RC 260818702Africa Melane
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
South Africa’s new SADC chairmanship dominated the show, with sharp debate on free movement, beneficiation and how the region can turn rhetoric into jobs and trade.
- 04:07
Ramaphosa used the SADC summit in Durban to push free movement of people, stronger regional trade and local mineral beneficiation, saying raw materials exported unprocessed mean lost value and jobs.
- 05:55
Dr Lisa Otto said South Africa can benefit from deeper SADC integration, but xenophobia, weak transport corridors, port bottlenecks and political friction make the jump to 50% intra-regional trade difficult.
- 05:07
A caller argued schools should teach practical skills such as agriculture, carpentry and small-scale manufacturing from primary level so young people leave school with usable work skills, not only a matric certificate.
- 04:52
Fedasa said winter tourism was mixed: June and July started slowly, but August improved, helped by extra flights, active marketing and visitors redirected from the Middle East conflict.
- 05:20
Small Business Development reported 5,327 spaza-fund applications, 1,386 approvals and R83.9 million disbursed by 31 July, with 933 shops supported and claims that fraudulent and foreign-linked applications were stopped.