South Africa looks set for much better growth in 2025 thanks to increased spending and investment, according to analysts at Absa Group, though a cooling of relations with the US may dim the outlook. The economy could expand by 2.1% this year, analysts at the Johannesburg-based banking group said on Tuesday. That compares with the 1.7% expansion forecast by the central bank, up from 0.7% in 2024. “Growth should be a lot better this year,” Absa economist Miyelani Maluleke told a media round table. Milder inflation and lower borrowing costs are boosting income, he said, while investment should rebound from…
Author: Chris Anu
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Graphic: Xsolla Xsolla, a leading global video game commerce company, is proud to announce the launch of the Journey of Indies (JOIN) Program, powered by Xsolla. This LATAM-focused initiative is designed to help indie and mid-tier game developers scale their businesses with commercialization tools, mentorship, and industry partnerships. By integrating developers into Xsolla’s ecosystem of commercialization tools, this program aims to drive innovation, expand opportunities, and generate new revenue streams. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250325229062/en/Key Dates:March 25: Livestream announcing the JOIN Program at 5 PM ET. April 7: Accelerator begins to go live. April…
CIVH, the Remgro-controlled parent of fibre network operator Maziv – which owns Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa – has swung into a loss in its latest financial reporting period. Remgro disclosed in its interim financial results for the six months to end-December 2024, which were published on Tuesday morning, that CIVH’s contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings for the period amounted to a loss of R141-million, down from a profit in the same period in 2023 of R6-million. Remgro holds a 57% equity stake in CIVH. That’s a deterioration in the picture since Remgro’s year-end in June 2024, when CIVH’s contribution…
The Department of Home Affairs has undertaken a comprehensive upgrade of its digital verification system. To curb the lag times that often hamper its digital verification system, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is rolling out a “comprehensive” system upgrade. The department said yesterday that testing already shows it is now capable of faster performance, with an error rate of well below 1%.The system had been plagued by inefficiencies, with users reporting a failure rate of up to 50% on verification ‘hits’ against the national population register. It also routinely took up to 24 hours for the system to respond,…
Discovery Health CEO Ron Wheelan Discovery Health is using data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to create a new system to provide individualised health care to its adult medical aid members. Premised on the principle of “hyper-personalisation”, Personal Health Pathways uses the idea of a digital twin, or a “clinic twin” in the company’s jargon, to give real-time recommendations to members with the idea of creating a proactive, curated approach to health care. According to Discovery Health CEO Ron Whelan, who was speaking to TechCentral in a recent interview, the use of advanced machine learning and AI models…
Rudie Opperman, manager for engineering and training, MEA, Axis Communications. Smart surveillance and AI can give impetus to SA’s digital transformation process, and although budgets are constrained, there is a clear opportunity for government to leverage the technology to support its ICT and telecommunications objectives.This is according to Rudie Opperman, manager for engineering and training, MEA at network solutions provider Axis Communications.Opperman believes smart surveillance and AI support digital transformation by enhancing security, providing real-time insights, operational efficiency, service delivery and data-driven decision-making.This is particularly relevant given Cyril Ramaphosa’s SONA 2025 address in which he underlined several technology priorities, including…
Some of the world’s most iconic and punchy payoff lines have become so memorable that they are forever ingrained into humanity’s collective consciousness. Their influence on consumer behaviour and brand loyalty has facilitated the growth of some of the world’s biggest companies. Nike’s Just Do It and the classic McDonald’s I’m lovin’ it easily spring to mind. In the tech sector, IBM stands out for being one of the builders of the digital age. The slogan Think has been a mainstay of the brand since 1913 when it was still called the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Rival Apple took a dig at…
GSMA appoints Bharti Airtel Group’s Gopal Vittal as board chairperson. The GSM Association (GSMA) has announced Gopal Vittal as the new chairperson of its board, for the remainder of the board term, until the end of 2026.In a statement, the GSMA says Vittal has served on the board for eight years, including as deputy chairperson since 2023 and more recently as acting chairperson since mid-January.Vittal will oversee the strategic direction of the organisation, including completing the transition to 5G Standalone, driving new revenue models, and harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, to ensure…
Home affairs minister Leon Schreiber The department of home affairs has announced a “comprehensive upgrade” to its digital identity verification system. The system, called Abis (Automated Biometric Identification System), is used by various institutions in the public and private sectors where checking an identity against the national population register is important. “The roll-out of a reliable, efficient and secure verification service supports both the public and private sectors to improve service delivery. This marks the most significant upgrade to the home affairs verification service since it was launched, and will dramatically reduce waiting times whenever a client needs to verify…
Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of Cassava. Cassava Technologies plans to build Africa’s first artificial intelligence (AI) factory in SA. The secure facility will be powered by Nvidia AI computing technology.According to a statement, the new plans form part of the company’s strategy to upgrade its local data centres, to provide African businesses, governments and researchers access to the latest AI computing capacity. This will help clients develop smarter AI products, streamline operations and stay competitive in a fast-changing world, it says.The new AI factory will provide the supercomputers and software needed to train AI, while keeping data within Africa’s…
