Eskom’s financial reports from December 2022, read by candlelight as they may have been, paint a picture that may surprise. The embattled utility has been able to bring its debt burden down to about R400-billion, from a peak well over R500-billion in 2020. It has trimmed its other liabilities enough to bring its losses down […]

Disaster management teams in South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park, as well as external role players, are on alert and monitoring the impact of rainfall that is expected over the next few days until Friday 17 February, as forecast by the SA Weather Services Evacuation underway in Kruger National Park SANParks said in a statement […]

Here’s what’s coming up on Carte Blanche this week. You can watch the show on Sunday 12 February in South Africa on DStv Now OR stream it overseas in most countries on Showmax from Tuesday 14 February if you’re abroad. Loving with Convict(ion) A series of telephone encounters with a kind stranger leads a woman to love. […]

South Africa’s nascent social housing sector is facing systemic struggles. Rising construction costs, slow release of land, and insufficient grant funding are compromising the sector’s ability to deliver new units at the pace and scale needed. Social housing is the key to moving beyond apartheid urban planning, but it is faced with myriad challenges. GroundUp […]

In typical South African style, many locals have taken to social media this evening to make fun of the news that South Africa is to get a Minister of Electricity, a new role which sounds like it belongs in comedian John Cleese’s Ministry of Silly Walks. After announcing that loadshedding has been declared a national […]

Load shedding has been declared a National State of Disaster in South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday evening (although many South Africans were unable to watch the address… because they were suffering Stage 4 load-shedding or planned power cuts). Ramaphosa said:the national state […]

From a personal net worth point of view, South Africa-born Twitter owner Elon Musk won’t look back on 2022 with much fondness. However! ALSO READ | ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A MATRIC STUDENT: CAN YOU ANSWER THESE MATHS QUESTIONS? This year has gotten off to a much, much better start for the 51-year-old from Pretoria. FOR MORE […]

All eyes will be on President Cyril Ramaphosa this evening as he takes to the podium to outline government’s programme of action through his 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Cape Town City Hall. UPDATE Thurs 9 Feb, 20h30: President Ramaphosa has announced that load shedding has been declared a national State of Disaster. […]

South African parliamentarians were horrified by the cruelty NSPCA inspectors have to witness on lion breeding farms. Warning: this report contains graphic images. By DON PINNOCK – Conservation Action Trust. It was a briefing to Parliament’s Environment Portfolio Committee on captive lions. But, as NSPCA senior inspector Douglas Wolhuter began explaining the images he was […]

Eskom is focussed on five key priorities in its mission to improve power station performance and ease load shedding for South Africa, according to board member Mteto Nyati. Speaking on Thursday he said the priorities are: The 24-month generation recovery plan, which has two key elements – firstly, “make sure that we have and we […]

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has invited South Africans to make inputs on what they would like to see reflected in the upcoming National Budget Speech. In a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance said Godongwana would deliver the National Budget Speech on 22 February 2023. “As usual, the budget allocation always aims to strike […]

South Africans have been battered by power shortages for several years. These have worsened to the point that towards the end of 2022 the country’s electricity utility, Eskom, had only half of its power generation capacity operational. This has forced Eskom to escalate its rotational power cuts. By mid-January 2023, users were typically without electricity […]

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has announced an increase in the price of petrol and 0.05% sulphur diesel from Wednesday. Updated prices for fuel, gas and paraffin will be as follows: Both 93 and 95 petrol will increase by 28c Diesel 0.05% sulphur increases marginally by 9c Diesel 0.005% sulphur will decrease slightly […]

“Councillors fool us during election campaigns”. By Vincent Lali. Protesters blocked two main roads in Khayelitsha, Cape Town on Monday, demanding electricity and a change to rubbish collection services. They say they have been waiting many years for electricity. They want the company which is contracted to the City of Cape Town to rotate supervisors […]

Loadshedding is likely to be with us for years to come and it may get worse. South Africans have every reason to complain about Eskom. But after complaining, households have to decide what to do to best cope with loadshedding. By GroundUp Staff. Our country’s households range from families living on the streets of Johannesburg […]

Scheduled blackouts by Eskom started back in 2007. Yet 16 years later, the situation has grown worse and load shedding is expected to continue until 2027. With no end in sight, many businesses and residents have been turning to battery-powered lamps, gas stoves, inverters and domestic solar power. Loadshedding has cut business hours and production, reducing income. […]

Borrowing money, in whatever form, is part of people’s life. The key is to keep it under control and to analyze whether to take the “opportunities” or not. How are South Africans dealing with this? The connection that a person has with the different financial services offered in the market is usually influenced by the […]

Here’s what’s coming up on Carte Blanche this week. You can watch the show on Sunday 29 January in South Africa on DStv Now OR stream it overseas in most countries on Showmax from Tuesday 31 January if you’re abroad. Tiger on the Loose She was an eight-year-old Bengal tiger named Sheba, hand-reared and loved. […]

South African supermarket chain Checkers today (27 Jan) advertised in UK and Australian newspapers, despite not having any stores there. “We want to remind the many South Africans living in both the United Kingdom and Australia, that our country is a great place to live, and Checkers makes living here even better,” claimed Mike Middleton, […]

After narrowly escaping a harrowing mob attack on Wednesday near Hoedspruit in Limpopo province, well-known wildlife filmmaker John Varty has taken to social media to share his experience and concerns for the governance – or lack thereof – of South Africa. Varty says: “I fear for myself, I fear for my family, I fear for South […]

The repurchase rate (repo rate) in South Africa reached 7.25% after the SA Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) agreed to a 25 basis points hike. The increase means that the repo rate will now be 7.25% per year from 27 January 2023, with prime now at 10.75%. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago made the […]

Taking credit or any kind of debt is not always a bad practice. Actually it can even be positive for our personal finances as it helps to achieve investment objectives or to acquire high-value goods. Even so, it is important to take care of indebtedness levels, so it doesn’t get out of hand. As with […]

Gerhard van Niekerk, from Vleis Vryf in South Africa, has been officially invited to attend and compete in the Australian Barbecue Championships, held at the prestigious Meatstock Sydney from 5 to 7 May 2023 at the Sydney Showgrounds. This is Australia’s largest BBQ Festival, home to the country’s biggest barbecue competitions, where international teams from around the […]

Invest Africa CEO Rob Hersov had the crowds chanting ‘Voetsek ANC, Voetsek Luthuli House’ today (Wed 25 Jan), as South Africans joined DA Leader John Steenhuisen in the Power to the People March to the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg. Steenhuisen said it was inspiring to see so many people who “still have the spirit for […]

“If we protect what we have, eventually generations to come will benefit from it,” says Ruben Saul, chairperson of the Doringbaai Development Trust. Doring Bay Abalone, a land-based aquaculture farm, produces about 60 tonnes of abalone per year and legally exports to China. This project stands apart from other abalone farms because it is partly […]