French bank Societe Generale said on Friday it agreed to sell its South African unit offering custody, trustee and clearing services to South Africa-listed bank ABSA as part of a strategy to review its scope of businesses. Societe Generale did not disclose the amount of the transaction. The French bank also signed an agreement with […]

Captain Warren Whiteley has returned to training with South African Super Rugby side the Lions after suffering a calf injury with the Springboks in November, coach Swys de Bruin said. The 31-year-old, who has been plagued with injury setbacks since being named Bok captain in 2017, hurt himself while touring with the national side in […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar on Thursday after the Reserve Bank left interest rates unchanged and sounded less hawkish, citing an improved inflation outlook. Stocks closed lower, led by a slump in retailers after poor sales updates from Mr Price, Woolworths and Truworths. At 1522 GMT, the rand traded at 13.8000 […]

OUAGADOUGOU – A Canadian kidnapped this week in a restive region of Burkina Faso has been found dead, a spokesman for the security ministry told Reuters on Thursday. The man was abducted after nightfall on Tuesday by a dozen gunmen on a mining site owned by Vancouver-based Progress Minerals in the northeast near the border […]

NAIROBI – Gunmen blasted their way into a hotel and office complex in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday, killing at least seven people and sending workers diving under desks from an attack claimed by Somali Islamists al Shabaab. Police warned the “terror attack”, which echoed a 2013 assault on a Nairobi shopping centre, may be […]

JOHANNESBURG  – Fiery fast bowler Duanne Olivier took key early wickets as South Africa wrapped up a clean sweep of their series against Pakistan with victory by 107 runs on the fourth day of the third and final test on Monday. Pakistan resumed their second innings needing a further 228 for victory with seven wickets […]

HARARE – Soldiers patrolled Zimbabwe city streets on Tuesday and confrontations with angry civilians threatened to boil over, as the government offered public workers more money a day after protests over a disintegrating economy turned deadly. Monday’s unrest, in which several people died, followed sharp hikes in fuel prices decreed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. The […]

DURBAN, South Africa – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to create more jobs, boost economic growth and address racial inequalities at a rally on Saturday to launch the ruling party’s parliamentary election campaign. The vote, expected in May, will be a test of whether Ramaphosa has been able to reverse a decline in support […]

HARARE – Zimbabwe will introduce a new currency in the next 12 months, the country’s Finance Minister said, as a shortage of U.S. dollars plunges the financial system into disarray, forcing businesses to close and threatening unrest.  The southern African nation abandoned its own hyperinflation-wrecked currency in 2009 at the height of an economic recession, […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa opener Aiden Markram made an attacking start to the third test against Pakistan with a rapid 78 not out as the hosts went to lunch on 108 for one wicket at the Wanderers in Gauteng on Friday. Markram’s availability for the last test of the series was only confirmed after a […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Reserve Bank will leave interest rates at 6.75 percent on Jan. 17, all 27 economists polled by Reuters in the past four days said, but rising inflation means it is likely to hike them in May. May’s expected hike to 7.00 percent would follow a surprise increase by the bank two […]

JOHANNESBURG – State-run South African airline SA Express, which has seen several executives suspended over corruption allegations, hopes to break even by the end of the financial year, its spokesman said in a radio interview on Friday. He was speaking ahead of the relaunch of the airline’s flights from Cape Town to Bloemfontein, after its […]

WINDHOEK – Namibia has suspended meat imports from South Africa due to the outbreak of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease, state broadcaster, NBC, said on Wednesday. The disease, which causes lesions and lameness in cattle and sheep, was detected in a northern district of Limpopo province, South Africa’s agriculture department announced this week. […]

JOHANNESBURG – Sibanye-Stillwater said on Thursday its bullion output in 2018 would be lower than forecast after almost half of the employees down tools since mid-November in a wage strike that has killed four employees at its South African gold operations. The miner said it expected 2018 production to come in at 1.1 million ounces […]

DAKAR – Egypt will host the 2019 African Nations Cup finals, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed after a meeting of their executive committee in Dakar on Tuesday. They will stage the expanded 24-team event in June-July after initial hosts Cameroon were stripped of the tournament last month over concerns at the slow pace […]

CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s national cricket captain Faf du Plessis has been suspended for one test and fined 20 percent of his match fee after the Proteas were charged with a slow over rate in the nine-wicket second test victory over Pakistan at Newlands. Earlier today Du Plessis had been named man of the […]

CAPE TOWN – South Africa reeled off their modest victory target of 41 runs early on the fourth day of the second test against Pakistan to clinch the series with a comprehensive nine-wicket triumph at Newlands on Sunday. Opener Dean Elgar scored an unbeaten 24 as the home side added to their victory in Pretoria […]

CAPE TOWN – South Africa captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and put Pakistan into bat on the opening day of the second test at Newlands on Thursday, looking to make an immediate impact after winning the first test by six wickets last week. “We want to get stuck into their batting line-up with […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand weakened more than one percent on Wednesday as weak Chinese manufacturing data offset hopes that a trade war between China and the United States was ending. Stocks saw their largest single-day drop since August, as risk aversion globally weighed on the local market. At 1502 GMT, the rand was 0.71 […]

JOHANNESBURG – Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, has been arrested in South Africa at the request of the United States, a police spokesman said on Monday. Chang, who was in charge of Mozambique’s finances when it guaranteed $2 billion in secret borrowing by state-owned firms in 2013 and 2014, was arrested on Saturday in […]

PRETORIA – Firebrand fast bowler Dale Steyn become South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in test cricket as he helped reduce Pakistan to 76 for four at lunch on the opening day of the first test at Centurion Park on Wednesday. Steyn had opener Fakhar Zaman (12) caught at second slip by Dean Elgar to move to […]

Following a deadly tsunami in Indonesia that struck coastal towns on the Sunda Strait on Saturday, 22 December 2018, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has urged South Africans with family members in Indonesia whom they cannot contact or locate, to contact the department’s 24-hour switchboard number at 012 351 1000. […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African power utility Eskom will reduce its executive management to 10 from 21, it said in an internal memo seen by Reuters, part of the cash-strapped company’s efforts to reduce its wage bill. “It is crucial that we set ourselves up for the future, and I believe that the steps we’ve take […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African jazz artist Musa Manzini has played his music all over the world, but one performance will always stand out – strumming his guitar while surgeons operated on his brain! A video of the multi-instrumentalist and university lecturer taken during the six-hour surgery for a brain tumour, shows him lying on his […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa on Thursday appointed a new chief executive officer to state-run arms firm Denel as the government tries to turnaround the cash-strapped company plagued by years of mismanagement. Daniel Du Toit is expected to take up the role in January, a joint statement by the ministry of public enterprises and Denel’s Board […]