News in South Africa 6th October:

1. Water restrictions kicking in:

Rand Water has urged residents in Gauteng to implement water-saving strategies to avoid necessitating the move to higher stages of restrictions in the province.

Water restrictions kicking in
Image taken by: Nithin PA

Large parts of Gauteng, including the major metropolitan municipalities of the City of Joburg, City of Tshwane and the City of Ekurhuleni, were hit with stage 2 water restrictions this week, following increased demand from an ongoing heatwave and damage to infrastructure from load shedding.

Speaking to NewzroomAfrika, Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said that stage 2 water restrictions see bulk supplied water pressure reduced by about 30% to various customers.

Under these circumstances, tap water should still be available to the municipalities Rand Water feeds water to, but it won’t come out of the taps as strong as before, Maroo said.

In instances where taps have run dry, this may be as a result of decisions taken by individual municipalities, she said.

However, she warned that if public consumption of water does not ease up and reservoirs are unable to fill up quickly enough, affected regions will have to move up to higher stages of restrictions.

With some in Gauteng in Stage 2 water restrictions, and taps in parts of Johannesburg remaining dry, here is what Capetonians learnt about living with very little water.

Sun-wash your clothing:

Sunshine is free and a good dose will remove the worst stink from your outfit.

Re-use the water from your washing machine for hand washing:

You can use it on clothes and on hands.

Cut your hair short:

And use 2-in-1 shampoo, or leave-in conditioner. It is far more pleasant than dry shampoo.

Stop shaving:

Stubble and a dirty car are symbols of good citizenship during a water crisis.

Swap your dog for a cat:

OK maybe don’t swap, but cats drink less water than dogs so if you are looking for a pet right now, adopt a cat.

Shower together:

It is fun and saves a good 30 litres of water per day. If you don’t have a shower buddy, do a bucket shower.

Get a solar camping shower:

They cost about R200 and hold about 20 litres of water, just enough for a shower. Leave it in the sun to heat up and hang on your shower head.

Water the plants with the pasta water:

Just go easy on the oil and salt.

A good old brick or two in the cistern:

Saving on every flush saves many litres of water.

Name and shame:

Something else that worked well for Cape Town, was the public shaming of water wasters. The city published maps on its website where you could see how much water your neighbours were consuming. It was not meant to be a tool for naming and shaming but aimed to show good behaviour. Either way, it worked.

Water restrictions

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation, South Africans consume approximately 237 litres of water per day, more than the world average of 173 litres.

Municipalities have varying restrictions in play during different stages. According to ward councillors in Joburg, the following restrictions apply at various stages:

Stage 1

  • Watering of gardens is not allowed between 06h00 and 18h00 in the summer months (September 1 to March 31).
  • Using garden hoses to clean hard surfaces is also not allowed.

Stage 2

  • Sprays and sprinklers are banned.
  • Handheld hosepipes can only be used between 17h00 and 19h00.
  • Vehicles should be cleaned between 17h00 and 19h00, using hoses that have a trigger nozzle.

Stage 3

  • Sprinklers and other sprays and dripper systems aren’t allowed.
  • Handheld hoses can only be used for 15 minutes between 17h00 and 19h00.
  • The use of grey water is advised.
  • Filling of pools is allowed for 15 minutes using hosepipes.

Stage 4

  • Outdoor irrigation of commercial and industrial spaces is banned.
  • Buckets of water must be used to wash vehicles.
  • No filling of swimming pools.
  • Recycling is encouraged, such as the use of grey water.

Stage 5

  • All limits of level 4 are upheld.
  • The efficient and moderate use of water is encouraged.

Stage 6

  • Non-residential households and properties must cut consumption by 45%.
  • Water drawn from boreholes should not be used for outdoor purposes.
  • Watering for agriculture should be reduced to 60%.

2. Load shedding could ease soon:

Power utility Eskom has given the latest load shedding update, noting that rolling blackouts will be eased into the weekend but remains elevated.

  • Stage 4 load shedding will be maintained until 05h00 on Thursday morning (6 October).
  • Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 Thursday to 05h00 on Saturday (8 October).

Eskom will publish a further update on Friday afternoon or as soon as there are any significant changes.

“The continued load shedding is necessary due to the shortage of generation capacity as a result of persistently high levels of breakdowns and to further replenish the emergency generation reserves,” it said.

“A generation unit each at Arnot, Kriel, Lethabo, Matla as well as two units at Camden Power Station have returned to service since last night. A generating unit each at Hendrina, Kendal and Majuba power stations were taken offline for repairs.”

The group said it currently has 6,647MW on planned maintenance, while another 14,692MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

The latest round of elevated load shedding follow weeks of strained generating capacity for the utility, which was forced into stage 6 more than two weeks ago.

The group has had to contend with repeated trips and breakdowns, diesel supply shortages and suspected acts of sabotage at the Camden power station, which brought the entire station down for two days over the weekend.

Schedules 

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.

3. Coal switch plans drafted:

South Africa has submitted to some of the world’s richest nations a revised plan for how it will spend a proposed R151.2 billion to help it transition away from coal.

The new draft – sent to funding partners the UK, US, France, Germany and the European Union – advances a process that’s been mired for almost a year in complex negotiations.

South Africa’s landmark climate finance deal, unveiled at last year’s UN-led talks in Glasgow, was hailed as a prototype for helping other coal-dependent developing countries transition to cleaner energy.

Its fate could have a knock-on effect at next month’s COP27 summit in Egypt, which is set to focus on the needs of poorer nations adapting to global warming.

A detailed agreement on how the funds will be apportioned is key to securing their release, with donors focused on repurposing coal-fired plants owned by state utility Eskom to produce renewable energy. South Africa is pushing for support to develop green hydrogen and electric vehicle production.

South Africa depends on coal for more than 80% of its electricity and is the world’s 13th biggest source of climate-warming greenhouse gases.

4. Traders fighting the Fed:

Wall Street’s mantra “Don’t fight the Fed” – or its local equivalent – is falling on deaf ears in South Africa, where traders are rapidly curbing rate-hike bets even as the country’s central bank maintains its hawkish rhetoric.

Forward-rates agreements are now pricing in about 183 basis points of rate increases over the next 12 months, down from as high as 250 basis points less than two weeks ago. That’s after South Africa’s central bank lifted its policy rate by 75 basis points for a second consecutive meeting last month and warned on Tuesday that there’s more to come.

Global markets have rallied this week amid expectations the Federal Reserve and other major central banks will moderate aggressive policy tightening to stave off an economic hard landing. The rand gained 2.6% in the first two days of the week and the FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index jumped more than 4%.

Still, South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Tuesday the central bank is not yet ahead of the curve, despite starting its tightening cycle early, and that it may be more aggressive. The central bank has increased its policy rate by 275 basis points since November to 6.25%.

While the pace of tightening reflected upside risks to the inflation outlook, an environment of heightened uncertainty with rising costs and domestic price pressures that have “intensified sharply” mean policy makers may still need to raise interest rates to “levels that are consistent with a stable and lower inflation rate,” the central bank said in its six-monthly Monetary Policy Review.

5. Money pouring out of SA:

New data from DFM Global shows that there has been a huge outflow of capital from South Africa’s equity and bond markets.

DFM Global shared research on the cumulative net foreign purchases and sales of JSE equities and South African bonds.

The data from DFM Global revealed a significant increase in sales of local equities and bonds towards the end of last year.

At the time, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) raised concerns about capital outflows from South Africa, which have steadily increased over the last few years.

The JSE said South Africa’s macro environment has deteriorated over the past five years, which includes global rating agencies lowering the country’s sovereign credit rating.

As a result, South Africa has either exited key global indices or become severely diluted.

JSE CEO Leila Fourie said that the rate of capital leaving the country is so significant that South Africa needs to do more to make an investment case for the country.

In November 2021, John Cairns, global markets strategist at Rand Merchant Bank, also warned that South Africa was experiencing massive capital flight.

He said a lot of financial investment capital was leaving South Africa. It includes foreign investors selling local assets and South Africans taking cash offshore.

Cairns said that part of this capital flight is due to global fundamentals, with the developed markets offering better returns and South African-specific issues.

“There is a clear shift of foreigners and locals taking money out of the country,” he said.

Not much was done to convince global investors that South Africa was a great investment destination. In fact, the local environment has deteriorated significantly since last year.

Load-shedding has increased, political instability is higher than before, unemployment reached record levels, and pressure on the state’s finances is increasing.

These local factors, combined with global macroeconomic forces, have accelerated the flight of capital out of South Africa.


All information sourced from articles posted by: BusinessTech, Business Insider, Moneyweb, Fin24, and DailyInvestor.

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