Month: July 2023

The City of Ekurhuleni has condemned the shooting of an on-duty electrician in Boksburg on Saturday night.

In a statement on Sunday, the City said the employee was responding to a multiple power outage in the area when he was shot and robbed at a substation in Dayanglen at around 8pm. The employee had to be rushed to hospital where he is recovering.

City spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said they were grateful the electrician survived the incident.

“This city strongly condemns the senseless attack on a man who left the comfort of his home and his family on a Saturday night to assist the community, only to be attacked by senseless thugs. These unfortunate incidents are becoming a major problem. In fact, our workers are now reluctant and even refusing to attend to power outages at night because of these acts of criminality.

“The employees’ behaviour is quite understandable because this job is turning out to be life-threatening. The unfortunate part is that this means that our customers and residents alike will now have to deal with extended power outages,” Dlamini said.

Dlamini added that the incident forced the team to withdraw from the electricity restoration process leaving Morganridge, Davanglen and Boksburg West without power for the whole of last night. ork resumed this morning.

“While we remain committed to render quality and sustainable services at all times, such incidents of criminality derail our efforts. We therefore implore our communities to assist in the protection of these employees because they are performing a critical task.

“We have people who need electricity for survival, and without it they can die. Unfortunately, the criminals care less about that,” Dlamini said.

The City has urged anyone with information regarding the shooting to forward such information to the police for further processing and investigation on 08600 10111.

Source: South African Government News Agency

South Africa’s electricity generation capacity continues to show signs of improvement and stabilisation, says Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

This follows work done in the past two weeks.

The Minister was speaking on Sunday during his weekly media briefing on progress made regarding the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.

Outlining the generation performance for period 3 -7 July 2023, the Minister said that Eskom has been able to maintain the increased energy availability of more than 60% resulting in lower levels of load shedding.

“The progress we’re making is tribute to the fact that we’ve stayed the course. We’ve received a number of criticism, arguing that government doesn’t have a plan and our consistent message was that we have a plan and we are going to deliver against that plan.

“We have been able to maintain the trend line, we are approximating that 60% energy availability factor. In megawatts terms, you can see the running average for the week is about 28 272,” Ramokgopa said.

The progress was on account of a number of things done over the past weeks. As a result of improved generation capacity now, there is an additional space for Eskom to do good planned maintenance.

The Minister highlighted that one of the underlying assumptions when the country entered winter, is that they were going to drastically reduce planned maintenance so that we have as many units as possible at any given time generating megawatts needed.

On Friday, they were able to take out double what had been planned because of the room that has been created by the performance of the units.

“This is planned, it is by design and voluntary. We could have chosen not to but we have chosen to take it out and you are not seeing it in the aggravation of the load shedding situation in the country.

“Load shedding is bad in all its elements but you can see that we’re able to maintain that permutation of 0 to 3 or 1 to 3.

“So either no load shedding between midnight and 4 am then we introduce it during the evening peak because it is more severe than the morning peak…or we introduce Stage 1 load shedding [at] midnight until 4 am and then we ramp it up to Stage 3 during the evening peak starting at 4pm.”

He said that for as long as planned maintenance continues, “these units won’t surprise us because we are thorough and robust in the manner in which we do it.”

When we make a promise that this unit is going to run for a certain number of hours without it failing or being taken out, we are confident that our message or promise will be kept.”

Ramokgopa said the month of July is a special one because it marks the anniversary of the Energy Action Plan which was introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The minister said the plan has made progress as they have been able to mobilise private sector players.

“In relation to the Energy Action Plan, we have been able to mobilise private sector players, over a hundred of them are working with us and that in part is to help us recover the units but also to ensure that they are able to transmit the knowledge and exchange it with some of the station managers and junior engineers so that they are able to run on their own.

“When we come out of this very difficult electricity situation, we will be more than confident that we have cadres of young engineers at Eskom, who fully understand how these machines operate,” he said.

The Minister added that they were also strengthening issues around accountability when it comes to the Energy Action Plan.

On funding to enable investment to the grid, Ramokgopa announced that Eskom has prioritised about 25 transformers that will make it possible to add 12,000 megawatts of capacity into the grid by 2028.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Department of Social Development will host the review of the implementation of South Africa’s population policy conference.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu will address the conference that will get underway on Tuesday at the Maropeng Centre at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site in Gauteng.

The gathering will bring together 300 participants representing diverse sectors including young people, the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disabilities, civil society organisations and academics.

In a statement on Sunday the department said the conference aims to assess progress made in implementing the policy which was developed to include population concerns in development planning.

The conference will focus on the priorities of the Population Policy approved by Cabinet in 2015.

Held under the theme: “Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities”, the conference will evaluate progress made and the relevance of the policy after 25 years and make recommendations to Cabinet in 2024.

The conference will be preceded by the commemoration of the World Population Day, which is globally recognized on 11 July.

“Some of the discussions for the conference will include a panel discussion on the role of young fathers in raising children, why adolescents should be a priority and government support initiatives advancing the 1.8 billion campaign and agenda.

“The Minister will also launch the State of the World Population 2023 report focusing on the empowerment of women and girls,” the department said.

The conference will conclude on Thursday, 13 July.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), a non- profit organisation says it has trained 288 girls on electronics and renewable energy to thrive in the digital age.

Adeyemi Odutola, External Relations Lead, W.TEC, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday said the NGO was able to achieve this through its MakeHer Space Programme.

He noted that the programme was a transformative initiative for secondary school students in Ikorodu and Surulere areas of Lagos.

According to him, a total of 210 girls were trained in four schools at Surulere while 78 girls were trained in two schools at Ikorodu respectively.

Odutola said that the one-year programme, which had now come to a close, was designed to teach selected girls to create technology and engineering-based solutions that solve problems in their communities.

He added that it was also an opportunity to provide information about career options and expose them to women working successfully in Science,Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) profession.

“The programme which was conducted in Lagos, Kwara, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Abuja, was done with the support from Google.

“In an era defined by technological advancements, it is crucial to equip young minds with the skills needed to thrive in the digital and tech age.

“MakeHER Space, played a vital role in shaping the futures of 288 bright students from various secondary schools across Lagos State.

“The programme focused on electronics and renewable energy, offering students the opportunity to learn and build essential gadgets like power banks, solar power chargers, and rechargeable lamps,” Odutola said.

He explained that throughout the school calendar year, the students who participated in the series of hands-on workshops and engaging activities that fostered their innovation and creativity, were enrolled in batches each term at the schools.

According to him, the programme is also designed to ignite the students’ passion for technology and provide them with the necessary skills to excel in this rapidly evolving field.

Odutola said that from learning the basics of electronics to harnessing the power of renewable energy, the students embarked on an inspiring journey of discovery.

“Through the programme, these aspiring technologists discovered their potential, gained invaluable skills, and laid the foundation for a bright future.

“The feedback from participants indicate that the girls believe they can fix minor problems with their electronic and rechargeable devices.

“Many further mentioned that they have more understanding of the functioning of solar powered devices and possible repairs when faltering, “he said.

He also noted that during the graduation ceremony, students who were outstanding throughout the programme were presented with well-deserving gifts.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria