New licence disc tax in South Africa, and China tells its carmakers to take it easy on the competition

Motorists in the City of Cape Town can take advantage of yet another Traffic Fine Roadshow within the next week, which gives those with outstanding fines and warrants a chance to settle them at a reduced cost.

The city confirmed that the next roadshow will be held at the Parow Civic Centre on Tallent Road, just off Voortrekker Road, from Saturday 12 to Saturday 19 September.

It will be open to all members of the public, even on Sunday, and will be open to City staff and members of the public with “bulk representations” of 20 or more fines on Friday.

The roadshow will begin at 08h30 on all days, with the end times determined by coordinators based on demand and their ability to assist everyone in the queue.

Brent crude oil prices climbed by around $0.50 overnight and are now hovering just shy of $100 per barrel again.

This is the result of renewed reciprocal attacks between the US and Iran, and Iran’s threat of renewed “economic warfare”.

Tehran also said an accord is imminent and will include a temporary safe route, which has left some questioning how the US would respond after striking Iranian tankers over the weekend.

Iran also warned that ships face the risk of attack near Oman, raising further fears over deeper disruptions to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

While this has been ongoing, the South African rand has remained undeterred, keeping steady overnight as the US dollar remained weaker.

The result is a single US dollar costing less than R16 again this morning, with the rand trading at R15.95 this morning – the same level it reached yesterday.

5 important things

New tax for anyone renewing their car licence in South Africa: The government wants to introduce a new tax on motorists to support the Road Accident Fund (RAF), although it already receives a portion of the money spent on every litre of fuel sold in South Africa. Earlier this year, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy announced that her department was exploring new funding models to support the RAF, which has been technically insolvent for some time [TopAuto].

Top vehicle tracking company in South Africa with 2.2 million subscribers hit by cyberattack: Cartrack has suffered a ransomware attack. The vehicle tracking company confirmed the incident in a statement to MyBroadband and said a full investigation of the extent and implications was underway [MyBroadband].

The company that raised R100 million by selling car subscriptions starting from R6,000 per month: Headquartered in Cape Town and founded in 2022, FutureRent is a rent-to-buy car subscription service that raised R100 million in its first funding round [Daily Investor].

China warns its car makers to go easy on international competitors: Chinese car brands have been warned by their home government not to aggressively slash prices – and advertise vehicles in a deceptive manner – in international markets in order to drive out traditional Japanese, South Korean and European competition [Drive.com.au].

VW inks deal with Israeli firm to turn factory into defence hub: Volkswagen sealed a preliminary agreement with Aurelius Capital to repurpose the German carmaker’s Osnabrück factory to manufacture military equipment with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems [Bloomberg].