Cape Town — Water Crisis to Outpace Energy Crisis, Infrastructure Group Warns
According to American multinational infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, a looming water crisis in South Africa will eclipse the nation's current struggle for a stable supply of electricity, Business Tech reports. Darrin Green, Africa MD at globally trusted infrastructure firm AECOM, said: The energy crisis is confronting us first, or maybe it is the most obvious, but for me, the current water shortage in Gauteng is absolutely a worse crisis. While the fundamental issues are the same, it is going to be a much more difficult situation for people to live with on a day-to-day basis". Green added that as climate change becomes increasingly important, South Africa has failed to make the topic more noteworthy and thereby changing its current reactive stance to one that is more proactive. Clients are not perceiving this as a priority. It must start with an overall understanding of sustainability and its key drivers. The South African market has not reached a sufficient level of maturity in this regard," Green said. An additional example was made of integrated hydrological models of South Africa's coastlines not being updated or maintained.
Civil Servants Return to Work After Nationwide Stay-Away
Civil servants have returned to work after a national wage strike organised by the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA), Eyewitness News reports. The PSA has maintained its call for a 10% wage hike in the face of a unilateral 3% increase instituted by the government. Workers have called on the government to honour he 2018 wage agreement following its failure to provide increases in the final year of the bargain. President of the PSA Lufuno Mulaudzi said: "Government failure to implement decent salary increases for public service is a result of years of fraud and corruption." Unions have given government a seven-day ultimatum to respond to their demands and threatened to stage a national shutdown if negotiations are not re-opened.
R10 Billion French, German Loans Aim to Lessen South Africa's Reliance on Coal
France and Germany have signed loan agreements totaling R10 billion to expedite South Africa's Just Energy Transition, Business Tech writes. The loans, made available by he French and German public development banks, Agence Française de Développement and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, are directed squarely at the National Treasury which said on the matter: The loans are highly concessional as their terms are substantially more generous than what the government of South Africa would be able to raise in capital market." The Treasury added that this is a critical stage in attracting investment to the nation as it forms part of the the Just Energy Transition. South Africa requires more support for its just energy transition given the large scale of the required transition in the context of the current socio-economic challenges and will therefore continue discussions with various multilateral lenders to pursue this objective," said Treasury.
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Precautions Taken Over Alleged IS Cell in Nation, Police Minister Says
Police Minister Bheki Cele has said that the South African Police Service (SAPS) will hold any allegations of an IS cell operating in South Africa seriously, Eyewitness News reports. His statements follow a warning issued by the U.S. Treasury that sanctions would be imposed on several Durban businesses with alleged ties to the militant group. Cele echoed similar sentiments after a terror alert was issued over a potential attack in Sandton in October. "Remember that a week or two weeks ago, we were told that Sandton was going to be upside down and all that. Those things did not happen but we did take precautions, we did look around the matters, and up to this point we are working with more structures and saying please verify it," he said.
Massive Derailment Forces Rail, Port Company to Declare Sixth Force Majeure
The massive derailment along a coal export line in rural KwaZulu-Natal has prompted Transnet to declare its sixth force majeure in 18 months, News24 reports. Force majeure is a clause that Transnet defines as an incident "beyond its reasonable control" and has used it six times since June 2021 to define a cyberattack, riots, a fire, floods and a strike. The derailment resulted in damage to a large part of the track with Transnet assuring that the matter would be investigated. The firm has faced financial difficulties since 2018 and received R5.9 billion from the Treasury for the purchase of locomotives and flood damage repair.
