President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will join leaders from other Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states at the 35th regional summit which kicks off in Gaborone, Botswana, this morning.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has been appointed as acting President while the two are out of the country.

President Jacob Zuma arrived on Sunday in Gaborone for the summit which will take place under the theme "Accelerating Industrialisation of SADC Economies through Transformation of Natural Endowment and Improved Human Capital”.

The President is leading a delegation which includes International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, State Security Minister David Mahlobo and Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas.

It is expected that the 35th SADC Summit will focus on, amongst other things, the implementation of the recently adopted Regional Industrialisation Strategy that was approved during the Extra-ordinary SADC Summit in April 2015 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The summit is also expected to review progress towards achieving the objectives outlined in the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015 – 2020.

The RISDP is the blueprint for the SADC programme of action on achieving regional economic development and will guide the implementation of SADC programmes over the next five years.

However, pressing development challenges faced by some member states such as water and electricity shortages will also feature in the discussions of the leaders.

As the outgoing chair of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, South Africa will give a report to the summit on matters relating to the work of the organ.

Meanwhile, Botswana President Ian Khama is set to become the next SADC chairperson when Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hands over the position.

Mugabe is expected to hand over the one-year chairmanship to Khama at the 35th summit of Heads of State and Government. - SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa needs to raise the level of economic growth and promote inclusive growth if it is to win the battle against poverty, inequality and unemployment, says Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies. Addressing China’s electronics manufacturer HiSense’s two-day export strategy conference in Cape Town, the Minister said industrialisation was fundamental. “For us as a [...]

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Overall, activity in the oil & gas industry across the African continent has slowed in the wake of the declining oil price in late 2014. African oil & gas organisations ·******** 93% of respondents expect a Brent crude price range of US$50 – 80 in 2015; ·******** 90% of respondents expect a price range of [...]

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South Africa’s business confidence rose by 3.3 index points to 87.9 in July, said the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) on Wednesday.

“The Sacci Business Confidence Index (BCI) picked up by 3.3 index points to 87.9 in July 2015 after shedding 2.3 index points in June 2015,” it said.

Although the BCI bounced up in July, it did not recover to above the medium-term downward trend of business confidence. Month-on-month changes in the sub-indices of the BCI were more positive in July 2015 than in June 2015.

According to the chamber, the uninspiring comparative year-on-year business mood did not change for the better in July 2015.

Four of the six financial sub-indices were negative, one unchanged and one was positive in July year-on-year. Lower inflation, excluding petrol, food and non-alcoholic beverages, had a positive on the BCI in July 2015.

Five of the real activity sub-indices were negative and two were positive.

“Sacci is concerned that the present low domestic economic growth rate is not merely the consequence of cyclical or other short-term factors, but has deeper underlying problems. There is an urgent need for persistent higher economic growth without which South Africa’s economic problems cannot be alleviated,” it explained.

The chamber said that present circumstances provide an opportunity to change direction towards a more normative acceptable policy approach serving longer-term economic growth imperatives.

“In noticing such change, business confidence could turn for the better,” it said. – SAnews.gov.za

South Africa has embarked on pension reforms to support investment and economic growth, Finance Deputy Minister Mcebisi Jonas said on Monday.“South...

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Pretoria – The South African Revenue Services (SARS) has convened a forum of commissioners from bordering countries, including Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to deliberate on core tax and customs issues.

The forum debated issues linked to illicit financial flows, base erosion and profit sharing, transfer pricing and cross-border enforcement.

According to SARS, the aim was to chart a road map going forward and maximise the respective participating countries’ statutory mandates of revenue collection.

Recently the International Monetary Fund released a working paper, which said “the cost of multi-national companies deliberately avoiding tax exceeds $200 billion per year”.

The Organisation for Economic Capacity and Development (OECD) said developing countries lose three times more to tax havens than what is received in international aid per year.

Added to this, a report by the African Union on illicit financial flows said $60 billion is annually tapped from the continent.

It is against this backdrop of abusive tax practices, SARS convened the forum.

SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane called for collective cross-border strategies to respond to the challenges, which can lead to a continental discussion under the African Tax and Administration Forum (ATAF).

Moyane, in his opening address at the forum, said exports out of developing countries are often under-invoiced so that income is accrued abroad, and imports into developing countries are often under-invoiced, so that the excess payment accumulates in foreign accounts.

He acknowledged the increase in automatic exchange of tax information and posed the question on how this can be leveraged.

The meeting culminated in a joint statement of in-principle agreements and actions. – SAnews.gov.za

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Government has allocated R18 billion to improve the socio-economic conditions of distressed mining communities across the country. Headed by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) in charge of revitalising mining communities, the projects include housing and wellness projects. “Overall R18 billion has been dedicated to ongoing work in distressed mining communities, benefitting the following provinces: Eastern Cape; [...] Mining towns get R18bn facelift is a post from: South Africa Business

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