The Covid-19 pandemic has led to increased retrenchments and job losses in the consulting engineering industry, which, in turn, has led to a skills drain in the sector, temporary works consultant Waco Engineering Services MD Otto Botha says.
Growthpoint Properties, South Africa’s largest real estate investment trust, said its running out of diesel to operate generators at some of its buildings as the country grapples with the worst electricity shortage since 2019. In a letter to customers at one of its sites in Johannesburg the company said it suppliers are struggling to keep up as Eskom Holdings, the national power utility, cuts as much as 6 000 megawatts from the national grid after a pay strike disrupted operations.
Power utility Eskom on Thursday said it would again implement Stage 6 load-shedding, from 14:00 until midnight, as the unlawful strike by employees continues. Stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented from 00:00 to 05:00 on Friday. From 05:00 until 00:00 on Friday, load-shedding will be implemented at Stage 6.
After a week of protests at Eskom operations that no one has claimed responsibility for plunged the country into Stage 6 load-shedding, two unions are now dealing with members who are pushing for an outright rejection of a new wage offer. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Solidarity are expected to return to wage talks at the Central Bargaining Forum (CBF) on Friday. Several reports have said Eskom has upped it’s offer to 7%, though there has been no official confirmation on that.
JSE-listed industrial group Reunert has set its sights on capturing a critical market in South Africa and beyond: renewable energy. The group, during its investor day showcase on June 28, highlighted its renewable energy strategy execution, which leverages its renewable energy cluster that spans solar energy embedded generation engineering, procurement and construction; solar energy asset ownership through a build-own-operate (BOO) model; high performance, ultrareliable, locally manufactured storage solutions; and smart energy control and management solutions.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has come out in support of nuclear plant lifetime extension programmes, as Eskom pushes ahead with its plans to extend the life of the Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape. A new IEA report, titled ‘Nuclear Power and Secure Energy Transitions’, argues that life extensions are a “cost-effective source of low-emission electricity, estimated at less than $50/MWh for a 10- to 20-year extension”.
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.
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.
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.
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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