Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) has rebuffed increasingly vociferous calls for the elimination of safeguard duties to ease ongoing supply constraints and price increases in the domestic market. CEO Kobus Verster acknowledges that some backlogs, which began to emerge in late 2019 and became more acute once lockdowns were imposed in response to Covid-19, remain for some categories of steel, most notably flat-steel products.
Namibian power utility Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) has called for bids for the engineering, procurement and construction of the 50 MW Anixas II power station.

The power station will make use of dual-fuel technologies to be used in an internal combustion reciprocating engine plant.

Power utility Eskom will implement Stage 2 load-shedding from 16:00 on Monday afternoon until 05:00 on Tuesday morning. It has also warned that there is a possibility that load-shedding would continue throughout the week.
Eskom Holdings CEO Andre de Ruyter should not be subjected to an investigation over racism allegations leveled by the company’s now fired chief procurement officer, an advocate hired to make a ruling on the CPO’s conduct said. By setting up the probe in response to allegations leveled by the CPO, Solly Tshitangano, Eskom’s board demonstrated “weakness,” Advocate Nazeer Cassim said in a ruling that led to Tshitangano’s dismissal on May 28. Cassim found the CPO guilty of charges related to a fuel-oil supply deal with Econ Oil & Energy that Eskom says was fraudulent.
State logistics company Transnet on May 28 shared its plan for the strategic industrial Port of Richards Bay with the local mayor, business community and ten traditional leaders in Umhlathuze and the surrounding areas. The port is set to play a core role in Transnet’s Natural Gas strategy and remains the primary export channel for coal, chrome and magnetite.
The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved a merger involving Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI) and ACTOM Investment Holdings. OMAI will, through its subsidiary OMPE V GP, acquire shares in ACTOM Investment Holdings, following the tribunal’s unconditional approval of the transaction.
The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved two mergers, by the same acquiring firm in the renewable energy sector after determining that both transactions are unlikely to substantially prevent or lessen competition in any relevant market, or have a negative impact on the public interest.

The acquiring firm – Revego Africa Energy Fund Partnership, a limited partnership, represented by Revego General Partner (RF) in its capacity as general partner – is a South African company.

Former Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies is urging the South African government, in which he served as a Cabinet Minister from 2009 to 2019, to implement a New Deal-style recovery programme to address the economic damage arising from both Covid-19 and more than a decade of economic drift. Speaking during a recent virtual launch of his new book, Davies cautioned that a retreat to austerity could result in a long and politically destabilising period of stagnation. The recovery effort, he said, had to be of a scale commensurate with the economic damage inflicted by the pandemic to avoid widening inequality and a deepening of poverty.
As resource assessment continues to be a challenge in renewable energy project development processes, the extensive research in resource data and improved modelling approaches have led to the development of better high-resolution resource data, the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) says.

Irena will launch its Global Atlas for Renewable Energy 4.0 on May 31, which serves as a free online resource data repository and assessment platform.

Finance institution the African Development Bank Group and the government of Tanzania have signed loan agreements totalling $140-million to finance the construction of the 50 MW Malagarasi hydropower plant in Western Tanzania. The agreements cover a $120-million sovereign loan from the bank and $20-million from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), which is administered by the bank.