Sasol concludes major equity divestment from Rompco pipeline

JSE-listed petrochemicals group Sasol says South African gas development company iGas and Companhia Mocambiçana de Gasoduto (CMG) have exercised their pre-emptive right to acquire a 30% equity interest in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Company (Rompco) pipeline.

The companies exercised this right after Sasol announced in May last year that its subsidiary, SSA, had agreed to sell a 30% equity interest in Rompco to an acquisition vehicle beneficially owned by a consortium.

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Eskom offers workers 7% increase after illegal protests

Eskom offers workers 7% increase after illegal protests Eskom Holdings is offering workers a 7% wage increase, after the utility lost units during illegal protests that plunged South Africa into the worst blackouts since 2019, according to people familiar with the information.
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Amid load shedding pain, more than 50% of Soweto residents are illegally connected to grid – …

As Soweto residents marched to the office of Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse last week to demand a more sustainable and consistent electricity supply, they did so against the backdrop of an area plagued by illegal connections and residents who can’t or won’t pay for power. Eskom says 50% of customers in Soweto are “zero buyers”. Only 40% of the residents buy and pay for electricity, according to the parastatal.
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‘It’s unfair’ to blame me or govt for Eskom crisis – Mantashe on defensive at urgent Cabinet meeting

A Cabinet committee was meeting urgently on Wednesday to deliberate on the crises at Eskom after the power utility plunged the country into stage 6 load-shedding on Tuesday. No Cabinet meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday. Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe told News24 it was disingenuous to blame the government for the crisis. Mantashe and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan have come under harsh criticism, particularly from the DA, for having failed to prevent the deterioration at Eskom.
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Stage 6 load-shedding from 16:00 as maintenance backlog could take ‘weeks to clear’

Stage 6 load shedding will kick in again from 16:00 until 22:00 on Wednesday evening, Eskom said in a statement. This is despite the fact that striking employees have started returning to work. Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 22:00 until midnight, and then reduced to Stage 2 until 05:00 on Thursday morning. From 05:00 until 00:00 on Thursday loadshedding will be at Stage 4.
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147 MW Karusa Wind Farm enters commercial operation

The 147 MW Karusa wind farm, in the Western Cape, has entered into commercial operation, raising Enel Green Power South Africa’s installed capacity to 1.2 GW across ten wind and solar projects. Located in a remote part of the Laingsburg local municipality, the €200-million wind farm incorporates Vestas V136-4.2MW wind turbines, which are reportedly the largest on the African continent to date.
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Eskom nears completion of rectification of major boiler defects

Eskom’s newest coal-fired power stations, Limpopo-based Medupi and Mpumalanga-based Kusile have suffered setbacks since their commissioning, some of which are yet to be finalised. Because Eskom ordered boilers of such a high capacity – at about 800 MW a unit – this meant that the power utility suffered from teething problems associated with plant and equipment deployed in few other places in the world. This meant Eskom had to work with the boiler manufacturers to understand the issues and work together to solve them.
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Eskom employees start returning to work amid speculation of a higher wage offer

As reports and speculation about Eskom’s new wage offer to unions were in full swing, the power utility confirmed that employees were returning to work at various stations and other operations on Wednesday morning. After a week of protest disruptions due to a wage negotiation deadlock, Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan announced on Tuesday afternoon that Eskom employees would return to work. While Gordhan said in his briefing that an agreement was reached on the wage settlement, details of the offer are still not public, and are expected to be formally tabled on Friday. 
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Stage 6 fiasco: Ratings downgrade may now be on the cards, economists warn

Stage 6 load shedding – the worst since 2019 – sparked by a wildcat strike at ailing power utility Eskom could stamp out the SA economy’s recent tentative green shoots, analysts have warned. Amid spiralling unemployment, high inflation and rocketing fuel prices, there have been small pockets of good news. Tuesday saw a marginal uptick in formal employment in the first quarter, while sovereign rating agencies have been looking at the country in a slightly more favourable light.
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