Sabre Corporation, software and technology company powering the global travel industryannounc ed the signing of a long-term, technology agreement with BIDTravel.

While anticipated, Total’s second significant gas condensate discovery announced in South Africa is nonetheless reason to rejoice after a year of deep uncertainty and struggles for the African energy sector.

Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Luiperd prospect, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa.

Impact Oil & Gas announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Impact Africa, has received approval from the Government of South Africa to take forward the Transkei & Algoa Exploration Right and the Tugela South Exploration Right, offshore South Africa.

Organised crime syndicates are increasingly targeting Vodacom base stations in KwaZulu Natal region for theft and vandalism, with over 70 incidents of vandalism reported on a monthly basis.

On the evening of 23 March, South Africans gathered around their television sets to listen to arguably the most important announcement of this year. At the time, the nation was on edge.

Kinetiko Energy announced that Afro Energy has received approval to produce an amount of gas annually for a 2 year period from the Amersfoort Project exploration rights ER56 and ER38 by the Minister for Mineral Resources (DMR), South Africa.

Vertiv, global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, announced a distribution partnership with Cyber Security South Africa (CSSA), cyber security technology distributor.

Woolworths South Africa has announced its commitment to invest R1billion in its prices over the next two – three years, with a R750million, approximately, $46 million, investment planned in the Foods business.

Standard Bank, Mastercard and Google have announced a collaboration to help SMEs move their businesses online, accept digital payments and attract more customers.

Emirates and Airlink have announced an interline agreement, widening Emirates’ reach into Southern Africa as countries begin opening their borders for travellers.

Despite research showing an overall decrease in certain malware families and types in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the first half of 2020, Kaspersky stresses that the human cyber threat remains rife.

TymeBank, a digital bank in South Africa, looks to empower small and micro businesses to accept card payments, powered by Network International, an enabler of digital commerce across Africa and the Middle East.

Driving innovation and disruption with smarter, more capable digital workers, Blue Prism announced new automation capabilities specifically designed for SAP® ECC and S/4HANA® enterprise users.

Vodacom KwaZulu Natal Region will invest just over R320 million into the network across the province during the 2020/2021 financial year.

Africa Energy, Canadian oil and gas company with exploration assets offshore South Africa and Namibia received approval from the shareholders for a transaction through which it will increase its effective interest in Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa.

Qatar Airways has signed an interline agreement with Airlink, further expanding its presence in Southern Africa as the largest carrier to operate from the region.

Liquid Telecom South Africa has announced that Deon Geyser has been appointed as its new CEO, effective from January 1st 2021.

MultiChoice Group (MCG) has announced that its subsidiary SuperSport has acquired exclusive rights to broadcast Ethiopian Premier League matches.

Lekela, renewable power-generation company that delivers utility-scale projects across Africa, anounced its South Africa's Perdekraal East windfarm began commercial operations.

German tech startup CloudRadar is launching its cloud-based IT-monitoring service in South Africa, ahead of further global expansion, to help ensure IT stability for regional businesses in the face of rapid, pandemic-fuelled digitisation.

Pan African telecommunication company MTN has unveiled YelloBucks, a new loyalty points currency that is set to heap more benefits and value on MTN customers.

Mukuru and WorldRemit announced a deepening of their existing partnership, with the aim to expand their collaboration for cash remittances into Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Botswana.

Finastra revealed Fusion Payments To Go, its payments solution aimed at small and medium-sized banks looking to implement domestic and cross-border payment services in Europe, the US and South Africa.

LyondellBasell and Sasol announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to form a 50/50 joint venture (JV) through which LyondellBasell will acquire 50 percent of Sasol’s 1.5 MM ton ethane cracker.

The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms Thoko Didiza, on the release of state land for land reform purposes.

Vodacom Group has become a member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative.

Epsilon, a global connectivity and communications service provider, has partnered with Business Connexion (BCX), one of South Africa's technology companies, to deliver high performance data centre interconnection (DCI) services for African enterprises.

Emirates announced it will resume flights to Johannesburg (1 October), Cape Town (1 October), Durban (4 October) in South Africa; Harare in Zimbabwe (1 October); and Mauritius (3 October).

Vuna Partners Fund announced its acquisition of an 80% equity stake in 4PL Group Proprietary (4PL), with the remaining 20% shareholding held by the management of 4PL Group.

The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) and the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) have come together to launch an innovative programme to drive change and enhance local skills base.

South Africa’s tech company Digital Kungfu has launched Africa's premium lead-gen skills accelerator for tech companies.

Pan African cross-industry API marketplace Chenosis has announced the conclusion of its first set of strategic partnerships with Nigerian-based emerging digital platform provider Blusalt and Gwirio, a software services company founded in South Africa.

Sasol has become the first raw material supplier to the South African plastics industry to become a signatory of Operation Clean Sweep (OCS).

Mastercard has launched Fintech Express in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), a program designed to facilitate emerging fintechs’ launch and expansion.

The production of South African poultry increased by 5% during the first 8 months of the year, when compared to the same period last year, despite the challenges to the operating environment brought on by COVID-19.

Unilever Southern Africa has partnered with the Department of Small Business Development to increase investment in Small, Micro and Medium Enterprise (SMMEs) development.

South Africa's Solidarity Fund received R50m grant from the government of the United Kingdom, aimed at extending ongoing efforts to counter the repercussions of COVID-19, focusing specifically on projects supporting and promoting women.

The 2020 lockdowns have fundamentally changed the way business operates with new operational models allowing remote working. Broadband connectivity is essential to achieve this.

With the easing of travel restrictions across the globe, Ethiopian announced it will restart scheduled commercial flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town as of 01 October 2020.

Kaspersky security solutions has reported on 28 million malware attacks in 2020 and 102 million detections of potentially unwanted programs accounted for by the beginning of August 2020.

In the South Africa of about 15 years ago, total retail sales via ecommerce hovered at R2 billion. This year, the estimate for total online retail sales is close to R14 billion – a phenomenal 700 percent increase.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) recently launched a project that aims to investigate the drivers and barriers to adoption of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in southern Africa.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has become the first South African stock exchange to list two global ESG focused Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), the Satrix MSCI EM ESG Enhanced ETF.

Among the world’s top 10 global tech giants, women hold just 19% of tech-related jobs. In South Africa this figure amounts to 23%, according to Women in Tech ZA.

Edcon announced that the sale of parts of the Edgars business in South Africa to Retailability has been implemented, with all approvals from regulatory authorities and all conditions precedent either fulfilled or waived.

JSE Limited, the operator of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Africa's largest, multi-asset class stock exchange, has received approval from the Competition Tribunal to acquire a majority stake in Link Market Services South Africa Limited.

Naspers Foundry, Naspers’s R1.4 billion early-stage tech investment vehicle aimed at boosting the South African tech sector, has closed its third deal, an investment in Food Supply Network (FSN).

Aruba Networks, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (HPE), is now offering customers and partners tailored, first-hand experience of its solutions and technology through HPE’s first-ever Lighthouse Customer Experience Centre in South Africa.

R-Squared, South Africa's influencer marketing agency announced a formal partnership with industry leaders such as iProspect and Posterscope of the international Dentsu Aegis Network.

South Africa's public sector healthcare institutions do not have the budget needed to implement progressive e-health strategies, such as collating patient records across different facilities in a simple and transparent manner.

As South Africa grapples with a looming financial crisis and eroding investor confidence, Holborn Assets (Holborn) has expanded its wealth management offering.

AngloGold Ashanti announced that all conditions precedent have been met with respect to the sale of its remaining mines in South Africa to Harmony Gold Mining Company.

Air Partner, a charter and Freight solutions specialist, has established its first physical presence in South Africa, with a Johannesburg sales office that will provide localised support to Freight clients within the region.

Supporting communities who are affected by natural disasters is a key pillar guiding Isuzu Motors South Africa's (IMSA) corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Proflight Zambia has expanded its cargo capacity by designating some of its fleet to operate dedicated cargo flights between Lusaka and Johannesburg.

SecuLetter, a member company of the Born2Global Centre signed a partnership agreement with South African IT security company Afriko on the supply of SecuLetter's products.

More than 8 500 jobs will be created through the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ), and up to 70% of those jobs will go to local residents of Mamelodi and surrounding areas in Pretoria, South Africa.

Performance Centre South Africa, the Ford-approved distributer and fitter of Ford Performance parts, has been appointed as the exclusive distributer of Vaughn Gittin’s Authentic RTR Vehicles in South Africa.

United Airlines announced plans to expand its global route network with new nonstop service to Africa, India and Hawaii.

Vodacom Group and the SADC Banking Association have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow the Vodacom Group to join the South African Development Community’s Transactions Cleared on an Immediate Basis (TCIB) payment scheme.

The national Department of Health (DoH) launched a COVID Alert SA App in partnership with Discovery, to strengthen the existing contact tracing methods to help break the transmission of COVID-19.

Kosmos Energy has entered into an agreement with Shell to farm down interests in a portfolio of frontier exploration assets for approximately $100 million, plus future contingent payments of up to $100 million.

Eutelsat Communications and Paratus, have signed a multi-year distribution agreement to bring high quality network connectivity to South Africa.

Sasol is inviting interested parties to participate in a Request for Information (RFI) process regarding the development and demonstration of CO2 utilisation technologies to progress its climate change ambitions.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) have committed project development funding to Mitochondria Energy, a local provider of affordable, reliable and sustainable energy services.

The Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) posted a robust increase to 57.3 index points in August, up from 51.2 in July.

RMB and FNB have donated R3 million from the FirstRand SPIRE fund to assist FoodForward South Africa, FFSA, set up operations in the Mpumalanga province.

CommunityWFM, a leading workforce management (WFM) software vendor announced a partnership agreement with Smartz Solutions to fuel international growth.

IFC announced a loan to FirstRand Bank to enable increased financial and advisory support to energy-efficient and water-smart projects in South Africa, helping the country meet climate emission and other environmental targets.

Imperial Logistics acquired a 49% shareholding in Pharmafrique (trading as Kiara Health), an African pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare services company based in Johannesburg South Africa.

An unforeseen work-from-home revolution has caught many companies by surprise as most employees have now been forced to work from home.

AngloGold Ashanti and Barrick Gold have agreed to sell their effective 80% stake in the Morila Gold Mine in Mali, to Mali Lithium.

Orange Business Services and De Beers Marine South Africa have jointly installed and tested a customized IoT solution to provide geofencing to maintain safe working distances for crew around the heavy machinery.

MTN has announced changes to the board of directors of MTN Group, as well as to the board of major subsidiary MTN South Africa.

Vodacom is introducing the VodaBucks Rewards Programme as a single platform that rewards customers for their loyalty to Vodacom.

With over 40 million Video Play purchases in 2019, Vodacom’s Video Play is certainly carving out its place in the Video on Demand landscape in South Africa.

The Embassy of the United States of America in South Africa has partnered with the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) to implement the 2020-2021 Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) South Africa programme.

Sanlam announced it has signed agreements with African Rainbow Capital Financial Services (ARC FS) in respect of a transaction to establish one of the largest black-empowered asset management companies in South Africa.

Santam, South Africa’s largest short-term insurer, has paid out, R870 million, nearly all of its R1 billion interim relief funds, in just over three weeks to the hospitality, leisure and non-essential retail services industries.

Sasol has selected seven small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) from in and around Sasolburg in the Free State to take part in its newly launched 24-month Sasol Business Accelerator (SBA) programme.

Vodacom Group has announced Raisibe Morathi as its new Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

South Africa’s overall GDP is expected to decline by at least 5.1 and up to 7.9 percent in 2020 and recover slowly through 2024. This will lead to major setbacks in addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality, according to a new UNDP study.

Ecobank Group announced the winners of its Ecobank Fintech Challenge, with Nokwary Technologies edging out the rest of the finalists to emerge winner of the competition.

Africa Energy, oil and gas company with exploration assets offshore South Africa and Namibia announced the signing of definitive agreements to increase its effective interest in Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa from 4.9% to 10%.

Low-cost carrier Fastjet has announced that it is to de-list from the AIM market and will re-register as a private company in a last-ditch bid to survive.

Through an extended partnership with Mastercard and Nedbank, Ukheshe Technologies the payments platform specialist, has launched its Third-Party Processing Services (TPP) in South Africa.

In a first on the African continent, South African manufactured ventilators are in production and the first life-saving machines will be ready in a few weeks’ time.

Mastercard has announced it will offer tokenization services to merchants with app, eCommerce, and recurring billing card-on-file program in South Africa.

As a part of the ongoing strategic review, the Fagerhult Group investigates different exit options for its South African business, Lighting Innovations Africa.

YeboYethu Limited, Vodacom Group’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) scheme is sitting with more than R73 million, approximately $4.2 million in its bank accounts in unclaimed dividends belonging to over 12000 shareholders.

Verady, the leading cryptocurrency tax and accounting software company announced Mazars in South Africa audit, tax and advisory firm has selected Ledgible to supply confirmation and reporting around its clients' digital currency audits.

MTN Group announced that the current group CFO of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, has been appointed as the new Group President and CEO, effective 1 September 2020.

Netcash, a payment solutions provider, has added QR payments from Zapper and SnapScan to the payment methods supported on its Pay Now Online Payment Gateway, Pay Now Invoice billing platform and Pay Now Request alerts.

South African banks’ 1H20 results will confirm a slump in operating profits due to a surge in credit losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Fitch Ratings says.

Kaspersky analysis has revealed that phishing attacks are becoming increasingly more targeted. A number of new tricks have also been found - from HR dismissal emails to attacks disguised as delivery notifications.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa, the National Treasury, and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure signed a Memorandum of Agreement in respect of the DBSA’s mandate to establish and manage the Infrastructure Fund.

Infinite Foods, Africa’s premier go-to-market platform for plant-based food brands, has announced the formation of its inaugural Advisory Board.

Digital transformation is changing the ways businesses operate throughout the world and technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and predictive analytics, already have had a profound impact.

Syngenta Seeds has completed the acquisition of Sensako, a South African seed company specializing in cereals.