CAPE TOWN, February 19 – The main expectation on Finance Minister Tito Mboweni as he tables his first national budget on Wednesday is a matter of unanimity but a daunting task given the country’s balance sheet and credit rating prospects — he has to throw a lifeline to embattled national power utility Eskom before it […]
PARLIAMENT, February 14 – President Cyril Ramaphosa said a special cabinet task team has been established to deal with the Eskom crisis and provide him with reports daily on the state of the power grid and “what actions need to be taken to ensure energy supply”. Responding to the debate on the state-of-the-nation address, which […]
PARLIAMENT, February 14 – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday hit back at Congress of the People (Cope) leader Mosiuoa Lekota who the previous day accused him of selling out by collaborating with the police’s security branch during the apartheid era. “I have never ever been a spy. I’ve never worked with the enemy. All […]
PARLIAMENT, February 13 – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday pleaded with South Africans not to panic as rolling power cuts across the country persisted for a fourth day as a result of breakdowns and planned outages at power stations. “Let’s not panic. In some ways we’ve been here before and we came out on […]
JOHANNESBURG, February 11 – State-owned power company Eskom said on Monday it was escalating its rolling blackouts to “Stage 4”, requiring 4,000 MW of demand to be suppressed at any given time, due to continued pressure on the national grid. “Since this morning we have unexpectedly lost six additional generating units which have put additional strain […]
CAPE TOWN, February 11 – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday congratulated the Soweto Gospel Choir after it won its third Grammy award at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony held at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday. On his Twitter account, the South African president said: “Congratulations to the Soweto Gospel Choir for being […]
CAPE TOWN, January 30 – Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane on Wednesday said President Cyril Ramaphosa must make public his statement that he had agreed to submit to the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane over her investigation into the R500,000 donation paid by Bosasa chief executive Gavin Watson. “[The] DA notes reports that President Ramaphosa […]
JOHANNESBURG, January 30 – Former deputy prime minister of Zimbabwe, Professor Arthur Mutambara, whose country is in an economic meltdown, has told a British audience that the mooted “ever closer African Union” was “despicable” and instead suggested that a “United States of Africa” would be more beneficial to Africans. Speaking at the Oxford Union Debate […]
DURBAN – January 30 – Former president Jacob Zuma has hit back at the growing chorus within the ANC leadership claiming his tenure was “wasted” or “lost” years, calling it a message of defeatism in an election year. Conveying his message via Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, Zuma took aim at president Cyril Ramaphosa, who had […]
DAVOS-KLOSTERS, SWITZERLAND, January 23 – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, said that after almost a decade of “economic stagnation and political paralysis”, South Africa has begun to turn things around. “We have entered a new period of hope and renewal, and over the last year we have taken decisive steps to correct the mistakes of the […]