Percy Zvomuya

Whenever I go to a website and am asked to register, I usually close down the browser. But this time I decided to go ahead and test out Bankmonitor.co.za, a site that claims to provide an authoritative and independent source of information on banking products and services. The site says it has "introduced powerful, personalised comparison calculators to help you work out the best financial products for your personal needs".

Although an uneasy peace holds in the strife-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu, a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding. Aid agencies are unable to distribute humanitarian aid as armed bandits pillage, loot and rape the defenceless refugees who are fleeing the capital

Just for argument’s sake, say I am trying to save R200 a month for the next 12 months. My first stop was FNB, which has a 32-day account that does not levy any charges at all. The bank escalates the interest from 4,35% for the first R200, which rises in the fifth month to 5,85%. What this means is that after 12 months I will have R2 463,75 — almost R64 of this money being interest.

No matter how well Botswana, Mauritius and other sparsely populated countries perform economically, African economic growth rates will continue to lag behind the rest of the world until the more populous countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia start pulling their weight, saya a new report.

The biggest threat to banking customers is the increase in online fraud. According to Alewyn Burger, chief executive of Standard Bank personal and business banking, there has been a 50% growth in spyware in the past 20 months, and a 16-fold increase in virus manufacturing over the past three years.

The <i>Mail & Gurdian</i>’s Percy Zvomuya spoke to Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka in Accra about the situation in the Niger Delta where there are ongoing clashes between the Nigerian army, local armed groups and the communities over the exploitation and management of oil resources, democracy in Nigeria and the situation in Zimbabwe.

"Madam president, please can you intervene as we are being bombarded by the honourable member’s cellphone," an MP stood to complain about a fellow MP whose phone continually emitted an irksome guttural ringtone as Imbia Sylvester from Cameroon was making his presentation.

Every day, the United States bars entry to a thousand visitors with valid entry visas, Mark Schlachter, the United States embassy spokesperson, revealed recently. Schlachter was speaking in the wake of US immigration authorities’ refusal to allow South African academic and human rights activist Adam Habib entry into the United States recently.

Not many post-independence countries had a worse start than Botswana. At independence in 1966, the country had 22 university graduates, about 100 matriculants and only 12km of paved road. However, it has had record economic growth rates, higher than any other country in the world over the past three decades.

Volkswagen has an uncanny ability with ordinary cars, as its German name suggests. The iconic VW Beetle, for instance, was voted the fourth most popular car of the past century after the Model T Ford, the Mini Cooper and the Citroen DS. In the comparatively smaller South African economy, 288 000 VW Beetles were sold between 1951 and 1979, when the car was discontinued.

The FirstRand banking group is in talks with Mozambique’s BDC bank, possibly bringing to three the number of local banks that operate in Mozambique, South Africa’s third-most important trading partner in Africa. Other South African banks with a presence in Mozambique are Standard Bank, which has a stake in Banco Standard Totta, and Absa.

The South African Lamborghini market is so bouyant that more sales are recorded locally than in Spain. These are significant figures for a marque that has been around for four years and whose sales were only six in 2004, 10 last year and about 15 this year. "We have seen an increasing change to the demographics of buyers of luxury and super-luxury cars," says Grant Anderson, marketing manager of Investment Cars.

A story goes that a man with a stutter was lost, so he stopped a passer-by to ask for directions: "Ex-ex-c-c-c-use m-m-m-m-m-me, c-c-can you t-t-t-t-tell me the way to the st-st-st-st-st-stuttering sch-sch-sch-school?" he struggled. The passer-by replied, coldly, "What do you want to go there for, you can already do it!"

South Africa should look East for guidance on executive salary remuneration, says Congress of South African Trade Unions economist Neva Makgetla, responding to the continuing exodus of top business talent, some of whom are quitting to manage their personal fortunes on a full-time basis. Two high-profile resignations bring to more than 20 the number of top executives who have quit their high-powered positions.

Sales of SUVs — sports utility vehicles — may be plummeting in markets such as the United States and United Kingdom as higher fuel prices begin to bite, but not in South Africa, where sales are at record levels. From more than 2 000 units sold in August 2004 there has been a gradual upsurge in the sales recorded to a two-year high of mroe than 3 600 units in March of this year.

The CO2 we produce comes from what we eat, the mode of transport we use and our daily lifestyle choices. This is called your carbon footprint. Fuel colossus BP offers an online facility that allows you to calculate your carbon footprint, and the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> asked a range of people to use the facility to do so.