Tesla Inc’s board is evaluating taking the company private, a day after Chief Executive – and South African expat – Elon Musk surprised shareholders with the idea of launching the biggest leveraged buyout of all time! In a statement on Tesla’s website on Wednesday, six of Tesla’s nine directors said the board had met several […]

Kenya’s former 400m hurdles world champion Nicholas Bett has died in a road accident aged 28, the country’s ministry of sports and heritage said on Wednesday. Bett died in Nandi county, north west Kenya after his car hit bumps and rolled into a ditch. He was on his way to visit a friend, less than […]

HARARE – Both leading contestants in Zimbabwe’s disputed presidential election indicated they had won on Thursday as a tense nation awaited official results three days after voting… however by Thursday evening current President Emmerson Mnangagwa was well ahead. International observers urged the electoral commission to release the tally as soon as possible to avoid further […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s struggling state-owned power firm Eskom offered investors up to $1.5 billion of 10-year bonds on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Separately, Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said Eskom was planning a foreign bond sale and that the firm’s chief executive and treasury team were currently on a […]

HARARE – At least one person was killed in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare on Wednesday as soldiers stepped in to disperse stone-throwing opposition supporters who accused the ruling party of trying to rig Monday’s presidential election, witnesses said. Gunfire crackled in the streets while troops, backed by armoured vehicles and a military helicopter and some with […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s white farmers on Wednesday criticised the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) decision to endorse constitutional changes to allow the state to seize land without compensation, saying the move would be “catastrophic”. However, others have pointed out that President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear there will be “no Zimbabwe-style land seizures”, […]

JOHANNESBURG – As we all now know, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is forging ahead with plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement late on Tuesday in a televised address to the nation, underscoring the political significance of the move. The […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s power utility Eskom said on Tuesday it has implemented controlled electricity cuts – known as load shedding in SA – after the company’s power supply was affected by labour unrest, by workers who are demanding higher wages. “Stage 1 rotational loadshedding implemented this evening,” Eskom said on its Twitter account. Eskom […]

(Reuters) – NBA players with direct ties to Africa will play a world team in the third NBA Africa Game next month in Pretoria, South Africa, the National Basketball Association and National Basketball Players Association announced on Friday. In honour of the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, it will be played in support […]

JOHANNESBURG  – Holiday and business commuters in Gauteng have been affected Monday as workers at South Africa’s high-speed Gautrain went on strike over pay. Services to capital city Pretoria, commercial hug Johannesburg, and to the country’s main airport – OR Tambo International – have all been impacted, with major delays expected. The Bombela Operating Company, […]

A blood moon will appear in the night sky in South Africa, and around much of the world, on Friday night as the moon moves into the shadow of the earth for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st Century. The total eclipse will last 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial […]

JOHANNESBURG – Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue of a nuclear power deal at a private meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg on Thursday, but his host said Pretoria could not sign such a deal for now, Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman said. “Our economy is stagnant, it is not growing at the rate […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa cannot afford large-scale expansion of its nuclear power fleet but would still be open to future nuclear deals with Russia, the ruling party’s Treasurer General said on Thursday shortly before President Vladimir Putin arrived for the BRICS summit. The nuclear project was prioritised by former President Jacob Zuma but new President […]

MATI, Greece – Greece’s prime minister told of the “unspeakable tragedy” the country faced after at least 74 people were killed by wildfires that swept through a resort, trapping people in cars and on the edge of cliffs as others were forced to jump off to survive. The scale of Monday night’s devastation in Mati […]

JOHANNESBURG – The New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS group of emerging economies, has approved loans of $300 million for energy projects in South Africa. South Africa, which will host a BRICS summit later this week in Johannesburg, is trying to diversify its energy mix to reduce its reliance on heavily polluting coal-fired […]

Eskom says it is considering cutting staff and selling assets after reporting a massive $171 million loss which reveals the gravity of its financial position. (In Rands, the company reported a shocking loss of R2.3-billion for 2017/2018 with almost R20-billion irregular expenditure.) The loss by South Africa’s struggling state-run power firm, which is Africa’s largest […]

JOHANNESBURG – Diamond producer De Beers said on Monday it was relocating 200 elephants from its private reserve in South Africa to neighbouring Mozambique, part of wider efforts to restore wildlife populations ravaged by conflict there. The Anglo American unit said its 32,000-hectare (80,000-acre) Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve could support around 60 elephants but now […]

JOHANNESBURG – Gunmen have shot dead 11 taxi drivers returning to Johannesburg from the funeral of a colleague in Kwa-Zulu Natal, a police spokesman said on Sunday. The drivers, who were members of the Gauteng taxi association, were in a minibus driving along the R74 when unknown gunmen launched an ambush and opened fire. “There […]

China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged to strengthen economic ties with Africa… a continent already awash with cheap Chinese loans in exchange for minerals and huge construction projects. Xi was speaking during a two-day visit to Senegal on Saturday, the first leg of an Africa tour that will also take him to Rwanda and South […]

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa addressed a crowd of white voters on Saturday in an attempt to improve relations ahead of a July 30 election, reassuring white farmers their land will not be taken… which is a marked shift from his predecessor Robert Mugabe whose policies became increasingly racially divisive. Mnangagwa – who […]

JOHANNESBURG – First came the shock, then the tears of joy, then the dreams of home. As a three-month-old political revolution sparked by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has gathered pace, Ethiopians forced into exile by decades of war, repression and economic stagnation are thinking the unthinkable – it’s time to go back. “When you have […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African gold producers said on Tuesday they had offered annual wage increases of up to 6.5 percent to miners and up to 4.5 percent for skilled workers, far short of union demands and confirming a Reuters’ report earlier on Wednesday. Gold producers have been giving above-inflation wage hikes for years, adding to […]

JOHANNESBURG – Former U.S. president Barack Obama, who is in South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Centenary Celebrations, advised talented young Africans on Wednesday to drive change at home rather than emigrating, and urged their governments to do more to curb a brain drain. Obama, whose Kenyan-born father studied in the United States but later […]

JOHANNESBURG – Barack Obama said on Tuesday the world should resist cynicism over the rise of strongmen, in an apparent reference to populist leaders who hold power in a number of countries… and praised South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Democratic former U.S. president did not name his Republican successor, Donald Trump, but the speech […]

LONDON – Prince Harry and his new wife Meghan visited an exhibition marking 100 years since the birth of former South African President Nelson Mandela on Tuesday. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met friends and family of the anti-apartheid campaigner who died in 2013, including his grand-daughter Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela. They also spoke to 92-year-old […]