For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: Bain shuts scandal-tainted South African consulting business; Rand Water talks medium-term infrastructure plans, notes maintenance disruption frustrations; And, Bank of America sees South African inflation target by end of 2027

Bain shuts scandal-tainted South African consulting business

Bain & Co. is closing down its consultancy business in Johannesburg, likely bringing to an end a years-long battle to try and restore its reputation in Africa’s biggest economy following a 2022 ban.

In May, the company informed its local teams that its Johannesburg office will become a services hub supporting Bain’s global operations.

South Africa’s National Treasury accused the Boston-based firm of engaging in “corrupt and fraudulent practices” related to a contract with the country’s tax agency and banned it from doing business with government agencies in 2022. Bain was also temporarily barred from competing for UK government contracts because of the scandal in South Africa.

Bain sued the Treasury and tax service in a bid to reverse the censure, which it argued was unconstitutional. It undertook unpaid work for the Energy Council of South Africa before the private-sector group, whose members include Sasol and the local unit of TotalEnergies, ended the relationship — a move that was welcomed by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office in December.

Bain said it will retain most of its staff in South Africa, but didn’t answer questions as to how many people it employs or why the decision had been taken. It also didn’t clarify the status of its court case against the government entities.

Rand Water talks medium-term infrastructure plans, notes maintenance disruption frustrations

Water utility Rand Water’s extensive months-long maintenance from May to July was a necessary disruption to increase capacity and resilience, while improving plant availability, reliability and operational efficiency.

The maintenance, which impacted various municipalities throughout Gauteng, with many suburbs left without water for days, also aimed to ensure the prevention of a bulk water infrastructure collapse amid rising demand.

Facing questions around the outages experienced during the maintenance period and concerns around water supply, Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai today assured that there was no bulk water crisis.

The water utility would not be able to provision for the above-average bulk water demand had that been the case. Maintenance, despite the disruptions that came with it, was critical, he pointed out.

He reiterated that provision of supply was three-pronged: the Department of Water and Sanitation is the custodian of all water resources, responsible for all the water in South Africa.

Looking forward, Mosai said the prognosis looked good – at least at the bulk level.

And, Bank of America sees South African inflation target by end of 2027

South Africa’s move to a lower 3% inflation target may be phased in by the end of 2027, potentially resulting in official interest rates moderating to below 6%, Bank of America said.

Moving to 3% is almost certain, it said, with the phase-in period could be two years — announced by end-2025, and the target reached by end-2027.

Under that scenario, the lender sees the benchmark lending rate at 5.75% by the end of 2027.

South Africa’s monetary policy committee is meeting on Thursday to discuss its latest interest-rate stance and is widely expected to reduce borrowing costs by another 25 basis points to 7%. At its May meeting, the central bank said research showed that lowering the inflation target to 3% would lead to the benchmark declining to 5.79%, compared to its baseline showing the rate remaining above 7%.

While the long-term benefits of lowering the target would outweigh the short-term costs, the shift may have fiscal consequences, Bank of America said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

Don’t forget to follow us on the X platform, at the handle @PolityZA