The largest share of Gauteng’s R493.4-billion over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) is set to support social services, the township economy, job creation and the energy crisis, said Gauteng Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo on Thursday. Presenting the province’s budget for 2023/24 to the legislature, he said that 83% of the provincial budget, amounting to R412-billion [...]

Civil rights organisation AfriForum has submitted a formal Promotion of Access to Information application to the Gauteng High Court, requesting State-owned freight utility Transnet to provide information on some of its operations. The organisation is seeking transparency from the entity on all active contracts that Transnet or its subsidiaries have concluded with any logistics or [...]

JSE-listed Tongaat Hulett says the recent rains and flooding caused by tropical cyclone Freddy has had an impact on the company’s Mozambique sugar operations. The extent of the damage has yet to be determined owing to high water levels across the Xinavane Estate. The impact on the Mafambisse Estate is said to be minimal.

South Africa's current account balance switched to a deficit of 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the final quarter of 2022 from a small surplus in the third quarter, central bank data showed on Thursday. In rand terms the current account deficit for the October to December period was R174-billion from a surplus of [...]

Helping corporate clients transition to a future low-carbon economy is a major focus for Nedbank Corporate & Investment Banking (Nedbank CIB). The bank was the first South African commercial bank to issue a Green Bond, in 2019, and it financed the first private sector energy wheeling arrangement in the country. Staying with energy, it already [...]

JSE-listed Renergen says its Virginia gas project, in the Free State, could generate an estimated R5.7-billion to R6.2-billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), once the Phase 1 and 2 plants are in full production. Renergen, in January announced that it had successfully produced both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid helium [...]

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) tells Engineering News that Minister Barbara Creecy has received a letter from Eskom requesting her to issue directions in terms of the disaster management regulations to exclude the construction of the temporary stacks at Kusile from environmental requirements. The state of disaster regulations issued on February [...]

Egypt has joined infrastructure investment institution the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as the first North African sovereign shareholder, serving to diversify the AFC’s expanding equity investor base. As an AFC member State, Egypt’s equity commitment and its imminent representation on the AFC board of directors adds to AFC’s pan-African spread of shareholders, board and management, which [...]

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has confirmed that five substation sites have been specified by Eskom for the public procurement of battery energy storage systems (BESS) with a combined capacity of 513 MW and a minimum of four hours of storage, or at least 2 052 MWh. A bid submission date of 17:00 [...]

Greenpeace Africa on Tuesday disrupted Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe’s opening speech at the Africa Energy Indaba in Cape Town by staging a silent protest in front of the podium. Five protestors held up yellow placards that declared Coal = Corruption, Coal = Loadshedding and Gwede Stop Blocking Renewables.

JSE-listed vertically integrated seafood company Sea Harvest has described 2022 as one of the most challenging financial years in the last decade, pointing out that the year was marked by unprecedented input cost increases and 10% lower available volumes. The group nonetheless managed contain its headline earnings decreasing beyond 33% and to grow its revenue [...]

Newly-appointed Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, reports that he will conduct an assessment over the coming seven to 14 days to help determine what powers he will request President Cyril Ramaphosa to transfer to him to tackle a supply deficit of about 10 000 MW. Ramokgopa’s deficit estimate, which he communicated during an interview on SAfm, [...]