Dear Reader,
The ANC, which has been involved in a series of negotiations with various political parties, is set to drop its insistence on a VAT hike in this year’s budget. This is because almost all the parties have indicated they would not be voting with it on actual budget appropriations following support it received when passing the budget fiscal framework recently.
The U-turn follows finance minister Enoch Godongwana's proposed half-percentage-point increase, expected to take effect on May 1. The ill-fated VAT hike had also threatened to torpedo the government of national unity (GNU), with senior ANC leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile indicating the DA's decision to vote against the budget fiscal framework meant it had "defined itself out of the GNU".
Elsewhere, a preliminary report of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has implicated Collins Letsoalo, CEO of the Road Accident Fund (RAF), in possible wrongdoing involving a R79m lease for the fund’s Johannesburg regional offices. The SIU investigation arose from a whistleblower’s complaint to public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, which accused Letsoalo of reversing decisions made by the bid evaluation committee so that a losing bidder, Mowana Properties, ended up winning the contract.
The lease agreement is for five years. The SIU’s preliminary findings confirm the whistleblower’s allegations of malfeasance amounting to millions of rand in the awarding of leasing, cleaning, security and legal-services tenders.
In the Cape Winelands, the number of centimillionaires has almost doubled in the past decade, while Johannesburg keeps losing its spark. According to the "World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2025" compiled by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, the winelands — including the towns of Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch — counts 18 centimillionaires as residents, up from 10 of these super-wealthy individuals a decade ago.
In Business Times, we report on a light aircraft manufacturer with factory facilities in the south of Johannesburg and in Alrode, Alberton, which has found itself in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump’s global trade war.
Sling Aircraft is the maker of two-seater and four-seater light aircraft in the deregulated aircraft category. The conventional rule in the aviation industry has always been that imported or exported airplanes and aircraft parts are exempt from tariffs. However, this has been upended by Trump who has fired a broadside of what he calls retaliatory tariffs on countries with which the US runs a trade deficit.
We have this and much more in the Sunday Times today.
Happy reading,
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Dear Reader,
The ANC, which has been involved in a series of negotiations with various political parties, is set to drop its insistence on a VAT hike in this year’s budget. This is because almost all the parties have indicated they would not be voting with it on actual budget appropriations following support it received when passing the budget fiscal framework recently.
The U-turn follows finance minister Enoch Godongwana's proposed half-percentage-point increase, expected to take effect on May 1. The ill-fated VAT hike had also threatened to torpedo the government of national unity (GNU), with senior ANC leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile indicating the DA's decision to vote against the budget fiscal framework meant it had "defined itself out of the GNU".
Elsewhere, a preliminary report of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has implicated Collins Letsoalo, CEO of the Road Accident Fund (RAF), in possible wrongdoing involving a R79m lease for the fund’s Johannesburg regional offices. The SIU investigation arose from a whistleblower’s complaint to public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, which accused Letsoalo of reversing decisions made by the bid evaluation committee so that a losing bidder, Mowana Properties, ended up winning the contract.
The lease agreement is for five years. The SIU’s preliminary findings confirm the whistleblower’s allegations of malfeasance amounting to millions of rand in the awarding of leasing, cleaning, security and legal-services tenders.
In the Cape Winelands, the number of centimillionaires has almost doubled in the past decade, while Johannesburg keeps losing its spark. According to the "World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2025" compiled by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, the winelands — including the towns of Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch — counts 18 centimillionaires as residents, up from 10 of these super-wealthy individuals a decade ago.
In Business Times, we report on a light aircraft manufacturer with factory facilities in the south of Johannesburg and in Alrode, Alberton, which has found itself in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump’s global trade war.
Sling Aircraft is the maker of two-seater and four-seater light aircraft in the deregulated aircraft category. The conventional rule in the aviation industry has always been that imported or exported airplanes and aircraft parts are exempt from tariffs. However, this has been upended by Trump who has fired a broadside of what he calls retaliatory tariffs on countries with which the US runs a trade deficit.
We have this and much more in the Sunday Times today.
Happy reading,
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