Youssef Elgonaid Interview with Youssef ElgonaidCO-FOUNDER and CEO, AFRICAN RAIL COMPANY For decades, South Africa’s freight rail network has been tightly controlled by the state. Youssef Elgonaid, CEO of African Rail Company (ARC), describes the recent move to grant private operators wider access to the system as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”. Founded in 2013, ARC recently…
When COP31 opens in Antalya, Türkiye, this November, you’ll recognize the choreography immediately. I saw it all play out at COP29 in Baku: African ministers arrive with speeches about ambition, negotiators disappear into rooms with marked-up drafts, banners line the walkways outside, and climate slogans sound urgent. Ten days later, the summit ends and the…
Communications minister Solly Malatsi. Image: DCDT Communications minister Solly Malatsi has appointed an independent panel of AI researchers, lawyers and governance specialists to rebuild South Africa’s draft national AI policy, a document he was forced to withdraw last month after academic citations in its reference list turned out to have been fabricated by a generative…
SEOUL, South Korea — “What happens if you take sleeping pills and alcohol together?” Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. “How much is dangerous if you take them together?” “Could you die?” Those are the questions police in South Korea say Kim So-young asked ChatGPT shortly…
Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub A reading of Vodacom Group’s 2026 financial results shows its home market is barely growing in customer terms, that what top-line growth there is leans heavily on price adjustments in February rather than volume growth, and profitability would have looked materially worse without a one-off accounting gain from the Maziv…
The attacks and killings of Nigerians and other Africans are senseless South Africa is once again engulfed in a vicious pattern of violence against fellow Africans–an ugly reality that can no longer be softened by the language of Xenophobia. What is unfolding is more accurately described as Afrophobia: a targeted campaign of hate against black…
South African organisations are increasingly questioning whether major enterprise technology decisions should continue to be driven by vendor timelines rather than business priorities, as pressure grows to reduce costs, manage risk, and show clearer returns on technology investment. Across industries, businesses running platforms such as SAP, Oracle, and VMware are reassessing traditional support and upgrade…
The biggest cyber security weaknesses are not always complex vulnerabilities, but rather a fundamental lack of visibility. (Image source: 123RF) Surfshark’s quarterly analysis of global data breaches shows South Africa ranks as the 42nd most breached country in Q1 2026. Globally, a total of 210.3 million accounts were breached, with the US ranking first at…
Trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau has substantially raised the monetary thresholds at which mergers must be notified to the Competition Commission, in a move that a senior competition lawyer has said will accelerate many transactions but risks leaving fast-moving tech and artificial intelligence deals beyond the regulator’s reach. In a notice published in…
South Africa’s private sector expanded at its fastest pace in nearly four years in April, as sales and output rose amid supply concerns linked to the Iran war, a business survey showed on Wednesday. The S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 51.6 in April from 50.8 in March. The 50-mark separates growth…
