"We want to show that South Africa’s textile is definitely capable to stand on its own and that we don’t need to import cloth … We make people aware that South Africa has talent," says Eran Eyal, one of the designers behind Springleap, an innovative South African online retail outlet launched this month.
Efforts to push legislation through Parliament to disband the Scorpions are falling behind schedule, the deputy president’s office said on Thursday. ”It’s mainly because of consultation … which has taken much longer than was thought,” said Thabang Chiloane, spokesperson for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni has raised the repo rate, at which the South African Reserve Bank lends money to banks, by 50 basis points to 11,5% following a two-day meeting of the bank’s monetary policy committee. The prime overdraft rate therefore increases to 15%.
Slain revolutionary leader Chris Hani would not have believed that 14 years into democracy, South Africa is still an unequal society, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Thursday at a memorial service marking 15 years since the assassination of Hani, the then-head of the South African Communist Party.
China has cracked a terrorist group plotting to kidnap foreigners during the Beijing Olympics, police said on Thursday. The announcement follows the revelation of two other terror plots last month, but there has been scepticism over whether Beijing is inflating a terror threat to justify tighter control on dissent ahead of the Olympics.
Murder accused Najwa Petersen on Thursday returned to her Cape Town home for the first time since her arrest early last year. But her every move was watched by a ring of heavily armed police. She was taken to the Athlone house under police guard for an on-the-spot inspection by Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai and his two assessors.
South African economic confidence recovered from a near four-year-low in March, pointing to signs conditions may improve in the medium term, although the growth and inflation outlook remained bleak. A survey of 22 economists released on Thursday showed the Reuters Econometer ticked up to 231,39 from 227,02 in February.
The JSE remained quiet by midday on Thursday as investors waited anxiously for the local monetary policy committee’s (MPC) rate decision at about 3pm. The consensus is for an unchanged repo rate at 11%, according to a survey of leading economists.
Microsoft plans on Thursday to unveil a web-based service for driving directions that uses sophisticated software to help its users avoid traffic jams, the New York Times reported. The software technology system, called Clearflow, will provide drivers with alternative information for routes that takes into account prevailing traffic patterns.
India and South Africa enter the third and final Test on Friday with the series on the line, and having to deal with the threat of a reported terrorist plot against the match, which is being played in Kanpur. Security was bolstered after police sources said that they had intelligence of a planned attack in the northern Indian city by Islamic terrorists.