Swaziland’s home-based caregivers are too few and too poorly paid to cope with the growing numbers of bedridden Aids patients, but in the absence of adequate health facilities and trained professionals, they are seen as the immediate answer to a national emergency.
More than 5Â 000 internally displaced persons and returnees were left homeless when a fire gutted their camp in Somalia’s north-eastern port town of Bossaso late on Tuesday. Witnesses said the fire broke out at about 7.30pm local time at the Boqolka Buush camp and spread quickly because of strong winds.
Cellular network operator Vodacom connected its 20-millionth subscriber in South Africa on Wednesday. "We have reached this important milestone within 12 years, June 1 1994 being the date that Vodacom and MTN commercially launched their networks," said Alan Knott-Craig, CEO of the Vodacom Group.
South Africa’s competitiveness has improved from 46th place in 2005 to 44th in 2006, according to this year’s World Competitiveness Report, released on Wednesday by Swiss international business school IMD. SA’s ranking is out of a total of 61 countries.
The 2006 outlook for sub-Saharan Africa remains good, supported by high commodity prices and the G8 Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, Fitch Ratings said in a special report issued on Wednesday that coincides with the annual meetings of the African Development Bank.
Spot gold has moved through the $700-per-ounce level, while platinum has surged to a fresh record high. Precious metals are being buoyed by geopolitical factors, as hopes for a resolution of Iran’s nuclear stand-off fade and the weaker dollar prompts investors to seek refuge among the precious metals.
Dimension Data Holdings plc on Wednesday reported basic earnings per share of 1,9 United States cents for the six months ended March after a restated 0,6 cents for the same period a year earlier. On a diluted basis, earnings per share were 1,8 US cents. Turnover grew by 15,9% to $1,45-billion.
Listed South African retailer Spar Group has reported a 16,8% increase in headline earnings per share to 121,7 cents for the six months ended March from a restated 104,2 cents at the interim stage last year. Revenue rose by 22,6% to R8,2-billion from a restated R6,7-billion.
Iraq’s prime minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that the line-up for the country’s first permanent government of the post-Saddam Hussein era was almost ready, after months of tortuous negotiations. "We will finalise the Cabinet today [Tuesday] or tomorrow [Wednesday] and will present the new government to the Parliament this week," he told reporters.
A Catholic group on Tuesday called on Christians to starve themselves to death in protest at the release of <i>The Da Vinci Code</i> at cinemas in India, as others burned copies of the novel. The Catholic Secular Forum said it hoped thousand of people would attend a protest on Wednesday in Mumbai to burn effigies of Dan Brown, the author of the best-selling novel.
The Black Brokers Forum, the largest representative body of black financial-services providers in South Africa, will be hosting its first conference to address the numerous issues affecting black professionals and consumers in the local financial-services industry.
Zimbabwe state bureaucrats on Monday said unemployment in the country stood at a comfortable 9% as late as 2004, according to the latest <i>Labour Force Survey</i>, totally rejecting independent estimates that joblessness surpassed the 50% mark several years ago and is at present anything above 70%.
South Africa’s market for internet access services will continue to grow steadily, according to information and communications technology market analysts BMI-TechKnowledge’s (BMI-T) latest research. It released the South African internet services market report for 2006 on Tuesday.
Sony on Monday revealed key details of its PlayStation 3 video-game console, saying that two million of the next-generation game machines would hit stores in Japan on November 11 and in the United States, Europe and Australia on November 17.
South African telecommunications giant Telkom confirmed on Monday that it will not be pursuing a stake in Portugal Telecom. The local fixed-line operator confirmed in March that it had been approached by Portuguese investors to participate in a rival bid for the Portuguese operator, for which Sonaecom was bidding.
A strong offshore earthquake registering 5,4 on the Richter scale hit the eastern coast of central Sumatra on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the meteorology office said. The earthquake, which hit at 4.16pm local time, was centred 46km under the floor of the Indian Ocean, some 129km south-west of Bengkulu city, agency official Hardiatno said in Jakarta.
Shares in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) jumped by 1,19% in early trades on Monday on an upgrade by Merrill Lynch and a report that the Russian airline Aeroflot might shift a major order to EADS’s aircraft manufacturing unit Airbus.
Specialist banker Investec will this week launch one of two funding platforms, with a combined size of R4-billion, to fund a significant portion of the growth in advances expected by Investec Private Bank. The securitisation funding platform will allow Investec to continue to offer clients superior service at competitive rates on certain banking products such as new home and car loans.
Soldiers, police officers, teachers and other civil servants in Zimbabwe appear to have been taken for a ride by the Public Service Commission as it has begun to emerge that "hefty" salaries they were recently promised may have been just a mirage. They have blasted the government for making what they call empty promises.
Listed South African media group Naspers has acquired 30% of the leading Brazil media company Abril SA for a cash consideration of $422-million. This transaction gives Naspers a stake in the growing Brazilian media market through a leading enterprise, the company said on Monday.
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe is running out of Aids drugs, with less than a month’s supply of anti-retrovirals left for 20Â 000 patients on a government treatment programme. "We understand that drugs are competing with other items, like fuel, for foreign currency, but the picture is not encouraging," said National Pharmaceutical Company boss Charles Mwaramba.
HIV/Aids organisations in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, have warned people to be on the lookout for individuals selling fake anti-retrovirals (ARVs). Doctors have been shown ARV capsules filled with maize meal, bought by unsuspecting members of the public at prices far lower than the market rate.
The African continent has the world’s highest rate of child labour, with two in five children in sub-Saharan Africa engaged in some form of work, the United Nations Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday. Almost 50-million children in sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of five and 14 work, according to <i>The End of Child Labour: Within Reach</i>, an ILO report released on Thursday.
The momentum in the gold price continues and the gold market seems set for a sustained positive cycle, world number three gold miner AngloGold Ashanti said on Friday. On Friday morning, gold climbed to $682,15 a troy ounce — its highest level since October 1980 when gold fixed at a high of $690/oz.
The proclamation and expropriation of land for the Gautrain Project has begun, the Gauteng Provincial Government said in a statement late on Thursday. The proclamation of properties needed for the first phases of construction will be published in the <i>Provincial Gazette</i> on Friday.
Fierce homesickness transports one to the priorities of childhood, when simply being in the presence of love and familiarity is enough. In the great tiled intestine of the underground station, all along the platform the passengers bunched like bacteria. The world was present, a jaded deputation of economic refugees seeking a middle-class dream in London. But home was absent.
Dineo and Chilli M anchor Yfm’s popular <i>Essential Rush</i> show. They spoke to Jocelyn Newmarch about the best and worse investments they have ever made, savings plans, financial advice they would give their children and their personal finance tricks.
The booming Gulf city state of Dubai will add another feather in its cap with the construction of the world’s longest hotel strip at a cost of $27-billion, developers said. Bawadi" will feature 31 hotels, many theme-based, offering more than 29Â 000 rooms projected to host 3,3-million guests by 2016.
It came as no surprise to read reports of African National Congress hoodlums throwing chairs and half-bricks at the mayor of Cape Town, threatening her with knives, all because she dared to enter Crossroads, an area deemed to be “no go” for white politicians. Such brutish behaviour is becoming sadly typical of the ANC.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday opened a road named after him in Malawi, accusing those who criticise his human rights record of "speaking for their white masters". Cheered on amid heavy security, Mugabe unveiled a plaque to open the newly constructed road between Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre and the Mozambican border.
Less than two months after the Property Charter came into effect, Asset Alliance — holding company of both South Africa’s largest auction and valuation companies, Auction Alliance and Valuation Alliance — on Thursday signed a black economic empowerment (BEE) deal at a company value of R100-million, the biggest deal in the sector to date.
Nedbank’s headline earnings for the first quarter of its current financial year were up 82,9% to R1,026-billion, the banking group said on Thursday. Headline earnings per share are anticipated to be between 30% and 50% greater than the 354 cents per share reported for June 2005.