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Energy and chemicals group Sasol confirmed on Friday that it had entered into a R5-billion agreement with a Reatile-led consortium for the sale of a 30% stake in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Company (Rompco), the joint venture that owns the 865-km gas transmission pipeline from southern Mozambique to South Africa. The sale and purchase agreement, which remains subject to several conditions, has been finalised by Sasol South Africa (SSA), which intends retaining a 20% shareholding in Rompco and which will continue to operate and maintain the pipeline in line with a separate commercial agreement. view more

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy says steps are being taken to ensure South Africa contributes its "fair share" to the global climate change mitigation effort with its newly-established Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission. The commission will advise government on an "ambitious and just transition" to a low-carbon economy and climate resilient society, she says. view more

A host of civil engineering and public service experts have noted that developing professional civil servants was necessary to ensure the development of an equitable, effective and efficient State that serves the interests of citizens and not politicians. Professionalism in the public service will allow for national developmental goals to be translated into concrete action and changes throughout governmental structures, from planning to development to operation. Government structures will continue to pursue these developmental aims and projects that are in progress even if there are changes in political offices, South Africa Public Service Commissioner Dr Somadoda Fikeni said during a webinar on May 13. view more

Ford South Africa is rolling out a new, high-tech approach to vehicle repairs at its dealerships. The local arm of the US car maker has already conducted a pilot study of the RealWear HMT-1 Hands-free Remote Collaboration Tool, which remotely connects Ford dealership technicians with the company's Technical Assistance Centre, staffed by experienced support personnel and field service engineers, allowing them to collaborate on vehicle service issues and repairs.  view more

South African Airways aims to resume flights in July or August, but the restart date will depend on how the COVID-19 pandemic progresses and whether the airline can resolve a pilot dispute, its chief executive said on Friday. State-owned SAA, which was put into administration in December 2019, has not flown commercially since September, when its administrators mothballed all operations pending funding for a restructuring. view more

Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Defence has welcomed confirmation of South Africa's continuing compliance with its international arms control commitments. It did so in a statement released on Friday. The statement followed the Committee's reception of the latest reports from the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC). These reports, for the third and fourth quarters of last year, covered all the transfers of 'controlled items'. view more

Law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) expects the updated iteration of the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill to be gazetted by June. This follows after Cabinet approved the submission of the draft Bill to Parliament this week. view more

Proponents of government's recently launched District Development Model (DDM) believe the joined-up model provides the framework required for South African municipalities to begin tackling their generally severe service-delivery problems. Conceptualised by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and piloted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the DDM aims to boost the capability of municipalities to undertake long-term planning, budgeting and infrastructure implementation. view more

The Western Cape government on May 14 published an Inclusionary Housing Policy Framework for public comment. The framework will help municipalities in the Western Cape facilitate the inclusion of more affordable housing units in developments in their municipal areas. view more

South Africa's Information Regulator is briefing attorneys to prepare an opinion on the way forward in terms of litigation after not receiving any agreement from WhatsApp to revise its privacy policy in line with that of the standard used in the European Union (UN). The regulator requested the chat application revise its policy ahead of the requirement for WhatsApp users to accept new terms and conditions for using the chat application by May 15. view more

Property investor Flanagan & Gerard (F&G) and Sun International subsidiary Emfuleni Resorts have officially started construction of the Boardwalk Mall, in Gqeberha (previously known as Port Elizabeth). The first phase of construction is set to be completed and launched in December this year, while the full development will be completed in September 2022.. view more

Siemens South Africa, the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Solidarity Fund officially handed over a separate 100-bed modular hospital solution to the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, in Mdantsane, near East London, on May 14. Built in fewer than 100 days, the hospital extension is intended to alleviate healthcare pressure brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and improve access to healthcare, even beyond the pandemic. view more

The departments of Science and Innovation (DSI) and Higher Education and Training (DHET), are working together to establish a National Open Learning System that will provide online learning opportunities in the post school education and training system. The departments are also considering the findings of, firstly, the Ministerial Task Team report on the sectoral implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and secondly, of the Presidential Commission on 4IR. view more

As emissions from African transport surge, governments need to find ways to encourage a shift to cleaner, healthier electric vehicles, especially among the minibus and motorcycle taxis that dominate transport in many cities, researchers said on Thursday. Investment in generating more solar-powered electricity to charge electric vehicles (EVs) could encourage their use, cut pollution and costs for passengers, and help stabilise unreliable energy systems, they said in a commentary published in Nature Sustainability. view more

Digital technology greatly speeds assembly of new Boeing military jet US aerospace and defence giant Boeing has announced the successful joining of the front and aft sections of the first engineering and manufacturing development test example of the T-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer for the US Air Force (USAF). The T-7A is a joint programme between Boeing and Swedish aerospace and defence group Saab.  view more

The National Treasury has launched eight metro reports containing spatialised economic data drawn from anonymised administrative tax data. South African cities and towns are characterised by a spatial mismatch between where people live and economic activity, resulting in the exclusion of a large percentage of the population, particularly lower-income and historically disadvantaged groups, from participating in the economy. The data contained in the reports is integral to supporting the work of policymakers and planners within municipalities to make better informed, data-driven decisions and policies to address these structural inequalities within cities and boost economic growth. view more

New technologies are transforming the mining and metals industry, making it cleaner and safer, says the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), which is progressing an 'innovation for cleaner, safer vehicles' initiative. The initiative brings together 28 of the world's leading mining companies and the largest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to collaborate in a non-competitive space to accelerate the development of a new generation of mining vehicles and improve existing ones. view more

Iron-ore futures tumbled as China's top steel-making hub ramped up efforts to control a dizzying surge in prices. Futures in Dalian dropped the daily limit, while prices in Singapore extended a slump from a record $233.75 a ton on Wednesday amid concerns about the sustainability of the rally. In the latest move aimed at containing prices, the steel-making hub of Tangshan banned steelmakers from fabricating or spreading price-hike information. That follows comments from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang this week about the need to deal with surging commodity costs. view more

A video round up of this week's magazine, highlighting our cover story, features and Business Leader. view more

JSE-listed lifestyle products group Long4Life recorded a 12% year-on-year decrease in revenue to R3.58-billion for the financial year ended February 28, as the pandemic and lockdown restrictions in South Africa had a significant impact on the operating and financial performance of the group. Its trading profit decreased to R367.1-million from R520.1-million in the 2020 financial year. view more

The City of Johannesburg's (CoJ's) Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) and waste management company Pikitup have withdrawn a proposed R50 recycling levy. A number of submissions were received in opposition of the proposed levy, the CoJ said in a statement on May 13. view more

Metal workers trade union the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has given notice of its intention to initiate wage negotiations at the Metals and Engineering Industry Bargaining Council (MEIBC). In terms of the MEIBC constitution, it will now meet to facilitate and provide a platform for negotiations between employers and trade unions. view more

Platinum features on the cathode of zinc-air battery technology that is taking the City of New York by storm in helping to lower the carbon footprint of its buildings, Mining Weekly can today report. Zinc8, the Canadian Stock Exchange company that has won the city's decarbonisation challenge, has opted to use platinum on its cathodes to give it the performance required from the market in the implementation of zinc-air regenerative fuel cell energy storage. view more

Industry organisations the South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) and Vinpro are urging government to rely on the scientific advice of its own panel of health experts in the Ministerial Advisory Council (MAC) in responding to the surge in Covid-19 cases and the potential third wave of the pandemic. The organisations say there is an urgent need to intensify the Covid-19 vaccine roll out and that limiting the size of gatherings and adherence to health protocols are the most effective measures to contain infections. view more

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding to solidify their strategic partnership aimed at promoting labour peace and equity. The strategic partnership will effectively dispense social justice through the CCMA using Salga's municipal and municipal entities' facilities, for selected CCMA processes/cases. view more

Although they agreed that the concept of a circular economy was not new in South Africa, a panel of experts participating in a webinar hosted by Creamer Media this week, also agreed that more needed to be done by government to expand on the implementation of circular economy principles to produce an effect more desirable to closing the loop on waste leakage. The panellists included Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa president Brendon Jewaskiewitz, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research waste and circular economy principal scientist Linda Godfrey and Ramboll Waste and resource management department manager Bjorn Appelqvist. view more

The economic recovery in emerging markets (EMs) will remain highly vulnerable to pandemic-related setbacks, given the slow vaccine rollout, financial services company S&P Global Ratings notes in its 'Emerging Markets Monthly Highlights: Slow Vaccination Keeps Recovery At Risk' report. It notes that while it seems as though the worst of the latest Covid-19 wave has passed in most EMs, the likelihood of intermittent lockdowns will remain high for some time. view more

With parts of the Western Cape entering into the rainy season, and the recent heavy rainfall that caused flooding, flood resilience expert Tjeerd Driessen says South Africa needs to invest in "future-proof" infrastructure. "If you have more rainfall events normally, the infrastructure should also increase to cope with those bigger events for example, if you have a bridge and it is sized for 1980, but we have a flood event in 2050, then we may need to have a bigger bridge," he explained. view more

Hino South Africa (SA) has upgraded its 300-Series medium truck range, while adding some new features and realigning the model mix. The range now offers 13 derivatives, with a body and payload capability of between 3 390 kg and 5 950 kg, basically covering the 2.5 t, 3 t and 4 t markets. view more

Solar photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage systems (ESS) solutions supplier Sungrow has partnered with JCM Power, InfraCo Africa, RINA and Innovate to build Malawi's first utility-scale solar-plus-storage project. Located in the Dedza district of Malawi, near the town of Golomoti, the 20 MW solar PV and 5 MW/10 MWh energy storage project is set to demonstrate the value of solar PV coupled with energy storage,  Sungrow says.  view more

Trade union Solidarity says it has granted the Department of Water and Sanitation's request to extend the deadline for an alternative proposal regarding the use of 24 imported Cuban engineers.   The new date for the department to present its proposal to Solidarity is May 17. "In consultation with our legal team, we decided that it would be fair to give them an extension of the deadline, even though they missed the initial deadline. view more

Diversified miner Exxaro Resources is collaborating with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants' (Saica') Enterprise Development (ED) unit to implement a financial excellence programme for the miner's suppliers. The programme is aimed at enhancing the financial management systems that are needed to run effective operations and, in doing so, enable the suppliers to become more robust and sustainable enterprises. view more

Tata International Africa (TIA) has signed an agreement with JCB to distribute JCB Construction Equipment in Vietnam, South East Asia. As of April 1, TIA has been selling and supporting the full line of JCB Construction Equipment through the Tata International dealer network in Vietnam, with the aim to become the preferred choice of construction equipment for customers in that country.  view more

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about a new Negotiated Pricing Agreement (NPA) between Eskom and the Hillside aluminium smelter, what the process will be for Nersa to adjudicate the NPA and if there are likely to be more such NPAs with other mining and industrial firms. view more

JSE-listed Tiger Brands expects its earnings per share (EPS) from total operations for the six months ended March 31 to be between 295% and 305% higher than the EPS of 210c reported for the prior interim period. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) from total operations for the period are expected to be between 48% and 55% higher than the 489c reported for the prior comparable period.  view more

Boeing sent the first of two planned service bulletins to 737 Max operators Wednesday, providing instructions to repair an electrical issue that has grounded scores of new jets for more than a month, said people familiar with the matter. The first notice for airlines covers a small number of the affected aircraft, said one of the people, who asked not to be named discussing non-public information. A second bulletin focused on the other planes is close to completion and will be delivered soon, the people said. view more

Artificial intelligence (AI) research and applications company DeepMind has donated scholarship funding for four University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) students to complete their Master's degrees in the field of machine learning (ML). The scholarships will fund students registering for MSc degrees in computer science, AI or robotics in the academic years between 2022 and 2024, Wits says. view more

Original-equipment manufacturer Kwatani's fabrication jobbing processes are designed to accommodate custom-designed equipment in similar time frames that other OEMs deliver standard equipment, while also being flexible enough to handle emergency orders with short lead times. Cameron Mackay tells us more view more