Africa’s digital economy could contribute nearly $180-billion to the region’s growth by mid-decade, but, with only 39% of the population using the Internet, Africa is currently the world’s least connected continent. Governments should pass start-up legislation, embed start-up incentives in legislation and invest in workforce education in order for Africa to join the global knowledge-based [...]

A Nigerian court will hear Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s appeal to overturn an almost $2 billion award against the company for allegedly spilling oil in the West African country. The energy giant is challenging a November 2020 judgment in favor of community members claiming a leak from a company pipeline damaged their land and waterways. [...]

The World Bank announced on Friday morning that it had approved South Africa’s request for $750-million (about R11.4-billion) loan.  "This loan will support the government of South Africa’s efforts to accelerate its Covid-19 response aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable from the adverse socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and supporting a resilient and sustainable [...]

State-owned electricity producer Eskom sought to demonstrate the economic prudency of running the diesel-fuelled open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) harder to mitigate load-shedding during the fourth day of National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) public hearings into its latest allowable revenue application. Eskom is seeking allowable revenue of R293.4-billion for 2022/23, which would result in [...]

JSE-listed construction group Aveng has grown its order book to R29.1-billion as at December 31. This includes A$1.1-billion worth of work won by its Australia-focused subsidiary McConnell Dowell.

The North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs Lenah Miga will lead a committee, established by North West Premier Bushy Maape, to develop a response plan to deal with the disaster brought on by the recent floods across the province. Miga made the announcement in Lwekwa Tema during her visit to [...]

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows showed a strong rebound in 2021 with growth of 77% to an estimated $1.65-trillion, compared with $929-billion in 2020, reports United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). Investment flows not only recovered but surpassed the pre-Covid-19 level.

South Africa has declared a national disaster after torrential rains in several parts of the country resulted in deaths, flooding and damage to property and infrastructure, according to a notice in the Government Gazette. Declaring a national disaster lays the basis for financial and humanitarian aid by the government. It is separate from the national [...]

The executive team of Orion Minerals is re-evaluating the development schedule of the Prieska copper-zinc project to assess the potential for its fast-tracking. Also flagged is the opportunity to extract pillars left by historic mining.

The Department of Transport (DoT) and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) are making progress with the R1.4-billion programme to upgrade infrastructure and implement refurbishments to reopen the Mabopane Corridor, with Pienaarspoort to Pretoria and Mabopane to Pretoria services having resumed on January 17. This followed the resumption in limited services on the Saulsville [...]

Despite being negatively impacted by a series of local alcohol sales bans, global freight and localised port issues and a shortage of glass and packaging materials, export volumes of South African wine recovered to a healthier volume of 388-million litres, while the total value of local exports grew to R10.2-billion in 2021. South African wines [...]

Creative new investment solutions are required to fund information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure that can accelerate the rollout of fast, unlimited Internet and provide low-income households with access to quality affordable data that can bridge the digital divide, Old Mutual division African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) investment director Ed Stumpf says. He notes that [...]