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IOL News
5 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
How Mulilo and Scatec are transforming SA's power grid with a R9. 5 billion battery storage bid
nister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has announced Mulilo and Scatec as the preferred bidders Image: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has announced Mulilo and Scatec as the preferred bidders for the country's third bid window of the battery energy storage program. The program aims to help increase the country's electricity grid capacity and improve energy security. Last month, IOL reported that Ramokgopa announced a plan to address the country's ongoing energy crisis through private sector involvement in transmission infrastructure development. He explained that the existing transmission network was unable to keep up with the country's growing renewable energy generation, particularly in areas such as the Northern and Western Cape. The battery storage program, initiated in March 2024, is designed to store excess electricity generated primarily from solar power during the day and release it during peak demand times in the morning and evening. In a press briefing on Friday, Ramokgopa confirmed that South African company Mulilo and Norwegian company Scatec have been chosen as the preferred bidders. 'For the site, the substation, that is Lienda, we have Scatec, who is a preferred developer. For Theseus, Everest, Harvard, and Merapi, we're happy to announce that Mulilo, which is a domestic outfit, has been identified as a preferred bidder.' 'I think what is significant about this round that we are announcing is that we are seeing that more and more South African companies are putting their hand up, and they are very competitive.' The program is expected to add 616 megawatts of battery storage capacity across five sites in the Free State province. Ramokgopa added that this investment will total R9.5 billion, including R3.7 billion in local content, supporting the country's economy by creating jobs and encouraging black ownership. The projects are expected to start commercial operations by January 2028. He further stressed the benefits for consumers and industries, adding that the country was making progress towards energy security. 'Once we bring down the cost of electricity, households won't face runaway tariff increases, and businesses will be more competitive. "This battery storage program is part of South Africa's broader plan to increase renewable energy while keeping coal as the backbone of the grid. We are making steady progress toward energy security and a greener future.' he said. IOL Business Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sugary drinks, processed foods, alcohol and tobacco are big killers: why the G20 should add its weight to health taxes
By 2030, non-communicable diseases will account for 75% of all deaths annually. Eight percent of these will be in the global south. Most of these diseases are what we call silent killers: type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as certain types of cancer at increasingly younger ages. The consumption of sugary drinks and processed foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fats is fuelling these pandemics. And increasingly advertising is being seen as the means by which the consumption of unhealthy products is promoted. This translates into the growth of non-communicable diseases in populations across the globe. This rising threat is driven largely by the way in which markets and industries are organised, which, in turn, shapes social norms towards consumption of tobacco, alcohol, food and sugary beverages. This process is what's known as commercial determinants of health. Products that top the list in terms of their risk to health are tobacco, sugary beverages, ultra processed food and alcohol. These products are heavily advertised. For example, in South Africa from 2013 to 2019, sugary beverage manufacturers spent US$191 million (R3.7 billion) to advertise their products. Many of the TV advertisements for sugary drinks were placed during child and family viewing time, between 3pm and 7pm. Over the past decade a number of countries have introduced policies in a bid to limit the use and intake of harmful food and beverages. These have ranged from taxes on certain products, such as sugar, alcohol and tobacco, to bans on advertising. Many have proved effective. But there are still big gaps in policies to control these harmful products. As academics who have researched this field for three decades we believe that the G20 can play a significant role in plugging these gaps. The countries under the G20 umbrella, which represent two thirds of the world's population, have reason to act: all are experiencing a mounting burden of obesity-related illness such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer at ever-younger ages. One of South Africa's G20 presidency health priorities is 'stemming the tide of non-communicable diseases'. In our view this is an invitation for the G20 to pledge to combat the drivers of non-communicable diseases. The G20 can acknowledge that these diseases are part of a pathological system in which commercial actors are causing ill health. And G20 leaders can acknowledge that progress enacting health taxes has stagnated in most countries. By galvanising attention in this way, the G20 can give impetus to a high level United Nations meeting in 2025 at which a new vision for the control and prevention of non-communicable diseases is due to be set. Health taxes and bans on marketing are focus areas. Efforts by various countries to curb consumption of these harmful products have shown one thing clearly: there's no silver bullet. Nevertheless, evidence shows that consumers are responsive to price. This points to the fact that taxes are a key tool for decreasing demand, especially for young consumers. Read more: There is also mounting evidence that health taxes are progressive for health at a population level – in other words they lead to better health outcomes. Research also shows that they scarcely affect overall employment, if at all. But advances on alcohol and tobacco taxes are slow. And there has been little progress on taxes on sugary beverages. These taxes remain far too low because health promotion taxes face tough resistance from industry. When any health promotion taxes are proposed, industries deny harms, promote doubt, divert attention, spread disinformation, create front organisations, and varnish their reputations through corporate social responsibility initiatives. When taxes do proceed through the legislative or regulatory process, industries influence proposals to make them less effective. They also offer to replace legislation with voluntary commitments. Evidence shows that voluntary commitments do not work. In 2024, a report by a panel of experts showed that US$3.7 trillion in additional revenue could be generated over five years if all countries increased prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary beverages by 50%. This money is sorely needed to boost healthcare. Non-communicable diseases disproportionately affect the most poor and vulnerable and healthcare systems are increasingly unable to cope. Screening, diagnosis, medications and treatment are very expensive for both ministries of finance and at the household level, where health needs can result in catastrophic expenditure. And taxes that generate a 50% increase in real prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary beverages would save 50 million lives globally over 50 years. We believe the G20 platform is a sound one on which to champion efforts to curb the consumption of harmful products. This is because half of the countries in the group have one or two policies for food such as taxes on sweetened beverages. Their experiences can therefore inform debates about how to protect the public from the fatal effects of diet-influenced diseases. But building a solid foundation won't be easy. What's needed is for the G20 to put its weight behind these key points: Promoting good health before people get sick should be an imperative because the cost of inaction in financial and human terms is just too high. Promoting the case for raising tobacco taxes, because tobacco continues to cause the most death and illness. But taxation has stalled. Approximately 90% of smokers live in countries where cigarettes were equally or more affordable in 2022 than they were five years earlier. A renewed focus on alcohol taxes, which have shown little improvement in the last decade. Alcohol excise taxes are not being used effectively. Fresh impetus behind increasing the level of taxes as a percentage of the cost of sugar sweetened beverages. Evidence suggests that to be effective, taxes on sugar sweetened beverages should increase product prices by at least 20%. Champion nutrition regulation when navigating the trade and nutrition policy environment. Trade policies can be inconsistent with health policies. Lastly, push for stronger global monitoring frameworks to track corporate accountability in health. This should include clear conflict of interest policies, information management, and exposing when corporations try to shape their own evidence-base or discredit research that would be supportive of public health policies. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Karen Hofman, University of the Witwatersrand and Susan Goldstein, University of the Witwatersrand Read more: Korean pear juice, IV drips, vitamin patches: do these trendy hangover cures actually work? MAHA report on children's health highlights harms of ultraprocessed foods – a food scientist explains the research Marathon runners rely on family and experts to succeed, while races rely on passionate volunteers Susan Goldstein receives funding from the SAMRC, the NIHR and UNICEF. She is a Board Member of the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance: South Africa, Karen Hofman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
IOL News
7 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Cape Town mayor can learn from finance minister's budget
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis should table a revised Draft Budget and deliver a Budget that is realistic, linked to the CPI of 4.5%, to make it affordable to ratepayers, says the writer. Image: Phando Jikelo EXAMINING the history of the growth in the City of Cape Town budgets, it can clearly be seen that since 2021/22 Budget growth picked up substantially. The Capital Budget grew from a modest R3.7 billion to a humongous R12.7 billion in only four years. Taken against the South African economy which has a growth rate of 1.4% (revised down from 1.9%) the City's Budget growth of around 9% per year, is totally out of proportion with the rest of the country. In the latest National Budget the minister announced that future grants to municipalities will be lower due to National Budget constraints. Yet, the Mayor of Cape Town will not budge on his aggressive Capital Expansion for future projects. In the light of the national government's financial constraints, a Metro like the City of Cape Town simply cannot continue as if it is not part of the larger country. The disastrous results of this Mayor's lack of strategic vision, are clearly visible after the latest Budget fiasco with the COCT Draft Budget for 2025-26. Ratepayers have reached the end of their ability to absorb the ever increasing number of fixed charges the City introduces to fund their ambitious expansion plans. The link to property values which creates an exponential rate of tariff increases can simply not be implemented in this tight fiscal environment of national growth of only 1.4%. On 28 May 2025, the Mayor should therefore table a revised Draft Budget and deliver a Budget that is realistic, linked to the CPI of 4.5%, to make it affordable to ratepayers. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ The new fixed charges must be removed and above all, an alternative to the link to property values to determine the water fixed charge must be found. (A simple flat rate as what is applied for electricity is suggested.) The Mayor should demonstrate the same restraint as what was shown in the national budget. The finance minister was forced through effective opposition in a GNU where no single party had the majority to push through what it wanted. Sandra Dickson | STOP City of Cape Town
The Citizen
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Mangaung Municipality in spending crisis after exceeding budget
The DA has called for a full forensic investigation into the Mangaung metro. Mayor of Mangaung Metro Municipality Gregory Nthatisi speaks during a media briefing in Bloemfontein on 9 May 2025. Picture: Gallo Images/Mlungisi Louw The fact that the Mangaung Municipality in Bloemfontein managed to spend 111% of its budget in 2023-24, yet only delivered 45% of expected services, shows that the municipal sector in South Africa is in crisis, says the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu). Samwu Free State provincial secretary Thabang Tseuoa said the crisis was brought about by 'systemic governance failures, entrenched financial mismanagement, widespread corruption'. He said underperforming and corrupt officials were 'often protected due to party loyalty rather than competence or ethical conduct'. Auditor-general report on Mangaung Municipality Auditor-general (AG) Tsakane Maluleke told the select committee on public accounts this month that the metro had overshot its budget by spending 111% for the 2023-24 financial year. In cases where payment obligations were to be fulfilled, payments and extensions made were not in line with the contract and contractual obligations were not settled within 30 days as required by Treasury rules. ALSO READ: Eskom to disconnect 15 Free State towns over billions worth of debt The AG found that the root cause of the problem was the metro's weak financial governance, lacking oversight mechanisms and insufficient knowledge, skills, or awareness among staff regarding proper internal control procedures. The union blamed the provincial cooperative governance and traditional affairs department and provincial Treasury for implementing ineffective interventions that worsened the rot. DA expresses concern over city manager The sentiments were echoed by DA ward 24 councillor and party caucus chair Dirk Kotzé, who said Mangaung's financial woes would continue because its senior officials were allegedly implicated in financial mismanagement and not made to account. 'It is deeply problematic that the city manager is expected to initiate investigations through the disciplinary board, while being directly implicated,' Kotzé said. 'There are no countermeasures in place to curb excessive overtime payments, which threaten to leave the budget unfunded. 'Additionally, there are no commitments to improve revenue collection rates, nor has there been any change in the policy to collect outstanding government debt.' READ MORE: Water wasted in Free State totals R3.7 billion in last seven years Kotzé said that consequence management was not prioritised by both the political and administrative leadership in Mangaung. He cited a case of hacking of the municipality's information system in a ransomware attack where the hackers demanded R10 million. 'The incident was investigated by the Hawks and a report was presented to the council implicating certain officials. 'However, to date, there has been no feedback and no action,' Kotzé said. Full probe into Mangaung Municipality He called for the AG to conduct a full forensic investigation into the Mangaung metro and Centlec billing systems, which allegedly had inaccurate readings and estimated billing. 'We believe the integrity of the system's data has been compromised since the 2023 ransomware attack,' Kotzé said. In 2019, Mangaung was placed under national government intervention to rescue it from its dire financial situation. 'Despite the financial recovery plan implementation, only 45% of key service delivery targets were achieved, but 111% of the budget was spent. 'After a year of implementation, it has not yielded improvements in the financial state of the municipality,' the AG report said. NOW READ: Matjhabeng municipality's appeal rejected amid financial challenges, service delivery collapse
