The South African population has grown to 55.65 million in the past five years, according to the latest survey by the department of statistics. In the Community Survey figures released on Thursday, Statistics South Africa said the population grew from 51,770,560 in 2011 to 55,653,654, about 3.88 million. There are 27,247,226 males and in 28,406,428 females. The population […]

WASHINGTON – A fatal accident in which the driver of a Tesla Motors Inc Model S car operating in Autopilot mode was killed in a collision with a truck has prompted an investigation by federal highway safety regulators, the U.S. government and Tesla disclosed on Thursday. The investigation of the first known fatality to involve […]

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa cleared Anheuser-Busch Inbev’s $100 billion-plus deal to acquire SABMiller on Thursday, putting the world’s largest brewer “on track” to complete the merger within the next six months. The Competition Tribunal, which gives the final word on mergers in Africa’s most industrialised country, said in a statement that concessions made by AB […]

American multinational General Electric (GE) has invested R500 million in its GE Africa Innovation Centre in Rosebank, Johannesburg, the tenth innovation hub set up globally but a first for GE in Africa. The 2,700 square-metre facility, which was 90 percent designed, built and executed in the country, houses GE’s innovation across Africa within its key business sectors […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has voted to leave the European Union, results from Thursday’s referendum showed, a stunning repudiation of the nation’s elites that deals the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two. World financial markets plunged as complete results showed a near 52-48 percent split for leaving. The […]

The South African Reserve Bank’s latest Quarterly Bulletin confirms that foreign corporations are milking South Africa. They are drawing away profits far faster than they are reinvesting or than local firms bring home offsetting profits from abroad. Can anything be done to stop the haemorrhaging? First, the appalling numbers. The country’s current account deficit fell […]

A magnificent house designed by South African group SAOTA and lying on the mountainside above Clifton Beach and Bantry Bay has reportedly sold for a record price for a residence in Africa – R290 million (almost $20 million). The seller, the Dogon Group, said last month the price was the highest ever fetched for a house […]

“I want you to get up right now. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell: I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore! Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad! You’ve got to say, I’m as mad as hell, and I’m […]

South Africa has narrowly survived a downgrade of the rating of its government bonds. The reprieve, however, is temporary because government has been warned by the Big Three rating agencies – Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s – to pull up its socks. South Africa’s current rating – just about investment grade, heading south fast […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African mobile phone operator MTN Group named the head of Vodafone Europe as its new CEO on Monday, bringing in an outsider with a risk management background less than two weeks after it agreed to a $1.7 billion (£1.16 billion) fine to settle a dispute in Nigeria. Rob Shuter, a South African […]

The African National Congress delayed its announcement until late Saturday – almost till midnight – of its mayoral candidates, although the nominee for Tshwane, one of the metros the party could likely lose in the election, remains undecided. It was reported in the Sunday Times that Thoko Didiza, a cabinet minister under Thabo Mbeki who sometimes […]

In the latest allegation against the Gupta family – and the biggest  by far in rand terms – two reports this weekend allege that they, together with Duduzane Zuma, tried to capture South Africa’s main rail company and get it to accept a R51 billion tender. The letter, which was obtained by the investigative team at amaBhungane, […]

NAIROBI – With more money in their pockets, Africans are eating more fast food and adopting more sedentary lifestyles, leading to a surge in obesity and associated diseases like diabetes and cancer, experts said on Tuesday. Rates of obesity and overweight are rising in nearly every country in the world, the Global Nutrition Report said, […]

The hacktivist/s known as Anonymous Africa, after targeting the websites of the SABC, the EFF and Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF over the last few days, on Wednesday said they are going after what they called “the 2nd most corrupt family in SA (after the Zumas)”. Anonymous Africa promised to take the Guptas’ companies offline at midday, and by […]

Jules Cambon, a former French diplomat, wrote: “Diplomacy will always have ambassadors and ministers; the question is whether it will have diplomats?” Referring to the diplomatic faux pas of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) Minister Nkoana-Mashebane when recently interviewed by Al Jazeera, Business Day suggested in an editorial “SA must learn art of diplomacy”. This […]

JOHANNESBURG – Oakbay has responded to allegations in the Sunday Times today that the Guptas may have been illegally sending money out of South Africa. According to the Times report, the Reserve Bank has asked the Bank of Baroda in India to release documents related to Gupta accounts. In a statement released on behalf of […]

A veritable who’s who of South African politics were at The Gathering in Midrand on Friday, organised by Nando’s and the Daily Maverick. The focus was on the municipal elections, and speakers included everyone from three Joburg mayoral candidates to finance minister Pravin Gordhan to the EFF’s Julius Malema – who, going by the coverage he got, had […]

One South African airline’s loss is another African airline’s very valuable gain, it seems. Mango, the low-cost sister airline to South African Airways, is losing its CEO Nico Bezuidenhout, who many credit with the airline’s success while SAA stumbles from crisis to crisis. He is moving to the six-year-old African low-cost carrier fastjet, where he will also be CEO. […]

Following the decisions by ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s over the past weeks to not downgrade South Africa to junk status, the third important ratings agency Fitch today followed suit. The rand, which has rollercoastered over the last five months, reaching a low of almost R18 to the dollar in January, firmed even […]

Judging by the looks on the faces of President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan, there’s a lot to smile about regarding the state of South Africa’s economy. The two politicians, and their teams, met today to discuss the economy. The Presidency’s office released these photos (on this page) of the meeting. The South […]

The possibility of a direct air link between the United States and Cape Town seems to be hotting up after discussions between key players, according to news reports on Monday. The city in the US most mentioned in reports for a direct flight to Cape Town seems to be Miami, Florida, which is on the east coast […]

Pretoria – South Africans are celebrating this evening as ratings agency Standard & Poor’s have announced that South Africa’s credit rating will be kept unchanged at investment grade, averting junk status. South Africans had been counting down the hours to the announcement although Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, had said he believed the country had done enough to pass […]

Cape Town’s well-known adventure park and scary-ride central Ratanga Junction will close and be replaced by a R1 billion development in the successful Century City precinct, according to news reports on Wednesday. The 20-hectare theme park would close by 2018, a spokeswoman for the Rabie property group, developers of Century City, was quoted saying. The […]

The Western Cape has received the highest percentage of clean audits of its municipalities, scoring 73 percent, with the next-nearest provinces, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, getting 30 percent or just over, according to a report by the auditor general released on Wednesday. “Today’s release of the Auditor-General’s (A-G) audit report into municipal financial management for 2014/15 […]

Standard Bank has been the victim of a major fraud in Japan, where 1.4 billion yen (R200 million) in cash was stolen from some 1,400 ATMs in convenience stores across Japan over a short period earlier this month, it has been reported. According to Business Day on Monday, Standard Bank confirmed that it was the bank referred to in a story […]