This Week In The News

NEWS IN SHORT

• The City of Johannesburg’s electricity supply utility, City Power, has warned it will impose “load reduction” on residents to “protect the grid from total collapse”.
  
  
• Car batteries are far more likely to malfunction in winter than in any other season. Car batteries have a shelf life of about three to at most five years
  
  
• Massive petrol price cut on the cards for July.
  South African motorists have just received some much-needed relief at the pumps with a R1.24 cut to petrol prices this week—and early indications are that another big drop in prices is lining up for July.
  
  
• SA's pre-owned sector experienced a substantial growth of R12,932,363,057 in combined sales for 2023.

• South Africa is set for interest rate relief in the next few months, with the Reserve Bank potentially entering its cutting cycle at its next meeting in July.
  This is feedback from Old Mutual Wealth investment strategist Izak Odendaal, who explained in his latest Investment Note that the upside risks to inflation have abated.

• The sale of the South African Petroleum Refinery (Sapref), jointly owned by multinational energy companies BP and Shell, to the state-owned Central Energy Fund for R1 (five US cents) raises question about whether the company is evading its social and environmental liabilities.

• Mahindra is celebrating its 2024 SA Car of the Year Awards in a very unconventional way – embarking on a two-week expedition across some of the toughest terrain that Africa has to offer.

• New Toyota Hilux GR-Sport III officially goes on sale in South Africa at a starting price of R999,000. Each purchase of the new Hilux GR-Sport III carries a 9 services/ 90,000km service plan and a 3-year/100,000km warranty.

• The highest-mileage electric vehicle (EV) you can currently buy in the local market – that we could find – is a 2016 BMW i3 eDrive that is listed for sale by SMG BMW Cape Town City.
  The electric hatch is on the market for R369,900 and has completed over 120,000km in its eight years on the road, with a full franchise service history to boot.

• ENVIRONMENT
  ‘Bin pickers’
  These collectors or pickers have saved municipalities roughly R608 million (more if the cost of environmental impact is added), at no cost to the taxpayer.
  Informal waste collectors are estimated to have diverted 82% of waste packaging material, amounting to approximately 1.47 million tons, from landfills in a single year.
  Notably, in a survey conducted in Johannesburg, 8,000 pickers collected more recyclable material in 22 days than Pikitup’s recycling program collected in two years.

 

TO REPAIR OR NOT TO REPAIR

There is a lot of confusion around section 56 of the CPA i.e. Repair, Refund or Replacement , where defects occurred within 6 months from the date of purchase of goods

The National Consumer Commission has noticed a trend by suppliers who believe that they have a right to choose remedies in terms of section 56 of the CPA i.e. Repair, Refund or Replacement of the damaged or unsafe goods, where the defect occurred within 6 months from the date of purchase of goods.

This defense is always couched in the following manner, “surely, we have a right to choose to repair the goods, the Consumer does not have a right to cancel”.

 

The 10 cars least likely to be hijacked in South Africa

King Price Insurance put together a list of 10 car brands and models that were the least hijacked cars within their footprint.
These cars, as outlined by King Price and in no particular order, are:

• Audi Q3
• Chery Tiggo 4 Pro
• Ford Fiesta
• Ford Figo
• Hyundai Creta
• Nissan Almera
• Nissan Magnite
• Subaru Forester
• Suzuki Vitara
• Renault Clio

 

Did you know.
The National Credit Act (NCA) allows vehicle finance providers to levy an early settlement charge in cases where the original loan was for R250,000 or more.
The act states: “The amount required to settle a credit agreement, in the case of a large agreement, is equal to no more than the interest that would have been payable under the agreement for a period equal to the difference between (aa) three months; and (bb) the period of notice of settlement if any, given by the consumer.”
Consumers are advised to give their credit providers at least three months’ notice of their plans to settle their loans if they want to avoid paying such early termination fees.

 

World’s biggest BMW festival coming back to South Africa.
BMW’s annual M Fest is making its triumphant return to South Africa in 2024, promising a weekend of action-packed motoring fun.

The festival will take place at the Kyalami Gran Prix Circuit in Midrand, Gauteng, from the 24th to the 27th of October.

For better context, M Fest is BMW’s biggest calendar event of the year and is used as a platform to showcase its upcoming models to the media.

A few of the vehicles that could make an appearance this year include the new 1 Series, 3 Series, and M3, as well as the locally-produced next-gen X3.

However, the event is not just limited to the press as it is also an exciting prospect for the public, entailing three full days of motoring action from the fan-favourite brand that covers all manner of entertainment.
In 2022, approximately 20,000 tickets were made available, which were quickly sold out before the event began.

The tickets for the 2024 BMW M Fest will go up closer to the event’s opening day on 24 October

 

VW GOLF 8 GTI UNVEILED AS ARMOURED RAPID-RESPONSE HOT HATCH.

SVI Engineering, leading specialist manufacturer of armoured products, is proud to reveal the new SVI AK47 Golf 8 GTI, a bullet-resistant rapid-response vehicle based on Volkswagen’s popular hot hatch and developed specifically for South Africa.

Offering protection against handguns and rifles up to 7.62x39 mm – importantly, including the pervasive AK47.

SVI’s bespoke AK47 armouring package for the Volkswagen Golf 8 – either the GTI variant or the R derivative – is priced at R649 500 (excluding VAT and the cost of the base vehicle). The project build time comes in at approximately three months.