Author: Gugu Lourie
South Africa’s new finance minister has distanced himself from a Twitter account that has amassed several followers. By Duncan Alfreds, NewsAgency One account in the name of Douglas van Rooyen, @daviddvanrooyen, had over 2 600 followers as of Friday morning and follows just two accounts, one of them being the presidency. “The Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas van Rooyen wishes to place on record that a Twitter account which goes by the handles @douglavanrooyen or @daviddvanrooyen and purporting to be Minister Douglas van Rooyen and using his picture is neither his nor that of his office,” said the ministry in a…
The Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, is set to kick start for the country the process of installing the free digital television set top boxes (STB) as the country’s much delayed migration to a new broadcasting platform gains momentum. By Ujuh Reporter The process is set to be kick started at Keimoes, Kai Garib Municipality, in the Northern Cape on the 17th of December, 2015. Keimoes is located within the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) area, where the world’s largest radio telescope will be built. Muthambi will oversee installation of the first batch of government subsidised STBs to the community of Keimoes. “The…
South Africans have taken to social media to voice their displeasure at President Jacob Zuma’s shock announcement to remove Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister and within 24 hours, the hashtag #ZumaMustFall was trending while a Facebook page to organise a peaceful march had been set up. By Kaveel Singh, NewsAgency Facebook #ZumaMustFall event was created on Thursday to announce a peaceful march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on December 16 at 10:00. In the short time it has been created, 3 500 people have confirmed attendance with 5 500 Facebook users indicating they were interested. Facebook user Sir-Mosimanekago Mokae was…
Blue Label Telecoms, a reseller of prepaid mobile and electricity vouchers, sees stock drop after announcing plans to buy 35% stake in Cell C, the country’s third largest mobile phone operator. By Gugu Lourie Blue Label’s plan to spend R4 billion buying the 35% stake in Cell C met the market’s ‘disapproval’ on Thursday, with the stock dropping 6.02% at R10.15 by 3.53pm on the JSE. The transaction is for the stake, which is currently owned by Dubai-based Oger Telecom that last month was engaged in talks to sell the mobile phone company to South Africa’s Telkom. Considering that Blue Label…
JSE-listed firm Blue Label Telecoms announced on Thursday that it is planning to buy 35% of Cell C. By Gugu Lourie The transaction would see Blue Label Telecoms inject R4 billion in a subscription for 35% of Cell C’s total issued share capital at the conclusion of Cell C’s recapitalization programme. The mobile phone operator said the recapitalisation programme will reduce Cell C’s net debt from the high double-digit numbers to a very manageable maximum of R8 billion or less when implemented. The target is to reduce the debt further over the next 12 months. The management on behalf of…
The country’s new Finance Minister, David van Rooyen, was sworn in at a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday and delivered his first speech to the public. Addressing the media after being sworn in as the new Minister of Finance‚ van Rooyen said “Mine is a colossal assignment. The area that we think we need to improve on under the leadership of the ANC is the area of accessibility. The national treasury is the axis of our development agenda. It must be accessible… to all our people‚ including in the rural areas. It’s our duty as a ministry…
The sale of Altech Autopage’s subscriber base has been referred back to the Competition Commission, putting into question a planned shutdown date. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency In September, Johannesburg listed Altron announced that the Altech Autopage subscriber base was planned to be sold to MTN, Cell C and Vodacom for R1.46bn. Altech Autopage is a phone service provider that sells the likes of MTN, Cell C and Vodacom contracts The Competition Commission recommended the mergers be approved without conditions, said the Competition Tribunal in a statement on Wednesday. Subsequently, the Competition Tribunal had hearings on the Autopage subscriber sale this…
It just goes to show that apparently anyone can be finance minister, just that you know. Swimming naked has suddenly acquired a new meaning as SA got a new finance minister ready to do his master’s bidding, which is to approve trillion Rand nuclear deals and other assorted schemes favouring dubious supporters. By Cees Bruggemans of Bruggemans Associates, Consulting Economists. SA can ready itself for unrestrained tax increases, and state spending projects that will drain its citizens for decades to come as favoured presidential schemes are nodded through. Global markets will not be amused by this turn of events, which spells junk…
Sixty-three percent of South Africans would select biometrics over traditional passwords, if they had the choice. A new MasterCard survey called RIP Passwords reveals that fifty-four percent of South African’s surveyed believe that there are better ways to protect their personal information than using passwords. With 45 percent of South Africans entering passwords up to 10 times a day, there is no wonder that 72 percent of respondents feel frustrated when they forgot their password for a website. Additionally, 61 percent indicated that they are irritated by having to remember multiple passwords, and more than half get annoyed when they…
Another contestant has been disqualified in the race to set a new record, certified by Guinness World Records, for the longest time spent watching movies. Buhlebethu Hlatswayo fell asleep at 2:50am on Thursday morning for 24 seconds, having watched for 34 hours 51 minutes. At 8:13am today, the remaining six contestants had clocked 40 hours 20 minutes. The remaining seven contestants are: Suresh Joachim (Canada) Sheetal Vallabh (South Africa) David Erasmus (South Africa) Delon Munian (South Africa) Lionel Havenga (South Africa) Clarissa Schoeman (South Africa) The rules of the record attempt state that contestants may not sleep or take their…