On 31 August, Vodacom and Nedbank launched the first fully-mobile money transfer service in South Africa, M-PESA.

Having a high success rate in Kenya, Vodafone brought the technology to South Africa as a means of providing everyone access to sending and receiving money. Not everyone has a bank account but a lot more South Africans own cellphones making banking more accessible. In addition, this service can be used across networks – all you need is a cellphone and a Nedbank ATM or M-PESA outlet.

HSBC is one of the world’s biggest banks, so what opportunities does it see in going after South Africa’s NedBank? What happened to the supposed big economic fillip from the World Cup? Strikes keep hitting the country — so how can it grow when the people have so many grievances about working?

Nine days in and public servants are not backing down from their demands of a 8,6% wage increase and R1 000 housing allowance. Today marches took place in major cities around South Africa. In Johannesburg, about 20 000 took to the streets to deliver a memorandum to the Office of the Premier of Gauteng.

Over the past two weeks, schools have sent learners home and hospitals are unable to treat patients due to a lack of staff. However, these protesters have vowed to continue protesting without compromise.

The DA has since laid charges of intimidation and incitement to violence against two Sadtu officials, arguing that the government needs to ensure that there are consequences for strikers who break the law.

This month is women’s month in South Africa. And one of the major issues for women there, is domestic violence. It is global problem but as Rosie Garthwaite reports from Johannesburg, it’s particularly bad in South Africa.