Energy

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·8 Dec 2022

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

• Stage 7 warning: Energy expert Ted Blom believes South Africa is on the cusp of stage 7 load shedding. Eskom introduced stage 6 load shedding on Wednesday, 8 December, after suffering several breakdowns. With the shutting down of unit 1 of Koeberg for refurbishment on Thursday, close to 1,000MW will be taken off the grid for six months. Unless Eskom can get stage 6 load shedding under control, higher stages seem inevitable. [BusinessTech]

• KZN E.coli: Although the mayor of eThekwini, Mxolisi Kaunda, declared the city open for holidaymakers this festive season, the city’s beaches are still highly polluted. Kaunda and deputy City manager, Musa Gumede, swam in Durban’s North Beach and Umhlanga Main Beach to show that the water was safe for holidaymakers, but an independent company published E.Coli readings from the beaches on the very day that Kaunda and Gumeda swam, showing that E.Coli levels were dangerously high.  [News24]

• New telescope in the Karoo. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project has officially started constructing the world’s two largest telescopes in South Africa and Australia. The project aims to be completed by 2028. The SKA project will utilise over 130,000 antennas and 200 satellite dishes. The SKA-MID telescope in South Africa will be far superior to existing telescopes – with four times the resolution, five times the sensitivity, and the ability to view the sky 60 times faster. [Timeslive]

• Assassin on parole: The man who killed Chris Hani, Janusz Walus, was released on parole on Wednesday under strict conditions and monitoring. His release comes a week after a fellow prisoner stabbed him. The Constitutional Court ordered the release of Walus on parole after Justice Minister Ronald Lamola refused Walus’ application for parole in 2020. [BBC]

• Markets:  The South African rand showed minimal movement on Wednesday, even after the increase of load shedding to stage 6. The rand is still trading weaker due to the political uncertainty surrounding the Phala Phala scandal, although it has clawed back some of the losses experienced last week. On Thursday (8 December), the rand was trading at R17.21/$, R18.07/€, and R20.97/£. Brent crude is trading at $77.81 a barrel.