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After his successful rugby career, former Springbok and Sharks star Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira continues to make even bigger moves in the business world.

Department of Small business Development and its agencies to host roadshows in the Limpopo Province to unlock opportunities for SMMEs and Co-operatives for economic growth and job creationThe Department of Small business Development (DSBD) and its agencies, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (sefa) will host Roadshows in the Limpopo province targeting SMMEs and Co-operatives on 19-20 May 2022.The development and support of SMMEs is critical for economic recovery and job creation. SMMEs are the key drivers for job creation, therefore unlocking value chains for the benefit of small businesses remains critical in recovering an economy that has lost over a million jobs due the pandemic.Minister for Small business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams and Deputy Minister Sidumo Dlamini are leading countrywide roadshows themed: unlocking opportunities for SMMEs and Co-operatives for economic growth and job creation.The purpose of the roadshows is to showcase the work of the DSBD, its agencies and other strategic government departments. It is crucial for various stakeholders to work together in ensuring the desired impact, through the assessments of various challenges and highlighting lessons learnt in various districts. This can only be achieved through partnerships with both the public and private sectors.The Department will also utilize these roadshows as a partnership dialogue to engage with different stakeholders. These roadshows are critical in ensuring that there is a seamless engagement across all spheres of government.Members of the media are invited as follows: District: Waterberg District Municipality Date: 19 May 2022Time: 9h00 till 15h00Venue: Modimolle, OR Tambo Hall District: Capricon District Municipality, Molemole Local Municipality Date: 20 May 2022Time: 9h00 till 15h00Venue: Mogodi Community Hall, (Ga-Manthata) District: Capricon District Municipality, Molemole Local Municipality Date: 20 May 2022Time:18h00 till 22h00Venue: Peter Bokaba Stadium Conference Centre - PolokwaneEnquiries:Sendra MashegoDirector: Communication and MarketingCell: 076 601 1564E-mail: [email protected]

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Eskom has welcomed the hefty sentence handed down by the Bronkhorstspruit Regional Court to two men who were found guilty of stealing copper cables, which belong to the power utility. The two men Anye Nkwenti and Happy Dube were sentenced to 12 and 15 years, respectively, behind bars earlier this month after the court found them guilty of possession of stolen property and malicious damage to essential infrastructure . In a statement, Eskom bemoaned the theft of critical cable and other infrastructure, which hampers the power utilitys ability to provide quality service. The theft of cables, overhead lines, transformers and conductors costs Eskom approximately R2 billion per year. Illegal electricity connections and cable theft often lead to prolonged power outages and compromise the quality of supply, which affects businesses, essential services, as well as the day-to-day lives of society, and this has a negative impact on the economy. Eskom Gautengs Safety, Health, Environment, Risk, and Quality Manager, Kith Maitisa, said sentences like the ones meted out to the men send a message that transgressors will be punished. Gauteng experiences a lot of cable theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure. The arrests are part of our heightened efforts to curb criminal acts that affect customers, disrupt peoples livelihoods and the future of the country, Maitisa said. Earlier this year, Eskom revealed that in an effort to clamp down on cable theft and other security related challenges, it has added at least 450 more security guards, and has begun the use of drone and infrared technology.

Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi says the fight against child labour is about social justice, creating a prosperous future and hope for children. Minister Nxesi told delegates at the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour that South Africa as a long-standing member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) had always stood for global social justice. But, in South Africa we also share the vision of the ILO and that of its member states - that of transforming the labour market and developing a decent world of work, he said. Nxesi was speaking during a high level panel discussion on the topic of child labour in the midst of the deficits in decent work and youth employment, identifying pressing global challenges, and priorities for the global community. South Africa takes the issue of child labour very seriously. The country subscribes on the centenary declaration on the future of work that is premised on human-centred approach. The conference gives us an opportunity to show our commitment to eliminating child labour, Nxesi said. Meanwhile, International Labour Organization Director-General, Guy Ryder, said the fight against the elimination of child labour has been characterised by a go back - to go forward. My impression over the last 20 years is that we got a little bit complacent. We were making really good progress until the last 10 years. Things have started to slow down. We stopped making child labour and its elimination a key policy objective nationally and internationally. We talk a lot about child labour and have a lot of programmes against child labour. We need a political push against this campaign. We have the global architecture. Nationally we also have commitments and thirdly, we need to bring in all the stakeholders, he said. Ryder said that there is a need to bring in the global elements and the national elements into the mix to regain the momentum quickly which has somewhat dissipated. Let us not be distracted by the very real broad of challenges in the labour market such as youth unemployment and others. Let us make sure that child labour features in all the approaches explicitly, he said. The conference continues today with discussions on: teachers and their unions in successful mobilisation to bring children back to school post COVID; case studies on child labour; reducing child labour and forced labour through skills development; responding to child labour in times of crisis; the role of education; policy priorities to end child labour in Africa; and scaling-up business due diligence on child labour. The Global Conference held at Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Conference Centre (ICC) in Durban will during its duration include 28 side events, one-hour sessions that will allow delegates to further share knowledge and experiences related to the main topics addressed in the event. The conference is expected to end on Friday.

The South African Reserve Banks (SARB) Prudential Authority (PA) has placed microfinance bank, Ubank, under curatorship. The move, SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Monday, came after the PA in recent years intensified its supervision of Ubank due to corporate governance concerns and a high number of internal control weaknesses. During the last couple of years, the Prudential Authority has intensified its supervision of Ubank due to corporate governance concerns, a high number of internal control weaknesses, and the prolonged period it has taken to secure the injection of sufficient capital. Addressing reporters, Kganyago said the decision was also prompted by Ubanks prolonged period to secure the injection of sufficient capital to comply with the minimum capital requirements; diversify the bank's business model; and ensure the future sustainability of the bank. The bank has a long history of providing basic financial services to mine workers and their families. He said: After having duly considered the seriousness of the issues facing the bank, and given that Ubank is unlikely to immediately meet its obligations as required by the Banks Act and the Regulations relating to Banks, the Minister of Finance, in consultation with the Prudential Authority, has decided to place Ubank under curatorship with immediate effect. This is being done to proactively mitigate the adverse consequences on Ubank's depositors, and to preserve the stability of the South African banking and financial services sector as a whole. Upon an appointment of a curator, the management of Ubank vests in the curator, subject to the supervision of the PA, that any other person vested with the management of the affairs of Ubank shall be divested thereof. The curator is also required to recover and take possession of all the assets of Ubank. Furthermore, the Prudential Authority is obliged to ensure that all payment clearing and settlement obligations of Ubank will continue to be met. In this regard, Finance Enoch Godongwa has appointed KPMG South Africa as the curator, with Zola Beseti as the representative. The audit firm will be responsible for the bank with immediate effect, and with the full authority the law confers on the curator. Zola Beseti is a Johannesburg-based KPMG director. He is a member of KPMGs Policy Board. Operations Kganyago emphasised that Ubank would continue to operate during the period of curatorship and the curator will make decisions regarding the continued granting of loans and sound banking activities generally. Retail depositors represent 98% of Ubanks total liabilities. It is important to emphasise that Ubank will continue to be open for business, he said. He added that Ubank remained highly liquid with a liquidity coverage ratio in excess of the regulatory requirement. The PA is aware of interested parties that have been discussing, and are continuing to discuss, investing in Ubank, and which investments, if concluded, will resolve the issues at Ubank. The curator will take this process forward. As already indicated, Ubank remains highly liquid. Depositors will have continued access to their money and other banking services offered by the bank in the ordinary course of business. The curator will keep depositors informed of any developments at the bank, he said. The curatorship is a protection procedure, which gives the PA the legal means to create the necessary space to implement a resolution plan. Customers and staff are encouraged to continue supporting Ubank.

Eskom Chief Operating Officer, Jan Oberholzer, says Eskom may be forced to increase load shedding from Stage 3 load shedding to Stage 4 if the power utility fails to gather enough generation capacity to feed national peak demand. According to Oberholzer, Eskom suffered at least eight major breakdowns at its power stations exacerbating strain on the already fragile and constrained power system. Only one of those units has, so far, been returned to service. The expected return of some of those units to service this week may not be enough to suspend load shedding. "If we look at the week ahead, we are short of the generating capacity we need to supply the countrys demand. The current outlook is that we need to implement Stage 3 load shedding tonight. Its important to make the point that it may increase if there are additional breakdowns. The three units that we expected to return to service have returned. However, because of unreliability and the unpredictability of our system, should something drastically happen we may be forced to increase the stage of load shedding from 3 to 4. For [Tuesday] we are foreseeing stage three then Stage 2 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, he said. Oberholzer said during this time, the power utilitys emergency reserves will be coming under pressure because of increased dependence. We are currently burning two million litres of diesel per day and it is significant. For the month to date, we have burnt 40 million litres already. So we have to look at our emergencies that we dont run out of diesel. The water [plants] look fine but we may be forced to use more water. We have to make sure that we dont deplete our emergencies. Depending on how much we need to use our emergencies, we may be forced to implement load shedding throughout the day. We will try our best to avoid that but unfortunately that risk that does exist, he said. Since the beginning of May, the power utility has turned to implementing load shedding between 5pm and 10pm in an attempt to claw back some lost generation capacity and secure the national power grid. Eskom Chief Executive, Andre de Ruyter, explained that this particular time is when demand begins to climb especially in winter. Our demand pattern has moved to a typical winter pattern so the peaks during evening peak are much more pronounced. During the day time, the system is capable of handling demand as well as during the morning. So its really only a constraint that we have during the peak. What that means is that we can cope with the demand during the daythis also then puts us in a position where theres less of an impact on business life, he said. We do understand that after 5pm, the impact on the domestic consumer is particularly pronounced and that is highly regrettable and we have clearly got a challenge with resolving that, he said. De Ruyter acknowledged that the power utilitys performance has been disappointing and unacceptable. The performance has been quite disappointing and we are going to be implementing action to improve our performance. We are really going to try extraordinary measures to improve the performance of our generation system. The current performance is clearly not acceptable and we cannot continue to impose load shedding certainly not at the levels that we are at the moment. The management team and I are ceased with this matter we are working at all hours of the day and night in order to overcome this, he said.

Riana Ferreira, who was born and raised in Gqeberha, started her company Collect A Debt in 2009. But her career in debt collection started in 1993.She is passionate about working with people and making their lives better. She is a very experienced businesswoman who is often sought for advice.

This week, three of the world's biggest technology organisations unveiled their visions for a future of business that will see a revolution in efficiency.SAP, the German company that leads the world in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, search giant Google, and chipmaker Intel, all hosted major international events where they launched new products and services, and provided a glimpse of the future of business.