Author: Gugu Lourie

A new Facebook group is planning a protest march against the tobacco ban imposed by the South African government. The group, known as “Protest March Against The Tobacco Ban” is planning a protest march on Tuesday, 26 May. The government has been warned and they have until Monday to do away with the tobacco ban. If not, the group will march to the gates of Parliament on Tuesday at 12:00, lockdown restrictions or not. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Action speaks louder than words. We Need To Take A Stand. We Need To Do This For Our Country! Viva South Africa!” This…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is trending on social media after it emerged that it has only paid ten people the R350 Social Relief Grant. More than 4,9 million people have applied for the new special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant. Speaking to SAFM on Friday, SASSA’s CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula confirmed that, as of 14:30 on 22 May, just ten people had been paid. “We did a test last week we paid about 10 people to make sure the system works.” SASSA started taking nationwide applications for the grant on 11 May 2020. SASSA boss told…

Over 11 million South Africans do not have a bank account and, in lockdown, sending and receiving wages is logistically challenging. Many businesses have been forced to close, causing people to run out of cash. Hunger is now a more immediate threat than the virus. The payment needs of vulnerable individuals must quickly be met if widespread civil unrest is to be averted. 6DOT50 is stepping in with a new way to pay for essential goods, as COVID-19 takes its toll on the South African economy. As a platform focused on financial inclusion of unbanked and underbanked customers in emerging…

Vodacom announced on Thursday a simplified structure by creating a standalone South African operation with its own managing director and assuming responsibility for managing Vodafone Ghana. The creation of a standalone South African operating company was necessitated by a need to play a central role in overseeing all operations across its African footprint, the Vodafone-owned company said. The newly created Vodacom South Africa operation will be led by Balesh Sharma in the newly created role of Managing Director. Vodacom Group added that it will assume management responsibility for Vodafone Ghana from 1 April 2020. The company has also concluded a…

FNB announced on Thursday the launch of Manila, an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to monitor certain regulatory and financial risks, including tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, and insider trading. Traditionally, this is a time-consuming and laborious process that requires human analysts to gather large swathes of information, review them and generate insights from them, write rationales supporting their thinking, and finally, make decisions about potential or perceived risk. To deal with this challenge, FNB created an AI-enhanced forensic due diligence process solution called “Manila” Through Manila, FNB said it can meet all of those regulatory requirements, but decisions can be…

Ecommerce, the sale of goods and services online, is being embraced by many South Africans during the COVID-19 lockdown. For many retailers that have been allowed to trade essential services during South Africa’s hard lockdown, online delivery services have become a lifeline. South African drugstore chain Dis-Chem Pharmacies informed investors on Wednesday that after year-end, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has experienced different trading patterns to that of corresponding years. The company said before the lockdown came into effect on 27 March 2020, its retail stores experienced a substantial increase in revenue compared to the corresponding period of 45.6%…

Naspers announced on Wednesday a R100 million investment in AgriTech business Aerobotics, through its earlystage business funding initiative Naspers Foundry. Aerobotics is a subscription-based artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides intelligent tools for the agricultural industry to manage its crops. Aerobotics, founded by James Paterson and Benji Meltzer in 2014, is a leader in the application of artificial intelligence in agriculture. The insights Aerobotics provides to its clients include tree counts, the identification of missing trees, and the size and health of trees. The company has progressed its technology to engineer fruit counts, and to provide data on fruit size…

South Africa’s FinTech startup Peach Payments announced on Wednesday that it has received funding from fund manager Allan Gray and private equity Umkhathi Wethu (UW Ventures). The company said the growth funding would drive its expansion into the rest of Africa and accelerate product development. “Over the last five years, Peach Payments has proven itself as a payment gateway. The business is well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities across the continent,” explains Nicolaas Botha, who is part of the Allan Gray ventures team. Peach Payments enables global e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento and offers APIs for customized…

South African food retailers have been scrambling to deliver groceries to their customers as demand for online shopping increases during the lockdown. Pick n PayOnline, South Africa’s largest online grocery retailer, announced on Tuesday that it is signing up more online shoppers as more people turn to online convenience during the lockdown. Since the end of March 2020, Pick n Pay’s online shop has had more than 144,000 new customers registered online. This is 8x more registrations than the previous year. Pick n Pay online also experienced a 200% increase in active transacting online customers during the period. For more…

Pick n Pay Online, South Africa’s largest online grocery retailer, announced on Tuesday that it is signing up more online shoppers as more people turn to online convenience during the lockdown. The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly accelerated the demand for online shopping and many shoppers turned to Pick n Pay Online for their grocery shop. Since the end of March 2020, Pick n Pay’s online shop has had more than 144,000 new customers registered online. This is 8x more registrations than the previous year. Pick n Pay online also experienced a 200% increase in active transacting online customers during the period. Last year the retailer significantly enhanced its online offering, which included changing its logistics…