A government super user died with the passwords

This is a difficult one. Zimbabwe’s Auditor General released the audit report on government and its companies for 2022. The report discloses that the Ministry of Social Welfare resorted to using excel for recording transactions of some ZWL $78b. Using governments own rate of 671 for December 2022, that amount is about US $116m.

Here’s what’s difficult to understand. Is it just the incompetence of having only one guy with admin access to the system and procedures at all for what to do when they are not around (unlikely if you ask us) or people just agreed “hey this system leaves a trail, let’s use Excel instead!”

Whatever the case, there’s no system trail or documentation for some $116m of taxes paid by ordinary Zimbabweans.

Zeelo, a South African ridesharing startup exits SA to focus on UK, US

It’s not often you hear that a company launches in Africa, expands beyond the continent, and then exists it’s home market to focus on the news ones. But this is Zeelo story, the ride-sharing company for office workers launched in South Africa in 2019 but is now leaving the market.

Zeelo, which claims to be doing 2 million rides in South Africa alone annually, is selling the SA operation, to another ridesharing startup in the same niche called Lula. More on that here.

America’s Tech Billionaires Back Trump

Prominent Americans in tech are declaring their support for Trump’s presidency as the US presidential elections in November draw closer.

No. Wall Street Journal reported this week that Elon Musk disclosed plans to donate $45m a month towards efforts to re-electing Donald Trump. Elon has been a critic of the Democrats and large media but had until now said he would remain neutral.

Co-founders of one of the most prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, Andreessen and Horowitz, also declared their support for Trump despite a life-long loyalty to Democrats. The cofounders said in a Podcast that they believes Trump’s policies are better for tech, and America’s startup ecosystem.

The US has taken quite a beating from China on many fronts in tech in the past few years. Specifically in Electronic Vehicles (EVs), vehicles in general, and more recently now in AI as well.