Category: Southern Africa
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S.A:Allan Gray may call Net1 shareholder meeting over Sassa handling
Investment company Allan Gray said on Friday its 16 percent stake in Net1 allowed it to call a shareholders’ meeting over the company’s handling of the South African welfare contract, local media reported. “Sixteen percent allows us to call a shareholders’ meeting,” Allan Gray Chief Operating Officer Rob Dower told Talk Radio 702. Chief investment…
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S.A taxi drivers call for higher consumer prices
On 10 March, the metered taxi drivers took to the streets of Johannesburg and severely impacted traffic to and from O R Tambo International Airport. They were protesting the ride-hailing app Uber which they say is ‘stealing their jobs’. They state they had exhausted all avenues in government as their appeals for the government to use…
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Botswana’s Choppies to spend $55 million on expansion plan
Botswana budget retailer Choppies Enterprises plans to spend 570 million pula ($55 million) to open more stores in Africa in the next 15 months, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Choppies, a no-frills retailer which has 202 stores in towns often too small to attract larger competitors such as South Africa’s Shoprite, reported a 47…
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Zimbabwe to produce more tobacco to ease dollar crunch
Zimbabwe is likely to produce 205 million kgs of tobacco this year, slightly more than 2016, with sales of its main export likely to improve dollar supplies in the cash-strapped economy, an industry official said on Wednesday. Marking the start of annual tobacco auctions in Harare, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board spokesman Isheunesu Moyo said…
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Op-Ed: S.A’s telecoms policy will stunt economic growth and stagnate technological development
Who benefits from South Africa’s proposed ICT Policy? Is it “radical economic transformation” or something that will benefit “white Capital”? The introduction to the National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper refers to The National Development Plan: 2030: “By 2030, ICT will underpin the development of a dynamic and connected information society and a vibrant knowledge…
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Zimbabwe wants to continue importing power from South Africa
Zimbabwe is negotiating a new deal to continue importing power from South African utility Eskom to make up for shortfalls in generating capacity at its Kariba hydropower station, the energy minister said on Monday. In January last year, Eskom agreed a one-year deal to sell up to 300 megawatts of capacity to Zimbabwe, which was…
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Zimbabwe finmin revises 2017 economic growth forecast to 3.7 pct: state newspaper
Zimbabwe’s economy is now expected to grow 3.7 percent this year, from an initial projection of 1.7 percent, the finance minister was quoted as saying by the state-owned Herald newspaper on Friday. The southern African nation’s economy stagnated last year following a devastating drought while its budget deficit exploded as President Robert Mugabe’s administration struggled…
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Op-Ed: Will massive O.R Tambo heist affect tourism to South Africa?
The breaking news on the evening of the 07 March 2017, was that R24 million had been stolen from a plane at O.R Tambo International Airport. The armed robbery occurred around 7:45 pm. The robbers had disguised themselves as uniformed police and carried fake ACSA permits. The previous large heist at O.R Tambo happened in…
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South Africa’s taxis block roads to main airport in Uber protest
South African taxi drivers on Friday blocked roads to Johannesburg’s airport, holding up thousands of travelers in the latest protest against ride-hailing app Uber. Uber Technologies Inc’s service has triggered protests by taxi drivers from London to Hungary and New Delhi as it upends traditional business models that require professional drivers to pay steep licensing…
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Botswana seeks to attract investors to mining town with tax cut
Botswana will cut corporate tax by up to 77 percent for investors in a mining town southeast of the capital, the trade and industry minister said on Tuesday, part of a package to attract them to a region hit by the collapse of BCL Mine. BCL Mine was put under provisional liquidation in October last…