Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·28 Nov 2022

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

• City Power tariffs unlawful: The Gauteng High Court Gauteng has ruled that energy regulator Nersa’s decision to approve Johannesburg’s City Power’s electricity tariffs for 2019/20 was irrational, irregular, and unlawful and set it aside. The applicants told the court that the bulk supplier, on average, was charging 41% higher than the equivalent Eskom Direct Tariff. The court gave Nersa a year to develop a new methodology to comply with the relevant legislation. [Moneyweb]

• Eskom skills: Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberlhozer has confirmed that he will be retiring in 2023, when he turns 65. The COO has been at the power utility for 31 years, and the group – which is already struggling with a critical skills shortage amid record levels of load shedding – now risks losing even more expertise. In addition to losing Oberholzer in April 2023, several Eskom executives left the power utility this year, including acting generation executive Rhulani Mathebula who steps down at the end of this month. [MyBroadband]

• Transnet auction fails: Transnet said that only two companies had participated in its auction of slots to private players – the company’s first foray into allowing private participation on the rail network. Of the two slots on auction, only one was successful. The private sector has criticised the restrictive terms of the bidding process, which set a two-year time frame, which many complained was not a bankable proposition and included that operators must accept the lease of the line “voetstoots” with no service level agreement. [News24]

• Public strike continues: Three labour union federations – Cosatu, Saftu and Fedusa – have threatened another strike day on Friday (2 December) as the government refuses to meet their wage increase demands. The threats of renewed strike action follow a march to the offices of the National Treasury in Pretoria last week. While global rating agency Fitch announced it had decided to keep its rating of South Africa unchanged, the agency says that the standoff threatens the country’s debt servicing outlook if an increased wage is agreed to. [EWN]

• Markets:  South Africa’s rand weakened on Friday (25 November) as the dollar recovered some of its losses following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. “The rand will remain vulnerable to uncertainty in global financial markets and, therefore, relatively volatile,” Investec analyst Annabel Bishop said in a research note. On Monday (28 November), the rand was trading at R17.14/$, R17.75/€ and R20.66/£. Brent crude is trading at $81.24 a barrel. [Nasdaq]