In a series of tweets on Absa’s official Twitter page today, it reiterated Barclays Africa’s commitment to Africa, and that it continues to be “optimistic about our growth prospects, and to operate in the normal course of business.” In a media release on Absa’s website – following reports in the Financial Times that Barclays plans to announce […]

In this week’s episode of The Listening Post on Al Jazeera, Nicholas Muirhead examines whether the news media in his native South Africa have transformed since the end of apartheid over two decades ago. “Under apartheid, the media – like every sector – were, for the most part, white-owned and operated,” says Muirhead. “In 1994, when the African National […]

A study by the non-profit Good Governance Africa has found that nine out of the 10 top municipalities in South Africa – out of a total of 234 – are in the Western Cape. Nine of the 10 worst are in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The results of the survey could inform the decision of […]

Barclays PLC Chief Executive Jes Staley has decided to shut the bank’s operations in Africa, the Financial Times said on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The bank’s board took the decision last week at a review led by Staley and plans to announce the exit on Tuesday, the FT said. The board has […]

The town of George on Friday became the first in South Africa whose airport will get a lot of its power from solar energy. The launch ceremony of the 750Kw plant on Friday was attended by the Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters and the mayor of George, among others. Skhumbuzo Macozoma, the head of Airport Company South Africa, […]

A flurry of heavily charged words – about maliciously leaked documents, rumours and gossip, reputations being destroyed – has suddenly erupted from the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan and the office of President Jacob Zuma over an investigation by the Hawks into an apparent “rogue” unit that was operating in the South African Revenue Services several years ago. […]

Appletiser, South Africa’s famous sparkling, apple-flavoured drink that was somehow before its time – fun, bubbly but also healthy – is celebrating its first half century. The now famous drink was “mastered by French-Italian Edmond Lombardi in the Elgin Valley” and “developed with the help of Swiss technology”, according to Appletiser’s website. “The apple aroma taunts your taste-buds, and the […]

In a highly anticipated and greatly watched budget speech that many are hoping will gird the South African economy and save it from a ratings downgrade, finance minister Pravin Gordhan was today even-keeled as he said the country needed to work together to grow, giving a few surprises, although probably not as many as were anticipated. Gordhan stressed […]

South African Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan presents the 2016 budget speech to Parliament today, Wednesday 24 February 2016, at 2pm. Watch a live feed here…

The great continent of Africa seems to be the flavour of the month. As the world wakes up to its potential, I can’t help but cringe each time an “African tech” article is published on a popular medium like TechCrunch (the magazine where this article first appeared). The lack of data and “exotic charm” of […]

The new head of the SA Post Office, former businessman Mark Barnes, has asked the government for up to R3.5 billion to help turn around the state-owned enterprise, which has been driven into the ground by years of poor management and service, fraud and skyrocketing debt.   Barnes, the former chairman of financial services company Purple Capital, […]

Experts regularly warn of the impending doom that South Africa’s own brain drain will bring to the country’s economy in the near future, and with over 300 qualified engineers leaving South Africa every year (according to Fin24 stats a few years ago), it seems that the pool of competent engineers, critical to the development of any country, […]

News of Tesla Motors’ entry to South Africa is coming out in dribs and drabs. This week it was announced that the company owned by South African-born billionaire Elon Musk would open its first office in Africa in Cape Town, while five new jobs were  posted on the company’s website. The entry of Tesla to South Africa was […]

For anyone who loves animated movies like “Finding Nemo” or “Wallace and Gromit”, Cape Town is the place to be for the next four days as the Cape Town International Animation Festival offers a glut of movies and talks and workshops from around the world. Included in the features available will be the highly praised […]

In a bid to make up for falling profits in a  bad commodities market, the once-mighty Anglo American of South Africa will sell off some of its major assets and focus only on its copper, diamond and platinum businesses, according to news reports on Tuesday. The 99-year-old mining group recently announced a record pre-tax loss of […]

Democratic Alliance premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille is a well-known and pithy Tweeter, and her recent response in her Inside Government newsletter to SONA2016 is no exception. Zille said she hadn’t been more optimistic in years, and South Africa had made 300 years of progress in just a week. The extract was part of a speech she […]

South Africa’s legendary playground Sun City is due to undergo a dramatic rejuvenation project worth R800 million rand over the course of 2016. According to a media release from Pilanesberg National Park, which lies next to the iconic resort, Sun City will offer new food options including a micro-brewery themed gastro pub, as well as a “raft […]

A UK-based news site has named two “allies” of the Zuma-associated business family the Guptas, saying the two were closely aligned with the short-lived minister of finance Des van Rooyen, and were the reason he was appointed in a bid to greenlight a nuclear deal that would benefit the Guptas. The two men were named in […]

JOHANNESBURG – Africa’s biggest economies have been hammered by the collapse in commodity prices over the past 18 months but there are still investment bright spots to be found. In cities such as Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Kinshasa and Johannesburg, growth remains robust and investors are prospering in the retail, financial services, technology and construction sectors. […]

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said Africa remains the ideal destination for investment by international mining companies when he opened the 2016 Mining Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Monday. “I am optimistic that as investors and analysts present here, you will evaluate the investment prospects of the continent appropriately and take a […]

If anyone in Britain has not heard about how cheap South Africa is for a holiday, the Spectator has published an article reminding them that “There may never be a better (or cheaper) time to visit South Africa”, adding that “Jacob Zuma’s economic mismanagement has a benefit for tourists: it’s as if a whole country […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Illovo Sugar said on Monday it has received a non-binding expression of interest from its largest shareholder Associated British Foods to acquire the rest of the company’s shares. ABF, which holds a 51.35 percent stake in Illovo, intends to make an offer of 20 rand (0.8593 pounds) per share for the […]

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Congress on Monday passed the Electrify Africa Act, which aims to bring electricity to 50 million Africans by the year 2020. The act was under deliberation for two years and now goes to President Barack Obama to be signed, according to news reports. The bill will provide a framework for a […]

Jonathan Plaatjies is 29 years old and unemployed. He lives in Nuwe Begin, just outside Mfuleni, about 30 kilometres from Cape Town’s centre. Plaatjies makes a living by collecting and selling scrap to some of the five or so scrapyards in Mfuleni. After Plaatjies lost his job as a security guard at Stellenbosch University he […]

Watch out, Netflix users, your days of making merry – that is, if you access hundreds of extra TV and movie titles from the U.S. – may be over. The company has announced plans to stop people around the world from watching Netflix programmes outside their territory. Many Netflix subscribers around the world have been bypassing regional restrictions […]