Star 2023-01-24

RENERGEN’S first production of liquid helium saw the share price of the country’s first onshore gas-producing company rise by 8.3% to R26.80 on the JSE yesterday morning. The JSE and the Australian stock exchange-listed company said in a statement the first production at its Virginia Gas Project made it the world’s newest producer of liquid helium. “The helium module is now operational and being optimised,” it said. The news appeared to be well received by shareholders considering the share price recently lagged after investor scepticism about initial delays in getting the project into first production. The share price traded at R26.80, lower than the R35.80 that it traded at the same day a year ago, and much lower than the more than R42 it traded at in November, last year.…

‘Interference undermining power utility’s leadership’ after PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s attempts to twist Eskom’s arm into delaying the electricity tariff hike in April has been met with serious criticism of “executive overreach” into the regulatory realm. This comes after Ramaphosa yesterday reiterated what he said over the weekend that he had asked Eskom to hold off on implementing the 18.65% tariff increase, a week after saying his hands were tied on the matter. Ramaphosa jetted to the governing party’s provincial conferences over the past two days where, instead of calling a “family meeting” and addressing the nation as head of state, he addressed the energy crisis in public for the first time since cancelling his trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum. Closing the meeting of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC’s…

THE SEVERE load shedding has increased food security risks in South Africa and financial pressures on farmers, agribusinesses and the value chain role-players, and as a result it was it was holding continued engagements with Eskom, the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), said yesterday. It was lobbying for load shedding not to exceed stage 2 or 3 in the near term, it said. It wanted to also develop contingency plans that allowed greater predictability should outages be unavoidable, so companies can plan their operations with more stability. Agbiz has been engaged in meetings with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, as well as Eskom, to find ways to ease the pressure on agribusinesses. “In the near term, Agbiz has urged for less severe load…

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday during a visit to Zambia that it is critically important to restructure Zambia’s debt, and she believed progress could be made after her frank talks with key creditor China last week. Yellen said that Zambia’s debt overhang was a drag on its whole economy and that China had been a barrier to resolving the southern African country's debt problem. However, she said she was encouraged that progress could shortly become possible after her meeting with Chinese officials in Zurich last week. “I specifically raised the issue with Zambia (with Chinese officials) and asked for their co-operation in trying to reach a speedy resolution. And our talks were constructive,” Yellen said. She told Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane that the timely finalisation of Zambia’s…

SOUTH Africa’s government has vowed to maintain and strengthen its 30 years of economic relations with Russia in spite of the country being at the centre of the war in Ukraine that has brought the world into a cost of living crisis. Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Naledi Pandor yesterday hosted her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who was on his four-nations tour of Africa. Pandor said she was pleased the Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Co-operation (Ictec) remained an active platform for co-ordinating bilateral relations. She said the Ictec continued to meet regularly and had made considerable progress in deepening the co- operation between South Africa and the Russian Federation. “However, it is my view that both our countries can and must do more to develop and capitalise…

CIVIL society organisations have welcomed the Western Cape High Court judgment that berated Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe for his unlawful firing last January of Peter Becker, the civil society representative on the board of the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR). The South African team lead at 350Africa.org, Glen Tyler said in a statement yesterday: “It is amazing that a minister needs to be hauled before the high court to understand that having a community representative with opposing views on a regulator’s board is okay. This is more evidence of Mantashe’s biases against a quick and just transition to renewable energy.” Mantashe’s office said in response to questions about his reaction to the judgment: “With regard to Mr Becker’s court case we wish to indicate that the department is…