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SA mining houses are closing one after the other due to Eskom load shedding

Posted on 12/12/2019 Leave a comment

South Africa’s mining houses close one after the other because it has become too risky to let their workers work underground during load shedding.

It costs billions of rand to stop underground mining activities and still have to pay workers even though there is no production for the whole week.

Economists point out that Eskom is crushing the country’s economy to such an extent that it will take years to recover, but the impression is left that the power supply has no sympathy, and the government is powerless.

The load shedding has opened the door wide for a follow-up recession, thereby causing the second recession within two years.

With Phase 6 likely to last until the end of the week, business people are also holding their breath as Eskom shrugs.

Eskom now claims that necessary and unplanned “repairs need urgent attention” otherwise the entire network will collapse, a spokeswoman said.

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Holidaymakers need to drive careful this festive season, the country’s roads are dangerous because of increased potholes caused by heavy rain

Posted on 12/12/2019 Leave a comment

Water flowing in streets and roads looks like small rivers and is becoming dangerous because of increasing potholes that can damage vehicle tires.

Several incidents have already occurred from potholes that are invisible due to the water on the driving surface, and tires are damaged which means a tire needs to be replaced in the rain.

A government spokesman warned motorists to drive very carefully where the wet roads are slippery and often have large potholes that are formed after heavy rains.

The danger also exists that a damaged tire can create the vehicle to imbalance and cause accidents. Driving to fast in this rainy weather can increases the risk of dangerous accidents.

Roads become more dangerous due to heavy rains that cause flooding, and smaller potholes become larger and sometimes much deeper, increasing tire damage.

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Cyril rushes back to Eskom and cuts visit to Egypt short amidst electricity crisis which holds serious economic consequences for SA

Posted on 12/12/2019 Leave a comment

Opposition parties expressed their dismay when the ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa, went to Egypt amidst #rollingblackouts occurred all over South-Africa this past week. He had to cut his less important visit to short and returned to South Africa to talk to the heads of Eskom about the crisis load shedding has on the finances of SA.

Observers point out that Eskom suddenly announced on Wednesday that it is switching back to Phase 2 load shedding, but experts say the major damage has already been done.

Several opposition politicians have made urgent requests for Ramaphosa to return, but observers say this is not just an electricity crisis, but has serious economic consequences for the faltering economy of South Africa.

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Dumb Twit!! SA will overcome load shedding like apartheid, says Ramaphosa

Posted on 11/12/2019 Leave a comment

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the energy crisis currently faced by the country will soon come to an end.

South Africans have expressed frustration, as Eskom battles to keep the lights on with stage 4 load shedding currently in place and was expected to last until 11pm.

Ramaphosa, speaking in Sharpeville on Thursday in his Human Rights Day speech, said he put measures in place to ensure that the country comes out of the dark.

“We will overcome this electricity crisis that is engulfing our country at this moment. We will overcome it just as we overcame the apartheid challenge,” he said.

HOW POWER CUTS COULD AFFECT SA’S GDP GROWTH
Severe planned power cuts at Eskom are expected to shave 0.3 percentage points off first-quarter GDP growth, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday.

The country has suffered from some of the worst power cuts in several years and a major challenge for Ramaphosa two months before an election at which he will try to reverse a decline
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SA’s economic decline has happened by design – The ANC’s obsession with disproved socialist/communist practices is at the root of the problems

Posted on 11/12/2019 Leave a comment

All the plans devised to reignite the economy of the country will be stillborn so long as the ANC continues to pursue its socialist/communist programme. Even as Tito Mboweni proclaims his plans for the recovery, the ANC persists with its plans for expropriation of property without compensation, compulsory equity transfers, control of the “commanding heights” and the dogged pursuit of the communist-inspired national democratic revolution.

The ANC is surely the only governing party in a constitutional democracy, under the rule of law, that remains wedded to the rhetoric of revolution. The melancholic truth is that, over a period of 25 years of ANC rule, the country has been systematically legislated for failure. A country with the natural resources, natural skills, enterprise and sound infrastructure of SA does not fall into poverty through misadventure. It happens by design.

At the beginning of the democratic era 25 years ago, SA was one of the most admired co
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SANDF splashes R20.5m on luxury German cars, but says funding shortfall is impacting on maintaining military base in Centurion

Posted on 11/12/2019 Leave a comment

While the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was unable to maintain the Thaba Tshwane military base in Centurion due to “predominantly a lack of funds”, it has managed to find the cash to spend R20.5m on “luxury vehicles”, valued at over R600 000 each, for senior management in the previous two financial years.

This is according to Parliamentary replies by Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who responded to questions from FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald and DA MP Cilliers Brink.

Groenewald asked how many luxury vehicles exceeding R600 000 were purchased by the SANDF for senior management in the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 financial years.

“No luxury vehicles exceeding R600 000 were purchased by the SA National Defence Force in the 2014/15 to 2016/17 financial years. Twenty luxury vehicles were procured in the 2017/18 financial year, and two vehicles were procured in the 2018/19 financial year,” Mapisa-Nq
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New scam doing the round in SA, people are now renting dead bodies to scam life insurers

Posted on 11/12/2019 Leave a comment

South Africans are renting, and buying, dead bodies to make false funeral claims, a report by the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) says.

Life insurers rejected 1,915 funeral claims worth R176.4 million in 2018, of which 1,127 were found to involve fraudulent documentation.

Another 156 fraudulent claims showed syndicate involvement – and in seven cases beneficiaries were found to have caused the death of the policyholder.

Funeral policies don’t require blood tests and medical examinations and are designed to pay out quickly when an insured family member dies.

“Unfortunately, this makes it tempting for criminals and dishonest individuals to take out funeral cover for people who do not exist with the intention of later submitting claims using death certificates issued for dead bodies rented or bought for the purpose of committing fraud,” Donovan Herman, convenor of the ASISA Claims Standing Committee, says.

“If we allow
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MINISTERS ‘FINANCES MUST BE REDUCED – Taxpayers are picking up the bills for home cleaning products, security improvements and cellphones

Posted on 11/12/2019 Leave a comment

The Minister of Public Service and Administration Senzo Mchunu on Monday announced several changes to the ministerial manual.

Ministers will now not be allowed to pay more than R700 000 for a car, official flights within South Africa must be undertaken in economy class. The state will also no longer pay for security upgrades at ministers’ private homes and ministers may not spend more than R60 000a year on cell phones and phone calls.

The state will also not spend more than R5000 a month on water and electricity per official home. Ministers will also have to buy their own home cleaning products.

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Flooding in Centurion is causing havoc

Posted on 10/12/2019 Leave a comment

Continuous rains in the Central Transvaal are disrupting traffic but in Centurion buildings, roads and low water bridges became dangerous.

Large areas are flooded, and many vehicles are being swept away by the floodwater, but to date it is unknown whether any people died in the floodwater.

In some places, more than 280 mm of rain has been measured for the past week, and meteorologists predict even more rain for Tuesday.

Chaos has arisen on roads and some streets, and load shedding has also caused long queues of vehicles to stand by robots that do not work.

Meanwhile, Die Vryburger learned that parts of the Northern Cape that had not been raining for four years now are “past the stage where drought relief will help”, one of the farmers said.

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Petra Diamonds halts SA mining operations over power cuts – Eskom will be to blame for the downfall of SA’s economy

Posted on 10/12/2019 Leave a comment

Petra Diamonds has confirmed it received a notification from Eskom, asking it to reduce its load to the essential level.

As a result, it has announced it’s in the process of halting its mining operations in South Africa.

Petra Diamonds said all production, hoisting and processing have stopped with immediate effect at its operations in Cullinan, Finsch and Koffiefontein.

The company is removing all miners underground.

“Petra will update the market as soon as it receives a further notification as to how long the load curtailment will last, and therefore what impact this is likely to have upon the Company’s production performance,” the company said in a statement.

This came after Eskom announced stage six load shedding on Monday.

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