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Engineering News Online provides real time news reportage through originated written, video & audio material. Now you can listen to the top three articles on Engineering News at the end of each day.

  1. 20H AGO

    Eskom warns of Joburg power cuts after city 'fails to honour terms of court order'

    Eskom has issued a public notice warning of possible electricity supply interruptions in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) from July 8, owing to an alleged failure by the municipality to honour the terms of a settlement agreement relating to outstanding debt and the payment of its current electricity account. The settlement agreement was made an order of the High Court in November last year. In a full-page advertisement published on Sunday, Eskom said that CoJ and/or City Power (CP) owed it more than R5.25-billion and that it had decided to initiate a process that could result in the interruption of power supply "to stop spiralling debt". Eskom stated recently that the overall outstanding debt from municipalities had increased to over R111-billion and that it would pursue more so-called Distribution Agency Agreements with smaller municipalities, despite objections to the arrangement, including a legal challenge. The utility issued the public notice relating to Johannesburg in line with the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) indicating that it intended to reduce, interrupt and/or terminate electricity supply to certain bulk supply points supplying the CoJ and/or CP. In the notice, Eskom lists four substations, namely: Fordsburg substation, supplying Johannesburg CBD, Fordsburg, Auckland Park, Mayfair and surrounding areas; the Beyers substation, supplying Fairlands, Cresta and the surrounding areas; the Crowthorne substation, supplying Crowthorne, Carlsworld, part of Mnandi and surrounding areas; and the Allandale substation, supplying Midrand. In November 2024, Eskom issued a similar notice to the CoJ and CP, which precipitated the negotiations that resulted in the settlement agreement and associated court order. The court order stipulates that current electricity accounts should be paid in full and that historical debt instalments be paid according to an agreed repayment schedule. It also states that a failure to comply will result in the immediate termination of the repayment arrangement and render the full outstanding debt immediately payable. "Despite the existence of the court order and the indulgence granted by Eskom through the repayment arrangement, CoJ/CP has failed to honour the terms of the court order by failing to make payment of both the historical debt instalments and the current electricity account on the due dates," the Eskom notice reads. It adds that the continued breach of the court order has raised serious concerns regarding the municipality's ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations to Eskom, and is placing Eskom under severe financial pressure. The notice follows a hard-hitting letter written in late April by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero in which serious concerns were raised about the city's financial sustainability and its compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act. Following a meeting between Godongwana and Morero on May 8, the Finance Minister issued a statement indicating that the mayor had agreed to consider serious remedial actions to address the issues raised and that the city would submit a formal report to the Treasury in response to the letter. In parallel, Eskom indicated that it had resumed the PAJA process notifying residents and businesses of its intention to reduce, interrupt and/or terminate supply to certain bulk supply points supplying CoJ/CP with effect from July 8. "Eskom appreciates the hardships the community and the economy will suffer should it exercise its statutory powers to disconnect the municipality. However, there are no other meaningful options available for Eskom to stop the debt and collect for current consumption on bulk supply." Eskom also invited affected parties to make written representations before the end of business on June 17, while also indicating that it would be open to "progresive representations" in relation to direct payment by customers or direct supply from Eskom. In March, Eskom issued...

    4 min

  2. 1D AGO

    Terence Creamer discusses: TRIM signs rail access agreement with 11 private operators

    Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the significance of the Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager's (TRIM's) signing of rail access agreements with 11 private train operating companies.

    10 min

  3. 3D AGO

    Bulk water in balance, local deficits still weigh on water sector

    While South Africa's raw water supply remains in balance with existing demands on a national scale, localised deficits remain – with municipal water services reliability declining sharply – and water board debt is increasing. This has resulted continued worsening water services disruptions, sewage spills and poor water quality in many areas, as highlighted in the most recent release of the Department of Water and Sanitation's (DWS's) Green Drop Report. The report shows that there has been an increase in the percentage of municipal wastewater systems in a critical state of performance, from 39% in 2022 to 47% in the 2025. During her Budget Debate on Friday, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina said that overdue debts from municipalities to water boards have also deteriorated. As at March, overdue debt, excluding current invoices, amounted to R23-billion, while total debt exceeded R27-billion, an increase from R24-billion of total debt reported in July 2025. This is despite ongoing interventions, with water boards increasingly implementing credit control measures, including throttling water supply to non-paying municipalities and attaching municipal bank accounts. Majodina said she has also led coordinated engagements with Premiers, Mayors and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MECs to improve payment compliance, while National Treasury has implemented the withholding of equitable share allocations for the worst non-paying municipalities, which has affected 62 municipalities to date. Turning to the municipal services decline, Majodina pointed out that while most people now have access to a tap, water often does not come out of the tap or is not safe to drink. To mitigate the challenge at the reticulation level, President Cyril Ramaphosa's National Water Action Plan targets reforms to the way in which the services are delivered to improve their financial sustainability and to ensure that they are effectively managed by staff with the required competencies. The action plan focuses on the ring-fencing of revenue from the sale of water, supporting the operation, maintenance, upgrading and long-term sustainability of municipal water services and addressing crime, corruption and sabotage in the water sector. The DWS will also make increasing use of its water boards and other implementing agents such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa to assist struggling municipalities to implement projects more expeditiously. The focus of the increased support and intervention will be on the worst performing 107 municipalities in terms of the full 2023 Blue Drop and full 2025 Green Drop reports. The department is also supporting broader institutional and governance reforms within the water sector, including support for National Treasury's Metro Trading Service reforms and technical guidance on ringfencing municipal water services as sustainable trading functions. "We also support some of the metropolitan municipalities with major strategic infrastructure projects, including the Klipdrift water treatment works in Hammanskraal, in Tshwane, as well as the Welbedacht pipeline in Mangaung," Majodina said. Phase 1 of the Welbedacht pipeline was completed in June 2025 at a cost of R585-million, improving water supply reliability to Mangaung. Phase 2, which comprises a 71 km expansion estimated at R1.6-billion, is in advanced planning, with implementation scheduled from 2027 to 2032. In addition, the DWS initiated a nationwide programme to accelerate access to water services for unserved communities, many of which are in rural areas. The programme seeks to implement rapid, cost-effective and appropriate interventions such as groundwater development, spring protection and rainwater harvesting, in addition to extensions of existing water supply systems. Substantial work has been done to identify communities and potential water sources where there is no formal potable water infrastructure or where existing systems are non-function...

    7 min

  4. 3D AGO

    No sweet spot found yet as govt, auto industry mull shoring up local manufacturing

    The South African automotive industry and government have not yet found "that sweet spot" that would shore up the local manufacturing sector as it faces declining local parts content and increasing competition from imports, says naamsa | The Automotive Business Council president and BMW Group South Africa CEO Peter van Binsbergen. Government is reviewing the second iteration of its Automotive Production Development Programme (APDP 2) this year, amid a rapidly changing global automotive industry. The automotive manufacturing support programme is set to run to 2035. Speaking during the launch of the Automotive Trade Manual 2026 on Friday, Van Binsbergen confirmed that talks were ongoing between naamsa, the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa to develop recommendations to government on how to adapt its policies to strengthen the local automotive manufacturing industry "without any unintended negative consequences on other parts of the industry, or the consumer". "This is a complex topic," said Van Binsbergen. "We are not there yet and I can say that clearly. We are working hard, together with government and each other. The current process is very constructive, but we are not there yet." Steeper import duties on vehicles from China, and/or a cut in the ad valorem tax levied on locally made vehicles have been placed on the table earlier this year as possible solutions to strengthening South Africa's biggest manufacturing sector. Van Binsbergen also on Friday commented on the impact of the current Iran conflict on the local industry, noting that the effect "was very brand specific, depending on your logistics network, where your regional parts warehouses are – those kinds of things". He added, however, that all brands shared the same concern around increased fuel prices and the potential knock-on effect in terms rising inflation, increasing interest rates and declining consumer confidence, which "would hit us all equally". Toyota South Africa Motors CEO Andrew Kirby noted that the Durban-based manufacturer had been experiencing challenges in its exports into the rest of Africa. "In East Africa we have shipping lines that traditionally trans-ship through the Middle East. We are trying to find alternative routes, so that has had an impact on us, but we are working our way through that. "We still have a couple of ships stuck in that area with vehicles, but in terms of ongoing business we have been able to find alternative routes." Kirby added that a secondary challenge of the Iran conflict had been the significant impact on the cost of global logistics, as well as delays in logistics chains. Also, as shipping lines had been forced to move around the conflict-ridden Middle East, it had caused congestion on other routes, such as to and from Singapore.

    2 min

  5. 4D AGO

    Amplified calls for Cabinet-endorsed electricity reform roadmap

    Independent power producer and licensed trader NOA has amplified a recent call for the publication of a Cabinet-endorsed electricity reform roadmap to ensure that the shift to the competitive market structure envisaged in legislation and policy is implemented. NOA head of trading Andrew Taylor argued this week that the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act and the impending launch of the South African Electricity Wholesale Market (SAWEM) offered a credible path to a competitive, green and affordable electricity system, but currently lacked an authoritative, coherent and sequenced implementation plan. "Cabinet should adopt a single, time-bound electricity reform roadmap before the end of the 2026 medium-term budget cycle," Taylor argued during an EE Business Intelligence webinar. This appeal was also made in February by the South African Electricity Traders Association (SAETA), of which NOA is a member. In a report commission by SAETA and produced by research and consulting firm Krutham, it was argued that the roadmap should bring together existing reform strands, while setting clear targets, sequencing and accountability. In an update released on May 12, Krutham noted that the Department of Electricity and Energy planned to submit the report to Cabinet which would then go through a public consultation process. In April, Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa revealed that the electricity reform policy paper would offer a "single-window overview of the sector's reform agenda". In his subsequent Budget Vote speech, he announced that his department would also release a "sequenced" implementation roadmap for the SAWEM so as to address prevailing uncertainty over the transition to a competitive market structure. Krutham MD Peter Attard Montalto added that South Africa had a narrow window to lock in reform and that the roadmap, thus, represented the "most important document the sector will see this year". "Without Cabinet approval and a single political champion, reforms remain weakly coordinated, vulnerable to resistance and unable to overcome entrenched interests," Attard Montalto added, highlighting the relative progress being made in transport reform where a Cabinet-endorsed roadmap was in place. Taylor also argued that the roadmap should have a single political champion, assign lead responsibilities for each outstanding workstream, and that there should be quarterly progress reports. The roadmap, he added, should not be a new policy, but a "faithful translation of the policy already passed — sequenced, costed, and owned". Besides the roadmap, Taylor also identified two other non-technical interventions that should be pursued with similar urgency: a new Electricity Pricing Policy, for which Ramokgopa has confirmed he will also be seeking Cabinet approval; and a strengthening of the capacity of the Department of Electricity and Energy and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. "Each of these three actions is unglamorous. None of them generates a megawatt. None of them opens a substation. And yet, without them, every megawatt and every substation is more expensive, slower to build, and more vulnerable to the next political shock," Taylor said. Speaking on the same platform, Saul Musker, who is director of strategy and delivery support in the Office of the Presidency, listed several reform priorities in addition to the work being undertaken by the Eskom Restructuring Task Team to finalise the establishment of a fully independent Transmission System Operator with ownership and control of the transmission assets. These included finalising trading rules, as well as systems and prices to enable a competitive market; reforming the tariff regime to support the introduction of the SAWEM and sector unbundling; implementing open and non-discriminatory access to the grid and wheeling; expanding and strengthening the transmission network; and supporting municipal distributors to make the transition to a reformed el...

    4 min

  6. 5D AGO

    Eleven private train operators gear up for mainline entry after concluding access agreements

    The 11 private train operating companies (TOCs), which were last year allocated slots on South Africa's mainline rail network, have now officially concluded rail access agreements with the Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager (TRIM) and are gearing up to begin operations. At a ceremony in Sandton on May 13, TRIM confirmed that the TOCs were expected to inject an additional 24-million tonnes of freight capacity across the coal, manganese, container, fuel, and general freight segments. The initial TOCs to have received allocations were also confirmed as being ARC South Africa, Barberry, Grindrod, Interlinks, IRACEMA, Menar, Minrail, Motheo Logistics, Sharp Logistics, The Railway Corporation and TLD Marine, which includes MSC as a participant. Some TOCs were targeting to begin operations before the end of 2026, and TRIM said the majority were expected to be operational during the course of 2027. Transnet CEO Michelle Phillips described the conclusion of the rail access agreements as a "significant milestone" and said it was also evidence that Transnet was implementing the policy reform of having an open-access rail system. The network has hitherto been monopolised by Transnet Freight Rail, and the entry of private operators has been facilitated by the vertical separation of rail operations from infrastructure and the launch of TRIM, which marked its first anniversary in April. TRIM subsequently published Network Statement Version 3, which laid the basis for the allocation of slots to TOCs, including the rail access fees. TRIM CEO Moshe Motlohi reiterated that the TOCs would enter at their own risk a network that had been neglected, but also outlined various initiatives being undertaken to improve the state of the network and signalling. Transnet was also increasingly accessing the National Treasury's Budget Facility for Infrastructure to fund capital projects on the rail system, with Transport Minister Barbara Creecy having stated that R16.8-billion in public investment had already been approved for the coal, iron-ore and port networks and that further applications worth R23.6-billion were being prepared. Network Statement Version 4, which includes refinements to the slot allocation system, was currently being finalised and would be released by the Department of Transport in the coming days in a bid to pave the way for the allocation of yet more rail slots to private operators. The statement will be updated either yearly or every two years in an effort to progressively open the network to TOCs in line with a goal of having private operators contribute to government's target of raising freight rail volumes to 250-million tons by 2030, from below 180-million tons currently. "This milestone represents more than just slot allocation, it signals the creation of a functional and competitive rail marketplace," Motlohi said. He also confirmed that TRIM had introduced an 'Ad Hoc Slot' application platform to allocate additional rail capacity outside the annual cycle. Describing the mechanism as "innovative and rules-based", Motlohi reported that the ad hoc process had already unlocked new opportunities, including a proposed short-haul service between Cato Ridge and Durban aimed at reducing road congestion in the port precinct. He said the service is targeted to commence operations in May 2026. Transnet also provided an update on its initiative to establish a rolling stock leasing company, which would enable private operators to lease the locomotives and wagons needed to operate the route instead of making large upfront capital investments. The so-called LeaseCo would be set up as a public-private partnership and Transnet confirmed that a request for proposals would be released imminently to bidders that had been identified during a prequalification process. However, Transnet chief business development officer Yolisa Kani said that, owing to market demand, the State-owned company had already allocated assets to the entity and had conclu...

    4 min

  7. 6D AGO

    Ramokgopa promises 'sequenced' roadmap for wholesale electricity market roll-out

    Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that his department will publish a "sequenced" implementation roadmap for the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) so as to address prevailing uncertainty over the transition to a competitive market structure. In his Budget Vote address on Tuesday, the Minister said the SAWEM would introduce clearer price signals, improve dispatch efficiency, allocate balancing responsibilities, improve transparency and reduce long-term reliance on the single buyer model. However, he said the market should be "sequenced with sensitivity" and announced that the Department of Electricity and Energy was finalising a SAWEM implementation roadmap, without providing a timeframe for its launch. The target launch date of April 1 for the SAWEM itself was not met, and is currently scheduled for the third quarter of the year, with the regulator still to deliberate on the market code. "The roadmap will set out regulatory milestone, readiness, gates, governance, controls, pricing, alignment, vesting and settlement arrangements and the transition towards the Transmission System Operator (TSO). "The market will not be built on uncertainty. It will be built on rules, oversight and readiness and public interest," Ramokgopa averred. He also reaffirmed the central role of the State in the future market design, arguing that it did not represent a "retreat" but rather transforming the electricity market so that the State could "govern a more complex system with better instruments". "The State will therefore continue to plan, it will continue to regulate, it will continue to protect the poor, it will continue to ensure that system security is not compromised [and] it will continue to act to ensure that the market design must serve national development objectives." His address comes amid greater electricity supply stability with South Africa expecting to achieve 365 days without loadshedding on May 18. Nevertheless, a number of market reforms remain outstanding, including the creation of an independent State-owned TSO that owns and controls the transmission assets that have hitherto been held by Eskom and which currently fall under the National Transmission Company South Africa, which is a wholly-owned Eskom subsidiary. Speaking separately Saul Musker, who is director of strategy and delivery support in the Office of the Presidency, said the Eskom Restructuring Task Team established by President Cyril Ramaphosa following his State of the Nation Address was "very hard at work to establish a fully independent TSO with ownership and control of transmission assets and to remove conflicts of interest". Musker also listed several other reform priorities during an EE Business Intelligence webinar that took place ahead of the Budget Vote, including: finalising trading rules, systems and prices to enable a competitive market; reforming the tariff regime to support the introduction of the market and sector unbundling; expanding and strengthening the transmission network; and supporting municipal distributors to make the transition to a reformed electricity sector. DISTRIBUTION ROADMAP & PRICING POLICY In his address, Ramokgopa confirmed that distribution sector transformation and the electricity pricing policy would receive urgent attention during the current financial year. He said the department planned to publish an electricity distribution industry roadmap and was processing changes to the electricity pricing policy, which would be taken to Cabinet for approval before being released for public consultation. "This process will provide a revised framework for tariff setting, cost reflectivity, wholesale pricing, use-of-system charges, time-of-use pricing, subsidy separation, municipal cost-of-supply enforcement and social protection." Other areas of focus of the 2026/27 financial year included stress-testing the Integrated Resource Plan assumptions against actual supply and demand conditions t...

    4 min

  8. MAY 8

    Terence Creamer talks about: Energy transition, policy in the spotlight

    Amid rising fuel prices and dropping temperatures in South Africa, Engineering News editor Terence Creamer joins me to discuss what issues these developments raise for the energy transition and policy.

    4 min
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Engineering News Online provides real time news reportage through originated written, video & audio material. Now you can listen to the top three articles on Engineering News at the end of each day.

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