Новости за 12.04.2021

Seven students in three teams developed chatbots - interactive programmes to aide customer enquiries - during a hackathon hosted by Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) education facility Forge Academy in Fourways, Gauteng. The software programmes had to serve as a digital solution to guide consumers through a Covid-19 symptom diagnosis process.

A new Ipsos and World Economic Forum (WEF) survey found that there are wide variations in post-Covid ‘return to normal’ expectations, with almost 60% of respondents expecting a return to pre-Covid normal level within the next year. Another 6% of respondents already believe this to be the case and another 9% think it will take no more than three months.

Trade union Solidarity and civil rights group AfriForum will be in the North Gauteng High Court on April 13 for the hearing of their case against the Department of Tourism and Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane. The two institutions had instituted legal action after unsuccessful talks with the Minister about opening up funding through the Tourism Equity Fund to all tourism businesses.

The Loan Guarantee Scheme (LGS), first announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 21, 2020, and which was scheduled to expire on April 11, will remain in operation for a further three months, enabling those who have qualified for a loan to continue to access their funds and for applications that are still in process to be finalised. The scheme, which is part of the economic stimulus package and was designed to support small businesses that were experiencing financial distress as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic... Читать дальше...

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) will appoint 18 contractors, on an emergency basis, to accelerate unblocking the pollution within the sewage system of the Vaal river and the local households in the Vaal area, particularly in the Emfuleni local municipality, to allow for better flows. Some of the emergency work contractors, which will be sourced from the DWS and the National Treasury’s central databases, include those that initially conducted work on the system under the Ekurhuleni Water... Читать дальше...

Africa-focused Kibo Energy and its local joint venture (JV) partners have agreed on the next steps towards the ultimate finalisation of a power purchase agreement (PPA) at the company’s Benga power plant project (BPPP), in Mozambique, following a discussion with Mozambique energy utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM). During the meeting, the final optimised definitive feasibility study, inclusive of the updated grid integration study, and a summary of an updated draft financial model was presented... Читать дальше...

Russia’s State-owned Rostec group has announced that its subsidiary, United Engine Corporation (UEC), had completed the first round of tests on a pulse-detonation technology demonstrator engine. The engine is being developed by UEC’s Lyulka design bureau and the project was launched in 2016. “The first stage of testing the pulse-detonation engine demonstrator has been successfully completed,” reported the Rostec aviation cluster in its statement. “It has shown the required performance characteristics. Читать дальше...

The cumulative number of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sold in South Africa since 2013 has reached only 637 units by the end of 2020, says uYilo eMobility Programme director Hiten Parmar. The BMW i3 leads the market by a substantial margin, at 445 vehicles, followed by the Nissan Leaf, at 94 units, and the Jaguar I-Pace, at 61 units.

The Covid-19 loan guarantee scheme will be extended by three months. The scheme was launched as part of government's R500-billion stimulus package to support the economy given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme is based on a partnership between National Treasury, the SA Reserve Bank and the Banking Association of South Africa. It is meant, specifically, to support struggling businesses.

MTN Group is valuing its mobile-money arm at about $5-billion, joining African wireless carriers planning to list these businesses in a region that has more mobile-money accounts than anywhere else in the world. MTN’s valuation of its unit follows Mastercard Inc. and TPG Holdings investing $300-million in Airtel Africa’s mobile-money business at a $2.65-billion value.

In its budget proposal for the 2022 financial year (FY), the new US administration of President Joe Biden has included some $24.7-billion for the country’s space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). This would represent an approximately 6.3% increase over the agency’s allocation during FY2021. The US federal government’s financial year starts on October 1 and ends on September 30. Under the US system, budgetary authority is vested in the Congress; administrations propose budgets but the legislature decides budgets... Читать дальше...

A drone-operated system that can deploy bird flight diverters, or so-called “flappers”, has been designed and developed in a partnership between the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT’s) wildlife and energy programme and Eskom. The diverters serve as markers that will improve the visibility of power line cables to birds in flight.

Metals and engineering industry association the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has called on companies to submit their entries for the 2021 Seifsa Awards for Excellence in the Customer Service Award category,. This year’s entrants will be assessed on their performance during the period from July 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020.

Financial services and payments multinational Visa has appointed Maurice Newa as Southern Africa cluster MD. He will be responsible for the development and implementation of Visa’s growth strategy in the region, the company said in a statement on April 12. Newa will be part of the sub-Saharan Africa leadership team and will report to Visa senior VP and sub-Saharan Africa head Aida Diarra.

Energy and marine equipment manufacturer Wärtsilä will convert the 90 MW Bel-Air heavy fuel oil power plant in Dakar, Senegal, to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG). The project is part of an interim LNG-to-power bridge solution, and is the first power plant gas conversion in Senegal, the company said on April 12.

More woes are piling on the embattled Emfuleni municipality with the DA-led Midvaal municipality withholding funds meant for Emfuleni municipality due its failure to supply water. Midvaal municipality has, with immediate effect, withheld all payments due to Emfuleni municipality, related to the lack of water supply to residents of Risiville.

Egypt and Sudan on Saturday rejected an Ethiopian proposal to share data on the operations of its giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile after negotiations between the three countries in Kinshasa this week ended without progress. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Egypt fears will imperil its supply from the Nile. Sudan is also concerned about the impact on its own water flows.

Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso cautions that while business owners, leaders and CEOs may criticise government for maladministration, it ought to be remembered that government is a large and complex organisation with over two-million employees and a budget of R1.8-trillion. “That makes for a vastly complicated institution that is going to present all kinds of management problems,” she says, adding that, although the business sector is far larger in terms of people and money, it is... Читать дальше...

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday said there was a need to forge a new economy in a new global reality to recover the ground lost during the coronavirus pandemic.  In his weekly newsletter to the nation, Ramaphosa warned that South Africa’s economic recovery plan was not about a return to what was, but about transformation to what is next. He suggested harnessing the job creating potential of the digital economy, whose growth has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, South Africa... Читать дальше...

Attempts by the management of South African Airways Technical (SAAT) to work towards the improvement of the partial payment of March salaries continued until Saturday morning, but were unfortunately unsuccessful, employees were told in a letter at the weekend. This was after meetings were held with unions on Friday.

Domestic natural gas and helium producer Renergen has inked its first helium sales agreement with a global tier-one automotive supplier in what is the company’s first direct-to-customer helium deal. For reasons of confidentiality, Renergen says that it is unable to disclose who the customer is or other details of the sales agreement.

In the challenging economic climate created by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, new BMW Group South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa CEO Peter van Binsbergen says his focus will be on the company’s profitability and that of its retail partners, as well as on having a customer-first approach. He says some of his initial priorities include optimising a new retail sales model and ensuring an immediate end to the negative sales trend of the past years.