JOHANNESBURG – Global accountancy firm KPMG and South African investment bank Sasfin have severed ties with a company owned by the Guptas, a family of Indian-born businessmen, due to a scandal over their relationship with South African President Jacob Zuma. In an email to KPMG staff seen by Reuters, local chief executive Trevor Hoole said […]

After producing the more exclusive Roadster, Model S and Model X electric cars, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Thursday that a five-seater sedan selling for a lot less – $35,000 – would come off the production line in 2017. Within 24 hours of the announcement, orders had reached 180,000. The car, which was launched in […]

The recent announcement of the imminent opening of a rival stock exchange to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) caused considerable media excitement. It is indeed a historic development in South Africa’s economic history and is to be welcomed, as competition often brings new thinking that benefits customers. But to claim, as commentators have, that the […]

BBC Worldwide announced Tuesday that it has invested in South African production company Rapid Blue. Based in South Africa, Nigeria and Angola, Rapid Blue produces original productions and international television formats for South African, African and international audiences. Rapid Blue – headed by dynamo couple Kee-Leen and Duncan Irvine – has produced thousands of hours of […]

The erstwhile Russian KGB called it dezinformatsiya and spent a large amount of energy and resources on it: the distribution of false information, malicious rumours, fabricated intelligence reports and forged documents, letters and photographs. The aim was to disrupt and discredit opponents, to deceive and obscure and to influence public opinion. Dezinformatsiya came straight from […]

South Africans in the UK can meet prominent businessman and DA 2016 mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, this Friday in London. When the former head of the Free Market Foundation announced his Joburg mayoral candidacy last month several expats in the UK asked “is he any good, is it worth coming back to SA […]

South Africa’s Capitec Bank has been ranked the best in the world, according to London-based international banking advisory group Lafferty, in its first Bank Quality Rankings (LBQR). The organisation used the banks’ own annual reports to make use of a combination of financial and non-financial disclosures to determine the quality of the banks and their respective […]

Lots of people might make fun of Klippies and Coke, but South Africa’s Klipdrift Brandy has just taken the top award in an international brandy competition. The World Brandy Awards announced on Thursday that Klipdrift Premium was its best brandy of the year. It also won for best brandy aged 2-3 years. Van Ryn’s Distillers […]

JOHANNESBURG – South African fashion retailer The Foschini Group said on Thursday it had acquired all the shares in high street chain Whistles for an undisclosed sum. Foschini, which last year bought clothing, footwear and accessories retailer Phase Eight, said in a statement it has acquired Whistles’ 46 stores and online retail business through its […]

Anyone watching news reports in England, the US or Australia these days might be struck by a growing phenomenon – South African accents. More and more journalists from South Africa are either taking the anchor seat on leading international news programmes or reporting for them from hot spots around the world. Whether it’s on an […]

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In a report released by an international survey company that tracks the wealth of people across Africa, it was found that Mauritians are the wealthiest individuals not he continent and Zimbabweans the poorest. The Annual 2016 Wealth Report released by Research and Markets said that Mauritians had about US$21,700 per person, while people in Zimbabwe had US$200 per […]

The fast-growing company Uber has been in the news quite a lot lately, as it further entrenches itself as a taxi and transport alternative in several South African cities. So what’s the deal? The process is fairly simple. You join Uber as a customer via your phone on the Uber app, and it costs nothing […]

The New York Times last week promoted a house for sale high above Clifton, Cape Town, for a cool $4 million (or R65 million) in its regular feature “House Hunting in … “, which looks at property for sale around the world. The house it publicised was a four-bedroom on the slopes of Lion’s Head. A […]

DUBAI – Falcon Private Bank plans to expand in Africa and will look at opportunities arising from Barclays’ planned sale of its African assets, a senior executive at the Swiss bank told Reuters. Barclays said last week it would sell a 62 percent stake in Barclays Africa, its South Africa-based subsidiary, as it attempts to […]

Raymond Ackerman, who put what is arguably South Africa’s favourite supermarket on the map after buying three stores in the turbulent 1960s, turns 85 today. Last week, quite coincidentally, a documentary about Ackerman’s life and how he strived to run a fair, non-racial business in apartheid South Africa, “Good Business, The Story of a South African Retail Giant”, […]

PRETORIA – The New Development Bank of the five-nation BRICS grouping is officially open for business and has started hiring staff, according to the National Treasury. The bank is in the process of establishing its Africa Regional Centre in Johannesburg, as announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his 2016 Budget Speech, and the Treasury […]

Barclays Bank confirmed on Tuesday that it is leaving Africa – after a long history on the continent – but that it will be a long goodbye. The bank said it will not pack up immediately, but will sell down its 62 percent stake in Barclays Africa over two to three years. Investors seemed satisfied, with profits […]

Good news for braai-loving South Africans in Nashville, Tennessee. South Africa’s fastest growing franchise – Chesa Nyama – is heading stateside. The take-away restaurant chain, which boasts food that’s “flame grilled the traditional way”, has grown from just one store to 300 in just three years! Just over two weeks ago, on 12 February, Chesa Nyama’s holding […]

In a series of tweets on Absa’s official Twitter page today, it reiterated Barclays Africa’s commitment to Africa, and that it continues to be “optimistic about our growth prospects, and to operate in the normal course of business.” In a media release on Absa’s website – following reports in the Financial Times that Barclays plans to announce […]

In this week’s episode of The Listening Post on Al Jazeera, Nicholas Muirhead examines whether the news media in his native South Africa have transformed since the end of apartheid over two decades ago. “Under apartheid, the media – like every sector – were, for the most part, white-owned and operated,” says Muirhead. “In 1994, when the African National […]

A study by the non-profit Good Governance Africa has found that nine out of the 10 top municipalities in South Africa – out of a total of 234 – are in the Western Cape. Nine of the 10 worst are in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The results of the survey could inform the decision of […]

Barclays PLC Chief Executive Jes Staley has decided to shut the bank’s operations in Africa, the Financial Times said on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The bank’s board took the decision last week at a review led by Staley and plans to announce the exit on Tuesday, the FT said. The board has […]

The town of George on Friday became the first in South Africa whose airport will get a lot of its power from solar energy. The launch ceremony of the 750Kw plant on Friday was attended by the Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters and the mayor of George, among others. Skhumbuzo Macozoma, the head of Airport Company South Africa, […]

A flurry of heavily charged words – about maliciously leaked documents, rumours and gossip, reputations being destroyed – has suddenly erupted from the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan and the office of President Jacob Zuma over an investigation by the Hawks into an apparent “rogue” unit that was operating in the South African Revenue Services several years ago. […]