South Africa’s decision to scrap the 9% ad valorem excise duty on entry-level smartphones has been singled out by the GSMA as one of the clearest examples on the continent of how tax reform can bring people online. The plaudits for the decision, which was championed by communications minister Solly Malatsi, come in a new…
South Africa faces a housing backlog of at least 2.6 million units, for more than 12 million people. The state supply of new, subsidised housing has declined over the past decade and the government’s housing policy is shifting. It sees the private sector as becoming the main provider of “affordable housing”. The market, according to…
57% of respondents to a Yazi survey said they had sacrificed essentials to fund online gambling. (Photograph by Nicola Mawson) More than half of online gamblers in a survey said they sacrificed essentials to fund betting and almost a third had borrowed money to gamble. This, even as an international study shows operators are increasingly…
The South African and Malawian governments have intensified efforts to facilitate the repatriation of Malawian nationals, with 980 people having already left the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp. More Malawian nationals were also preparing to return home. This as the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Migration briefed the media on Sunday, where it outlined progress in…
The chain was criticised for a “Tank Day” marketing ploy on the anniversary of a military massacre.
The chaos that threatens to explode from this mobilisation will devastate not only migrants but all poor people and workers. Only reactionary political forces will benefit from promoting it. As with the mobilisation of the populist right internationally, which draws on and misdirects people’s real grievances against the wrong targets (vulnerable people instead of the…
For South Africa’s merchants and lenders, the most important question at the end of each month is a simple one: can customers actually pay? Behind every card swipe, debit order and instalment sits a household balance sheet under strain – and for the businesses that depend on those transactions clearing, reading the resilience of those…
Two years after debuting its local e-commerce marketplace, Amazon has officially introduced its flagship Prime membership program to South African consumers. The all-in-one loyalty ecosystem bundles unlimited free shipping, premium video streaming, and digital gaming benefits into a single subscription plan. Read: Siri AI: A deep dive into Apple’s new intelligent assistant The service is…
The Federal Government, Thursday, disclosed that it was considering taking the issue of recurring xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa to the African Union, AU, to seek a permanent solution. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaiye, said Africa, as a continent, must recognise the need to do more to protect the lives…
One of Africa’s 10 representatives at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, South Africa, kicked off their campaign on a poor note last night, beaten 2-0 by co-host Mexico inside iconic Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Unlike 16 years ago when South Africa hosted the Mundial and were forced to a 1-1 in the opening game…
