> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.businessbagel.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Roundup — Friday, 9 October 2026 - URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/the-roundup-friday-9-october-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-09T04:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T03:59:59.000Z - Author: Christian Maidman Today’s edition Air Time Presented by[![All Weather](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/09/allweather-logo.png)](https://allweather.co.za/?ref=businessbagel.com) Good morning. Airlink flew two jets low over a packed Cape Town stadium in August, and a quarter of the airline belongs to Qatar Airways. Vodacom wants up to 55,000 more cars on Uber and Bolt, with the car loans in someone else’s name. Today it pays to check whose name is on the paperwork. Let’s get into it. --- MARKETS ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/markets--59-.png) --- LOW PASS, HIGH PROFILE ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/Article-Airlink.png) ## Airlink got the whole country looking up in August, and now it wants a network a tenth bigger Five weeks ago, Airlink put two passenger jets less than 15 metres above a packed DHL Stadium before the Springboks played the All Blacks. The flyover went viral, some people raised safety concerns, and the aviation regulator started a review. For a few days, an airline that usually just gets on with connecting cities across Southern Africa had the whole country’s attention. Now we’re getting a better look at its ambitions. Speaking to Bloomberg this week, chief executive de Villiers Engelbrecht laid out plans to grow the network by roughly 10%, adding two more African countries. **Where it’s heading:** - **More people.** About 4.5 million passengers in the year to August, 5.5% more than the year before. - **More places.** From more than 45 destinations in 15 African countries in 2024 to 67 in 16 today, with Cape Town flights to Mauritius and Zanzibar added last week. - **More planes.** More than 70 Embraer jets already, four delivered this year and three more due by July. And for those who don’t know, Qatar Airways bought 25% of Airlink in 2024, a major global partner as it looks to western, eastern and central Africa. One flyover just made sure South Africa is paying attention. [**Read the full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/airlink-stadium-flyover-qatar-airways-stake-expansion/) --- BACKSEAT DRIVERS ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/Article-Vodacom-Smartops.png) ## Vodacom wants to help put up to 55,000 new cars on Uber and Bolt without owning one Vodacom wants to help put up to 55,000 new cars onto Uber and Bolt within the next year, which is an odd thing for South Africa’s biggest mobile network to be doing. It isn’t buying or operating them. Instead, it has partnered with fleet manager SmartOps on a programme that brings together the cars, the financing, the technology and the payments needed to get thousands more vehicles onto the road. Investors finance the cars, SmartOps puts them to work on Uber and Bolt, and the money they make covers the repayments and pays the investors a commission. SmartOps handles the drivers, insurance and maintenance, while Vodacom provides some of the technology and payment infrastructure behind it. So rather than owning 55,000 cars itself, it’s building the system that could put them on the road. Two out of every three cars are meant to be electric, and at two drivers a car, Vodacom says the programme could support up to 110,000 driver opportunities. BusinessDay estimates the entire e-hailing industry has roughly 100,000 drivers today. Vodacom isn’t becoming an e-hailing company, but it clearly wants a much bigger part of the industry around it. [**Read the full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/vodacom-smartops-e-hailing-car-investor-programme/) --- BAGEL BITE **Botanically, what are peanuts classified as?** **A.** Legume **B.** Nut **C.** Grain --- DOING THE ROUNDS ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/Article-premier.png) **Premier’s takeover of RFG has landed it in a fight with the Competition Commission.** When the Blue Ribbon owner was trying to get the deal approved, it told regulators there were no plans to close any factories. Just 4 months after the takeover, however, Premier announced plans to shut RFG’s Tulbagh fruit cannery, which more than 400 workers and around 200 growers depend on. The Commission claims the closure was discussed before the deal was approved and now wants that approval reconsidered. Premier denies hiding anything and says no workers will be retrenched. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/premier-rfg-tulbagh-cannery-merger-revocation/) **Afrimat says it has just been through its toughest 6 months since listing in 2006, and iron ore is largely to blame.** A stronger rand meant it earned less from exports, while the Iran conflict pushed its shipping costs up by almost 50%. The result is a pretty dramatic swing: Afrimat now expects a headline loss of up to 60 cents a share, after making a 102-cent profit last year. Its quarry business performed much better, while profits from selling assets helped keep its overall earnings just above zero. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/afrimat-headline-loss-iron-ore-rand-shipping/) **South Africa’s mines are suddenly making a lot more money, but they’re not actually mining much more.** Gold prices jumped 50% over the past year and platinum 80%, helping revenue across the miners tracked by PwC rise 38%. Yet production grew just 2% and is still below 2019 levels. Instead of building lots of new mines, companies have largely spent their money getting more life out of the ones they already have. PwC says changing that will require more exploration, reliable power and faster permits for new projects. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/pwc-sa-mine-2026-reserves-up-production-below-2019/) **Samsung has just made more money in 3 months than any Korean company before it.** Its early estimate puts operating profit at roughly $80 billion between July and September, almost 9 times what it made over the same period last year. Samsung hasn’t told us exactly where all that money came from yet, but its chip business is expected to have done much of the heavy lifting as demand from the AI boom keeps growing. Full results come later this month. [**Full story →**](https://www.businessbagel.com/samsung-first-100-trillion-won-quarter-shares-fall/) --- WEATHER ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/weather--55-.png) --- BAGEL GAMES ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/24/9724ffa3-48e9-48a7-a5f7-e38b7d2c9b36/content/images/2026/10/Wordle--59-.png) Have you got what it takes to win today’s Wordle? [**Play here →**](https://puzzel.org/en/wordle/play?p=-P3R7-uXZBwNIeJFjwZm&ref=businessbagel.com) --- THE ANSWER As for the Bagel Bite, the answer is: **A. Legume** Unlike nuts that grow on trees, peanuts develop in pods underground, which is a classic trait of legumes. After the plant flowers, the stalk bends down and pushes the developing pod into the soil to ripen. This is why peanuts are sometimes called groundnuts. True nuts, like almonds and walnuts, grow on trees and form quite differently. --- That’s your Friday sorted. Enjoyed it? 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