DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Storm Freddy triggers floods in Malawi, killing at least 11
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Frank Phiri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Branches of trees sway as cyclone Freddy hits, in Quelimane, Zambezia, Mozambique, March 12, 2023, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. UNICEF Mozambique/2023/Alfredo Zuniga/Handout via REUTERSBLANTYRE, Malawi, March 13 (Reuters) - At least 11 people have died and 16 are missing around Malawi's second-largest city Blantyre after tropical storm Freddy brought torrential rains that triggered floods and landslides, police said on Monday. It pummelled Mozambique for the second time in a month as a cyclone over the weekend before weakening as it moved inland towards Malawi. "Some missing people are feared buried in rubble and our team is working with other cooperating national agencies," Kalaya said. Scientists say climate change is making tropical storms stronger, as oceans absorb much of the heat from greenhouse gas emissions and when warm seawater evaporates heat energy is transferred to the atmosphere.

☆ South African factory activity slumps in Feb on record power cuts - Absa PMI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, March 1 (Reuters) - South African manufacturing activity contracted sharply in February as unprecedented power cuts led to a marked deterioration in business conditions, a survey showed on Wednesday. The business activity, new sales orders, employment and inventories indices were all in contractionary terrain, Absa said in a statement. "Load-shedding once again featured frequently in the commentary where respondents explained why activity declined relative to the previous month," Absa said, using a term for power outages. Struggling state electricity utility Eskom has implemented power cuts every day this year due to breakdowns at its coal-fired power plants, after a record number of days with outages last year. There was a steep fall in the PMI index measuring expected business conditions in six months' time, with the index falling to its lowest level since May 2020.

Treasury said the government planned to take on 254 billion rand ($14 billion) of Eskom's 423 billion rand debt it said was at risk of default, to enable the utility to pay down the debt and interest obligations. South Africa has been struggling for years to overhaul Eskom, which is plagued by corruption and mismanagement and has received 263.4 billion rand in bailouts since 2008/09. Treasury said about 168 billion rand of Eskom’s debt relief will be in capital and 86 billion rand in interest payments over the next three years. Eskom's debt relief has strict conditions, Treasury said. A proposal to address the debt municipalities owe Eskom, at 56.3 billion rand as of end December 2022, was being finalised.

☆ South African cities scramble to keep the lights on
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Carien Du Plessis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Officials plan to procure up to 500 megawatts (MW) from private power companies by 2026 to provide roughly a third of the city's annual 1,500-1,800 megawatts (MW) electricity needs. [1/5] A woman tests LED lights on a solar panel at their factory called Ener-G-Africa, where they produce high-quality solar panels made by an all-women team, in Cape Town, South Africa, February 9, 2023. The neighbouring Ekurhuleni municipality has signed deals with 46 private power companies for 700 MW, according to its 2020/2021 annual report. Hill-Lewis said Cape Town also plans to change its energy policy to allow households and businesses that produce solar power to sell the excess to the city. In Cape Town, for those wanting to sell excess power to the city, a 12,000 rand feed-in meter is required.

☆ South Africa's consumer goods firms warn of much higher prices as power cuts bite
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Nqobile Dludla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A shopper looks for goods during an electricity load-shedding blackout in Johannesburg, South Africa, February 12, 2019. Food, consumer goods companies and retailers in South Africa are cranking up diesel generators and spending more on back up power supplies, adding to the pressure from soaring costs for raw materials, transportation and packaging. In an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the chief executives of member companies of the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa pleaded for urgent and decisive action from the government to solve the power crisis. Shoprite has said its additional spend on diesel to operate generators amounted to 560 million rand ($32 million) in the six months to Jan.1. Supermarket group Pick n Pay (PIKJ.J) spent 346 million rand in the 10 months to Dec. 25 to run generators, and is currently spending about 60 million rand per month.

☆ IMF chief: it's time for creditors to restructure Zambia debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LUSAKA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday during a visit to Zambia that it was the time for the southern African country's creditors to restructure its debt as it was doing its part by implementing economic reforms. Zambia defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020, becoming the first African country to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgieva has pushed hard for quicker movement on debt relief for countries like Zambia. On Monday at a meeting with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema she commended his government for moving away from wasteful expenditure and said the IMF would like to work with Zambia to boost its economic growth. Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Alexander WinningOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ South Africa's Eskom says police investigating alleged poisoning of CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan also told Reuters on Sunday the alleged incident "will be thoroughly investigated" and anyone responsible charged. Faced with political pressure, De Ruyter resigned on Dec. 14 after failing to solve a crisis in Eskom that has led to record power cuts in Africa's most industrialised economy. After officially taking office in January 2020, De Ruyter led a company-wide clampdown on corruption and organised criminal behaviour, including sabotage of infrastructure, at Eskom plants. The alleged cyanide poisoning was first reported by specialist energy publication EE Business Intelligence on Saturday. Reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] South African president Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at the Green Hydrogen Summit at Century City in Cape Town, South Africa, November 29, 2022. The inquiry centred on the theft of a millions of dollars of cash from the billionaire president's farm in 2020, which came to light in June. The country's biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has called for an early election and the report has plunged the governing African National Congress (ANC) into crisis. The ANC's executive committee is due to meet to discuss the panel report on Thursday evening. Asked by Reuters about a local media report that Ramaphosa was due to address the nation on Thursday, Ramaphosa's spokesman Vincent Magwenya said: "An announcement is imminent.

☆ Cemetery workouts help Zimbabwe township residents feel alive
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Nyasha Chingono | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/6] People take a break during an early morning exercise inside Warren Hills cemetery in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 24, 2022. But due to lack of facilities in the townships, residents have had to improvise and the leafy, multi-faith Warren Hills cemetery is proving a popular venue for some, if a bit worrying for others. A few paces from where Madubeko is training, footballer Tichaona Macheka, 19, is holding an aerobics class. "The Muslim section of the cemetery was gracious to let us train here and I am glad more people are joining the class." Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Zambia seeks answers from Russia after national dies in Ukraine war -foreign minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LUSAKA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Zambia has asked Russia to explain how one of its citizens who had been serving a prison sentence in Moscow ended up on the battlefield in Ukraine where he was killed, Zambia's foreign affairs minister said on Monday. Stanley Kakubo said in a statement that Russia had notified Zambia about the death in September of the 23-year-old, but did not provide details. Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the circumstances of his journey to Ukraine and subsequent death. Kakubo said further details would be provided once official communication was received from the Russian authorities on the circumstances surrounding the Zambian's death. His remains have been transported to the Russian border town of Rostov in readiness for repatriation to Zambia, Kakubo added.

☆ South Africa's new ground station to help NASA track space flights
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Wendell Roelf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MATJIESFONTEIN, South Africa Nov 8 (Reuters) - A new deep-space ground station being built in South Africa's semi-desert Karoo region will come online by 2025 to help track history-making NASA missions to the moon and beyond, space agency officials said Tuesday. The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) will establish, operate and maintain the station. South Africa has committed an initial 70 million rand ($3.93 million) to build the infrastructure and communications needed to ready the site, part of the government's investment in building its space infrastructure and research base. "NASA would not come to South Africa if they didn't feel that we have capacities to do the work in partnership with them," said Phil Mjwara, director general at South Africa's department of science and innovation. ($1 = 17.8206 rand)Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ramaphosa said South Africa was speaking to international partners to identify additional funding sources, calling for "a significantly larger grant component" in support pledges. The 1.5 trillion rand plan includes about 1 trillion rand of electricity financing needs, 128 billion rand for new energy vehicles and 319 billion rand for green hydrogen. The head of South Africa's presidential climate finance task team said there was a funding gap of about 700 billion rand for the plan. If successful, South Africa's energy transition plan could be a model for other coal-dependent emerging economies in the global fight against climate change. ($1 = 17.9540 rand)Additional reporting by Anait Miridzhanian Editing by James Macharia Chege, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo"

12 mentions found