Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Swiss commodities trading firm Gunvor are among companies that have been shortlisted to buy Shell Plc’s downstream assets in South Africa, according to people familiar with the matter.

The two companies are strong contenders for the assets that are valued at about $1 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Previous potential bidders including Trafigura’s Puma Energy, Sasol Ltd. and South Africa’s PetroSA are no longer in the running, two of the people said.

South Africa is turning potential investors off by adopting policies that are hostile to business, the head of one of country’s largest asset managers said.

“For South Africa to really fund its growth, what it really needs is new investors,” PSG Financial Services Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Francois Gouws said in an interview on Wednesday. “What is problematic is that the policies and legislation that has been pushed out over the last six months have not been market-friendly.”

It was a No. 1 hit — and it’s notoriously a little odd. Toto’s Steve Lukather has some mixed feelings about the band’s 1982 song, “Africa.” Lukather, 67, opened about the creation of the song and its legacy on the April 15 episode of . The musician is the only continuous founding member of Toto, which formed in 1977. Lukather also received acclaim for working widely as a session musician, playing guitar on more than 1,500 records. “[I] spent the best times of my life being this young session player,”...

South Africa plans to open its first overseas office for its infrastructure development agency in the Middle East, aiming to tap into the region’s deep-pocketed investors to fund energy, water and logistics projects.

The office will be launched on a two-year trial basis, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson said in an interview. His department is currently finalizing a budget for the office and assessing potential host countries.

Racially charged row between Musk and South Africa over Starlink The tussle between Starlink boss Elon Musk and South Africa over the company's failure to launch in the country stems from the nation's black empowerment laws, and could be one factor behind the diplomatic row between the US and Africa's most industrialised nation. To his more than 219 million followers on his social media platform X, Mr Musk made the racially charged claim that his satellite internet service provider was "not allowed to operate in South Africa simply because I'm...

Authorities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa rescued a kidnapped American pastor during a deadly shootout on Tuesday at a house in KwaMagxaki, Gqeberha. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (HAWKS) released a statement announcing that an operation led by the agency "resulted in the successful rescue" of an American pastor who was kidnapped. Though the news release did not name the pastor, 34-year-old Josh Sullivan, of Tennessee, was kidnapped by several armed, masked men last week at his church in the Eastern Cape. Police said they received...

IndiGo plans to add more direct flights to Europe and Africa, as India’s biggest airline taps a long-haul strategy that has historically yielded mixed results for low-cost carriers.

The budget airline will do so using leased wide-body aircraft and inducting new narrow-body planes capable of long-haul trips, Pieter Elbers , chief executive officer of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., which operates IndiGo, said in an email interview.

The search continued Tuesday for an American pastor from Tennessee who was kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa last week while serving there as a missionary. Josh Sullivan, 35, had been living in South Africa with his wife Meagan and their children since 2018, The Associated Press reported, citing the Fellowship Baptist Church blog. But on Thursday evening, a group of armed men raided Sullivan's small congregation, a branch of the Fellowship Baptist Church in the southern town of Motherwell, as he was leading a prayer service, South African local...

South Africa announced it will replace former ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool with a special envoy, Mcebisi Jonas, who has a background as deputy finance minister. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled Rasool weeks ago and gave him “persona non grata” status. It is a rare occurrence in U.S. history to expel such a high-ranking diplomat. Jonas was previously an investment special envoy in 2018 and now is the non-executive chairman of the MTN Group, the largest mobile network operator in Africa. Jonas will keep his chairmanship throughout...