ITALY’S Agip and state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp signed a memorandum of understanding this week to jointly develop two new oil fields in an offshore Nigerian block. The signing followed NNPC’s selection of Agip Energy and Natural Resources Ltd last month as partner in developing the Okono and Okpho. Agip said it expected to produce […]

SOUTH Africa’s 2000/01 maize crop has begun in the east amid mixed reports on weather conditions in the west, cooperatives said. The maize crop is estimated to be 23.6% smaller according to intentions-to-plant released by the National Crop Estimates Committee in September. However, a number of big cooperatives said the figure meant very little and […]

SOUTH African financial services group FirstRand this week launched its R300m consumer e-commerce initiative called eBucks.com. The financial services portal will give users access to the group’s online product portfolio and will offer a secure online payment solution and an electronic currency. FirstRand, one of the country’s big four banking groups, will invest R300m over […]

ELLIS MNYANDU AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday SOUTH African Airways’ (SAA) efforts to extend its African reach moved a step further this week when the carrier announced three new weekly flights to the Ugandan city of Entebbe, starting on December 1. SAA Chief Executive Officer Coleman Andrews said the carrier also planned to increase […]

ZIMBABWE could lose its international tobacco market share if plantings, down by 20% over land grab worries, show no signs of recovery within the next two years, an industry official warned this week. Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) Marketing Director Pat Davis said early indications were that tobacco output would fall to around 170m kg next […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday TELKOM has introduced a new fraud management system to clamp down on illegal use of its network which cost the South African telecommunications parastatal more than R300m last year. “The new system detects fraud as it is happening, which will greatly reduce our risks and losses,” said Ken Raley, managing […]

South Africa’s newest financial institution, Teba Bank, will focus on mobilising the savings and developing rural communities financially, chief executive officer Jenny Hoffman said. Teba, which for the past 24 years provided basic banking services to miners, will now target low income earners and those not formally employed in rural areas. Hoffman said the bank […]

AFP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday A TOP South African defence official this week denied that nepotism played a role in awarding the French company Thomson CSF an arms sub-contract late last year. Chippie Shaik, the chief director of procurement in the defence department, told parliament’s public accounts committee that because his brother […]

REUTERS and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday South African central bank governor Tito Mboweni announced that land redistribution would only take place within the framework of the law, and a Zimbabwe-style land grab would not be tolerated. “This is a law-governed society … there is no question of anyone invading anyone’s farm. Anyone doing so […]

LEGISLATORS from northern Nigeria are to visit three Middle Eastern countries to study implementation of the strict Islamic code. All 40 lawmakers from the assembly in Kano State will leave for a two-week fact-finding trip to Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The visit is to prepare for the introduction of Islamic law, Sharia, in Kano […]