News in South Africa 6th December: 1. Politics draining rand: The South African rand clawed back some of its losses since the release of the explosive section 89 report on president Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm last week, but it remains in shaky space as political uncertainty persists. The rand recovered to around R17.19 a […]
News in South Africa 5th December: 1. Load shedding issues worsen: While South Africa’s political space sits in a state of turmoil, the country’s power situation has been there for a long time – and is expected to get worse when Koeberg Unit 1 is pulled offline this week. On Thursday, 8 December 2022, Unit 1 […]
News in South Africa 1st December: 1. SA’s wealthy donated R6.8bn to needy: The latest Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report shows that 83% of South Africa’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) showed up to make a difference in 2021, by giving of their time, money, goods and services to worthy causes – despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Published last week, […]
News in South Africa 30th November: 1. Eskom’s power station shut down plan: Eskom plans to decommission and repurpose coal-fired power plants at Camden, Hendrina, and Grootvlei at an estimated $2.6 billion (R44 billion) for the three. This follows the government decommissioning and repurposing of its oldest power station Komati in Mpumalanga, with the help […]
News in South Africa 29th November: 1. Infrastructure growth not a reality: The South African government has put a spin on infrastructure projects worth billions of rands as a way to drag the economy out of stagnation – but the PR belies the reality that not much has been done over the last few years […]
News in South Africa 28th November: 1. Organised crime threatens economy: Organised crime is fast emerging as the biggest threat to our economy. It is now more damaging than bad policy or service delivery failures. We are in the grip of an epidemic with large industries from mining to construction being targeted by extortion rackets. This […]
News in South Africa 24th November: 1. SARB rate hike today: The rand firmed overnight to trade below R17 to the US dollar on Thursday morning – its strongest level since late August. The local currency was trading at R16.93 at around 06:00, buoyed by news out of the US that the Federal Reserve may […]
News in South Africa 23rd November: 1. Eskom in dire need of funds: Eskom has approached National Treasury asking for another R15 billion for diesel and other fuel so that it can keep the lights on in the country. The power utility has run out of fuel to power its open-cycle gas turbines, which are […]
News in South Africa 22nd November: 1. Risk of total blackout: Energy expert Professor Anton Eberhard has warned that Eskom’s decision not to refuel its diesel open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) increases the risk of a system failure. Eberhard is the director of Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of […]
News in South Africa 21st November: 1. R200bn in infrastructure projects underway: SA’s infrastructure backlog appears to be getting some of the attention it needs. Some 48 strategic infrastructure projects worth R193.4 billion are currently under construction, and projects worth R87.4 billion in the procurement phase, according to Infrastructure SA (ISA), which was established by […]
