Namibia’s incumbent President Hage Geingob has won the 2019 presidential election – following Wednesday’s vote – with 56.3% of the vote, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) said on Saturday Nov. 30, 2019. Geingob, Namibia’s third leader since the sparsely populated and mostly arid country freed itself from South Africa in 1990, was seeking a […]

South Africa’s Karoo region has always been parched – it means land of thirst in the language of its earliest inhabitants, the Khoisan hunter gatherers. Yet nothing prepared residents of its oldest town, Graaff-Reinet, for their worst drought in more than a century. As the dry spell entered its fourth year, tap water turned brown […]

JOHNANNESBURG – A South African court on Friday rejected an appeal by former president Jacob Zuma that sought to prevent his prosecution on corruption charges over a $2 billion arms deal. The ruling paves the way for Zuma’s long-awaited trial to start in February 2020. Zuma, in office from 2009-2018, had previously applied for a […]

JOHANNESBURG – International travel agency Flight Centre Travel Group has stopped selling tickets on South African Airways (SAA) flights after a travel insurance firm said it would no longer cover SAA tickets against insolvency. State-owned SAA failed to pay staff full salaries this month and has said it has almost no cash left after a […]

JOHANNESBURG – A South African women’s land rights activist – who has been stabbed with a knife, slapped with a gun and hit by a speeding car – has been nominated this week for a prestigious human rights award for her 40 years of activism. Those are just a few of the murder attempts on […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s struggling state power firm Eskom made a surprise R1.3 billion ($88.39 million) profit in the first half of this financial year… roughly double the profit it made during the same period of the previous year. Eskom’s financial performance is typically stronger in the first half of the year, as it sells […]

Golfers at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa will be able to throw off their traditional trousers, and dress for comfort instead in shorts, in a first for the European Tour. South Africa’s Ernie Els welcomed what he said is a “game-changer” decision. The governing body said it will let players wear shorts at the Nov. […]

South African mobile operator Vodacom Group said on Thursday its Chief Financial Officer Till Streichert will leave the company in June 2020 to pursue an external opportunity. The news came in just two days after the company said its Group Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Andries Delport will leave Vodacom in May 2020 to pursue external interests, […]

South Africa’s business confidence improved for the first time in two years, a survey showed on Wednesday, owing to a recovery in residential activity and on expectation of a good shopping season for retailers. The Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) business confidence index (BCI), compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, was at 26 points for […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is blocking arms sales to countries including Saudi Arabia and the UAE in an inspections dispute, endangering billions of dollars of business and thousands of jobs in its struggling defence sector, according to industry officials. The dispute centres on a clause in export documents that requires foreign customers to pledge not […]

South African supermarket chain Checkers, owned by Shoprite Holdings, is looking to grab a larger share of the growing online shopping market by pioneering a new one-hour grocery delivery service named Sixty60. It is South Africa’s first 60-minute mobile app grocery delivery service from a supermarket chain, Checkers says, as it looks to respond to […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa faces a prolonged period of weak economic growth marked by rising unemployment, inequality and greater credit-rating risk if the government does not act fast to implement reforms, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday. “The FY20/21 budget to be presented in February should articulate measures to address fiscal and SOE […]

South Africa’s rand firmed in early trade on Monday, as traders continued to chase the high yield offered by local assets after S&P Global Ratings decided to downgrade the country’s credit outlook instead of lowering its sovereign rating. The rand was 0.41% firmer at 14.6750 per dollar by 0620 GMT, compared with an opening level […]

Kenya’s marathon sub-two hour man Eliud Kipchoge was named World Athletics male athlete of the year in Monaco on Saturday at the annual awards ceremony of the sport’s governing body. Kipchoge tweeted: “Proud to be named @WorldAthletics Male Athlete of the Year again. It was a truly historic year. #NoHumanIsLimited.” Kipchoge retained the award thanks […]

HARARE – Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga returned home on Saturday after spending four months in China receiving medical treatment for an unknown illness, state-owned media reported. Chiwenga, the 63-year-old former general who led a coup against the late Robert Mugabe two years ago, has spent a large part of the year away from work, […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African Airways (SAA) reached a deal on wages with two striking unions on Friday to end an eight-day strike at the state airline. Already reliant on government handouts to survive, SAA had to suspend hundreds of flights after the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) and the National Union of Metalworkers South […]

South Africa‘s National Transport Movement (NTM) on Friday signed a wage deal with South African Airways (SAA) for a 5.9% pay rise for the 2019/20 financial year that started in April, according to a copy of the deal seen by Reuters. NTM is one of the largest unions at state-owned SAA, but its members are not participating in […]

JOHANNESBURG – A South African union filed a case on Thursday asking a court to subject the distressed state-owned airline SAA to a business rescue, with the aim of restoring it to profitability. Solidarity, which mostly represents white, Afrikaans-speaking employees, said it would “mean that the court can appoint a business rescue practitioner with comprehensive […]

CAPE TOWN – World champions South Africa will play two home tests against Scotland in July before hosting Tier 2 side Georgia for the first time. The Springboks will welcome the Scots on July 4 and 11, before playing Georgia a week later, South African Rugby said on its website on Wednesday. The venues for […]

JOHANNESBURG – A strike certificate has been issued at South African airline Comair as part of a secondary strike against South African Airways, a spokeswoman for the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa said on Wednesday. Two unions that called a crippling strike at SAA said on Sunday they would pursue a secondary strike to […]

The last remains of 157 people killed aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane in March were interred at the crash site this week, farmers and families told Reuters, but some relatives were upset they had been unable to take part in the ceremony. Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Stumo was killed, said an email was sent […]

JOHANNESBURG – Corruption under South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma was enabled by international banks, companies and governments which should now seek to recover the loot they helped to launder, British lawmaker Peter Hain told an inquiry on Monday. HSBC, Standard Chartered and India’s Bank of Baroda as well as their senior directors were “directly […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African Airways (SAA) said on Monday it would resume flights to six African destinations but cancel some domestic flights in the next two days, as not all unions had joined a strike over wages currently in its fourth day. State-owned SAA has cancelled hundreds of flights since the strike began on Friday, […]

JOHANNESBURG – British lawmaker Peter Hain will tell an inquiry on Monday that corruption under South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma was enabled by international banks, corporations and governments which should now seek to recover the loot they helped launder. Hain’s submission on Monday to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, part of […]

JOHANNESBURG – Striking unions threatened to shut down South Africa’s entire aviation industry on Sunday by extending industrial action beyond state-run South African Airways. SAA has cancelled hundreds of flights since the strike began on Friday, saying the stoppage is costing 50 million rand ($3.36 million) per day and jeopardising talks with lenders around much-needed […]