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Terence Nombembe, auditor-general

Neotel, in partnership with the Department of Communications (DOC), Gauteng Department of Education and Huawei, announced the winners of the IgniteIT ICT schools competition. According to Huawei regional corporate communications manager Annette Mutuku, the IgniteIT ICT competition aims to develop and encourage ICT skills among girls, and break down barriers that prevent women from entering a predominantly male industry. – ITWeb

The Marikana Commission of Inquiry has launched the live streaming of its hearings in isiXhosa in an effort to streamline its proceedings. Commission spokesperson Tshepo Mahlangu says the commission, in partnership with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), has been providing live video streaming of the proceedings via the SABC News YouTube channel. “Of the 34 people killed, most were from the Eastern Cape,” he said. – ITWeb

Government departments could face a backlog in service provider payments after a problem with its electronic payment system took a week to resolve. State IT Agency (SITA) spokesperson, Jeanny Morulane, says the Basic Accounting System (BAS) is up and running again, after a problem with its database stopped users from accessing the system. – ITWeb

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) says its new smart ID cards, to be issued to staff, will allow complete access to management, enabling it to determine, at any given time, which officials are where. According to DCS chief deputy commissioner Teboho Mokoena, the ID cards were designed specifically with access security in mind. – ITWeb

Government needs support from IT professionals in order to get its governance right. This is according to auditor-general Terence Nombembe, who discussed government’s approach to governance at the South African Chapter of the ISACA conference, in Johannesburg, recently. In order to improve IT governance, private practitioners working in the industry need to collaborate with government to solve IT-related issues, he said. – ITWeb

The prize giving of the Mobile Application Development (MAD) challenge, hosted by the Institute for e-skills human capacity development, took place at the University of Pretoria. According to chief director for the institute, Mymoena Sharif, the MAD Challenge is designed to introduce grade nine and 12 secondary school learners to mobile technology as a stimulator of entrepreneurial potential and interest in ICT as a career and study choice. – ITWeb

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Nomalanga Nkosi, MTN SA" />SnapScan was awarded Best App of the Year, at the MTN App Awards 2013. Nomalanga Nkosi, MTN SA GM for enterprise marketing, congratulated the SnapScan team, saying they demonstrated a solid passion for application development, and this, along with their innovation and understanding of what a mobile user really wants from an app, led them to receiving the prestigious award. – ITWeb

Tsogo Sun has pledged its support for the 49M energy-efficiency campaign. According to Rob Collins, chief marketing officer at Tsogo Sun, the group was excited to be part of the 49M campaign, as it conforms with the company’s commitment to energy efficiency. This makes it the 117th organisation or government department to sign the pledge, joining T-Systems, the CSIR, Samsung and MTN, among others. – ITWeb

Local company execMobile has launched an uncapped data solution for business travellers when travelling overseas in 110 countries. Craig Lowe, execMobile founder, says the company has had a lot of interest in an uncapped product from corporate clients who are looking for a fixed cost product that removes the cost uncertainty for using large amounts of data when travelling abroad. – ITWeb

Large South African corporates lag far behind when it comes to the utilisation of big data analytics, according to Adrian Wood, sales and business director for sub-Saharan Africa at Hitachi Data Systems (HDS). According to HDS, big data analytics gives companies the ability to analyse structured and unstructured data in real time, and to make business-relevant decisions based on that analysis. – ITWeb

Into Africa

Ghanaian bus transport company Metro Mass Transport Limited (MMTL) plans to introduce an electronic ticketing system before the end of the year to cut back on incidents of theft by drivers. The MD of the company, Noble Appiah, said the initiative is also planned to help the privately-owned firm turn its fortunes around. The company is currently operating at a loss. – ITWeb Africa

African pay-TV provider MultiChoice has unveiled its brand new M-Net and SuperSport studios in Nairobi, Kenya. MultiChoice officials have announced that the M-Net studios are planned to be home to the likes of a just-launched local Kenyan telenovela production, Kona, which is to be aired on the Africa Magic channel. – ITWeb Africa

Africa may get faster access to online French language content thanks to pan-African broadband service provider Seacom and internet exchange operator France-IX forming a partnership. In becoming a reseller of France-IX, Seacom says in a statement that its goal is to extend African operators and service providers’ networks to reach international peers and content at the interconnection point in Marseille, in the south of France. – ITWeb Africa

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Christian de Faria" />Indian headquartered mobile operator Bharti Airtel has named an ex-MTN South Africa exec as its new chief executive for its Africa operations. Christian de Faria, who held several positions at South Africa’s MTN, ranging from group CCO to VP West and Central Africa, is planned to take over as CEO of Airtel Africa from January 1, 2014, the company said in a statement. – ITWeb Africa

South African headquartered financial institution First National Bank (FNB) plans to unveil its ‘slimline ATMs’ in five African markets. According to a company statement, the bank has started installing the ATMs in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland and Tanzania. FNB has operations in all of these countries. “Slimlines represent a wonderful, mutually beneficial relationship for the retailer, bank and customer,” FNB head of self service channels, Aziz Cassim said. – ITWeb Africa

African Web and mobile video-on-demand service provider, Buni TV, has partnered with smartphone maker Samsung Electronics to launch an Android application. According to a company statement, the app is built to work on all Android 2.3 devices and up. It is also expected to allow viewers to watch a wide range of free content including fresh episodes of shows currently on air. – ITWeb Africa

Shareholders of listed companies in Nigeria are set to be able to withdraw any dividends they receive with the use of prepaid cards. Payment card business Verve International has partnered with First Registrars to unveil what has been dubbed ‘a first of its kind’ FirstDividend Plus Prepaid Card. – ITWeb Africa

Stream Global Services firm has added chat and email support to global business process outsource (BPO) thanks to its acquisition of a Tunisian-based firm called N2SP Tunisie. N2SP offers service and multichannel support to European customers primarily through chat and email capabilities, including hotline maintenance and technical support, customer service and back office activities. – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm unveiled smartwatches, tapping a potential “wearables” market worth an estimated $50 billion as the high-end mobile phone market becomes saturated. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch works as an accessory to its market-leading Galaxy smartphone, with a small screen offering basic functions such as photos, hands-free calls and instant messaging. – Reuters