The South African government has welcomed the R3-billion commitment, to transfer the latest technology for producing vaccines and biological therapies to South Africa, announced by SA expat Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday. Dr Soon-Shiong, who is a South African born biotechnology entrepreneur, now based in the United States, made the exciting announcement during a meeting […]

Cabinet has approved the extension of the National State of Disaster on COVID-19 until 15 June 2021. “The extension considers the need to continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by organs of state to mitigate against the impact of the disaster on lives and livelihoods,” a statement released after this week’s Cabinet […]

The Information Regulator of South Africa has after correspondence, written to WhatsApp LLC requesting the company to revise its privacy policy in South Africa to the standard used in the European Union (EU). On 15 May 2021, WhatsApp will require users to accept new terms and conditions for using the app. In a statement released […]

When people think of trading, the first associations are currencies and stocks. Both are accessible in South Africa, even from a smartphone. At the moment, FXTM stock trading is increasingly popular. But is it the best path for everyone? Two Popular Markets The foreign exchange is the largest financial market with a stunning daily volume […]

The Electoral Commission (IEC) has announced voter registration for the October Local Government Elections will be held on the weekend of 17-18 July 2021. In a statement, the Commission said on this weekend all 23 146 voting stations around the country will open from 8am to 5pm to assist new voters to register and existing […]

When talking about Africa’s gaming market specifically, or about its economy in general, two trends are of essential importance. The first is the huge size of the African youth population – there are even indications that it might double over the next several decades. The other important fact is that the mobile phone market is […]

“Plans are afoot” for the South African Revenue Services (SARS) to address tax avoidance in the country’s minibus taxi industry, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has revealed. Tax avoidance, the Minister said in a Parliamentary response, was, however, across the tax ecosystem in general. In an effort to address this, the revenue collector is adopting a […]

While South Africa’s minibus taxi industry is demanding government subsidies, it has emerged that the entire industry pays only R5-million in taxes. The Minister of Finance revealed, during a reply to a DA Parliamentary question, that only approximately R5 million in tax is collected from the entire minibus taxi industry in South Africa. In response, […]

Funding was awarded just weeks after the company was registered, and after the event took place. By Raymond Joseph… The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) awarded a half-a-million rand grant to a brand new nonprofit company just two weeks after it was registered, to help pay for a music extravaganza staged by acclaimed South African singer, […]

To hear President Ramaphosa’s 22 April address to the Virtual Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change, you’d think South Africa were going “above and beyond” when it comes to addressing the climate crisis. Not so. SA’s long-awaited draft updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) closed for written public comment on 30 April. The NDC is our country’s pledge to take action […]

A police constable in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is being heralded for breaking barriers and proving the might of a woman. Constable Thulile Gwala is employed as an artisan, and the first female mechanic, at Eshowe Mechanical Services where she knows her way around motor vehicles… and is quite literally putting a spanner in the works! […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African pharmacist Clicks said on Monday it plans to acquire 25 in-store pharmacies, their drug stocks and staff from retailer Pick N Pay. In a joint statement the companies said the sale, subject to regulatory approvals, would not have a material impact on the earnings or financial position of either of […]

Carte Blanche first broadcast the Cooke Report exposé on canned lion hunting in 1997. Two decades later, the captive lion industry has expanded in scope and brutality – cubs are removed from their mothers, hand-reared, petted, then bred for the bullet or their bones. But these practices began to damage Brand SA… By 2019, the […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A pair of boxing gloves worn by Nelson Mandela at the height of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa lie under a thick layer of dust in a darkened room, the silence broken only by the thud of moths nose-diving onto the glass display case. The gloves were once one of the […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the support of United States President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris for a temporary and targeted waiver of intellectual property protections that apply to COVID-19 vaccines. The United States government on Wednesday said that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that calls for extraordinary measures. The United […]

It is fair to say that the internet has been one of the most revolutionary inventions in history. Since first being launched in the early 1990s, it has gone on to not only transform how we work but also how we play. This has been seen around Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas, and widespread […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African private sector activity expanded at its strongest rate in nine years in April, as buoyant customer demand pushed new orders higher and business confidence and employment rose, a survey showed on Wednesday. “April PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) data signified a sharp acceleration in the economic recovery from COVID-19 across South […]

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa has allocated an extra R4-billion ($276-million) to buy COVID-19 vaccines and extend a special distress grant to thousands of people hit by the pandemic, in a Special Appropriation Bill tabled by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Tuesday. The bill, expected to be debated with the National Treasury in a […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand weakened early on Tuesday, as the dollar rebounded from a fall in the previous session triggered by weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data. At 0630 GMT, the rand traded at 14.4525 against the dollar, 0.35% weaker than its previous close. The dollar drifted higher, pausing a monthlong decline as investors consider […]

Bill Gates and Melinda Gates have announced their intention to divorce. In a joint statement, the multi-billionaire couple who had been married for 27 years, said they will keep working together on their philanthropic work. Bill, who founded Microsoft, and Melinda, which whom he co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said in their statement […]

South Africa’s opposition party, the DA (Democratic Alliance), says it notes the report by News24 that a foundation registered to Deputy President David Mabuza received a “strategic donation” of R30 million from General Electric through Eskom in 2016 when he was still the Mpumalanga premier. “If the ANC is consistent in the application of its own […]

The price of petrol in South Africa is set to come down by nine cents a litre as of Wednesday, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced. The price of 95 (ULP and LRP) and 93 (ULP and LRP) will come down by 9 cents a litre. This means that a litre […]

(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc will ship 4.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to South Africa by June, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Sunday. The first batch of 325,260 doses is arriving in the country Sunday night, Mkhize said, adding that they will be expecting same number of doses to arrive on […]

The DA says it will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises to request that Minister Pravin Gordhan appear before Parliament to answer for the role of Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) in the humanitarian civil war in Yemen, a war that has left at least 12 million children requiring humanitarian aid. […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s struggling national airline South African Airways (SAA) on Friday exited business rescue (a form of bankruptcy protection) after roughly 17 months. Its administrators said in a statement that they had filed a notice of “substantial implementation” of a business rescue plan with South Africa’s Companies and Intellectual Property Commission. SAA […]