Author: Gugu Lourie
Andile Ramaphosa, son of President Cyril Ramaphosa, and businessmen Brad Fisher have set up a project to enable micro-suppliers to earn a living during the national lockdown. Andile owns SDI (Supplier Development Initiatives) a company that introduces micro-suppliers to larger companies. SDI is an existing services-on-demand platform that uplifts micro-suppliers across multiple industries. Fisher and Andile have set up a new programme, SDI Force, which gathers donations for personal protective equipment (PPE) and clothing to enable micro-suppliers to earn a living while doing their bit to combat the virus. SDI Force was initially set up to focus on and assist…
South African Food Sovereignty Campaign co-founder Vishwas Satgar told the Sunday Times that their estimates were that the number of “food-stressed people” had doubled from last year to 30-million. This includes 4-million people in the informal sector who cannot work and 18-million people on social grants who do not earn enough to buy increasingly expensive food, according to the newspaper. The organisation represents small-scale farmers, farmworkers and food NGOs. “There are 1-million domestic workers and nearly 90,000 waste-pickers who don’t have money to buy food. There are 3.5-million elderly people and 12-million children whose grants are not enough to buy…
In anticipation of additional cases of COVID-19 infections, the South African government is setting up emergency field hospitals and quarantine sites. The country is moving to establish 1,644 emergency field hospitals and quarantine sites, according to the Sunday Times. One of the venues in Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg, which will hold 2,000 beds. Western Cape government said two acute treatment facilities will be constructed in the Cape Town metro and one in a rural area. In the Eastern Cape, marquees will be erected for field hospitals. According to a report tabled by the health department before parliament’s health portfolio…
A 28-year-old family business is looking to crowdfunding to keep its food retail chain afloat and save about 600 jobs. Gilli Apter, the daughter of the founders of Anat, is hoping to keep the family business alive for the next generation to come. Anat is a beloved, Middle Eastern food brand founded in South Africa in 1992 popular known for its lovely falafels and shawarmas. South Africa was placed on national lockdown by President CyrilRamaphosa until the end of April in a move to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19. For more read: Coronavirus: South Africa Extends Lockdown by Two Weeks Anat said…
Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) has recommended that crypto assets – such as bitcoin – remain without legal tender status and not be recognised as electronic money. IFWG is made up of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), the National Credit Regulator (NCR), National Treasury, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). In its latest policy paper, the group of South African financial sector regulators provides specific recommendations for the development of a regulatory framework for crypto assets, including suggestions on the required regulatory changes to be implemented. IFWG further…
South Africa’s communications watchdog has allocated a special phone number for COVID-19 emergencies. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has allocated the phone number “111” for use for COVID-19 emergency services. “The service code ‘111’ is hereby harmonised and mandated for COVID-19 national emergency services,” Dr. Keabetswe Modimoeng, ICASA’s acting chairperson, said in new regulations published today. Calls to the COVID-19 emergency number will be free. “The ‘111’ service code is mandated for COVID-19 national emergency services during the National State of Disaster. The service code “111” will cease to be harmonised and mandated within three (3) months after…
Wits University announced on Wednesday that it has instituted an emergency remote teaching and learning programme. The remote programme is one of the measures Wits is implementing to help minimise the lost time during the ongoing lockdown, which was instituted to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The university said in a statement that it has finalised an agreement with four telecommunications service providers: Telkom, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C to zero-rate Wits’ library and learning management sites from 15 April 2020. The full list of zero-rated sites is available via this link:https://www.wits.ac.za/mywits/zero-rated-data-to-students-and-applicants/ “We are working through Universities South…
Capitec has ‘quietly’ entered the unsecured vehicle finance market through a partnership with WeBuyCars. The banking group describes its unsecured lending product as ‘purpose lending”. It has opened its first outlet inside the WeBuyCars dealership at Brackenfell warehouse in the Western Cape. Gerrie Fourie, Capitec CEO, disclosed during the company’s 2020 financial results presentation on Tuesday that the bank has already granted nine loans within 15 days at the WeBuyCars warehouse. He said these loans were granted three weeks before the national lockdown began. Fourie said Capitec’s first ‘purpose lending’ client bought a 2VW Touareg 3.0 V6 TD1, 2010 model…
The total remuneration for Gerrie Fourie, Capitec boss, has been reduced by R22 million to R72 million in 2020 financial year. The banking group revealed in its 2020 annual report that Fourie’s total remuneration was R72 million versus R94.9 million in 2019. Fourie’s guaranteed pay amounts to R12.8 million and R54 million in long-term incentives. Capitec chief financial officer, Andre du Plessis, was paid R52 million, down from R65 million in 2019. While risk management executive, Nkosana Mashiya, pocketed R22 million versus R20 million in 2019. Capitec’s headline earnings grew to R6.28 billion in 2020 financial year versus R5.29 billion…
Capitec Bank revealed today that it has signed up more than 1.5 million new customers for the year end-February 2020. According to the bank, digital and self-service banking saved its clients R474 million during the year whilst the migration created more capacity in its branch network. “We now have 6.7 million retail clients making use of our digital channels (banking app and USSD) up from 5.2 million in 2019,” the bank informed investors on Monday. However, some customers still like visiting brick and mortar branches. During the year under review, the bank said about 7.8 million (2019: 6.6 million) retail…