To the dismay of many South Africans,
petrol is set to increase by 28c tomorrow, 7 March. Beat the afternoon bumper-to-bumper, and get your tank topped during the course of today. As of tomorrow, you'll be forking out R11.23 in Gauteng and R10.93 on the coast per litre. If you commute using public transport, be prepared to pay a slightly higher fare.
Good news though, for the Eastern Cape economy; First Automobile Works' (FAW), a multi-million rand Chinese vehicle manufacturing plant, is
currently under construction in the province. According to, Coega Development Corporation (CDC) spokesperson, Ayanda Vilakazi, "it will be one of the biggest manufacturing investments by China in the country so far."
Congratulations to business law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr for hitting
top spots in the DealMakers' Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) rankings. The firm was ranked first by both deal value and deal flow for M&A activity in 2011, according to the latest DealMakers legal adviser rankings.
And, while fanboys and girls continue battling it out on the mobile electronics field over which manufacturer is best, the
Samsung Galaxy S II was named Best Smartphone, while the company was named Device Manufacturer of the Year by GSMA at the Mobile World Congress trade show held recently in Barcelona, Spain. The feud, however, continues...
On a happy note, it isn't the end of the road for Pretoria-based opera and classical music group Black Tie Ensemble, whose sponsorship recently dried up. MTN is sponsoring the group
R2m to keep them singing. The sponsorship will enable the group to host four concerts in Johannesburg this year. Keep the arts alive and kicking, go check them out!
Sindy Peters, Content development manager
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SA's biggest clothes retailer, Edcon, may return to the JSE as early as next year as the company seeks to repay debt owed to bondholders by 2014. 
WASHINGTON: The euro area should take more steps to check the debt crisis, as the global recovery continued to be threatened by strains in the region and fragility elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday, 1 March 2012. 
Pan African bank Ecobank says the sale of its stake in Oceanic Life to insurer Old Mutual is testimony to a good and lucrative relationship with Nedbank, but the alliance needs some geographical alignment to avoid overlapping on the continent. 
RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has released an analysis of US visitation to the online taxes category in January, which showed nearly 1 in 7 US Internet users visited the category to compile information and begin filing their 2011 tax returns. This number represented a gain of 15% versus January 2011. 
PURCHASE, US: 
Fixing SA's rand exchange rate against another currency as a way to help the manufacturing sector during and after the 2008 crisis would not have been ideal, says Lesetja Kganyago, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). 
The Cosatu-led protest against labour broking and e-tolling appears set to cause major disruption on Wednesday in Cape Town's CBD. Congress of SA Trade Unions Western Cape general secretary Tony Ehrenreich told reports on Sunday afternoon that a planned march on parliament across the city centre would likely attract 30 000 people on the day. 
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has again urged road users not to buy e-tags as the deadline looms for the implementation of the e-tolling system in Gauteng on 30 April. 
The SABC has asked the government to relax the stringent conditions on its R1.4bn loan. 
