Author: Staff Writer

The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has announced a major executive leadership shake-up, appointing three seasoned professionals to its Executive Committee as part of a drive to stabilise the organisation and overhaul its operational capability. Effective 01 September 2026, the appointments mark a significant step in SITA’s ongoing programme of organisational renewal. The new executives bring substantial expertise in technical leadership, commercial strategy, governance, and stakeholder management to the public-sector ICT giant. The newly appointed executives are Phumzile Njoko (Executive: Supply Chain Management), Gabaiphiwe Tabane (Executive: Client Engagement), and Bongumusa Kumalo (Executive: Network, Cloud and Platforms). Their arrival is part of deliberate efforts…

AS the southern hemisphere starts the growing season, there is also a spring into action with electric vehicles, as evidenced by the large showcase at the Festival of Motoring. A total of 19 battery-electric vehicle (EV) models from 12 different brands were showcased at the event. The result was the widest range of EV models ever assembled at a single local motor show. “The showdown of current and future models is a reality check,” says Hiten Parmar, Executive Director of The Electric Mission. “It is both an indication of the growth of the EV industry, and also shows the growing…

iOCO today announced a collaboration with Cato Networks that expands its managed security portfolio with Cato’s unified, cloud-native SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform. This service addresses the needs of enterprises in South Africa facing rising cyber risk, growing AI adoption, and increasingly complex hybrid and cloud environments. The collaboration builds on iOCO’s existing Zero Trust and managed cybersecurity operations for enterprise customers. Through the offering, iOCO will support them with advisory and architectureservices, through migration and integration to security operations and optimisation, so they do not have to build and staff the capability in-house. Cato brings networking and security…

Huawei South Africa completed the sixth edition of the Women in Tech Digital Skills Training Programme, giving a cohort of 50 women three days of practical exposure in AI, cloud computing, 5G-Advanced, and emerging technologies. Held under the theme “HERabytes: Small Business. Big Intelligence,” this year’s group included women business owners and government leaders from the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), the Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL), and the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD). The programme focused on helping participants understand Artificial Intelligence and how it can be deployed to solve business challenges,…

Range Rover, the original luxury SUV, is now available with electric propulsion, heralding a new era of enhanced refinement and capability. Built in Solihull – the home of Range Rover since 1970 – the first ever electric Range Rover marks a major milestone for the brand. Quieter, more effortless, more responsive, and with more torque than any Range Rover to date, Range Rover Electric combines peerless design with exceptional refinement and breathtaking modernity. Electric propulsion enhances Range Rover’s inherent characteristics of effortless performance, timeless luxury and uncompromising capability, with a reduction in cabin noise. Seamlessly integrating electric propulsion into a…

The South African fibre landscape is currently dominated by noise, from the arrival of LEO satellites to infrastructure operators launching their own retail ISPs. Trevor van Zyl, CEO of Octotel, says the focus must shift from simply laying cable to solving complex, modern connectivity problems. “The industry is entering a fundamentally different phase,” says van Zyl. “The first ten years were about building a network that didn’t exist. The next ten must be about building products, solutions, and systems that don’t exist yet.” Finding more value in existing networks Van Zyl believes there is still significant growth to be extracted…

WIOCC Group, Africa’s leading carrier-neutral digital infrastructure platform, today announced the signing of a Shareholder Subscription Agreement (SSA) with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Vision International Investment Company (Vision Invest), through which the two investors will make a combined US $300 million investment in the company. Signed at the LEAP 2026 Global Technology exhibition in Riyadh, the agreement represents a significant milestone in WIOCC Group’s growth journey, supporting its mission to build and operate open-access, critical infrastructure across Africa and to strengthen the digital ecosystems that underpin Africa’s economic transformation. ‘The Africa we build must be connected, competitive and equipped to…

Capitec is intensifying its fraud prevention efforts, by deploying advanced intelligent systems to outpace emerging threats. Its latest wave of innovations includes an intelligent payment screening system that protected 113,410 clients from losing more than R699 million to fraud between July 2025 and June 2026. Across personal and business banking, Capitec protects 26 million clients by using a broad set of tools – with more on the way. In the past year, Capitec has identified and blocked over 131 000 suspicious beneficiary accounts, including 64 000 mule accounts and warned clients against more than 394 000 scam payments. Before an…

South Africa’s new vehicle market sustained strong momentum in August 2026, with aggregate sales increasing by 11.4% year-on-year to 57,898 units. This growth was driven by robust demand in the passenger car and light commercial vehicle segments, signaling resilient consumer confidence despite a complex macroeconomic environment. However, the positive domestic picture was contrasted by a decline in exports. Vehicle exports dropped by 11.9% to 35,091 units in August, reinforcing the urgent need to strengthen industrial competitiveness and translate improving domestic demand into local production, investment, and employment. NEV Adoption Accelerates with Diverse Technology Pathways The adoption of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs)…

Capitec Limited previously known as Capitec Bank Holdings Limited (market cap: R540 billion), has received approval for a secondary listing on A2X Markets. Capitec ordinary shares will be available for trade on A2X from Monday, 7 September 2026. The secondary listing on A2X is expected to broaden investor access to Capitec’s ordinary shares by providing an additional regulated trading venue, thereby enhancing shareholder choice and supporting liquidity in the Company’s ordinary shares. Capitec will retain its primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and its issued share capital will remain unchanged. Grant Hardy, Chief Financial Officer of Capitec, said, “Our…

Growthpoint Properties has completed phase one of its R75 million redevelopment of Walmer Park Shopping Centre in Gqeberha, welcoming several new and distinctive brands to the centre. The full redevelopment of the landmark Eastern Cape shopping centre remains on track for completion in November 2026, ahead of the busy festive trading period. The milestone marks a significant step in Growthpoint’s reinvestment in this high-performing South African retail asset and underscores Walmer Park’s continued evolution as Gqeberha’s leading retail destination. Gavin Jones, Head of Retail Asset Management at Growthpoint Properties, says: “Walmer Park has consistently demonstrated the trading resilience and tenant…

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City has concluded its first power purchase agreements as it buys up to a total of 200MW from independent producers at cheaper rates than Eskom. Cape Town is the first South African city to reduce Eskom reliance by buying power on the open market as the metro works to secure more affordable power sources for Capetonians. The City today marked the conclusion of two power purchase agreements worth 70MW, with more to follow in the coming months under a competitive tendering process for up to 200MW. The 20-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) are…

Air France is bringing back its popular seasonal direct service between Cape Town and Paris for the 2026/27 summer travel season, giving South African travellers more opportunities to experience the French capital and connect onwards to destinations across Europe and beyond. The seasonal service will operate from 22 September 2026 through to 27 March 2027, with frequencies increasing as the season progresses. From 22 September to 31 October 2026, Air France will operate three weekly flights between Cape Town International Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Cape Town departure will take place shortly after midnight, at…

4Sight Holdings has appointed three accomplished technology and business leaders to its Executive Committee (EXCO) as the Group accelerates the execution of its AI-first growth strategy and positions the business for its next phase of sustainable expansion. Effective immediately, Clark Fourie has been appointed Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO), Jeandré du Randt has been appointed Chief Business Environment Officer (CBEO), and Essich Wassenaar has been appointed Group Frontier Operations Officer (GFOO). The appointments will drive and excel the development of 4Sight’s own IP (Intellectual Property), 4AI – 4Sight Automated Intelligence, directing automation in commercial, technical and operational leadership from within…

Mamor Capital Ventures (Mamor Capital) has reached a R300 million first close for Fund 1, providing the black women-owned and managed venture capital firm with the capital to begin investing in post-revenue South African technology businesses as it continues raising towards a target fund size of R550 million. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is the fund’s anchor investor, with further commitments from the High Impact Seed Fund of Funds managed by the SA SME Fund, the Technology Innovation Agency, and the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency. The PIC also played a catalytic role in mobilising additional institutional commitments to…

Woolworths has officially opened the doors to its highly anticipated Food Emporium at Dainfern Square, marking the format’s debut in Gauteng. As the retailer’s premier food destination, this flagship store is more than just a place to buy groceries, it signals a bold step forward in premium retail, prompting industry watchers to ask: is this the blueprint for the future of shopping in South Africa? The launch represents a major milestone for Woolworths, bringing its most extensive food offering to the region under one roof. From daily staples and convenient meal solutions to specialist ranges and premium ingredients, the Dainfern…

Specialised South African technology group Alphawave today announced that its businesses Saigen and Callbi have merged into a single operating company trading as Saigen, with experienced technology entrepreneur Sam Clarke being appointed as CEO of the combined business. The two businesses have operated as closely linked companies for years. Saigen builds AI-powered speech recognition for under-resourced languages and specialised domains, including code-switching within a single utterance across South African languages. Callbi, built on the Saigen engine, transcribes and analyses contact centre conversations for quality assurance, compliance and operational insight. The Callbi name will be retained for the contact centre business.…

Salesforce and Anthropic are announcing Claudeforce, an expanded strategic partnership bringing Claude’s intelligence and reasoning together with Salesforce’s trusted enterprise harness to make its data, workflows, business logic, actions, and governance securely accessible to power agentic experiences wherever work happens. The Claudeforce partnership launches with Salesforce in Claude, a Plugin with 37 prebuilt sales skills that enable sellers and agents to reason over live revenue context, automate pipeline updates, and take governed action right from Claude — with the power of Salesforce directly where sellers work. The companies plan to introduce more integrations across Claude, Salesforce, and Slack, expanding each…

On 24 July 2026, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published the National Radio Frequency Plan 2026 (NRFP 2026), formally allocating the full U6 GHz band, 6425–7125 MHz, for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) use. This decision, which incorporates 700 MHz of contiguous mid-band spectrum into the mobile communications framework, represents one of the most consequential regulatory milestones in the country’s digital evolution. The attention now is on the implementation phase, including the draft Radio Frequency Spectrum Assignment Plans (RFSAPs) currently open for public comment until early September. A Transparent and Evidence-Based Process The NRFP 2026 emerged from an…

Huawei South Africa has officially launched the sixth edition of its Women in Tech Digital Skills Development Programme, gathering 50 businesswomen and public-sector leaders for a three-day immersive experience centred on technology, leadership, and enterprise growth. The initiative, which kicked off in Johannesburg, emphasises a national push to ensure women are not left behind as artificial intelligence reshapes the business landscape. This year’s theme — HERabytes: Small Business. Big Intelligence. — signals a sharp focus on equipping women entrepreneurs with the tools to harness AI for real-world impact, moving beyond theoretical knowledge to practical application. At the opening event, representatives from Huawei,…

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NVIDIA have officially escalated their 16-year alliance, announcing a blockbuster expansion aimed at crushing the surging global demand for AI compute. In a landmark update, the duo confirmed plans to inject an additional 2 million NVIDIA GPUs into AWS’s global data center infrastructure between 2027 and 2028. This massive scale-up, coupled with deep co-engineering across CPUs, networking, and open models, solidifies AWS as the premier cloud destination for running NVIDIA’s AI stack, catering to everyone from frontier AI labs to top-tier government agencies. Surging Demand Drives Unprecedented GPU Capacity AI workloads are scaling at breakneck speed, transitioning…

Today,Google  announced the expansion of its AI-powered learning tools across Africa, offering eligible higher education students in 27 countries one year of Google AI Plus at no cost. Eligible students can access 12 months of Google AI Plus, which includes Gemini Omni, two times higher usage limits in Gemini and 400 GB of cloud storage across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos, alongside a growing suite of AI-powered learning tools. The offer gives university and college students access to Gemini and other AI-powered learning tools designed to support research, coursework, revision and everyday academic tasks. Students in markets including Kenya,…

The launch of the South African Information and Communication Technology Association’s (SAICTA’s) jobs portal comes at an opportune moment as government and business embark on Phase Three of their partnership, seeking to add a million jobs to the economy by 2030. In announcing the partnership on 20 August, President Cyril Ramaphosa was clear that Southern Africa is well positioned to benefit from the digital revolution, while also making the point that “potential does not become prosperity by itself”. SAICTA – which aims to bridge the gaps between education and industry; talent and opportunity; and innovation and impact – concurs that…

Virgin Bet South Africa today launches ‘A  Good Bet’, its first brand campaign outside the United Kingdom, created by award-winning  South African agency Joe Public and shot by Darling Productions. The campaign moves away from the outcome-led conventions of the betting category. Rather than leading on winning, ‘A Good Bet’ focuses on the enjoyment across sport and  entertainment – from the entertainment of watching a game and the excitement of casino  play, to the conversations and shared moments around both – introducing South African  audiences to the Virgin Bet proposition through a distinctly local lens. Brendan Hoffmann, Executive Creative Director…

Qatar Airways, the operator of the world’s first and largest Starlink-equipped widebody fleet, has become the first airline to operate Starlink-equipped Boeing 787-9 aircraft, globally. The carrier has also completed Starlink rollout across its Boeing 787-8 sub-fleet in seven months, bringing the total number of its Starlink-equipped widebody aircraft to 150. Qatar Airways remains on track to complete the Starlink rollout across its Boeing 787 fleet by the end of 2026.. The latest achievement builds on Qatar Airways’ record-breaking completion of the Boeing 777 programme in nine months and the Airbus A350 programme in eight months. The airline now operates the world’s…