Profit taking on BSE ahead of holidays

30 November, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi Brian Benza Staff Writer Shares prices on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) weakened again last week with sellers outweighing buyers as the festive holiday’s profit-taking begins. The November-December period is traditionally a profit-taking period on most bourses around the world with investors cashing in their stocks. However, for this year’s season, the cash-in [...]

Mbeki bias for Mugabe highlighted in leaked diplomatic reports

30 November, 2010 in South Africa, Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa By Lance Guma 29 November 2010 The United States former ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, highlighted what he felt was former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s bias for Mugabe and ZANU PF during his mediation efforts in 2008. On Sunday the WikiLeaks website released over 250 000 damaging documents made up [...]

Single border facility for SA, Mozambique

30 November, 2010 in South Africa

source: News24 2010-11-30 08:09 Johannesburg – Plans to create a one-stop border post between South Africa and Mozambique will advance with the opening of a single border post dedicated to the bus and minibus taxi industry, Business Day newspaper reported on Tuesday. Chief executive of the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI) Brenda Horne said the [...]

More deportations under Khama

30 November, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi Lekopanye Mooketsi Correspondent More people have been deported from this country since President Ian Khama took over power in 2008, compared to the near two-decade era of former president, Sir Ketumile Masire. During Masire’s 18 years in power, there were only 115 deportations, while under Khama, 404 people have been expelled from the [...]

SA govt: No comment on WikiLeaks

30 November, 2010 in South Africa

source: News24 2010-11-29 13:01 Cape Town – The South African government on Monday refused to comment on the publication of documents by whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The website leaked hundreds of thousands of US embassy cables – with the first batch of it published on Sunday by global media. In it, it was revealed that International [...]

Alcohol levy: Consumers desert local brews for imports

29 November, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi BRIAN BENZA Staff writer Sechaba Brewery Holding’s dwindling sales volumes of alcohol beverages is not a reflection of lower intake of alcohol in Botswana as consumers have migrated to less expensive imports than home brews, managing director Hloni Matshela has said. Briefing the media on the company’s interim results for the half-year ended [...]

Anger as Mugabe prepares to attend EU summit

29 November, 2010 in Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa By Alex Bell 26 November 2010 There has been an angry reaction to Robert Mugabe’s planned attendance at a European Union (EU) summit in Libya next week, with the EU coming under fire for continuing to host a known human rights abuser. Mugabe will be attending the EU-Africa summit in Tripoli [...]

Water tariffs still unchanged, says Kedikilwe

29 November, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI Correspondent The Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe has told Parliament that there has been no tariff increase changes effected since the Water Sector Reforms were institutionalised through a Presidential directive last year. Kedikilwe said the directive stipulated that following the transfer of water services from the Department [...]

Africa, EU Plan Ministerial Science Policy Dialogue

29 November, 2010 in Africa

source: allAfrica SciDev.Net (London) Linda Nordling 26 November 2010 Cape Town — African and European heads of state are expected to endorse plans for a high-level science policy dialogue between the two continents when they meet in Libya next week (29-30 November). The agreement, which has already received support from African and European science ministers, [...]

Another Zuma mediation effort starts in Zimbabwe

29 November, 2010 in South Africa, Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa By Lance Guma 26 November 2010 South African President Jacob Zuma arrived in the country Friday as part of endless regional efforts to diffuse political tensions that have paralysed the shaky coalition government. His visit came two days after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai filed a High Court petition seeking to annul [...]

Rental freeze set to squeeze BHC revenues

29 November, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi MBONGENI MGUNI Staff Writer As the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) counts the costs of a five-year freeze on rentals, indications are that government could continue its freeze on an area that accounts for the bulk of the Corporation’s revenues. Rentals across the BHC’s 10, 300-strong portfolio of properties were last increased in 2005 [...]

South Africa: SA, Kenya Sign Trade Pact

29 November, 2010 in South Africa

source: allAfrica BuaNews (Tshwane) 27 November 2010 Pretoria — Kenya and South Africa have agreed to waive double taxation for businesses operating in the two countries and a Memorandum of Understanding on agricultural cooperation. The agreements – signed during Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s visit to Kenya – are aimed at improving commercial relations between the [...]

Botswana hit by power crisis

11 November, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi Much of Botswana was plunged into darkness and businesses forced to close due to massive power cuts that covered a significant part of the country. *The power failure affects much of the country * BPC does not know when power will be restored * Morupule and South African transmission have been lost According [...]

Power cuts and high costs causing major deforestation

11 November, 2010 in Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa By Tererai Karimakwenda 10 November, 2010 The failure of the government to develop a stable and reliable electricity infrastructure has continued to wreak havoc on Zimbabwe’s landscape, causing massive environmental destruction. Years of corruption and mismanagement at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) have created daily power cuts and regular load [...]

BTC notches its highest profits in 10 years

11 November, 2010 in Botswana, Business, Telekoms & Providers

source: Mmegi MBONGENI MGUNI Staff Writer With a 52.2 percent increase on the previous year, the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) has posted year-end net profits of P181 million, the highest in 10 years. The financials were released yesterday for the year ended March 31, 2010. BTC’s year-end results indicate that the utility’s net profits of [...]