Rare-Earth Processing: Steenkampskraal has opened the first phase of its monazite plant, beginning commercial production of concentrate, with exports planned before year-end. The project aims to process more of South Africa’s minerals locally. Local Pharma R&D: President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the CSIR’s FuturePHARMA platform in Pretoria. It will help researchers and companies scale up medicine innovations, supporting local production and supply security. Connectivity Investment: Vodacom plans to invest more than R500 million in Western Cape networks this financial year, including upgrades and new sites in rural and township communities. AI and African Languages: South Africa is among the continent’s leading AI hubs, though adoption of advanced tools remains uneven, according to the World Bank. Vambo AI has also released a language model trained on 12 African languages. Energy Transition: At Windaba, government said it is exploring sales of surplus wind power to neighbouring countries and battery storage to ease grid constraints; transmission expansion remains key. Child Health Research: A study involving 333 South African children identified gene-activity patterns linked to severe COVID-19 and other respiratory infections, offering clues for identifying children at higher risk.