Category: The Outlier
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Freight failures: Transnet’s rail woes impact SA’s coal exports
Transnet transported 58-million fewer tonnes of coal, iron ore and other commodities in the 2022/3 financial year than it did 10 years ago, with coal making up a third of its freight. The state-owned entity attributes the reduced rail capacity to underinvestment in network rehabilitation, vandalism and sabotage as well as to disputes over locomotive…
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Tourism recovery: Visitors to Table Mountain, cableway are on the rise
The number of visitors to the Table Mountain National Park climbed to 2.8-million in 2023. A 56% increase on 2022, or an additional 1-million visitors. The national park, home to the iconic Table Mountain, had 3.2-million visitors in 2019. Also on the rise are visitors to the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. Numbers shot up 44%…
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SA’s low-cost housing programme on shaky ground
Just 42,773 government-subsidised houses were built in South Africa in the 2023/24 financial year. That’s an 82% decline compared with the 235,635 houses built 26 years ago in 1998/99. About 10% of government-subsidised houses were recorded as having weak walls and roofs, according to Statistics SA’s 2023 General Household Survey. Mpumalanga and the Western Cape had…
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Copper hits new highs as demand, including for renewables, soars
Copper prices have hit new highs over the past month as demand for the metal grows and experts predict a shortage in years to come. Copper is a key material in sectors including telecoms, power generation and construction. It is used in wiring for broadband networks and for transformers and generators in the power production…
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ZA inflation steadies
Annual consumer price inflation was unchanged at 5.2% in May in line with some expectations, Statistics SA reported on Wednesday. The annual inflation rate of goods last month was 5.7%, unchanged from April, and for services, it was 4.7%, up from 4.6%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation remained steady at 4.7% in May, unchanged from…
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Poll shows SA’s workforce is surprisingly enthusiastic
Anyone who runs a startup or small business understands the value of highly engaged employees. These individuals drive high performance and innovation, which are essential for business growth. However, Gallup’s latest State of the Workplace report shows that fewer than one in four (23%) employees globally are engaged. In the Sub-Saharan African countries included in…