South African Airways (SAA) has announced plans to resume flights into the region, including Zimbabwe, starting September.

According to the carrier, the first flights will commence on Thursday 23 of September 2021.

SAA had suspended flights in response to the adverse effects of Covid-19, which led to international travel restrictions. Several other airlines had also halted operations including to Zimbabwe.

In a statement SAA interim chief executive, Thomas Kgokolo, said tickets were expected to go on sale starting Thursday, 26 August 2021 with the first flights taking off a month later.

“The wait is finally over. In just under a month, the striking and familiar livery of SAA will once again be visible in the skies as the airline resumes operations,” he said.

“After months of diligent work, we are delighted that ShAA is resuming service and we look forward to welcoming on board our loyal passengers and flying the South African flag. We continue to be a safe carrier and adhering to Covid-19 protocols.”

Mr Kgokolo said as an initial phase, the airline will operate flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka and Maputo. More destinations will be added to the route network in response to market conditions.

“There is a profound feeling of enthusiasm within team SAA as we prepare for take-off with one common purpose – to rebuild and sustain a profitable airline that once again takes a leadership role among local, continental and international airlines.”

He said the airline was aware of challenges currently bedevilling the aviation sector and what lies ahead of the airline’s operations in the coming weeks ensuing resumption of flights.

“We thank South Africa for the support we have received in getting us to where we are today. As we are now poised for takeoff, we see this as a major milestone for SAA and the country,” he said.

SAA board chair Mr John Lamola said since the carrier came out of business rescue at the end of April 2021, it had been seized with planning for the relaunching of a restructured and fit for purpose airline that South Africans can again be proud of. He said the airline was restarting with a formidable business case.

Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania el Mashat discussed on Thursday 26 August,with Sierra Leonean Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation David Francis and his accompanying delegation horizons of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

During meeting, Mashat asserted that the political leadership and the Egyptian government support Sierra Leonean government, expressing Egypt’s readiness to boost cooperation with Sierra Leone at different levels to support development.

Mashat expressed the desire of the Egyptian state to promote bilateral ties through the joint committee to contribute to developing cooperation in the trade, investment, electricity and renewable energy, water resources and irrigation, petroleum and mineral wealth, construction, media and culture domains.

She said Egypt is looking forward to increasing the volume of trade exchange with Sierra Leone via boosting Egypt’s direct investments in the country.

Meanwhile, Francis expressed his country’s wish to boost economic cooperation with Egypt, expounding available investment opportunities in his country.

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, shows a third consecutive quarter of positive growth in Nigeria’s economy.

The report also showed the highest quarterly growth in GDP since 2014. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.01% in Q2 2021 following 0.51% growth in Q1 2021.

This growth, which continues the progress of the preceding two quarters, is a continuing trend reflecting Nigeria’s economic rebound, following the Pandemic-induced contractions seen in Q1 and Q2 2020.

The non-oil sector is a significant contributor to the economic performance in Q2 2021 with growth of 6.74% in real terms, the fastest growth in the sector since the third quarter of 2014.

The contribution of the non-oil sector to GDP increased from 91.07% in Q2 2020 to 92.58% in Q2 2021, according to the NBS.

The president commended managers of the economy for hard work and commitment, urging them to keep at it till the positive development “touches the lives and pockets of the average Nigerian.

The main drivers of the Q2 2021 economic growth included Trade, Information and Communication (mainly Telecommunications), Transportation, Electricity, Crop Production and Manufacturing, even though the service sector, specifically also recorded its strongest performance in more than a decade, growing at 9.27%.

These main growth drivers of this second-quarter performance are reflective of the gains from easing restrictions of movement locally and internationally and the improvement in the business and economic environment compared to the same period in 2020.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has said, Investments in Fourth Generation (4G) in Nigeria and Africa dropped by seven per cent in 2020.

This is even as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has again assured on the country’s readiness to deploy 5G technologies.

The drop in 4G technologies in Africa, according to ITU, was as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged and still ravaging the world. It noted that the pandemic has further created huge gap in bridging the globe’s digital divide.

The ITU, in its latest report, tagged: “The Economic Impact of Broadband and Digitisation through the COVID-19 Pandemic,” noted that the decline was in spite of the rising need for more broadband connectivity.

ITU, which is the United Nations arm in charge of the global telecommunications, disclosed that the pandemic also drove 30 per cent increase in Internet traffic worldwide with changes in time of day and geographic distribution patterns.

“Telecommunication/ICT capital investment in developed countries accelerated (from 0.5 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2010 and 2019 to 1.8 per cent between 2019, and 2020 in member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to accommodate the increase in traffic, combined with the deployment of 5G and optical fibre infrastructure,” ITU stated in the report.

It added, however, that investments declined by 7.0 per cent between 2019 and 2020 in Latin America, 2.9 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, 3.4 per cent in the Arab States, and 7.0 per cent in Africa, thereby, indicating a widening of the digital divide.

ITU observed that the decline of capital expenditures (CAPEX) per capita in developing countries has resulted in a decreasing growth rate of 4G coverage and lagging deployment of 5G. It disclosed that 5G is currently reaching 3.34 per cent of the population in Latin America, and 0 per cent of the population in Africa.

But the NCC said Nigeria’s readiness for 5G is now very high. NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said this shortly after the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, revealed Federal Government’s position on the deployment of 5G networks in Nigeria.

 “On the 5G, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has spoken about the Federal Government’s position to deploy as soon as possible.