It has taken far too long, but there is finally some positive momentum building in the electricity sector. Cause for optimism has arisen as a result of confirmation by the Department of Mineral... 

With terms like ‘implementation’ and ‘infrastructure’ dominating South Africa’s current Covid-19 recovery narrative, timely insights on what distinguishes successful projects from unsuccessful ones... 

The ‘build back better’ refrain has taken hold globally as countries weigh up strategies for dealing with the social and economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Implicit in the slogan is an... 

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has finally initiated the process to procure 2 000 MW of electricity capacity aimed at closing the immediate supply gap identified in the... 

Major changes are on the cards at the Central Energy Fund (CEF) and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). In both cases, the organisational overhauls are being driven by the need to... 

If one scrutinises the actions taken, since 2014, to extricate South Africa from a power crisis that has sapped business and investor confidence and has undermined trust across society for over a... 

A maddening mismatch between big infrastructure promises and small delivery has been a constant and trust-destroying feature of South Africa for decades. Apart from a short period in the run up to... 

Whether or not the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) appeals the recent adverse High Court judgment against it in relation to its mistreatment of a R69-billion equity injection into... 

The fact that Mozambique has been able to preside over Africa’s biggest-ever financing deal for a project located in what is the epicentre of an increasingly aggressive conflict, with international... 

First, some good news. The fact that the economic recovery plans presented this month by business and the governing party have strong areas of overlap should not be overlooked and should be... 

There is a growing sense that, unless key stakeholders, especially labour, begin to see some practical planning and action around South Africa’s so-called just transition to a low-carbon economy... 

As South Africa weighs an infrastructure-led economic recovery at a time when, owing to extreme fiscal pressures and warnings of a sovereign-debt crisis, government itself is likely to have to play... 

News out for the inaugural Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa  – held last week both physically at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria, and virtually with hundreds of online... 

Over the past few months, several commentators have actively sought to join the dots between the current existential threat posed by the fast-moving Covid-19 pandemic and the even larger, yet far... 

The damage wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic on the South African economy is becoming  horrifyingly clearer by the day. The World Bank warns that South Africa will, in 2020, experience its deepest... 

Governments and economists around the world are currently considering how best to  respond to the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and to do so in a way that resets their economies... 

News that bid documentation is finally being prepared for the so-called emergency procurement of 2 000 MW of electricity generation from independent power producers (IPPs) is incredibly ironic. For... 

There are several stimulus levers that South Africa will consider pulling to extricate itself from what is far more likely to be a serious depression than a fleeting recession. One of these stands... 

Being able to participate, virtually, in several of the parliamentary committee meetings that have taken place during May has been a combination of interesting, frustrating and downright scary.... 

Many acerbic comments have been made about the folly of government pursuing a strategy to build a ‘new’ national carrier from the carcass of the old South African Airways (SAA). It did not take... 

In a speech to the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, held by video conference this year owing to the ongoing threat of the Covid-19 virus, International Monetary Fund (IMF) MD Kristalina Georgieva said... 

During a recent interview with Stephen Sackur, the presenter of BBC HARDtalk, World Health Organisation special envoy for Covid-19 Dr David Nabarro made it painfully clear that humanity will be... 

Thanks to the chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Covid-19, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, South Africans have some insight into the likely shape of the coronavirus pandemic curve. The... 

With Covid-19 and climate change arguably posing the greatest existential threats to this generation, as well as future generations, calls are strengthening for economic stimulus measures adopted... 

Flattening the curve, as Harvard Kennedy School’s Ricardo Hausmann pointed out in a recent presentation, means that there will be fewer cases of Covid-19 at any point in time. This prevents the... 

This 21-day lockdown is quite obviously a solution that has been cooked up for a very different context to the one prevailing in South Africa. It is surely best suited to a setting where all... 

Planning, coordination and cooperation have to become our watchwords as we seek to respond to the Covid-19 health emergency and the economic impacts thereof. Acting decisively is vitally important,... 

There was much excitement at the start of 2018 about the prospect of a growth tailwind, following Cyril Ramaphosa’s election as African National Congress (ANC) president, and later Head of State.... 

It is almost impossible to overstate the scale of the gas discoveries that have been made in the Rovuma basin of northern Mozambique since 2010. With yet more exploration planned, some 150-trillion... 

It is difficult to remember a time when economists and commentators were so off the mark when making forecasts about what a Finance Minister would announce in his Budget as they were for Finance... 

In light of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that measures will be taken in the coming months to fundamentally change the trajectory of energy generation and procurement, it is surely... 

There were indications already at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that South Africa was out of step with the main themes occupying the minds of most global government and business...