Thieving Presidents

Africa has had more than its fair share of Big Men with sticky fingers. The latest to be outed as a kleptomaniac par excellence is deposed Sudanese strongman Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who amassed real... 

Bones tell slavery story

How enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic over centuries is a story that has been told ad nauseum, generating a wealth of knowledge about this massive blot on the history of mankind.... 

Celebration-less Africa Day

In a few days, Africans at home and in the diaspora will be celebrating the fifty-seventh anniversary of Africa Day, which marks the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the... 

Juliano Vargas

This week we profile Juliano Vargas, CEO of Zest WEG Group Africa, an electrical equipment manufacturer and distributor in Sub-Saharan Africa  

Fatal inaction

With Covid-19 having shaped up into a health crisis of unprecedented proportions – with equally unprecedented economic implications – it is not inconceivable that governments and other stakeholders... 

Nature’s fury

The Covid-19 pandemic has hogged news headlines during the past couple of months, and understandably so. The upshot has been that other crises have received comparatively little attention from the... 

No laughing matter – really?

The coronavirus disease – or Covid-19 – is dead serious business. According to the United Nations, the pandemic will likely consign 300 000 sons and daughters of the African soil to the grave,... 

Diminished productivity

It has been about a month since President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 – a decision that earned him plaudits far and wide, even from his political... 

Trapped by Covid-19

African elites are notorious for seeking medical care abroad, eschewing medical facilities in their own countries, many of which are in a sorry state, having been starved of cash for maintenance... 

Ubuntu lacking in our leaders

I am a great admirer of Kenya’s PLO Lumumba, who is often on the speaking circuit in African capitals, preaching the gospel of African unity and good governance. The gist of what he says is that,... 

Natalie Jantjies

This week we profile Natalie Jantjies, digital transformation director at Heineken South Africa, which sells, markets and distributes beers and ciders in the South African market 

‘Moo-ney’ deal

I become quite sceptical whenever the old argument that Africans must find African solutions to their challenges is invoked. The argument’s biggest proponents have been the many obnoxious dictators... 

Liz Gorbunov

This week we profile Liz Gorbunov, GM and chief marketing manager: light commercial vehicles and sports utility vehicles at automaker Nissan Africa  

Let’s prioritise mathematics

March 14 was celebrated live and online around the world as the International Day of Mathematics. This was the first time this happened and followed a decision by the United Nations Educational,... 

Derek Halstead-Cleak

This week we profile Derek Halstead-Cleak, CEO of Kwikspace Modular Buildings, Africa’s largest manufacturer of prefabricated and modular buildings. 

Leadership deficiency

Africa continues to face a paucity of political leaders whose democratic credentials are worthy writing home about. The latest evidence of this is the decision by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation not to... 

You can say ‘next tomorrow’ – and it’s correct English

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), described by some as “the last word on [English] words”, has been updated with 29 Nigerian English words and phrases. These include ‘severally’, as in “he... 

Whither, SAA?

I start with a disclaimer: the only discipline in which I received training is the art and craft of journalism. I have never been anywhere near a business school or a lecture hall where the... 

Opinion: Dateline Harare

My wife persuaded me to attend a wedding in Harare on the Saturday after Valentine’s Day. We got one of the earliest flights out of OR Tambo International Airport – just to make sure we would... 

Lucas Tseki

This week we profile Lucas Tseki, CEO of Concor, a provider of diversified infrastructure, building and opencast mining services 

Dateline Harare

My wife persuaded me to attend a wedding in Harare on the Saturday after Valentine’s Day. We got one of the earliest flights out of OR Tambo International Airport – just to make sure we would... 

Opinion: Shame on you, AU and SADC

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni famously excoriated the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as a trade union of dictators. That was in the mid-1980s. Back then, he was leading an insurrection... 

Shame on you, AU and SADC

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni famously excoriated the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as a trade union of dictators. That was in the mid-1980s. Back then, he was leading an insurrection... 

Second-generation Presidents

As I have pointed out before, the flare-ups of anti-immigrant sentiment among some communities in our beloved Mzansi do not define South Africans – especially those at the base of the socioeconomic... 

Opinion: No, we don’t love Trump

That Patrice Motsepe is a jolly good fellow is beyond question. He has proved to be one of the world’s more benevolent billionaires, having joined The Giving Pledge in 2013. By so doing, he... 

No, we don’t love Trump

That Patrice Motsepe is a jolly good fellow is beyond question. He has proved to be one of the world’s more benevolent billionaires, having joined The Giving Pledge in 2013. By so doing, he... 

Michael van Niekerk

This week we profile Michael van Niekerk, CEO of ASP-Fire, a fire prevention company 

Mark Dytor

This week we profile Mark Dytor, CEO of explosives and speciality chemicals company AECI 

The more things change . . .

Constantino Chiwenga’s name should be pretty well known – at least in Southern Africa. He is the army general who, in November 2017, led the coup that toppled the late Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s... 

Opinion: Amazing SA inventions of 2019

South Africans are an innovative lot. Much of the world knows about Chris Barnard, the surgeon who performed the world’s first heart transplant in 1967, but many other citizens of this great nation... 

Amazing SA inventions of 2019

South Africans are an innovative lot. Much of the world knows about Chris Barnard, the surgeon who performed the world’s first heart transplant in 1967, but many other citizens of this great nation... 

Climate denialists’ silly obduracy

The myriad of extreme weather events experienced in 2019 should be enough to convince even the most obdurate naysayer to accept the conventional wisdom that global warming – caused by the spewing... 

Opinion: Backward glance

This year has been quite eventful for Africa, and some of the occurrences that came to pass were captured on this page over the past 50-odd weeks. In this last edition for 2019, I take you down... 

Siyabonga Mbanjwa

This week we profile Siyabonga Mbanjwa, regional MD: Southern Africa at SENER, which is involved in energy, including renewable energy, power and oil and gas, as well as infrastructure, including... 

Backward glance

This year has been quite eventful for Africa, and some of the occurrences that came to pass were captured on this page over the past 50-odd weeks. In this last edition for 2019, I take you down... 

Opinion: Blazing Africa’s smartphone trail

In this opinion piece, Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Martin Zhuwakinyu writes about efforts to close the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world. Three events in the past few... 

Adelino Barbosa

Full Name: Adelino de Oliveira Barbosa Position: COO of Konica Minolta South Africa, a provider of imaging, printing, document management and software software 

Blazing Africa’s smartphone trail

Three events in the past few weeks will go some way towards closing the digital divide between Africa and other continents. News-consuming South Africans should be familiar with one of these events... 

Opinion: The unifying power of sport

South Africans are still basking in the afterglow of the Springboks’ triumph at the Rugby World Cup. Party poopers like the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) tried their damnedest to diffuse the... 

Tim White

This week we profile Tim White, CEO of property and construction solutions company Profica