Author: Gugu Lourie

South Africa is to open restaurants, accommodation, conferences, cinemas, casinos, salons and beauty spas, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday evening. Ramaphosa addressed the nation on developments in South Africa’s risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of COVID-19. Lockdown Level 5 was introduced in South Africa on 26 March 2020. South Africa moved to a level 3 lockdown on 1 June 2020. Visit SA’s #1 online gambling site www.SouthAfricanCasinos.co.za for the best online casinos & mobile casinos for play in South African Rand (ZAR). Get a free no deposit casino bonus when joining these recommended casinos:  Springbok Casino, Europa Casino,…

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has accused the United States of providing a “grossly inaccurate [and] misleading” summary of evidence to the Canadian court hearing her extradition case, arguing that the case should be thrown out as a result, according to the South China Morning Post. The 2013 presentation forms the basis of US claims that Meng defrauded HSBC by lying about Huawei’s business in Iran, allegedly in breach of US sanctions, and that she should be sent to New York to face trial. “Ms Meng will submit that the Requesting State’s summary of evidence … is grossly inaccurate and based…

As Africa braces itself for the peak in COVID-19 cases, the continent is launching the Africa Medical Supplies Platform, an innovative marketplace to enable all African governments to access critical supplies, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday. According to President Ramaphosa, Africa has over 250 000 confirmed infections and about 6 700 deaths. “Although the number of infections in Africa is currently lower than elsewhere in the world, there is an expectation that the worst is still to come, with dire social and economic consequences,” he said. As it stands, Africa is in dire need of medical supplies, testing equipment…

This International Day of the African Child, MTN announced it is supporting the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to help mobilise funds for children and families across Sub-Saharan Africa affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. MTN is doing this by enabling SMS fundraising throughout a month-long campaign to raise funds for those most severely impacted by the virus on the continent. All proceeds raised through the campaign will be donated in full to UNICEF and WFP, who are supporting COVID-19 affected communities across Africa. The pandemic’s closure of schools is putting at risk the futures…

Planet42, a South Africa based FinTech startup that focuses on providing access to mobility to the underbanked, has raised R41 million ($2.4 million). The seed round was led by Change Ventures. Private backers include Martin Villig (Bolt), Ragnar Sass (Pipedrive), Marko Virkebau (MeetFrank), Kristjan Vilosius (Katana MRP), and several other Estonian tech entrepreneurs. The company launched as CarGet in 2017 to service South Africa, a market well-known to co-founder and CFO Marten Orgna, who ran African Investments for Trigon Capital. Planet42 partners with dealerships across South Africa to offer access to a personal car to its largely underbanked clientele (9…

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to request that she makes an urgent Executive Statement to the National Assembly on the status of the special R350 Covid-19 Relief of Distress Grant. Applicants remain disappointed as their concerns are posted on social media were once again ignored by the South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) and the Ministry of Social Development. Despite weeks of cries from the unemployed on Twitter seeking answers about their applications for the jobless grant, SASSA and the Ministry of Social Development remained mum until today. For more read: SASSA Ignores R350…

Sun Exchange, South Africa’s first peer-to-peer solar leasing platform, today announced it has secured a R50 million ($3 million) investment by ARPF, a Mauritian private equity fund advised by London-based ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited. This investment marks the close of a R67 million ($4 million) Series-A funding round by Sun Exchange. Sun Exchange will use the funds to scale its solution and expand into new markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, enabling platform users to solar power schools, clinics, farms, cell towers, water plants, businesses and other organisations across the continent. The funds will also bolster marketing activities and substantially grow…

FNB on Tuesday apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused due to some functionality being temporarily unavailable on banking channels. “While most banking services have not been affected and remain available to customers, we are pleased to report that the challenges experienced with respect to Foreign Exchange, Prepaid Telecommunications as well as our Share Trading services have been resolved,” FNB said in a statement. On Monday, FNB confirmed that customers were unable to buy airtime, data and electricity on the bank’s online platforms. “Our teams are working to resolve issues related to Lotto, PayPal, Prepaid Electricity and FNB Connect, which…

The minister for communications and digital technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is back at work after serving her suspension. Ndabeni-Abrahams was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 8 April 2020 after she was found to have contravened the government’s lockdown regulations. “Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is back at work,” Mish Molakeng told TechFinancials on Tuesday. She was placed on special leave for two months – one month of which would be unpaid, after a photo of her having lunch with the former deputy minister of higher education Mduduzi Manana at his home during the lockdown. She also paid admission of a guilty fine…

Private hospital group Life Healthcare says its southern African operation has been the victim of a targeted criminal attack on its IT systems. “We acted immediately on becoming aware of the incident and took our systems offline, in order to actively contain the attack,” the company said in a statement. The group added that it was still investigating whether any data was compromised in the attack. “External cyber security experts and forensic teams have been brought on board to advise and supplement our internal teams and capacity,” Life Healthcare said. “We have alerted the relevant authorities and investigations are underway.”…

JSE-listed technology group EOH is slowly winning its battle over its debt burden. The group has agreed to a R1.6 billion deleverage plan with its lenders. The troubled company, which is primarily focusing on reducing its debt, informed investors on Tuesday that it had achieved its first capital repayment milestone having repaid R540 million of the R1.6 billion. “This is in excess of the R500 million agreed with lenders and well ahead of the 31 August 2020 deadline.” Since 1 August 2018, EOH said it has repaid R1.77 billion to its lenders – R1,140 million in the capital and R626…

Amid questions of “what is happening with our R350 COVID-19 Grant?” Applicants remain disappointed as their concerns are posted on social media were once again ignored by the South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) and the Ministry of Social Development. Despite weeks of cries of the unemployed on Twitter seeking answers about their applications for the jobless grant, SASSA and the Ministry of Social Development remained mum until today. SASSA decided to respond to the tweets, stating on its official Twitter page that: “There is a high volume of applications, however, SASSA will respond to all applicants.” There is a…

The decision to prohibit the sale of tobacco products, e-cigarettes and related products was taken after careful consideration, not only of the submissions received but also the relevant medical literature focusing on the effects of smoking, especially in the face of respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 said President Cyril Ramaphosa. “At this stage, it is difficult to determine when the ban on the sale of tobacco and related products will be lifted,” said Ramaphosa. “This will depend on such factors as the progression of the disease in South Africa, the readiness of our health systems and evolving knowledge on the…

FNB customers are unable to buy airtime, data and electricity on the bank’s online platforms. FNB has confirmed that some of its functionality is temporarily unavailable. “Our IT teams are working to restore the affected functionality,” the bank said in a statement. “We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.” Users on Twitter said they Yo @FNBSA your cellphone banking app is not working. What going on there chief?— #ThoughtsInMelody (@DotCom_SA) June 8, 2020 FNB app whats going on?????? pic.twitter.com/knjWo2Cv6F— Peace (@uPeace_) June 7, 2020

As we watch the number of infections rise further – probably far faster than most of us imagined – we should be concerned, but not alarmed, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday. Writing in his Monday morning address, entitled From The Desk of the President, Ramaphosa said: “That is because we have the ability, as individuals, communities and as a country, to limit the impact of the disease on our people.” Over the course of the coming week, he said the country can expect the total number of cases to pass the 50,000 mark. “Sadly, we are also likely to…

A South African law firm is warning people of the dangers of publishing, sharing and forwarding defamatory messages on social media, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and TikTok. Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr wrote in a note that that South African law considers repeating or sharing defamatory content as sufficient to constitute “publication” and, thus, defamation in its own right, even if the repeater or sharer was not the author of the original defamatory post. “So just by clicking share, you could be perpetuating the defamation, exposing yourself to a damages claim for defamation or to potential dismissal by your employer,” Timothy Smit and…

The ANC is accused of attempting to use the COVID-19 crisis to muscle in on the DA-led Western Cape. The Sunday Times reports that among the deployed ministers, whose duties in the Western Cape have not been spelt out in detail, are lockdown big-hitters police minister Bheki Cele and trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel. “It seems there is a coup d’etat from national to administratively start taking over certain aspects of the Western Cape by neutralising the provincial government,” a senior official within the provincial government told the Sunday Times. As of yesterday, the Western Cape remains a…

The reopening of alcohol sales has placed a significant strain on hospital emergency rooms. The Sunday Times reported that across the country, a massive surge of people in hospital emergency rooms with alcohol-related injuries has put additional strain on health-care numbers and filled up ICU beds needed for COVID-19 patients. A hard lockdown was imposed at the end of March to curb the spread of COVID-19 while giving the government time to prepare the healthcare system for the expected spike in virus infections. Level 3 of the lockdown began on 1 June and enabled the sale of alcohol. The South African government…

MultiChoice, Africa’s biggest pay-TV operator, announced today that it expects to deliver a rise of between 35% (144 ZAR cents) and 40% (164 ZAR cents) of core headline earnings per share (HEPS) for full-year ended 31 March 2020. HEPS is South Africa’s main profit gauge. Africa’s biggest pay-TV operator said on Friday that trading profit is expected to be between 10% (R700 00) and 15% (R1.1 billion) higher than the prior year´s R7 billion. The operator attributed the improved financial performance to management’s focus on cost containment, which allowed the business to offset these challenges and drive a further reduction…

JSE-listed Metair is planning to create 3, 300 jobs in Stanger, northern KwaZulu Natal and in Silverton, Gauteng. The manufacturer, distributor and retailer of batteries and automotive components informed investors that its board has approved a R900 million capital investment programme as it gears up to benefit from a number of new vehicle types entering production in South Africa. Metair has secured key contracts to support Ford’s investment into the South African automotive industry. “The board’s approval of a R900 million capital investment, including major investments in greenfield facilities, will create approximately 3 300 new employment opportunities,” the company said…

Vodacom has launched its latest “Red Hot Dealz”, offering big discounts on large SIM-only data bundles on a 24-month contract. The Red Hot Dealz are available from 8 June 2020 to 6 July 2020. The Vodafone-owned operator is offering a 200GB data mega-deal, consisting of 100GB of anytime data and 100GB of Night Owl data plus a free 5GB video ticket, for R499per month over 24 months. In total, you get 4800GB to work, learn and play from home. There is one device that accompanies this deal: a Huawei B535-932 home router and you have to pay R204 once-off SIM and…

Irene Charnley, a former trade unionist and businesswoman, has responded to calls by Bantu Holomisa, the United Democratic Movement leader,  to immediately vacate her seat on the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) board. In a letter to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, Holomisa said Charnley was a former beneficiary of the PIC’s funding initiatives, making her ineligible to serve as a board member. The United Democratic Movement would argue that there is enough evidence to warrant that Charnley must vacate her seat on the PIC board immediately. For more read: Irene Charnley Must Vacate Her Seat on the PIC Board, Urges Holomisa See below…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) announced late on Thursday that some of its key electronic services are offline. The agency apologised for the system downtime. Apologies we are offline for the following services: Bank details upload, status checking on the Website, Web applications. Our technicians are working to resolve the problem. If you get this screen please ignore and try again tomorrow #day70oflockdown @GovernmentZA @The_DSD pic.twitter.com/hYJpmvqE56 — SASSA (@OfficialSASSA) June 4, 2020 Many applicants for the R350 COVID-19 Grant were frustrated by the message and voiced their anger on Twitter: Sad thing is this was announced in…

The ANC’s alliance partners have publicly stated that the R350 COVID-19 grant for the unemployed should be made permanent. During an address with representatives from the tripartite (ANC, SACP and Cosatu), Solly Mapaila, the leader of the South African Communist Party, on Thursday suggested that there was a need to “broaden the discourse” when it comes to social grants, and the current Relief of Distress payment schedule must be lengthened. #ANC Solly Mapaila says the alliance has tabled a “broader” social grant discourse. He says the proposal to have the R350 grant on a more permanent basis should be discussed.…

The South African government will appeal a High Court judgement that has declared some of the earlier coronavirus lockdown restrictions unconstitutional. Minister for the Presidency Jackson Mthembu said while the government appeals the court judgment, current regulations remain in force and has appealed to all to observe all the health protocols that have been put in place. “The judgment sought to say that level 3 and 4 regulations were invalid – in our view, those regulations were properly enacted and within the framework of the National Disaster Management Act,” said Mthembu. Mthembu said the regulations were crafted to save lives. SA acted…