Cape Town - A roundup of Wednesday's top economic and finance reads on Fin24.
Beleaguered Jonas Makwakwa quits SARS
The SA Revenue Service (SARS) announced on Wednesday that its chief officer for business and individual tax, Jonas Makwakwa, has resigned with immediate effect.
SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane made the announcement at an urgent briefing.
This after Makwakwa came under the spotlight this week following the Daily Maverick's report that New Integrated Credit Solutions (NICS) which has a deal with SARS to assist in bolstering the tax body’s debt collections, paid R600 000 into his bank account.
Transnet CEO: We cancelled contracts with firms at heart of state capture claims
The board of Transnet faces a barrage of probing questions from Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprise into any potential relationships board members may have with the Gupta family.
This comes as the SABC reported that the Hawks know the whereabouts of the once politically connected family. The family is believed to have used its influence, not only to land lucrative business deals with government worth billions, but also to influence the appointment of ministers.
Last year then acting chief procurement officer Willie Mathebula said Eskom and Transnet had the lion share, in rand value, of applications to National Treasury to deviate from procurement guidelines when procuring services and expansions from the price scope of major projects.
Business confidence at 3-year high on Ramaphosa presidency
Business confidence climbed to the highest since the start of 2015 in the fourth quarter as the appointment of President Cyril Ramaphosa boosts prospects for industry-friendly policies.
The RMB/BER business confidence index rose 11 points, the most since the first quarter of 2012, to 45, FirstRand’s [JSE: FSR] Rand Merchant Bank unit and the Stellenbosch-based Bureau for Economic Research said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
“The widespread rise in the BCI had one common cause: the recent turn for the better in domestic politics,” they said.
KPMG SA agrees to pay R1m US penalty over audit work
Foreign affiliates of accounting firms Deloitte & Touche and BDO have also agreed to pay penalties in the same matter.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, KPMG SA relied on audits produced by KPMG Zimbabwe in 2013 and 2014 when auditing the books of an unnamed SA company incorporated in Canada.
Spotify launches in SA with free music streaming using less data
The world’s biggest music streaming platform, Spotify, went live in South Africa on Monday night.
The service officially launched in the country on Tuesday and marks the first time Spotify will be available on the African continent.
With over 159 million active users, including over 71 million Spotify Premium subscribers, Spotify offers a choice between an ongoing free ad-supported music service and a fully featured, ad-free subscription option.
Spotify will rival music streaming services already operating in the country with the likes of iTunes from Apple, Google Play Music, and Deezer.
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