Day: September 12, 2024

Eskom Group Chief Executive (GCE) Dan Marokane says South Africa should ‘move with pace’ to keep up with the global move towards new nuclear build.

Marokane was addressing stakeholders at the Nuclear Seminar held by the Ministry of Energy and Electricity on Thursday.

‘We are for nuclear. We understand that the energy mix is an important component of us achieving our strategic objectives as a country. This is not a discussion about either or. We’ve always argued that it is about the use of [energy] technologies to be complimentary.

‘We are looking forward to participating in the process that will be led by the Minister [of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa] to show that we can get to a point of making decisions very quickly. We cannot afford to wait any longer. We have fallen behind and we have an opportunity to catch up and we need to move with pace,’ he said.

READ | Nuclear build will follow the science – Ramokgopa

Marokane emphasised that it is very important that government has a clear
stance on the use of nuclear energy in the country’s ambitions to lower carbon emissions.

‘What I would like to appreciate is the very clear government perspective on the strategy of nuclear and where it sits on the energy mix and its importance for us marching towards net zero targets.

‘We exist within the global community and clearly there’ve been movements within the world…the world around has reawakened to the reality that [nuclear] is essentially an important component of baseload power generation going forward and us reducing emissions going forward.

‘We have heard about the ambitions for nuclear on the continent, Egypt being quite advanced in this area. It would be sad of us to be overtaken having had so many years of operation…both from a perspective of skills and technical contribution to the continent and opportunities,’ he said.

The GCE highlighted that the economic spinoffs from using nuclear energy are ‘quite huge’.

‘For us as a country that is emerging out of the history that it has, the so
cial inequalities that it has, this is an element that is going to contribute meaningfully for us. Our presence in the Western Cape has contributed immensely to the economic activities in the value chain.

‘We have experienced quite tremendous positive spin offs from a green stability point of view with the Koeberg [Nuclear Power Station] units that are contributing…into the system. We have just…[installed] new steam generators so that we can have a life extension for the next 20 years.

‘We will continue to look at the opportunities for exploiting this for even longer,’ Marokane said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC, Nonceba Kontsiwe, says the province has adopted the Agriculture Investment Framework to revitalise the agriculture sector.

Commenting on the commercialisation of Eastern Cape’s agriculture, Kontsiwe noted that despite having the highest livestock population, the province only contributes 8% to the country’s livestock Gross Domestic Product.

There are over 10 000 hectares of irrigable land with water rights in irrigation schemes that have the potential to produce dairy, vegetables, fruits, grains, and fodder.

‘However, this land is not fully utilised, and optimising its use could greatly enhance sector performance in terms of growth and employment,’ Kontsiwe said.

She said commercial farmers constitute 9% of the farming population, generating 71% of the income and employing 60% of the agricultural labour force, significantly driving the agricultural sector’s performance.

On the other hand, she said, smallholder producers, representing 91% of the far
ming population, generate 29% of the income and provide 40% of the jobs.

‘The growth of smallholder farmers is impeded by high barriers to entry, including high fixed costs (land, equipment, and operations), inadequate on and off-farm infrastructure, limited funding options tailored to their needs, rising input costs, and poor logistics.

‘The challenge is how to effectively commercialise land owned by Black farmers to enhance the economic performance of the agricultural sector to build industries for inclusive growth,’ the MEC said.

Policy

Kontsiwe said government has approved a progressive State Land Lease and Disposal Policy, aimed at releasing land to land reform beneficiaries to attract investment, improve productivity, and enhance competitiveness on their farms.

She reported that out of all the farms distributed in the Eastern Cape, 100 were classified as commercially viable in various agricultural sectors.

These include citrus in Amathole and Sarah Baartman; deciduous in Sarah Baartman; wool and b
eef across the province; and grain in OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Joe Gqabi, Chris Hani, and Amathole.

The department’s strategy for commercialising 100 farms involves repurposing the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA) to serve as a trade and business aggregator for various commodities.

‘The ECRDA will be empowered to enter into 10-year commercial agreements with all 100 farms to provide holistic support to them and provide them with offtake contracts to supply their produce to ECRDA processors, which are planned to be located in RED Hubs and industrial parks such as Queens Industrial, Butterworth Industrial Park, Fort Jackson, and Dimbaza.

‘These processors will process primary produce into food and feed products for domestic markets. For export-oriented products, the ECRDA, supported by the ECDC, will aggregate produce from these farms and explore trade opportunities in African, Chinese, and Middle Eastern markets,’ Kontsiwe explained.

The MEC added that the department will partner with other secto
r departments to facilitate private sector investment by securing water rights for irrigation, obtaining environmental authorisation, acquiring title deeds, or securing long-term land use rights.

The department will also work towards consolidating and coordinating government investments towards land reform farms.

The targeted departments include Agriculture; Land Reform and Rural Development; Forestry, Fisheries and Environment; Water and Sanitation and Economic Development, Environment Affairs and Tourism.

‘The department will collaborate with the Regional Land Claims Commission to secure Land Development Grants for 38 properties in land claims settlements [and] this will benefit communities in areas like Ncora, Magwa, Dwesa-Cwebe, Mkhambathi, and more.

‘The department will develop an infrastructure business plan to access funding and unlock R220 million from the Land Development Grant,’ Kontsiwe said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The police will intensify compliance inspections at all police stations and service points in a bid to continuously improve service offering to communities, said the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.

‘Our responsibility as a police service is to keep all people living in South Africa safe and as the South African Police Service we will continue to act without fear, favour and prejudice to realise this vision,’ said Masemola.

The Commissioner addressed the media in Johannesburg on Thursday.

‘The SAPS remains at the coalface of the criminal justice system, and it is upon our members to ensure that the work that they do continues to inspire confidence in the system,’ he said, adding that the police’s ongoing operations are yielding the desired results.

This as the police is continuously implementing an ‘all hands-on deck approach’ that leaves no one behind.

‘It is a joint effort working closely with other law enforcement agencies, other government departmen
ts, the business sector, our community police forum structures and private security.

‘At the heart of it all, lies our communities. Through community participation and through the tip-offs that we continue to receive, criminals are feeling the heat. There is no longer much room and space for criminals in all provinces including KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Western Cape and [the] Eastern Cape to operate because that space has been squeezed,’ Masemola said.

According to the Commissioner, ongoing takedowns and the arrests of wanted suspects is sending a firm and stern warning to all criminals that police are hitting the ground running and that the men and women in blue will continue to sniff out criminals.

‘We do believe that we are registering progress in destabilising the work of organised crime syndicates as well as ruthless criminals in all forms and shape.

‘Since our last briefing four weeks ago, 85 000 more suspects have been arrested for various crimes ranging from murder to rape, kidnapping and extortion.
This brings the total number of suspects arrested since the launch of Operation Shanela to 850 375.

‘During this period, 824 illegal and unlicensed firearms with more than 17 282 rounds of ammunition [were] seized,’ the Commissioner said.

Extortions

Regarding extortions, the SAPS is working hard to bring an end to extortion related crimes.

He added that communities should report these crimes to police.

‘We have developed an Extortion Action Plan and thus far, we are pleased with the manner in which this plan is being implemented throughout the country. As management, we are particularly encouraged with how our police officers are addressing the crime of extortion across all provinces that have been identified as hotspots.

‘We are following up on tip-offs and information shared through our hotlines and crime stop number. We are fetching each of these extortionists, one by one,’ he said.

In the past two weeks, 14 extortionists were shot and killed during confrontation with police in various provinces.

T
he most brazen of these alleged extortionists were in the Eastern Cape in Mthatha where three followed and tailed the National Intervention Unit (NIU) members to their base.

‘Our members had been conducting stop and searches in Mthatha during tracing operations and had earlier confiscated firearms from these alleged extortionists. These extortionists indeed got what they were looking for. They shot at our police officers who were ready to defend and assert the authority of the state.’

READ | SAPS to ‘deal decisively’ with extortionists

Masemola said the crime of extortion requires a specialised investigative capacity and that is why police have deployed specialist teams led by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), crime intelligence and organised crime units to lead these investigations.

Source: South African Government News Agency

President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasised that the seventh administration is committed to significantly expanding infrastructure investment, as it is crucial for driving economic growth and ensuring efficient service delivery.

The President was briefing the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in Parliament on various national developments including government’s response to incidents of extortion against businesses and individuals, and progress in the fight against unemployment and poverty.

‘The development of public infrastructure is necessary for effective service delivery and economic development. That is why we are determined as this administration to massively increase the scale of investment in infrastructure. Through this investment, we will turn South Africa into a building site,’ the President said.

However, the President acknowledged that public infrastructure projects that are delayed or abandoned have a negative impact on the ability of communities to access services.

To address this challenge
, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure began the identification of delayed and abandoned projects within its portfolio during the sixth democratic administration.

Through a Presidential Proclamation in 2019, the Infrastructure Development Act was moved to the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure.

The President explained that this enabled the Minister to develop a more holistic approach to infrastructure development in all spheres of government and the private sector through Infrastructure South Africa.

He highlighted that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has identified a number of key pillars to drive the infrastructure investment process such as institutional arrangements for implementation of the National Infrastructure Plan 2050.

‘One of the other pillars is to ensure that there is better preparation and prioritisation of infrastructure projects. Other proposed reforms include multi-year budgeting for infrastructure planning and delivery, and speeding up permitting
and approval processes.

‘The task of identifying incomplete and abandoned infrastructure projects is being implemented throughout all provinces. The completion of these projects requires dedicated capacity that may not be readily available,’ he said.

To address this, President Ramaphosa said the department has issued calls for various professionals in the built environment to provide expertise to the department as required.

One of the mechanisms to monitor progress on identified projects at an executive level is the Siyahlola programme.

‘In this programme, site visits are conducted to check the status and plans to complete outstanding work. Follow up visits are also conducted after a few months to ensure that the recovery plans are being implemented,’ he said.

The Siyahlola programme is bringing stakeholders, such as local and district municipalities, together to unblock any issues related to bulk infrastructure and outstanding approvals.

The programme further demonstrates effective interventions that c
an be achieved through the District Development Model as all stakeholders are brought in to work on the same goal.

Source: South African Government News Agency

An expert panel is expected to be convened to advise Energy and Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa on government’s planned procurement of some 2 500MW of nuclear energy to the grid.

The Minister revealed this during a media briefing on the sidelines of the Nuclear Seminar held in Gauteng on Thursday.

‘We’re putting together an expert team that will advise me in relation to the pace and scale that we can afford. Once we answer that question then we will be able to articulate on the public consultation process, what the timelines are and then simultaneously we’ll begin to work out a procurement framework.

‘It is the procurement framework that we will then take to Cabinet to seek an in principle approval of the framework. The actual execution of that procurement will be discharged through an avenue that we will announce,’ he said.

The Minister emphasised that as it takes care of its people, government has a right to choose which sources of energy it taps into.

‘As a country we reserve the right
to determine what are those technologies and fuel sources that we are going to use. That is a sovereign right. We do accept that in the energy complex that are opposed to this or that technology.

‘To the extent that we can justify and illustrate that it’s in the interest of the sovereign, we will pursue that,’ he said.

The Minister emphasised that the department is open to having frank conversations about the sources of energy powering the country.

‘The conversations are democratic, they are open. We are going to discuss all technologies, all fuel sources because all of them are needed to help us…on the energy side. But also to ensure that we achieve conditions of energy sovereignty and also we pursue other peaceful uses outside of powering the South African economy.

‘Nothing is off the table as far as this Ministry is concerned. We are going to discuss everything and pursue these opportunities that we have identified in the interest of the country,’ the Minister said.

Source: South African Government N
ews Agency