Not more than 15% of companies placed under business rescue have emerged as operating entities, a University of Pretoria study has found.

Foreigners own up to three times more spaza shops in some townships compared with South Africans, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said. He was briefing the ad hoc committee that is investigating violence against foreign nationals on an interministerial committee report on migration.

Drought conditions affecting much of the country could lead to higher maize prices but lower meat prices as farmers slaughter cattle and sheep that they cannot afford to feed.

Retailers are working with suppliers to make sure they have enough fresh produce on their shelves.

US President Barack Obama has given South Africa 60 days to show it is meeting the requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) before he imposes normal tariffs on South African agricultural products.

At the height of moniker making it was almost de rigueur to include at least one African country in economic formations like BRICs or MINT, though in recent times the twin trends of rapid urbanisation and rabid consumption on the continent has given way to home-grown formations like RISE (Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia).

South Africans will have to pay more for food in the New Year if the drought continues to wreak havoc on this year’s harvest.

Big Red Friday – the Shoprite supermarket chain’s equivalent to Black Friday, the world’s biggest one-day sales promotion – is back on Friday, 23 October 2015.

It seems every South African company has an African strategy. Whether it is a few lines in an annual report, a statement at a results presentation or a comment to a journalist, many companies aver that they have a strategy for expanding into Africa.