The UK AI start-up depends on its Monarch Compute Campus to drive future revenue, even though building problems and stop-work orders have hit the site. Nscale said in IPO filings it has not yet secured financing for the first building.
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Anthropic signed a $45bn deal to rent computing power from the first building at the West Virginia site. That deal makes up more than 40 per cent of Nscale's $103bn revenue backlog. Nscale said Anthropic could walk away if financing is not secured by a deadline.
Records seen by reporters show building issues and regulatory scrutiny at the site. Authorities issued stop-work orders over flooding and stormwater controls. The campus covers 2,250 acres and is billed as having 8GW of power capacity.
Reports also say the two companies are in talks to double the Anthropic deal. That would add a second building, and possibly a third.
PoliticsEconomy
Sassa spent R1.27bn on grants for legal foreign nationals
The department of social development says the spending in 2025/26 was less than 1% of the total social assistance budget. It gave the figures in a written reply to a parliamentary question from ATM MP Vuyo Zungula.
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The money went to permanent residents and refugees. The department said it spent R1.12bn on permanent residents, including R931.5m on old-age grants and R134.5m on child support grants. It spent R150.8m on refugees, made up of R105.8m on child support grants and R32.7m on old-age grants.
The department also reported on social relief of distress (SRD) grants. It paid R10.6m to qualifying foreign nationals, which is 0.03% of the total SRD grant budget.
The department said the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) must by law help qualifying citizens, permanent residents and recognised refugees. It repeated its rule on people in the country unlawfully. The department said: "Sassa does not provide social grants or SRD benefits to illegal immigrants or any person unlawfully present in the republic."
Economy
JSE All Share ends Thursday 0.3% higher at 110,039
The JSE All Share index closed at 110,039 points on Thursday, up 0.3%.
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The JSE All Share index closed at 110,039 points on Thursday, up 0.3%. The Top 40 index rose to 101,876, up 0.3%.
The rand ended at R16.61 to the US dollar, stronger than R16.64 the day before. Gold was at $4,008 an ounce, down 1.1%. Brent crude was at $112.30 a barrel, down 2.6%.
Economy
Tanzania study finds tax officer visits can lower trust in poor areas
Researchers working with the International Centre for Tax and Development and Tanzania's tax administration tested what happens when tax officers become more visible. Trust and tax payments rose in richer, better-integrated areas but fell in poorer, more marginalised ones.
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The team added a randomised trial to a face-to-face survey of 1,210 small businesses in December 2022. In 119 urban and peri-urban wards, a tax officer sat in silently on interviews, while the other wards had none. The researchers then compared survey answers with tax records covering about 40,000 businesses. They say trust and compliance moved together. The authors wrote about their work in an article, and the page we read does not show the full results or a peer-reviewed journal.
EconomyPolitics
KZN says it cut projected over-expenditure by R7.2 billion
The KwaZulu-Natal government says its projected year-end over-expenditure fell from R9.725 billion in June 2024 to about R2.5 billion by the end of September 2026. Finance MEC Francois Rodgers says the recovery is not yet complete.
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The province credits tighter spending controls, better cash management and a Provincial Financial Recovery Plan. It puts the improvement at 74%. The main provincial budget in June 2024 was R150.488 billion.
Rodgers said the recovery process needs sustained discipline, consistency and institutional reform. He said: "Our task is not simply to spend less, but to spend better." The province says it still faces spending pressures in health, public works and education.
The province also cites gains in service delivery. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure reported that it completed 70 of 100 planned capital projects. KwaZulu-Natal had a 90.6% pass rate in the 2025 National Senior Certificate, the first in the country.
In health, the province says it added 44 ambulances and appointed more than 240 nurses and 238 doctors. It says more than 1.1 million active patients collect chronic medication closer to home. It also says it traced over 210 000 defaulted patients and returned them to care.
Economy
SAA staggers salary payments for a second month
South African Airways says about 30% to 40% of staff were paid late, mainly pilots, management and the board, while about 70% were paid on the 27th. The airline denies it faces financial collapse.
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SAA Group Executive for Corporate Affairs Mphilo Dlamini said the airline links the staggering to cash flow pressure from rising jet fuel costs. He said aviation fuel costs have risen sharply since the war in Iran started. SAA expects to pay October salaries by Saturday.
Dlamini said the airline chose the step to keep flying while still paying staff. He said: "It was purely because we wanted to do what I can call trade-offs to make sure that we keep the airline running".
Reports said Parliament has raised concerns about developments at the national carrier.
EconomyPolitics
Gas power programme appoints no bidders in first window
The Department of Electricity and Energy said none of the four bids, which offered 2 830MW in total, met the mandatory functional criteria. Bidders mainly could not give the gas supply assurances that the request for proposals required.
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The programme sought to buy 2000 MW of generation capacity. The department received the four bids on 29 May 2026. It issued the revised request for proposals on 20 October 2025.
The department said no generation capacity was awarded in Bid Window 1. Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said: "South Africa is not retreating from our gas-to-power objectives."
The department said it will share more information on any later procurement before the end of the calendar year. It said it and the IPP Office remain committed to procurement integrity.
WorldEconomy
UK budget defers big decisions and offers modest relief
Chancellor John Healey presented the first budget of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's new government on Wednesday. Reports said it put off the biggest decisions and offered modest measures to help Britons and businesses with the cost-of-living squeeze.
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Ahead of the budget, Healey said it would move "money and power out of Westminster and into every postcode around Britain". Reports said he planned to close a 4.7-billion-pound funding gap in the defence plan inherited from the previous Labour leader.
Healey also planned a crackdown on foreign online sellers who avoid VAT. Reports said this could raise as much as 1 billion pounds to help fund business rate cuts for high street shops. Extra funding of 1 billion pounds was also expected for social and affordable housing in England, within 39 billion pounds planned over the next decade.
Helen Miller of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Healey faces a forecast in which borrowing is still expected to fall and the fiscal rules are still being met.
Burnham is expected to seek closer ties with the EU next month and to publish a 10-year strategy document in December. Other hard issues ahead include immigration, welfare reform and North Sea oil drilling.
Economy
Tourist arrivals dip 1.3% as overseas visitors fall 11%
Statistics South Africa says about 835,000 overnight tourists arrived in September. Arrivals were about 17% below August, while visitors from the SADC region kept numbers strong.
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Nearly eight in ten tourists came from elsewhere in the SADC region. About 183,000 visitors came from Mozambique and 179,000 from Zimbabwe. Visitors from Lesotho rose by almost 22% compared with a year earlier.
About 162,000 tourists came from outside Africa. Overseas arrivals fell 11% compared with a year earlier.
Of the September tourists, 97.5% came on holiday. About 75% travelled by road. Stats SA said some ports have missing data, so the figures may undercount arrivals.
EconomyWorld
US Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady
The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate between 3.75% and 4% in a 10-2 vote on Wednesday, its last rate decision before the midterm elections. US inflation rose from 3.4% in August to 3.7% in September.
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Two members of the Federal Open Market Committee, Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack, voted against the pause. They wanted a 25 basis-point increase. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said the midterms and politics "played no role in the decision".
Reports said a surge in fuel prices linked to the Iran war is a major driver of inflation. Todd Bitter of NEXA Lending said uncertainty around the Iran war and the midterms guided the decision. Morgan Stanley economists said the Fed might not be done tightening, and that future hikes will depend on incoming data.
CME Group's FedWatch tool showed 77.9% of traders pricing in a 25-basis-point hike in December. Warsh also announced the Fed will cut the number of meetings at which it votes on rates from eight to seven next year. It will cut the number by two in 2028.
PoliticsEconomy
OUTA opposes new vehicle fee to fund the RAF
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says government should fix the Road Accident Fund (RAF) instead of charging motorists more. CEO Wayne Duvenage warned that a third-party fee could add R2,500 to the yearly cost of running a vehicle.
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Government is reportedly studying other ways to fund the RAF. The options include a charge on vehicle registration or licence renewal, and a levy on foreign-registered vehicles that enter South Africa. Duvenage called the plan to look beyond the fuel levy a knee-jerk reaction that does not address the fund's real problems.
Duvenage said the RAF has been grossly mismanaged. He said repeated fuel levy increases let government avoid dealing with the problem. He described the R2,500 figure as an illustration, not a confirmed amount.
He also said an annual fee would be less fair than the fuel levy, because every motorist would pay the same. In his words: "If you drive 150 kilometres a month and somebody drives 10,000 kilometres a month, you're both going to pay the same".
Duvenage said higher costs could push some motorists to avoid the fee, which would make enforcement harder. He said electric vehicles are not yet a major threat to funding, because they are less than 0.5% of the national fleet. He called that a longer-term challenge.
EconomyTech
Alphabet shares fall more than 10% after weak results
Alphabet missed forecasts for third-quarter earnings and revenue, and posted negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion. Nasdaq futures fell on Thursday as investors weighed the payoff from heavy AI spending, while Microsoft shares rose.
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Alphabet reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.67, against $3.02 expected. Revenue was $127.58 billion, against $128.22 billion expected. Reports said weak search advertising and Google services revenue hurt the result.
Capital spending in the quarter was $51.36 billion. Alphabet kept its 2026 forecast of $195 billion to $205 billion and said it expects a significant increase in 2027. Alphabet shares fell 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday.
Microsoft shares rose 3.5% in premarket trading after its cloud business grew faster. Azure grew 48%, and overall revenue rose 19% to $92.28 billion. Deutsche Bank analysts said Microsoft's returns did not lift the gloomy mood in tech.
Fortinet fell 25.4% and ServiceNow fell 19% after their results. Jeremy Saltzberg of Check Capital Management said: "Investors are starting to scrutinize monetization timelines versus the capital expenditure burn rates."
TechEconomy
Microsoft shows Azure revenue in dollars for first time
Microsoft said Azure brought in $33.2 billion in the September quarter, up 48% from a year earlier. Total revenue rose 19% to $92.3 billion, and net income was $36.6 billion.
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Total revenue of $92.3 billion beat the $90.75 billion that analysts expected. Operating income was $45.9 billion, up 21%. Net income rose 32%. Azure growth also beat the 44% to 45% range that Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood forecast in July.
Capital spending was $45.2 billion, below Microsoft's forecast of more than $50 billion. Microsoft said some third-party data centre capacity arrived late. Microsoft shares rose nearly 4% in after-hours trading.
Microsoft also replaced its three business segments with two. Microsoft Cloud revenue was $63.9 billion, up 30%. Xbox revenue fell 2% to $5.4 billion.
Hood said in the results release: "Results exceeded expectations across revenue, operating income, and earnings per share."
Economy
Competition Tribunal approves Harith takeover of FlySafair
The Competition Tribunal approved the deal on Wednesday. The company said in a statement on Thursday that the transaction should close later this year, subject to outstanding approvals and remaining conditions.
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Harith General Partners is a private equity firm with $3 billion in assets under management. The deal would make up about 15% of its portfolio. Harith Aviation and Safair Holdings, the parent company of FlySafair, are parties to the deal.
FlySafair holds more than 60% of South Africa's airline seating capacity. It operates more than 30 aeroplanes. It began in 2014 with two aircraft.
In 2024 the Domestic Air Services Council said the carrier broke South African ownership rules. It said trusts and companies, not people, own 75% of the airline's voting rights. A complaint from the local rival Lift led to that ruling.
Economy
South Africa's economy is 4.9% larger after GDP rebasing
Statistics South Africa rebased its GDP data and now puts GDP at current prices at R7 trillion for 2022, against R6.7 trillion reported before. Better counting of illegal mining and other unobserved activity drove much of the change.
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Mining's contribution to the economy rose 12.5% after the rebasing. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said this was mainly due to better coverage of illegal mining. It said illegal mining has grown as the price of gold has soared.
The unobserved economy now makes up 8.7% of GDP, up from 7.3% before. The contribution of finance, real estate and business services rose 9.1%, the second-largest increase in sector weighting.
Economy
Stats SA says the economy is about 5% larger
Statistics South Africa now puts last year's nominal GDP at R8.04-trillion, up from R7.64-trillion, after it rebased and benchmarked its figures. The revision widens South Africa's lead over Nigeria as the biggest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Statistics South Africa said on Thursday that it moved the base year for its figures from 2015 to 2022. It also added activity that earlier methods did not observe, and it used more complete data and better ways of measuring.
All 10 sectors tracked showed higher output. Mining, finance and trade had the largest increases. Mining had the biggest upward revision in nominal GDP, at 12.5 percent, partly because of better coverage of illegal mining.
Nigeria's nominal GDP last year was 441.5-trillion naira. Johann Els, chief economist at financial services firm PSG, said the revisions would make South Africa's debt numbers look better, in particular its debt-to-GDP ratio.
EconomyWorld
US offers Constellation up to $5 billion loan for nuclear upgrades
The US Department of Energy made a conditional loan commitment of up to $5 billion to Constellation Energy. The money would fund uprates at eight plants in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania, adding nearly 1.1 GW of capacity.
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The department's Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced the offer on Tuesday 27 October. Energy Secretary Chris Wright made the announcement during a visit to Constellation's Byron Generating Station in Illinois. The eight plants have 15 operating reactors.
Constellation said the commitment could lower its financing costs and help it add nuclear capacity at greater scale. It said recent 20-year agreements with Google and Amazon encouraged it to invest more than $7 billion to add approximately 1,080 megawatts. The company said the added electricity could power over 930,000 homes.
Constellation said uprates are one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to add dependable power without building new generation or transmission. Reports said most of the new capacity is already committed to Google, Amazon and Meta.
EconomyWorld
European office property deals fall to post-crisis low
Deal volumes for European office property in the third quarter were the lowest since the depths of the financial crisis. Soaring bond yields and a new cycle of central bank rate rises ended hopes that property values would recover.
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The fall in deal volumes followed a rise in bond yields. A new cycle of central bank rate increases also began. Together, these ended hopes for a recovery in office valuations.
Economy
JustMoney urges shoppers not to confuse discounts with savings
Sarah Nicholson, Head of Customer Experience at JustMoney, advises shoppers to plan and set a budget as early Black Friday sales start. She also says shoppers should avoid borrowing or buying on credit.
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Nicholson spoke in a radio interview on CapeTalk/702. She said a purchase that was not planned is not a saving. In her words: "If you're spending R1,000 on something that you would not otherwise have bought, you've not saved R1,000. You've actually spent R1,000."
Nicholson said buying something only because it is on special can end up costing a shopper more. She said Black Friday can still be a good chance to save on essentials, mainly for people who planned and put money aside.
She also warned that December and January can be very expensive months. She told shoppers it is fine to miss a deal, because another promotion will come along.
WorldEconomy
Weil, Gotshal & Manges plans to wind down after partner exodus
The management committee of the New York law firm recommended an "orderly wind-down" to its partners on Wednesday. The partners are expected to vote in the coming days, and the firm says it will keep serving clients.
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The firm has about 1,200 lawyers. Its leadership acted after a failed attempt to stop partners leaving. Reports said talks on a merger with Willkie Farr & Gallagher ended days earlier.
Some counts say around 40 partners left in 2026 before this week. Private equity partner Christopher Machera was one who moved, to Paul, Weiss. The firm said it will serve clients during the wind-down over the coming months.
An adviser to the firm said it believes it can wind down solvently. That would make it a dissolution, not a bankruptcy. Reports also said the firm brought in Brian Resnick, a bankruptcy partner at Davis Polk.
Economy
JSE All Share ends Wednesday 0.1% lower at 109,759
The JSE All Share index closed at 109,759 points on Wednesday, down 0.1%.
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The JSE All Share index closed at 109,759 points on Wednesday, down 0.1%. The Top 40 index was little changed at 101,567, little changed.
The rand was little changed at R16.64 to the US dollar. Gold was at $4,060 an ounce, down 0.4%. Brent crude was at $110.32 a barrel, down 3.1%.
