For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.
Making headlines: Ramaphosa says SA is ready to work with China, ahead of Brics Summit, Brics expansion hopefuls seek to rebalance world order and, Reserve Bank finds Phala Phala was not 'legally entitled' to buffalo dollars

Ramaphosa says SA is ready to work with China, ahead of Brics Summit

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that South Africa is ready to work with China ahead of the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping on his fourth State visit to South Africa to attend the fifteenth yearly Brics Summit being hosted in Johannesburg.

The international community is monitoring the upcoming Brics Summit, which, after much controversy, will not see Russian President Vladimir Putin in attendance.

Ramaphosa said relations between the China and South Africa were underpinned by a 10-year strategic programme of cooperation – between 2020 and 2029 – and the summit provided an opportunity to assess progress in the areas of cooperation and identify ways of deepening collaboration.

In addition to a number of structured bilateral mechanisms, South Africa and China collaborate on international strategic platforms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Brics, the G20, the G77 plus China alliance, and others.

Brics expansion hopefuls seek to rebalance world order

An expansion of the Brics bloc under consideration at a summit this week has attracted a motley crew of potential candidates from Iran to Argentina with a common desire to level a global playing field many consider rigged against them.

Among the list of grievances is abusive trade practices, punishing sanctions regimes perceived neglect of the development needs of poorer nations.

The wealthy West's domination of international bodies, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.

Over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining Brics, say officials from South Africa, which is hosting the August 22 to 24 summit. Of them, nearly two dozen have formally asked to be admitted.
South Africa's former trade minister, who helped usher his country into the bloc in 2010 said the objective necessity for a grouping like Brics has never been larger.

Reserve Bank finds Phala Phala was not 'legally entitled' to buffalo dollars

The South African Reserve Bank has found that President Cyril Ramaphosa's Ntaba Nyoni Estate, that owns the Phala Phala game farm, was not "legally entitled" to the $580 000 it received from Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa for 20 buffalo.

But because the transaction was not "perfected" – Mustafa never received delivery of the buffalo – there was no legal obligation on Ramaphosa or Ntaba Nyoni to have declared the foreign currency under exchange control regulations.

The central bank said it would not release the full "private internal" Phala Phala report, but because the matter had "significant public importance" it would release the findings.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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