JOHANNESBURG: Shell said yesterday it could not honor fuel delivery contracts around Johannesburg because of a two-week truckers' strike and police shot dead a striking miner, taking the death toll in two months of South African labor unrest to 48.
The rand fell two percent to within sight of a three-year low against the dollar as investors pulled back from Africa's biggest economy amid fears the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is powerless to manage the spreading labor unrest.
President Jacob Zuma has been criticized for his low-key response to the most damaging bout of industrial action since the end of apartheid, especially after police killed 34 strikers at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine on Aug. 16.
In a speech to business leaders late on Thursday he put a positive spin on the situation, stressing that since the end of white-minority rule South Africans have shown "the capacity to overcome difficulties when we work together".
"We should not seek to portray ourselves as a nation that is perpetually fighting," he said.
However, with an ANC leadership run-off looming in December, Nelson Mandela's 100-year-old liberation movement is preoccupied with its own divisions and Zuma is unlikely to take any action to stabilize the economy that could upset his political allies in the unions.
"In the build-up to the election, the government is unlikely to come out with any clear policy directives," said Simon Freemantle, an analyst at Standard Bank in Johannesburg.
Reflecting such concerns, Moody's cut South Africa's credit rating last week, and the intensifying strikes in the mining sector and elsewhere are raising very real fears of a big hit to already sluggish economic growth for this year.
Finance Minister Pravi Gordhan has already said he will have to cut his 2.7 percent growth forecast for 2012 when he delivers an interim budget on Oct. 24.
More than 75,000 miners, or 15 percent of the workforce in a sector that accounts for 6 percent of output, are out on unofficial strikes and tensions with security forces and mining bosses are running high.
Near the "platinum belt" city of Rustenburg, 120 km (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, workers said a miner was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police overnight.
"He was shot here by the police," Mbubhu Lolo, a striker from Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), told Reuters, pointing to his midriff.
Police would not confirm the cause of the death, although the ground nearby was strewn with spent rubber-bullet shell casings and teargas canisters after clashes involving water cannon the previous evening.
Yesterday, protesters in a shanty town near the Amplats mine barricaded streets with rocks and burning tires, watched by a contingent of more than 30 riot police backed by armored vehicles.
Earlier in the week, strikers torched an Amplats training center and two conveyor belts, making it harder for the world's biggest platinum producer to restart operations when it does manage to resolve what is already a three-week standoff.
AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa's biggest bullion producer, has lost virtually all local production due to wildcat strikes, while rivals Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have also taken a hit.
Around 300 strikers at Kumba Iron Ore have also blockaded the company's giant Sishen iron ore mine in the remote Northern Cape province.
The mining sector unrest has shaken investor confidence, and signs of it spreading into manufacturing — which accounts for 15 percent of output — and an expanding truckers' strike have caused even more alarm.
"There is fuel available across the country, so the issue is not fuel supply, but the challenge is delivering it safely to our retail sites," oil giant Shell said after invoking a "force majeure" clause that allows it to break contracts due to situations beyond its control.
Other petrol companies are holding their breath, especially around the commercial hub Johannesburg, but have not yet followed Shell's move.
Raising the stakes in its two-week stoppage by 20,000 truckers, the SATAWU transport union said it wanted co-workers on South Africa's railways and ports to strike next week, a development that would affect coal and other mineral shipments.
Coal output from one of the world's biggest suppliers has so far been unaffected but any disruption could hit power utility Eskom, which is already struggling to prevent a repeat of a 2008 power crisis when the grid nearly collapsed.
Some 85 percent of South Africa's electricity is generated by coal-fired plants.
Many supermarkets and logistics firms are running on back-up plans because of the truckers' strike, which US car giant General Motors said had affected production at its Port Elizabeth plant on the south coast.
Toyota suffered a four-day wildcat outage at its Durban plant, although workers returned on Friday after securing a 5.4 percent pay rise.
"As far as I know, the guys have been pitching up for work and production has restarted," Toyota SA spokesman Leo Kok said.
S. Africa strikes hit Shell fuel deliveries
S. Africa strikes hit Shell fuel deliveries
Kuwait Fund for Development: Six decades of humanitarian and developmental impact across globe
On Dec. 31, the Kuwait Fund for Development marks the anniversary of its establishment, opening a new chapter of success and ambition as one of the most prominent pioneers of development on both regional and global levels. Founded in 1961, the fund became the first and oldest development institution to operate in Arab countries and other developing nations.
Today, after more than six decades of continuous work, the Kuwait Fund for Development remains steadfast in its mission and has never ceased its efforts to support development causes in developing countries. As it celebrates its 64th anniversary, the fund has drawn a national portrait under the theme “Partners in Development,” reflected through its projects spread across the globe, all of which aim to build brighter and more sustainable future.
An external development arm
The establishment of the Kuwait Fund for Development embodied a wise and visionary decision by the leadership of Kuwait at the time. Kuwait was the only developing country that chose to share the challenges of development with other developing nations, cooperating with them through the provision of concessional loans, grants, financial assistance, and technical support tailored to their development priorities.
Since its inception, the Kuwait Fund for Development has served as Kuwait’s external development arm, sparing no effort in supporting development causes and extending assistance to developing countries worldwide.
Vision and early beginnings
In the early 1960s, the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, then head of the financial department, proposed the idea of establishing a development entity that would serve Kuwait’s foreign policy and assist Arab and other developing countries in achieving development across various sectors. The idea received strong support from the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, as it aligned with Kuwait’s vision at the time to build a modern state.
Consequently, an Amiri decree was issued on Dec. 31, 1961, establishing the Kuwait Fund for Development with an initial capital of 50 million Kuwaiti dinars ($162.6 million).
Global reach and development impact
The fund’s activities have extended to all corners of the world, contributing to the financing of projects in 106 countries, including 16 Arab countries, 41 African countries, 19 in East and South Asia and the Pacific, 17 in Central Asia and Europe, and 12 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This support was delivered through 1,037 concessional loans provided to the governments of these countries, with a total value of approximately 7 billion Kuwaiti dinars. In addition, the fund has provided grants and technical assistance to support a wide range of development services, helping beneficiary countries implement their development programs. A total of 420 grants and technical assistance operations were extended, amounting to approximately 401 million Kuwaiti dinars.
Loan agreements
During the past year, the Kuwait Fund for Development signed several loan agreements supporting development across different regions of the world. Among these were two loan agreements with the government of Bahrain. The first loan, valued at 31.25 million Kuwaiti dinars, contributed to financing the Electricity Transmission Networks Development Project. The second loan, valued at 10 million Kuwaiti dinars, supported the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Highway Development Project (Phase II).
On the sidelines of the World Bank Group meetings held in Washington, D.C., the fund has also signed a 4 million Kuwaiti dinar-worth loan agreement with Saint Lucia to help finance the Sir Julian R. Hunte Highway Project, as well as another 4 million Kuwaiti dinar-worth loan agreement with Belize to support the George Price Highway Project.
Supporting and assisting refugees
The Kuwait Fund for Development’s contributions to humanitarian action stand out at both regional and international levels. Since its establishment, the fund has represented a unique model in supporting and assisting refugees in countries affected by disasters, conflicts, and wars, in line with Kuwait’s moderate and balanced policy.
These efforts have helped strengthen Kuwait’s relations with Arab and international partners. The fund has played a significant role in the reconstruction of Lebanon and Iraq following periods of crisis, and its assistance to the Palestinian people has never ceased.
International Participation
Over the past year, the Kuwait Fund for Development recorded notable participations in major international forums. These included taking part in the 2025 annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., with a delegation headed by the fund’s Acting Director General Walid Shamlan Al-Bahar. The fund also took part in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, held in Tokyo, Japan.
Additional international engagements included participation in the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, held in Awaza, Turkmenistan, and the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, organized by the UN in Seville, Spain.
