New Electric Car Charging Record in South Africa
Zero Carbon Charge and Volvo Cars set South Africa's fastest EV charging record on 20 May 2026 when a Volvo ES90 surged from 9% to 80% state of charge in 21 minutes, hitting a peak of 321.28 kW. The record was achieved at the new Charge N3 Tugela station, which can deliver up to 360 kW across six DC chargers and is backed by a 283 kWp solar farm and a 625 kWh battery. In the same weekend, 42 EVs drew roughly 2,275 kWh across two stations without needing the backup biodiesel generator, underscoring the facility’s renewable‑first design.
New Starship Completes First Successful Mission
SpaceX’s upgraded Starship completed its twelfth test flight, reaching orbit, deploying 20 mock Starlink satellites and two specialized payloads before splashing down in the Indian Ocean and exploding. The Super Heavy booster separated as planned but failed to execute its...
Good News About Car Factories in South Africa
South Africa is revising its Automotive Production and Development Programme to give stronger incentives to electric‑vehicle battery manufacturers. The draft amendment proposes higher production credits and customs rebates for firms that process critical minerals such as lithium, manganese and nickel...
South African Asset Manager Invests R165 Million in Renewable Energy Trading Platform
South African asset manager Sanlam Alternative Investments has taken a 10% equity stake in Africa GreenCo Group, investing roughly $10 million (R165 million). GreenCo, licensed in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, runs a renewable energy trading and offtake platform that has...
Blu Label Says It Can Help Fix Municipal Electricity Revenue Problems in South Africa
Blu Label Unlimited’s BluEnergy unit aims to plug South Africa’s municipal electricity revenue leakages by fixing incorrect billing and weak collection, especially among large power users that account for 65% of consumption. Eskom has flagged municipal arrears at roughly R116 billion...
Big Shift for Nuclear Laws in South Africa
The South African government issued a gazetted amendment to the 1999 Nuclear Energy Act, inviting public comment for 30 days. The bill strengthens state oversight, formalises Necsa as a Schedule 2 public entity with stricter financial governance, and expands export and...
Honor 600 and 600 Pro Prices and Launch Details in South Africa
Honor Technologies Africa has introduced the Honor 600 and 600 Pro mid‑range smartphones in South Africa, branding them as “flagship killers.” Both models share a 6.57‑inch 120 Hz OLED display, a massive 7,000 mAh battery and 80 W wired charging, while the Pro adds...
What’s Next — Co-CEOs Mark and Brett Levy on Two Decades of Success Running Blu Label Unlimited
South African ICT entrepreneurs Mark and Brett Levy have turned their high‑school electronics venture into Blu Label Unlimited, a multi‑billion‑rand (≈ $100 million) conglomerate. Under their co‑CEO leadership the firm rebranded from Blue Label Telecoms, acquired struggling mobile operator Cell C and...
The Era of Intelligence Consumption: How SSA Enterprises Can Leapfrog the “AI Prosperity Trap” Via Token MaaS
African enterprises are shifting from costly, in‑house AI compute to Token‑as‑a‑Service (Token MaaS), treating intelligence as a consumable unit. Huawei Cloud’s MaaS platform offers on‑demand access to top‑tier models such as DeepSeek V4 and GLM‑5.1, promising up to ten‑fold cost‑performance gains....
South African Billionaire Telecoms Brothers Reveal What Went Wrong with Cell C
South African billionaire brothers Brett and Mark Levy, co‑CEOs of Blu Label, explained that mis‑aligned leadership at Cell C, not the acquisition price, caused the telecom’s decline after Blu Label bought a 45% stake in 2017. They acknowledged that frequent...
PlayStation 5 versus Xbox — Reliability Statistics From a South African Repair Store
Data from Console Service Centre, a leading South African console repair shop, shows the PlayStation 5 generated far more service tickets than Xbox models in the past year. Of 1,021 repairs, 428 were PS5s, representing over 70% of all console fixes,...
Eskom’s Employee Costs to Produce the Same Amount of Electricity Increased by 1,195% Since 1994
Eskom’s labor cost to generate a gigawatt‑hour of power surged 1,195% between 1994 and 2025, climbing from roughly $966 to $12,500 per GWh. The utility marked a year without load‑shedding, yet its Energy Availability Factor (EAF) lingered at 61%, well...
ANC Members Under Threat Following Data Breach
A breach exposing roughly 2 GB of African National Congress (ANC) member data has surfaced, revealing ID numbers, mobile contacts, home addresses and passport‑style photos. Cybersecurity firm Bitcrack confirmed the leak’s authenticity, though the ANC dismissed the reports as “fake news”...
Former Eskom CEO Says Three Men Saved South Africa From Disaster
Former Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga praised Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Mteto Nyati and Dan Marokane for reversing South Africa’s historic power crisis, noting Eskom’s announcement on 15 May 2026 that the utility has gone a full year without load‑shedding—the first such stretch since 2016‑18. The turnaround is attributed...
Telecom Giant Using South African Infrastructure to Deliver Satellite Services Across Africa
Paratus Group, one of Africa’s largest telecom infrastructure firms, has completed its biggest satellite teleport in Pretoria, South Africa. The facility underpins its role as the authorised pan‑African reseller for Starlink, delivering LEO broadband in eight countries including Kenya, Nigeria...
South Africa’s Mobile Spectrum Plan
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is drafting a Long‑Term Spectrum Outlook covering the next 10‑20 years, outlining regulatory, technical and economic considerations for mobile spectrum allocation. The plan will be released for stakeholder feedback, but parliamentary members...
64% Sales Jump in South Africa that Few Saw Coming
South Africa’s second‑largest EV charge‑point operator, Rubicon, reported a 64% jump in daily energy dispensed in the first four months of 2026, driven by a 28% month‑on‑month rise between March and April. April’s consumption reached a record 103,317 kWh, pushing quarterly...
Anonymous Nigeria Attacks South Africa
Nullsec Nigeria, also known as Anonymous Nigeria, announced it breached the South African Department of Correctional Services and threatened to leak roughly 11 GB of sensitive data unless xenophobic attacks on Nigerians cease. The group also claimed responsibility for hacking the...
Electricity Theft Cost Eskom R8.15 Billion in 11 Months
South Africa’s state utility Eskom reported R8.15 billion in non‑technical losses—primarily electricity theft and illegal connections—between April 2025 and February 2026, bringing total losses to R11.17 billion. Meter audits and connection removals have already recovered more than R500 million and cut over 1,000 GWh of losses...
South African Professor Considered Among the Top in His Field Leading Review of Botched AI Policy
South Africa’s communications minister Solly Malatsi has tapped a professor highlighted by Time as one of the 100 most influential AI figures to chair a new expert panel. The panel’s mandate is to overhaul the country’s Draft National AI Policy...
Ramaphosa Says Chinese Will Build Electric Car Charging Networks in South Africa
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa is finalising a comprehensive electric‑vehicle programme and that Chinese manufacturers, including BYD, will deploy a nationwide charging network. The plan aims to attract EV makers, boost local manufacturing and curb job losses as...
Learner Drivers Facing Arrest in South Africa
South Africa’s Department of Transport is moving to arrest learner‑driver applicants suspected of fraud after the rollout of the NATIS Computerised Learner’s Test caused pass rates to plunge. The new system, now active in eight provinces and piloted in Cape...
Vumatel Granted Approval to Acquire Third-Largest Fibre Network Operator in South Africa
South Africa’s Independent Communications Authority (ICASA) has approved Maziv Group’s Vumatel to acquire the remaining shares of Herotel, taking its ownership from a 49% stake to 100%. The deal merges the country’s largest fibre operator with the third‑largest, combining Vumatel’s...
Google Announces New Android-Based Laptops
Google unveiled "Googlebook," a new high‑end laptop line that runs Android and embeds Gemini AI throughout the operating system. Dell, Lenovo, HP, ASUS and Acer will launch their own models in the coming months, featuring a distinctive Glowbar that illuminates...
Top South African ISP Slashed Fibre Prices in South Africa
Afrihost, one of South Africa’s most established ISPs, has lowered its fibre‑to‑the‑home prices across the five largest open‑access network operators between 2021 and 2025. Entry‑level packages fell up to 26%, while higher‑speed tiers saw modest increases that remain well below...
Eskom Using Drones to Support 33,369km of Critical Infrastructure
South Africa’s state utility Eskom has begun using drones to inspect its 33,369 km of high‑voltage transmission lines, replacing expensive helicopter surveys. The drone programme, equipped with infrared cameras, enables more frequent inspections and faster fault detection, cutting costs and improving...
Good News About Takealot 30-Minute Deliveries in South Africa
South African logistics startup Shiprazor has secured a partnership with Takealot Fulfilment Solutions (TFS) to enable 30‑minute deliveries for merchants on its platform. The deal follows a R44 million investment from venture fund Norrsken22, which will fund the expansion of Shiprazor’s...
The Man Who Put a Big Smile on Johann Rupert’s Face
Vodacom paid R12.642 billion for a 30% stake in Maziv, the fibre‑to‑home and fibre‑to‑site leader owned by Remgro’s CIVH. The transaction generated R6.282 billion of goodwill, effectively paying twice the fair value of Maziv’s identifiable net assets. Maziv, which includes Vumatel, Herotel...
Superbalist Founders Turning a 102 Year-Old South African Retailer Into a Serious Temu and Shein Rival
The Foschini Group’s online platform Bash, built by former Superbalist founders, posted a 40% year‑on‑year sales jump to R1.4 billion and a 52% surge in gross profit to R521 million in the six months to September 2025. Its share of TFG’s total sales...
100,000 Smart IDs in Two Months
South Africa's Home Affairs department partnered with three major banks to launch a digital smart ID application programme, processing over 100,000 cards in just 59 days. The initiative, active since 9 March 2026, achieved an average of 1,695 applications per day across...
Identity Management Is More Important than Ever in an AI-Powered South Africa
AI is lowering the barrier to cybercrime in South Africa, exposing businesses to automated attacks on bots, APIs and AI agents. At the same time, POPIA enforcement demands strict identity controls and accountability for personal data. Organizations must shift from...
Vodacom Spending Another R800 Million on Maziv After Herotel Fibre Deal
Vodacom announced it will inject an additional R800 million into Maziv, the parent of Vumatel, contingent on the completion of Vumatel’s acquisition of Herotel. The Competition Tribunal approved the deal conditionally, requiring Vumatel to operate as an open‑access fibre‑to‑the‑home (FTTH) provider....
Iconic South African Town in the Middle of Nowhere Has Two Rare Solar Power Plants
Remote town Pofadder in South Africa’s Northern Cape is home to the country’s only two concentrated solar power (CSP) plants – KaXu Solar One and Xina Solar One. KaXu, launched in 2015, was the first South African CSP with thermal‑energy...
South African Universities Developing Their Own ChatGPTs
South African universities are building indigenous large language models to serve local linguistic needs. University of Cape Town released MzansiLM, a decoder‑only model trained on the new MzansiText dataset covering all 11 official written languages, addressing low‑resource challenges. The University...
DStv Stream Problems for Former Showmax Customers
MultiChoice closed Showmax on April 30 and offered former subscribers a free trial of DStv Stream Compact, followed by a R99 promotional rate for twelve months before rising to R399. Numerous users report never receiving the promised email link, and some...
Full Extent of R2-Billion City of Ekurhuleni Hack Revealed
The City of Ekurhuleni disclosed that a coordinated cyber‑attack on its SOLAR billing platform siphoned roughly R2 billion in revenue. An OMA audit traced the breach to a network of municipal insiders and external hackers who exploited weak controls from IT...
The Former Tennis Professional Who Ended Telkom’s Monopoly and Opened up the South African Telecommunications Market
Former Altech chief executive Craig Venter, a former junior Wimbledon player, spearheaded South Africa's most consequential telecom lawsuit. In 2008 a Pretoria High Court ruled that VANS licence holders could build their own networks, forcing regulator ICASA to re‑classify licences...
Half a Million People in South Africa Freed From Power Cuts
South Africa’s state utility Eskom announced that 598,042 customers have been removed from load‑reduction controls, marking a 36 % advance toward its 1.69 million‑customer target. The utility has de‑energised 351 feeders, including complete elimination in the Western and Northern Cape provinces. Smart‑meter...
Hacker Group Targeted Companies in South Africa Using Fake SARS Notifications
SilverFox launched a sophisticated phishing campaign in South Africa, sending over 1,600 fake SARS tax audit emails between January and February 2026. The messages lured recipients into downloading malicious archives that installed the new Python‑based backdoor ABCDoor, an evolution of...
Uber Could Be Operating Illegally in South Africa
Uber is currently operating in South Africa without a Certificate of Registration from the National Public Transport Regulator, despite the NLTA Act’s March 11 deadline. The regulator’s seven‑step registration process has not progressed to the public notice stage for Uber,...
The Threat Every South African Bank Should Be Worried About
Anthropic's Claude model Mythos, an AI designed to pinpoint software flaws, has emerged as a looming cyber threat for South African banks. Unauthorized access to the model demonstrates that even heavily restricted AI can be leaked and weaponized. Local financial...
New Early Warning Stations for Severe Weather Disasters in South Africa
South Africa is confronting more frequent floods, storms and fires, prompting a public‑private partnership between the South African Weather Service (SAWS) and insurer Santam. Santam is funding the installation of nine new automatic weather stations across five provinces, expanding SAWS’s...
Alarm Bells as Eskom Power Station Reliability Drops
South African utility Eskom reported its energy availability factor (EAF) at 60.29% for the financial year to date, up from 56.48% a year earlier but still below 2021 levels. Unplanned outages fell by 964 MW, bringing the unplanned capacity loss factor...
Officials Deface Your Green ID Book when You Get a Smart ID
South Africa's Home Affairs now defaces the legacy green ID books when issuing new polycarbonate smart ID cards, rather than collecting them for cancellation. The change follows revelations that officials sometimes failed to block ID numbers, enabling identity‑theft syndicates to...
Good News for South Africans Who Watch Rugby on DStv
Canal+ confirmed a multi‑year renewal of its domestic broadcast rights agreement with the South African Rugby Union, keeping SuperSport as the exclusive carrier for all SARU domestic competitions, women’s and junior matches across Sub‑Saharan Africa. The deal is the first...
Small Village Known for Its Globally-Renowned School Has One of South Africa’s Most Advanced Systems to Stop Car Theft
Hilton, a small KwaZulu‑Natal village famed for its elite boarding school, has deployed one of South Africa’s most advanced vehicle‑theft prevention systems. The community‑funded network uses SNIPR automatic number‑plate recognition cameras linked to OneSpace’s analytics and national stolen‑vehicle databases, covering...
R1.6 Billion Missing After Hackers Ran Free Inside Major South African Metro’s Systems
The City of Ekurhuleni disclosed a massive cyberattack that left R1.19 billion missing, with only R891 million recovered through back‑billing. Hackers exploited an unsecured municipal Wi‑Fi and VPN to infiltrate billing systems, manipulate invoices and erase debts. An internal investigation revealed insider...
End of an Era for Green ID Books and Smart ID Cards in South Africa
South Africa’s Home Affairs department is drafting a digital identity system that will sit alongside existing green ID books and Smart ID cards, with public comment open until 6 June 2026. The new credentials will be stored on smartphones and secured by...
Eskom Accused of Dirty Tricks with New Business in South Africa
South Africa's state utility Eskom has launched a public electric‑vehicle charging business, sparking alarm among private charge‑point operators. Critics argue Eskom is leveraging its monopoly over the electricity grid to gain an unfair advantage in the nascent EV market. The...
Fake AI References in South African AI Policy: Two Men Named in Report
South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies is under scrutiny after two senior officials were alleged to have inserted AI‑generated, fabricated references into the draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy. The report claims the citations were hallucinated by generative AI...