President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA), delivered on February 6, has been met with cautious optimism. The Bureau of Economic Research (BER) commended the SoNA’s focus on the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP), which aims to boost economic growth to over 3% through large-scale infrastructure investment.
Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses some of the key themes of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first State of the Nation Address since the establishment of the Government of National Unity; whether the SoNA reflected the fact that Cabinet now includes multiple political parties; how the President navigated some of the brewing geopolitical storms; and some of the key takeaways on the economy and for business.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) recent decision to disallow Eskom from raising revenue through the tariff for carbon taxes may indicate that the National Treasury has opted to extend the electricity price neutrality approach used during the first phase of the tax by a further five years to 2030. In its sixth multiyear price determination application (MYPD6), Eskom applied for carbon tax revenue of R5.5-billion in 2025/26, R21.3-billion in 2026/27 and 18.9-billion in 2026/27 in anticipation of the implementation of the second phase of the carbon tax on January 1, 2026.
Newly appointed Nordex Energy South Africa MD Robert Timmers says that South Africa is poised to be one of the multinational’s largest markets outside of North America and Europe in 2025. This, despite recent public procurement disappointments arising from the country’s well-documented grid constraints and delays in the introduction of new curtailment rules. In an interview with Engineering News, Timmers indicated that the demand gap left by the last two Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPPP) bidding rounds was currently being partially closed for Nordex by two large private projects in the Eastern Cape, with a combined capacity of 631 MW.
Former Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) COO Joanne Bate, who departed the development financier at the end of January, expects to continue to play some role in South Africa’s green energy transition but has not yet taken up any specific new position. Having worked for the IDC in the late 1990s, Bate rejoined the State-owned entity on a five-year contract in February 2020, following a period in the commercial banking sector that included stints with HSBC and Barclays/Absa.
Africa50, a pan-continental infrastructure investor, is setting up the first region-wide investment vehicle dedicated to off-grid power companies and plans a $500-million fund to invest in climate-friendly projects. The new funds at the investor, whose shareholders include the African Development Bank and Morocco’s central bank, come amid a drive by regional governments to boost access to electricity and shield against the impact of adverse weather caused by climate change. The World Bank and AfDB last month convened a conference to give momentum to a program to bring power to 300-million Africans by 2030.
The World Bank raised its economic-growth forecast for South Africa because of a sustained recovery in its energy and logistics sectors, while warning that the nation will struggle to achieve a pace of expansion needed to reduce poverty and unemployment. The Washington-based lender boosted its gross domestic product growth projection for 2025 to 1.8%, from 1.3% previously, according to its South Africa Economic Update report published on Tuesday. The bank expects growth to accelerate to 2% by 2027.
Nine turbines, including 27 blades and other components, are being transported on the N2, from Richards Bay to Seriti Green’s Ummbila Emoyeni wind energy facility in Bethal, Mpumalanga. The turbines and components started moving on February 3. The convoy, managed by Vanguard, will be 335 m long and take three days to complete its journey.
South Africa could increase its GDP growth by 1% in the short term and up to 3% in the medium term by addressing persistent energy and freight logistics constraints, the World Bank’s latest ‘South Africa Economic Update’ states. Such projected increases in economic activity, the report adds, could create about 200 000 jobs in the short term and 500 000 jobs in the medium term. The bank estimates that constraints in both sectors have cost the economy three to five percentage points of GDP growth, and have disproportionately affected small businesses and low-income households.
State-owned power utility Eskom has appointed Leslie Mkhabela as lead independent director, with effect from January 31. “The board appointed Mr Mkhabela as a lead independent director to strengthen governance and create an organisational structure with robust checks and balances. Leslie has consistently demonstrated decisive, ethical and inclusive leadership,” says Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati.