Category: Southern Africa

South African distributor of prepaid airtime Blue Label Telecoms will pay 5.5 billion rand ($400 million) for a 45 percent stake in debt-laden mobile phone group Cell C Ltd, it said on Wednesday. The deal is part of Cell C’s efforts to pay down debts which last year forced it into a restructuring with bondholders…

South Africa’s planned gas-to-power projects will cost around 50 billion rand ($3.7 billion) and will require 1.6 million tonnes a year of gas imports, department of energy official Karen Breytenbach said on Tuesday. South Africa will announce preferred bidders for gas-to-power projects by the end of March as part of efforts to diversify electricity production…

South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings plans to buy Australian men’s fashion brand Politix through its subsidiary, Country Road Group, the retailer said on Wednesday. Woolworths, which sells upmarket food and clothing, said the acquisition will be funded using its own resources and is expected to immediately increase the company’s earnings per share. No financial details were…

Former minister of transport and communications, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo, recently received an International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO) Council President Certificate in recognition of Botswana’s “progress in resolving its safety oversight deficiencies and improving the effective implementation of applicable ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices last year.” According to a press release from the ICAO , Mr…

BANKS in Zimbabwe could still be fleecing borrowers through a litany of charges and the high cost of loans, despite the central bank putting a cap on lending rates; findings from the draft national competitiveness report have shown. The report says borrowers could be paying effective interest rates on bank loans in excess of 24…

ZIMBABWE and Namibia have both failed to secure a UN permission to export ivory, in secret ballots held on Monday. Namibia’s bid lost 73 to 27 while Zimbabwe lost 80 to 21. The two SADC countries had argued that trade in ivory seized from poachers and in tusks from dead animals would protect elephants but…