Author: Gugu Lourie
The City of Tshwane on Tuesday imposed a Stage 2 water restriction that includes a ban on the use of hosepipes to wash cars, clean driveways or patios, and fill up swimming pools. The move follows a notification by Rand Water, the water utility, informing the City of Tshwane, City of Johannesburg, and City of Ekurhuleni about the implementation of Stage 2 water restrictions. The water utility indicated that it had noted over the last 2 weeks that water consumption had increased significantly resulting in a decline in their overall reservoir storage capacity from 52% to 38%. Rand Water said…
Telkom informed investors today that it has received a non-binding offer from data-only network provider Rain. In a statement, Telkom said it was proceeding with its strategy to unlock value for its shareholders, underpinned by the view that its share price does not reflect its intrinsic value. “The Telkom Board of Directors, conscious of economic and market dynamics and in accordance with its legal obligations, is considering various strategic options, including non-binding merger and acquisition proposals received to date.” The company added: “Further to the SENS issued by Telkom on 12 August 2022, shareholders are advised that Telkom received a non-binding…
Capitec Bank announced yesterday that funeral plan income soared by 72% to R629 million in the six months ended 31 August 2022 compared to R366 million in the same period last year. The banking group said the increase was driven by growth in the active book, increased average premiums per policy and improved claims experience. Capitec informed investors that active policies increased to 2 million versus 1.5 million in the same period in 2021. At the end of August 2022, 8.9 million South Africans were covered by a Capitec funeral plan. “Persistency in the 12 months after a policy is issued is…
SA’s digital banking group Capitec informed investors today that its rewards programme, Live Better, now reaches 8.5 million customers. “Now fully-fledged, Live Better is already the fastest growing rewards programme in South Africa with 8.5 million clients that are registered,” Capitec said on Thursday. “Clients benefit from Bank Better rewards, automated savings tools, and Spend Better partner discounts as we aim to help clients save R1 billion by the end of February 2023.” The Live Better rewards programme encourages clients to Bank Better, Save Better and Spend Better. All credit card holders get 1% cash back on the value of…
Capitec Bank rewards shareholders with an interim dividend of 1,400 cents a share for the six months to end-August 2022, as the bank signs up 165 000 new customers a month for the past year. The bank informed investors today that directors resolved that a gross interim dividend of 1,400 cents per ordinary share be declared for the 6 months ended 31 August 2022 versus 1,200 cents a share on 31 August 2021. There are 116 099 843 ordinary shares in issue. The banking group added that on average, over 165 000 new clients have joined the bank every month…
BMW has unveiled the BMW XM, the first M car to deploy a plug-in hybrid system comprising a V8 petrol engine and an exceptionally powerful electric motor. The BMW XM is also the first BMW M original since the BMW M1. Production of the BMW XM will get underway at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in the USA in December 2022 before it arrives at dealers worldwide in spring 2023. The M HYBRID drive system in the BMW XM delivers an overall output of 480 kW (generated by the combination of the combustion engine with up to 360 kW and the…
Vodacom in Johannesburg stole the show in terms of being the fastest mobile operator across 12 African cities, a report by speed test service Ookla revealed on Monday. Ookla said Johannesburg led the pack, with a median download speed of 66.54 Mbps, ahead of Cape Town at 49.22 Mbps. Vodacom got ahead of MTN in Johannesburg and was the fastest operator across 12 cities we analysed, with a median download speed of 81.36 Mbps in Q2 2022 compared to 73.83 Mbps in Q1 2022. MTN was faster in Cape Town. “Taking 5G out of the equation, Orange in Gaborone, the…
New research from credible network speed-testing services Ookla has put MTN ahead of rivals – Airtel, Orange, and Vodacom – in terms of the speed available on their respective network. The report by Ookla revealed that MTN was the fastest mobile operator among the top four providers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Speedtest Intelligence data shows that MTN South Africa delivered the fastest median download speeds across analyzed operators, at 65.95 Mbps in Q2 2022. However, Vodacom in Johannesburg was the fastest operator considering speeds across top cities, reaching 81.36 Mbps median download speed in Q2 2022. In South Africa, MTN outperformed Vodacom…
Mteto Nyati has been appointed as an independent non-executive director and Nedbank’s IT Committee member. His appointment is effective from 1 October 2022. Nedbank informed investors that Nyati’s appointment has been made in terms of the group’s policy on the nomination and appointment of directors. Mteto is Chairman of Wazo Investments, and a non-executive director of Telkom. Previous roles include being Chief Executive at Altron, Chief Executive of MTN South Africa, and Managing Director of Microsoft South Africa. He was named one of the Yale University’s World Fellows on Global Leadership in 2004. Mpho Makwana, Chairman of Nedbank Group, welcomed…
Brazilian FinTech company Ebanx is expanding its operations and payments solutions outside Latin America. The company said in a statement that it has started operations in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria in late August amid soaring demand for payments via mobile phones in recent years. Ebanx believes Africa is the next big growth frontier for digital payments and the digital market during the 2020s. Ebanx solutions in the Africa region will contemplate popular local payment methods including: In South Africa: Instant EFT by OZOW, lets online shoppers access internet banking to make an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) that gets instantly…