Category: Southern Africa

China has urged Harare to respect a bilateral investment protection pact and safeguard Chinese investors’ lawful rights. The ambassador made the appeal as the Zimbabwean government took steps to consolidate foreign diamond mines and pressed ahead with an indigenisation policy requiring foreign companies to cede majority interests to black Zimbabwean partners. Huang said in a…

April is going to be a difficult month for consumers who can expect a raft of increases in their monthly expenses. Interest rates, electricity tariffs, and petrol are among the bills that will go up from Friday onwards. The Automobile Association of South Africa said on Wednesday that, including the 30c fuel levy announced in…

KPMG has terminated its business relationship with the Gupta business empire due to the political storm surrounding the family’s friendship with President Jacob Zuma. KPMG was the auditor for all Gupta-owned and -controlled businesses and performed a variety of other services for the Guptas, who are allegedly at the heart of what is termed “state…

Zimbabwe’s government may issue treasury bills, along with imposing a land levy, to raise money to compensate evicted white farmers but the process will take a long time to settle, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Thursday. President Robert Mugabe early this month agreed to major reforms, including compensation for white farmers, as part of…

Cotton farmers in Zimbabwe should brace for lower producer prices for the crop in the coming marketing season compared to the previous one as demand for synthetic fibres continues to increase, an official has said. Synthetic fibres are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibres. In…

Government will soon establish an inquiry into the disappearance of $15 billion worth of Marange diamonds, a minister has said. Mines minister, Walter Chidhakwa, told reporters in the eastern border city last week that his office had been instructed to investigate the matter after President Mugabe expressed ‘deep concern’ over the missing $15 billion. Mugabe…

Capitec Bank, a South African provider of unsecured loans, said profit in the year through February climbed 26 percent as loan and transaction fee income rose and the bank added more than 1 million new active clients. Net income rose to R3.2 billion ($211 million) from R2.5 billion a year earlier, the lender, based in…

South Africa may trim its estimate for maize production this season by 2.5% because of damage from the worst drought in more than a century, a survey showed. The Crop Estimates Committee may say that farmers will harvest 7.1 million metric tons this year, the median prediction of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey shows.…