with French referee Jerome Garces in charge, but Erasmus diplomatically refrained from having a direct stab at the match official.
“We can come back from this, but if we concede 11 penalties and they concede just two, I think their discipline must be exceptional,” Erasmus said.
“So well done to them. We have to address our discipline.”
Though no team had previously won the World Cup after dropping a pool match, Erasmus said they were up for the challenge.
“We can fight back. Even in this game we fought back,” he said.
“We were 17-3 down and I have seen South African teams take 50 points when they are that amount of points down, but we fought back to 17-13.”
Poor defence and a failure by the Boks to handle New Zealand’s kicking game led to the All Blacks scoring 14 points in five minutes in the first half, which eventually proved to be the difference.
“To get back from 17-3 down to 17-13 at one point, and then to be in their 22 and close to scoring a try, was good, before two great turnovers by New Zealand,” Erasmus said.
“So I think there were stages where we fought back really well.”
Erasmus said their game against Italy on October 8 had now become their next crucial fixture.
“I have to mention Italy before we start talking about quarterfinals because that is now a vital game for us.
“We have had a couple of slippery games against them lately and it would have been good to win this game to get some momentum going into the quarterfinals, but it is what it is.”
With prop Trevor Nyakane having picked up a calf injury, giving the Bok squad’s campaign another early knock, Erasmus maintained his belief they could lift the title.
“We have to fight back and try to get to the final for the first time not being unbeaten,” he said.
Sapporo
Manu Tuilagi scored two tries as England launched their bid for a second Rugby World Cup title with a comfortable but error-strewn 35-3 bonus-point win over Tonga yesterday.
And second-half scores from hooker Jamie George and replacement Luke Cowan-Dickie saw England secure a bonus point for scoring four tries, a result that could be crucial in a tight Pool C.
In addition England, playing within themselves, also appeared to avoid any injuries to key players.
“I was particularly pleased at the end of the game when we were under the pump a bit, we defended really well,” said England coach Eddie Jones.
England took an 11th-minute lead when captain Owen Farrell scored the first of his 15 points with a penalty.
Tonga scrumhalf Sonatane Takulua equalised three minutes later after a thumping hit by flanker Zane Kapeli on England No 8 Billy Vunipola.
England thought they had scored the opening try when flanker Sam Underhill charged over.
But with the grounding of the ball unclear to the television match official, the score was disallowed.
From the resulting five-metre scrum, however, Tuilagi bundled over for a 24th-minute try.
Farrell missed the conversion but England still led 8-3.
England lock Maro Itoje then gave away a penalty to the obvious fury of Jones.
But Takalua was off target and his miss was made worse for Tonga, hammered 92-7 by world champions New Zealand in a warm-up match this month, when Tuilagi scored his second try.
Daly released Jonny May and the left wing made a surging run before his well-timed inside pass to Tuilagi allowed the midfielder to charge in in the 31st minute.
Farrell converted and England led 15-3.
And with Tonga defending desperately on their own line, an infringement led to a penalty in front of the posts which Farrell landed to give England a comfortable 15-point advantage at halftime.
Farrell made it 21-3 early in the second half with a 39-metre penalty.
England, after Sam Underhill knocked-on when well-placed, eventually scored their third try when a thunderous rolling maul saw hooker Jamie George power over in the 57th minute.
Their fourth try did arrive three minutes from time when wing Anthony Watson’s surging run and pass released Cowan-Dickie. –
HOT STUFF
Picture: EPA-EF
EA general view of a pyrotechnics simulation during the media day for the US Air Power Day at Osan Air Base in Osan, South Korea, yesterday.
Greater plans for 234m skyscraper
MULTI- BILLION: HIGH- RISE WILL TOP EXPECTATION
• The Citizen (Gauteng)
• 23 Sep 2019
• Suren Naidoo
Picture: MoneywebRAISING HOPE. Elaine Jack of the Sandton Central Management District says The Leonardo development is a strong sign of investor confidence in the area despite the tough economy.
Africa’s tallest building will have a viewing deck offering all-round city views. Moneyweb The Leonardo 234m skyscraper in Sandton is almost complete, but developers have greater plans for the R3 billion mixed-use development and surrounding area.
Ambitious plans are being hatched for its opening and to entrench it has a major tourist attraction in SA and the continent.
This follows Moneyweb breaking news in January that The Leonardo will overtake the Carlton Centre in Joburg’s CBD as Africa’s new tallest building by about 10 metres.
While a large part of The Leonardo development, led by The Legacy Group and backed by Nedbank, will be opened in November, other key attractions such as a viewing deck and a
“sky bar” atop the building will be opened as part of future phases.
Executives at Legacy say most of the apartments as well as other facilities – including the restaurants; spa and pool deck; gym; office suites; conference facilities; children’s crèche;
and, some retail will be open by November.
However, the six-star hotel component with 140 rooms, viewing deck and cocktail bar with allround views of the city, as well as plans for a piazza at the back of the building, will be complete and open over time.
Moneyweb understands that the piazza plan is yet to be finalised, and is a longer-term project, but the Legacy Group has secured the property at the back of The Leonardo as a “defensive move”. The property at No5 Protea Place currently houses offices and retail space.
The Leonardo, which faces Maude Street and is a stone’s throw away from the JSE, is also
Legacy Group chairperson Bart Dorrestein was loathe to comment on the piazza plans to Moneyweb on Friday, saying the focus was currently on completing the Leonardo building.
He had initially envisaged the building to be complete in the first half of this year.
“We have future plans for the neighbouring site that will add to the leisure and lifestyle offering at The Leonardo, but it is early days … The Leonardo is currently our priority.
However, we bought the neighbouring site as a defensive move to ensure there is no big development in front of it,” he says.
Robert Hodson marketing director at Legacy Hotels and Resorts said around 220 of the 240 apartments at The Leonardo have been sold. The building’s eight penthouses and iconic 3 000m2, three-floor Leonardo Suite are on the market.
“Many of the buyers of the apartments are investors and the apartments will go into a rental pool managed by Legacy Hotels and Resorts for short or long-stay accommodation, which is popular in Sandton as SA’s financial hub… We are holding back on launching the actual hotel component, which is likely to open in 2021,” he tells Moneyweb.
Hodson says apartment prices have averaged around R65 000/ m2 at The Leonardo.
Penthouses average around R80 000/m2, while the luxurious Leonardo Suite is anticipated to fetch a cool R250 million.
Many buyers of the apartments are investors