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Electricity, water price hikes pose risk to inflation outlook – central bank

By: Reuters 15th April 2021 Above-inflation increases to South Africa's electricity and water prices pose a risk to the consumer inflation outlook and could trigger a rise in lending rates, the central bank said on Wednesday. "These risks, should they materialise, could drive headline above the 4.5% target midpoint and... →

Eskom fetches R76-million from sale of buildings, with more assets expected to be sold

By: News24Wire 13th April 2021 Eskom has raised R76.1-million from the sale of two buildings as parts of a strategy to free up cash through the disposal on non-core assets, and more properties are expected to be sold. The buildings in Kimberley and Johannesburg were sold to the Department of Human Settlements, Water and... →

BLSA commends steps taken to advance public administration, says more to be done

By: Donna Slater 12th April 2021 Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso cautions that while business owners, leaders and CEOs may criticise government for maladministration, it ought to be remembered that government is a large and complex organisation with over two-million employees and a budget of R1.8-trillion. “That... →

Photo by Donna Slater
Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso

Still no sign of money to top up partial payment of SAA Technical staff

By: News24Wire 12th April 2021 Attempts by the management of South African Airways Technical (SAAT) to work towards the improvement of the partial payment of March salaries continued until Saturday morning, but were unfortunately unsuccessful, employees were told in a letter at the weekend. This was after meetings were held... →

De Ruyter accuser allegedly extended irregular contracts worth R8bn to oil firm

By: News24Wire 9th April 2021 Suspended Eskom procurement chief Solly Tshitangano supported the awarding of contracts worth more than R8-billion to Econ Oil in 2019 - despite being aware of evidence of impropriety and possible corruption involving Econ and Eskom officials. He also took no steps to further investigate Econ... →

Photo by Donna Slater
Eskom CEO André de Ruyter

Sanral announces R1.2bn three-year Cradock and Middelburg road construction projects

By: Schalk Burger 8th April 2021 The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is investing about R1.2-billion in road construction projects in Cradock and Middelburg, in the Eastern Cape, over the next three years. The projects in the Inxuba Yethemba local municipality are at various stages, with some in tender stage... →

Eskom contracts swapped for party funding, probe finds

By: Bloomberg 8th April 2021 An oil blending and storage company secured deals to supply South Africa’s state power utility with fuel oil worth more than R15-billion at inflated prices by paying inducements, including donations to the ruling African National Congress, a forensic investigation has found. Econ Oil & Energy... →

Scopa halts probe into claims of racism and abuse of power against Eskom's De Ruyter

By: News24Wire 7th April 2021 Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts has put on hold its inquiry into allegations lodged against Eskom CEO André de Ruyter by suspended chief procurement officer Solly Tshitangano. The committee scheduled a meeting on Wednesday, during Parliament's constituency period, to discuss... →

Photo by Donna Slater
Eskom CEO André de Ruyter

Oracle says Eskom must pay up, as utility warns of 'catastrophic consequences' of loss of support

By: News24Wire 7th April 2021 Business software giant Oracle has said Eskom should "pay the pending dues for the Oracle software that they use," after the power utility last week lost a court application to compel the US corporation to renew its support services until April 2022. Oracle provides a range of IT services, which... →

De Ruyter on racism claims: 'It’s not about race, its all about performance, delivery'

By: News24Wire 7th April 2021 Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says appointments of senior managers at Eskom were not motivated by "ulterior racial motives" but rather by "performance and delivery", following a raft of allegations against him by now suspended chief procurement officer Solly Tshitangano. This according to an... →

Photo by Donna Slater
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter

Eskom Pension, Provident Fund appoints as new CE

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 1st April 2021 The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) has appointed Shafeeq Abrahams as the new CE and principal officer, replacing Linda Mateza, effective April 1. Abrahams is the current EPPF CFO, a role he has held since 2018. →

Shafeeq Abrahams

Eskom board appoints Advocate Semenya to conduct De Ruyter probe

By: Creamer Media Reporter 1st April 2021 The board at State-owned electricity utility Eskom confirmed on Thursday that Advocate Ishmael Semenya SC had accepted its request to conduct an independent inquiry into claims of racism and abuse of power levelled against CEO André de Ruyter by suspended chief procurement officer Solly... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
André de Ruyter

Slight improvements in SOE audits are no reason to celebrate, new AG Tsakani Maluleke warns

By: News24Wire 31st March 2021 Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke said while there were marginal improvements in the audit outcomes of national and provincial government departments as well as their entities, the improvement were not nearly enough to reverse the negative financial trend many auditees have been tracking for... →

Kusile Unit 3 achieves commercial operation

By: Schalk Burger 31st March 2021 State-owned power utility Eskom on March 31 announced that Unit 3 of the Kusile power station, in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga, had achieved commercial operation this week. "Bringing the 800 MW unit to commercial status means construction has reached the halfway mark on project," it said in a statement. →

New independent utility emerges to pursue private-to-private power niche

By: Terence Creamer 30th March 2021 A new independent power utility has been established in South Africa to sell electricity directly to private and municipal customers rather than to Eskom. Branded Earth & Wire, the company aims to build a large-scale portfolio of renewable-energy assets and enter into power purchase agreements... →

Photo by Earth & Wire
One of Earth & Wire's existing facilities

South Africa continues to be G20 coal outlier, report shows

By: Terence Creamer 29th March 2021 With 86% of the country’s electricity produced from coal, South Africa continued to have the highest reliance on the energy mineral among all G20 countries in 2020, with the global average standing at 34%. The ‘Global Electricity Review 2021’, published on March 29, indicates that the G20 country... →

Department, NAC to undertake investigation into PESP mismanagement

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 29th March 2021 The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, working with the National Arts Council (NAC), is undertaking a forensic investigation to discern where additional funds can be sourced to cover the shortfall created by the mismanagement of funds of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP)... →

To keep Koeberg going, Eskom must convince regulators it has enough money

By: News24Wire 26th March 2021 If it wants the legal right to keep the Koeberg nuclear power station running, Eskom will have to convince nuclear regulators – and, perhaps, the courts – that it has the money to do so. Under rules published by minerals and energy minister Gwede Mantashe Friday, anyone who wants to keep an old... →

SAA business rescue practitioners confirm incident involving SAA aircraft on Brussels flight

By: Rebecca Campbell 25th March 2021 The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for South African Airways (SAA) have issued a statement confirming that there had been an ‘Alpha Floor’ incident involving one of the airline’s aircraft on February 24. The aircraft, unidentified in the statement but reported to be an Airbus A340, was... →

Agriculture seen as key just transition enabler in Mpumalanga, but arable land needs urgent safeguarding

By: Terence Creamer 25th March 2021 Transitioning Mpumalanga’s coal-heavy economy to higher levels of agricultural output could help create new businesses and jobs and improve the long-term economic resilience of the province as mines close and Eskom begins decommissioning power stations in line with the Integrated Resource Plan of... →

Mind the gap: Where the 'extra' R3.5bn for SAA's rescue will come from and how it will be spent

By: News24Wire 24th March 2021 In February, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said South African Airways's business rescue practitioners had asked government for an additional R3.5-billion, which caused a bit of a stir. SAA's rescue practitioners, on the other hand, maintained that the money had already been allocated as part of... →

Denel appoints Thandeka Sabela as acting CFO

By: Reuters 24th March 2021 South African state-owned defence company Denel has appointed Thandeka Sabela as acting CFO, the firm said on Tuesday. The firm's former CFO, Carmen le Grange, resigned earlier in March, extending a series of exits including the board chair and chief executive, deepening a crisis at the... →

South Africa seeks lesser of two evils with Eskom debt options

By: Bloomberg 24th March 2021 South Africa’s National Treasury is considering whether it would be better to move a chunk of Eskom Holdings' R464-billion of debt into a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or have the State take over responsibility for it directly, people familiar with the situation said. While banks have led... →

SAA Technical management hoping to pay 50% of March salaries, leaked letter shows

By: News24Wire 19th March 2021 Management at SAA Technical is continuing with efforts to try to pay employees at least 50% of their salaries due for March, but at this stage, is still waiting for details of "anticipated funding" from its shareholder, the Department of Public Enterprises. This is according to a letter to SAAT... →

Eskom: Load shedding halted from noon on Friday

19th March 2021 Load shedding will be cancelled, for now, from noon on Friday as generation units return to service, Eskom has said in a statement. Earlier in the week, generation capacity had been lost at Medupi, Arnot, Duvha and Kendal power stations. The shortfall was partly attributed to boiler tube leaks,... →

SAA rescue practitioners keen to exit the process at the end of March, creditors told

By: News24Wire 19th March 2021 The business rescue practitioners of South African Airways plan to exit the process at the end of March. SAA has been in business rescue since 5 December 2019. The primary achievement of the business rescue process, according to the practitioners, was to transition SAA from being an insolvent... →

DPE concerned about delays in revival of SAA, says deputy minister

By: News24Wire 18th March 2021 The Department of Public Enterprises is concerned about the delays in the "revival" of South African Airways, as the airline has been under business rescue for over a year with no resolution, Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Phumulo Masualle told the National Council of Provinces. He... →

We will get State-owned entities back into shape eventually, insists DPE

By: News24Wire 17th March 2021 Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises Phumulo Masualle told Parliament on Tuesday afternoon that despite ongoing troubles at state-owned entities (SOEs) and delays in already announced plans to get them back in shape, the department still had a plan to improve the fortunes of beleaguered... →

Load shedding to continue until Saturday - Eskom

By: News24Wire 17th March 2021 Load shedding will be reduced to stage 1 early on Wednesday morning; however, it will continue until Saturday morning as the power system is still "severely constrained", Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday. The drop to stage 1 will occur at 05:00 on Wednesday. "Since Monday, Eskom teams... →

SAA, rescue practitioners blasted by parliamentary accounts committee

By: News24Wire 16th March 2021 The management of South African Airways (SAA) and the State-owned airline's business rescue practitioners were blasted by some members of Parliament for not being ready to report to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday about progress made to date. In a letter dated 15... →

Eskom mulls alternatives to R300bn emissions-compliance spend

By: Terence Creamer 16th March 2021 Coal-heavy electricity utility Eskom has reiterated its commitment to complying with South Africa’s tightening minimum emission standards, but CEO Andre de Ruyter has also indicated that it is considering capital-light alternatives, as well as noncoal repowering solutions to meet its obligations,... →

Watch Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter explaining the possible alternative solutions for meeting South Africa's minimum emission standards. Camera Work: Kutlwano Matala Editing: Nicholas Boyd.

Maintenance progress alone insufficient to eliminate load-shedding risk amid 4 GW deficit

By: Terence Creamer 15th March 2021 Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter insisted on Monday that, despite a recent return to load-shedding, progress was being made on the utility’s so-called reliability maintenance programme to improve the performance of the coal fleet to the point where the risk of rotational power cuts would be materially... →

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter on the 4GW supply gap and what solutions could be used to help close it. Camera Work: Kutlwano Matala Editing: Nicholas Boyd.

Mbalula joins PRASA launch of People’s Responsibility to Protect initiative

By: Yvonne Silaule 15th March 2021 Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on March 15 joined Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane in Pretoria for the launch of the People’s Responsibility to Protect project. The project is aimed at creating partnerships between PRASA and local communities living near... →

Opinion: Addressing the misconceptions around Eskom’s proposed electricity tariff changes

12th March 2021 In this opinion piece, South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) COO Niveshen Govender points out that proposed changes to the electricity tariffs charged by Eskom shows that the utility is moving to a more proactive position that responds to the needs of consumers but also... →

New report highlights decade of falling electricity production in South Africa

By: Terence Creamer 11th March 2021 A new Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) report offers a sobering picture of declining electricity system production and demand between 2010 and 2020 – a trend that was amplified further during Covid-hit 2020, when demand slumped by a sharp 5.1%, or 11.8 TWh, to a decade low... →

Luxury train makes Covid-19 testing mandatory, free for travelers

By: Simone Liedtke 11th March 2021 Rapid antigen testing for Covid-19 has been made mandatory and free for all guests and crew, prior to travelling on the luxury Blue Train, which is operated by State-owned Transnet. The rapid test complements a comprehensive set of precautionary measures administered for the safety and peace of... →

PetroSA opaque on job cuts, union says

By: Bloomberg 11th March 2021 A South African labour union asked mediators to force the State oil company PetroSA to provide more information on proposals that may result in 40% of its employees losing their jobs. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) made submissions to the Commission for Conciliation,... →

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