Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·14 Nov 2022

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

• Coal power is here to stay: There’s a misconception that South Africa is quickly moving away from coal-fired power at the behest of rich countries, resulting from bad communication from the state and its funding partners. According to South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Plan (JETP), Of Eskom’s 15 coal-fired power plants, seven will be decommissioned by the end of 2030, while two more will be shut by 2035. By the end of 2050, only the two youngest coal plants – Medupi and Kusile – and one unit of the Majuba plant will remain operational, “as currently envisaged”. This means we get to use coal power for several decades after wealthy countries’ billion-dollar energy transition deals and complete their phase-outs. [News24]

• Public infrastructure warning: The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has warned that close to half of South Africa’s public infrastructure has collapsed or is close to collapsing and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Saice President Professor Marianne Vanderschuren said there was an improvement in South Africa’s infrastructure with the investment made for the Fifa World Cup in 2010, “but the trend has been downwards ever since” – adding that something must be done now or South Africa may become a failed state. [Moneyweb]

• Joburg’s imposter: The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has hired a CEO who claims a Harvard master’s degree that doesn’t exist and demands his staff call him ‘Dr’ Tshepo Mahanuke on the strength of an honorary doctorate you can buy for a small donation. Mahanuke replaced Repulic Monakedi as CEO after he quit as Johannesburg’s 12,000km road network went from bad to worse earlier this year. The city still has an average of 45,000 potholes at any one time, even after the private sector’s Pothole Patrol fixed more than 50,000 in the past 18 months. Mahanuke is being paid R3.5 million despite his questionable qualifications. However, the JRA says he must be given time to prove himself. [Daily Maverick]

• Public services reignite threats: The Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) and the healthcare professionals union Hospersa reignited the threats during last week’s strike action on Thursday (10 November) – saying that they vow to “shut down the country” if their demands continue to be ignored. The unions have given the government until Thursday (17 November) to respond. [EWN]

• Markets: The South African rand firmed in early trade on Friday (11 November), extending the previous session’s rally on lower-than-expected U.S. inflation data that raised hopes the Federal Reserve could soon start to scale back its hefty increases to the interest rate.”The outlook for the rand has improved considerably, and this past week’s performance is a sign of things to come,” ETM Analytics wrote in a research note. On Monday (11 November), the rand was trading at R17.31/$, R17.84/€ and R20.35/£. Brent crude is trading at $92.25 a barrel. [Nasdaq]