South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi) energy secretariat head Professor Sampson Mamphweli says the government intends to leverage the Expropriation Act to acquire land for servitudes as part of its transmission network expansion programme. “It is known that much of the land under negotiation is underproductive and some farmers are no longer using it. However, in some cases, the government is pressured during negotiations and ends up paying significantly more for the servitude than the land is actually worth,” he noted at the inaugural Energy Indaba, hosted by the University of South Africa’s (Unisa) College of Human Sciences (CHS), in Pretoria, on September 22.
Two well-established South African renewables companies – African Clean Energy Developments and EIMS Africa – have officially combined to form a new large-scale independent power producer (IPP) known as Anthem. The consolidation also coincides with the introduction of new shareholders into the entity, which has historical ties to the Old Mutual-linked African Infrastructure Investment Managers’ (AIIM’s) IDEAS Fund, which remains the majority shareholder in Anthem.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is accelerating action against its worst defaulters, which may see electricity meters being removed as part of the city’s aggressive credit control initiative under the Project Lokisa banner.

The CoJ has identified more than 1 300 residential customers with a combined municipal debt of R987-million, who have failed to pay their municipal accounts for more than a year.