South Africa Reports

South Africa Burns Billions for Diesel to Help Mitigate Blackouts ⛽️ Eskom has spent 65 billion rand since 2020 on diesel. A third of that total occurred in the 2024 financial year that ended in March. 🚢 Consumption has reached a point where ships are used to store additional fuel because onshore tanks are too small.

🔌 The Lights Are On in South Africa and Many People Are Suspicious ➖ State of electricity supply is key election campaign issue ➖ Unreliable power grid worsened under President Ramaphosa South Africa is enjoying a rare streak of uninterrupted electricity right before elections, drawing more suspicion than praise in a nation that’s become accustomed to the daily power cuts that have dragged on for years. The country is currently in its fourth successive week of no outages — the longest period South Africans have consistently had electricity supply in more than two years. The recovery coincides with political parties ramping up their campaigns before the May 29 vote, in which the ruling African National Congress risks losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades. Almost two-thirds of people in a BrandMapp-Silverstone survey last year said they’d consider not voting for the ANC because of power cuts. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-03/the-lights-are-on-in-south-africa-and-many-people-are-suspicious https://archive.is/0xyBT

📝 "Afrikaners created a first world society within not just a country but an entire CONTINENT filled with third world poverty. And doing so in a remote no man's land with zero government funding. At some point there's just no excuse anymore." 📎 MKatorin

🇿🇦🏘 Too white to sell property: The government has warned that black ownership will be a mandatory requirement for doing business in the real estate sector. On 13 March 2024, the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) announced that BEE [Black Economic Empowerment] is now a precondition for doing business. “Property practitioners” with less than 40 points on a BEE scorecard will be refused their Fidelity Fund certificate, making it illegal for them to continue operations. [Whites] will now be forbidden from benefitting from any property transaction without handing shares to a black partner. Tens of thousands of estate agents, property developers, property administrators, landlords, direct property sellers, auctioneers, property advisors, and other practitioners will all be affected by this new regulatory standard. https://www.capeindependent.com/article/sakeliga-warns-of-coming-prohibition-against-minority-owned-property-companies

📊🗳 POLL: ANC on decline, EFF losing support to MK Voter support for South Africa’s ruling African National Congress slipped further before next month’s election, a new opinion poll showed, with the Economic Freedom Fighters leaking votes to a new party backed by former President Jacob Zuma. The ANC has the support of 40.2% of voters, pollster Ipsos said in a report released on Friday. That compares with 40.5% in a survey published on Feb. 6, and 43% in October. In the last election in 2019, the ANC garnered 57.5% of the vote. “The ANC, long the dominant force in the country’s politics, is struggling to impress voters,” Ipsos said in a statement. “Nationally, only 38% believe that the ANC will live up to their election promises.”

🟧🔋 Orania's new 4.8 MWh battery arrived this morning Once installed, Orania will be the only town in South Africa without loadshedding from 06:00 to 22:00

🇺🇸🇿🇦 🇨🇳 The rare earths mine becoming a bellwether for US minerals policy 🔶️ Future of South Africa’s Phalaborwa site may depend on strength of Washington’s support 🔶️ A site close to Kruger National Park in South Africa is becoming a testing ground for US attempts to fight China’s global dominance in critical minerals. 🔶️ Washington has committed to finance a little-known London-listed miner hoping to extract rare earths — a set of 17 minerals key to clean energy technologies — from the chalky stacks outside the safari park, as the US seeks to challenge China’s runaway lead in accessing the metals globally. 🔶️ For the White House, tackling Chinese dominance is a strategic priority: China is home to 70 per cent of rare earths mining and 90 per cent of processing capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. https://www.ft.com/content/37966ce4-1dac-41aa-abf4-98f139a8ce32 https://archive.ph/aPyqu

🛢Nearly Half of South Africa's Refining Capacity Is Shut Africa’s most industrialized nation has long relied on fuel from abroad, but demand has grown in recent years as a string of refineries suspended output. The massive shortage means that 80% of the country's fuel requirements are met by imports.

"Let the inheritance of our fathers stay the inheritance for our children!" A massive banner that was attached by the AWB to the Voortrekker Monument in 1988

🗳 ANC Support Plunges in South African Poll as Zuma Party Surges Support for South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is plunging and a party backed by former President Jacob Zuma may become the country’s third-biggest after next month’s election, a new opinion poll shows. The ANC, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid, may garner just 37% support in the May 29 vote, while Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party, or MKP, may get 13% according to the poll. Such a result may mean the ANC has to form a coalition with a large party in order to retain control of Africa’s biggest economy. Zuma’s decision to back the MKP has eaten away at the ANC’s support. He ruled the country from 2009 to 2018, when the ANC forced him from office. The poll of 1,835 registered voters across the country also found that the main opposition Democratic Alliance would win 25% of vote, the Economic Freedom Fighters 11% and the Inkatha Freedom Party 5%. The Freedom Front Plus and Action South Africa would both get 2%, it showed.