Separated by circumstance but bound by an unbreakable bond, Stephen Black Lion Singhini and his beloved dog, Fireman, have begun separate journeys across southern Africa before an emotional reunion in Malawi.

SASSA has announced that beneficiaries whose grants are under review will not receive their payments during the usual cycle in August, urging them to remain calm.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has blown the whistle on an extraordinary increase in student funding by the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (Inseta) that appears to have bypassed normal tender procedures and went to a little-known company – Mabophe Business Solutions. Inseta set up the Insurance Sector Student Fund (ISSF) to support transformation in the insurance industry by funding student bursaries. The fund receives financial contributions from both the private and public sectors. One of the larger corporate contributors is the Standard Bank Group. The value of approved ISSF funding jumped from R20 million to R442.8 million between 2024 and 2025 – nearly 22 times over the previous year’s allocation. The amount recorded as ISSF expenditure in the 2025 financial year was R158.7 million, of which R70 million was paid over to Mabophe. Students left without funding Despite the massive increase, 879 bursary recipients went without funding during the first five months of 2026, according to a recent Sunday Times report. Some were forced to pay for their accommodation, while others were evicted. This was after Inseta reportedly paid about R70 million to Mabophe to distribute funds to students, educational institutions and accommodation providers. Inseta then reportedly paid R4.6 million directly to accommodation providers as emergency relief. In 2022, Inseta advertised a three-year tender for an ISSF project management provider. Three bids were received, but the tender was officially cancelled because funding was unavailable. The bid cancellation was announced by suspended Inseta CEO Gugu Mkhize in February 2023. Mkhize was placed on precautionary suspension in June pending further investigation into disbursement failures within Inseta. Despite her suspension, Outa has launched legal proceedings challenging the October 2025 decision by Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela to reappoint Mkhize for a further five-year term to 2030, arguing that the appointment was procedurally flawed and lacked governance oversight. Inseta has received qualified audit opinions from the Auditor-General for the last four financial years. Mabophe appointment under scrutiny Outa says it must be established how Mabophe was appointed. It notes that the company has no discoverable company website setting out its services or experience, although it has been engaged by several Setas for different services, including fundraising, events and project management. According to Outa, the publicly available information does not demonstrate that Mabophe has sufficient experience to manage tens of millions of rand in student funding. “Key facts surrounding the payment failures include the fact that Inseta paid approximately R70 million to a middleman service provider, Mabophe Business Solutions, which failed to distribute the funds to the intended recipients, namely the students, their tertiary institutions or accommodation providers,” says Outa. “Consequently, the affected students faced immediate threats of eviction, food insecurity, and potential academic exclusion. Inseta was compelled to provide emergency relief in the form of a R4.6 million direct payment to prevent student evictions. “Mkhize’s suspension is reported to be part of broader governance controversies, with investigations tracked by civil groups and reports that highlight wider scrutiny of Inseta operations.” One of the students who spoke to Outa is studying at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein. He invoiced Mabophe for his accommodation in July 2025 but did not receive payment during the year. Despite holding a bursary that was meant to cover these costs, he ultimately had to pay for his accommodation out of his own pocket. CEO’s suspension welcomed Outa welcomed the proactive precautionary suspension of Mkhize on 3 June following the multi-million-rand breakdown of the ISSF, but said it had identified systematic vulnerabilities within the fund dating back to 2022, culminating in the unprecedented contract inflation during the 2025 financial year. “Through the consolidation of four separate years of official Inseta annual reports, disclosure notes and commitments schedules, Outa has established an unassailable financial trail. “This trail systematically dismantles any defence of ‘normal contract growth’ or ‘historical roll-over’,” it said. Using data from Inseta’s annual reports, Outa says Inseta successfully managed the ISSF as a highly contained and minor portfolio. Contract values between these years ranged between R18.6 million and R20 million annually. Things went awry in the 2025 financial year, when the ISSF budget increased to R442.8 million and actual spending jumped to R158.7 million. It is therefore crucial for Inseta to provide its general ledger showing where the money went. “Further investigations must be done to establish if Mabophe was appointed through the correct procedures and what is its mandate,” said Outa. Questions over ASCEO Another red flag identified by Outa is the formation of a non-profit organisation called the Association of Seta Chief Executive Officers (ASCEO). Its formation was announced on Inseta’s Instagram page on 6 August 2025. The three founding directors were Inseta’s Mkhize, Nokuthula Selamolela of FoodBev Seta, and Felleng Anacleta Yende of the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Seta. There are 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) overseen by the Department of Higher Education and Training and funded by a 1% payroll tax collected from employers in different economic sectors. “The registration and purpose of this NPC [non-profit company] is unclear and suspicious and should be further investigated,” Outa said. Moneyweb reached out to Inseta for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.

The problem is not the strategy. The real challenge lies in execution. This revelation comes from the ‘Department of the Bleeding Obvious’. Millions are often spent on diagnosing inability to get things done; conference resolutions, academic reports and smarty-pants journalism identify barriers to building infrastructure, creating jobs and fixing potholes. But earnest debates and study groups seldom identify ways through, over or around those barriers. Meanwhile, horse racing has had a solution all along: Greg Bortz. Fixing a dying industry This man took a dying industry by the scruff of its scruffy neck and shook it back to life. Anyone who saw the glamorous spectacles of the recent Hollywoodbets Durban July and World Pool Gold Cup race meetings at Greyville – and, indeed, the earlier WSB Cape Town Met at Kenilworth – would not recognise the bankrupt, sad, moribund sport that was limping along four short years ago. Of course, it wasn’t just Bortz that resurrected South African racing, but he was a main catalyst, dynamo, spark that got hundreds of people and billions of rands working flat out to fix things: the executor of the strategy. The strategy he designed. Bortz’s retirement this week as chairperson of Race Coast – at the tender age of 56 – is a story that slipped a little under the radar as the 2025/26 racing season headed to a noisy conclusion. The low-key departure is perhaps a measure of the change he has wrought: no-one is panicking that the kingpin is bowing out; the right systems and people are in place to keep things galloping along on good going. In an interview with Sporting Post, Bortz said most of the strategic milestones he’d set at the start of his rescue mission in 2022 had been reached, some of which “came with a high degree of difficulty”. Therein lies a lesson. Execution ain’t easy. Perseverance pays off. Clearly identified goals are paramount. Leaving behind ‘a committed pool of talent’ “We overhauled our stadiums and infrastructure, which was a massive project in itself. We boosted stakes and implemented incentive schemes to kickstart horse population growth and increase field sizes … most importantly, we assembled a deep bench of dedicated, talented team members. It is this committed pool of talent that provides me with the opportunity to step away now and simply focus on enjoying, as an owner, what Race Coast has to offer,” Bortz told Sporting Post. Bortz has retired before: from a highly lucrative career in investment banking and private equity in the US. Raised in Durban, a stone’s throw away from Greyville racecourse – which lit his passion for racing – he headed overseas as a young man in search of fortune. In 2012 he moved to Cape Town to enjoy the rewards of that fortune – including owning a few racehorses. But the local racing set-up was a shambles. What was a youthful, energetic retiree to do? The story of how Bortz stepped forward to join forces with the Hefer family’s Hollywoodbets online gambling firm and reconfigure the game in the Western Cape and then in KwaZulu-Natal is well documented. A record-breaking R10-million 2026 Durban July purse, a thriving Race Coast operator and burgeoning international racing tie-ups are evidence of the dramatic turnaround. Of course, Bortz’s assertiveness and zeal to put things to rights is possibly not to everyone’s liking and some people might be wary of his, now considerable, influence. Mere mortals are never perfect, of course. But, in the final tally, racing has a lot to thank this bloke for.

Some broiler farmers in Zimbabwe are illegally mixing human antiretroviral (ARV) drugs into chicken feed and drinking water in an attempt to reduce bird deaths and speed up growth, an investigation has found. The investigation by the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project (SA AJP) found that some farmers buy ARVs on the black market. They add them to poultry feed because they believe the medicines protect chickens from disease and help them reach market weight faster. The practice has raised serious concerns about food safety, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the diversion of life-saving HIV medicines and the potential impact on people receiving HIV treatment. Farmers turn to black-market ARVs SA AJP interviewed poultry farmers operating in the Harare area, who described the illegal practice. One farmer said using ARVs reduced flock losses and shortened the production cycle from six weeks to four weeks. This, in turn, allows birds to reach the market sooner and increases profits. Zimbabwe’s Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act prohibits the use of medicines intended for humans in food-producing animals unless authorities specifically authorise their use. Despite farmers’ claims, researchers have found no scientific evidence that ARVs improve growth or production performance in broiler chickens. Experts warn of food safety risks In an interview with Daily Maverick, veterinary and public health experts warned that ARV residues could remain in chicken meat and other poultry products. They said repeated exposure to these residues could pose risks to consumers, especially people living with HIV. However, experts stressed that direct evidence linking the consumption of poultry containing ARV residues to reduced HIV treatment effectiveness or drug resistance remains limited. The investigation noted that researchers have previously documented similar practices in Tanzania and Uganda. They detected ARV residues in poultry feed, meat and animal tissues. Misuse of medicines fuels antimicrobial resistance Experts said the misuse of human medicines in livestock extends beyond ARVs. The investigation found that some poultry farmers also rely on other antimicrobial products, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organization identifies the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in both humans and animals as one of the main drivers of antimicrobial resistance, making infections harder to treat. The Food and Agriculture Organization has also identified Zimbabwe’s broiler industry as a major user of antimicrobials and warned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are becoming an increasing challenge in the country’s poultry sector.

Boxer, a subsidiary of Pick ‘n Pay, plans to open new stores across South Africa before the end of 2027. The discount supermarket appears to be bucking trends in this challenging economy, and offers signs of renewal for its parent company. Retailer expanding with new supermarkets In a trading update published on 28 July 2026, Boxer announced it was still on track to open an additional 25 supermarkets and 35 liquor stores nationwide. The retailer acknowledged the “slowing momentum in a highly constrained trading environment” in the 20 weeks ending 19 July 2026. However, it announced turnover during the period had grown 7.2%, with like-for-like growth reaching 2.2%, from the same period last year. The update publicised a -1.7% price deflation over the period, marking the third consecutive period of such deflation. The retailer pointed to double-digit deflation in rice, maize meal, and flour being the key contributors to price deflation. However, they remained optimistic that the retailer could maintain trading profit margin at the same level as last year’s period, thanks to what it called “strong other trading income growth and tight margin control.” The retailer had opened 19 stores nationwide in the 20 weeks ending 19 July, 6 supermarkets and 13 liquor stores and remains committed to opening its previously stated target of 35 stores before the end of the 2027 financial year. Following the trading update, Boxer (BOX) traded 3.17% lower. Boxer the darling, as Pick ‘n Pay shuts stores This news follows a turbulent period for the discount retailer’s parent company. Earlier this year, Pick ‘n Pay announced it had shuttered 56 stores and would be retrenching employees as part of its restructuring process, a move it has since halted following union intervention. According to the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU), 22 000 employees could be retrenched as a result of the retailer’s restructuring. To prevent what it describes as a move that will “deepen poverty, unemployment and inequality,” it has taken Pick ‘n Pay to the labour court. Amidst these developments, group CEO Sean Summers, who returned as chief executive in 2023, is committed to turning the retail giant around, restoring it to its former glory.

Wholesale, voice and data specialist Neill Nortje will lead the next stage of growth for the Zambian operator.

From farms and fleets to utilities and smart infrastructure, eSim for IoT gives enterprises a simpler way to keep distributed device fleets connected.