Browsing: South Africa

Tourism and Hospitality management group, Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) is upbeat of positive performance going forward offsetting the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in FY2020.

The Rainbow Tourism group which is located in Zimbabwe, has an extensive portfolio of owner-managed or leased hotels and conference facilities in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as a tour operator company.

As countries implement Covid-19 vaccinations to its residents as part of efforts to limit the spread and severity of the pandemic, the group is hopeful of the economic recovery with anticipation healing on the travel and tourism sector across the globe.

“The tourism industry was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the current situation is likely to persist into early 2021, we remain confident that the tourism industry will in time rebound and set the hotel business on a path towards recovery.

“A glimmer of hope has come from the ongoing …

South African regulators have put on notice Communications companies in country who are charging unbearable prices for mobile data, this is after South Africa was ranked 136th worldwide for its mobile data pricing this year in a study that was conducted based on the cost of 1 gigabyte (1GB) of mobile data.

The research was conducted by Cable.co.uk between the month of December 8, 2020 and February 25, 2021, with 6 148 mobile data plans in 230 countries gathered and analyzed.

South Africa’s data costs an average of $2.67 (R38.93) for 1GB of data from a sample of 60 plans measured on February, 25. The study found the cheapest data cost $0.12, while the most expensive was $34.95.

Data prices are keenly looked at by South African consumers after the Competition Commission found South Africa’s major mobile providers, Vodacom, Telkom, MTN, and Cell C, were charging too much for mobile …

Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe are positive about this year’s marketing season that was officially opened on Wednesday will surpass the last year’s figures.

This year’s saw an increase in price of tobacco per Kg retailing at 4.30 U.S. dollars from 4 dollars last year.

According to estimates, about 200 million kg of tobacco will be sold this season, as compared to 180 million kg valued at 452 million dollars that were sold last year.

Tobacco Farmers from different parts of the country especially in Harare will mark the start of tobacco sales season in a market hall despite strict health restrictions.

Tobacco production in Zimbabwe is expected to grow by nearly 9% this year, according to the Tobacco regulatory authority.

“Our tobacco harvest was very good this season and we expect good profit this year and I can see good prices as well. The highest I saw was US$4.30 and …

Tanzanian billionaire businessman and owner of MeTL Group, a Tanzanian conglomerate Mohammed Dewji has been appointed by South African Cyril Ramaphosa as his Investment advisor.

Mr Dewji, a former CCM politician also known as ‘Mo’ will sit on President Ramaphosa’s investment advisory council, for a period of three years.

In a statement released on April 7 by MeTL says that Mr. Dewji together with other colleagues appointed on the Investment advisory council will be responsible for the development and implementation of strategies and programs to attract and retain domestic as well as foreign direct investment to the Republic of South Africa.

In 2019 South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa visited Tanzania to meet with his Tanzanian counterpart to deepen and strengthen economic ties through expanded trade and investment marking a decade long cooperation between the two Nations.

ALSO READ: African Development Bank To Support Seychelles On Economic Recovery

South Africa is …

Digital mobile payment platform Apple Pay last week silently went live in South Africa, with at least three banks supporting the service.

This is the first time the service is being launched in Africa.

How Apple Pay works

Apple Pay is the smartphone manufacturer’s payment and digital wallet system. Users of the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch can use the feature to pay online on various apps and at Tap and Pay NFC terminals. A bank card needs to be connected to the service.

Apple Pay allows users to load a supported banking card and use their Apple device – such as an iPhone or cellular Apple Watch – to make a contactless payment at supported NFC-based terminals.

Banks supporting Apple Pay

Following the launch of the service in Africa, three South African banks are listed on Apple’s website as partners supporting Apple Pay.

They are Absa, Discovery and …

Small and historically disadvantaged businesses in the rural town of South Africa have all reasons to smile after the Treasury in the Free State established the Provincial COVID-19 Relief Task Team to assist in assessing the challenging business environment that was widely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Free State Black Business Chamber [FSBBC] was launched by the Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA] with an aim of ensuring among other things, the realization of a unified representative voice of black business in the Free State Province

The move by Treasury was well received by the Free State Black Business Chamber acknowledging of the good will saying that it was pleased that the government prioritized key interventions towards the revival of small businesses in the province.

ALSO READ: What banks stand to benefit from ARB Apex Bank’s partnership with GSCC

The team that was established …

In February, Nigeria dominated most tech news outlets following the ban on the trading of cryptocurrencies which triggered anger among Nigerians seeing cryptos as a safe haven in the populous economy.

The West African nation is the world’s second-largest Bitcoin market after the United States and despite this, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is cracking down on the trade of cryptocurrencies. 

Cryptocurrency technology is decentralized and no government, company, or person controls it.

Read: Is Bitcoin poor Africans’ alternative reserve currency?

In the crackdown directive on February 5, CBN ordered commercial banks and other financial institutions to close accounts transacting with cryptocurrency exchanges.  A week later, Bitcoin’s value doubled. 

While the CBN has not clearly stated its reasons for the crackdown, the reality on the ground is that Africa’s giant economy is facing dollar shortages following the sharp decline in …

Africa’s private equity landscape continues to attract investment. The operating environment, albeit still turbulent, continues to improve. Granted, the pace of improvement is higher in some countries than others, but overall there is promise of a conducive climate for business. 

The enabling environment, coupled with the accelerated digital infrastructure growth, inspires momentum in the private sector contributing to the growing middle class. This will, in turn, lead to improved employment opportunities.…

Africa is poised to overtake highly populated continents like Asia in terms of population growth. Along with rapid urbanization, the burgeoning population creates an urgent need to find solutions for growing energy demands. As the population grows, demand for fuel and energy to power movement, urban lifestyles, cooking, heating, and refrigeration will catapult in tandem.

This positions the continent as a significant demand hub for energy solutions like gas, oil, and electricity, which has answered the needs and demands of home use. In addition to the demand for energy use in the home, there is a growing need for industrial and manufacturing energy solutions. The advent of Africa’s free trade area is set to propel industrial output by creating synergies and opening up the broader market.…

Africa’s second-biggest economy, South Africa—will face four days straight of power cuts (from 1200 noon) after the state-owned utility Eskom Holdings reported a malfunction at one of their latest established plants, according to Bloomberg News.

According to different sources in South Africa, the dependable power provider has confirmed a stage 2 power cut which is necessary, to kickstart from Thursday through Sunday.

The overnight calamity has rather brought back South Africa’s toil from the earlier stage 2 shedding on January 06 2021. By then, Eskom had 6672MW on planned maintenance and another 12073MW of capacity unavailable due to unforeseen maintenance.

In 2020, South Africa suffered various power cuts amid their struggle to resuscitate the economy which slipped into a second recession.

This scenario emerges a week after the utility suspended load shedding due to power demand decline. By 8 January the power provider had 6060MW on planned maintenance, while 13206 …