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        <title>Engineering News | Opinion</title>
        <description><![CDATA[Regular columnists and guest writers offer their commentary and opinions as well as analysis of current events in the energy, transport and economy sector to name but a few.]]></description>
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            <title>When everything needs an app</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/when-everything-needs-an-app-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[There was a time when one could buy an air ticket, renew a TV licence, file tax returns, pay a bill or book a doctor’s appointment without downloading anything. Today, almost every service begins with the same instruction: “Download our app”.]]></description>
            <author>Martin Zhuwakinyu</author>
            <category>Africa Beat </category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:02:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>Measured ambition</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/measured-ambition-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa’s planned R1-trillion infrastructure programme is undoubtedly a chance to revive the struggling construction sector and to stimulate industrialisation. After more than a decade of weak demand and ongoing deindustrialisation, however, realising this potential will require a combination of ambition and pragmatism, together with a relentless focus on execution.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: INDUSTRIAL POLICY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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            <title>The Sacu Tariff Board</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/the-sacu-tariff-board-2026-06-30</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In the age of the Internet, with enhanced search engine AI functionality, one would expect to find an answer to nearly any question in seconds. We already know that the answer to the “ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything” is 42 – reference The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. What is really challenging and time-consuming to find is Annex B of the South African Customs Union (Sacu) Agreement. If you were thinking you could find it on the Sacu website or on the Southern African Revenue Service website, you would be wrong. The two resources that I found were the Revenue Service of Lesotho and the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.]]></description>
            <author>Riaan de Lange</author>
            <category>TRADE@WORK </category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>To combat climate change, green molecules are needed in addition to green electrons</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/to-combat-climate-change-green-molecules-are-needed-in-addition-to-green-electrons-2026-07-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[“If we look at how the economy is carbonised, an electron can only decarbonise between 60% to 70% of the economy.” This important point has been emphasised by SLR Consulting Power Sector Lead Middle East and Africa Stuart Heather-Clark, who adds that only green molecules can decarbonise the remaining 40% to 30%. Those green molecules can be provided by green hydrogen. Renewables account for about 80% of the total cost of producing green hydrogen, which makes South Africa a particularly good project platform because of its superior sunshine, prime wind, land abundance, substantial coastal water access, platinum group metals, and proven green molecule know-how.]]></description>
            <author>Martin Creamer</author>
            <category>FIRST WORD</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Populist omen</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/populist-omen-2026-07-03</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa is approaching the fifth anniversary of the deadly July 2021 riots and looting in an atmosphere that is again heavily laden with the threat of violence. It’s a fog made denser by the confluence of unemployment and poverty with conspiracy theories that lay the blame for those miserable conditions largely on foreign nationals.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: SOUTH AFRICA</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>724129</a_id>
        <updated>1782809973</updated>
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        <editor>Terence Creamer</editor>
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            <title>African roots power European football</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/african-roots-power-european-football-2026-07-03</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Here is a little secret about this column: I pen it (boy, do I actually use a Bic!) ten days before it’s published. So, the creative juices that produced this piece flowed on June 22, and by then we had already recovered from the sting of seeing Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan being denied entry into Trump-land and the controversy surrounding visa restrictions that kept many African fans away from football’s greatest festival, hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico, and the US. Helping to ease the disappointment caused by the shenanigans of US border officials and visa bureaucrats were the respectable performances of some of the African teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.]]></description>
            <author>Martin Zhuwakinyu</author>
            <category>AFRICA BEAT</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>724036</a_id>
        <updated>1782800218</updated>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>“Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?”</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/bueller-bueller-bueller-bueller-2026-07-03</link>
            <description><![CDATA[As the roll call commences, conducted by arguably one of the dullest high school economics teachers ever, Simone, a classmate, answers: “Um, he’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going out with a girl who saw Ferris. … I guess it’s pretty serious.” The teacher thanks Simone and moves on to the next person on the list before engaging – too strong a word – the class in economics.]]></description>
            <author>Riaan de Lange</author>
            <category>TRADE@WORK</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>724060</a_id>
        <updated>1782800219</updated>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Infrastructure can be the catalyst  that brings Africa together</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/infrastructure-can-be-the-catalyst-that-brings-africa-together-2026-07-03</link>
            <description><![CDATA[That Africa cannot afford fragmented voices any longer was a point mining and energy luminary Mike Teke made when he addressed the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines last month. We agree. Africa needs far greater collaboration, and we believe the continent’s need for efficient infrastructure can be the catalyse that brings Africa together. It is common cause that the world will be relying more on the resources that Africa can provide. But having resources alone is not enough and getting those resources to market with as much added value as possible will require infrastructure. As a starting point, key public and private entities need to be brought together to arrive at the way infrastructure needs can be satisfied.]]></description>
            <author>Martin Creamer</author>
            <category>FIRST WORD</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723923</a_id>
        <updated>1782809915</updated>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Firm timetable needed</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/firm-timetable-needed-2026-06-26</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The deadline has arrived for the Eskom Restructuring Task Team (ERTT) to deliver its detailed proposal and implementation plan for establishing a new State-owned Transmission System Operator (TSO). The contents will be heavily scrutinised given the importance of the TSO to the transition to a competitive market where the playing field is level for all participants.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: ELECTRICITY</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Terence Creamer</editor>
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            <title>Degrees, jobs and African farms</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/degrees-jobs-and-african-farms-2026-06-26</link>
            <description><![CDATA[There was a time when a university degree came with an almost implicit guarantee: a desk, a payslip, and a place in the middle class. African parents sold cattle and made extraordinary sacrifices because higher education was seen as the surest escape route from poverty. Today, that promise rings increasingly hollow. Across the continent, graduates are discovering that while their degrees are easier to obtain than ever before, jobs are not. Some spend years searching for formal employment and others cycle through temporary contracts, internships, and poorly paid gigs. Many eventually confront an uncomfortable reality, which is that the economy is simply not producing enough white-collar jobs to absorb the growing ranks of educated young people.]]></description>
            <author>Martin Zhuwakinyu</author>
            <category>AFRICA BEAT</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723353</a_id>
        <updated>1782112866</updated>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Investors’ African blind spot </title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/investors-african-blind-spot-2026-06-26</link>
            <description><![CDATA[One of the many pertinent questions a panel interviewer asked me at the recent Cambridge Africa Business Conference was what has changed, and what do global investors consistently get wrong, about risk in Africa. As I write this on June 12, Nigeria’s Democracy Day, the answer must be the consistent shift to democratic rule. On June 12, 1993, Chief Moshood Abiola won Nigeria’s democratic elections, which were to end the corrupt military that had been in power for a decade back to barracks. The results of those elections – considered Nigeria’s freest and fairest – were cancelled. A military triumvirate led by General Sani Abacha intervened, imprisoned Abiola and continued its corrupt mismanagement for another six years.  ]]></description>
            <author>Tara O’Connor</author>
            <category>AFRICA IN FOCUS</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723512</a_id>
        <updated>1782112866</updated>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Escape clause</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/escape-clause-2026-06-26</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa on June 8 joined the ‘escape club’, ‘North, east, west, south, all in the same house’, with all due acknowledgement to the English pop-rock band The Escape Club. It joins the 2026 group of 11 countries and one economic union which together constitute 27 member countries, bringing the total to 38. The members of the club, with their notified initiations in brackets, are as follows: Australia (1), Canada (2), EU (1), India (1), Madagascar (4), Morocco (1), New Zealand (1), the Philippines (2), Russia (2), South Africa (1), Türkiye (3) and Zimbabwe (2).]]></description>
            <author>Riaan de Lange</author>
            <category>TRADE@WORK</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723531</a_id>
        <updated>1782112867</updated>
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        <editor>Melissa Zisengwe</editor>
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            <title>South Africa must pursue every viable  route to greater industrialisation</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/south-africa-must-pursue-every-viable-route-to-greater-industrialisation-2026-06-26</link>
            <description><![CDATA[In a period where change is proving to be rapid and consequential, South Africa’s public and private sectors should go all out to collaboratively pursue every viable route to greater industrialisation. Wherever meaningful opportunities present themselves, strong steps must be taken to align infrastructure, investment and skills development. It is good that an organisation as respected as Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) has already spotted that hydrogen has the ...]]></description>
            <author>Martin Creamer</author>
            <category>FIRST WORD</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723561</a_id>
        <updated>1782119611</updated>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Bridge﻿, not destination</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/bridge-not-destination-2026-06-19</link>
            <description><![CDATA[How do people in Gauteng know when motorists are driving under the influence? They are driving straight! It is to this type of sardonic humour that residents in all three of Gauteng’s metros have turned as a coping mechanism against the proliferation of potholes, the near absence of road markings, and the reality that all too many streetlights and traffic signals are simply not working.]]></description>
            <author>Terence Creamer</author>
            <category>REAL ECONOMY: MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723028</a_id>
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        <editor>Terence Creamer</editor>
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            <title>Davids fight third-country deportation Goliaths</title>
            <link>https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/davids-fight-third-country-deportation-goliaths-2026-06-19</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Every so often, Africa surprises its critics. Just when one begins to despair that the continent’s human rights institutions are little more than expensive talk shops, along comes a legal challenge to Donald Trump’s third-country deportation arrangement with Equatorial Guinea at the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).]]></description>
            <author>Martin Zhuwakinyu</author>
            <category>AFRICA BEAT</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>723108</a_id>
        <updated>1782118570</updated>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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