The US Embassy in South Africa issued a terror alert to all its citizens in the country last week, warning of an imminent terror attack set to take place in the affluent Sandton area over the past weekend.
The alert caused much furore among local authorities and politicians with some denying there would be any terror attack at all, others, like President Cyril Ramaphosa, condemned the US for not sharing intelligence and speaking with local authorities first.
Thankfully there was no terror attack in Sandton over the weekend but Financial Mail writes in an editorial that South Africa’s intelligence bodies don’t seem to be in the driving seat when it comes to knowing what is going on in the country.
“This is, after all, an intelligence service that was not only unable to foresee the July 2021 riots, it was also left waving its hands helplessly once that fire had ignited,” writes FM.
Meanwhile, tech reporter Toby Shapshak has turned his attention to global tech companies (no surprise there) many of whom released their latest earnings reports for the last quarter.
Shapshak notes that almost all the major players, except Apple, saw revenue decline as advertisers seek to spend their money more frugally.
Tech stocks have also dropped significantly since the start of the year while it’s interesting to note that TikTok has grown to over one billion users and is sapping much of the ad spend away from social media market dominators Meta-owned Facebook.
Here’s what else we’re reading today:
- The poor will pay for the e-tolls debt – The Citizen (for subscribers)
- Rishi Sunak has khanucked all our smug political assumptions about ‘racist’, ‘imperialist’ Britain – Daily Maverick
- TOM EATON | Will a digital ‘town square’ also mean digital beheadings or hangings? – Times LIVE (for subscribers)
- NATASHA MARRIAN: Why Ramaphosa is going to wipe the floor with Zweli Mkhize – Business Day (for subscribers)
- Ian Fuhr: Dis-Chem needs our support, not our condemnation – News24
- ANN CROTTY: Slow but steady progress in bringing state capture-accused to book – Financial Mail (for subscribers)
