Author: Gugu Lourie

There are some unconfirmed rumours swirling around long-serving Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub, who recently was sent on study leave at Harvard Business School. For more read: Vodacom CEO on ‘Study Leave’, Vuyani Jarana ‘May’ Rejoin the Operator The alleged imminent departure of Joosub follows the resignation of chief financial officer Till Streichert and chief technology officer, Andries Delport. However, in an internal communique seen by TechCentral, Joosub assured his team early on Thursday morning that “contrary to what may be speculated, there is nothing sinister about this and no link to Andries’s announcement”. But, Joosub might have been trying to…

The performance of the share price of Welkom Yizani, the black economic empowerment (BEE) shares of Media24, continues to disappoint investors. Investors paid in a subscription of R10.00 per share at the establishment of the scheme in 2006. In the past 12 months, the share price has reached a low of R6.51 per share and at the same time shot up to a high of R13.00 per share. The stock on Tuesday was trading at R7.52 per share and yesterday was at R7.50 per share. This is way below the subscription price of R10.00 per share. Investors of Welkom Yizani…

Vodacom Group CFO Till Streichert will leave the company in June 2020 to pursue an external opportunity outside of Vodacom. The Vodafone-owned telco said Streichert will step down from his role on the Vodacom Group board at around the same time or at an earlier mutually agreed date. Streichert departure follows the resignation on Monday of Vodacom’s chief technology officer, Andries Delport. For more read: Vodacom Says CTO Andries Delport Leaves the Company Streichert was seconded to Vodacom from Vodafone in February 2014. During his tenure at Vodacom, he evolved the finance team into a successful intelligence unit focused on…

The listing on the JSE of MTN Zakhele Futhi, the black economic empowerment scheme of MTN Group, disappoints investors. The shares of MTN Zakhele Futhi debuted on Monday on the JSE. Yesterday, the stock opened at R6 and peaked at R9,20 to close at R4,80. By 1153, the stock was trading at R5.50 a share. Investors of MTN Zakhele Futhi are disappointed as this implies the stock has lost close to 90% of its value. The shares are trading way below its net asset value which was more than R22 in September 2018. Black investor spent R20 each, with a…

SA Taxi, a vertically integrated minibus taxi platform, wants to use technology to modernize the South African minibus taxi industry and make travelling safe. The company announced on Tuesday is using its telematics and other data accumulated from its rewards programmes to proactively drive behavioural changes in the minibus taxi industry. The company said using telematics and data in the taxi industry would have a positive social impact and enhance commuter safety. SA Taxi will expand its tailored rewards programmes within the minibus taxi ecosystem. “Ultimately, the division intends to leverage its telematics and rewards programmes data to connect to…

Vodacom Group said on Tuesday Chief Technology Officer Andries Delport was leaving the company. The Vodafone-owned mobile phone operator said Delport will pursue external interests with effect from May 2020. Vodacom will announce a successor for the Group CTO position in due course. “Andries has been a key member of the Vodacom family for the past 23 years and his contribution to the Group has been immeasurable. I would like to thank Andries for his leadership in building world-class networks and his commitment to transforming our technology capability across the group,” said Vodacom Group Chief Executive Officer, Shameel Joosub. “Andries…

Liquid Telecom South Africa, part of pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, is equipping Batlhalerwa Secondary school in Limpopo with much-needed ICT equipment and training to help learners and teachers achieve better results.  For the past two years, the South African government has been vocal about how the digital revolution is unlocking job creation and stimulating economic growth.  “As we drive societal digital transformation, access to ICT infrastructure and training forms a basic tenet of our digital inclusion imperative,” Communications and Digital Technologies Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams says. “The department therefore continues to partner with industry stakeholders to provide Cyberlabs that are…

Retailer Pepkor, previously Steinhoff Africa Retail, is starting to generate more income from financial technology (FinTech) services. The company, which is a subsidiary of JSE-listed Steinhoff, owns clothing retailers Pep and Ackermans, furniture stores such as Bradlows, Russells and Incredible Connection. Pepkor disclosed on Monday that its FinTech business delivered a 43.9% rise in revenue to R7.2 billion in the financial year ended September 30, 2019. The retailer added that operating profit for FinTech business swells by 93% to R483 million. The company operates its FinTech division through FLASH and Capfin. The FLASH business continues to report strong growth, completing…

A South African FinTech (financial technology) startup has instituted a R14 million claim for damages against social media giant Facebook. PrepaidWealth.com, a startup co-founded by Gabriel Nkuna, has served a notice of motion filed at the Gauteng Local Division High Court in Johannesburg to Facebook Inc on the 19th November 2019. Nkuna said the notice was served following two incidences where Facebook Inc suspended and/or closed two promotional pages created for PrepaidWealth.com on the Facebook.com platform. The notice of motion served to Facebook Inc contains three terms. The first one is to declare the reason for suspending or closing the…

Tech giant Prosus has called on Just Eat shareholders to accept its offer and reject that of rival Takeaway.com. Just Eat has rejected a £5bn hostile swoop by Prosus, the Dutch arm of South Africa internet titan Naspers. Its board is instead recommending investors support a planned merger with Takeaway.com that was announced this summer. The Euronext and JSE-listed tech giant owned by Naspers has made a bid of 4.9 billion pounds ($6.35 billion or R94 billion) or 710 pence a share, in cash. For more read: Naspers’ Prosus Makes R94bn Bid For Just Eat The offer, Prosus said, represented a 20% premium…