GDP contracts by 8.4%

30 September, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: The Botswana Gazette Written by NCHIDZI SMARTS Wednesday, 29 September 2010 00:00 The country’s GDP in the second quarter contracted by 8.4 percent on the backdrop of a decrease in mining which fell by 23.5 percent. This contraction reverses the 4.1 percent the country achieved in the first quarter of 2010, official data from [...]

Air Botswana lambasted for grounding delegates

30 September, 2010 in Air Botswana, Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi BRIAN BENZA Staff Writer FRANCISTOWN: Air Botswana’s perennially inefficient and inconsistent service came under harsh and severe criticism here during the opening session of BOCCIM’s National Business Conference (NBC) with captains of industry challenging the government to promptly restore order at the national carrier. Air Botswana’s service failings have also reignited debate on [...]

Location politics back to haunt BIUST?

30 September, 2010 in Botswana

source: The Botswana Gazette Written by AUBREY LUTE Wednesday, 29 September 2010 00:00 • Need for rationalization • UB upsets BIUST plans A directive that called for the scaling down of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BUIST) has been reversed, and World Bank consultants IFC have been asked to come up with [...]

SA makes it easier for private power

30 September, 2010 in South Africa

source: SouthAfrica.info 29 September 2010 South Africa’s Department of Energy is helping set up an independent body to make it easier for the country to procure power from independent producers, in a bid to encourage private sector investment in electricity generation. Speaking at a wind energy seminar in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters [...]

Botswana, Zambia rail link coming

30 September, 2010 in Botswana, Zambia

source: The Botswana Gazette Written by NCHIDZI SMARTS Wednesday, 29 September 2010 12:00 In an effort to facilitate regional trade the country is forging ahead with the establishment of a railway line with Zambia. The rail link will add to the Namibia and Mozambique connection which are also in the pipeline, Minister of Transport and [...]

Young Batswana keen to invest in Zim

30 September, 2010 in Botswana, Business, Zimbabwe

source: Mmegi BRIAN BENZA Staff Writer FRANCISTOWN: Young Batswana businesspeople are positioning themselves to invest in the reconstruction of Zimbabwe through the BOCCIM facilitated P500 million credit line. Mmegi is informed that during a meeting held in Gaborone a few weeks ago to host a Zimbabwean delegation, many young businesspeople and a few established corporates [...]

Poor roads hamper access to Phikwe`s tourist attractions

30 September, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi ONALENNA MODIKWA Staff Writer SELEBI-PHIKWE: The unsatisfactory state of roads along the Selebi-Phikwe Regional Tourism Corridor, especially between the mining town and Sefhophe and in the Tswapong Hills area, makes it practically impossible for a safe and cost-efficient access to the region’s tourist attractions and products. This was said by the Coordinator of [...]

Security lapse as Khama`s plane proves too big for airstrip

30 September, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE Staff Writer *President returns to Gaborone prematurely *Khama fails to open the new 257km Trans-Kalahari highway It would seem President Ian Khama’s security boys did a shoddy job yesterday after his plane failed to land at a small airstrip at Gakhibana, about 80km from Bokspits. The plane could not land because [...]

South Africa: Country is Attracting World`s Call-Centre Business

30 September, 2010 in South Africa

source: allAfrica Business Day (Johannesburg) Beth Shirley 29 September 2010 Johannesburg — THE call centre, financial accounting, human resources management and IT support industry – collectively called business process outsourcing and offshoring – is one of SA’s fastest-growing economic sectors, according to the Department of Trade and Industry revised industrial policy action plan, released earlier [...]