Author: Staff Writer
Eskom’s former Financial Controller Mosai Barnard Moraka and service provider Victor Vilosi Tshabalala were sentenced to 20 years in jail for fraud and corruption that cost the power utility R35 million. Thed Palm Ridge Commercial Crimes Court sentenced two thieves to an effective 20 years’ imprisonment on Tuesday. The pair were each found guilty of 53 counts of fraud and theft that cost Eskom R35 million. The court also granted an order where both thieves will forfeit their respective properties to the state. The properties were placed under a preservation order in November 2021 and will now be sold, and…
MSI, Redragon, Antec, Crucial and ACGL are joining forces for another year of competitive battle royale action with the #MythicRoyale for Fortnite and Apex Legends. During the course of the year, competitors will compete via a series of qualifiers to earn their spot in the cash final per title. A total of R150,000 in cash is allocated to the rotating Apex Legends and Fortnite series. Each cash series will launch with a guaranteed prize pool, which can be boosted by achieving a number of community goals. The higher the number of community goals per series achieved, the higher the prize pool. Community goals for…
South Africa’s Macrocomm is in strategic partnership with India’s Bharat Rail Automation to deliver signal management and smart railway solutions to SA and other African territories. Macrocomm, with its partner ecosystem, offers cutting-edge digital technology solutions concentrated around IoT, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The Macrocomm-Bharat Rail partnership will focus on delivering secure data-driven solutions that will enable railway authorities to significantly improve operational efficiency and safety through contextual and secure signalling as well as optimal route planning and scheduling. “Our choice of Bharat Rail Automation as a partner has been based on the trust that the…
Cybercriminals stole R90 million In physical cash through SASSA accounts from Postbank, a subsidiary of the South Africa Post Office. amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism uncovered the security breach. However, the security breach was kept a secret by both the Post Bank and the Post Office. AmaBhungane said between 16 and 28 October last year individuals presumed to be either employed by Postbank or by a Postbank contractor stole at least R89 459 330 in physical cash through SASSA accounts. The brazen fraud involved illicitly crediting grant beneficiary accounts with large sums and then emptying these accounts out at ATMs.…
Microsoft has added Zulu to its Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services Translator, enabling text and documents to be translated to and from one of South Africa’s official languages across the entire Microsoft ecosystem of products and services. Zulu joins Swahili as the latest African language to be supported, and there are plans to add more of the continent’s most widely spoken languages as part of Microsoft’s mission to build meaningful cognitive products and services that improve accessibility and local engagement. Integrations across Microsoft’s ecosystem include Microsoft 365 for translating text and documents, the Microsoft Edge browser and Bing search engine for…
South African Internet of Things (IoT) startup Consumption Information Real Time (CIRT) has secured just under $500 000 or R7.2 million as part of its Seed Round of funding from E Squared Investments, an Impact Investor and a shareholder in Allan Gray. The funding will take the form of a convertible debt instrument which will be converted into equity at a discounted rate when CIRT’s Series A round of funding is completed. “We are extremely excited to have received this big vote of confidence from a respected local investment fund like E Squared, particularly as it comes hot on the…
A crisis is looming in South Africa as the deadline for the renewal of driving licences arrives tomorrow, 31 March, but with hundreds of thousands of drivers who have still not applied for their new cards. The Automobile Association (AA) is again appealing to the Minister of Transport to reconsider government’s refusal to extend this deadline, and to make provision for a longer renewal period. In August last year, Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that driving licences which expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021 will be valid until 31 March 2022. In February Minister Mbalula indicated that the…
Engineering design and advisory services company Zutari has announced that Teddy Daka is appointed as its sole CEO bringing to an end the dual role he has shared over the last year with Dr. Gustav Rohde. Dr. Rohde now steps into a Deputy CEO role with responsibility for culture, strategy and new business ventures. Daka will, in addition to leading the company, drive Zutari’s growth initiatives, its focused client management programme and digital transformation journey. The two seasoned executives have worked together very well over the last 15 years in different capacities within the legacy firms of Zutari. Daka recently…
Mobile money adoption and use saw continued growth in 2021, processing a record $1 trillion or R14.5 trillion annually. The industry enjoyed a substantial increase in the number of registered accounts, up 18% since 2020 reaching 1.35 billion globally. This is according to the GSMA’s 10th annual ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’ published today. The volume of person-to-person transactions were up to more than 1.5 million every hour. The report reveals that one of the most significant drivers of growth was merchant payments, which almost doubled year on year. It also highlights how mobile money continues to…
The war in Ukraine has added concerns to an already tense cybersecurity environment. What’s more, recent international coverage about scammers using QR codes to misdirect funds is fuelling fraud uncertainty. But South African consumers, while wise to remain vigilant, are well protected if they stick to a few simple QR guidelines. Quick Response or QR codes saw a rapid uptick in usage during Covid as consumers looked for a simple and truly contactless method of payment. Unfortunately, bad actors also realised there was opportunity in the new trend and rushed to take advantage of a distracted public. News out of…