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 […]

Eskom says it is considering cutting staff and selling assets after reporting a massive $171 million loss which reveals the gravity of its financial position. (In Rands, the company reported a shocking loss of R2.3-billion for 2017/2018 with almost R20-billion irregular expenditure.) The loss by South Africa’s struggling state-run power firm, which is Africa’s largest […]

The South African Editors Forum (SANEF) says it is deeply concerned as yet another South African media outlet  closes down. The forum said that it’s time that media houses review the financial models that are being used. This comes after HuffPost South Africa announced its closure on Monday. According to SANEF, despite attracting an audience […]

This week Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa – the man who rose to power in a military coup – is in the hot seat, as Carte Blanche goes one-on-one with the country’s leader. (Available for South Africans abroad to watch from Tuesday 24 July 2018 if you subscribe to Showmax.) One-on-one with President Emmerson Mnangagwa Free and fair elections […]

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has added her voice to the call for the South African army to be brought in to crime-ridden areas. Zille’s call came after a policeman was critically injured in Zwelihle, Hermanus, last night where violent protests have plagued the area recently… originally over land grab issues, but in the last […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African gold producers said on Tuesday they had offered annual wage increases of up to 6.5 percent to miners and up to 4.5 percent for skilled workers, far short of union demands and confirming a Reuters’ report earlier on Wednesday. Gold producers have been giving above-inflation wage hikes for years, adding to […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa will tighten its mine safety regulations to hold mine operators accountable for accidental deaths in the industry, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday. Safety is a huge issue in South Africa’s deep and dangerous mines and increasingly a focus for investors. A spate of deaths at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven […]

The South African mining industry has been hit by the death of another six mine workers, this time at the unlisted Palabora Mining Company in Limpopo over the weekend. The miners died during a fire in the copper mine. The mining company said the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, at one […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s rand strengthened early on Monday, extending previous gains, as sentiment towards riskier, high-yield markets improved after trade talks between China and the European Union. At 0650 the rand traded at 13.2125 to the dollar, up 0.32 percent from Friday’s close. The dollar slipped against most major currencies on positive trade talks […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has certainly enjoyed a successful state trip to the Middle East this week, as news comes that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has committed to invest $10-billion in South Africa. This follows the announcement on Thursday that Saudi Arabia had pledged $10-billion to South Africa as well (of which at […]

Here are the latest topics due for broadcast on Carte Blanche this Sunday,and all available for South Africans living abroad from Tuesday 17 July 2018, if you subscribe to Showmax. Home Hijacking In an upwardly mobile residential complex on Gauteng’s East Rand, suburban bliss has turned to living hell as cunning building hijackers have systematically muscled […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit South Africa for a summit of BRICS countries on July 26-27, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Friday. The BRICS group of emerging economies comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; editing by David Stamp)

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s  state visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia kicked off on Thursday to great success – the Kingdom pledged $10-billion in new investment in South Africa… and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud bestowed the Order of King Abdulaziz upon Ramaphosa, the highest honour by the Kingdom. According to The Presidency, the […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A month after Cyril Ramaphosa took the helm of South Africa‘s ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December, he called an urgent meeting with then-President Jacob Zuma and senior ministers to save state power firm Eskom. Ramaphosa understood sweeping changes were needed at the struggling utility company. He persuaded Zuma to replace Eskom’s board and […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African insurer Old Mutual has appointed Deloitte as joint auditor alongside scandal-hit KPMG, it said on Thursday, an unusual move reflecting what it said were unresolved challenges related to its sole auditor for nearly two decades. KPMG’s South African unit is battling to restore its reputation after becoming entangled in a corruption scandal involving the […]

JOHANNESBURG – Barclays Africa changed its name back to Absa on Wednesday, in a rebranding aimed at underlining its South African roots as Britain’s Barclays gradually retreats from the continent. The name change comes almost a year after Barclays sold most of its controlling stake in Absa, South Africa’s third-largest lender, ending more than a […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Duduzane Zuma, son of former South African president Jacob Zuma, was released on bail on Monday after appearing in court in leg irons on corruption charges, the most high profile figure to be prosecuted so far in investigations into graft under his father. Johannesburg’s Specialised Commercial Crime Court ordered Duduzane Zuma, who […]

South African Mineral Resources Minister, Gwede Mantashe has officially postponed the finalisation of the new mining charter which will detail requirements for several targets, including black ownership levels. Mantashe has extended the deadline by a month at the request of stakeholders, now allowing for the period of public comments up to the end of August. […]

The South African National Congress (ANC) has again called for government to manage the fuel price increases  which impact South Africa’s economy. The ruling party said that the weakening rand is also a contributing factor to the escalating price of the fuel. In a statement yesterday the ANC said it noted with “deep concern the […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed on Friday morning that he will be meeting with Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) King Goodwill Zwelithini over the weekend. Speaking at a BRICS breakfast meeting on Friday morning, Ramaphosa also affirmed that SA’s land redistribution drive will not affect communal lands controlled by tribal chiefs, and that the government has […]

Last week a photo of Under 18 men’s and women’s surfers, Rio Waida of Indonesia and Zoe Steyn of South Africa went viral on social media, highlighting a very noticeable discrepancy in the value of the prize money top contestants were awarded based on gender, at the Ballito Pro event presented by Billabong. Popular blog, […]