Flash Briefing: SARS eyes Bosasa beneficiaries; AMCU fights back; Boeing turned safety features off

By Linda van Tilburg

In today's global business headlines:

• Top officials, politicians and businessmen of the ANC are facing tax claims of more than R250m ($17.4m) on income earned from Bosasa, after the revelations of Angelo Agrizzi at the Zondo Commission. The South Africa Revenue Service has concluded preliminary investigations that may lead to charges of under-declared income, overstated expenses and other misrepresentations against some members of the ANC. Those on the SARS list, the Sunday Times reported, include: Dudu Myeni, the chairwoman of ousted President Jacob Zuma's charitable foundation, Minister of Environmental Affairs Nomvula Mokonyane, Former National Prosecuting Authority prosecutors Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi , ANC lawmaker Vincent Smith and former correctional services commissioner Zack Modise.
• This comes after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa fired two senior prosecutors, Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrewebi on Friday who were implicated in taking bribes in Ramaphosa's latest move to restore the integrity of the National Prosecuting Authority. This was also after Agrizzi's testimony to the Zondo commission.
• South Africa's Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, AMCU, has insisted it remains in compliance with the country's Labour Relations Act, after the government threatened to deregister the group. AMCU will meet Labour relations minister Lehlohonolo Molefe tomorrow to try to resolve the issue and has also referred the matter to the trade union's legal team. AMCU regards the deregistration as a political attack and says it is still functioning and will continue to do so.
• News from overseas is that it has come to light that certain safety features on Boeing 737 Max jets were turned off. Some mid-level FAA officials did contemplate and then dropped the idea of grounding Boeing 737 Max jets last year. The jets are grounded worldwide following two fatal accidents by Lion Air and Ethiopian airlines in which 346 people were killed.
• In the United Kingdom, 'fracking tsar' Natascha Engel resigned after just six months. This is a serious blow to a shale gas revolution in the country. There is fierce opposition from environmentalists in Britain about potential groundwater contamination. The industry says that forcing fracking to be stopped every time there is a micro tremor amounts to a de facto ban on fracking.
• About 30,000 South Africans living abroad got the chance to cast their votes at embassies, high commissions and consulates over the weekend. In London just under 10,000 people registered to vote at the South African embassy on Trafalgar Square. The Independent Electoral Commission did simplify the process of registering for an overseas vote and extended the hours for polling, but many overseas voters were left out, because the voting centres were only in the major cities. The overwhelming majority of people polled at the voting station in London indicated that they were Democratic Alliance supporters. There appeared to be little support for the new smaller political parties.