Eskom has established a new company, but there are still serious questions over whether it will be fully independent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this week, the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) was finally created, marking a crucial step in transforming the nation’s electricity market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NTCSA is designed to manage the transmission of electricity nationwide. This will end Eskom\u2019s longstanding monopoly on generation and enable different power generators to sell electricity to various customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NTCSA will control the transmission network, including power lines, transformers, and the system operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It plans to invest R112 billion over five years, which could unlock roughly 11,000 MW of new connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“However, the market remains sceptical that the NTCSA will be allowed to operate truly independently,” said Roy Havemann from the Bureau of Economic Research’s (BER’s) Impumelelo Economic Growth Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is a critical part of the reform process \u2013 the intention of a separate NTCSA is to operate as an independent system market operator so that it manages the liberalisation of the electricity market.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Even the branding remains clearly ‘Eskom \u2013 NTCSA’ with NTCSA in a substantially smaller font.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Optics aside, the corporate structure of Eskom remains unbundled \u2013 the NTSCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary and does not (yet) issue debt in its own name. The focus will be on how quickly substantive independence comes about.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Impumelelo Economic Growth Lab was launched last week as an independent hub for analytical research capacity to support economic reform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lab said that the four areas that would bring the most significant gains in the shortest time are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It believes that if the reforms are implemented quickly by the Government of National Unity (GNU), GDP growth could hit over 3% in 2025, which would substantially improve from the 0.7% seen in 2023 and the expected 1.0% for 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In positive news, the NTCSA provided information on the state of renewable capacity to parliament, including: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Other reforms <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There has been mixed news for other reforms in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ports reforms were dealt a blow after the Durban High Court granted an application by APM Terminals, a subsidiary of Danish giant AP Moller-Maersk, to halt the awarding of ICTSI, a ports operator from the Philippines, as the preferred bidder to concession Pier 2 of the Durban Container Terminal Pier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Durban’s Piers 1 and 2 handle 65% of South Africa’s container volumes, with Pier 2 being the larger of the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The court\u2019s decision was not a surprise: against the advice of its own lawyers, Transnet used ICTSI\u2019s market capitalisation as a measure of solvency when assessing ICTSI\u2019s bid,” said Havemann. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In positive news, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber gazetted visa reforms after a system had been in the works for several years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the reforms has seen the introduction of a remote work visa, which allows foreign nationals who work for a foreign employer or who derive their income from a foreign source to work remotely from within South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, the remote working visa requires that the foreign national earn a gross income of at least R1 million per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The new Points-Based System for Work Visas combats corruption and inefficiency by cutting red tape and introducing a transparent points scale to objectively determine who qualifies for a Critical Skills or General Work Visa,” added Havemann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The system uses an assessment of a foreign national’s age, qualifications, language skills, work experience, offer of employment and salary.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Both reforms will make it substantially easier for companies to hire foreign skills, which has been a significant constraint, mainly for domestic technology companies.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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