Category: Southern Africa

HARARE — The number of Zimbabweans requiring food aid has risen to four million, up from three million initially, a state-owned newspaper said on Tuesday, as the country grapples with its worst drought in more than two decades. An El Nino-induced drought has hit Zimbabwe hard and last month it appealed for $1.6bn in aid…

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s remarks that more than US$15 billion worth of diamonds were produced but little accounted for is the clearest indication yet that he is now a national liability beyond measure and his continued stay in office is of great harm to the country’s interests and prospects of economic recovery. For him to say…

Debt issued by Mozambique’s state-run tuna-fishing company Ematum may net a ratings downgrade after the agency Fitch said the state’s offer to exchange outstanding liabilities for a fixed rate sovereign note could represent a default. Dubbed the tuna bond, the original $850 million bond was issued in 2013 and presented as funding for “tuna fishing…

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will hold a news briefing on Monday where he will be joined by business and labour leaders who accompanied him on an investor roadshow to London and the United States, the Treasury said on Saturday. Gordhan’s trip last week took place against the backdrop of mounting concerns that Africa’s…

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar as appetite for emerging assets was dented by a firming dollar in cautious trade ahead of the interest rate decision on Thursday. By 0925 GMT the rand had slipped 0.82% to 15.3475 per dollar, reversing a run that took the currency towards 15.00, a level it has…

Deadly floods in Malawi robbed Fanny Josamu of her husband last year and now drought threatens her two children with starvation. For weeks, Josamu has relied on unripened watermelons and vegetables to keep her small family alive in Chikwawa, one of the most disaster-prone areas in southern Malawi. “When they eat the children collapse because…

South African engineering and building group Murray & Roberts expects earnings to fall further in its next financial year as clients in the energy industry slash expenditure to cope with low crude prices, its CEO said on Thursday. Like its peers, Murray & Roberts is battling a market hit by a commodities price rout that…

MTN Group has proposed to pay 300 billion naira ($1.5 billion) to settle a record $3.9 billion fine in Nigeria for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers that the government claims included Boko Haram Islamist insurgents. Africa’s biggest wireless operator made the written offer, comprised of cash installments, bond purchases and network access, to the…

 South Africa’s worst drought in a century will reduce the citrus harvest this year and result in smaller- sized oranges that are harder to sell, according to an industry body. Production of navel oranges and soft-citrus fruits from the Western Cape province is forecast to record a “slight reduction,” Justin Chadwick, chief executive officer of…

South Africa’s Eskom will increase its capital expenditure by 44 percent to 324 billion rand ($21 billion) over the next five years to build new power stations, the state-owned company said on Wednesday. The cash-strapped state-owned utility also said it had 85 billion rand of funding, representing nearly all of the capital needed, for 2016…