The third unit at Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme was brought into commercial operation on Tuesday, Eskom CEO Brian Molefe announced on Wednesday.

Each unit adds 333 MW of peak power to the grid, which is key in the power utility's ability to cope with peak demand, especially during winter.

Addressing Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprise, Molefe pointed out that all four units were synchronised on March 3, March 25, May 21 and June 16, which meant 1 332 MW was being fed into the grid in winter. However, the commercial handover is the end date for the completion of the project.

Units 4 and 2 went into commercial operation on June 10 and August 22, while unit 1 went live on Tuesday night.

Unit 3 had a breakdown during synchronisation and would be up and running by the end of the year, Molefe said."The repairs of damaged unit 3 are progressing," he said. "It is the only unit that is expected to come into commercial operation during this financial year."

In addition, Molefe said Medupi unit 5 is on track for commercial operation in the first half of 2018.

"With commercial operation of Ingula and the coming on stream of Medupi unit 5, it will be very hard to go into load shedding," Molefe said.

His positive sentiment about Eskom's finances and operational successes comes as his battle with Treasury reached a turning point on Tuesday evening, when Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown pushed the utility to hand over documents to Treasury over its probe into coal contracts.

"We will submit the information even though the board has not sat down to formally consider the outcome of the report," spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Talk Radio 702.

"After our discussions this morning with the public enterprises minister, the decision was we would submit the information (to Treasury)".
 

"Eskom is on a firm financial and operation footing," Molefe said. "Our financial position has improved and our operational performance has stabilised. We do not anticipate load shedding and the new build programme will meet its deadlines. We are prepared to meet excess supply of electricity."

'Almost a miracle'

"We have stabilised Eskom coming from a very poor base with a fleet that was faltering," Eskom chair Ben Ngubane told Parliament on Wednesday. "Plant availability is 80% and more, which is almost a miracle, considering where we were a year ago."

Molefe said there has been a reduced reliance on open cycle gas turbines in 2016, which cost billions to run during South Africa's load shedding crisis. This has resulted in a decrease from R9.5bn in 2014/15, to R8.87bn in 2015/16, to R0.09bn in 2016/17 to date, Molefe explained."Eskom is striving for no further use of diesel to meet demand for the remainder of the year," he said. "The use of diesel in July was zero."

Eskom has come under scrutiny once again over the turbines, as they are massively over budget and delayed, with all four turbines originally meant to go live in 2013.

Carte Blanche interviewed an insider and a mining expert who worked at Ingula, who said the underground contractor was paid billions more than they should have in bonuses, advances and flimsy compensation events, even as the contractors skimped on safety.

The contractor – CMI Joint Venture – comprises two Italian companies, which allegedly have a track record of over-runs and corruption. The third company is PG Mavundla Engineers, which is owned by Philani Mavundla, a friend of President Jacob Zuma who offered to pay for his Nkandla homestead, according to Carte Blanche.

Source: Fin24

n Cameroon, a volunteer youth group "Human Bulldozers" is shifting piles of mud to make roads passable. On one routes, they have cut the journey time from five to three hours.

They waited for years but no help came from the government. Enough was enough, they said, and came up with a solution. Hundreds of youths made their way to Nkondjock market square in Nkam Division of the littoral region of Cameroon.

Via loud speakers, they rallied their peers to join a movement for the repair of damaged roads. "We thought that before asking what the state has done for us, we should also show what we have done for the state," said Koumba Ernest, one of the team leaders.

Ernest and his colleagues organized themselves into working groups. They began work using rudimentary tools such as battered hoes, shovels and diggers to make some of the roads passable.

"The state has forgotten Nkondjock, not only Nkondjock but Nkam in general. It is now upon us, the population, to begin such community development initiatives," Ernest said.

Nkondjock residents soon saw the impact the group was making and gave them the nickname "Human Bulldozers." As the name suggests, the youths had bulldozed their ways along the only passable 80-kilometer stretch of road, dug drains, filled up potholes and leveled the heavily muddied road.

The road is a lifeline for Nkondjock residents who use it to transport goods to nearby villages. Transport vehicles used to take about five hours to make the journey assuming they didn't get stuck in mud. After the back-breaking effort by the youths, vehicles now require less than three hours for the trip.

"We are actually angry because despite the fact that we are in an agriculture basin that supplies food to western Cameroon and beyond, our roads are abandoned to deteriorate," said Kwemo Isaac, a notable resident of Nkondjock.

Cameroon has several food basins and Nkondjock is one of them. Nkondjock farmers supply maize and cash crops like coffee and cocoa to the rest of the country. But poor roads forced them to consider other ways of making a living.

"We have many buyers coming here for our goods. But because of bad roads, they push the buying price down to a level where we are being discouraged from working in our farms. This is because we hardly recover what we invest. We are working at a loss just because of the roads," Kwemo Isaac said.
 

Isaac added that the youths are helping but the government still needs to step in. "We have the farms but we are not able to give in our best. So we are on our knees before the government, before the state, saying that we have tried our best but this human bulldozer initiative alone is not enough."

The youths meet every Wednesday and Saturday to work. The men do the heavy liftings, while the women cook and run other errands. Even children are allowed to work. But 9-year old Prisca Berka said she didn't mind working.

"The other children and I fetch water for our parents who cook for those working on the roads," Berka said. "We also pass on drinking water to the workers when they are thirsty."

The administrative office of Nkondjock turned down DW's request for an interview, but an official said the government of Cameroon was aware of the road conditions.

Saida — Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal laid, on Wednesday, the foundation stone of a public housing project of 4,900 units in Saida.

This project, carried out in Hai Boukhars, includes 3,000 public rental housing units, including 2,000 units that will be constructed by a Turkish company and the 1,000 remaining ones by a Chinese company.

This project, which is budgeted at more than DZD3.3 billion, will be delivered in September 2018, according to the provided explanations.

Sellal insisted on the need to respect the architectural standards and the quality of constructions.

He also underlined the interest granted to the socio-economic infrastructures that must be carried out on the spot, including green spaces, schools, playgrounds and the different administrations.

Sumbe — The level of intervention of the road rehabilitation will be profound aiming at structurally recovering the physical characteristics of primary roads.

This was said on Tuesday in Longa locality in the coastal Cuanza Sul province by the Construction minister, Waldemar Pires Alexandre, after the signing of contracts for the reconstruction of 328 kilometers of the sections on National Highway 100 on the roads that connect Luanda to Cuanza Sul, under the operational plan of the Chinese credit line.

He noted that to achieve the objectives inspection of ongoing works will be carried out with the utmost rigour, based on the current legislation on the law of public procurement.

The minister stressed that this whole range of interventions will enable to have national roads rehabilitated, as well as users' mobility, safer and acceptable movement and comfort.

According to the minister, work is being done so that these works may have the necessary durability.

Under the agreements signed between the governments of Angola and China, it was subjacent that at least 20 percent of resources allocated to projects awarded to Chinese companies local companies to work in this process must be subcontracted.

Regarding the cities of Sumbe, Porto Amboim and Gabela, the official said part of the integrated infrastructure projects, which began a few years ago, most unfortunately are stopped due to financial constraint.

Nigeria's Dangote Cement has started its shake-up of the Kenyan market with importation of the commodity from its plant in neighbouring Ethiopia as it prepares to establish a local manufacturing plant.

Dangote's targeting of the Kenyan consumer with low-cost cement from Ethiopia is expected to further drive retail prices downward in a market where they have remained static for nearly 10 years.

Importing cement into Kenya is seen as Dangote's short-term market entry plan as it prepares to establish a local plant in 2019.

"In addition, we have begun exporting cement to neighbouring Kenya," the company, which is owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, said in its latest trading update.

Dangote said the cement exported to Kenya is priced at about $74 (Sh7,400) per tonne, making it up to 40 per cent cheaper than locally manufactured brands.

The price is expected to incorporate the cost of transporting the cement to Kenya as well as taxes where applicable, while still leaving the company with a profit.

Dangote, which plans to topple LafargeHolcim as the largest producer of cement in Africa, rides on economies of scale to set lower prices that in turn grows its market share. Its plant in Ethiopia has an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.

However, cement industry sources said the exports mainly covered supplies to road construction projects in northern Kenya.

Dangote also started selling cement in Tanzania early this year after completing its factory in Mtwara about 400 kilometres from Dar es Salaam.

The company cut prices in Tanzania to rapidly gain market share at the expense of rivals, including Kenyan multinationals with a presence in that market.

ARM Cement said in a commentary accompanying its latest results that cement prices in Tanzania fell by a third in the half year ended June as a result of Dangote's entry.

Dangote said in the trading update that it took market share from its competitors in Tanzania despite incurring higher transport costs since its factory is located relatively farther away from Dar es Salaam.

"We estimate that in June we achieved 23 per cent market share across Tanzania and were the leading supplier of cement in the key market of Dar es Salaam," Dangote said.

The Nigerian firm's price in Tanzania stood at about $80 (Sh8,000) per tonne in June, undercutting its competitors by more than 20 per cent.

The company is expected to replicate its lower-pricing strategy in Kenya when it starts to produce cement locally in 2019.

Dangote, which already has a licence to prospect for limestone in Kitui, says it has revised the upcoming factory's annual production capacity to three million tonnes from the previous 1.5 million.

It has incorporated two majority-owned subsidiaries to house its local limestone mining and cement production operations. It has a 90 per cent stake in Dangote Cement Kenya Limited and a similar stake in Dangote Quarries Kenya Limited. The minority interests in the subsidiaries are not disclosed.

The much-delayed tabling of South African Airways' (SAA's) annual financial statements has now dragged on for an unacceptably long time and all concerned must urgently get the matter resolved, Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance said on Wednesday.

It expressed concern about reports that SAA could be deregistered in Hong Kong if its financials are not finalised by September 6, and noted with concern the implications of an SAA advert seeking to raise R16bn in the market.

The committee asked Treasury to ensure that SAA's 2014/15 annual report and annual financial statements are tabled in Parliament by the September 15 deadline. It also urged the airline to appoint a new board, and for management to be strengthened considerably as soon as possible.

Treasury – which is SAA's shareholder representative – told Fin24 on Wednesday that the airline's financial position requires extensive and careful consideration, because of the potential implication for the South African as well as for country's sovereign standing.

"In order for a company to finalise its AFS (annual financial statements) on a going concern basis, the company is required to demonstrate that it is solvent and will be able to meet its obligations as they fall due over, at least for the next 12 month period," National Treasury told Fin24.

It pointed out that the additional government guarantees required for SAA to demonstrate that it does indeed meet these requirements would have to be reflected in the notes to the airline's financials.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan indicated last week that a "good announcement" regarding SAA could be expected "shortly".

Cash-strapped SAA published a funding request over the weekend, hoping to raise R16bn from banking and non-banking financial institutions to meet its working and capital expenditure requirement, as well as consolidate its current debt portfolio.

Despite this step, SAA still rejects allegations that it should be placed under business rescue or even liquidation. SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali pointed out that a going concern government guarantee is needed to finalise the annual financial statements and that there are extensive, onongoing engagements with Treasury to try to find a solution and provide certainty.

Business rescue an 'absurd misdiagnosis'

Tlali emphasised earlier this week that SAA has neither defaulted nor been unable to meet its obligations to service its debts – a key determining factor to justify placing a company under business rescue. In his view, those advocating for business rescue are making an absurd misdiagnosis.

In July Gordhan was forced to request Parliament to grant an extension of tabling the much-overdue annual financial statements until September 15. SAA submitted an updated application for a going concern guarantee on December 21 2015. Its financials cannot be finalised on a going concern basis until a decision has been taken on the guarantee application.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on MTN chief human resources officer, Nhlanhla Qwabe, to step down in its latest war of words with the network.

The union is set to meet MTN in court on Tuesday after applying for an interdict against the company regarding its outsourcing plan.

Last week, the CWU applied for a court interdict against the network provider following the company's decision to outsource a portion of its call centre facility to a third-party vendor. The union claims that it had not been properly consulted over the move.

CWU president Clyde Mervin said that MTN had been victimising staff members and shop stewards amid threats of strike action.

The union is also calling for a salary increase and the conversion of temporary workers into permanent staff.

"We cannot allow our members to be treated this way. We are going for them. There is a war to come," Mervin told Fin24.

"People say they know us for all calling for people to step down, but that is exactly what we are doing. We want Qwabe to step down," he added.

MTN earlier said it will adopt a hybrid outsource model which would result in retaining some of its call centre facilities, while others would be outsourced to an experienced third party vendor.

This was in a bid to "optimise operations and enhance customer experience."

Meanwhile, MTN and CWU are set to meet on Friday again in a "long over-due" meeting, said Mervin.

MTN confirmed that the meeting with the union was indeed scheduled to take place on Friday.

"We are looking forward to a constructive meeting, where all parties will conduct themselves in a respectful and professional manner," Qwabe told Fin24.

Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has said the "future of the world" will be built on the African continent.

Zuckerberg made the statement during his first Sub-Saharan visit to Africa in Lagos, Nigeria on Tuesday.

A small group of media were invited to a live-stream of the Nigerian event in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

"The thing that is striking [about Nigeria] is the entrepreneurial energy. I think when you're trying to build something, what matters the most is who wants it the most. This is where the future is going to be built," Zuckerberg said from Lagos.

He said that once the world woke up to the entrepreneurial energy coming from Africa, the continent would begin to change the world.

"You feel that here, as soon as you get off the plane and start talking to people, you feel that passion and entrepreneurial energy," Zuckerberg added.His surprise visit to Nigeria, Facebook's largest African market with over 18 million users, was to learn more about the country with a focus around entrepreneurship and web development.

"If you want to connect everyone in the world then making sure everyone has access to the internet is a really important thing," he said.

During his discussion with Nigerian media, Zuckerberg made mention of Facebook's key projects aimed at connecting developing communities to the internet.One such project, Free Basics aimed at providing people with access to basic services on their mobile phones in areas where internet access may not be as accessible as in more developed areas, is currently being brought to South Africans by Cell C.

"Whether you care about connecting people, friends and family or helping people startup businesses, the internet is one of the most fundamental parts of infrastructure that I think needs to exist," Zuckerberg said.

"Growing small businesses is an important part of communities. So far 60 million businesses have pages have been created on Facebook. We are giving people the same tools that only big companies would have had access to," he added.

Arusha — East African handicraft stakeholders are finalising negotiations with four International organisations to promote handicraft trade in the region.

The Netherlands Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries, Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), the World Fair Trade Organisation and the USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub will jointly promote handicrafts.

That will be done through trade fairs in an initiative known as Source East Africa.

East Africa's geographical location has made it a melting pot of different cultures, resulting in a rich diversity of crafts skills and products.

Trade in handicrafts can create jobs in rural and peri-urban areas and add value to local raw materials.

Besides generating money, handicrafts can contribute to import substitution by providing locally produced product alternatives to imported ones.

"We need to start recognising the handicrafts sector as a key economic sector in the region that requires comprehensive support so that it can unfold its full potential," the CBI programme manager for the Export Coaching Programme in East Africa, Heidy van der Ploeg, said.
 

According to UNESCO, the handicrafts sector is the second largest employer in the developing world behind agriculture. The global crafts sector is valued at $34 billion annually and 65 per cent of global handicrafts exports come from developing countries. "We are delighted to be part of this trade fair as its success and benefits will lead us closer to achieving our objective of increasing the region's global exports," said the chief executive officer for TMEA, Frank Matseart.

He said Source East Africa is an international business platform that will consequently result in the creation of more jobs in the region and especially for women who are a major stakeholder in the crafts sector. Besides the demand on the export market, there is also a growing regional and domestic demand for home décor, fashion accessories and gifts.

A growing tourism sector in the region offers the potential to sell products to tourists through souvenir and gift shops. Many hotels and lodges, besides sourcing products for their own in-house gift shops also look for interior decoration products to decorate their houses in a "local design style" to enhance the experience for their guests.

There is also a growing middle and upper class in the region that appreciates good quality handicrafts. There is also the corporate sector that often sources products from this sector either to decorate their offices or as gifts to customers, especially during the holiday season.

Mbanza Congo — Construction material prices increased in the last three weeks in Mbanza Congo, northern Zaire province, in what the residents decries that such situation hinders the fulfillment of their dreams of having own homes.

In a tour meant to sound out the prices of the construction materials in the local trade outlets on Monday, Angop learnt that a 50km cement bag is being sold at AKz 1600 against the previous 1400 in beginning of August.

A 3-meter zinc sheet stands at AKz 3,800 against the previous 3,000, while a 25 kg tin of paint worth 1200 Kwanzas, 200 more than the previous price.

The 12mm-steel bar went to AKz 2000 and AKz 1700 for 10mm steel bar, eight millimeters (1400), six millimeters (1000), a 14-cubic meter car load of sand (AKz 100 000), gravel (AKz 90, 000).