Digital assets are no longer a fringe conversation in South Africa’s financial sector. At the Luno Institutional Digital Assets Conference (LIDAC26) in Cape Town on 11 June 2026, fund managers, institutional investors, fintech, and payments specialists will engage with the evidence and hear from industry experts. The question of whether retail investors should own digital…
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, has welcomed the announcement by the Government of the People’s Republic of China that introduces a temporary zero-tariff preference scheme for 20 non-least developed African countries, including South Africa. The measure follows an announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping on 14 February 2026 that China would…
MTN Group said on Tuesday that its core earnings jumped 27.9% in the first quarter, outpacing revenue growth as tighter cost control and strong performances in Nigeria and Ghana boosted profit. Africa’s biggest telecommunications operator, which has more than 310 million customers in 16 markets across the continent, said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation…
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…
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…
