Click on the heading above to view the full post.
* Some political analysts have described the Energy Dialogue that the ANC hosted at the University of Johannesburg yesterday as a complete waste of time. The governing party says it plans to create more meetings to allow the public to directly engage public representatives on energy issues.
* The DA has meanwhile vowed to mobilise South Africans to slowly push the ANC out of power. The official opposition led thousands of its supporters during a protest to the ANC headquarters over load shedding in Johannesburg yesterday. The DA says the ANC has engineered the country’s energy crisis. Also in Western Cape, DA members marched past the ANC’s provincial office. The party’s Federal Chairperson Dr Ivan Meyer says the ruling party is to be blamed for the continued struggles at Eskom. Meyer says the economy is being crushed by blackouts.
* Eskom has implemented Stages 5 rolling blackouts from 5am this morning. This stage of power cuts will continue until Saturday morning when Stage 4 will then be implemented. It says this is because of the loss of a generation unit each at the Camden, Kendal, Lethabo and Majuba power stations. Eskom has been in crisis since the beginning of this year, with rolling blackouts taking a drastic toll on members of the public and businesses.
* Indebted consumers can brace themselves for yet another knock on their pockets. It’s expected that the Reserve Bank’s monetary committee policy will again hike the repo rate when it makes its announcement this afternoon. This as inflation remains above the central bank’s target bracket. Economists expect the Reserve Bank will hike the repo rate by 25 or 50 basis points. The increasing interest rates will further increase debt repayments by consumers.