JOHANNESBURG – The leader of South Africa’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, has introduced a bill to nationalise the central bank, parliament said late on Thursday. The South African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill would “make the state the sole holder of the shares in the bank” and “provide for the appointment of certain board […]

JOHANNESBURG – The chief executive of South Africa’s Transnet and two other senior officials have been told they will be suspended, the chairman of the state-owned logistics utility said on Wednesday, without giving a reason for the possible suspensions… although it follows allegations of corruption worth billions. Popo Molefe told talk radio station 702 that […]

JOHANNESBURG – A bill that would toughen anti-smoking legislation in South Africa has been submitted to parliament for review by lawmakers, a health ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, as a campaign against the proposed changes intensifies. The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill would restrict smoking in public places, introduce plain packaging, […]

JOHANNESBURG – The chairman of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, was quoted as saying the state should take without compensation land from those who own more than 12,000 hectares, comments that sent the rand weaker.   More than two decades after the end of apartheid, white people still own most of South […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Gold Fields said on Tuesday it plans to slash costs at its struggling South Deep mine, including cutting 1,100 jobs, or around 30 percent of its workforce. South Deep, the company’s last South African asset, has faced operational obstacles in a tough geological setting 3 km below the surface. The mine […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand plunged to a 2-year low against the dollar in early trade on Monday and government bonds weakened sharply as a renewed rout in the Turkish lira spread to other emerging market currencies. The rand slid more than 10 percent earlier in the day to hit a session low of […]

South African independent business organisation, Sakeliga says it is studying a list leaked to AfriForum of 195 properties identified for expropriation without compensation. Sakeliga says it will in the meantime continue with its PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) application to obtain the list of 139 properties supposedly identified as “expropriation targets” by the […]

Afriforum has today published a list on its website of farms that are apparently identified by the South African government to be expropriated without compensation in the weeks to come. This follows the ruling ANC’s announcement earlier in the week that the party had identified 139 farms for this purpose. The list of farms was […]

Watch Viv Vermaak’s latest Friday F*** Off (which now has its own page!). This week Viv tells MTN just why she’s leaving them – and why she thinks “MTN is like Magnus Malan” – after thousands of rands worth of data miraculously disappeared from her wifi device. You can also read the transcript below of […]

Tesla Inc’s board is evaluating taking the company private, a day after Chief Executive – and South African expat – Elon Musk surprised shareholders with the idea of launching the biggest leveraged buyout of all time! In a statement on Tesla’s website on Wednesday, six of Tesla’s nine directors said the board had met several […]

Hell hath no fury like a vested interest threatened… writes Magnus Heystek. It’s a common lament that when an investment scheme collapses the victims always try to find someone to blame. How often have we heard the mournful cry of thousands of investors, now badly out of pocket and in some cases penniless, that “someone should […]

The reason for the beautiful blue in some of the world’s most famous rare diamonds – such as the South African-mined Oppenheimer Blue – has finally been solved. According to scientists – who analysed 46 blue diamonds, including one from South Africa that sold for $25-million in 2016 – these diamonds have had a complex […]

The South African medical field continues to perform pioneering surgeries… with this week’s Carte Blanche highlighting a brain surgery technique that’s changing lives. This week’s episode also looks at how South Africans are facing a challenging year! The programme investigated the knock-on effects of the core increases in our tough economy… with buying power slashed […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s struggling state-owned power firm Eskom offered investors up to $1.5 billion of 10-year bonds on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Separately, Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said Eskom was planning a foreign bond sale and that the firm’s chief executive and treasury team were currently on a […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s white farmers on Wednesday criticised the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) decision to endorse constitutional changes to allow the state to seize land without compensation, saying the move would be “catastrophic”. However, others have pointed out that President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear there will be “no Zimbabwe-style land seizures”, […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has handed over the oversight of South African Airways (SAA) to his close ally, Pravin Gordhan, which many will see as a step in the right direction for the national airline. Ramaphosa on Wednesday transferred the responsibility of SAA from the Finance Ministry to the Public Enterprises Ministry, which is led by […]

JOHANNESBURG – As we all now know, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is forging ahead with plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement late on Tuesday in a televised address to the nation, underscoring the political significance of the move. The […]

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement last night that the African National Congress (ANC) will support a proposed amendment to the Constitution – allowing for land expropriation without compensation – the South African Rand has fallen. The Rand was trading at 13.3525 on Wednesday at 07h12 local time, 0.58% weaker than at close on Tuesday. Government […]

JOHANNESBURG – Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue of a nuclear power deal at a private meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg on Thursday, but his host said Pretoria could not sign such a deal for now, Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman said. “Our economy is stagnant, it is not growing at the rate […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa cannot afford large-scale expansion of its nuclear power fleet but would still be open to future nuclear deals with Russia, the ruling party’s Treasurer General said on Thursday shortly before President Vladimir Putin arrived for the BRICS summit. The nuclear project was prioritised by former President Jacob Zuma but new President […]

CAPE TOWN – There’s an ultra-modern new building in Cape Town… which appears to be for Amazon.com. Inc, as the company ups the ante in its regional cloud battle with rival, Microsoft Corp. Amazon will be the sole tenant in the new, eight-story office building that’s nearing completion in South Africa’s Mother City, multiple sources […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s mission to attract $100-billion in investment got a further boost on Tuesday when Chinese President Xi Jinping (who is visiting SA) promised $14.7 billion of investment! This comes hot on the heels of Saudi Arabia’s $10-billion pledge earlier this month, as well as the UAE’s $10-billion pledge – both made during the South African President’s […]

South African sex work activist Duduzile ‘Dudu’ Dlamini is to be honoured at the  22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with a prize named after the late trailblazer Prudence Mabele, who was the first Black woman to reveal her HIV status in South Africa. Dlamini – a long-time advocate for the rights and […]

South African Airways (SAA) is pushing ahead and already making progress in implementing its turnaround plan to lead the airline to financial sustainability, the company announced on Monday. In a statement, South Africa’s national carrier said: “Over the past six months, SAA has been on roadshows to meet its major codeshare partners and other potential […]

JOHANNESBURG – The New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS group of emerging economies, has approved loans of $300 million for energy projects in South Africa. South Africa, which will host a BRICS summit later this week in Johannesburg, is trying to diversify its energy mix to reduce its reliance on heavily polluting coal-fired […]