On January 27, 2026, President Emmerson Mnangagwa hosted an interactive engagement with 19 business leaders and well-wishers to discuss strategic national transformation and party mobilization. The meeting focused on establishing a structured monthly business-led sponsorship initiative to support ZANU PF’s mobilization efforts. The initiative is being led by the Party’s Treasurer-General, Cde Patrick Chinamasa. Attendees included high-profile business figures such as Dr. Kudakwashe Tagwirei.
Key Events For Today
Mnangagwa Meets With Tagwirei
Top Trending News
1. Thieves break into Chikurubi farm prison and steal cashbox with almost $2700. The thieves used an unknown tool. Inmates and officers are being interrogated.
3. Jay Israel Joins ZANU-PF
4. Zivanai Mhetu’s wife joins ZANU-PF, Nancy Mafudza
5. Thabo Senong says he was thrown out of Zimbabwe. he arrived in Bulawayo on January 5, only to be told to leave on 9 January . “I went to meet the players, and within minutes, I was told to leave as immigration was coming for me, despite having 30 days to stay in the country for my permit to be processed,” Senong said. He emphasized that he wasn’t even training the team at the time and had left his bags at the hotel as he was rushed out of Bulawayo for South Africa. The Highlanders CEO allegedly offered him an alternative role as assistant coach or technical director when left the country days later which Senong declined.
Business
1. South Africa is considering imposing anti-dumping duties on vehicles imported from China and India, its fellow BRICS partners, to protect its struggling domestic auto industry. A surge in imports from China (up 368% since 2020) and India (up 135%) now accounts for 55% of national sales, threatening local producers and parts manufacturers. The import boom has led to stagnant local production, the closure of 13 companies, and over 4,000 job losses in the past three years.
2. Israel In Eastern Cape to fix hospitals and provide water.
Africa
1. Themba Mathibe, CEO of the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has been arrested last night, allegedly in possession of a large amount of cash.
2. Goolam Mohammed Suliman Vawda, the 49- to 50-year-old man widely identified as the operator of the controversial and polarizing X account
@goolammv
, was found dead in his room at a luxury hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, on the morning of January 27, 2026. Police discovered his body unresponsive upon arriving at the hotel—reportedly around 9:30 a.m.—to serve court papers and potentially arrest him on multiple charges related to his online activities, including fraud, cyberbullying, hate speech, defamation, and spreading misinformation targeting politicians, journalists, and others.
3. The remains of 40-year-old ANC councillor Andile Mngwevu and three others were found inside their vehicle in Chokwé, Gaza Province, over a week after heavy rains on January 17 triggered deadly floods.. He was on a private or official trip to the area at the time. His remains, along with those of three others in the vehicle, were later recovered in the Chokwé area on or around January 27, 2026, confirming his death in the incident. 112 people have died in these floods which are being caused by the La Niña-influenced weather.
4. Tselane Lebogang Mautla appeared in the Moretele magistrate’s court on Tuesday in connection with the murder of five-year-old Obakeng Minyuku in Hammanskraal, Tshwane. The boy was shot on Saturday while walking home from a nearby tuck shop.
Notes
Liquid Intelligent Technologies is facing significant financial challenges centered on upcoming debt deadlines and credit downgrades. Here are the key facts, numbers, and timelines:
Credit Rating Downgrades
November 11, 2025: Moody’s downgraded Liquid’s corporate family rating from Caa1 to Caa2 (classified as “poor quality and very high credit risk”).
July 11, 2024: Fitch downgraded the company from B to CCC+.
June 4, 2024: Moody’s had previously downgraded the company from B3 to Caa1.
Debt and Financial Pressures
$131 million (R2.27 billion): Amount outstanding on a rand-denominated term loan due in February 2026.
$620 million (R10.7 billion): Value of a senior secured bond maturing in September 2026.
5.5%: The current coupon rate on the $620 million bond. Moody’s warns that refinancing in the current high-interest environment will be significantly more expensive.
3.45x: Liquid’s net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio as of August 31, 2025 (dangerously close to its 3.50x covenant limit).
The Rescue and Refinancing Plan
$185 million: Total equity the company aims to raise to repay debt and improve cash flow.
$60 million: The amount successfully raised so far out of that goal.
$100 million: Target for asset sales from the wider Cassava group to be injected into Liquid.
$25 million: Additional equity the company plans to raise “in short order.”
$220 million: Equivalent commitment secured from a lender to refinance the February 2026 loan, but this is contingent on Liquid completing a planned $125 million equity raise.
$170 million: Amount of the September 2026 bond the company plans to repay using equity proceeds, with the remaining $450 million to be refinanced via new loans and bonds.
Key Deadlines
February 2026: Deadline for the rand-denominated term loan.
September 2026: Deadline for the $620 million bond.
October 23, 2025: Date Liquid released half-year results (for the period ending August 31, 2025) which first disclosed the “material uncertainty” regarding its status as a going concern.
