Players in South Africa’s mining sector have called upon the government to fix the power crisis being experienced in the country subsequently devastating business operations in the country.

According to Reuters, the Mineral Council South Africa took the decision on Monday to settle the nation’s power crisis, which saw record-high power cuts crippling business operations, including OR Tambo Airport operating in darkness after transformer shutdown.

The state-owned utility Eskom which supplies 95 per cent of the nation’s power was forced to implement power cuts across the country in 2019.

The Mineral Council South Africa was noted by Reuters that, the insecurity in power supplies plus rapidly increasing costs were at the forefront of the constraints on the economy and mining industry.

Also, the body commented on government intervention towards facilitation of additional power that could be brought on stream to bridge the gap

“The government and Eskom should be contracting …

South African Aerospace, Maritime, and Defence Export Council (SAAMDEC) CEO Sandile Ndlovu urged the South Africa defence industry to cultivate a healthy interest in the Egyptian market.

Speaking at the outward trade and investment mission (OTIM) in Egypt, Mr Ndlovu said the export council’s mission was spearheaded on a two-pronged approach.

“The first was to formally introduce the South African defence industry to the market and acknowledging the efforts of individual companies that have been interacting with the Egyptian defence. The second was to identify areas where South Africa and Egypt could cooperate in the defence space8,” he said.

He said that their first interactions with the Egyptian private sector occurred during a defence exhibition held in Egypt last year. Adding that with the interactions they have had during the event, they have found that there is a lot of interest to cooperate with them specifically on promotion and marketing …

Norfund has closed an investment agreement with the mini-grid company We Light. The aim is to build mini-grids in hundreds of villages in Madagascar, and thereby improve the rural population’s access to cheaper and more reliable electricity – at work and at home. We Light will also explore opportunities elsewhere in Africa.

To date, approximately 500 000 households have solar home systems in Madagascar. We Light’s hybrid plants, with solar, battery and diesel generators are very flexible and scalable. They can optimize electricity generation as best suited to the load pattern of the customers, and thereby be a reliable and cost-effective source of electricity for the village.

For the rural population, this means amongst others that kerosene lamps can be replaced with safe lamps with improved light. Mobile phones and computers can be charged whenever needed, and the public information will become easily available through internet, TV and radio.

The …

South Africa is projected to experience a long haul of power cuts, which have taking new stages over the past 14 years due to several operational failures under the nation’s electricity public utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

Eskom is a state-owned company, designated for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity.

According to a Bloomberg report, South Africa’s economy hangs in the balance not only as country but as the beacon of the continent manufacturing industrial complex and diversified economy.  Eskom projects that there would be power outages expected to take away 6,000 megawatts from the grid, beginning this Monday.

This means that the current power cut off has doubled from the earlier announcement aired on 6 December 2019, which cited the deficit of 2,000 megawatts from its generating capacity.

As highlighted by Bloomberg, this is a result of the company losing its hold on additional generating units at its power stations.…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Botswana to start a fiscal consolidation programme in 2020 to reduce the budget deficit and contribute to a gradual rebuilding of its buffers.

“While Botswana still has some fiscal space that allows a gradual adjustment, fiscal consolidation should start in 2020, supported by both revenue and expenditure measures,” said the IMF.

IMF said the composition of the adjustment needs to be carefully calibrated to minimise the impact on competitiveness, growth and the most vulnerable in advancing consolidation.

By 2036, Botswana wants to do away with the model its economy being heavily reliant on mining and government expenditure as the country strives to become a knowledge-based economy and gain high-income status through the private sector and exports.

According to the IMF, this switch will spur a need to redo the macro-economic policy frameworks so as to increase the resilience of the economy and accelerate …

As part of the EU-UNCTAD joint Programme for Angola (Train for Trade II), and in support of Angola’s efforts to strengthen and diversify its economy towards more sustainable economic sectors, UNCTAD is organizing a training workshop for stakeholders from the coffee and tropical fruits value chains.

This will be the third training activity under UNCTAD’s National Green Export Review (NGER) process in Angola, and the second to be held outside the capital city.

The workshop is targeting government officials, producers, sector associations and academics from the northwestern provinces of Bengo, Cabinda, Kwanza-Norte, Malanje, Uíge and Zaire, which are among the country’s most favourable zones for coffee and tropical fruit production.

At the first NGER workshop in Angola, local stakeholders identified coffee and bananas among the green sectors with significant development potential. Moreover, Angola’s Programme to Support Production, Export Diversification and Import Substitution (PRODESI) included the coffee and banana value chains …