Engineering solutions company BMG has been authorised as an essential service to provide its components and support services during the remainder of South Africa’s lockdown period ending at midnight on April 16. The BMG team is on hand and its distribution centre in Johannesburg is stocked to assist essential service customers in many sectors, including [...]

Following the declaration of a state of disaster and a national lockdown in the country, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), has issued an exemption notice to institutions to which that Act applies to ensure effective financial management and to minimise any possible noncompliance with the PFMA. The [...]

Much of the reverse engineering on the Penlon Nuffield 200 ventilator is complete, with prototype production imminent, says National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) executive director Renai Moothilal. “If things go according to plan, full-scale volume production can be up and running within a month.”

During the 21-day lockdown period, mining operations in South Africa will scale down significantly, and the effect on deep-level mines will probably be the most significant, says specialist legal provider Bowmans tax executive Adéle de Jager. The majority of mines have been placed into care and maintenance for the duration of the lockdown period to [...]

Scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Geosciences have proposed an explanation for a phenomenon that has long puzzled geologists. The researchers are Professor Rais Latypov and Dr Sofya Chistyakova and their research has been published in the journal Geology. The puzzle has been the fact that some magmatic rocks have a mineral composition that is not normal. [...]

The financially-beleaguered South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), which falls under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), had a new board appointed in late January, to oversee and turnaround the agency. The chairperson of this new board, which has a term of three years, is veteran former Eskom nuclear executive David Nicholls. In [...]

International waste management company Averda has entered into a strategic partnership with African disaster response nongovernmental organisation (NGO) Gift of the Givers, to provide necessary medical waste management services to its mobile testing stations across the country free of charge for the duration of the current lockdown period. This will provide crucial support to healthcare [...]

The global representative organisation for the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (Iata), issued on April 2 a call for African and Middle Eastern governments to financially support their airlines, directly and/or indirectly. This was because of the havoc being wrought on the sector by government-imposed flight and travel restrictions and border closures, intended [...]

An increase in the wages of public servants – originally due to kick in on April 1, in terms of a wage agreement reached in 2018 – is still on ice after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced an ambitious plan in his Budget address to save some R160-billion in the state's wage bill over three [...]

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has appointed Nhlanhla Gumede as a full-time regulator member of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa). Gumede will primarily be responsible for electricity regulation for five years, effective April 1.

Law firm ENS Africa has unpacked some of the amendments made to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which came into effect from March 27. The publication of the amended regulations follows the publication of the Draft Amendments to the MPRDA, which was published for public comment on November 28 last year.

From midnight on April 3, power utility Eskom will take Unit 2 of the Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape, offline. The unit is scheduled to return to service by April 30, if not required before then. From midnight on April 3, power utility Eskom will take Unit 2 of the Koeberg nuclear [...]