South African minister implicated in $112 million bank heist denies corruption allegations
Justice Minister Thembi Simelane was only appointed to her position in June in the country’s newly-formed government of national unity, after the former ruling African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in the May 29 election.
China reluctant to commit to debt relief sought by Africa but pledges $58 billion support over three years
During those peak years, Beijing bankrolled the construction of roads, railways and bridges. But a drying up of funds since 2019 has left Africa with stalled construction projects.
Kenyan manufacturers frustrated by frequent outages as the country suffers nationwide blackout
Since President William Ruto came to power, power outages have become routine. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) have raised concerns about the frequency of blackouts that affect their businesses adversely when they happen.
Letter says committee on foreign investments warned Nippon its US Steel bid was a national security risk
In the letter, which has not been previously reported, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) said the deal would damage American steel production and decrease the likelihood that US Steel would continue to aggressively seek trade remedies, the people who were familiar with the matter said, adding that the companies were given until Wednesday to respond.
Recalcitrant China expected to listen more to mineral-rich African countries, give others a short shrift
China unveiled a $60 billion financing package at the 2015 FOCAC and repeated that in 2018. By the summit in Dakar in 2021, Beijing pivoted to trade and investments – a shift largely due to domestic financial pressures, the onset of Covid-19 and a commodities crash that hurt African economies.
Kenya private sector business picks up as country puts behind impact of tax protests on economy
In June, President William Ruto discarded the government’s finance bill for the year, which contained tax hikes estimated to be 346 billion shillings ($2.69 billion), following deadly street protests.
South Africa: Fake railway engineer handed 15 years in prison, ordered to refund $323,000 salary
Investigators have said there was rampant corruption and mismanagement at some of South Africa’s biggest state-owned businesses between 2009 and 2018. A report last week by a special unit that is investigating high-level corruption said that more than $7 billion may have been lost to graft at some of those state-owned companies, including PRASA.
Robot waiters awe customers in Nairobi as East Africa nation braces for workface disruptions
The technology is predicted to disrupt the future workforce globally, and especially in Africa, where there is a youthful population with a median age of 19 years. But the cafe’s manager says the robots aren’t a replacement for human waiters as they can’t offer all services.
El Must in trouble with Brazilian Supreme Court over non-representation in the Latin American nation
In his decision on Friday, Judge Alexandre de Moraes’ cited Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct “clearly intends to continue to encourage posts with extremism, hate speech and anti-democratic discourse, and to try to withdraw them from jurisdictional control.”
Boston University study: China’s loans to Africa rise by $4.6 billion for the first time seven years
The new data comes as Beijing prepares to host African leaders next week for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which takes place every three years. There were 13 loan deals last year involving eight African countries and two African multilateral lenders, the study found.
