Political parties have moved to full swing in garnering votes for the upcoming by-election in ward 32 in Msunduzi Municipality. view more

A suspect believed to be part of a gang terrorising a community in the Deda area in Kwazulu-Natal, appeared in the Maphumulo Magistrates' Court. view more

After almost a month after their first sighting, the sardines have made another appearance, this time on the lower South Coast. view more

A man was shot and an armed robber is suspected to have drowned in the Umgeni River following a shootout. view more

Rising contingent liabilities in State-owned enterprises (SOEs), together with the recent ratings downgrades pose the main risks to South Africa's debt sustainability, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cautions in its fifth and latest economic survey of the country. OECD secretary-general Angel Gurría described South Africa's public-debt profile as "manageable", despite a sharp increase to 51% of gross domestic product (GDP) from below 45% five years ago. However, when presenting the 2017 survey to Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba in Pretoria on Monday, Gurría strongly advised against allowing South Africa's debt to increase further, particularly in the context of an increase in interest payments to above 3.5% of GDP and a rise in debt-service costs to around 10% of the yearly Budget. view more

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday maintained its global growth forecast at 3.5% for 2017 and 3.6% for 2018. Its latest World Economic Outlook update, published on Monday, shows economic activity in both advanced economies and emerging and developing economies accelerating this year to 2% and 4.6% respectively. view more

Global engineering and technology group SENER, which is active in three concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in South Africa, is optimistic that South Africa's updated Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) will include an allocation for CSP, despite the technology's exclusion from the draft Base Case released last year. Regional MD Siyabonga Mbanjwa tells Engineering News Online that SENER, in cooperation with others in the industry, has made representations to the Department of Energy (DoE) as part of the IRP public consultation process and that it has been "encouraged" by the reception the technology has received. view more

After two and a half years at the helm, Darryll Castle is stepping down as JSE-listed PPC CEO and director to pursue other interests, with immediate effect. "The company and the CEO have agreed to part ways," said PPC chairperson Peter Nelson in a statement to shareholders, released on Monday. view more

South Africa's construction firm Group Five on Monday appointed eight new nonexecutive directors at an extraordinary general meeting as part of a board overhaul following pressure from its largest shareholder Allan Gray. Fund manager Allan Gray owns 25% of Group Five. In May, Allan Gray requested an extraordinary general meeting to reconstitute the board following a disagreement with Group Five on the future direction of the company. view more

JSE-listed Group Five expects to report full-year losses as its Engineering & Construction (E&C) cluster continues to disappoint. The construction group anticipates a 590c loss and headline loss a share for the year ended June 30, compared with the reported earnings a share of 375c and headline earnings a share of 335c for the prior year. view more

Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has agreed to investigate disgraced former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, for the R30 million "golden handshake" he received was awarded by the beleaguered power utility. Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Natasha Mazzone on Monday said her party requested the investigation after it emerged that the Eskom board approved a the payout to Molefe after only 18 months as CEO of Eskom. view more

Sugar producer Tongaat Hulett on Monday launched a R550-million 90 000 t/y refinery to process brown sugar into white sugar at its Mozambique-based Xinavane sugar mill. The refinery will produce its first product in September 2018. view more

Specialty chemicals group AECI has invested $5-million in California-based startup Origin Materials to support the development of renewable technologies. Origin Technologies has pioneered the development of bio-based chemicals, which can be processed into many products for application in global markets worth over $200-billion.      "The partnership with Origin fits into our core values, which include going green and taking bottles from a petroleum-based polymer to a 100% green bio-based polymer," AECI CEO Mark Dytor said in a statement. view more

Growth potential for platinum is emerging in the rapid build-up off a low base of fuel cell electric vehicle sales. Fuel cell vehicle sales are expected to grow by more than 200% this year, with Japan targeting 200 000 fuel cell electric vehicles on its roads in 2025 and 800 000 in 2030. view more

Real estate investment trust (Reit) Heriot on Monday listed in the real estate sector on the JSE's AltX.   CEO Steven Herring said the listing creates a platform from which the company can grow its portfolio and shareholder base. "After 20 years in the property market, I am looking forward to Heriot's next chapter as a listed entity and to the wave of opportunities the listed space may bring us. We are ready to become a more corporate company but, at the same time, Heriot will always retain its entrepreneurial spirit," he noted.   He added that the company also anticipates that listing will enable it to attain better funding rates and wider access to the capital market. view more

JSE-listed Adcock Ingram expects continued recovery with a "very satisfying improvement" in earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year ended June 30. The company expects EPS and HEPS for the year under review to surge 220% and 30% respectively to 324.5c and 297.3c. view more

South Africa's record maize harvest this year is expected to double last year's yield after good weather boosted production, a Reuters poll of four traders and analysts showed on Monday. The government's Crop Estimates Committee (CEC), which will provide its sixth production forecast for the 2017 crop on Wednesday, is expected to peg the harvest at 15.77-million tonnes, up 51% from the 7.78-million tonnes last year when an El Nino-triggered drought hit yields and plantings. view more

Macadamia nut processing company Green Farms Nut Company (GFNC) has started construction to expand its macadamia nut processing facility, in White River, Mpumalanga, with Phase 1 set for completion in 2018. According to the Southern African Macadamia Growers Association (Samac), new macadamia tree plantings in South Africa have tripled in the last four years from 1 250 ha in 2013 to 3 870 ha in 2016, with an almost doubling of plantings between 2015 and 2016 from 2 000 ha to 3 870 ha. view more

TSX-listed SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a contract by private firm Brahms Oil Refineries to undertake a front-end engineering design (FEED) conversion to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a 10 000 bbl/d crude oil refinery in Kamsar, Guinea. The professional services and project management company on Monday said the FEED will provide a budget cost estimate to obtain a final investment decision (FID) for the project in the third quarter of this year. view more

Opec moved on Monday to cap Nigerian oil output and called on several members to boost compliance with production cuts to help clear excessive global stocks and support flagging prices. Opec has agreed with several non-Opec producers led by Russia to cut oil output by a combined 1.8-million barrels per day (bpd) from January 2017 until the end of March 2018. view more

German auto stocks took a hit in early Monday trading, weighed down by uncertainty over possible antitrust fines after European regulators said they were investigating allegations that carmakers were operating a cartel. Shares in Volkswagen were down 3.3%, with premium rivals Daimler and BMW down 2.9% and 2.5% respectively, underperforming the blue-chip DAX index, which was 0.4% lower, and pushing down the Stoxx 600 index. view more

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba on Monday said the South African government wanted to probe the cost of data and its limitations to doing business in the country, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. "We believe that further reforms in the telecommunications sector would be supportive of entrepreneurs and small businesses through reduction of costs to do business," Gigaba said in Pretoria. view more

Development of a new 1.35-million-tonne-a-year coal mine in Botswana has stalled due to a dispute over compensation payable to farmers holding surface rights in the proposed mining area, the company developing the mine said on Monday. The open cast mine is meant to supply coal to a new 300 MW power plant set to be built by independent power producers as part of Botswana's plans to be self-sufficient in power generation by 2020. view more

Fewer rhinoceroses were poached across South Africa in the first half of 2017, in comparison with same period of last year, Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa announced on Monday. "There has been a slight decrease in the number of rhino poached nationally. A total of 529 rhino have been poached since January 2017, compared to 542 in the same period for 2016, representing a decrease of 13 rhinos," Molewa said as addressed a media briefing in Cape Town. view more

Platinum mining company Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) reported on Monday that it has been able to further strengthen its balance sheet in the six months to June 30, despite the weaker rand basket prices in the period. In generating R4.3-billion in underlying operating cash flow, Amplats was able to cut net debt to R5.9-billion from R7.3-billion at the end of 2016.   view more

The newly launched Emerging Truckers Association of South Africa (Tasa) aims to assist in meaningfully transforming the local truck and freight industry, with a long-term view of ensuring work for women and black truck owners and operators. This is according to Tasa convener Mary Phadi, who was addressing delegates at the organisation's official launch event, in Johannesburg, on Friday. view more

With the recent drought in Southern Africa compounding the unpredictable impact of climate change on food production, local farmers are converting to drip irrigation in an attempt to conserve water, using less to produce more, according to Crookes Brother's Limited (CBL) MD Guy Clarke. During a tour of CBL's Mawecro and Mthayiza farms, in Mpumalanga, on Friday, Clarke described drip irrigation as a form of irrigation that saves water and fertiliser by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of many different plants, either onto the soil surface or directly onto the root zone, through a network of valves, pipes, tubing and emitters. view more

JSE-listed Hulisani has structured an investment path into wind towers producer GRI Wind Steel South Africa through a R82.5-million deal, marking Hulisani's move "down the renewable-energy value chain". The investment holding company provided preference share funding to Pele Green Energy (PGE) wholly owned subsidiary Pele SPV 198 to enable PGE to indirectly acquire 12.5% of GRI, said Hulisani CEO Marubini Raphulu in a statement. view more

Economists on Friday welcomed the decreased interest rates, saying that it would have a positive impact on many sectors of the economy, including agriculture, investment, and franchising. This comes after the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) announced on Thursday, that the Monetary Policy Committee had decided to reduce the repurchase rate by 25 basis points, to 6.75 per annum, due to the improved inflation outlook and the deteriorated growth outlook. view more

The mineral rights moratorium gazette notice of Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane infers an intention to circumvent the underlying purpose of the agreement reached with the Chamber of Mines, Herbert Smith Freehills' Africa partner and co-chair, Peter Leon, said on Friday. In particular, it appears that the Minister intends using the notice to coerce the chamber into a possible settlement of its injunctive proceedings, Leon added in a release to Creamer Media's Mining Weekly Online, in which he made the point that one can deduce that the Minister's intention is to find a way around fulfilling the agreement's purpose. view more

Telecommunications giant Telkom has pledged R200-million over the next five years towards a scalable three-phased strategy to deploy educational programmes in high schools in disadvantaged communities. Through the group's Connected Schools Programme (CSP) and Supplementary Teaching Programme, Telkom's investment aims to contribute towards improving the quality of teaching and learning, with a specific focus on mathematics, science and english, preparing students for a potential career in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. view more

Despite ongoing political turmoil and an increase in policy uncertainty, South Africa made a surprise recovery in the 2017 edition of a global reputation study, rising four places to 45 out of 71 countries measured. Unveiling the results of the latest Country RepTrak study, which has been compiled by Reputation House in association with the Reputation Institute, Reputation House chairperson Dr Dominik Heil noted that the improved performance was off a low 2016 base. view more

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has recommended the establishment of a technical committee to ensure a "quicker response" to the requirements outlined in its newly published Number Portability Findings Report. The findings report, published earlier this week, showed that, while number portability has positively evolved in South Africa since its launch more than ten years ago, mobile portability has yet to realise its full potential. view more

South Africa was committed to increasing trade and addressing the trade imbalance with Zambia. This was according to South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, ahead of a two-day Outward Trade and Investment Mission to Lusaka, Zambia, from 24-25 July. view more

South Africa was committed to increasing trade and addressing the trade imbalance with Zambia. This was according to South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, ahead of a two-day Outward Trade and Investment Mission to Lusaka, Zambia, from 24-25 July. view more

Effective industrial cybersecurity protection improves the resilience of industries, defends investments in automation and control systems and becomes an asset to manage industrial systems, risks and business continuity, a range of industrial cybersecurity specialists explain. The increased connectedness of industrial systems and equipment is helping to improve efficiency, utilisation and maintenance, but also increases their vulnerability to cyberattacks, as the growing attacks on industrial systems highlight, says Check Point South Africa security engineer Justin Berman. view more

In this opinion article, economic risk consultant Rob Jeffrey calls for a re-evaluation for the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2016 planned and recommended electricity mix going forward Energy is the critical component of the country's future policy mix. Electricity is the necessary condition for economic growth but not a sufficient condition. The sufficient condition can only be supped by politicians and government policies. The argument around electricity really comes down to the questions: Are renewables, primarily wind, efficient and sustainable?; and can they ensure security of electricity supply at a competitive economic price that can enable government to achieve its goal of "enabling economic growth and prosperity"?  The theory and the facts of real life strongly suggest not. view more

Creamer Media's readers continue to be part of the mobile revolution.  Over 20% of Creamer Media's online readers view the websites on their mobile devices. To cater for this growing mobile readership Creamer Media offers an Engineering News Online app for iPhone and Android users.  These apps offer access to all content available on the Engineering News Online website and also offers additional benefits such as push notifications to alert the reader of breaking news items and the opportunity to save articles for a later read through the app's bookmarks functionality. view more

The Competition Commission is inviting the public to comment on draft guidelines regarding the exchange of information between competing companies. The guidelines are aimed at identifying what constitutes a permissible and impermissible exchange of information under the Competition Act, as well as what type of information exchange may be potentially harmful to competition versus what type of information exchange could enhance efficiencies. view more

In an attempt find lasting solutions to the challenges facing South Africa's petroleum sector, Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi held an informative introductory meeting with the South African Petroleum Industry Association's (Sapia's) board of governors on Thursday. The meeting, aimed at strengthening and improving working relations between government and industry, dealt with key industry issues including economic transformation, cleaner fuels and climate change. view more

Emerging from the closing panel at the PowerGen Africa conference is a strong new message - a different approach is needed to unlock 100% electricity access across Africa. There was no more time for discussions, no more time for political ramblings and no more time to rely on the traditional models that had managed to light up the continent so far, a panel of speakers discussing the 'Vision of Africa's Energy Future' agreed on Thursday. view more

Responding to the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa's (Numsa's) alleged intention to take industrial action to "shut down" the country's engineering sector, the South African Engineers and Founders Association (Saefa) feels that the trade union has no desire to avoid strike action, despite the significant financial repercussions it will have on the industry. In a statement released Thursday, Saefa executive director Gordon Angus pointed out that, while the other unions involved in ... view more