Africa

CAPE TOWN: Player salaries for the South African 2020-21 cricket season are safe, but the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic could mean the country's cricketers earn less in the future, Cricket South Africa Acting CEO Jacques Faul has said. A number of sports teams and organisations around the world have either reduced the salaries of players and officials, or cut their staff numbers in the wake of the virus outbreak that has crippled global sport. Faul said CSA, who contract players on a yearly basis, will not follow suit, but believed the longer-term prospects for player income is of great concern. "We have budgeted for the amount. It is a centralised system and both the national team and franchise players are budgeted for," Faul told local media on Tuesday. "At this stage we will have enough capacity to see us through the season. "But in the long term, even if we cover this season, we will have to look at what the situation is going to be after that and the … [Read more...] about Cricket: South Africa won’t reduce player salaries for 2020-21 season

LAGOS: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's announcement imposing a 14-day lockdown on sub-Saharan Africa's biggest city triggered a last-minute rush on Monday (Mar 30) as people hurried to stock up on food and other supplies. Traffic snarled the streets and touts made quick money taking cash to let people leave cars in no-parking zones. "Everything is expensive, may God help us," said Jimoh Kolawole at the Oyingbo market on Lagos Island. "Rice, beans, cassava grain and palm oil are all expensive, even onions. Only God can help us." he said, the back of his car laden with sacks of flour, rice and yam. Both Lagos and Abuja, the capital, will ban movement for two weeks from Monday night. Lagos, the epicentre of Nigeria's coronavirus outbreak which has so far spawned 111 confirmed cases, is home to at least 20 million people. Many of them dwell in slums and eke out a living at the best of times. Social safety nets do not exist. "It's not easy at all, even to buy one … [Read more...] about Africa’s megacity Lagos braces for two-week COVID-19 lockdown

BERLIN: German tech investor Rocket Internet said on Thursday it had sold its stake in African e-commerce company Jumia, which has seen its shares steadily fall since they listed last April on Wall Street. Rocket Internet, which had held an 11 per cent stake in Jumia as of Nov 8, sold its holding between then and the onset of the coronavirus crisis, Bettina Curtze, the firm's head of finance and investments, told journalists, declining to be more precise. Curtze declined to reveal what proceeds Rocket Internet made from the sale, but said they were included in the €2.1 billion (US$2.30 billion) of net cash the company had as of Mar 31. Jumia shares soared when the company became the first African tech stock to list on Wall Street on Apr 12 but tumbled a month later after Citron Research, run by short-seller Andrew Left, questioned some of its sales figures. Jumia reported in February that its fourth-quarter adjusted loss before interest, taxation, depreciation and … [Read more...] about Rocket Internet sells stake in Africa ecommerce firm Jumia

JOHANNESBURG: South African businesses braced for a nationwide lockdown and panic buyers stockpiled food and other essentials on Tuesday as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases jumped to 554 from 402 a day earlier. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the 21-day lockdown from midnight on Thursday in an address to the nation on Monday, saying Africa's most advanced economy needed to escalate its response to curb the spread of the respiratory pandemic. South Africa has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa, and public health experts are worried that the virus could overwhelm the health system if infection rates rise steeply. Ramaphosa deployed the army in the streets, ordered underground mines to suspend operations and confined tourists who had arrived recently from "high-risk" countries to their hotels - some of the toughest measures on the continent. Rwanda has also imposed severe restrictions on movement, including "non-essential … [Read more...] about South Africa braces for lockdown as coronavirus cases spike to 554

CAPE TOWN: The fate of planned mid-year rugby union internationals, including a homecoming game for World Cup winners South Africa, will be decided this month, officials in several countries said on Thursday, but the indications are they will be called off. Discussions on scheduled tours by France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales to the southern hemisphere in July, and England's trip to Japan at the same time, were held on Wednesday when World Rugby’s executive committee met by video conference. But any decision on the fate of the tours was left to later in April, several sources told Reuters. World Rugby, the sport's governing body, has not issued any statement on the meeting, but its chief executive Brett Gosper had earlier this week said the tours were unlikely to go ahead. “The problem is that no union wants to make the decision to cancel its tour, not least because there are, among other things, insurance contract implications,” he told the French daily L’Equipe. … [Read more...] about Decision on July internationals to be made this month