Darlene Creamer

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Darlene Creamer

RAND RUCTIONS

30th August 2019 South Africans have become somewhat accustomed to the fact that their currency is among the most volatile globally. For that reason, many citizens keep close tabs on the dollar/rand exchange rate, in particular. When it weakens, the mood darkens; when it strengthens, South Africans eagerly await... →

HEALTH WARNING

23rd August 2019 There is no question that South Africa’s current health system is failing to meet the needs of its citizens, especially those who do not have the means to access private healthcare. There is also little question that the drafters of the National Health Insurance Bill have the best of intentions.... →

TIME & MONEY

16th August 2019 Government’s commitment to transfer a further R59-billion to Eskom during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years has bought the State-owned utility some time. By its own estimation, the transfers will guarantee Eskom’s going-concern status by a further 12 to 18 months. Eskom has also warned,... →

TIGHT SPOT

9th August 2019 In a note explaining its revision of South Africa’s credit outlook from stable to negative, Fitch Ratings said the decision reflected a marked widening in the Budget deficit as a result of lower growth and increased spending, including higher spending to support State-owned enterprises. In other... →

WRECKING BALL

2nd August 2019 The Constitutional Court’s scathing judgment when upholding a North Gauteng High Court ruling that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s pay 15% of the South African Reserve Bank’s legal fees in the Absa/Bankorp review case said it all. Mkhwebane was found to have acted in bad faith and... →

TRUMP CARDS

26th July 2019 Compared with his ‘Stalingrad Defence’ of old, the legal strategy adopted by former President Jacob Zuma during his recent appearance before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture was far less clear. Nevertheless, Zuma was still able to play some of his well-worn trump cards, including his... →

DIRTY DEEDS

19th July 2019 The credibility of the Office of the Public Protector rose dramatically during Thuli Madonsela’s tenure. Sadly, it is being severely undermined by her successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Already several of Mkhwebane’s reports have been found wanting, while her approach to the so-called South African... →

INTENSIVE CARE

12th July 2019 Conditions in South Africa’s manufacturing sector remain more than challenging. The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) increased marginally in June to 46.2 points, but the average level for the second quarter remained below the 50-point threshold that separates comtraction from... →

STUMPED

5th July 2019 With South Africans still were licking their wounds after a dismal Proteas batting performance at the Cricket World Cup, Eskom financial problems rose again like a hostile bouncer from England’s young pace bowler Jofra Archer. While a R230-billion, ten-year injection have been confirmed by the... →

TIME TO FALL

28th June 2019 The unsavoury and depressing revelations at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture continue to flow. All the large State-owned companies – Eskom, Transnet and South African Airways – have made their representations and their confessions, while the Bosasa disclosures offered insight into the... →

POLICY TUG OF WAR

21st June 2019 The battle, within the African National Congress, for control over the direction of economic policy has always been a highly contested one. In recent years, however, it has escalated to the status of civil war. Given the disastrous state of the economy and the desperate need for an investment-led... →

LEADERSHIP SHEDDING

14th June 2019 The resignations, in quick succession, of Phakamani Hadebe and Vuyani Jarana point to the likelihood that the crises at Eskom and South African Airways respectively are even deeper than initially acknowledged. These leadership vacuums will, no doubt, be filled. Unless the roles and... →

ROCK & HARD PLACE

7th June 2019 News of Phakamani Hadebe’s resignation as Eskom CEO was treated with precisely that: resignation. South Africans have come to terms with the fact that leading the State-owned utility in its current form is an extremely difficult task. Nevertheless, it’s a task that has to be undertaken and... →

IN THE TRENCHES

31st May 2019 The rhetoric associated with the unfolding trade war between the US and China has definitely ratcheted up a level in recent weeks. The hardening of positions is also starting to cause shockwaves, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warning last week that an... →

SUPER EFFORT

24th May 2019 Eyebrows were definitely raised when the 2019 Presidential inauguration ceremony was moved from the majestic Union Buildings to the grittier Loftus Versfeld stadium, just down the road. Hopefully the venue choice becomes symbolic of a Presidency, whereby Cyril Ramaphosa simply picks up the... →

ROLLING UP SLEEVES

17th May 2019 Despite the initial optimism associated with the political changes that took place in early 2018, the business community has been reticent to take decisive investment decisions in South Africa until after the elections. With those now finally behind us – along with a public-holiday cycle that... →

DATA DISPUTE

10th May 2019 For several years many South Africans have expressed – often under the social media banner #DataMustFall – unhappiness with prices being charged for data by the country’s mobile operators. Now the Competition Commission has added its considerable heft to the campaign, after its market inquiry... →

CLIFF EDGE

3rd May 2019 News that Eskom was forced to lean on the National Treasury in April to avert an imminent liquidity crisis, arising from a delay in a loan disbursement from the China Development Bank, had served to underline the precarious state of the group’s finances. The debt-laden State-owned utility is... →

CULTIVATING CONFIDENCE

26th April 2019 The South African economy has been on a downward spiral for a number of years, undermining many of the dividends that initially flowed from the country’s transition to democracy. This poor performance has many reasons, but there is no question that corruption and poor governance are major... →

ENERGY RELEASE

19th April 2019 The return to a protracted period of load-shedding in March provided an unhappy reminder of South Africa’s energy deficit. It also served to confirm that new generation is needed, and needed immediately, to restore system stability. The quickest way to add new capacity would be through allowing... →

DOUBLE SHOCK

12th April 2019 All South Africans have been feeling the fuel-price pinch ever since the big surge in pump prices took place on Wednesday last week. By contrast, the 13.8% electricity tariff hike introduced on April 1 has hit only direct Eskom customers. The rest of us will feel its shocking brunt from July,... →

WORRYING DEVELOPMENTS

5th April 2019 All South Africans were understandably frustrated and angry when Eskom resumed load-shedding in mid-March. Rotational power cuts have a devastating impact on the psychology of the nation and on investor confidence. Another as disturbing trend – that of construction-site violence – is going almost... →

ROAD TO RUIN

29th March 2019 Iconic South African construction company Group Five filed for business rescue earlier this month and also applied for its shares to be suspended from trade on the JSE, after 45 years of trading. In a statement to shareholders, the board cautioned that there was only a slim chance for any... →

DEATH SPIRAL

22nd March 2019 The combination of higher electricity tariffs and the fall in solar photovoltaic costs is making it increasingly feasible for companies and high-income households to invest in self-generation to reduce reliance on Eskom or, in some extreme cases, to defect from the grid entirely. In a context of... →

ROAD TO HELL

15th March 2019 The road to South Africa’s construction industry hell in has been paved by the proverbial good intentions. Prior to the global financial crisis there was much optimism about the role infrastructure could play in raising growth and spurring development. In the immediate aftermath, infrastructure... →

HAZARDOUS & FAKE

8th March 2019 The argument that ‘expensive’ independent power producers (IPPs) pose a financial risk to Eskom may be untrue and misleading. It has, nevertheless, gained significant traction and prominence on various social media platforms in recent months. It is also fair to say that the narrative has become... →

PLAYER AND REFEREE

1st March 2019 African Rainbow Energy & Power (AREP) chairperson Patrice Motsepe has acknowledged that his company has a serious perception problem – one that will persist for as long as his brothers-in-law, Cyril Ramaphosa and Jeff Radebe, occupied the positions of President and Energy Minister respectively.... →

POWER SHOWDOWN

22nd February 2019 Government has promised to consult meaningfully with labour over a plan to split Eskom into three independent businesses of generation, transmission and distribution. The unbundling is important for creating transparency, but will not succeed without buy-in from labour. President Cyril Ramaphosa... →

PULLING THE PLUG

15th February 2019 Nedbank has confirmed that it will no longer participate in the funding of two coal-fired power stations to be built by independent power producers. Other domestic and local banks are more reticent in showing their hands, but are under increasing pressure not to support more domestic coal... →

FAILING BIG

8th February 2019 Various politicians and commentators have expressed the sentiment that Eskom is too big to fail. But failing it is. Without decisive action, the electricity utility poses a real threat to South Africa’s still fragile economic recovery. →

DIFFICULT START

1st February 2019 Former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi’s sordid testimony before the Zondo Commission was more than enough to wipe the gloss off the first month of 2019. Sadly, it was no the only disheartening event of January. Besides the unacceptable segregation of learners at a North West primary school,... →

BURNING ISSUE

25th January 2019 Youth unemployment is emerging as biggest threat to the future stability of South Africa. For many aged between 15 and 34 the prospect of securing permanent employment is dim and getting dimmer. Our young citizens are not only being let down by an economy that is shedding jobs consistently, but... →

ELECTION WAVE

18th January 2019 Most South African business people will not look back on 2018 with any great fondness. It proved to be yet another difficult year, with the economy dipping back into recession and with the political climate remaining volatile and, at times, hostile. Many of us will be feeling somewhat... →

NO ESCAPING 2018

14th December 2018 he year stated well enough. Hope soared after Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as the new leader of the African National Congress, which resulted in Jacob Zuma’s long-overdue resignation. Those expectations were soon proved unrealistic, however. As 2018 unfolded, it became clear that the damage... →

RED ALERT

7th December 2018 The attacks by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on individual journalists, as well as media organisations, have once again highlighted the party’s disdain for the Constitution and the rights enshrined therein. The outrageous utterances are not only dangerous for safety of journalists, but also... →

POWER SCROOGE

30th November 2018 The threat of load-shedding will hover like a fabled Dickensian ghost over the December holiday period and into the New Year. State-owned electricity utility Eskom has also warned that the risk of rotational cuts will rise further should there be persistent rain in the Mpumalanga region, where... →

RUSSIA-SIZED HOLE

23rd November 2018 he International Energy Agency is cautioning of damaging price spikes in the 2020s if the current weak investment in new oil supply is left unchecked. The agency states that the average level of new conventional crude oil project approvals over the last three years is only half the amount... →

WORSENING MAELSTROM

16th November 2018 Concern is growing again about the position of many of South Africa’s State-owned companies. Corruption and maladministration are important causes for their current distress. However, the sustainability of many of these enterprises is also threatened by their business models, which, in many... →

BREWING CONFIDENCE

9th November 2018 President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent Investment Conference was noteworthy not for the R290-billion in investments unveiled, many of which having already been in the pipeline, but for the atmosphere of renewed hope that surrounded the gathering. The event brimmed to overflowing with high-level... →

HERE WE GO AGAIN

2nd November 2018 South Africans would have experienced a collective sense of déjà vu when Eskom confirmed that it is applying for hikes of 15% a year for the coming three-year tariff period, over-and above what it has already been granted through Regulatory Clearing Account applications. This pattern has been... →

WOOING INVESTORS

26th October 2018 President Cyril Ramaphosa has rightly concluded that South Africa will not be able to extract itself from its current low-growth trap in the absence of far higher levels of investment. He has, thus, set a goal of attracting $100-billion-worth of domestic and foreign investment over the coming... →

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