Author: Gugu Lourie

Two weeks ago,  Bryan Habana – World Cup-winning Springbok star – announced the launch of MatchKit.co, an innovative platform that gives athletes a ground-breaking solution towards growing their commercial brands. Habana and his team at the award-winning creative sporting agency, Retroactive, have created a mobile tech play that reinvents the way athletes – of every tier and discipline – monetise their careers in a simple and cost-effective way. “MatchKit has connected with more than 2.1 million fans since its public launch,” Mike Sharman, co-founder of Retroactive, told TechFinancials on Wednesday. To date, the app has had 4,800 views on its…

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has lambasted the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa’s (USAASA) decision to put out a near-identical tender for the provision of television sets to over 111 000 learners. The first tender in this regard (USAF-IDTV/01/2020) was cancelled without being awarded. Nomsa Marchesi, the DA’s Shadow Minister for Basic Education, said this was reported that the original tender could cost up to R160 million. The tender process closes on 2 July 2020, after which the television sets will reportedly be distributed to Grade 12 learners. This process will take approximately two months which means by…

Following a series of COVID-19 tests conducted last Friday, two Kaizer Chiefs players’ results have come back positive from the laboratory, the club announced on Tuesday. According to a statement published on the club’s website, a total of 70 individuals, including players, members of the technical team and other club officials were tested for COVID-19 in preparation for the restart of the 2019/20 season. “At the time of doing these tests, players and officials were screened and monitored by healthcare workers and team doctors. None of the people tested showed any signs or symptoms of COVID-19,” the statement reads. “All…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) on Tuesday issued a statement on Twitter regarding the R350 COVID-19 Grant, which said ‘nothing at all’. “There is no fixed payment date for the special Covid-19 SRD grant. The applicant will be paid for each month as long as they still meet the qualification criteria. Every month the application will be verified to ensure that the applicant still qualifies for that particular month,” SASSA wrote in its official Twitter. There is no fixed payment date for the special Covid-19 SRD grant. The applicant will be paid for each month as long as they…

Telkom is investing in future technology based on software-defined networks (SDN), which allows for the creation of a framework to support more data-intensive applications like big data and virtualization. “Telkom has enjoyed the benefits of copper over the last 30 years. It has served us well. We are currently investing in technology that will power Telkom for the next 30 years,” Sipho Maseko, Telkom CEO said. Telkom’s capital investments totalled R7.8 billion in the year to end-March 2020, with capital expenditure in the mobile business up 22.1% to R3.7 billion. The company said the accelerated investment in the packet-optical transport…

The successful delivery of broadband-led propositions by Telkom and pushing its mobile business to deliver solid financial results caught our attention. This resulted in Telkom Mobile delivering a 54.4% rise in service revenue from a higher base to R12.6 billion to remain the fastest growing mobile business in the country. One of the things that we found to be of interest is the fastest growth in subscriber numbers for Telkom Mobile. “This was underpinned by our ongoing network investment and successful broadband-led proposition, which continue to resonate well with customers,” said Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko. “Despite ongoing competitive threats with changes…

Telkom’s wireless service is more reliable than its copper-based technology and is less susceptible to interruptions as a result of adverse weather conditions, faults and cable theft. The South African telco first announced the transition from copper-based technology to wireless in 2015 noting that the migration would be done as a phased approach. Having successfully migrated over 96% of prepaid fixed-line customers, Telkom is now migrating postpaid fixed copper-based voice and/or DSL customers to fibre and wireless. Telkom today announced its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2020, which showed that fixed-line decline 29.3% to 1.6 million versus…

Mining companies are in a frenzy to supply Eskom with coal, which they frequently transport from Mpumalanga towns by road using very heavy trucks. With no end to Eskom’s appetite, coal mines are booming. To satisfy the power utility, road trips have to be made through Bethal and Morgenzon towns. Observers say these frequent trips by heavy trucks laden with coal are destroying the road network of these small towns in Mpumalanga. And the observers also claim the state is an idle spectator. The amount of damage to the road infrastructure of the small towns in Mpumalanga is staggering. Roads…

All South African citizens who qualify for social relief and economic support packages have received funds. However, the jobless are still waiting and not even sure if they are eligible or approved to get the R350 allocated to them. On 21 April, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a R500 billion stimulus package to deal with the negative economic impact of COVID-19. As part of the package, Ramaphosa revealed a special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant of R350 a month for six months to be paid to jobless individuals. He said the relief grant excluded anyone who already receives any other…

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will submit urgent parliamentary questions to the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to ascertain how her department and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) have spent the billions of rands in funding that have been redirected towards social relief. DA Shadow Minister of Social Development Bridget Masango said in a statement on Thursday that it has been two months since the President’s announcement and the nation is still in the dark on how these monies have been disbursed. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 21 April 2020, that the government “will direct R50 billion towards…