South Africa News Archives - Page 60 of 72

30Dec

By Harry ValentineNo Comments

Main, Mozambique News, South Africa News

Maputo Could Be a Mega-Ship Port

The Port of Maputo in Mozambique has excellent development potential. It is located along the east coast of Southern Africa, to the north of the Ports of Durban and Richards Bay. It is one of several ports that connect via road and railway line to South Africa’s mega-metropolis of Johannesburg that is still Africa’s leading financial hub. Roads and railway lines from ports of Maputo, Durban, Richards Bay, East London and Port Elizabeth cross over and pass through tunnels of the extensive and high elevations of Dragon Mountain (Drakensberg). Maputo offers the shortest railway distance to Johannesburg and so could be further developed at lowest cost. Challenge at Durban While South Africa has plans to expand Africa’s busiest container port, the Port of Durban, there has been much public o...

30Dec

By Harry ValentineNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

Super-Wide Rail Cars Could Boost Port Transfers

The majority of maritime ports worldwide offer the option of intermodal transfer of containers between maritime and railway transportation, and at some ports, the port railway may serve as the means by which to undertake ship-to-ship transfers of containers. Railway technology, including parallel railway tracks, offers the possibility of developing super-wide railway cars that can carry large numbers of containers between ships at a transshipment terminal. One option could involve railway cars capable of carrying up to three levels of 40-foot containers placed three abreast and two lengthwise (6 x 3 = 18 containers). Ports and Beyond Trains of super-wide railway container carrier cars capable of straddling parallel sets of railway tracks while carrying three or even four levels of con...

9Aug

By Thabo MpeleleNo Comments

Main, Nigeria News, South Africa News

Africa Presents Unique Challenges for Multinational Corporations

Thabo Mpelele, Sales Manager: Southern & Eastern Africa, Orange Business Services Despite being plagued by economic uncertainty and socio-economic issues, Africa remains a promising long-term growth opportunity for business; with multinational corporations (MNCs) the world over continuing to enter into the region. When drawing up development and expansion plans any enterprise is faced with the fact that the African region presents unique challenges for those operating within its borders. Consumer Growth Consumer growth is a global phenomenon, and it most certainly has high importance for MNCs entering and operating in the African region. In two of Africa's fastest-growing markets of South Africa and Nigeria, as well as other markets in Africa, consumers are looking to acquire advan...

9Aug

By Peter EigenNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

Transparency is key to corruption-free infrastructure

By Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International The first Regional Roundtable on Infrastructure Governance was held in Cape Town at the beginning of November. Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International (www.Transparency.org), who addressed the event, reflects on the vital importance of openness and transparency for successful and sustainable infrastructure projects. Corruption is nothing new and it’s certainly not unique to Africa. When I worked in the World Bank’s East Africa office back in 1991, it was not just common to see multi-national companies in developed countries pay bribes to secure lucrative projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia, this behaviour was often encouraged by governments. In Germany, for example, a company found guilty of bribing ...

9Aug

By James MaposaNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

The Trouble with Branding Things African …

James Maposa Director Consultant Intergroup Brand Science (formerly Interbrand Africa) I’ve often heard people describe products and services coming out of our continent as African. Examples include African attire, African cuisine, African print and so on. For those who’ve been lucky enough to have travelled our beloved continent you’d understand the problems that come with blanket branding or making the secondary branding your primary branding. To plead my case, I’ll start off with the fact that Africa is made up of 54 countries. So when someone says that something is uniquely African, isn’t that labelling a bit too loose? And shouldn’t the African theme be secondary or better yet a tertiary reference from a nomenclature perspective. I recently read an article which mentioned the sev...

9Aug

By Harry ValentineNo Comments

Energy, Main, South Africa News

Future Options to Store Energy near Cape Town’s City Centre

Electric power arrived at Cape Town around 1900 with the construction of a coal-fired, steam-driven power station located near the Victoria and Alfred dockyard area. The location offered 2-advantages in that the power station was close to the unloading area of coal ships that could sail from Durban. The second advantage was that close proximity to the sea allowed for seawater cooling of the exhaust-steam condensers. For several years, City of Cape Town owned that power station that closed in 1965 and ended electric trolleybus operation in the city. Table Mountain Pumped Storage: Very recently, City of Cape Town officials have expressed interest in once again operating a power station. At the present time, the topography of Cape Town offers an option to introduce pumped hydraulic energy s...

9Aug

By James MaposaNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

Brand valuation missing the so what

James Maposa Director Consultant Intergroup Brand Science (formerly Interbrand Africa) I recently read an article that reported on South Africa’s most valued brands for 2016. The country’s top-10 brands were MTN, Vodacom, Sasol, Standard Bank, Woolworths, FNB, Absa, Nedbank, Investec and Mediclinic; with Multichoice bubbling under at number 11. For me what was missing in this article was the so what. So what if MTN is the most valued brand in South Africa and Africa? Does it mean that it requires a lot of cash to acquire this asset based on the equity that it has built over the years trading within the African market? Does a higher brand value mean that the firm has better access to capital and this capital is being offered to them at a more affordable rate than brands that are valued l...

9Aug

By Harry ValentineNo Comments

Energy, Main, South Africa News

An Option for Energy Efficiency and Water Production at Cape Town

Summary: The thermal capacity of seawater off Cape Town’s coast can be applied to reduce the energy consumption of commercial scale refrigerators and air-conditioners as well as sustain the energy efficient operation of refrigeration-based technology that extracts potable water from humid air. Introduction: During successive summer seasons that extend over a period of decades, the City of Cape Town has encouraged citizens to save water. The usual weather patter involves winter rainfall that is stored in mountain dams to provide Cape Town with water over the hot and dry summer season. Perhaps as a result of changing weather patterns occurring internationally, the winter of 2016 recorded unusually low levels of rainfall in the catchment areas for Cape Town’s main dams. The result was that...

18Nov

By Matt RadcliffeNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

The Effects of the Education System on South Africa’s Economic Growth

by Matt Radcliffe .pdf Acrobat Reader Abstract In the two decades since the end of Apartheid, the international community has perceived South Africa to be the most influential country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country continues to play an important economic role on the continent and is a driving political force in the African Union (AU). As such, South Africa has received recognition as an important emerging power and gained access to key international platforms, including the United National Security Council, the G20, and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) forum (German Development Institute, 2016). However, in recent years, South Africa’s position as the continental power has been challenged by fast growing African economies such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, and K...

30Oct

By Johan BurgerNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

Espinaca Innovations: A Case Study in Innovation in South Africa

By Johan Burger, NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies The Espinaca Journey At the age of 24, Lufefe Nomjana from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, in South Africa, came up with a plan to add spinach to foods consumed daily, like bread. He realised that a lot of people in his neighbourhood were obese, yet malnourished! They consumed a lot of food that although it filled their stomachs, did not provide nourishment to their bodies. It was typically cheap food that had high volumes. This created all kinds of lifestyle maladies, such as diabetes and even cancer. The idea Lufefe had when he started this innovation was to bring about change in the lifestyles of the people in the township of Khayelitsha, within the metropolitan area of Cape Town. Unemployment in South Africa is at a high figure of 26%. ...