The startup that rented you a phone is now fighting to survive
Rentoza, which let thousands of South Africans subscribe to a smartphone instead of buying one, has entered a formal rescue process after running out of money.
Business Bagel News
Daily news from the Business Bagel desk — the markets, money and company stories shaping South Africa, reported fast and kept clear.
The people minding South Africa's pensions just walked out
Most of the board overseeing the retirement money of the country's government workers resigned in a single week, forcing the finance minister to step in.
Editor’s pick
A symbol of state capture is back to shipping coal
The Mpumalanga mine at the centre of South Africa's state-capture scandal has been rebuilt with billions of rands and is exporting coal to Asia again.
Data centres could swallow a fifth of America's electricity by 2035
A new BloombergNEF forecast says AI's hunger for power will quadruple data-centre electricity use in a decade, straining grids already struggling to keep up.
Intel just posted its best growth in over 15 years, powered by AI
Second-quarter revenue jumped 25% as demand for AI chips surged, though the market still wants proof the turnaround can last.
Editor’s pick
South Africans now gamble a fifth of the economy, and the damage is mounting
New reporting by GroundUp and data group The Outlier shows online betting has exploded past R1 trillion a year, while calls to the gambling helpline have jumped more than fifteenfold.
The old phone company is now a data business, and it is paying shareholders more
Telkom lifted its dividend by two-thirds after a year in which data revenue climbed to nearly 60% of the total and cash flow strengthened.
Why pork just got a lot cheaper at the till
A feared shortage turned into a glut, and wholesale pork has slid from about R40 a kilo back down to R30. Here is what happened.
Mr Price's German bet is paying off, just as local shoppers run out of room
A 45% jump in sales looks stellar, until you strip out the new German chain and see how hard South African consumers are being squeezed.
The fund guarding civil servants' pensions just lost most of its board
In a single week, six directors quit the Public Investment Corporation, the chair resigned and the finance minister stepped in. At the centre: a fight over top investment jobs and a R411 million payment.
Big story
Why the Reserve Bank left your loan repayments exactly where they are
Most economists bet on a rate hike this week. The Reserve Bank held steady instead, the rand tumbled, and even the governor admits he might be proven wrong.
South Africa wants to build electric-car batteries, not just dig up what goes in them
A five-year, UN-backed programme aims to give the country the labs, skills and recycling to claim a place in the electric-vehicle battery chain.