[Daily Maverick] The upcoming G20 meeting in Johannesburg will be without the US government, and only a lower-level rep from Russia, but with the second-highest Chinese leader, although not Xi Jinping. While the middle powers at the meeting may hope they will share the collective heft and will to guide the proceedings, the meeting will…
Calisto Radithipa Interview with Calisto RadithipaFOUNDER and CEO, KEMCORE Lives in: Cape Town, South Africa Calisto Radithipa has built Kemcore into a key supplier to Zambia and DRC’s copper and cobalt mines. Calisto Radithipa was born in Marobela village in eastern Botswana, near the Zimbabwean border. In 2001, with local universities full, he received a…
Durban, Scidev.Net — African leaders urged the continent’s health community meeting in South Africa this week to turn crisis into opportunity, highlighting progress in vaccine manufacturing against a backdrop of drastic job losses and aid cuts. South Africa’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, speaking at the 4th International Conference on Public Health…
In addition to a US Government shutdown at midnight on September 30, 2025, due to failure to pass a spending bill, an event largely ignored by America’s mainstream media was the expiration of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA was established by US President Bill Clinton in 2000, and gave preferential access to…
One of the commitments the South African presidency of the G20 made in its policy priorities document at the beginning of 2025 was to push for fairer, more transparent sovereign credit ratings. And to address the high cost of capital caused by an illusive perception of high risk in developing economies. South Africa proposed to…
US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a staggering US$100 000 fee on new H-1B visas is a spectacular own goal for America and its technology industry. It is a hammer blow to the very sector that built Silicon Valley’s dominance. For South Africa, though, the move opens a small but potentially meaningful window: an…
The sudden winding down of USAID by the Trump Administration, the linchpin of America’s annual $40 billion vast footprint in global assistance programs led to wide ranging discussion on the future of foreign aid. Africa, a major recipient of foreign aid is now in the eye of the storm as United States and Western allies…
With the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that has anchored U.S-Africa relations since 2000 set to expire on September 30, prospects for extension or renewal grow increasingly slim. Among foundational principles that have anchored AGOA, the key one is the duty-free entry of specific African products into the American market. “AGOA has helped bolster economic growth,…
For too long, Africa’s agency has been exercised defensively: managing expectations, preserving stability, reacting to external scripts. The continent has copied political systems from other countries and prioritised economic choices that would meet external obligations, such as repaying debt. This posture was understandable immediately following independence in African states. At that time, the world was…
Christopher Geerdts, MD of BMI-T. The rapid growth of cloud computing and AI is creating major opportunities for South African service providers – but also widening the digital divide. This was the key message from Christopher Geerdts, MD of BMI-T, during his keynote address at the ITWeb Cloud and Data Centre Summit, held on 7…
