Happening in SA today: Fuel price, load shedding, state capture – 2 February

The deep dive into the state capture report continues today. Meanwhile, fuel will now cost 53c you more, and South Africa’s curse – load shedding – is back.

Here’s what’s happening in South Africa today.

South Africa: 2 February 2022

Load shedding stage 2

It’ll be a dark weekend ahead. Eskom said stage 2 will be implemented from 11am on Thursday until 5am on Monday after generating units broke down overnight.

The power utility said load shedding is “necessary due to the shortage of capacity” following breakdowns at several power stations. Eskom said, “significant amounts of emergency generating services have now been depleted”.

Therefore, the embattled power utility will use the coming four days of darkness to “replenish the emergency generation reserves“.

Load shedding due to breakdowns

This follows after a unit each at Kusile and Kendal power stations tripped overnight, coupled with the delays in returning units at Kusile, Tutuka, Duvha, Lethabo and Grootvlei.

Total breakdowns are at 14 994MW, with planned maintenance at 4 435MW capacity, with “reliability maintenance” continuing, Eskom said. 

Meanwhile, Eskom will also implement road reduction in Soweto, Dobsonville, Emdeni, Jabulani, Naledi, Tladi, Zola and Zondi from 5pm to 10pm today.

State capture deep dive

The second part of the state capture was released yesterday. The 506-page report focuses in large part on the political interference at SA’s railway, Transnet.

As reported by The Citizen’s Getrude Makhafola, the second instalment of the state capture report detailed the “racketeering” ring at Transnet.

In particular, how Gupta cash totaling more than R19 million found its way to disgraced former CFO Anoj Singh’s personal bank account.

Transnet in spotlight

Former CEOs Brian Molefe, Siyabonga Gama and Singh was also at the centre of it all, and Singh’s appointment as Transnet CFO coincided with the appointment of Gupta-linked businessman Iqbal Sharma as chairperson of a board acquisition and disposal committee.

Meanwhile, Narissa Subramoney details how Transnet was fleeced and gambled at the hands of its executives, yet no findings were brought against politicians. Subramoney writes:

“Once the ‘right people’ were controlling Transnet, procurement oversight systems, internal audit departments and company structures designed to mitigate abuse of resources were systemically dismantled”.

Petrol price increase

Don’t shoot the messenger, but petrol will cost you 53c more from today.

The department of mineral resources said in a statement the increase was due to the average international prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin increasing during the period under review.

In addition, the rand appreciated slightly, on average, against the US dollar (from 15.92 to 15.51), which led to lower contributions to the basic fuel prices of petrol, diesel and paraffin.

In Parliament today

Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation will be briefed by DSI on the progress and developments regarding the Science and Technology Innovation (STI) Decadal Plan.

The focus will be on Budget Coordination Mechanism and commitments to DP actions by both public and private stakeholders.

Briefing by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) on Evaluation of Alternative Telecommunication Technologies for Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Area Report will kick off at 9am.

The Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation will be briefed by the Department on Quarters 1&2 Performance for the 2021/22 financial year at 10am.

Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour will be briefed by the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) on the following:

• It’s performance in Q1 (2021/2022)
• The Updated Status Report on CF Action Plan
• Consideration and adoption of Draft Committee Programme 1st Term 2022

In world news

Reporting by AFP.

Whoopi Goldberg suspended for Holocaust comment

US actress Whoopi Goldberg on Tuesday was suspended from the talk show she hosts for two weeks after saying that the Nazi genocide of six million Jews “was not about race.”

Despite an apology from the host of The View talk show, ABC News President Kim Godwin said she had decided it was not enough.

“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Godwin said in a statement posted on the TV channel’s public relations Twitter account. 

Three killed in two US school shootings

Two campus police officers were shot and killed at a college in the US state of Virginia Tuesday, while one student was killed and another wounded in a shooting at a school in Minnesota the same day. 

Two agents, a campus law enforcement officer and a campus safety officer, were shot before the suspect fled the scene at the college in Virginia, Virginia State Police said in a statement on Twitter. 

Multiple law enforcement agencies arrived on the campus of Bridgewater College around 1:20 pm local time in response to active shooter reports, according to the same statement, which the school also posted to its website. 

The suspect, a 27-year-old man named Alexander Wyatt Campbell, was later apprehended, Virginia State Police said, adding that he had a “non-life-threatening gunshot wound.”

Ecuador floods: 24 dead, dozens injured

The heaviest flooding to hit Ecuador in two decades has killed at least 24 people in Quito, inundating homes, swamping cars and sweeping away athletes and spectators on a sports field, officials said Tuesday.

A dozen people are missing and 48 injured, Ecuador’s SNGRE emergency service said on Twitter.

Video footage showed torrents of water carrying stones, mud and debris down streets in the Ecuadoran capital, as rescuers helped inhabitants wade through the fast-running currents to safety.