![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/national-gambling-board.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWarning to online gamblers: <\/strong>The Internet Service Providers\u2019 Association (ISPA) has issued a warning to South Africans about using online casinos and sports betting platforms that are not licensed in the country. The organisation states that these unlicensed platforms often set odds unfavourably for players, and that South African banks are legally required to confiscate any winnings from such sites. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n MTN acquires major international company:<\/strong> MTN Group has announced its agreement to acquire the approximately 75% stake in mobile infrastructure company IHS Holding Limited that it does not already own, for $2.2 billion in cash (around R35.2 billion). [Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public Investment Corporation’s for select companies:<\/strong> The Public Investment Corporation’s (PIC) new early-stage mining investment fund, valued at R1.35 billion, has attracted significant interest, though it has strict entry requirements. [News24<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Capitec overtakes FirstRand Bank:<\/strong> Capitec Bank is competing with FirstRand for the top banking valuation and has added nearly R60 billion to its market value in the past month. This surge has raised Capitec’s value to a record R542.4 billion. [BusinessDay<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n New social grants for South Africa:<\/strong> The Department of Social Development has confirmed the extension of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, keeping the monthly payout at R370 until March 2027 until its new successor is finalised. This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s announcement during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the grant would continue indefinitely. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are five important things happening in South Africa on Wednesday, 18 February 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":820196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-851257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851257"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855783,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851257\/revisions\/855783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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