Adcock said it had received non-binding proposals that could lead to an offer to buy all of, or a controlling stake, in the company, suggesting a possible rival bid to the $675 million offer made by conglomerate Bidvest.

The stock ended up 8.87 percent at 67.50 rand, the highest in the company’s history, according to Reuters data.

“These markets have had a hell of a run and are definitely due for a break and profit taking. That’s probably what we are seeing now,” said Henre Herselman, a derivatives trader at Nedbank Private Wealth Stockbrokers.

The Top-40 index lost 0.41 percent to 35,679.33 while the broader All-share index ended 0.29 percent lower at 40,337.81.

Among the top losers of the day were media and e-commerce group Naspers, which led the market the previous day, and finished down 2.41 percent at 624.33 rand.

Sappi shed more than 7 percent to a six-month low and ended down 4.24 percent after the paper maker said quarterly profit had dropped by 30 percent.

Gainers on the blue-chip index were led by bullion producer Gold Fields, which ended up 2.94 percent despite a laggard spot price of gold.

“(These gold companies) have just been sold off so hard in the last while that they are due a bit of a breather and a bounce,” Herselman said.

He added that talks of a potential rate cut may be the focus for investors in coming weeks ahead of a decision by the Monetary Policy Committee due on May 23.

“Several central banks have cut interest rates and that’s the theme,” he said. “They’re not happy with growth numbers, so they’re happy to provide some stimulus to revive growth, which will lead to demand for materials.”

Trade was fairly active, with more than 200 million shares changing hands according to preliminary data. A total of 174 shares advanced, 132 declined, while 63 were unchanged.

Reuters.

Two months after 13 troops were killed by rebels in Central African Republic in South Africa’s heaviest military losses since the end of apartheid, Pretoria is gearing up to send 1,000 soldiers to Democratic Republic of Congo’s volatile border with Rwanda and Uganda.

The force, supported by similar-sized detachments from Malawi and Tanzania, was approved by the United Nations in March for “targeted security operations” as part of U.N. peacekeeping in the region. Its mission is to neutralize rebel groups, including the well-armed M23 rebel movement and other militias.

M23, which U.N. experts say is backed by Uganda and Rwanda even though both countries deny it, has vowed to hit back if attacked, and its fighters were honing their ambush skills during a recent visit by a Reuters reporter.

Its routing of U.N.-backed Congolese troops in November and its brief seizure of the city of Goma give credibility to those threats, but South Africa, the continent’s economic giant, has the ability to deploy air power against the Congo insurgents.

At Roodewaal, a bombing range in the northern province of Limpopo, the air force and army staged a mock battle in the bush, with infantry backed by Rooivalk gunships – similar to the U.S. Apache – taking on an imaginary enemy hidden in the scrub.

As well as precision bombing runs by Hawker jets, the simulation included battlefield evacuations via helicopter, an option that was not open to the South African contingent of 200 soldiers attacked in Central African Republic in March.

“We prepare for every eventuality,” South African air force deputy commander Major General Gerald Malinga told Reuters after the display. “The basic tenet is that we would like to prevent war, but if war happens we have to respond.”

The Congo deployment is also part of Pretoria’s push to exert more clout – commercial, diplomatic and military – in the rest of Africa, where emerging players such as China have an increasing role and former colonial powers still have influence.

Although no explicit mention was made of M23, a force that emerged last year from a Tutsi-led rebellion in Congo’s east in 2004-2009, South African officers acknowledged the very real dangers of undertaking the unprecedented U.N. operation to “enforce” peace, rather than merely keep it.

“In those missions, time and again, some of us will fall,” Air Command chaplain Elbe Vinqi said in a ceremony at the start of the exercise. “In those missions, as well, we may have to kill.”

Reuters.

Andry Rajoelina et Marc Ravalomanana s’étaient mis d’accord pour ne pas être candidats, mais l’épouse du second, Lalao, avait finalement présenté son dossier.

La CES motive sa décision par son souci « du principe de la liberté de tout citoyen de se porter candidat à toutes les élections afin de permettre à tout un chacun de choisir librement celui ou celle qui dirigera leur destinée, pour instaurer un climat d’apaisement permettant de tenir des élections justes, crédibles et acceptées par tous. »

Le premier tour de l’élection présidentielle malgache est prévu le 24 juillet et le deuxième le 25 septembre.

The announcement comes as South African lenders are scouring the underbanked African continent in the hope of making acquisitions to hedge rising competition back home.

Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth largest banking group, also plans to convert a $285 million loan to pan-African lender Ecobank later this year, it said.

In its first quarter trading update, Nedbank said that net interest income in the first three months grew 7.3 percent to 5.121 billion rand ($571 million) from 4.774 billion a year ago.

It recorded higher retail impairments as elevated consumer indebtedness and unsecured lending continued into 2013, while the credit loss ratio increased to 1.22 percent from 1.08 percent a year ago.

Reuters.

Londres verse actuellement une aide bilatérale de 19 millions de livres par an à Pretoria, destinée à la réduction de la mortalité infantile et au soutien au secteur privé.

Cette aide était de plus de 40 millions de livres en 2003.

La ministre britannique de l’aide au développement, Justine Greening, a déclaré que l’Afrique du Sud “a fait d’énormes progrès au cours des deux dernières décennies, au point de devenir le moteur économique de la région et le plus important partenaire commercial du Royaume-Uni en Afrique”.

Elle s’exprimait au cours d’une conférence de ministres africains et de chefs d’entreprise.

“J’ai décidé avec mes homologues sud-africains que l’Afrique du Sud était désormais en position de financer son propre développement”, a-t-elle ajouté.

Mais l’Afrique du Sud affirme avoir été mise devant le fait accompli, dénonçant ce qu’il qualifie d’”annonce unilatérale” de Londres.

“Cette annonce unilatérale va sans aucun doute avoir un impact sur la façon dont nos relations bilatérales vont se poursuivre”, a indiqué dans un communiqué le Ministère sud-africain des affaires étrangères.

“Normalement, le gouvernement britannique aurait dû informer de ses intentions le gouvernement sud-africain par les voies diplomatiques afin de permettre la tenue des consultations appropriées et les modalités de l’annonce d’un commun accord”, a-t-il regretté.

De leur côté, les autorités britannique ont déclaré avoir eu “des mois de discussions» et «plusieurs réunions» avec leurs homologues sud-africains avant la décision.

En novembre 2012, le Royaume-Uni a annoncé la suppression en 2015 de son aide à l’Inde, en raison notamment de la “croissance rapide” de cette ancienne colonie britannique.

BBC.

Les plus hautes autorités sud-africaines semblaient lancer des signaux contradictoires, ces dernières heures, sur l’envoi éventuel de troupes en Centrafrique.

D’un côté, le président Jacob Zuma, dans un entretien à l’agence Bloomberg, semblait plaider pour un retour des soldats sud-africains à Bangui, affirmant que, si l’Afrique du Sud n’y allait pas, elle ne pourrait pas poursuivre sa politique. Sa ministre des Affaires étrangères avait dit un peu plus tôt dans la semaine que les leaders régionaux avaient demandé à l’Afrique du Sud de revenir.

L’Afrique du Sud n’agira pas seule

Mais de l’autre côté, devant le Parlement, le vice-président sud-africain, Kgalema Motlanthe, a affirmé solennellement que le gouvernement sud-africain ne prévoyait pas de renvoyer des hommes en territoire centrafricain.

Pour le porte-parole de la présidence, il n’y a là aucune contradiction. Pour le moment, il n’y a pas de plan pour un redéploiement : l’Afrique du Sud ne renverra des hommes que si les leaders d’Afrique centrale ou l’Union africaine le lui demandent formellement.

RFI.

Le président sud-africain Jacob Zuma a précisé jeudi matin que la croissance des arrivées de voyageurs internationaux était de 10,2 %.
C’est plus du double de la moyenne mondiale (4%) de l’année 2012 annoncée par l’Organisation Mondiale du Tourisme.

“Cette croissance phénoménale du tourisme est la preuve que nous savons nous distinguer dans un marché concurrentiel. Elle montre que la réputation de l’Afrique du Sud comme une destination touristique sympathique, accueillante, inspirante et unique continue de croître”, s’est réjoui le président cité par l’AFP, rappelant que le pays de l’apartheid était un “paria” il y a encore une vingtaine d’années.

72 % des visiteurs viennent du continent africain (+15,1% par rapport à 2011).

Dans la partie non-africaine restante, on compte une bonne moitié de touristes européens malgré la crise économique.

“Le Royaume-Uni continue d’être le principal marché du tourisme en Afrique du Sud avec 438 023 touristes en 2012 (+4,2 % par rapport à 2011)” selon un communiqué de presse du Ministère du tourisme.

De nouveaux marchés depuis 2010

L’effet Mondial 2010 permet de comprendre l’autre partie de la vague récente de touristes non-africains.

En effet, une large partie est arrivée des pays émergents dont le nombre a littéralement explosé avec une augmentation de 56 %.

La Chine passe à la quatrième place avec 132 344 visiteurs, un total qui a triplé depuis 2009 selon Jacob Zuma.

Mais les Brésiliens (78 376 visiteurs) se sont aussi découvert il y a peu un intérêt pour le pays.

“Avant la Coupe du monde de 2010, l’Amérique latine n’était pas un marché pour nous”, constate Jermaine Craig, porte-parole de l’agence publique South Africa Tourism, cité par l’AFP.

En revanche, les visiteurs étrangers n’ont pas fait décollé les dépenses qui ont été de 7,6% l’an dernier.

D’ailleurs pour le spécialiste du tourisme, ce sont les voyageurs africains, principalement venus du Nigéria, de la République démocratique du Congo ou de l’Angola qui sont les plus dépensiers : “Ils sont moins nombreux, mais ces gens dépensent deux ou fois plus que les Européens!”

Le gouvernement sud-africain veut accueillir 15 millions de visiteurs étrangers d’ici 2020. Sans oublier les Sud-Africains visitant leur propre pays, plus de la moitié du chiffre d’affaires du secteur.

BBC.

The impoverished island nation has been in crisis since Andry Rajoelina, now president, led an uprising that ousted Ravalomanana from office in 2009, triggering turmoil that scared off investors and devastated the vital tourism industry.

Rajoelina, a former disc jockey, said in January he would not run in the vote scheduled for July 24, after he came under pressure from regional powers which had pressed him to stand aside to prevent fresh unrest in this year’s vote.

Ravalomanana, a wealthy businessman now in exile in South Africa, has also agreed not to run again. He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison after he was accused of ordering elite troops to kill Rajoelina’s supporters.

Speaking outside the election court that is accepting nominations, the former president’s wife, Lalao Ravalomanana Rakotonirainy, told reporters: “We give thanks to God. The application is indeed filed.”

She was surrounded by a few hundred cheering supporters outside the court, where 15 other candidates have already submitted their names. The authorities are due to draw up an official list of candidates by May 3.

“As President Ravalomanana cannot stand in the presidential election, his wife is our natural candidate,” Mamy Rakotoarivelo, member of parliament and former close associate of Ravalomanana, told Reuters ahead of the submission.

“It should allow us to regain the power that was seized in an illegal manner.”

Critics say the presidential bid could be an attempt by Ravalomanana to make a return to politics by the backdoor.

“It is a trick of Marc Ravalomanana,” said political commentator and author Toavina Ralambomahay, saying his wife had no political experience but could still win with the backing of Ravalomanana’s supporters.

“It could prepare the return of her husband,” he said.

Rajoelina led demonstrations against Ravalomanana in early 2009, accusing him of political repression and criticizing his plans to lease tracts of land to the Korean company Daewoo.

A general strike in the capital turned into deadly protests before the army stepped in and backed Rajoelina.

Countries from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) brokered a deal in September 2011 that confirmed Rajoelina as president and allowed for the unconditional return of Ravalomanana from self-imposed exile in South Africa.

But the plan has been beset by disagreements, including over whether Ravalomanana should be imprisoned if he returns home. SADC leaders urged both men not to stand in the election.

The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for July 24 and the second round, coupled with a legislative vote, is set for September 25.

Reuters.

MTN, Africa’s largest telecom company, said in a trading upgrade that its revenue from data – an increasingly important part of its business – rose by 42 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier.

The company said it increased its subscribers across most of its major countries, with one of the biggest advances seen in Nigeria, where its customer base grew by 8 percent, or 3.9 million subscribers, from the previous quarter.

Its home market of South Africa bucked the trend, however, seeing a decrease of nearly 2 percent or, 470,000.

Shares of MTN were up 1.9 percent at 168.06 rand shortly after the start of trading on Thursday. The benchmark Top-40 index was little changed.

Reuters.

Vodacom, a unit of Britain’s Vodafone Plc, said in a trading update that headline earnings per share for the year to end-March rose by 20 to 25 percent, from 709 cents a year earlier.

Headline EPS, the main measure of profit in South Africa, excludes certain one-time items.

The higher earnings are due to a strong performance in its core business and the recognition of an additional deferred tax asset in Mozambique, it said.

The company said it would release its complete earnings on or around May 20.

Vodacom, the dominant mobile operator in South Africa, is dwarfed elsewhere on the continent by local rival MTN Group .

Shares of Vodacom are down 15 percent this year, underperforming a 3.5 percent decline in Johannesburg’s benchmark Top-40 index.

Reuters.