South Africa Archives - BETAR.africa

Energy & Climate

Africa Has 200 Public EV Chargers. Now the Harder Question: Who Actually Builds the Cars?

Conceptual still life of a bare electric vehicle chassis with unfitted components laid out beside it

Africa’s EV charging infrastructure is underdeveloped. But the more consequential question is whether Africa will manufacture the vehicles, or simply import them from China and India. Three competing models — local assembly, Chinese direct imports, and Indian budget EVs — are fighting for the continent’s electrification future.

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Documentary photograph of a fibre trench cut along a Johannesburg suburban street

4 minute read

Technology

South Africa’s Biggest Fibre Deal Is Done. Now Parliament Wants to Know Why the Regulator Changed Its Mind.

BETAR Newsroom
March 30, 2026

The R11bn Vodacom-Maziv transaction closed in December 2025, handing Remgro a R2.66 billion dividend and giving Vodacom a 30% stake in South Africa’s dominant fibre network. Three months on, Parliament is asking why the Competition Commission reversed its earlier opposition — and whether the Open Access conditions are worth the paper they’re printed on.

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A fibre technician in a reflective vest kneels at an open street-side telecom cabinet, drawing coloured fibre strands, on an overcast Johannesburg morning.

5 minute read

Technology

South Africa’s Competition Regulator Is in Private Talks to Loosen Telecom M&A Rules. MTN Has Telkom in Its Sights

BETAR Newsroom
March 28, 2026

South Africa’s Competition Commission is holding private talks with the telecoms industry about relaxing M&A rules to enable 5G and AI infrastructure investment at scale. MTN CEO Ralph Mupita is leading the push — and Telkom, Africa’s largest fibre operator, is back in the frame.

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Documentary photograph of transmission pylons receding across the South African highveld at dusk

7 minute read

Energy & Climate

South Africa’s Grid Has Held for 335 Days. Here Is Why — and What Could Break It

BETAR Newsroom
March 28, 2026

South Africa achieved more than 335 consecutive days without loadshedding by March 2026. This is a genuine structural shift, not luck. But the coal fleet is aging, the just energy transition is underfunded, and Eskom’s debt has not gone away. The analysis behind the milestone.

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South Africa's JETP: $11B Promised. Disbursement Is Stalled. Who Is Accountable?

6 minute read

Energy & Climate

South Africa’s JETP: $11B Promised. Disbursement Is Stalled. Who Is Accountable?

BETAR Newsroom
March 25, 2026

South Africa JETP climate finance — $11B commitment, disbursement delays, governance gaps, and who is accountable for the just transition.

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Lyra Energy's $240M Thakadu Solar Plant Breaks Ground — Standard Bank Finances It Alone

4 minute read

Energy & Climate

Lyra Energy’s $240M Thakadu Solar Plant Breaks Ground — Standard Bank Finances It Alone

BETAR Newsroom
March 24, 2026

Lyra Energy Thakadu 255MW solar — Standard Bank solo financing, no DFI, and what it signals for South African renewable energy capital markets.

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Africa's Regulatory Sandbox Wave: 25 Programmes, 15 Markets, One Continent Testing AI and Fintech in Safe Harbours

6 minute read

Technology

Africa’s Regulatory Sandbox Wave: 25 Programmes, 15 Markets, One Continent Testing AI and Fintech in Safe Harbours

BETAR Newsroom
March 22, 2026

Africa has more active regulatory sandboxes than any other emerging market region. Ahead of GITEX Africa 2026, we map the continent’s safe-harbour ecosystem: which markets are open, what startups qualify, and which create the clearest path from test to licence.

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A 3D render of an old padlock and law book straining to contain a glowing glass cube of neural-network light that spills out at the seams.

6 minute read

Technology

Africa’s Data Protection Default: Why AI Regulation Without AI Laws Falls Short

BETAR Newsroom
March 22, 2026

Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Rwanda are using data protection laws to govern AI by default. It is working — up to a point. Here is what data protection law cannot reach, and what the continent’s emerging dedicated AI frameworks change.

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Nigerian technicians in hard hats guide a crane lowering a containerised data-centre module into place at dusk on the outskirts of Lagos, with a diesel generator and power cables in the foreground.

7 minute read

Technology

Africa’s AI Data Centre Race: MTN’s $240M Lagos Bet, Microsoft’s Kenya Gamble, and the Energy Problem That Could Derail Both

BETAR Newsroom
March 22, 2026

MTN is spending $240 million on an AI-optimised data centre in Lagos. Microsoft and G42 have committed $1 billion to a geothermal-powered campus in Kenya. Google’s Johannesburg region is live and its Umoja subsea cable is coming. Africa’s data centre investment wave is real — but the continent still holds less than 1% of global compute capacity, and energy constraints may keep it that way.

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Isometric illustration of a dense city block threaded with pole-mounted surveillance cameras whose cables converge into a single control node, while the layer above them is an empty, unbuilt wireframe scaffold.

6 minute read

Technology

Africa Spent $2 Billion on Chinese AI Surveillance. No Country Has Laws to Govern It.

BETAR Newsroom
March 22, 2026

Eleven African countries spent $2B+ on Chinese-financed AI surveillance. Not one has laws that adequately govern it. BETAR maps the country-by-country regulatory gap and the compliance risks for African businesses.

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South Africa

Africa Has 200 Public EV Chargers. Now the Harder Question: Who Actually Builds the Cars?

South Africa’s Biggest Fibre Deal Is Done. Now Parliament Wants to Know Why the Regulator Changed Its Mind.

South Africa’s Competition Regulator Is in Private Talks to Loosen Telecom M&A Rules. MTN Has Telkom in Its Sights

South Africa’s Grid Has Held for 335 Days. Here Is Why — and What Could Break It

South Africa’s JETP: $11B Promised. Disbursement Is Stalled. Who Is Accountable?

Lyra Energy’s $240M Thakadu Solar Plant Breaks Ground — Standard Bank Finances It Alone

Africa’s Regulatory Sandbox Wave: 25 Programmes, 15 Markets, One Continent Testing AI and Fintech in Safe Harbours

Africa’s Data Protection Default: Why AI Regulation Without AI Laws Falls Short

Africa Spent $2 Billion on Chinese AI Surveillance. No Country Has Laws to Govern It.

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