Three Years in, PayShap Pivots to Merchants
PayShap, South Africa’s instant‑payments platform launched in 2023, has surpassed six million registered users and 905 million transactions, but high fees and uneven bank experiences have slowed uptake. Operator PayInc announced a strategic pivot from peer‑to‑peer transfers toward merchant, e‑commerce and mobile payments, backed by a 50 % stake from the South African Reserve Bank. The system has processed 461 million transactions worth R403 billion (≈ $22 billion) and aims to capture the informal‑economy merchant segment. Success will hinge on lowering costs and securing cooperation from the banks that own the rail.
There’s an Oddity Hiding in South Africa’s EV Market
South Africa’s electric‑vehicle market remained under 1% of new‑car sales in 2025, but plug‑in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) outsold pure battery‑electric vehicles (BEVs) by more than two to one, making the country a global outlier. Total EV sales reached about...
SpaceX Wants to Fly a Rocket Every 53 Minutes
SpaceX’s Nasdaq filing under the ticker SPCX highlights its transformation into a near‑monopoly on low‑Earth orbit, now operating 9,600 Starlink satellites and controlling roughly three‑quarters of maneuverable assets. The company aims to scale launches to 10,000 per year within five...
Eskom to Go to Market for 5.2GW of New Nuclear Within a Year
South Africa's state utility Eskom announced exploratory talks with the World Bank and other financiers to fund a multibillion‑dollar nuclear expansion of up to 5.2 GW, aiming to launch the programme within a year. The plan splits into 4.8 GW of conventional...
Inflation Spikes Higher – and the Worst Is Still to Come
South Africa’s headline consumer inflation surged to 4% year‑on‑year in April, up from 3.1% in March and beating the Reuters forecast of 3.9%. The jump reflects the early impact of the US‑Israel‑Iran conflict on global energy prices, with the government...
MTN to Turn Its African Towers Into an AI Inference Grid
MTN Group announced it will retrofit its African cellular towers with open‑GPU hardware, creating a distributed AI inference grid that runs both radio functions and edge AI workloads. The move complements two new AI‑enabled data centres slated for South Africa...
Best Payment Processing Providers in Africa
Africa’s payment landscape is fragmented, with mobile money dominant in some regions and card payments prevalent in others. Choosing a payment service provider (PSP) therefore hinges on regional preferences, regulatory exposure, and transaction volume. The guide highlights AvadaPay for Central...
Activists Challenge 160MW Cape Town Data Centre Project
Equinix has applied to build two data centres in Cape Town with a combined power demand of up to 160 MW. The Housing Assembly and UK non‑profit Foxglove lodged a formal objection, demanding full disclosure of water use, emissions, diesel backup...
TCS | Charge’s R1.8-billion Bet on an Off-Grid EV Future
South Africa’s Charge is investing roughly $97 million (R1.8 billion) to build a coast‑to‑coast network of off‑grid, renewable‑powered EV charging stations, targeting one site every 150 km along national highways. The first station on the N3 corridor launches in May 2024, and the...
WeBuyCars to Sell Its AI Inspection Platform to Rivals
WeBuyCars, the JSE‑listed used‑car retailer, will commercialise its AI‑driven inspection platform Inspectify within the next six to twelve months, creating a new revenue line beyond buying and selling cars. The system translates technical findings into plain‑English reports, adds total‑cost‑of‑ownership modelling,...
South Africa Marks a Full Year without Load Shedding
South Africa celebrated a full 12‑month stretch without load shedding, a milestone unimaginable three years ago. Eskom’s 2023 generation recovery plan added 4.4 GW of capacity, saw the 4.8 GW Kusile coal plant fully commissioned, and reduced reliance on costly diesel turbines....
Absa’s Defence Against Frontier AI Cyberthreats: More AI
Absa Group announced it will deploy AI‑powered “super agents” to automatically scan its systems for vulnerabilities and speed up patch cycles. The move is a direct response to frontier AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos, which can locate thousands of zero‑day...
US, China to Coordinate on AI Threats
U.S. and Chinese delegations met in Beijing to draft a protocol of AI guardrails aimed at preventing non‑state actors from exploiting powerful models such as Anthropic’s Mythos. The talks underscore Washington’s desire to keep its technological lead while avoiding stifling...
7 Key Digital Platforms to Market Your Business Online
Domains.co.za outlines a seven‑step digital playbook for South African SMEs, highlighting a website, SEO, social media, email, PPC, content marketing and mobile channels as essential pillars. The guide stresses that no single channel can sustain growth; a coordinated, multi‑platform strategy...
Netflix’s Astonishing R2.2-trillion Content Bill
Netflix disclosed that it has poured roughly $135 billion into original and licensed films and series over the past ten years, making it the largest spender in streaming. The spending has spurred more than $325 billion in global economic activity and created...
Fuel Pain Finally Tipping the Scales for EVs in South Africa
Rising diesel prices in South Africa, now above R30 per litre (about $1.58), are prompting logistics firms and consumers to reconsider electric vehicles. Everlectric’s CEO notes that fleet inquiries have shifted from ESG concerns to detailed cost‑saving spreadsheets, especially for...
Herotel Becomes South Africa’s Largest Retail Fibre ISP
Herotel, owned by Vumatel, has become South Africa’s largest retail fibre‑to‑the‑home (FTTH) provider by the number of connected homes, reaching 284,850 FTTH residences. The figure excludes its 52,094 fixed‑wireless customers, bringing total active users to over 350,000 across more than...
Voice Is Going the Way of SMS, Says Vodacom CEO
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said voice revenue is now just 29% of the South African service revenue, mirroring the long‑running decline of SMS. The drop is driven by data‑centric usage and the rise of VoIP and WhatsApp voice notes. To...
Pressure Builds on Vodacom’s South African Mobile Business
Vodacom’s South African mobile unit posted service revenue of R64.4 bn ($3.4 bn) in FY 2026, up 2.1% but still below inflation, while EBITDA fell 1.7% to R33 bn ($1.75 bn). Reported operating profit was essentially flat at R20.5 bn ($1.09 bn), but on a normalised basis...
Eskom Battles Widespread Outages as Storm Batters the Cape
A powerful winter storm swept across South Africa's Western Cape, triggering widespread power outages that affected the Cape Metro, Winelands, Garden Route, Overberg, Overstrand and West Coast regions. Eskom reported faults in dozens of towns and farms, with recovery crews...
Vodacom’s Fintech Machine Tops 100 Million Customers
Vodacom Group’s fintech arm surpassed 100 million active customers, reporting 103 million users for the year to 31 March 2026 – a 17.4% year‑on‑year increase. Financial‑services revenue rose 19.6% to R16.8 billion (≈ $884 million), lifting fintech’s share of total service revenue to 12.6%. Growth was driven...
Where AI Actually Belongs in Enterprise Systems
Artificial intelligence has moved from hype to a board‑level priority, but many enterprises are misapplying it, creating “AI theatre” projects that add little operational value. BBD argues that successful AI adoption starts with a clear problem definition, not with the...
Naspers Unit Offloads Stake in Food Giant for R6.5-billion
Prosus, the consumer‑internet arm of Naspers, agreed to sell a 5% stake in German food‑delivery leader Delivery Hero to Aspex Management for roughly €335 million (about $369 million), equivalent to R6.5 billion. The deal prices the 15.2 million shares at €22 each, a 10% premium...
Vodacom Paid Nearly Twice Book Value for Its Maziv Stake
Vodacom disclosed that it paid R12.64 billion (≈ $666 million) for a 30% stake in Maziv, the fibre‑optic platform behind Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa. The consideration comprised R7.93 billion in cash, R143 million in capitalised costs and R4.57 billion in fibre assets, valuing Maziv at...
Reinvest Spectrum Cash in ICT Sector, Industry Urges
South Africa’s telecom operators, led by the Association of Comms & Technology (ACT), are urging that proceeds from the upcoming 2026/27 spectrum auction be reinvested in the ICT sector rather than flowing to the national treasury. The last auction in...
South Africa Cuts Red Tape for Dealmakers
South Africa’s Competition Minister Parks Tau raised the monetary thresholds for merger notifications, doubling the intermediate‑firm limit to roughly $10.6 million and lifting the combined turnover ceiling to $53 million. Large‑deal thresholds also rose to about $500 million, while filing fees increased by...
Hyperscalers Ate My Next Computer
The AI boom has forced hyperscalers to commandeer semiconductor capacity, driving DRAM prices up 172% and pushing a 32 GB DDR5 kit from $90 to $530. Nvidia’s RTX 5090 now retails above $3,000 after a 30‑40% production cut, while Intel’s market cap...
Your Databases Are Being Watched – Just Not by You
The article warns that most enterprises leave databases unmonitored, allowing attackers to linger for an average 241 days before detection. This governance deficit fuels costly breaches and exposes firms to South African POPIA penalties of up to R10 million (≈$540 k) and average...
Why South Africa Is Zoho’s Third-Fastest-Growing Market
Zoho has become the third‑fastest‑growing market among its top 15 regions, driven by pricing its SaaS suite in South African rand rather than dollars. The local‑currency model creates a sizable cost advantage as the rand weakens against the greenback, especially...
OpenAI’s New Audio APIs Aim for Conversational Voice Agents
OpenAI unveiled three real‑time audio APIs—GPT‑Realtime‑2, GPT‑Realtime‑Translate and GPT‑Realtime‑Whisper—on its developer platform, extending the company beyond text‑only chat and transcription. The models enable live listening, translation, and action during conversations, handling interruptions and maintaining context over extended sessions. Early adopters...
The Gaps in South Africa’s Digital ID Plan
South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs released draft regulations to embed a digital identity layer alongside the traditional green ID book and smart ID card. The draft outlines cryptographic standards and envisions citizen‑controlled digital wallets, but industry experts flag critical...
The AI Revolution Has a New Capital – and It’s Not in California
A wave of AI‑driven investment has turned Seoul’s Kospi into the world’s hottest market, with retail investors pouring roughly $19 billion into leveraged chip stocks. Record earnings at Samsung, TSMC and SK Hynix—whose combined AI‑related revenues surged nearly 50‑fold—have pushed Samsung past...
Altron’s FY26 Earnings Seen Firmer as Platforms Power Growth
Altron lifted its FY26 earnings guidance, projecting headline earnings per share (HEPS) from continuing operations to rise 31‑37% to R2.33‑R2.43 (about $0.13). At the group level, HEPS is now expected at R2.25‑R2.33, a 68‑74% jump, and EPS could climb 82‑87%...
Datatec Is Firing on All Cylinders
Datatec, the JSE‑listed ICT group, projects headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 38‑40 c US for FY2026, a 48%‑56% jump from the 25.5 c US recorded in FY2025. Underlying EPS, now excluding share‑based payments, is expected at 47‑49 c US, up 32%‑37% on...
South Africa Risks Losing a Generation of Developers to AI
South Africa faces a talent risk as AI automates junior coding tasks, threatening the pipeline that has driven social mobility and contributes about 8% of GDP. McKinsey estimates 20‑45% productivity gains in coding, while 76% of developers already use AI...
Lesaka Lifts Full-Year Earnings Guidance
Lesaka Technologies, a dual‑listed fintech on Nasdaq and the JSE, swung to a R8.4 million (≈$0.44 m) net profit in Q3 2026 after a R409.8 million loss a year earlier. Revenue was flat at R3 billion, but net revenue rose 16% to R1.58 billion and...
Hexion Deploys 30 Petabyte Sovereign Data Archive in South Africa
South African storage firm Hexion has deployed a 30‑petabyte deep‑archive platform, one of the region’s largest privately operated data archives. The solution stores all customer data within South Africa, addressing data‑sovereignty, compliance, and cybersecurity concerns for sectors such as finance,...
The 48-Month Phone Contract Trap
South African mobile operators are extending smartphone contracts to 48 months, turning a R30,000 ($1,580) flagship purchase into a total outlay exceeding R60,000 ($3,160) when bundled with airtime, data and insurance. The longer term lowers monthly payments but pushes warranty...
Yoco Brings in External CEO From European Fintech Sector
South African payments fintech Yoco announced that Carsten Höltkemeyer will become its chief executive on 1 June 2026, ending a nine‑month interim co‑CEO period. Höltkemeyer arrives from a European banking and fintech background, most recently steering Berlin‑based Solaris through a turnaround and...
South Africa’s Patching Problem Is About to Get Worse
South African enterprises are already missing patch windows for traditional software, and the rollout of autonomous AI agents threatens to widen that gap. TrendAI’s Zaheer Ebrahim warns that AI agents can be hijacked through hidden email instructions, bypassing malware defenses....
AI Is Rewriting the Threat Playbook
South Africa pulled its draft National AI Policy after discovering AI‑generated fictitious citations, highlighting the danger of unchecked machine‑generated content. The withdrawal comes as frontier AI models capable of rapid vulnerability discovery are expected to be widely accessible within six...
South African Private Sector Growth Hits 44-Month High
South Africa’s private sector posted its strongest growth in 44 months, with the S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index climbing to 51.6 in April from 50.8 in March. The rise was driven by higher sales, a surge in export orders—especially to...
Two South African Fintechs Merge to Take on Payday Lenders
South African fintechs Paymenow and PayCurve have merged under the Paymenow brand to launch the continent’s first fully integrated employee financial‑wellness platform. The combined service blends earned‑wage access, fee‑free vouchers, savings accounts and financial education with data‑driven debt‑identification and rehabilitation...
TCS+ | The Retirement Decision Most South Africans Get Wrong
South Africans often mishandle retirement savings when changing jobs, leaving money in old employer funds or cashing out. Michael Rossouw of 10X Investments explains that pension and provident funds belong to the employer, not the employee, and that a preservation...
We’re Hiring: TechCentral Is Looking for Technology Journalists
TechCentral, a 15‑year‑old South African tech news outlet, announced it is hiring senior technology and business journalists. The role focuses on original, authoritative reporting across telecoms, fintech, AI, cloud and digital infrastructure, rather than aggregation or clickbait. Candidates must have...
Cyber-Physical Risk: A Growing Concern for South African Companies
South African firms are confronting a surge in cyber‑physical risk, where cyberattacks can damage equipment, halt production, and trigger costly business interruption. Global incidents of physical impairment rose 146% in 2024, and Africa’s cyber‑insurance market—valued at roughly US$283 million—remains under‑penetrated, leaving...
Digital Twins Are only as Good as the Pipes that Feed Them
Digital twins are gaining traction across manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and energy by providing real‑time virtual replicas of physical assets. Their value hinges on a continuous, high‑speed flow of sensor data that keeps the virtual model synchronized with reality. However, without...
Your Biggest Cyber Threat Is Now Sitting at the Desk Next to You
South Africa’s insider cyber risk jumped 46% in 2026, outpacing the 44% global average, and 63% of local firms expect data losses to keep rising. Economic stress, high unemployment and frequent restructurings are driving employees to view data as personal...
How Panther Lake Put Intel Back in Contention
Intel’s stock finally breached the $100 per‑share threshold, lifting its market value to roughly $501 billion. After a decade of missed 10nm milestones, the company unveiled Panther Lake, the first Core Ultra 3 chips built on the 18A process. Independent reviews show the...
Why 2G Will Outlast 3G in South Africa
Vodacom announced it will deactivate its 3G network before shutting down 2G, citing stronger demand for low‑cost 2G devices and the ability of most 3G phones to fall back to 2G. The price barrier remains steep: a basic 4G handset...