South Africa: Foreigners (still) beware
As Aunesi Omari and her children cowered in her room in Philippi, a low-income section of the South African city of Cape Town, in Western Cape Province, she heard the armed men outside shout: "We're going to kill you because you don't want to listen."

AFRICA

10 priorities for digital advertising transformation
Creating effective digital advertising operations is crucial for media companies regardless of the current adverse economic climate, according to Gartner Inc.

Telkom wants a bigger slice of Africa
Telkom, one of the continent's largest fixed-line operators, will continue to pursue ICT opportunities outside South Africa.

MTN goes beyond barriers and borders
Tim Lowry, vice-president: SEA Region of MTN Group and managing director of MTN South Africa, delivered the opening keynote presentation titled: "Beyond Barriers and Borders", at the 2008 AfricaCom Conference in Cape Town on 18 November, 2008.

Mobile technology ushers new hope for Africa's poor
Mobile technology has been hailed as the latest agent for transformation within Africa, this is according to the panelists' attending an e-strategies conference in Cape Town last week.

Sybase 365, Safaricom sign service agreement
Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc., a global leader in mobile messaging services, announced its agreement with Kenyan operator, Safaricom Limited, for international SMS inter-operator services.

EAST AFRICA

Exploring the role of PR at EAPRA 2008
The 3rd East African Public Relations Conference by the Public Relations Association of Rwanda (PRAR) will be held from 4-5 December, 2008 at the Kigali Serena Hotel in Rwanda. The conference, tagged EAPRA 2008 will bring together about 200 PR professionals and practitioners from all member states of East Africa.

UGANDA

Ugandan PR practitioners to be honoured
[Walter Wafula] Public relations officers are to be rewarded for excelling in their profession, following the introduction of the first Public Relations Excellence Awards in Uganda. The Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) in Kampala unveiled the awards, last week.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe: No jingle bells, just a hopeless Christmas
[Dumisani Ndlela] What used to be a festive season full of spending has turned out to be a time of grief for both shoppers and retailers in Zimbabwe. Shops which used to burst with customers scrambling for bargains are desolate, and newspapers, which used to struggle to cope with advertorials on retail specials, are battling to fill advertising space.

A toast to Africa
[Jacqui Pile] Of all SABMiller's markets, Africa has been the most resilient against the global slowdown.