News24Wire

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News24Wire

News24’s breaking news wire service brings you the latest South African, African and international news reports and press updates from newsrooms across the country. Powered by the country’s leading journalists, and headed by the News24 editorial team.

Cape Town residents fuming over electricity tariff hikes

10th July 2023 Struggling Capetonians are feeling the pinch after the City of Cape Town's 17.6% electricity tariff increase came into effect from July 1. Locals are up in arms saying they are getting no value for their money. →

Civil society groups appeal Kusile's pollution exemption

6th July 2023 Civil society groups have lodged their appeal against a decision granting Eskom a temporary exemption to bypass pollution controls at Kusile. The exemption allows Eskom to run Kusile without flue gas desulphurisation (FGD), which is required to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions. →

Photo by Bloomberg
Kusile Power Station

Loadshedding on the horizon for the weekend as repairs delayed accreditation

6th July 2023 Varying stages of loadshedding will be implemented from Friday until Monday morning, Eskom said in a statement on Thursday. Stage 1 loadshedding will remain in place until 16:00 on Thursday, followed by Stage 3 until midnight. Power cuts will then be suspended until 05:00 on Friday, after which... →

Eskom declares dispute with Lesedi Local Municipality over R125m debt

5th July 2023 Eskom has declared a dispute with the Lesedi Local Municipality in the Sedibeng district of Gauteng after exhausting all avenues to recover what the municipality owes. The local municipality’s current debt owed to Eskom is R125-million as at 30 June 2023. This is compounding debt from June 2022... →

Mining project manager gets hefty fine after pleading guilty to R80m tender corruption

5th July 2023 A former mining project manager has been ordered to pay a hefty fine, or face time in prison, after he pleaded guilty to one corruption charge in connection with an R80 million tender. According to Hawks spokesperson Colonel Philani Nkwalase, Wade Ashton Leaf, 57, was fined R100 000 or five years... →

Power trips at Rand Water an Eskom issue, says entity's chief as water woes continue

5th July 2023 Water outages in Johannesburg and Tshwane are a result of loadshedding, says Teboho Joala, Rand Water's chief shared services officer and acting managing director. On Sunday, the municipalities warned residents there were still issues in some areas because of power outages which hit Rand Water in... →

Photo by Creamer Media
Rand Water Zuikerbosch Water Purification Plant

Court intervenes in Vaal broken wastewater treatment works

4th July 2023 The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has ruled the unabated flow of raw sewage into the Vaal River contravenes various environmental acts and must be prevented. It has given Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu 45 court days to file a further affidavit outlining the measures taken to... →

Power outages at Rand Water affecting water supply in Joburg, Tshwane

3rd July 2023 A set of power failures at Rand Water last month is still affecting water supply to Johannesburg and Tshwane. The water entity - which purifies and distributes bulk water to municipalities, businesses, and residents in Gauteng - suffered a series of outages and trips in June at its Vereeniging... →

Eskom starts prepaid electricity meter update 10 years after finding out they will go dark in 2024

3rd July 2023 Eskom recently announced that it will be starting a national rollout to update the 6.6-million prepaid electricity meters under its control before they become non-operational on 24 November 2024. The utility has known about the issue for more than 10 years, according to Don Taylor, the inventor... →

Loadshedding suspended (briefly) on Friday night - then it's Stage 3 at peak hours

30th June 2023 Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Friday until midnight. After that, it will be suspended until 16:00 on Saturday. Stage 3 loadshedding will then be implemented again over the evening peak from 16:00 until midnight. This pattern will be repeated until further notice, Eskom... →

African nations call on G7 to form joint working committee to stem billions of illicit outflows

23rd June 2023 African countries have called for the formation of a joint working committee with the G7, central banks and civil society to stop large sums of money being lost by the continent each year to illicit capital outflows. The call was made on Friday at the two-day Summit for a New Global Financing... →

Eskom head of security Karen Pillay suspended

22nd June 2023 Eskom has placed its acting head of security Karen Pillay on precautionary suspension. This is related to a R500-million emergency security contract awarded to Fidelity Services to investigate coal theft last year, News24 understands. According to senior Eskom sources, pressure came from the... →

Kumba wage talks sour as union condemns offer as 'illogical and divisive'

22nd June 2023 The final round of salary negotiations between Anglo American's Kumba iron-ore and its workforce have begun to break down due to the company's "inexplicable positioning", one union has said. According to Solidarity, trade unions – including itself, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the... →

Eskom's Jan Oberholzer now managing Kusile, Koeberg projects

22nd June 2023 Eskom has inked a two-year contract with its former chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer to oversee projects at Kusile and Koeberg, members of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts heard during a visit to Eskom headquarters Megawatt Park on Wednesday. Oberholzer officially retired... →

Photo by Donna Slater
Former Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer

Security guard and mine worker arrested for theft of equipment worth R1.7m

21st June 2023 North West police have arrested a Bidvest Protea Coin Security guard and an Impala Platinum employee for the theft of catalytic converters worth R1.7-million, tampering with essential infrastructure, theft and gangsterism. Aubrey Loeto and Thys Monchusi were arrested on Thursday. →

Inflation slows to 13-month low as food prices cool down

21st June 2023 May's annual consumer price inflation slowed to 6.3% from 6.8% in April, with food prices finally cooling. May's inflation rate, which was also slowed by an easing in fuel prices, is the lowest since April 2022, Statistics SA said. It was also cooler than economists expected. The median... →

July fuel price outlook mixed for petrol, diesel

20th June 2023 Petrol prices currently still look set for a small cut at the start of July. Diesel, however, may be hiked. Based on the current oil and rand prices, the latest data from the Central Energy Fund shows that diesel prices may be increased by 10c to 15c a litre, depending on the grade. Petrol 95 and... →

SA can add 30GW of wind energy in 10 years, but grid challenges will be our undoing - expert

19th June 2023 A recent survey shows there are about 30GW of wind energy projects in various stages of development. While South Africa has the skills to support the rollout of this generation capacity, the lack of grid capacity is the biggest hurdle in deploying the renewables, according to an industry expert.... →

Reprieve for Joburg residents as Rand Water puts lengthy outage plan on hold

19th June 2023 Residents of Johannesburg can relax for now, knowing that their taps won't run dry this week after Rand Water postponed planned maintenance that was going to result in a two-day water outage. Johannesburg Water had on Thursday warned that some customers would have low pressure to no water from... →

Eskom threatens court action if Tshwane does not settle R1.9bn debt

14th June 2023 The cash-strapped City of Tshwane owes Eskom R1.9-billion. Eskom said on Wednesday the metro had underpaid by R179-million on its April invoice, and the May invoice of R776-million still needed to be paid. →

Joburg council passes R80.9bn budget despite concerns over tariff increases

14th June 2023 The Johannesburg council has approved the R80.9-billion 2023/24 budget. A total of 166 voted in favour of the budget, 68 voted against it and there were no abstentions. →

Johannesburg Roads Agency CEO sacked after fake qualification probe

14th June 2023 The contract of the CEO of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), Tshepo Mahanuke, was terminated. On Wednesday, the agency said the board had resolved to dismiss Mahanuke after he failed to produce counter-evidence in response to the allegations of fraud. →

Embattled Denel moves to appoint key executives

14th June 2023 Denel, the State-owned armaments manufacturer whose primary mandate is to equip South Africa's armed forces, says it is appointing an executive team to lead the organisation and bolster its efforts to improve governance, restructure and stabilise the organisation to fulfil its mandate. On... →

Lack of policy execution stymies government bid to improve country’s economic situation – Mashatile

12th June 2023 The government's biggest challenge in improving South Africa's waning economic situation is failing to implement policies. This is according to Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who gave a keynote address to the Batseta Winter Conference at the Sun City Resort in North West on Monday morning. →

Deputy President Paul Mashatile

Daytime loadshedding is back this weekend

9th June 2023 Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 until midnight on Friday, as per previous notices, Eskom said in a statement. But after that, Stage 1 loadshedding will kick in from 05:00 until 16:00 on Saturday, followed by Stage 4 until midnight. →

Hands off our oceans: Eco lobby hits out 'onslaught' by foreign companies on SA waters

9th June 2023 The "onslaught" on South Africa's oceans, with foreign companies seeking to drill for oil and gas, is becoming a major concern, according to The Green Connection. The eco-justice group sounded the alarm on the harmful impacts of offshore oil and gas exploration – such as potential oil spills and... →

Six arrested for allegedly stealing Eskom copper cables near Coligny substation

7th June 2023 Six suspects were arrested on Monday after Eskom copper cables were found in their vehicle on the N14 between Coligny and Ventersdorp. Police spokesperson Colonel Adéle Myburgh said 13 rolled bundles of copper cable worth an estimated R22 500 were found in a Quantum driven by a 41-year-old man. →

Ramaphosa meets CEOs amid investor angst over SA's Russia ties and ongoing power crisis

7th June 2023 South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet met with business leaders as concern over the country’s energy crisis, logistic constraints and close ties with Russia grow. →

President Cyril Ramaphosa

No loadshedding during the day until further notice, with Stage 3 every evening

6th June 2023 Loadshedding will be suspended from midnight to 16:00 every day until further notice, with Stage 3 implemented over the evening peak, due to "further improvement on the available generation capacity". The Stage 3 load shedding will last from 16:00 until midnight. →

The Majuba power station

SA narrowly avoids a recession

6th June 2023 Despite record levels of loadshedding and aggressive rate hikes, South Africa's first-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.4%. This was exactly in line with economists' consensus forecast, according to a Thomson Reuters poll. →

Loadshedding suspended until Stage 4 kicks in on Tuesday evening

6th June 2023 Eskom has announced that loadshedding has been suspended until 16:00 on Tuesday "due to an improvement in available generation capacity". However at 16:00, it will immediately jump to Stage 4 until 05:00 on Wednesday where it will move to Stage 1, as originally communicated. This pattern will... →

Sizeable petrol, diesel price cuts announced for Wednesday

5th June 2023 On Wednesday, the petrol price (both 93 and 95 unleaded) will be cut by 71c a litre, while diesel will be lowered by either 80c or 84c a litre depending on the sulphur content. Illuminating paraffin will be 43c a litre cheaper. →

'We are not involved': Absa says it won't be funding Karpowership

2nd June 2023 Absa Group has settled on a final position not to fund the controversial Karpowership projects in South Africa, it confirmed on Friday. Speaking at the banking group's annual general meeting on Friday, chairperson Sello Moloko cut short a question posed by an activist organisation to confirm that... →

Stage 6 to continue until Friday

1st June 2023 Stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Thursday until 05:00 on Friday, Eskom said in a statement. This will be followed by varying stages of load shedding over the weekend. →

City Power contractor arrested for 'sabotaging substation, nearly killing technicians working nearby'

1st June 2023 A City Power contractor has been arrested for allegedly sabotaging a substation in Johannesburg and nearly killing technicians working on the same network nearby. According to City Power CEO Tshifularo Mashava, the man was found inside a switching substation in the Roodepoort area with working... →

'Impossible and vague': Gordhan moves to appeal order to curb loadshedding impact on hospitals

31st May 2023 Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan on Tuesday applied for leave to appeal to the order issued earlier in May that all hospitals, clinics, schools and police stations should be spared from electricity disruptions. On 5 May, Judge Norman Davis ordered the Minister to "take all reasonable... →

Photo by Reuters
Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan

Tongaat's creditors approve business rescue plan for property development arm

30th May 2023 Creditors of embattled sugar producer Tongaat Hulett on Tuesday almost unanimously voted in favour of the rescue plan for the company's property arm, which is to be wound down. With 92% of creditors voting, 99.8% voted in favour, the business rescue practitioners said. The plan required at least... →

Eskom to post record R21.2 billion loss for the last year

30th May 2023 Eskom made a whopping R21.2-billion loss over the past financial year, its largest ever, unaudited results disclosed by the National Treasury in Parliament showed. On Tuesday, the Treasury presented preliminary outcomes for State-owned enterprises and government departments for the fourth quarter... →

New Russia-SA concerns push rand to record low

30th May 2023 On Tuesday morning, the rand hit a new record low against the dollar amid concerns about South Africa's relationship with Russia. The rand reached R19.8391/$ in early trading. A year ago, it was trading below R15.30. →

Photo by Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin

Cape Town eyes cheaper feed-in meters to cut cost of selling power back to the grid

30th May 2023 Plans are afoot for the City of Cape Town to slash the cost of a specialised meter by more than half, so that customers can use it to feed power back to the municipal grid. This is according to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who on Friday was speaking at Daily Maverick's annual event, The Gathering. →

Over 50 Eskom vandalism, theft-related arrests made since January – Mashatile

29th May 2023 Deputy President Paul Mashatile has heaped praise on the joint Eskom and National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints) security committee formed to tackle vandalism of Eskom infrastructure. He said since its formation more than 50 suspected vandals were arrested. →

Deputy President Paul Mashatile

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