Eskom chair joins MultiChoice; PIC’s Matjila cries foul; Zim politician treason charge; Branson space tourism IPO

Eskom chairman Jabu Mabuza has raised eyebrows for accepting yet another directorship instead of concentrating on fixing the power utility, which needs a government bail-out and its problems are believed to be the biggest obstacle to an improvement in South Africa's economic growth. A lifestyle audit has failed to turn up evidence that Daniel Matjila, former CEO of the country's biggest fund manager, is corrupt, a probe into irregularities at the Public Investment Corporation has heard. The independence of the South African reserve bank is back in the spotlight with its deputy governor Kuben Naidoo moving to reassure investors by highlighting the importance of an independent central bank. Investing in space travel to Mars is about to get easier for smaller investors, with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic unveiling plans to become the first publicly listed human spaceflight company. As political tension continues to build north of the Limpopo River, Zimbabwean authorities have charged a senior official of the country’s main opposition party with treason for comments attributed to him in a newspaper report. The UK's mid-cap index, the FTSE 250, fell on Tuesday, reflecting a deteriorating economic outlook and Brexit tensions. The major movers on Johannesburg's stock exchange were Sibanye and Aspen, both inching up not far off 2%, while the losers were Sappi, which fell more than 6%, and Italtile, which dropped in value by more than 3%. Late on Tuesday, R14.18 was trading for one US dollar, while R17.65 could buy you a British pound and R15.89 was the rate for one Euro.