Earlier this week, 2oceansVibe reported that possible charges of fraud were to be brought against Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa Mandela. We can now confirm that charges have been laid against him, as well as an Aurora Empowerment Systems lawyer, who also happens to be a director of Velvet Sky Aviation.
The liquidators of Aurora Empowerment Systems, which is accused of asset-stripping bankrupt Pamodzi Gold, amongst other dubious activities, will lay charges of fraud this week against Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa. President Jacob Zuma’s nephew should probably also look forward to facing some music.
Pending the outcome of investigations into claims of staff receiving kickbacks for preferential treatment, Absa, Nedbank, First National Bank and Investec have all stopped doing business with Auction Alliance. The latest development comes after news broke earlier in the week, that Auction Alliance CEO, Rael Levitt, had relinquished his post.
Today, Euro zone finance ministers will meet to decide whether Greece has done enough to warrant a huge bailout loan of €130 billion. Greece needs the loan in order to avoid bankruptcy midway through March, when a massive repayment on its governmental debt must be completed.
Absa’s HR department must be in a world of pain. The bank has told its full IT staff complement to reapply for their jobs, and look for two other roles within the company. Of Absa’s 1 600 IT personnel, about 200 are currently sitting at home on the company’s payroll, twiddling their thumbs as they await “reassignment”. No wonder I’m still waiting for my online banking issues to be fixed.
Cape Town’s new tallest building is set to start taking shape as construction group Murray and Roberts have been awarded the R1,6 billion contract to build the Portside Project. It’s set to stand at 130 metres tall, comprising of 32 floors, and will house 52 000 square metres of office space for 3 000 people.
South African Airways has asked the government, sorry, the taxpayer that doesn’t get a say, for a recapitalisation of about R6 billion to fund operational costs, growth strategy and a fleet renewal for the coming future. Why? Because it would post a loss this financial year if this doesn’t happen, and growth is important.
President Jacob Zuma made a very cool announcement this weekend on the 22nd anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. Towards the end of this year South Africa will get a series of new bank notes which will have Madiba’s image as the main illustration instead of the animals we’ve come to know.
In the December business quarter, Apple’s iPhone business generated $24,4 billion of revenue. Microsoft’s whole company, from Windows to Office to servers to Xbox, generated just $20,9 billion.
Frankies Olde Soft Drink Company CEO, Mike Schmidt, has today revealed the small beverage manufacturer has won its case against the larger retailer. Early reports indicated that Woolworths would need to remove its entire range indefinitely, but instead it will only need to repackage its products and remove the slogan: “Good Old Fashioned”. You can read the full Advertising Standards Authority report by following this link.
The dislike for banks and other financial institutions is currently on a worldwide high. But for once, one bank has decided to do something nice for their customers. French bank Crédit Municipal de Paris has scrapped the debt of its poorest customers.
Preparation at the site designated for the Chapman’s Peak four-lane toll plaza and office complex began last week, with official construction beginning this week. Estimates put completion of the complex to happen around Easter next year.
Facebook, the world’s largest social-networking service, could file for its initial public offering as early as Wednesday this week. It’s a move that has been on the cards for some time, but the rumour pot is now starting to boil more consistently.
Not even 24 hours ago, a user of the popular user-generated news link website, reddit, asked if readers wouldn’t mind helping out with a donation for an orphanage in Kenya. Humans went over and above what was required, by a long way. This is awesome.
Apple announced some massive fourth quarter sales numbers yesterday. For instance, they sold virtually as many iPhones as there are people in South Africa during that period. Apple also doubled both revenue and profit year-on-year too.
Greeks are amongst the most notorious tax dodgers in the world. Currently, Greece has about 60 billion Euros in unpaid taxes outstanding – a figure equivalent to about a quarter of its total economy. Athens decided to release a list on Sunday that published the names of some of the 4 000 known dodgers.
And guess who’s got a finger in that pie? None other than convicted fraudster, Tony Yengeni. Granted it probably won’t be a very big warship, if we can really even call it that, but it has the potential to cost even more than the four frigates we bought as part of the controversial 1999 R60 billion arms deal.
The South African Institute of Race Relations is reporting that only five of the nine state owned enterprises reporting to the Department of Public Enterprises were profitable in the 2009 – 2010 financial year. The taxpayer makes up for the shortfalls.
This year Facebook will go public and start to sell shares on the stock exchange. Thanks to all of us, the social network is now worth $100 billion – more than giants such as Google, Disney, Amazon, and McDonald’s. But who is going to pocket all this money? Check out this infographic, detailing which Facebook friends will be getting pieces of the pie, as well as some other interesting facts:
Investec has joined forces with the European Investment Bank to establish a funding facility that will promote energy efficiency and the generating of clean energy in South Africa. The venture will be rolled out to support various kinds of renewable energy projects across the country.
Happy birthday Facebook wall posts just got interesting. It probably won’t be long before one starts scrolling through those birthday wall posts to see who has sent a greeting card with a little bit of a surprise attached. Tech-savvy grannies everywhere will be rejoicing.
George Papandreou’s shock announcement that he will put Greece’s bailout to a referendum helped the FTSE open nearly three per cent down this morning. It was interesting listening to Lindsay Williams on 2oceanVibe Radio a little earlier too. He remarked that there are more Porsche Cayennes registered in Greece than taxpayers declaring an income of 50 000 euros or more. Clearly Greeks aren’t fans of paying tax.
Hours after Sheik Awadh al-Qarani promised a reward of $100 000 to anyone who captured an Israeli soldier, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family, with ties to Rupert Murdoch, offered to raise that offer by $900 000 to make it $1 million. These offers follow the release of Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years.
European leaders are secretly all doing little victory dances. The Eurozone crisis has never looked better. Leaders have agreed new deals that slash Greek debt and increase the main bailout fund to around €1 trillion. They’re basically printing money. Athens will get a new €100 billion bailout early in the new year, and existing bond debt will be cut by 50%.
In a move that’s widely expected to attract further, and much needed investment diversification, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan yesterday announced that the Treasury will allow local investors to trade in foreign-domiciled companies, especially throughout Africa. The move will no doubt heighten the attractiveness and status of the local exchange.
It turns out publishing classified diplomatic files online isn’t all that lucrative! Whistle blowing site, WikiLeaks has announced that they’re pausing their publishing process to concentrate on raising funds. Julian Assange claims that the financial “blockade” mounted by Visa, MasterCard and other companies, has forced Wikileaks to “temporarily suspend its publishing operations and aggressively fundraise.”
Next year, the ANC will be celebrating 100 years of political activity. In the midst of the celebrations, the organisation will make various precious metals memorabilia for sale in the form of gold coins and other commemorative items. The most expensive of these will be the President Zuma one kilogram fine gold medallion, valued at over R1 million.
By now you must have heard of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) – an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York, now famous for the slogan “We are the 99%”. But who are these people and what are they so upset about? Watch this entertaining, yet sobering clip for the lowdown in no-nonsense layman’s terms.
It promises to be one of the largest strikes since the resurgence of the catastrophic violence two years ago, and will touch virtually every industry of the deeply troubled state. At least half of the four million-strong workforce is expected to partake as parliamentarians vote on a package of austerity measures demanded by international lenders.
Just before lunchtime, a rumour began to do the rounds, courtesy of Sky News, that credit ratings agency Fitch was going to bring more bad news for Britain’s banks. A credit rating downgrade of major banks was possible later in the day. Sky changed their tune and withdrew the statement on TV, but the blog post remained, and now the downgrade has happened.