South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus believes the Springboks’ fate at the Rugby World Cup in Japan could be decided by fine margins such as the bounce of a ball, a missed tackle or a refereeing decision. Erasmus told Reuters in an interview that the team’s preparations, which included lifting the Rugby Championship for the first time in […]

CAPE TOWN – The South African government may be forced to inject more money into state power firm Eskom by the end of March next year, should the struggling utility fail to meet its borrowing plan, a National Treasury presentation to parliament said on Wednesday. Treasury has already earmarked 59 billion rand ($3.9 billion) to […]

WINDHOEK – Namibia is considering withdrawing from the rules that govern the global trade in endangered species, after countries voted last week to reject proposals to relax restrictions on hunting and exporting its white rhinos. Namibia has the second largest population of white rhinos after South Africa. It wants to allow more trophy hunting of […]

JOHANNESBURG – Springboks captain Siya Kolisi carries not only the weight of an expectant nation as he leads South Africa into the Rugby World Cup in Japan but also the hopes of millions of youngsters who dream of using sport to break the cycle of poverty. Kolisi was last year named South Africa’s first black […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africans could start withholding their tax payments due to years of corruption which might force the country to seek an international bailout, the chief of the revenue service said on Monday. South Africa has seen revenue collection fall sharply since 2015 due to weak economic growth and maladministration, leading President Cyril Ramaphosa […]

DAR ES SALAAM/JOHANNESBURG – South African authorities impounded an Airbus 220-300 aircraft, leased by Tanzania’s national flag carrier, following a court application by a retired farmer who is owed compensation by the Tanzanian government, the farmer’s lawyer said. The plane had been scheduled to fly from the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, […]

BRASILIA – Six states in Brazil’s Amazon region requested military help on Saturday to combat record fires that are tearing through the rainforest, provoking an international outcry because of the Amazon’s central role in combating global warming. The Amazon Rainforest – aka the “planet’s lungs” – produces 20% of the world’s oxygen. (Watch CNN’s video […]

JOHANNESBURG – The legal separation of South African state power firm Eskom into three business units could take four years in total, the company said in an internal presentation seen by Reuters. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa promised to split Eskom into different units for generation, transmission and distribution earlier this year, as part of […]

BRASILIA – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday he may mobilize the army to help combat fires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest, as international condemnation and pressure mounted for tough action to quell the unfolding crisis. Having first dismissed the fires as natural, then blaming non-governmental organizations without evidence for lighting them, Bolsonaro struck […]

CAPE TOWN – South Africa should discuss using worker pension funds to finance development and infrastructure projects, a proposal that has the backing of the country’s largest labour federation, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday. In its 2019 poll manifesto ahead of the May general election, the African National Congress (ANC) mentioned investigating prescribed assets […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is likely to absorb extra financial support for the struggling power utility Eskom with new revenue and expenditure measures in the next mid-year budget review, with departmental budget cuts an option, ratings agency Moody’s said on Thursday. “In any event, Moody’s sees the government’s room to maneuver as extremely constrained,” Moody’s […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African coal mining town, Kriel, has been identified by satellite data from US space agency NASA as having one of the highest sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in the world. The only place with higher emissions is Russia’s Norilsk smelter complex. Scientists say that excessive exposure to SO2 particles causes long-term respiratory difficulties […]

DHAKA – Bangladesh has today appointed South Africa’s Russell Domingo as their head coach, succeeding Steve Rhodes who exited after the team finished eighth in the World Cup last month. Domingo, who coached South Africa to the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup in 2014 and the 50-overs World Cup in 2015, has signed a […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African mobile phone operator Vodacom Group will spend more than R9 billion ($589 million) this year on network enhancements particularly in rural areas in its home market, its Chief Technology Officer said on Thursday. Vodacom, majority-owned by Britain’s Vodafone, invested 9.6 billion rand in 2018, Andries Delport said during a media briefing. […]

A South Africa court on Thursday awarded a second punitive costs order against the country’s top anti-corruption official, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, after finding an investigation conducted by her office showed “gross negligence”. Pretoria High Court Judge Ronel Tolmay ordered the Public Protector’s office to pay 85% of the costs of the Democratic Alliance and the Council for […]

The South African rand firmed early on Thursday, pulling back from a slide to its lowest in nearly 11 months as investors digested signs of global economic recession and looked to buy the currency at cheaper rates in anticipation of sharper falls. The rand was up almost 1% at 15.2250 against the U.S. dollar after a low of […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s double Olympic champion Caster Semenya, who has been locked in a battle over her testosterone levels with world athletics authorities, said on Wednesday that she has not felt supported by other women in sport. The South African athlete will not be able to defend her 800-metres title at the world championships […]

LONDON – South African sprinter Akani Simbine will look to become the fastest man on earth at next month’s world championships but he will run with a heavy heart that his compatriot and friend Caster Semenya will not be joining him in Doha. Simbine, 25, has enjoyed a stellar year in preparation for his fourth […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African private education firm Curro Holdings will invest 223 million rand ($14.66 million) in opening four new campuses, it said on Wednesday, after reporting a 44% rise in half-year headline earnings. Founded in 1998, Curro, which runs schools and tertiary institutions in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, has been growing at a […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand weakened on Monday, stretching losses to a new 11-month low as political uncertainty and a bleak economic outlook was worsened by uncertainty over the chances of a resolution to the trade standoff between Beijing and Washington. At 1515 GMT, the rand was 0.5% weaker at 15.3375 per dollar, its weakest […]

DAR ES SALAAM – A fuel tanker exploded in eastern Tanzania on Saturday killing at least 60 people, authorities said, as flames ripped through a crowd that had gathered to siphon petrol from it. Video clips circulating on social media showed the charred remains of dozens of young men and burnt motorbikes. In footage from […]

BUENOS AIRES – A Handre Pollard-inspired South Africa warmed up for the World Cup in superb style by beating Argentina 46-13 in the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship in Salta on Saturday to claim their first major international trophy in a decade. Flyhalf Pollard scored two of South Africa’s five tries, five penalties and three conversions […]

JOHANNESBURG – Lawyers for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have asked a court to seal financial records held by the Public Protector, the country’s corruption watchdog, because they were obtained unlawfully, online news site Times Live reported on Friday. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said in July that Ramaphosa had “deliberately misled” parliament about a 500,000 […]

South Africa published its draft National Health Insurance (NHI) bill on Thursday, with one senior official estimating universal healthcare for millions of poorer citizens would cost about 256 billion rand ($16.89 billion) to implement by 2022. The bill creating an NHI Fund paves the way for a comprehensive overhaul of South Africa‘s health system that would be one of […]

JOHANNESBURG – President Cyril Ramaphosa won a court case against the Public Protector Busiswe Mkhwebane on Thursday after a judge found he had acted reasonably in not immediately disciplining public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan over a decision regarding the retirement of a tax official. Ramaphosa secured an interdict from the court, meaning he does not […]