Author: Chris Anu

Growth at Checkers Sixty60 continues to outpace rival Pick n Pay’s asap! in the online grocery delivery space. According to a trading statement by Checkers parent Shoprite Holdings on Tuesday, online sales through Sixty60 rose 48% year on year in the 52 weeks to 29 June 2025. Pick n Pay also released a trading statement on Tuesday and, in the 17 weeks to 29 June 2025, sales through asap! rose at a slower 33% year on year. Supermarkets RSA, extended its unbroken market share gains to a fifth consecutive year Shoprite said expanding its physical footprint and the stores from…

Henry Dhliwayo, head of the global markets retail business at Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking. Standard Bank plans to consolidate its existing retail online share trading platforms under its Shyft global money app.The move has been prompted by client feedback, prevailing industry trends and a review of the existing online retail trading platforms, says the big-four bank. Its online retail trading platforms comprise WebTrader, Auto Share Invest and Online Share Trading (OST).The migration will take effect over the course of 2025 and 2026, according to the bank. “We are making direct contact with clients on the migration,” says Henry Dhliwayo,…

MultiChoice Group has announced details for the first time about its plans to restructure the shareholding in its main South African operation to facilitate the JSE-listed broadcaster’s sale to France’s Groupe Canal+. The move comes 10 days after the two companies secured the green light from the Competition Tribunal for their transaction to proceed. The merging parties have agreed to a special shareholding structure in South Africa to comply with South African legislation that prevents foreign entities from holding more than 20% of the voting rights in locally licensed broadcasters. Although the 20% restriction is likely to be lifted to…

ICASA requires information on the development of an automated spectrum management system. It’s a busy week on National Treasury’s eTenders Portal; however, the ICT industry is not favoured. This means the industry will largely need to look to lower-value municipal advertisements for opportunities. Amid this quiet backdrop, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) takes the top spot with a request for information on the development and implementation of an automated spectrum management system. In its tender documentation, the regulator explains the procurement of such a system is designed to enhance its capability to efficiently manage the radio frequency…

Sonja De Bruyn. Image: Identity Partners One of the key players in the aborted sale of Dimension Data’s The Campus property has lashed out at the company’s former executives over an allegation that she misappropriated R5-million related to the transaction. Sonja De Bruyn, founder of Identity Fund Managers, on Monday took strong exception to a statement by five former Dimension Data executives who were involved in what the high court last November described as a “fraudulent scheme” to enrich themselves through the sale of the sprawling Sandton property. Read: Former Dimension Data execs accuse NTT of smear tactics Most seriously,…

Judy Winn Combining AI, ML, network intelligence and next-generation payment hubs can reduce risk in real-time payments, according to payments experts at the ACI Worldwide Payments Intelligence Roadshow, in Johannesburg.Outlining trends in global payments and new risks inherent in instant payments, ACI Worldwide experts noted that technologies such as cloud native payment hubs, advanced data analytics and AI are making it safer for banks and financial institutions to embrace modernisation while remaining compliant and mitigating risk.Judy Winn, Head of Information Security and Governance at Peach Payments, stated that the rapid acceleration of digital payment scams and fraud poses a significant…

Former Dimension Data executive chairman Jeremy Ord Five of six former Dimension Data executives who were found last November by the high court to have engaged in a “brazen and dishonest” scheme involving the sale of the company’s Johannesburg head office have hit back at “false claims” that they engaged in BEE fronting and improper conduct. The former executives, who in January won leave to appeal the high court judgment against them, called the allegations “part of a sustained and sinister campaign launched by NTT” – the Japanese company that acquired Dimension Data in 2010 – “to deflect attention from…

ITWeb contributor Phillip de Wet. The villain of the moment is the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), which really, deeply, and utterly screwed it up.But at heart, the Please Call Me saga is the fault of lawyers, or rather the two pig-headed clients, Vodacom and Nkosana Makate, who should have stopped listening to those lawyers long ago.Makate and Vodacom started with what boils down to a simple contractual dispute: Makate handed over some intellectual property (the idea for Please Call Me) and wanted a cut of the proceeds.Had Vodacom taken that claim seriously from the outset, it could have dropped…

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Carlos Barria/Reuters Apple CEO Tim Cook signalled on Thursday the iPhone maker was ready to spend more to catch up to rivals in artificial intelligence by building more data centres or buying a larger player in the segment, a departure from a long practice of fiscal frugality. Apple has struggled to keep pace with rivals such as Microsoft and Google, both of which have attracted hundreds of millions of users to their AI-powered chatbots and assistants. That growth has come at a steep cost, however, with Google planning to spend US$85-billion over the next year and…

Demand for AI professionals has been steady and sustained. Companies globally are fiercely competing for top artificial intelligence (AI) talent, offering premium salaries to attract experienced AI professionals.Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai brushed off concerns about the company’s ability to attract and keep top AI talent. Speaking during the tech giant’s second quarter earnings announcement, he acknowledged there is a skills war, with big tech brands like Meta relentlessly recruiting and actively poaching top AI talent by offering them multimillion-dollar pay packages. His comments echo the findings of a recent report from a US consulting firm, which revealed that…