Tag Archives: JOHANNESBURG

01May/23

International Jazz Day 2023 Worldwide Celebration Concludes with Extraordinary All-Star Global Concert

The 12th annual International Jazz Day came to a thrilling close with a spectacular All-Star Global Concert featuring performances from Beijing, Beirut, Johannesburg, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Vienna and beyond. The All-Star Global Concert showcased celebrated jazz artists including Cyrille Aimée (France), Ambrose Akinmusire (USA), Thana Alexa (Croatia), John Beasley (USA), Dee Dee Bridgewater (USA), Musekiwa Chingodza (Zimbabwe), Emmet Cohen (USA), Kurt Elling (USA), Oran Etkin (Israel), Tom Gansch (Austria), Christian McBride (USA), Sérgio Mendes (Brazil), Marcus Miller (USA), Thandi Ntuli (South Africa), Dianne Reeves (USA), Antonio Sánchez (Mexico), Somi (Rwanda) and many others. Continue reading

17Oct/22

Will South Africa’s street vendors go bust in a cashless world?

Kim Harrisberg

Published: October 12, 2022

  • Digital payments on the rise in South Africa
  • People without mobile phones, bank accounts excluded
  • Calls for innovation to include informal economy

JOHANNESBURG – For more than a decade, musician Thomas Nhassavele has been busking next to the parking payment machine at Johannesburg’s Rosebank Mall, where drivers often dropped their change into his guitar case. Continue reading

26Sep/22

South African teens skip school to chase risky crypto dreams

  • Young South Africans see crypto as way to quick wealth
  • Poverty, high unemployment pushes them to crypto
  • Users not fully aware of risks, vulnerable to scams

By Kimberly Mutandiro

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – John first heard of cryptocurrency three years ago, when the teenager came across slick YouTube videos and Facebook posts of other South Africans claiming to have become wealthy overnight with bitcoin.
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01Sep/22

South African tech entrepreneurs tackle digital divide in townships

  • Tech education taken to South Africa’s townships
  • WiFi access and apps could boost informal economy
  • But technology alone is not the answer, experts warn

By Kim Harrisberg

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Moss Marakalala was 11 when he first used a laptop at an after-school programme in Johannesburg, sparking an interest in technology that inspired him to provide young people like himself from South African townships with digital education. Continue reading

18Aug/22

EskomSePush alerts users to rolling blackouts while Panda provides spaces to vent their frustrations

  • Power outages by Eskom lead to surge in app downloads
  • Apps help build community dialogue, solve problems
  • Digital literacy needed to protect data privacy

By Kim Harrisberg

At the start of each school day, South African teacher Lori Cooperman prepares her lessons, plans students’ meals and – most importantly – checks an app to see if there will be electricity. Continue reading

04Aug/22

As online hate speech hits Africa, social media firms told to act

  • Online hate speech targets Zimbabweans in South Africa
  • Widespread digital abuse also seen in Ghana, Kenya
  • Culturally sensitive content moderation key, say activists

By Kim Harrisberg and Nita Bhalla

JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI, Aug 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Social media used to be a source of light entertainment for Nora, a 47-year-old Zimbabwean domestic worker living in South Africa. But lately, it has become a source of fear.
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13Jul/22

Startups eye metaverse, NFTs, to solve Africa’s economic woes

  • Startups target unemployment and governance issues
  • Founders launch virtual African nation, marketplace
  • Critics fear replication of continent’s inequalities

By Kim Harrisberg

JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – It might sound like science fiction, but a Nigerian-born tech entrepreneur thinks he has found a way for Africans to escape problems like inequality and bad governance – a virtual nation born online.
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