Energy Minister Outlines Plans to End Power Cuts
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has said that there are plans to resolve continuous blackouts within a year, reports eNCA. Speaking at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Mantashe said that the plans include maintaining power stations, buying electricity from neighbouring countries, and hiring more skilled personnel at power utility Eskom. According to Mantashe, the country lost an estimated R1 billion a day last year due to rolling blackouts (called load shedding). Mantashe said load shedding had led to a decline in mineral production across all commodities. He added: "As a Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, we've put four points that we think need attention if we're going to overcome load shedding within the next 12 months. The first one is improving electricity availability factor through a focus funded plan maintenance at existing power stations. Procurement of emergency and short-term power from existing facilities in other private power plants and purchase additional electricity in neighbouring countries...and lastly to improve the skills capacity at Eskom."
Kruger National Park Sees A Drop in Rhino Poaching
The fight against rhino poaching is yielding results as incidents decreased in the Kruger National Park by 40% in 2022 compared to the previous year, reports TimesLive. Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, has said that "the steady decline in rhino poaching in national parks is related to the war that has been waged by our anti-poaching personnel and a comprehensive dehorning programme. However, poaching has shifted to KwaZulu-Natal, which saw 244 incidents last year. Most of these, 228, were in provincial parks and 16 were in private game reserves. Private owners lost 86 rhinos across the country, but the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park in KZN has been hard hit," Creecy said. At least 132 people were arrested in 2022. Twenty-six rhino horn traffickers and 13 other people were arrested for money laundering and bribing rangers. These arrests were a result of a collaboration between the department, police and NGOs and included syndicate members focusing on KZN, adds TimesLive.
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SABC to Launch an Indigenous Languages News Channel
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has announced that it will launch a 24-hour news channel in local languages, reports SABCNews. SABC's Group Executive for News and Current Affairs, Moshoeshoe Monare, said that the channel will cater to the more than ten million South Africans who depend on SABC channels for news in their own language every day. To improve their news provision for all South Africans, the channel will cater to indigenous languages, including Afrikaans, isiZulu and IsiXhosa, which are widely spoken in South Africa, and will be available on Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), the broadcaster's new streaming platform, SABC Plus as well as current free to air channels.
