ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

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  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
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KZN premier calls for calm after RBM mining executive gunned down

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 24 May 2021 - 18:02

BY TIMESLIVE
Richard Bay Minerals temporarily stopped mining operations after two of its employees were shot last year. An executive was gunned down on his way to work on Monday. File photo.
Richard Bay Minerals temporarily stopped mining operations after two of its employees were shot last year. An executive was gunned down on his way to work on Monday. File photo.
Image: www.riotinto.com

KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala has appealed for calm after a hit on a senior executive at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) on Monday. 

In a statement on Monday, Zikalala said the shooting of Nico Swart, one of RBM’s most senior managers, comes in the wake of groundbreaking discussions held with company leadership and local amakhosi to iron out long-standing issues last Tuesday.

The meeting — chaired by Zikalala and attended by members of the executive council, amakhosi and management — was held to discuss RBM’s latest investment in Zulti South, as well as the finalisation of compensation to communities whose homes were damaged by RBM mining operations and the payment of outstanding dividends to the Mkhwanazi Traditional Council.

Zulti South is projected to deliver R100bn economic value to the country, with R40bn coming in the first 12 years of the mine being operational.

“We call for calm at RBM and among all those affected by this incident and to allow the current process of discussion and negotiations facilitated by provincial government at RBM to proceed,” said Zikalala.

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“The traditional communities on whose land RBM is mining were represented by the traditional authorities of Mbuyazi, Mkhwanazi, Dube and Sokhulu. All stakeholders agreed that the relevant departments of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, economic development, tourism and environmental affairs, community safety and liaison working under the leadership of the office of the premier would take matters further in the coming weeks.

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KZN mine executive killed in ambush

A Richards Bay Minerals executive was shot and killed by three men on foot while on his way to work on Monday morning.
NEWS
1 day ago

“Those processes are continuing and we will not allow anything to stop or distract us from finding each other around all the issues that have led to the instability in the area and insecurity of the huge investment by RBM in these traditional communities.

“We must identify the criminal elements and isolate them from the majority, who want nothing else but peaceful coexistence and partnership between government and the miners in the Richards Bay area.”

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Swart, who was general manager of operations at RBM, died in a hail of bullets in Richards Bay while on his way to work on Monday.

“That the incident took place in broad daylight, during rush hour and in full view of pedestrians and motorists, indicates the callous nature of the attackers. At the same time, we hope that this provides a window that will help in the identification and arrest of the perpetrators,” said Zikalala.

“We call on the police to make this a priority investigation and to get to the bottom of this criminal act. Only swift arrest will send a clear message that we will not allow violence to be used to resolve our differences, no matter what they are, or how big or intractable the problems might be.”

TimesLIVE

READ MORE:

RBM project in limbo

RBM was forced to halt work at the project in 2019 after protests in which a worker was shot and wounded
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1 month ago

Mining firms shake up boardrooms as industry plumbs new depths

Companies are trying to escape the shadow that past tragedies and transgressions have cast over them
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