Author: Gugu Lourie
A looming ratings downgrade, the falling rand and rising inflation means that the National Treasury will have to hike taxes even more significantly this year than in the previous few years. And much of this burden will land on consumers’ shoulders, warned Old Mutual Investment Group senior economist, Johann Els, ahead of Wednesday’s 2016 Budget address. To prevent a downgrade to SA’s debt, the government would need to make some difficult decisions that will reduce the budget deficit faster than the targets set in the mini budget in October 2015, said Els. “Most of the deficit reduction will likely come from…
In Australia there are many more mobile services in use than there are people. The majority of Australians upgrade or exchange their mobile phones every 18 to 24 months, while an increasing number have owned their mobile for more than two years. The upshot is that there is around 22.5 million unwanted mobiles cluttering up homes around Australia. By Glen Corder And many of these mobiles incorporate components using elements from across the periodic table, including many rare and valuable ones, such as gold. On average, there will be a total of one gram of gold across 41 mobile phones. In other…
SuperSport has appointed Gideon Khobane as the new CEO with effect from 1 April 2016. He is currently the Director of M-Net General Entertainment Channels responsible for some of the most popular and exciting channels on DStv such as M-Net, M-Net Edge, M-Net City and M-Net Family. Khobane has been with the MultiChoice Group since 2008. He has held roles as Head of Marketing and Publicity for M-Net Africa and Director for Research and Business Intelligence for M-Net South Africa. During his time at M-Net, Khobane has driven a number of very successful projects for the MultiChoice. He also helped…
Of all of the manual skills that computers are in the process of replacing, handwriting is taking its time to fade completely. By David Glance Despite the fact that a great deal of written work is now done on a computer, universities for example, still expect students to do their exams using pen and paper. This is despite the fact that students will write at an average speed of around 70 letters per minute compared to average typing speeds of 190 characters per minute. Not only that, but marking of handwritten tests become more biased and students lose marks based on…
The Internet of Things (IoT) has the ability to transform the lives of citizens, providing tangible solutions to many of society’s ills. That said, partnerships between the public and private sector will be key in ensuring that these are fully realised. “It is important to understand that IoT is not a technology, but rather an ecosystem of connected ‘things’ that can only be enabled through partnerships among industry players,” says George Kalebaila, senior research manager at IDC Sub-Saharan Africa. “What is lacking in South Africa and many other regions, is an overarching platform where everything can plug into bringing…
Juniper’s latest research into Digital Health has found that ageing populations mean more home-based care is needed. The corresponding digital health deliverable systems allow medical adherence or remote patient monitoring. Unhealthy lifestyles lead both to the increase in chronic diseases, but also create a need for targeted information and education. By Sam Barker A Shift in Healthcare Model One of the most significant changes in the structure of the healthcare industry is the move to accountable care. Chronic illnesses, including diabetes and renal failure, can be monitored at the patient’s home. The benefits include 24 hour monitoring, a greater degree of…
Civil rights body the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has voiced what it terms its disgust at the mandatory tariff hikes announced by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) in recent government gazette notices. By Eugenie du Preez, NewsAgency The Automobile Association (AA) said in a separate statement that it would like to advise Gauteng motorists that the price of e-tolls on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) roads, is set to increase by almost 5% on 1 March, as “it does not appear on Sanral’s e-toll website, nor are we aware of any Sanral customers being directly informed thereof”.These…
MTN South Africa announced on Wednesday afternoon that it will reimburse its customers who were affected by the intermittent connection issue at the beginning of this week. The issue has been resolved and all services have been fully restored by Tuesday (16 February 2016) evening. The compensation will be awarded to affected customers that purchased an MTN 1 Day data bundle during the past two days that have not utilised these bundles due to the network outage experienced. The rationale behind this is that a number of customers had purchased MTN 1 Day data bundles which they could not…
MTN South Africa announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Benjamin Marais as its new chief information officer, effective 01 March 2016. Marais joins MTN from Discovery Health where he served in a similar role. Marais has a wealth of experience in the banking, health and digital space. A qualified engineer with a BEng, Electronic Engineering qualification from the University of Pretoria, Marais has extensive global experience, having worked across the continent, in the United Kingdom and in the Middle East. Mteto Nyati, Chief Executive Officer of MTN South Africa, says Marais brings a wealth of experience to MTN…
Pick n Pay and AlwaysOn Wi-Fi have partnered to deliver a cash-based payment option with AlwaysOn vouchers and R199.00 will get you 10GB of AlwaysOn WiFi hotspot data, which is up to 3000 songs or about 1000 videos. The cash-based payment option with AlwaysOn vouchers is available at selected Pick n Pay stores. Connectivity is king! Whether checking emails at the airport before boarding the plane, Skyping with a friend in a far-off land or dialling into a conference call, there is one thing you’ll always need – seamless internet connectivity and data on the go. Thanks to this new…