Author: Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the investment commitment by both Ford and Metair Investments reflects long-term confidence in South Africa as a key link in the global automotive value chain. On Tuesday, President Ramaphosa officiated the launch of the Metair Investments subsidiary Hesto Harnesses, where a new 35 000 square-metre state-of-the-art manufacturing plant was unveiled in KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal. In partnership with Yazaki Corporation, Hesto Harnesses manufactures wiring harnesses and instrument clusters for supply to South African-based automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Toyota, Isuzu, Nissan and Ford. The President was very impressed at the grand opening of Metair’s R500 million manufacturing facility for…

The government has announced that it has increased the wind energy allocation for Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) bid window six to 3 200MW due to the urgent need for increased capacity in the electricity system. The procurement allocations now stand at 3 200MW for wind energy and 1 000MW sought from solar energy suppliers. The REIPPPP is aimed at urgently addressing the country’s energy needs and deficit by adding more megawatts to the grid through procuring and adding onto the grid renewable energy sources. According to a government statement, the increase is in response to the…

President Cyril Ramaphosa will be travelling to Washington this week following an invitation by United States President Joe Biden. President Ramaphosa accepted the invitation delivered by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during his recent visit to South Africa. President Ramaphosa will hold talks at the White House with President Biden on 16 September 2022. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Minister Naledi Pandor, said the President’s visit to the US provides government an opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations through engagement and deepen multilateralism through the United Nations (UN), a primary vehicle through which the international community must…

Eskom says it has returned at least 37 generation units to service following what Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jan Oberholzer, called a “disastrous week” for the power utility. Last week, Eskom announced that Stage 2 load shedding would be implemented throughout the week. However, the breakdown of some 42 generation units quickly escalated load shedding to Stage 4 by Saturday. Oberholzer, together with Eskom management, briefed media on Monday morning on the state of the power system and the challenges it faces. Describing a week in which Eskom suffered generation unit breakdowns and slow returns to service, Oberholzer acknowledged that the…

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has warned that if not abated, illegal mining “will reach crisis proportions” and poses a “threat to national security, government authority and socio-economic development” in the country. Mantashe made these remarks during a National Plenary discussion on illegal mining in Parliament on Thursday afternoon. “This criminal activity is in contravention of our laws and forms part of many other economic related crimes that are afflicting our society. Illegal mining is associated with very serious crimes such as illicit financial flows and high levels of violence, including gender-based violence and femicide. Furthermore, we have…

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has received over 85 000 applications and will soon interview candidates for its project to digitise civil documents. The DHA working with the Department of Employment and Labour advertised job opportunities to recruit 10 000 unemployed young graduates to make digital copies of paper records. According to the department, of the 85 820 applications received, 23 374 have qualified to be assessed and interviewed. The new digitisation programme was first announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February 2022, which forms part of his Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES).…

Plans to expand the KwaZulu-Natal ports – which are expected to position KZN ports at the international forefront – have been approved by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) board. According Transnet, the expansion will see some R100 billion spent on the Durban and Richards Bay ports. “The expansion plans…seek to position the Durban Port as an international container hub that will boast an increased container capacity of 11.4 million TEUs [twenty-foot equivalent units] and automative capacity exceeding 900 000 units. “The Richards Bay Port is being positioned as a dry bulk port and the plans are also aligned to the…

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has called on interested parties to submit their comments on the proposed Licensing Exemption and Regulation notice published by Minister Gwede Mantashe. According to the department, the notice seeks to operationalise the “various measures to address South Africa’s electricity challenges”, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the height of the electricity crisis in July. “It outlines a set of electricity generation activities that are exempt from licensing and those that in addition to being exempt from licensing must also comply with the Code (distribution code, transmission code, or any code approved by the…

The Central Energy Fund has announced decreases across the board on the prices of fuel, gas and paraffin from Wednesday, paving the way for some relief for consumers. This marks the second consecutive month of decreases following increases experienced this year. The price adjustments per litre are as follows: A R2.04 decrease in both grades of petrol. Diesel 0.05% Sulphur will cost 56c less, while the price of diesel 0.005% Sulphur will decrease by 46c. Wholesale illuminating paraffin has decreased by 82c, while the retail price will cost R1.09 less. The maximum retail price of LP Gas will go down…

Four of South Africa’s State Owned Companies (SOCs) – Transnet, Telkom, Eskom and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), together with the South African Police Service, have announced an integrated approach towards combatting the scourge of cable theft, battery theft and infrastructure damage. This was announced at an SOC Industry Roundtable on economic sabotage of critical infrastructure. The roundtable was led by chief executives and acting chief executives of the four SOCs, Eskom’s Andre de Ruyter, Transnet’s Portia Derby, Telkom’s Serame Taukobong and Prasa’s Hishaam Emeran. The CEOs and entities agreed on, amongst others, further integrating their security…