Author: Contributor
By Staff Writer The Bank of Baroda would close the accounts of the controversial Gupta family at the end of August, Business Day reported on Thursday. However, Business Day said that the Bank of Baroda initial closure was meant to take place at the end of March. The bank has been closing its transactional accounts, however, the difficulty has been to close the family’s large loan accounts. The newspaper added that the Guptas intend interdicting the bank from closing their accounts. This move follows the closure of the Gupta accounts in 2016 by four major banks in SA, with the Bank…
By Staff Writer South Africa’s mobile phone operator Cell C has appointed Nihmal Marrie as its chief digital officer to steer the digital transformation of the company and execute an aggressive strategic focus in the digitization of the business. He takes up his new position at Cell C on 1 August. Marrie joins Cell C from the Liberty Group, where he served as Divisional Director: Digital and Customer Value Proposition. In this position, he drove and managed dHub (Digital Hub), which was created to generate innovative digital solutions for the retail business within Liberty. Also within Liberty, Marrie has worked with big…
By Zhao Likun, GM Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) South Africa. The smartphone manufacturers that survive in the future will be the ones with technological strength, are adaptive to changes and responsive to user demands. Huawei has a visionary game plan for its smartphones to rise up to this challenge. In 2015, the company first came up with the concept of Intelligent Phones and has been developing meaningful innovations in technology and design since. The company’s collaboration with Leica has resulted in the dual-camera capacity of its flagship phones which is a now a benchmark for photography products. Huawei has…
By Staff Writer South Africa’s short-term insurer MiWay announced late on Tuesday in a statement that an Independent forensic audit proves that the Racist mail is fake. MiWay hired independent forensic auditors, Cyanre – The Digital Forensic Lab, to conduct an audit after a snap shot of an email sent from a MiWay employee, circulating on social media. The email called MiWay black clients “baboons”. The email stated: “Good day Nobu, This is a reminder of yesterdays managers meeting. The final decisions was to reject 90% of claims made by black people as from 1 August 2017. They are an…
By Staff Writer A German company, Software AG, is embroiled in the latest Gupta leaks for allegedly offering kickbacks to Gupta-controlled firms to secure for their help government tenders. Software AG entered into an apparent kickback agreement with a Gupta-controlled company in an attempt to secure a R180-million contract from Transnet Freight Rail, according to the latest reports from amaBhungane and Scorpio, emails and documents. Software AG agreed to pay Global Softech Solutions (GSS) up to 35% of the value of the contracts it secured with Transnet, the department of correctional services, Mangaung municipality, Sasol and MultiChoice, according to the…
by Ben Dickson Should it make a difference for your Internet Service Provider whether you’re browsing your timeline on Facebook, reading your emails in Gmail, or reading the latest post on TechTalks? According to net neutrality, it shouldn’t. Net neutrality is the principle that rules ISPs should treat all internet traffic equally and avoid playing favorites, throttling, blocking or providing paid prioritisation. What does that all mean? We’ll get there in a minute. In the past years, as the internet has transformed from being a luxury to a vital commodity, net neutrality, which is also referred to as “open internet” and…
By Staff Writer It seems as if Vodacom is ready to go back to Nigeria and try its luck after leaving Africa’s biggest market in 2004 and dropped plans to invest R1.3 billion. Nigeria is jewel cellular operators are prepared to fight over because, although the market is still in its infancy, its population of 120 million promises huge returns eventually. Vodacom, the Vodafone-owned mobile phone operator, has expressed interesting in buying Nigeria’s 9Mobile, according to Nigeria’s THISDAY report, published on Sunday. The newspaper stated that it authoritatively gathered that BUA Group, Virgin Mobile, and Vodacom amongst other investors, have…
By Staff Writer Teljoy, South Africa’s company that started as a TV-rental business 48 years ago, has been transformed into an online retail store, according to The Sunday Times report. Teljoy and its founder Theo Rutstein installed the very first TV set in South Africa in December 1974. Teljoy was the very first company in the country to supply TV sets commercially in South Africa. The company was founded in 1969 by Rutstein who launched a campaign that gave people the opportunity to book a television for rent when TV eventually came to South Africa. The group still offers rental…
By Staff Writer South Africa’s power utility Eskom has paid R4.2 billion in bonus to its staff members in 2017 compared to R2.1 billion in 2016, which translates to R88 000 per employee. “If the total amount allocated for bonuses is divided by all 47 658 of Eskom’s employees, each one would have received a bonus of at least R88 000,” City Press newspaper reported on Sunday. The newspaper added that even the employees in the purchasing department, which was responsible for the qualified audit, received the bonus. On Wednesday, Eskom published its 2017 financial results. The results showed that…
By Staff Writer The Gupta family are seeking ways to move tens of billions out of South Africa to the United Arab Emirates, as pressure mounts against the controversial family linked to state capture, The Sunday Times reported. The controversial family wants to benefit from a new treaty between South Africa and the Middle Eastern tax haven without being heavily penalized by local authorities, according to the report. The treaty, which was signed in December 2015, became effective in March this year. In the months leading up to the treaty becoming effective, the Sunday Times reported that the family approached several…