CASH FOR TOURISM

Comair has clocked up a milestone in its business rescue process with capital inflows of R270-million. This comes after it sold its Slow Lounge business to FirstRand for R250-million and it got a R20-million payment from SAA. The latter is part of the R1.1-billion SAA owed Comair for anti-competitive behaviour. It paid R289-million in February 2019, with the balance payable in instalments until July 2022. These payments stopped when SAA went into business rescue in December 2019.

The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company said on 12 September that it had begun daily 12-hour power cuts, Bloomberg reports. This, it says, is because of limited generation at its thermal plant, Hwange Thermal Power Station, and repairs on the dam at Kariba Hydro Power Station. Hwange is undergoing an expansion, and Kariba is undergoing a $294-million project.

Zimbabwe has a capacity of

2,100MW but generates an average of 1,200 to 1,300MW.

The shortfall is imported.

BC Platforms (BCP), a global leader in genomics research, analytics and global data access, is collaborating with the African Institute of Everyone Genome (AiEG), a South African company focusing on building the largest integrated clinical and genomics data biobank in Africa. BCP’s platform will enable real-world data research involving 10 million-plus consenting patient genomes from 54 African countries, to be collected by AiEG over 10 to 15 years. It’s important for drug development and clinical research.

Sonangol, Angola’s national oil company, is moving ahead with its regeneration plan, which will result in it becoming a comprehensive national energy company. The state plans to list

Sonangol once the restructuring programme is complete at the end of 2022. It involves the sale of non-core assets, and the remaining entity will focus on the production of oil and gas as an operator as well as expand the company’s profile to include the production of energy through gas and renewable projects, including solar and biogas.

The Western Cape government is pouring cash into its tourism offerings through its Tourism Product Development Fund. Launched in 2020, it has contributed almost R6-million to supporting new and existing tourism projects. A new exhibition was opened at the Whale House Museum in Hermanus on 7 September to mark Tourism Month. Two other projects are also soon to be launched, including a purpose-built “Food from the Ancestors” gastronomic experience at !Khwa ttu, a San culture and education centre.