Новости за 08.06.2021

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has established a graphene programme to help South Africa develop capabilities, technologies and products based on graphene, the research organisation says. The platform is set to open the door to a range of industries to collaboratively explore and investigate graphene-based technologies.

A delegation from the Citrus Growers’ Association of South Africa (CGA) visited the Port of Durban this week to send off the first South African shipment of citrus to the Philippines – a historic occasion that follows 12 years of negotiations between the two countries. The work plan to export South African citrus to the Philippines was signed between the Department Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) and the Philippines Bureau of Plant and Industry (BPI) at the end of 2020.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the African continent to speak with one clear voice to "express unwavering support" for the implementation of the United Nations Climate Change Convention and its Paris Agreement. He was speaking during the virtual meeting on the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) on June 8.

The Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation will revitalise and expand the Imbali Education and Innovation Precinct project as a pilot to explore and test an alternative modality of education delivery, based on closer multi-educational institutional cooperation, with science and innovation linkages. Minister Blade Nzimande this week said the intention was to integrate universities, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, sector education and training authorities... Читать дальше...

Green hydrogen has been identified by The Presidency as the first of five ‘Big Frontier’ strategic investment opportunities and will be directly involved in the finalisation of a much-anticipated ‘Hydrogen Strategy and Investor Roadmap’ Infrastructure & Investment Office head, Dr Kgosientso Ramokgopa, reported during a webinar on Tuesday that attracting investment to support the development of a green-hydrogen industry was viewed as increasingly important by The Presidency to raising fixed investment... Читать дальше...

Ratings agency Moody’s has published environmental, social and governance (ESG) issuer profile and credit impact scores for various rated issuers in the global metals and mining sector. This follows on the agency’s publication of ESG scores for a range of corporate issuers, utilities and US governments earlier this month and for sovereign issuers in January.

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has noted with concern the Competition Commission’s recent decision to block the sale of Burger King by Grand Parade Investments to ECP Africa, saying it would have unintended consequences. The commission cited ECP’s lack of black ownership credentials as the basis of its decision.

South Africa will need to use gas as a “very solid bridge” to ensure a just and inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Business School professor Maurice Radebe has said. The feedstock's acting as a bridge, he explained during a presentation at the Enlit Africa conference on June 8, is feasible when one considers that gas has 55% less emissions than coal.

Stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented from 17:00 on Tuesday due to delays bringing generating units back online, Eskom said in a statement.  Eskom earlier warned that the power system was severely constrained. Breakdowns currently total 15 498 MW of capacity, while another 1 273 MW of capacity is unavailable due to planned maintenance. Unit 1 of the Koeberg power station has been offline since January for maintenance work. It was supposed to return to service last month, but this still hasn't happened.

Following a successful webinar series on business opportunities in the renewable energy sector in 2020, a second series started in May this year in collaboration between the South Africa Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA). The 2020 editions served as a capacity building programme for aspiring renewable energy developers to share knowledge and drive effective change, while the second series is themed on developing the local renewable energy value chain.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday that he has placed Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on special leave. This comes as Mkhize revealed that he had met with Ramaphosa to discuss special leave, following his alleged involvement in the Digital Vibes scandal. Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane will serve as acting Minister of Health as Ramaphosa awaits the outcome of the Special Investigating Unit probe into Mkhize’s alleged involvement with an irregularly awarded R150-million contract, in 2019. Читать дальше...

Health Minster Zweli Mkhize has confirmed that the Northern Cape, Free State, the North West and Gauteng provinces are all in the third wave of Covid-19 infections. Speaking to media in the Northern Cape on Tuesday, Mkhize said the province has been in its third wave of infections for weeks, explaining that it had not gotten out of the second wave, with infections increasing after Easter. Mkhize said Northern Cape’s vaccination plan was based on the rollout of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which is being held up by regulatory approvals.

An acquisition has increased steel supplier Tradecore Steel’s processing capability in KwaZulu-Natal and further consolidates the company’s sub-Saharan footprint. Tradecore has acquired the KwaZulu-Natal assets of Gibbsteel, a producer of value-added steel products.

Marine litter, including plastic litter, has become a matter of increasing global and national concern as a source of marine pollution. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has, therefore, prioritised efforts to deal with the challenge of marine litter, as there is said to be sufficient evidence that a large percentage of pollution in the ocean originates from sources on land.

Biodiversity conservation organisation CapeNature is installing a 75 kW solar photovoltaic system at its offices in Algeria, in the Cederberg region of South Africa’s Western Cape. The Cederberg wilderness is three hours outside of Cape Town and the organisation strives to continuously improve its reserves.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is inviting Grade 12 learners or those accepted to mainstream South African Institutions of Higher Learning for water-related qualifications to apply for available bursaries. Applications, which opened on June 1, will close on October 31, and will be allocated on outstanding academic performance, financial need and the relevant skills in the water and sanitation sector.

The China National Nuclear Power (CNNP) company has received approval to build its small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration plant at Changjiang in China’s southernmost (and island) province of Hainan, “World Nuclear News” has reported, citing a CNNP notice to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. CNNP is a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The demonstration SMR is designated the ACP100. The project will be owned by the CNNC Hainan Nuclear Power Company, which is a subsidiary of... Читать дальше...

Europe’s Green Deal is not just a vision or an idea, but a well-funded policy that is being implemented, and that is set to have a wide-ranging impact on South African exports, says Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) executive chairperson Dr Johan van Zyl. Van Zyl stepped down earlier this year as Toyota Motors Europe president and CEO.

US aerospace and defence industry giant Boeing and the US Navy (USN) have jointly made history with the first ever air-to-air refuelling (AAR) by an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) of another aircraft. The test flight during which this was achieved took place on June 4, but the news was only released on Monday (June 7). The flight involved a Boeing MQ-25 Stingray UAV and a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet crewed fighter. The MQ-25 was a Boeing test aircraft, designated T1, while the F/A-18 was a USN aircraft, flown by a test pilot.

Department of Mineral Resources and Energy director-general Advocate Thabo Mokoena reports that government intends using the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), which is currently being drafted, to position the country as a “globally significant” producer of inputs used in renewable-energy plants. In a keynote address to the virtual Enlit Africa conference on Tuesday, Mokoena said the SAREM would help “coordinate the renewable-energy requirements” to support such an industrialisation drive and to boost manufacturing employment.

UK development finance institution CDC Group on June 8 announced a $50-million risk-sharing facility with Absa Bank, which increases Absa's capacity to offer financing solutions to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and households across sub-Saharan Africa through microfinance institutions (MFI) and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs). The risk-sharing facility is the CDC's first facility supporting local currency medium- and longer-term lending to MFIs and NBFI.

South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a yearly rate of 4.6% during the first quarter of 2021, reports Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The mining and quarrying sectors combined grew by 18.1%, contributing 1.2 percentage points to the overall GDP figure, while the manufacturing sector grew by 1.6% during the quarter, contributing 0.2 percentage points.

Mining companies with higher environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings outperformed the broader market during the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, delivering 34% average total shareholder return over the past three years — ten percentage points higher than the general market index,  PwC Africa mining leader Andries Rossouw said on Tuesday. Companies with higher ESG ratings are demonstrating longer long-term performance in shareholder and market value, benefiting from capital access at lower interest rates... Читать дальше...

Surface mining industry association the Aggregate and Sand Producers Association of Southern Africa (Aspasa) has partnered with the Committee of Transport Officials (Coto) and other role-players to hammer out standards for different types of materials to be used on South African roads. This will lead to quarrymen and miners of materials used in the construction of roads having a new set of specifications to be followed in order to supply national and provincial roads agencies, as well as all metros... Читать дальше...

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has ripped into the department of water and sanitation, demanding answers on how it plans to keep the taps running in the Eastern Cape amid declining dam levels. In a whirlwind oversight visit to Kouga Dam in the Kouga Local municipality on Monday, Steenhuisen said he would write to Minister of Human Settlements, Water & Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu to ask her how she plans to help farmers and residents devastated by a crippling drought in and around Nelson Mandela Bay region.