Land Bank sues officials, ANC heavyweights
The state-owned Land Bank had brought a claim against several ANC heavyweights, high-ranking government officials and property mogul Roux Shabangu, The Sunday Independent reported yesterday. This was in a bid to recoup an unauthorised R82 million loan it granted them for a bungled North West development. The development was proposed as a huge tourism attraction in the Hartbeespoort area, with a hotel, conference centre, shopping centre and more than 400 sectional title units, the paper said. But eight years after Westside Trading 570 signed the contract, the land was still vacant and had not been sold, the company was in liquidation, and the Land Bank was demanding its multi-million-rand loan back with interest. According to papers filed in the North Gauteng High Court, Westside Trading had failed to make payment of the R82m by the end of April 2009. – Sapa
Cargo dues to rise by at least 5.9%
All cargo dues would increase by 5.9 percent with the exception of certain minerals and marine services, the Ports Regulator of SA said on Friday. Dry bulk cargo dues for coal, iron ore and manganese and marine services and related tariffs would rise 8.15 percent. The regulator had rejected a proposal for an average 14.39 percent tariff hike from the National Ports Authority after considering the application and submissions from stakeholders, it added. – Asha Speckman
Brazilian president remains positive
Brazil was “going well and will go better”, President Dilma Rousseff said at the weekend after Standard & Poor’s cut the country’s rating to the lowest investment-grade level. “We are convinced of the absolute necessity of preserving the soundness of the macro-economic fundamentals of the country,” the president told an annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank at a resort in the north-east state of Bahia. – Sapa-AFP
Zim owes British bank’s unit $28m
The Zimbabwe unit of Standard Chartered Bank is owed $28 million (R301m) by the central bank, which accessed foreign currency accounts held on deposit with the British international bank by its clients. page 18