Author: Gugu Lourie

The Information Regulator says it will embark on a robust assessment of political parties’ compliance with the Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) Act 2, 2000. The Regulator said the assessment is part of its programme of action presented in its Annual Performance Plan 2023/2024 to the Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee. This follows the Constitutional Court’s judgement in the My Vote Counts NPC v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and Another [2018] ZACC 17 case, brought about the amendment of PAIA on 1 April 2021. Information Regulator Chairperson, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, said the PAIA amendment created an…

Dis-Chem Pharmacies has experienced minimal disruption to its business as a result of the power cuts instigated by struggling power utility Eskom. The company attributes this to its early investment in generator capacity. “The group’s strategic early investment in generator capacity has resulted in minimal disruption to our ability to trade but did result in the group’s diesel expense increasing by 65% to R91 million over the corresponding period,” said Saul Saltzman, outgoing CEO of Dis-Chem. The group expects South African consumers to continue to face financial difficulties. “While the group has taken the necessary measures to minimise the operational…

Today, OpenAI announced the official launch of the ChatGPT app for iOS to enable its users to access its popular AI chatbot on the go through smartphones. The ChatGPT app is free to use and syncs your history across devices. It also integrates Whisper, our open-source speech-recognition system, enabling voice input. ChatGPT Plus subscribers get exclusive access to GPT-4’s capabilities, early access to features and faster response times, all on iOS. Discover the versatility of ChatGPT: Instant answers: Get precise information without sifting through ads or multiple results. Tailored advice: Seek guidance on cooking, travel plans, or crafting thoughtful messages. Creative inspiration: Generate…

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) issued today a worldwide appeal calling to increase the value of pledges for digitalising the world from the current $30 billion to $100 billion by 2026. The appeal by the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies includes a focus on raising the level of resources for universal and meaningful connectivity and digital transformation in the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). The announcement of the target was made on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, observed annually to mark the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and ITU’s founding in 1865. “Tech is…

Liquid Dataport, a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group, today announced it has launched the first terrestrial fibre connecting Mombasa to Johannesburg. This new route, including a breakthrough and unique fibre link across DRC between Goma and Kananga, provides multiple landlocked countries with extra redundancy, resilience, connectivity to numerous data centres and cloud resources, and, most significantly, an alternative option in the event of a subsea cable outage between Kenya and South Africa. “Cassava Technologies is committed to making digital inclusion a reality on the African continent. This milestone achieved by Liquid Dataport reiterates our commitment to a…

Bayobab, a wholly owned subsidiary of MTN Group, has teamed up with Africa50, an infrastructure investment platform, to build a terrestrial fibre optic cable network connecting the eastern shores of Africa to those on the continent’s west. Bayobab, formely known as MTN GlobalConnect, has signed a partnership with Africa50 to develop Project East2West. The partnership will invest up to $320 million or R6 billion connecting ten African countries over the years 2023, 2024 and 2025. The Project East2West partnership will help bridge Africa’s connectivity gap by improving broadband access for landlocked African countries and offer substantial improvements for data traffic…

Vodacom said today that the ongoing power outages have been disastrous for the South African economy and the industry as a whole. The telecoms company, which is part of Vodafone, said it has spent more than R4 billion on backup power solutions such as batteries and generators since 2020, and another R300 million in the last financial year on additional operating costs in the form of diesel, security and maintenance. “We remain confident that the ‘virtual wheeling’ pilot project that we’re pioneering with Eskom, South Africa’s power utility company, will be signed off in the near term and that this…

Vodacom today announced that its super-app VodaPay has 3.3 million registered users. “I am particularly encouraged by the traction and transaction volume growth that our VodaPay super- app continues to attract through its 5.7 million downloads and 3.3 million registered users,” said Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom. Vodacom added that VodaPay has registered over 100 mini-apps on the platform and is constantly adding more merchants “as we scale the apps and grow transaction volumes”. VodaPay provides a digital shopping, lifestyle and financial platform for consumers and businesses. “Our financial services strategy is supported by a dual-sided ecosystem across consumers and…

African telecommunications services and managed services provider Seacom says it has suffered a cyber security incident. The incident occurred yesterday and was confined to its hosting environment, Seacom said in a statement. However, the company added that the cyber attack affected a small number of its customers, all of whom have been personally notified and are being kept updated on recovery plans. “Our initial investigation has found that no customer data has been compromised,” Seacom said in a statement. “We want to assure our managed services, corporate and wholesale customers that the impact was limited to a small server environment…

LinkedIn is cutting 716 jobs and will begin phasing out InCareer, its local jobs app in China, by August 9, 2023. “Though InCareer experienced some success in the past year thanks to our strong China-based team, it also encountered fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate,” said LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslanky in a letter to staff. “While these decisions are essential for our business, they also mean that some of our teammates will be leaving LinkedIn for new opportunities. We are committed to providing our full support to those impacted.” LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, plans to open up…