Emerging miners highlight impact of energy, logistics constraints on economic growth

The South African economy is limited to 1.5% potential growth a year because there is no productivity growth. National productivity has declined for five years in a row, highlighting the economy’s structural constraints, including in a lack of energy security and logistics capacity, mining industry body Minerals Council South Africa outgoing CEO Roger Baxter told delegates at a recent media briefing. “Unless we stabilise energy availability and get logistics working to transport investment and value to the rest of the economy, we will not get the economy back on track,” he said.
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DPE to appeal loadshedding exemption ruling made by High Court

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has said his department will lodge an urgent appeal to set aside the judgment handed down by the North Gauteng High Court on May 5 that schools, hospitals and police stations must be spared from loadshedding. Judge Norman Davis ordered Gordhan to take all reasonable steps within 60 days to ensure these places of interest are not affected by loadshedding, as it infringes on Constitutional rights.
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Treasury says technical assessment of coal stations to be completed by July

The National Treasury has confirmed that the once-off independent review of Eskom’s 14 coal fired power stations is under way and should be concluded by July. The review was announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana during his February Budget when he also unveiled the R254-billion Eskom Debt Relief plan.
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Loadshedding starts to weigh on private sector debt servicing ability

The Experian Business Debt Index (BDI) declined sharply to 0.996 in the fourth quarter of last year, following a reading of 1.591 in the third quarter, reflecting intense and more frequent loadshedding in the period and backlogs at South Africa’s ports.

The BDI reflects the relative ability for businesses to pay their outstanding suppliers or creditors, which indicates the overall health of businesses in the economy.

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Rampant corruption at Eskom drags down South Africa

On a late Thursday afternoon last November, in the midst of rolling blackouts implemented by South Africa’s state-owned electricity company, a contractor at a power station in the eastern Mpumalanga province pulled a plug connected to one of the site’s main generation units. The unit subsequently broke down, ensuring yet another day of nationwide outages.
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