Angola’s president is keeping control of state resources in the family. Faced with a struggling economy as global oil prices slump, president Jose Eduardo dos Santos appointed his daughter Isabel as head of the state-owned oil company Sonangol.
Nearly 300 South African firefighters arrived in Alberta, Canada this week to help quell wildfires that have destroyed entire neighborhoods and forced Fort McMurray’s population of nearly 90,000 to flee.
In any city, space is a commodity. In South African cities space is historical and emotional. A new photo series by an American living in Cape Town captures the dramatic inequality of South Africa’s most beloved city. From an aerial view, Cape Town’s scenic beauty gives way to a stark reminder of the country’s past and the continued racial segregation.
Wherever there is a car, a decent road and a reliable GPS connection, there is Uber. This may not be Uber’s official strategy, but the ride-hailing app’s international growth has led to the kind of ubiquity that has turned a brand into a verb.
Johannesburg, South Africa
African audiences will be seeing less of Caitlyn Jenner after complaints from Nigeria saw her reality show “I Am Cait” cancelled across the continent. MultiChoice, Africa’s largest satellite television platform which operates under the DStv brand in Nigeria, pulled the show from its local E! Entertainment channel after complaints from Nigeria’s broadcast regulator, according to reports.
“You’re a girl, you’re young.” Those words have followed Boitshoko Masetla at every turn on her journey as an entrepreneur.
On Thursday (May 26), Uber will begin accepting cash payments for rides in South Africa. The ride-hailing app is adding a cash option to five cities in the country: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.
Seventeen tons of bananas set sail from the Angolan port of Lobito on Monday (May 23), headed for Portugal. It’s the first time in more than 40 years that Angola has exported fruit to Europe, and a hopeful sign that Angola’s precarious economy could be diversifying.
An influx of cash may soon hit the burgeoning sub-Saharan technology scene. Johannesburg-based Capital Eye Investments says it is searching for $100 million to make the move from venture capital to private equity, with an eye on companies in the technology space.
It seems America and South Africa’s chicken war is not over. For months the two countries have argued over the popular protein, with South Africa refusing to allow chicken imports from the US, and the White House threatening to suspend Pretoria’s trade benefits. The South African government may have capitulated, but a lot of South Africans won’t eat the American meat. Nor will they be finding it at Nando’s, a popular chain of chicken restaurants that prides itself on freshness.
Today Nelson Mandela’s alma mater celebrates its centenary. But a generation after Mandela walked free, his former university has become a battleground. On Wednesday evening (May 18), students frustrated by the lack of affordable accommodation, transportation, and financial aid set fire to a marquee at the University of Fort Hare and blockaded the main administration building with burning tires. Earlier on Wednesday, students picketed outside a courtroom where another group of Fort Hare students were charged with public violence in previous protests.
The official airplane of Swaziland’s King Mswati III has been impounded in Canada over a disputed debt, Reuters reported on Thursday (May 18). This is the second time the king’s jet has been detained in Canada.
South Africa’s health department will launch a project to “wean” young women off sugar daddies, in its latest bid to stop the spread of HIV. The $180 million project will focus on young women aged 15 to 24 and the usually older men who are “infecting and impregnating them,” said health minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
Rumors of the arrest of South Africa’s finance minister have weakened the country’s already struggling currency. On Monday (May 16) the rand lost 1.6% of its value against the dollar, recovering slightly to 15.56 rand to $1. South Africa’s rand was the worst performer among 31 major currencies, and its volatility the widest among emerging-market currencies, according to Bloomberg.
The most deadly form of tuberculosis is one that lies in wait inside the body for years, attacking at the first sign of weakness. About a third of the global population may carry what is known as latent TB. Slow diagnostic tests mean many will go years without knowing that they are infected. Now, two separate medical innovations aim to detect TB earlier, stopping the deadliest form of the lung disease.
Battered by a bad year in Nigeria, South Africa’s MTN has lost the title of Africa’s most valuable telecommunications company to its rival Vodacom.
New data from the International Monetary Fund shows that Egypt is now Africa’s largest economy after Nigeria, pushing South Africa into third place, according to a report from KPMG on Wednesday (May 11).
In South Africa, it often feels like the speed at which crimes are committed are inversely proportional to the speed at which police react to them. It’s a major frustration in a country with some of the world’s highest crime rates.
Sputtering economic growth, a weak currency, and political strife are just a few of the things threatening South Africa’s economy. Despite the turmoil, investors still see private equity in South Africa, and Africa in general, as a good bet.
The Constellation, an 813 carat rough diamond, has sold for a record-breaking $63 million. Lucara Diamond Corporation said Monday, May 9, that the impressive stone was bought by Dubai-based Nemesis International, a rough diamond trading company founded last year.
Vodacom, South Africa’s largest mobile network, announced Monday (May 9) that it will shut down its M-Pesa service in the country. The mobile money-transfer service will end June 30.
The introduction of “bond notes” has sparked anxiety among Zimbabweans who fear that it may be a ploy to revive the country’s defunct currency, the Zimbabwean dollar. Last week, the country’s central bank chief announced that the country will print its own version of the US dollar to deal with a cash flow crisis.
Budget cuts to South Africa’s foreign relations department may hurt the trade gains the country has made, especially with its continental neighbors. South Africa, cut off from the rest of Africa during Apartheid, has re-entered the African market with gusto, creating a trade relationship that has seen South African brands pop up all over Africa.
