A new paper by the Reserve Bank argues that South Africa’s market-driven approach to open banking is limited in its reach. In fact, it risks entrenching the same socioeconomic barriers that have locked large sections of the population out of the financial system. The newly published working paper (PDF) argues that a regulated approach is…
A report by the AfricaNenda Foundation has stated that the growth of instant payment services in Africa is increasing, enabling inclusion of more people in the continent into the financial system. The foundation in its 2025 Annual Report, said the year was a breakthrough for Africa’s Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (IIPS) with record-speed national launches,…
All-time high greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere continue to drive heat records on land and sea, with long-lasting consequences for humanity, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Monday. Hot on the heels of a scorching decade, the UN’s weather agency has said that the planet’s climate is “more out of balance than at…
Nairobi — The period from 2015 to 2025 has been the hottest 11-year stretch on record, with Earth’s climate system increasingly out of balance due to rising greenhouse gas emissions, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report released Monday. The UN weather agency’s flagship State of the Global Climate 2025 report found that…
Monrovia, Liberia – March 23, 2026 — More than 25 Liberians have completed a specialized maritime and port security training under the European Union-funded SCOPE Africa Program. The program aimed at strengthening port safety, operational efficiency, and regional cooperation across West and Central Africa. The training, held in Monrovia and attended by officials of the…
As a boom in online gambling across Africa gathers pace, governments are hiking taxes to contain addiction risks and fill depleted state coffers. In by far the biggest market, South Africa, the industry is pushing back. Once a niche activity, gambling has exploded across the continent as a result of easily available online betting accounts….
French now ranks ahead of Arabic as the fourth most widely spoken language in the world, according to a report published this week ahead of Friday’s international day of the French language. With 396 million speakers worldwide in 2025 compared to standard Arabic’s 335 million, French comes in behind English, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish as…
Werner Joubert, Commercial BDM and Country Head Asus South Africa and SADC. Asus is positioning itself for growth in its southern Africa commercial division following the launch of its ExpertBook Ultra laptop this week, as the company looks to capitalise on a market shift towards AI-enabled devices. Asus operates two divisions in the region –…
Environmental activists in South Africa have been waging legal battles against the state and mining companies for years. This is often on the grounds that communities haven’t been consulted before mines were given permission to start digging and blasting on their land. Environmental justice researcher Mzingaye Brilliant Xaba has tracked the legal cases against mines…
