Author: Staff Writer

Vodacom Group today announced the completion of its acquisition of an additional 20% effective stake in Safaricom PLC, following the staying of a conservatory order by the Court of Appeal of Kenya on 26 June 2026 and the fulfilment of all remaining conditions precedent. This means that Vodacom’s shareholding in Safaricom has increased to about 55%, allowing consolidation of one of Africa’s foremost telecommunications, financial services, and technology businesses. The transaction, valued at $2.1 billion (R35 billion), was first announced in December 2025 and sees Vodacom acquire a 15% stake from the Government of Kenya, and an effective further 5%…

Fake or altered photos depict evidence, from crash scenes to receipts, to support fraudulent claims. Insurance fraud, unfortunately, is inevitable. A certain amount of fraud is priced into the product. The goal for insurers is to find the right balance – focusing on fraud prevention for the biggest cases without alienating trusted customers. But the AI age has introduced a new source of fraud that threatens that balance by making fraud simpler, easier and more widespread: images that have been altered, or even completely synthetically generated, using AI for the purpose of filing a fraudulent insurance claim. A fast-growing threat Insurance fraud costs…

ISPA’s Perception Survey gauges ISPs’ perceptions of FNO performance across a range of metrics and the most recent results reveal smaller FNOs are outshining the established competition. SA’s official internet Industry Representative Body (IRB) says several smaller FNOs including Lightspeed (Cybersmart) (7.1), Open Fibre (7.0), Lightstruck (7.0), Evotel (6.9), Seacom FibreCo (6.9) and WECOM (6.6) had achieved average scores (in brackets above) placing them above most of the country’s major eight networks. To illustrate, large operator Octotel scored a commendable 7.5. The next large operator, Openserve, scored 6.5. If we look at the smaller FNOs scores above, all of them…

The first week of Disney+ Quiz Nights officially launched yesterday, bringing fans together for an evening of trivia, entertainment, and friendly competition across Tiger’s Milk venues nationwide. Hosted simultaneously at Tiger’s Milk GrandWest and Green Point (Cape Town), Bryanston and Appletons (Johannesburg), and Pavilion in (KwaZulu-Natal), the opening night saw enthusiastic teams put their knowledge to the test – spanning the vast range of content found on Disney+ from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Hulu. With a lively atmosphere and packed venues, the debut quiz nights marked the perfect start to a six-week national rollout, designed to…

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a business of Cassava Technologies, a global technology leader, is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its Innovation and Digital Skills Centre (IDSC) in Mthatha. To date, 515 learners have completed programmes at the IDSC, achieving a 96% pass rate, and 149 have secured employment directly as a result of their training. “The IDSC is a powerful example of what public-private partnerships can achieve. When the right partners come together, i.e. industry players, government, and community institutions, the impact goes beyond skills training. The result is the creation of real economic pathways for young people and laying the…

Omnisient, a South African-founded fintech and data analytics company, has won the “Best Technology Provider – Data, Analytics & Infrastructure” category at Britain’s Credit Awards, an annual programme run by the industry publisher Credit Strategy, the company said. Omnisient, selected ahead of a shortlist that included Experian, a FTSE 100 credit-data company that employs about 23,300 people across 32 countries, and SAS, a privately held analytics software firm with annual revenue of more than $3 billion, has developed a secure and privacy-compliant method for credit lenders to access and analyse grocery retail data directly from the retailer. Lenders can then…

Stocks & Strauss has announced the final close of the University Technology Fund II at R400 million, taking total capital across its university-linked early-stage investment platform to more than R700 million and deepening a dedicated pathway for commercialising innovation emerging from tertiary institutions. Investors in UTF II include the SA SME Fund, Stellenbosch University, Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies, Sanlam, Fireball Capital, the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the University of Pretoria, Wits University and the University of Cape Town. The close comes as universities and their alumni networks are increasingly being recognised as critical sources of investable technology, intellectual property…

Prosus today announces a €400 million (US$460 million) investment into the European health and insurance tech leader, Alan, valuing it at €5.5 billion (US$6.3 billion). The investment will consist of both primary and secondary equity. Prosus is joined in this round by existing investors Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG) and Index Ventures, and new investor Dara Holdings. AI has fundamentally changed how people access and experience healthcare. Alan has built an AI-native healthcare platform that brings together insurance, care and prevention in a single, personalised experience. With a best-in-class product, a platform built for scale and a highly efficient cost of…

South Africans should be netting at least R20,000 per month for a 40-hour work week if they wish to achieve a decent, albeit humble, standard of living and level of dignity. This latest living wage figure was announced by the Living Wage South Africa Network (LWSAN), a registered non-profit organisation, that champions the drive to implement the concept locally. “We encourage businesses and government entities to adopt this living wage voluntarily as a matter of human decency and social sustainability,” says Professor Ines Meyer, chairperson of the LWSAN. It is important to highlight that the living wage describes take-home earnings…

South Africa’s commercial crime statistics paint a concerning picture. Every year, reports of fraud, corruption, procurement irregularities, cybercrime, and financial misconduct continue to place pressure on both public and private institutions. Yet many governance professionals, investigators, and risk specialists would argue that the real scale of white-collar crime in South Africa is likely far greater than what official numbers reflect. “One of the biggest reasons is underreporting” says Elani Vogel, Senior Forensics Manager at Loxton Forensics. Many organisations choose not to report incidents externally, even after internal investigations confirm serious misconduct. In some cases, leadership fears reputational damage or shareholder concern.…

Bring the runway to your living room with 20th Century Studios’ “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” streaming exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu on 29 July. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci return to the fashionable streets of New York City and the sleek offices of Runway Magazine in this stylish sequel, which Tony Bravo from the San Francisco Chronicle said is “as delicious as the first film.” Celebrate the box office smash, which took the worlds of fashion and media by storm when it opened in theaters this past May, on its way to grossing more than $676 million…

Hotels now have access to a seamless, end-to-end payment experience that follows the guest from booking through to checkout. Already live across the Red Carnation Hotel Collection’s South African portfolio – including the Oyster Box, Bushman’s Kloof Reserve & Wellness Retreat and The Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa – it marks a significant step forward for a sector where manual processes and fragmented payment workflows have long been the norm. “For hotel groups, the ability to scale a single, consistent payment solution across a portfolio is significant,” says Jonathan Smit, one of South Africa’s most accomplished fintech entrepreneurs and executive…

A young South African network engineer has achieved Huawei’s highest-level ICT certification, strengthening his ability to train and mentor students for careers in networking, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure. Neo Rameetse, Senior Network Administrator at the University of Johannesburg and Huawei ICT Academy instructor, recently achieved the Huawei Certified ICT Expert (HCIE) certification, a milestone that reflects his professional growth and the growing importance of practical digital skills for young South Africans entering the technology sector. His achievement comes as South Africa marks Youth Month, a period that places renewed focus on the opportunities, skills and support young people need to…

Discovery Green, a Discovery Limited business, is proud to announce the signing of a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with JSE-listed company, York Timber Holdings (York Timbers), the largest solid wood processor in South Africa.. The agreement will support greater cost efficiencies in York Timbers’ operations and marks a significant step in the company’s ongoing journey to embed sustainability into its business while maximising environmental value. Under the agreement, Discovery Green will convert 90% of the Jessievale sawmill’s energy usage into renewable energy – reducing its carbon emissions by thousands of tonnes of CO₂ each year. This will ultimately deliver…

South Africa’s current focus on external attacks by organised cybercriminals masks the fact that 95% of cybersecurity issues globally can be traced back to human error, according to sources that include the World Economic Forum. Employees leaving Cloud databases unsecured and open to the public, misdirecting emails, losing unencrypted work devices and improperly sharing credentials are just some examples of why Surfshark’s latest quarterly analysis of global data breaches indicates that, to date, about 70 out of 100 South Africans have been affected by data breaches. “It’s easy enough to find out that the South African government spends 0.7% of…

You can now get instant tax help via a WhatsApp message or voice note, thanks to TaxTim, South Africa’s digital tax assistant. Ahead of the July tax season, TaxTim has launched TimAI, a South African AI tax assistant, on WhatsApp, making instant tax answers free to anyone in the country. If you have a tax question, simply send a message or a voice note and get a clear answer in seconds. For South Africans who conduct much of their daily communication via WhatsApp, and where tax remains one of the most widely misunderstood parts of personal finance, it removes two…

Telecommunications operators across Africa are directing billions of rand into network upgrades, high-capacity fibre backhaul, and 5G rollouts. However, new research from Cloudera, the only hybrid data and AI platform company that brings AI to the data anywhere, suggests that this heavy physical infrastructure build still sits on fragile data foundations upon which investment returns depend. Locally, massive infrastructure commitments are being made, such as Vodacom’s R85.2-billion “Vision 2030” programme and MTN’s continued network transformation with plans to scale AI-driven operations, extend 5G coverage, and modernise its core network. These large projects showcase the scale of the capital deployments at…

South Africans are visiting shopping malls less than they did, staying for shorter periods and their trips are more deliberate. Online shopping and lifestyle changes have fuelled South Africa’s changing shopping habits, and shopping malls are reimagining their purpose to keep customers coming through their doors. Lightstone Retail tracked South African shopping behaviour in February 2023 and again in February 2026, using anonymised vehicle movement data from Tracker covering between 450 000 – 510 000 passenger vehicles per month and unlike retailer surveys or operator reports, the telemetry data captured what drivers actually did, not what they said they did.…

Eskom continues to strengthen the resilience of South Africa’s power system, sustaining measurable improvements in generation performance and network stability as winter demand intensifies. Year-on-year gains in generation availability, reduced unplanned outages, and lower reliance on diesel, alongside targeted interventions through the Load Reduction Elimination Programme, are enabling more households to access a stable and consistent electricity supply System performance continues to strengthen, with the financial year-to-date Energy Availability Factor (EAF) rising to 63.24%, up marginally from 63.05% in the previous week, and significantly higher than 57.91% recorded over the same period last year—an increase of 5.33% year-on-year. This reflects…

A summer of suspense, seduction and obsession begins with the premiere of FX’s “The Shards,” the new drama series from executive producer Ryan Murphy based on the acclaimed bestselling novel by Bret Easton Ellis. The series will premiere Thursday, 6 August exclusively on Disney+ in South Africa. Set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles, the series follows a group of privileged high school seniors at an elite prep school as they navigate identity, sex, jealousy, obsession and the dangers lurking beneath the surface of American adolescence. At its center is Bret (Igby Rigney), an aspiring writer and keenly observant teenager whose reality…

City Lodge Hotels has launched the Buzz App, a new mobile food and beverage ordering app that allows guests and visitors to order directly from their smartphones. Available at all City Lodge Hotels properties across South Africa, the app offers a simple tap, pay, and collect experience that saves time, cuts queues, and makes ordering more convenient than ever. Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo, Chief Operating Officer at City Lodge Hotels, says the launch is one of many exciting developments across the group. “As our food and beverage offering continues to grow, and several of our newly refurbished hotels introduce signature restaurants and…

Florion, a first-of-its-kind South African energy intelligence business co-founded by Robert Futter, today announced its launch. Futter brings more than 20 years of advisory experience in energy, infrastructure and project finance. The company has already secured a large mining and beneficiation client operating in one of the country’s most energy-intensive sectors. The launch comes as South African businesses move beyond a focus on load shedding into a far more complex energy environment, integrating a mix of grid power, solar, wheeled and traded energy. While this provides new opportunities to reduce costs and emissions, it also introduces a new category of commercial…

Salesforce, customers, and partners accelerate AI adoption, customer transformation, and skills development across South Africa As businesses across South Africa look to grow revenue, improve productivity, and unlock the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, one message emerged with clarity from Agentforce World Tour Johannesburg: no organisation transforms alone. Held on 3 June 2026 at Kyalami International Convention Centre, Agentforce World Tour Johannesburg drew nearly 2000 business leaders, technologists, and innovators for a full day of keynotes, expert-led sessions, live demonstrations, and partner showcases. The event — the most significant Salesforce ecosystem gathering on the African continent — made clear that…

A young woman unwillingly must leave her disabled mother at home to walk to the local library just to use the public internet to pay the household bills. A few blocks away, a family rations its online time, relying entirely on a son’s cellular data plan to check critical medical updates because traditional broadband is too expensive. At the weekly outdoor farmers market, small business owners regularly turn away customers because weak cellular signals prevent them from accepting credit cards. These are the everyday realities in Bellflower; a suburb of 75,000 people located just 25 minutes outside of Los Angeles. Despite its proximity to America’s second-largest city, the community has long suffered…

Las Vegas, NV  – In today’s increasingly complex financial markets, successful investing requires more than identifying opportunities—it demands discipline, risk awareness, and the ability to adapt to constantly changing conditions. For Brian Ferdinand, Portfolio Manager and Trader at EverForward, these principles form the foundation of a trading philosophy centered on consistency, accountability, and long-term performance. As financial markets become more data-driven and globally interconnected, investors face a growing volume of information and rapidly evolving market dynamics. Ferdinand has built his approach around combining structured analysis with disciplined execution, helping guide portfolio construction and capital allocation decisions across diverse market environments.…