South Africa’s brain regain

East or west, home’s best. Many South Africans who have emigrated to foreign climes in the past two decades to escape the ills besetting this country can vouch for that. Some are coming back. And... 

Fatima-Joyce Packery

This week we profile Fatima-Joyce Packery, CEO of PF Africa Mining, which operates ferrochrome recovery plants 

Fare thee well, Prez Mwinyi

Our neck of the woods, the Southern African Development Community region, last month lost two high-profile personalities, a sitting head of State and a Presidential has-been. While the former,... 

Beasts of burden under siege

Rhino and elephant poaching afflicts many African countries that are home to these endangered species, and the main driver behind this scourge is seemingly insatiable demand by the Chinese and... 

Flying Presidents

What’s the common denominator between Kenyan President William Ruto and his Nigerian opposite number, Bola Tinubu? They both have a remarkable penchant for air travel. This has incurred the ire of... 

West Africa’s Brexit moment

In a televised announcement on January 28, the West African nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger let it be known they had ceased to be members of the regional bloc in that neck of the woods with... 

Proudly artisan

Mention of the word ‘welder’ conjures up images of someone wearing heavy-duty protective gear such as a big steel helmet to shield the face from sparks. You wouldn’t think the person behind the... 

Fake news and Elections 2024

Disinformation by political actors is not a new phenomenon to South Africans. Six short years ago, Bell Pottinger, the Guptas’ now defunct UK communications consultancy, executed a spirited... 

Malaria milestone

Unless one is a football fan or a lover of the music of the late Manu Dibango, one will be hard pressed to say much that is positive about Cameroon, a 475 440 km2 country straddling Central and... 

Ructions in the Horn of Africa

Ructions in the Horn of Africa Martin Zhuwakinyu 

Crystal-ball gazing

It’s difficult to tell with any degree of certainty what lies in store for Africa this year, but there seems to be broad consensus that our continent will experience better fortunes on the economic... 

Rethabile Melamu

This week we profile Rethabile Melamu, CEO of the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association, a not-for-profit industry association that represents close to 700 actors along the solar... 

The year that was

This year has been quite eventful for the African continent, but for me the biggest story has been that, despite the progress made in the two decades to 2020, we don’t seem to have seen the last of... 

Pieter du Preez

This week we profile Pieter du Preez, CFO at Blyvoor Gold, a South African gold mining company that operates the Blyvoor mine, on Johannesburg’s West Rand 

Malawiʼs tone-deaf President

Last week I wrote about the latest African craze of exporting skilled citizens to other countries on the continent or abroad as a way of tackling unemployment, especially among the youth. While the... 

Nitesh Singh

This week we profile Nitesh Singh, communications media and technology lead for for Africa at Accenture, a global professional services company that helps businesses, governments and other... 

New African export

I’m in mourning as I pen this piece – it’s only hours after my beloved Bafana Bafana’s 2-0 defeat by football nonentity Rwanda in a qualifier for the 2026 World Cup tournament, to be hosted by... 

A refashioned threat

A story claiming that a young mother had given birth to ten live babies in a Pretoria hospital in 2021 – which would have been a world record – not only captured the national imagination but also... 

Crime epidemic

In a stranger-than-fiction incident earlier this month, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and two of her armed protectors were ambushed and robbed at gunpoint near Vosloorus, on Gauteng’s East... 

Russia’s Africa infowars

Outrage is one of the criteria media outlets use when selecting the news to include in their coverage. The Russian embassy in South Africa appears to be alive to this, which seems to explain why,... 

Sluggish renewal won’t wash

Save for several years after his unceremonious ouster as head of State, triggering what some have described as an understandable sulk, former President Thabo Mbeki has never been one to mince his... 

Schalk van der Merwe

This week we profile Schalk van der Merwe, GM of the industrial water tube division at John Thomson, is involved in the design, manufacture, building and maintenance of industrial and utility... 

Balwin to develop new lifestyle estate in KZN

JSE-listed large-scale residential property developer Balwin Properties announced on Wednesday that it has concluded agreements to develop a 1 260-apartment lifestyle estate in the larger Westown... 

Brutal peacekeepers?

Haiti, an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea with a population of about 11.5-million people, should be fairly well known to the average South African. That’s partly because former President Thabo... 

Ignatius Sehoole

This week we profile Ignatius Sehoole, Southern Africa CEO and Africa chairperson at audit, tax and advisory professional services firm KPMG 

The bad and the good of AI

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot tool, has been around for just under a year, having been unveiled in November last year, yet it has become a major talking point, with the... 

Andrew Middleton

This week we profile Andrew Middleton, CEO of GoSolr, a solar systems installation company 

Empty chairs diplomacy

It’s been a few weeks since the curtain came down on the seventy-eighth session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Besides the many great speeches that were delivered, one of the... 

Balwin extends KZN footprint with new lifestyle estate at Westown

JSE-listed large-scale residential property developer Balwin Properties announced on Wednesday that it has concluded agreements to develop a 1 260-apartment lifestyle estate in the larger Westown... 

Unquitting Prez Ruto?

When asked by a journalist to reflect on his ten years as Botswana’s President – from April 2008 to April 2018 – Ian Khama was succinct and unequivocal: “I didn’t enjoy politics. Everybody’s... 

Bulelwa Mhlongo

This week we profile Bulelwa Mhlongo, who is the financial manager at Multotec, a leading supplier of mineral processing equipment 

Economics of body weight

The increased availability and consumption of unhealthy foodstuffs in South Africa – as is the case in many countries – has fuelled what one can only call an obesity or overweight epidemic, what... 

Other Madame Presidents?

Female heads of State have been something of a rarity in Africa. Current and recent incumbents can be counted on the fingers of one hand: Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan, who has been at the helm... 

Akhona Qengqe

This week we profile Akhona Qengqe, GM for Africa at popular chicken restaurant chain KFC  

Keeping up with the coup-dashians

Reality television lovers would be familiar with Keeping up with the Kardashians, the American series that focused on the personal and professional lives of the blended Kardashian-Jenner family and... 

Ola Oyetayo

This week we profile Ola Oyetayo, CEO of Verto, which has offices in the UK, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and India, and delivers enhanced cross-border payments for businesses all over the world 

Refreshing awakening

I know there is such a thing as an overkill and I would have stayed clear of Africa’s multilateral institutions this week, having highlighted a few weeks ago how difficult it is at times to be... 

Frontier for ESG investing

As a concept, ESG – environmental, social and governance – has gathered much momentum in recent years, with a 2022 study by asset management firm Capital Group finding that 89% of investors are... 

Nolan Daniel

This week we profile Nolan Daniel, joint CEO of fintech company Payment24  

Commissioning of Zimbabwe ferrochrome plant under way

A novel smelting plant that produces ultra-low-carbon, high-grade ferrochrome at a fraction of the time it takes conventional facilities is being wet-commissioned at the African Chrome Fields (ACF)...