Новости за 07.10.2021

The UK eased entry rules for 47 countries that were subject to the tightest Covid-19 restrictions, in the government’s latest step to shed travel curbs and revive tourism-dependent businesses. South Africa is among the countries that will be removed from the UK's travel red list from October 11.

South Africa's struggling state power utility Eskom said it would implement scheduled power cuts from Thursday evening to replenish emergency generation reserves. The "stage 2" power cuts, which requires up to 2,000 megawatts of capacity to be shed from the national grid, will be implemented from 9 p.m. local time on Thursday until 5 a.m. on Friday, and again from Friday at 9 p.m. until Saturday at 5 a.m.

A new study by researchers from the University of Cape Town and the University of Connecticut found that education is crucial to increase climate change literacy across Africa. The study across 33 African countries found varying levels of national climate change literacy but that the average literacy rate in Africa is only 37%.  The climate change literacy rate in Mauritius is 66% and 62% in Uganda, but only 25% in Mozambique and 23% in Tunisia. He explained that without climate change literacy,... Читать дальше...

The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) says comments made by International Air Transport Association (Iata) director-general Willie Walsh earlier this week that some airports and air navigation service providers want to increase charges to recover the money that airlines could not spend with them during the crisis, are unfounded. During the Iata annual general meeting, Walsh had named several airport companies, including ACSA, saying they wanted to “raise charges by 38% in 2022,” to offset losses incurred as a result of Covid-19.

Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) executive director Dr Crispian Olver says updating South Africa’s energy policy to exclude any new coal capacity to 2030 and beyond, while increasing the allocation for renewable energy to at least 30 GW by the end of the decade should be key priorities for the coming 24 months. In a presentation delivered at the 2021 edition of Windaba, in Cape Town, Olver said that research had affirmed that a renewables-dominant electricity system would be the lowest-cost for South Africa... Читать дальше...

A representative from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) on October 7 said a strong pipeline of projects was needed to encourage further investment in infrastructure in South Africa, particularly from private and international investors. This, she said, was owing to infrastructure providing both financial and social returns for the country.

South Africa’s mining industry is at its lowest level of exploration investment since democracy began in 1994, the Joburg Indaba heard on Thursday. “Never have we spent less – and this is a pity because significant promises were made about an exploration plan for the country,” Joburg Indaba chairperson Bernard Swanepoel said at the ninth edition of the online event, which attracted 600 day-two attendees.

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, along with Deputy Ministers Dikeledi Magadzi and David Mahlobo, this week met with the executive mayors of the Gauteng province.  Among those present was the Tshwane mayor Randall Williams, Member of the Mayoral Committee Phillip Nel and executive members of the Rand Water board.

Transnet CEO Portia Derby says the State-owned group received a “fantastic” response to its two recent requests for information (RFIs) for private participation at the ports of Durban and Ngqura and that several other private sector participation (PSP) transactions are under development. The group formally released RFI documentation for the Durban Container Terminal (DCT) Pier 2 and Ngqura Container Terminal (NCT) in August to test market appetite for partnerships at the two underperforming terminals.

South African rail, port and pipeline company Transnet's Freight Rail subsidiary, TFR, on October 7 officially reopened the Cookhouse-Blaney branch line, in the Eastern Cape. This follows the completion of a R26-million investment in the reinstatement and rehabilitation of the 200 km branch line. Upgrades on the line were completed in March and test runs to improve speed and efficiency in June.

Moderna said it would spend as much as $500-million to build a factory in Africa that could produce half a billion messenger RNA vaccine doses a year. In a statement, the company said that the new factory would produce the drug substance for messenger RNA vaccines, including its Covid-19 vaccine and shots for other diseases, and potentially also have vial-filling capabilities. Moderna will start working on site selection soon, it said. Moderna has been under pressure to make its vaccine in Africa... Читать дальше...

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa stands ready to be a major exporter of green hydrogen and has described the special economic zone (SEZ) proposed for development at Boegoebaai, in the Northern Cape, as a major step towards realising the country’s potential to be a global leader in green hydrogen and derivative products, such as power fuels. In an address to the second Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium, which took place as a hybrid event in Sandton on Thursday, Ramaphosa... Читать дальше...

The dismissal by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) of insurer Santam's appeal against the Western Cape High Court ruling in favour of hospitality businesses Ma-Afrika Hotels (MAH) and Stellenbosch Kitchen (SBK) to settle Covid-19 business interruption claims in the tourism and hospitality industry provides much-needed certainty for the finalisation of outstanding claims, says claims preparation specialist company Insurance Claims Africa (ICA) CEO Ryan Woolley. Businesses in the tourism and hospitality... Читать дальше...

Data centre and interconnection services company Teraco has completed Phase 1 of its CT2 hyperscale data centre, in Brackenfell, Cape Town, to support growing demand by enterprises and cloud providers for data centre capacity. CT2 offers highly resilient and secure co-location facilities in line with Teraco’s long-term vision of enabling digital transformation across Africa.

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Business School (WBS) and electricity technology multinational Siemens Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a number of training and development programmes in energy leadership. The goals that form part of the agreement include a bursary programme at postgraduate level ,including PhD or Master’s degrees; the development of foundational postgraduate courses in energy; tailored events, such as seminars on industry-specific... Читать дальше...

Telecommunications multinational MTN Group has appointed Adekunle Awobodu as its digital and financial technology (DigiFin) CFO. His responsibilities include ensuring the growth of these platforms in line with the group’s strategic intent as set out in its 'Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress' policy.

The Minerals Council South Africa is developing a Net Zero 2050 Action Plan and pathway towards achieving the goal of net zero greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The action plan for mining will include the central pillars of increasing the share of investment in renewable energy sources; research, development and innovation into new technologies; the ongoing adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies and modern mining methods; critical skills development; engaging the supplier base... Читать дальше...

Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi on October 7 called for calm as employer organisation the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) and union the National Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) remain in a deadlock over wage increases. Additionally, one of the country’s biggest federations the Congress of South African Trade Unions has called for workers to come out in their millions this week to protest South Africa's weak economic performance.

Power utility Eskom is calling on the public to reduce electricity use, as the system is under pressure owing to a number of generating unit breakdowns. Total breakdowns amount to 14 925 MW, while planned maintenance is 4 759 MW of capacity. Should there be any further breakdowns, Eskom might be forced to implement load-shedding at short notice, it warns.

South Africa must manage its transition away from coal-fired power generation systematically and not rush a switch to renewable energy sources, Mining and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday. "I am not saying coal for ever, ... I am saying let's manage our transition step by step rather than being emotional," Mantashe told a mining conference, when asked how China's pledge to not build new coal power stations abroad would affect South Africa.

South Africa’s sugar industry is in talks with the government over a potential subsidy that could see it convert more than a third of its annual output into biofuel, according to a group representing companies in the sector. Currently 800 000 tons of the industry’s annual output of 2.1-million tons is being exported at a loss, according to the South African Sugar Association.

The National Taxi Alliance (NTA) welcomes the proposed roll-out of a single integrated ticket that can be used across all modes of public transport, says NTA spokesperson Theo Malele. He believes that such a system will create “healthy competition” in the public transport space.

The tenth yearly wind industry conference Windaba, which opened on October 7, marks a decade of wind power in South Africa and the industry has matured to the point that it is ready and able to build an additional 14.4 GW of wind power capacity over the next decade, says industry organisation South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) chairperson Mercia Grimbeek. “Our celebration of ten years of wind energy in South Africa brings us to a confluence as our industry stands ready for the next decade... Читать дальше...

African nations believe financing to help developing countries deal with climate change should be scaled up more than tenfold to $1.3-trillion per year by 2030, a key African climate negotiator told Reuters. Such an amount would mark a dramatic increase from the current goal of $100-billion annually that developed nations have struggled to meet.