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WINTER WARNING

By: Darlene Creamer 5th May 2023 While there has been a Game of Thrones-like tussle over the precise role that South Africa’s Electricity Minister will play, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has become pretty consistent on one issue: the outlook for electricity supply in the high-demand winter months is bleak. That winter of discontent... →

BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

By: Darlene Creamer 28th April 2023 Even for those who have been living through the decline and have, thus, become somewhat oblivious, the dismal state of South Africa’s infrastructure is now almost impossible to ignore. Be it collapsed power pylons, railways stations stripped to concrete ruins, chronic cable theft, or the potholes... →

FLIP FLOPS

By: Darlene Creamer 21st April 2023 The termination of the electricity state of disaster and the withdrawal of a poorly worded Gazette notice exempting Eskom from having to include details of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure from its financial statements offered yet more evidence of the current low levels of capacity... →

TROLLEY HAS BOLTED

By: Darlene Creamer 14th April 2023 The decision by the Competition Commission to probe price hikes across a basket of five fruits and six vegetables is understandable given the level of food inflation over the past year. However, it is also a case of the trolley having already bolted and it is far from clear what impact the... →

HARD TIMES

By: Darlene Creamer 7th April 2023 South Africa has entered a period that could be categorised as stagflation, whereby extremely weak economic growth is combining toxically with rising inflation and extreme unemployment. The International Monetary Fund has become the latest institution to announce a downward revision, slashing its... →

WAVES OF PAIN

By: Darlene Creamer 31st March 2023 It has been an incredibly difficult start to the year, with intense loadshedding and a spike in crime having left individual and investor confidence decidedly soggy. While there have been improvements in the performance of some Eskom power stations, high utilisation factors leave these plants... →

BOILING POINT

By: Darlene Creamer 24th March 2023 The right to protest is an essential part of any democracy. Sadly, protest action in South Africa is increasingly synonymous with acts of violence, intimidation and the destruction of property. Blame for this trend rests largely with the authorities, who tend only to react and act when protests... →

MEGA PROJECT

By: Darlene Creamer 17th March 2023 Newly-appointed Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, seems to have embraced the ‘project manager’ title that many commentators felt Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe had bestowed on the portfolio in order to belittle its role. In various interviews Ramokgopa... →

SHOCKWAVES

By: Darlene Creamer 10th March 2023 The shockwaves from André de Ruyter’s damning interview with eNCA continue to reverberate. While calls from the implicated African National Congress for De Ruyter to name names were predictable, they are entirely unhelpful both to solving the power crisis and even to their own political... →

JUGGLING ACT

By: Darlene Creamer 3rd March 2023 JUGGLING ACT: Even without the early departure of André de Ruyter, the Eskom board would have always struggled to find a permanent replacement before the end of March. What became clear from De Ryuter's explosive eNCA interview, though, is that it’s going to take a very courageous or a very naïve... →

BLUNT INSTRUMENT

By: Darlene Creamer 24th February 2023 It is far from clear what good will come from the decision to declare South Africa’s long-running electricity crisis a State of Disaster. That’s not to say loadshedding isn’t a disaster, it most certainly is. However, it is not at all clear how the declaration of a State of Disaster will ensure... →

SHOOTING SELF IN FOOT

By: Darlene Creamer 17th February 2023 The recent mining gathering in Cape Town once again highlighted the failure of government and its State-owned companies to provide the policy, administrative and infrastructure frameworks and capacity needed to take full advantage of existing mining activity, as well as to stimulate the... →

STATE OF NATIONAL ANXIETY

By: Darlene Creamer 10th February 2023 Moves towards declaring South Africa’s 15-year-old power crisis as a State of National Disaster has raised more anxiety than the recent tiger escapes in Gauteng. These fears are well-founded given the high levels of corruption and downright absurdity that accompanied the Covid declaration. Riding... →

PULLING THE RUG

By: Darlene Creamer 3rd February 2023 The call by President Cyril Ramaphosa for the Eskom board to consider ways of postponing the 18.65% tariff increase approved recently by the regulator, has received support from cash-strapped and loadshedding-fatigued consumers. However, it also lacks any legal basis and has the potential to... →

SINKING FEELING

By: Darlene Creamer 27th January 2023 Given internal ANC political dynamics, it looks like it will be difficult to reverse the decision to move the large State-owned enterprises from the Department of Public Enterprises to their line departments. For Eskom, such a shift is particularly problematic, as it will further blur the policy... →

COMES WITH BAGGAGE

By: Darlene Creamer 20th January 2023 Any thoughts of South Africa making an entirely fresh start in 2023 after what was a difficult 2022, were quickly snuffed out. Not only has there been ongoing loadshedding, but many of the other hangovers from last year remain ever-present, including the obvious signs of infrastructure decay and... →

NOWHERE TO HIDE

By: Darlene Creamer 16th December 2022 No matter how hard the African National Congress tries to hide its toxic factional politics it’s plain for all to see and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It’s reaching a point where surely something has to give, if not internally, at the ballot box. The frightening thing for South... →

DEFLATING

By: Darlene Creamer 9th December 2022 This year’s FIFA World Cup has had its fair share of upsets, which has deflated the egos of some of the bigger teams. The performance of the South African economy in 2022 has been equally deflating. The year started with hopes for a solid recovery following two years of Covid disruption. However,... →

This year’s FIFA World Cup has had its fair share of upsets, which have deflated the egos of some of the bigger teams. The performance of the South African economy in 2022 has been equally deflating. The year started with hopes for a solid recovery following two years of Covid disruption. However, loadshedding, devastating flooding and rising crime, including mafia-style heists, have all taken a damaging toll.

LEADERSHIP PUZZLE

By: Darlene Creamer 2nd December 2022 With the African National Congress gearing up for its 55th National Elective Conference many citizens are doubtful whether its new leaders will be able to finally place country before party. Finding the answer to this real-life riddle may appear far more intricate than the poplar Web-based word... →

UNDER PRESSURE

By: Darlene Creamer 25th November 2022 The South African Institution of Civil Engineering launched its 2022 Infrastructure Report Card earlier this month, which uses a five-point scale from A (world-class) to E (unfit-for-purpose) to score the state of the country’s infrastructure. This year’s report had an overall score of D, which... →

HEAVY LIFTING

By: Darlene Creamer 18th November 2022 After significant research, lobbying and consultative efforts, the first concessional finance has started to flow towards Eskom’s plan to repower and repurposed those coal power station sites that are scheduled for retirement. The World Bank Group has approved a 497-million finance package for... →

JOURNEY ENDS & BEGINS

By: Darlene Creamer 11th November 2022 The scrapping of e-tolls became inevitable when there was massive civil disobedience, led by the well-organised civil society grouping initially know as Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance, or OUTA, which later transitioned to become the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse. The resistance weakened... →

WATER WORRIES

By: Darlene Creamer 4th November 2022 With electricity loadshedding now a part of daily life in South Africa, there is growing anxiety about the prospect of water-shedding. Already several towns across the country are struggling either with water supply or face serious water quality problems. The recent disruptions in Gauteng also... →

PUNCH DRUNK

By: Darlene Creamer 28th October 2022 South African business has had a torrid 2022, with intense loadshedding, a freight-logistics strike and serious flooding all harming production and exports. Sadly, these electricity, transport and weather-related risks are not likely to abate soon, and the environment will be worsened by water... →

DARK SPACE

By: Darlene Creamer 21st October 2022 Even the most determined proponent of State-owned companies and their supposed developmental role will have a hard time proving their case when it comes to Eskom and Transnet. The loadshedding crisis has caused untold damage to the economy for more than a decade, weighing on both productivity and... →

OLD HAT

By: Darlene Creamer 14th October 2022 There is limited room for any surprises as South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who is known for his many homburg hats, puts the final touches to his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, to be delivered on October 26. Indeed, the market also has a limited tolerance currently for... →

NO JOY RIDE

By: Darlene Creamer 7th October 2022 As South Africans we are disconcertingly accustomed to major changes to the value of the rand. However, the US dollar’s rampant performance in September left many other currencies quite shaken, including the British pound, whose performance was also rocked by some questionable fiscal... →

As South Africans, we are disconcertingly accustomed, to major changes to the value of the rand. However, the US dollar’s rampant performance in September left many other currencies quite shaken, including the British pound, whose performance was also rocked by some questionable fiscal announcements. Given the extent of the economic and financial headwinds, heightened in South Africa’s case by intense load-shedding, the ride is likely to remain quite unsettling for some time.

TIPPING POINT:

By: Darlene Creamer 30th September 2022 As South Africans are forced to endure the worst-ever year for power cuts, questions continue to be asked about how we arrived at this confidence-sapping point. Even absent incompetence and corruption, which have undoubtedly contributed, load-shedding became a near certainty once Medupi and... →

THE OTHER GREEN FINANCE

By: Darlene Creamer 23rd September 2022 When medical cannabis-focused special purpose acquisition company Cilo Cybin Holdings debuts on the JSE later this year it will reportedly be Africa’s first such listing. The company will seek about R2-billion, which will be used to acquire and expand an existing cannabis manufacturing facility... →

SERIOUS THREAT

By: Darlene Creamer 16th September 2022 A recent Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime report showed that at least 183 infrastructure and construction projects in South Africa worth more than R63-billion were disrupted by the so-called ‘construction mafia’ in 2019 alone. Typically organised under the banner of... →

WILLFUL BLINDNESS

By: Terence Creamer 9th September 2022 Determined reportage by News24, which has exposed in detail the circumstances surrounding the murder of whistleblower Babita Deokaran, leavea little room for doubt that some Gauteng officials were chillingly incompetent and insensitive at best, if not complicit. Deokaran was killed in a drive-by... →

MISSING PIECE

By: Darlene Creamer 2nd September 2022 South Africa has the solar, wind and land resources to make it one of the most competitive electricity market globally as countries transition from centralised, fossil-based power systems to decentralised and decarbonised structures. However, the grid remains a key enabler and, for the... →

HEAT IS ON

By: Darlene Creamer 26th August 2022 Following deadly flooding in 2021, the latest Northern Hemisphere summer has been characterised by extreme heat waves, droughts and wild fires, which have definitely thrown a spotlight on climate change and its destructive consequences. Less obvious, however, is what is being down to both... →

WATER WORRIES

By: Darlene Creamer 19th August 2022 The water stresses being experienced in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, should serve as a wake-up call to the leaders and citizens of all cities and provinces. While some parts of the country are likely to become wetter as a result of climate change, large parts will become drier and more drought... →

TIGHT SPOT

By: Darlene Creamer 12th August 2022 It came as something of a shock when the South African Reserve Bank decided in July to increase interest rates by 75 basis points rather than the 50 basis points that had been anticipated. By doing so, it signalled that it believes there to be a real danger that inflation is becoming more... →

MANY HANDS

By: Darlene Creamer 5th August 2022 While much of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to tackle load-shedding is focused on utility scale solutions, it also includes some space for micro-level action, mostly in the form of rooftop solar. The plan includes a proposal for a feed-in tariff, which could help unlock the ‘rooftop... →

COLD SHOULDER

By: Darlene Creamer 29th July 2022 South Africa has had several run-ins with the European Union (EU) over the past number of years with regard to the bloc’s trade rules governing citrus. The most recent dispute relates to a stipulation that South African oranges be subjected to cold treatment of between 0°C to -1°C for at least 16... →

CHOKE HOLD

By: Darlene Creamer 22nd July 2022 The record fuel prices in South Africa, and in many other parts of the world, are squeezing businesses and citizens alike, with petrol and diesel used to produce and move nearly everything we consume. The fuel-levy relief granted to date has been welcome, but has been insufficient to ease the... →

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