Author: Staff Writer

Over a year after its planned implementation was ruled unconstitutional, Aarto will soon be on the cards for motorists again. Yesterday, the Constitutional Court overturned the High Court’s ruling of Aarto as invalid and unconstitutional. What does this mean for South African motorists? The CEO of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says the efficacy of Aarto in bringing change to the high fatality rates, needs motorists to have faith in the Act as well. “Yet, even before the High Court overturned Aarto, the public had little faith in Aarto. There are concerns there is too much opportunity for corruption to creep into…

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa today officially opened the Huawei Innovation Centre in Woodmead, Johannesburg. President Ramaphosa said that facilities like this innovation centre, along with the adoption of a range of cutting-edge technologies being pioneered by companies such as Huawei, will enable South Africa and the wider African continent to leapfrog into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. According to Huawei South Africa, the newly launched Innovation Centre serves to foster and encourage joint innovation with Huawei’s South African partners, app developers, and SMMEs in the ICT space. It also showcases Huawei’s latest and most innovative digital technologies and solutions such…

Wits University and Sibanye-Stillwater (tickers JSE: SSW and NYSE: SBSW) have launched the newly refurbished and rebranded Wits Sibanye-Stillwater Innovation bridge (‘the Innovation bridge’), a Wits Centenary Project funded by Sibanye-Stillwater. The launch on 12 July 2023 was accompanied by an additional commitment of R51 million from Sibanye-Stillwater to Wits for study bursaries, learnerships within the Group’s mining operations, graduate internship programmes and staff development within the Wits Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE). The refurbished Innovation bridge is both a symbol of the past and a gateway to the future. It represents shared value and a strengthening of the partnership…

Google today announced the expansion of Bard, its conversational AI service, to 40 new languages including Swahili- the first African language to be included and 59 new countries and territories. The expansion includes new features that allow users to better customize their experience, boost their creativity, and get more done. With the expansion, Bard is now available in most of the world, including countries in the European Union (EU), and in the most widely spoken languages, including Swahili, Chinese, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Hindi, and Spanish. Users can now access Bard in their preferred language with text-to-speech also enabled in…

Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology and approach that originated in the field of design but has since been widely adopted across various industries and disciplines. It emphasizes a human-centered and iterative approach to tackling complex problems and finding innovative solutions. Design thinking places a strong emphasis on understanding the needs and perspectives of the end-users or customers and uses empathy as a key driver in the problem-solving process. In recent years, design thinking has gained widespread acclaim as a powerful tool for navigating the AI revolution. Its proponents argue that it brings a human-centered approach to the development of…

You don’t need statistics to tell you there are severe inefficiencies in the South African healthcare system. You just need to look at the long queues at clinics and hospitals. Or if you’re fortunate enough to afford private healthcare, try and make an appointment with specialists (months’ long waiting lists aren’t uncommon). It is worth noting, however, that the waiting list at one Eastern Cape Hospital for knee and hip replacements is over a decade long. Across the Gauteng public healthcare system, meanwhile, wait times for the same operations can be up to five years long. That’s to say nothing of the long clinic…

Vuma, one of South Africa’s biggest Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) provider, has announced the integration of next generation fibre technology and innovation to the South African market, through its latest partnership with Huawei. As a next-generation PON technology defined by ITU-T, the 50G PON effectively supports 10Gbps Everywhere. It provides high-density symmetrical 50G PON to meet the increasing bandwidth requirements in future campus, industrial interconnection, enterprise, and home scenarios. And it integrates GPON, 10G PON, and 50G PON into one port, allowing for service upgrade on demand. The partnership sees the launch of 50G PON capabilities – significantly higher than the existing…

The Shoprite Group invites technology students and seasoned Information Technology (IT) professionals to join Africa’s largest retailer by applying for its bursary programme or various available job opportunities. The retailer’s comprehensive bursary programme covers tuition fees and on-campus accommodation, provides a grocery allowance, and guarantees employment upon graduation. Youth studying scarce and sought after skills are invited to apply by visiting www.shopriteholdings.co.za/careers.html before 30 September 2023. Home to some of the brightest industry talent, the Group’s Shoprite Technology division uses technology, data, insights, systems and processes to take advantage of and unlock new opportunities. Greytown-born Percival Phakathi (28) joined the…

Vodacom Eastern Cape region will invest over R500 million into the network and power backup upgrades across the province during the 2023/2024 financial year. This significant investment into the network will help the region expand connectivity in deep rural areas and townships that had no connectivity before. This will enable hundreds of thousands of people to participate in the digital economy for the first time. This coupled with a concerted effort to drive down the cost to communicate through innovative platforms such as Just4U and Just4YouTown has lowered voice and data rates across the province and enabled scores of people…

South African-based aviation group Pegasus Universal Aerospace has announced that it has launched a new shares sale to raise capital for the next developmental stage of its ground-breaking Vertical Business Jet (VBJ) project. Aimed at raising a minimum of R200,000 in funding, the sale will remain open for three months until 21 August 2023. The company has made some six million Class A, seven-year preference shares available at an issue price of R2,900 per share, offering a fixed interest rate of 10% per annum. With a minimum transaction requirement of four shares per investor, this means that South Africans can…