Author: Gugu Lourie

The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in Germiston arrested Adriraan Pillay (39) for alleged fraud and corruption involving approximately R130 million tender scam at Cell C. It is alleged that Pillay and his co-accused, Ismail Adanjee Mohamed (44) were both Information Technology (IT) executives at Cell C. He is the second former Cell C IT professional to be arrested and charged in relation to the case. It is allegedly that Pillay and Mohammed colluded with a director of a contracted entity responsible for IT and network service provider, falsely inflated invoices which resulted in an actual loss of over…

Self-driving startup Aurora announced that it entered a partnership with Toyota and auto-parts supplier Denso to develop autonomous ride-sharing vehicles at scale, beginning with a fleet of Toyota Sienna minivans. Engineering teams from Aurora and Toyota will work together to develop and test driverless-capable vehicles equipped with the Aurora Driver, starting with the Toyota Sienna, the self-driving startup said in a blog on Tuesday. Aurora added that by the end of 2021, it expects to have designed, built, and begun testing an initial fleet of these Sienna’s near our areas of development. “Toyota has an unparalleled legacy, engineering expertise, leadership,…

Kia has announced a new brand strategy which will see the automaker transition to electric cars and redefining the entire mobility ecosystem. The company stated that under the new “Plan S” strategy it plans to launch seven new electric cars globally by 2027. It is starting with the launch of its first dedicated electric vehicle (EV) later this year. Kia will strengthen its EV lineup by 2026 with 11 new models – seven dedicated EVs built on the Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) architecture, and four based on existing ICE derivatives. EVs built on E-GMP aim to set new benchmarks in All-Electric…

MTN announced it plans to sell its 20% associate stake in Belgacom International Carrier Services SA (BICS) to Proximus Group for R1 billion (€100 million). The Proximus Group is the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, headquartered in Brussels. In 2009, BICS and MTN announced the next step in their strategic co-operation by combining their international carrier services, resulting in MTN holding an equity stake in BICS. At the time, the current shareholders of BICS were Belgacom and Swisscom. In terms of the transaction, MTN contributed to BICS the assets of MTN ICS, its international wholesale subsidiary, which generated revenues of…

Facebook said in a statement that it plans to remove posts with false claims that COVID-19 vaccines are “toxic, dangerous or cause autism”. The social media company said it made in consultation with groups like the World Health Organization (WTO), to expand the list of false claims it will remove on its platforms, including Instagram. In October, Facebook prohibited people and companies from purchasing advertising that included false or misleading information about vaccines. In December, it threatened to remove posts with claims that the WTO or government agencies had debunked. The social network says it will also remove posts that claim COVID-19 is human-made…

Telkom’s mobile business is a company reborn. A few years ago, Telkom Mobile, which was known as Heita and 8ta and launched in October 2010, was facing an uncertain future as South Africa’s fourth mobile operator. Fast forward to today, and Telkom Mobile is back in the game and has surpassed struggling Cell C to become South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator. Today, Telkom announced that Telkom Mobile is gaining more market share. Telkom Consumer Business, which is run by Serame Taukobong, continues to be the driver of growth. The Mobile company sustained its growth trajectory with mobile service revenue growing by…

A British woman has been detained and faces a R2 million (AED500,000) fine in Dubai after her flatmate reported her for saying ‘f**k you’ in a private WhatsApp row during the lockdown. She has admitted sending a ‘f*** you’ message during a row over the use of a dining room table last October. The MailOnline reported that the 31-year-old unnamed women face charges under the United Arab Emirate’s (UAE) strict cyber-crime laws. Saying ‘f*** you’ is considered a crime in Dubai, as the word “disgraces the honour or the modesty” of a person, according to Article 373 of the UAE…

The Nigerian Central Bank has instructed banks to immediately close accounts related to cryptocurrencies, stating such deals are “prohibited”. In a letter published on its website dated February 5, 2021, the Nigerian Central Bank warned Nigerian financial institutions against having any transactions in crypto or facilitating crypto exchanges. The Nigerian Central Bank’s circular notified Deposit Money Banks, Non-Bank Financial Institutions, other financial institutions and the public against doing business in crypto and other digital assets. The circular, which you can find here, reads: “The Central of Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) circular of January 12, 2017 ref FPR1DIR/GEN/C1R106/010 which cautioned Deposit…

Telkom announced on Friday that it has promoted Dirk Reyneke to the position of Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) His appointment is effective from today. Last December, Reyneke was appointed as the acting CFO after the resignation of Tsholofelo Molefe. Molefe joined the MTN Group board and took over from Sugentharan Perumal who has been acting in the position of GCFO since 1 September 2020. Perumal took on that role following the appointment of Ralph Mupita as MTN’s new president and CEO, replacing Rob Shuter. For more read: MTN Taps Telkom CFO As New Finance Chief Reyneke was the CFO of…

US-based LegalTech startup Lupl, an open industry platform for legal matters, wants to digitise South Africa’s legal sector. The company recently secured $14 million (R210 million) in a recent funding round as it builds momentum for its launch this year. Lupl’s latest funding round is in addition to the more than $10 million (R150 million) raised before its beta launch, taking its overall financing to over $25 million (R375 million) and making it amongst the most well-backed legal technology startups at its stage of development. The platform is currently in beta testing and will have its public release in 2021. The…