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For an analysis of global markets, Per Magnus Nysveen, Oil Analyst from Rystad Energy joins CNBC Africa for more.

Global oil prices drop in the midst of U.S-Iran tensions

By Emma Rumney



JOHANNESBURG, Jan 7 (Reuters) &#8211; Russian bank VTB is suing a Mozambique state-owned company over $535 million it extended as part a series of loans now at the centre of a $2 billion debt scandal.



An online court filing dated Dec. 23 shows VTB has lodged a lawsuit in Britain&#8217;s High court against the Mozambique state and Mozambique Asset Management, which borrowed the money from VTB as part of a costly project that U.S. authorities say was an elaborate front for a bribery and kickback scheme.



VTB had been in talks with the southeast African country over restructuring the loan, which the deputy head of VTB Capital&#8217;s legal department said in October represented a &#8220;significant exposure&#8221; for the bank.



&#8220;An agreed restructuring remains our preferred outcome but after 3 years of discussions with no tangible progress VTB must now consider all options available to it for a resolution,&#8221; VTB said in an emailed statement.



Mozambique&#8217;s Attorney General&#8217;s Office said it was waiting for formal notification of the lawsuit.



The court filing said the case relates to &#8220;general commercial contracts and arrangements&#8221; but no further information was available, other than that VTB Capital, the investment banking arm of VTB, is being represented by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.



The debt scandal has already sparked a series of court cases spanning London, New York and South Africa, ensnaring global investment bank Credit Suisse, three of its former bankers, Mozambique&#8217;s former finance minister and a past president&#8217;s son.



However this is the first time any of the cases have involved VTB, which is more than 60% owned by the state. It comes despite an increasingly close relationship between Russia and Mozambique, with President Filipe Nyusi visiting Russia twice last year and a series of agreements between Maputo and Moscow.



Credit Suisse and VTB provided or arranged a total of around $2 billion for the project, encompassing tuna fishing, maritime security and shipyard development. Hundreds of millions of dollars went missing, while the benefits never materialised.



Mozambique did not disclose some of the loans, which were guaranteed by the state. The International Monetary Fund and other donors cut off support when they came to light in 2016, triggering a currency collapse and sovereign debt default.



It remains on the hook for the money, the largest chunk of which now sits in a restructured eurobond. The country is trying to challenge the guarantee related to a $622 million loan from Credit Suisse, also in a London court.



The Jubilee Debt Campaign, which calls for the cancellation of unjust or unpayable debts of the poorest countries, said Mozambique should not have to pay a cent towards the loans, which were guaranteed without the approval of Mozambique&#8217;s parliament.



&#8220;The loan guarantee was in clear breach of Mozambican law, and the lenders, companies and politicians involved should all be held to account for their role in the deal,&#8221; Sarah-Jane Clifton, the campaign&#8217;s director, said.



(Additional reporting by Tatiana Voronova in Moscow; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Kirsten Donovan)

This African country is being sued by Russia’s VTB over loan in $2 billion debt scandal

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s net foreign reserves rose to $44.897 billion in December from $44.415 billion in November, Reserve Bank data showed on Wednesday.



Gross reserves increased to $55.058 billion at the end of December from $54.893 billion in the previous month.



The forward position representing the central bank’s unsettled transactions, or swap, showed a negative balance of $64 million in December after a positive balance of $31 million in November.



Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by Helen Reid

South Africa’s net foreign reserves rise to $44.897 billion in December

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It seems the one market that is gaining some positivity from the Middle East tension is Bitcoin as the price went up by almost 10 per cent. General Manager for Luno Africa, Marius Reitz joins CNBC Africa on Crypto predictions for 2020 and more.

Bitcoin prices expected to remain stable despite ongoing Middle East tensions

HARARE, Jan 6 (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe&#8217;s largest bank CBZ launched two bond issues on Monday, seeking to raise $80.6 million to finance maize and soybean farming, as the country faces another drought that could worsen an already dire economic situation.



The United Nations warned last week that the southern African nation faced a second successive poor harvest this year because of patchy rains, compounding problems for millions of people already grappling with last year&#8217;s drought and the worst economic crisis in a decade.



CBZ said in a notice it wanted to raise 500 million Zimbabwe dollars ($30.6 million) to purchase seeds, fertiliser and chemicals for maize and soybean production.



The bond has a tenor of 270 days and an interest rate of between 15% and 18%.



A second dollar-denominated bond worth $50 million with the same tenor seeks to raise money to import farming chemicals and fertilisers that are not available locally, CBZ said. The bank will pay 9.5% interest.



Maize is the country&#8217;s staple crop, while soybeans are used in the production of cooking oil and animal feed.



Under a new government-backed programme to ensure food security, CBZ buys farm products and issues farmers with vouchers to purchase them. The bank will then recoup its money from farmers who surrender part of their harvest. The bonds are guaranteed by the government.



Zimbabwe is nearly halfway through its summer crop season, but the rains have been poor, raising concerns that the government may not meet its growth target of 3.1% this year. Agriculture accounts for 17% of the country&#8217;s gross domestic product.



The poor rains will likely prolong 18-hour daily power cuts as dam water levels for the biggest hydro electricity plant remain precariously low.



Up to 8 million people, half Zimbabwe&#8217;s population, will require food aid this year after last year&#8217;s maize harvest fell by half, according to the United Nations. 



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Zimbabwe’s largest bank CBZ issues bonds under scheme to raise funds for maize, soy farming

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Joining CNBC Africa to discuss Angolan market updates in the oil rich country is Rui Oliveira, CEO at BFA Asset Management.

A look at how tensions are influencing oil hikes in Angolan markets

Angola eases open investment taps

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Since the introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar locals have instead preferred to trade in the South African rand and U.S dollar, Morgan &amp; Co believe that the Zimbabwean dollar was initiated at the wrong time and is not contributing to economic growth. Batanai Matsika, Head of Research at Morgan &amp; Co joins CNBC Africa for more.

Here’s why the Zim dollar is still not favoured amongst locals

&nbsp;By Chris Bishop



He was one of the big names in business in Africa; as
gentlemanly. as he was shrewd. He fought the odds and apartheid to stake his
place in business and inspire millions of his countrymen to do the same.



Richard Maponya – the doyen of black business in South
Africa – passed away in the early hours of January 6, after a short illness.
Maponya turned 99 on Christmas Eve near the end of a long and fruitful life
that saw him dine with the Queen, laugh with Bill Clinton and chauffer his old
friend Nelson Mandela. Mandela asked Maponya, who owned a car dealership, to
pick him up at the airport in Johannesburg after his release from prison in
1990. 



Ï picked him up at the airport and that was the most
frightening time of my life. We were chased by people on foot, helicopters,
motorbikes and cars. Everyone just wanted to touch Mandela. They could kill him
just trying to touch him,” Maponya recalled to Forbes Africa in a cover story
in March 2017.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



Mandela was a close friend of Maponya since the 1950s. The
future president, then a young lawyer&nbsp;&nbsp;
helped Maponya set up his first business against the restrictive
apartheid laws that shackled black business. 



Maponya wanted to open a clothing store in Soweto,
Johannesburg; the authorities said no. Mandela lost the fight for the clothing
store, but did manage to secure him a license to trade daily necessities. This
opened the way for Maponya to start out with a milk delivery business that was
to prove the foundation of his fortune.



More than half a century on, Mandela, then a former president
of South Africa, beamed with pride, in 2007, as he opened the first shopping
mall in Soweto. 



Maponya Mall had taken the canny businessman a good deal of
patience to put together. He acquired the land in 1979 – the first black man to
secure a 100-year lease for land in Soweto – and spent many more years building
up the mall.



“Ï fought for 27 years for that mall and was many times
denied; they actually thought I was dreaming. When Nelson Mandela cut the
ribbon to open the mall, that was the highlight of my life,” Maponya said years
later. 



It was a mile on a road less travelled by Maponya in a long
journey from the tiny township of Lenyenye in Limpopo in northern South Africa
where he was born. He moved across the province to Polokwane to train as a
teacher and then, like many young men of his generation, moved south to
Johannesburg in search of his fortune.



In those days, the gold mining city was booming, but only the
few saw the fruits. Maponya was blocked at every turn as he tried to make his
way in business; he won through making a fortune from property, horse racing,
retail, cars and liquor. 



Maponya mentored many black entrepreneurs and inspired many
millions more he had never met. One of them was Herman Mashaba, the former
mayor of Johannesburg, who made his own fortune with hair care products.



“To myself and the people I grew up with he was an
inspiration to all of us to get into business…If he had started out in business
in a normal world there is no doubt he would have been even bigger than he
was,” Mashaba told CNBC Africa.



Maponya will be mourned by the millions who were inspired to
follow him and by a business world that is richer, in more ways than one, for his
nearly a century of hard work in which retirement was never an option.



“People who retire are lazy people. You retire and do what?
Bask in the sun?&nbsp; I am not that type of
man,” he said in 2017 at the age of 96.



He could never be. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

maponya

The life and wisdom of business doyen Richard Maponya

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 6 (Reuters) &#8211; Eskom&#8217;s new chief executive took charge of the struggling state-owned utility on Monday, embarking on the mammoth task of fixing South Africa&#8217;s power deficit and restructuring a debt pile that has crippled the national economy.



Andre de Ruyter, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in November, will oversee a government plan to split Eskom into three units for generation, transmission and distribution in an attempt to make it more efficient.



Ramaphosa is trying to revive growth in Africa&#8217;s most advanced economy and attract more investments. Eskom, which generates more than 90% of the country&#8217;s power, is widely regarded as the most serious risk to an economy on the brink of recession.



Saddled with unreliable coal-fired power stations, Eskom has struggled to meet the country&#8217;s power demand since 2007, with several bouts of severe power cuts since then. Outages last year dented economic output and shook investor confidence in Ramaphosa&#8217;s administration.



The country experienced further outages at the weekend, with Eskom cutting up to 2,000 megawatts (MW) from the national grid on Saturday and Sunday due to a shortage of generating capacity.



In a previous role as CEO of Nampak de Ruyter steered the packaging firm through financial difficulties, and part of his new brief is to restructure Eskom&#8217;s 450 billion rand ($31 billion) debt pile.



De Ruyter&#8217;s predecessor at Eskom, Phakamani Hadebe, stepped down in July, citing health reasons. Sources told Reuters at the time that another reason was that he felt frustrated at being excluded from important decisions affecting the utility.



Eskom said in a statement on Monday that roughly 13,000 megawatts (MW) of its 44,000 MW nominal capacity were offline because of plant breakdowns.



It said it didn&#8217;t expect &#8220;load-shedding &#8221; &#8211; a local term for power cuts &#8211; on Monday but that the system was &#8220;constrained and vulnerable&#8221;.



($1 = 14.3205 rand) 



(Reporting by Alexander Winning; editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and John Stonestreet)

Eskom’s new CEO takes charge with power shake-up on agenda, what you need to know…

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Sad news breaking this morning. Richard Maponya – an icon of black businesspeople in South Africa and beyond, died in the early hours of this morning. Maponya was one of the trailblazers in his country who inspired generations to fight for a place in business. Maponya’s was born in the tiny township of Lenyenye in Limpopo in northern South Africa. He moved across the province to Polokwane where he trained as a teacher. Like many young men of his day he journeyed south to Johannesburg in search of work. The then apartheid laws were stacked against him but Maponya, with sheer grit and determination, worked his way up in business regardless. He started with butcheries and grocery stores and crowned it with opening up Soweto’s first shopping mall at the dawn of democracy in 1994. In a colourful life he dined with the Queen and could count friends from Bill Clinton to Nelson Mandela and Nicky Oppenhiemer. One of his many friends, former Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba joins CNBC Africa to talk about the legacy of Richard Maponya.

Richard Maponya – A beacon of hope to millions

Economist Eddie Cross* argues why the next decade will be a crucial one for Zimbabwe.



How much more can we take? I was talking to a Zimbabwean
of Asian extraction over the break and he told me that his father came here from
India in 1958. I remarked to him that we were doing pretty well then – we had
peace, a rapidly growing economy, we were part of the wider world and it seemed
that our politics was going in the right direction. Then the Federation broke
up, the white population rejected change and the first shots with live
ammunition were fired after more than 60 years of no violence. The Nationalists
launched their armed struggle for change and from 1965 onwards we were
increasingly isolated from the world around us.



What followed was 15 years of mandatory UN backed sanctions and an armed conflict that drew in all our neighbours and in which we killed each other with enthusiasm. The Rhodesians won all the battles and lost the war leading to 37 years of dominance by Robert Mugabe and his liberation war colleagues. They never really settled down and by 2000 we were again locked into a toxic mix of international isolation, stagnant or declining economic output and domestic conflict and violence.



 Read: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/zdnl-mc/2019/11/17/op-ed-this-is-how-zimbabwe-has-changed-since-i-became-president-emmerson-mnangagwa/">Op-Ed: This is how Zimbabwe has changed since I became president: Emmerson Mnangagwa</a>



International and regional intervention hardly helped but did change the course of our history at key moments – the break-up of the Federation, the intervention of the Americans in 1976, then Lancaster House and finally the Mbeki managed South African initiative that brought us 4 years of recovery and compromise from 2009 to 2013. But for the most part we mismanaged our political, economic and social situation ourselves and as a result we brought down on ourselves political instability and increasing poverty and disparity.



Read: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/zdnl-mc/2019/11/17/op-ed-two-years-on-since-mugabe-was-zimbabwes-president-whats-changed/">Op-Ed: Two years on since Mugabe was Zimbabwe’s president, what’s changed?</a> 



During the 90 years of white settler control and
government the whole country worked for the welfare and interests of a small
white community. After 1980 the whole country worked for a tiny minority of
politically connected individuals who supported the systems that kept the
Mugabe Government in power and control. All other concerns were secondary.
Whatever the system, the effect was the same – the majority suffered and
experienced marginalisation and poverty.



Then came November 2017, the first time we took action as
a people to rid ourselves of a regime that had run out of time and space. Like
the decision in 1923 when we decided to stay out of the new Union of South
Africa, this event was not in any way sponsored or engineered by outside forces
and for the first time found almost universal support among all Zimbabweans. It
was assisted by the Military who overnight became heroes of the people.
However, it did not change the centre of real power which had become the small
group of people who ran the Joint Operations Command under the leadership of
Mr. Mnangagwa and General Chiwenga.



The first post November Government was drawn from this
group and was dominated by elements linked to the Military. Then the elections
in 2018 when Zanu-PF engineered a convincing victory with three quarters of all
Council seats and two thirds of the Parliament. Mr. Mnangagwa could then claim,
for the first time, to be the legitimate leader of Government, even though his
victory was with a tiny majority. It was only at that moment that we saw a new
dispensation of sorts emerge in the form of the first really Mnangagwa
controlled Cabinet.



The President broke with the past at two crucial moments
– after the MAT in November and then after the elections. In both cases he
clearly committed himself and his new Government to fundamental changes and to
re-establishing a working relationship with the international Community after
decades of isolation and hostility. The response to these clear indications of
intent was immediate, and the international Community responded saying that if
we followed through on these undertakings, they would support our economic
recovery and reengagement efforts. It seemed at last that the world was at our
feet again.



But it was not to be. We quickly appreciated that the
President did not have the unfettered power that Mugabe had exercised over the
country for 37 years. The first Cabinet was a divided house and little was
achieved in respect to the reform agenda in the first seven months. This
changed significantly with the elections but again there was evidence of
conflict in the corridors of power where key decisions are made and executed.
Then towards the end of 2019, the President restructured his Cabinet and made a
number of key appointments.



And so we came to the end of a disastrous year in many
respects. The Transitional Stabilisation Program had required savage cuts in
Government expenditure, a controlled devaluation of unmanageable domestic debt
accumulated in the past five years and a restructuring of costs in the economy
to bring them more into line with regional realities. It has been a tough year
for everyone, except a few individuals who seem to thrive no matter what
happens to the rest of us. One young Zimbabwean, drives around Harare in a
Bugatti – perhaps the most expensive car in the world. His friends all boast
luxury cars with brand names that put them in a similar bracket. Wealth with no
visible means of support.



But we must look beyond these disparities and problems
and recognise that our pain as a Nation has borne significant fruit: our
domestic debt is now a tiny fraction of what it was and is manageable, our
international debt has only increased marginally and is now being serviced to
some extent. Our civil service was costing us 100 per cent of all our taxes a
year ago, it now consumes 35 per cent, our fiscal deficit was massive and equal
to 40 per cent of the entire budget of Government, is now positive and we ended
2019 with nearly Z$2 billion in the bank. We have liberalised our foreign
exchange market and restored the viability of our export industries which are
now expanding rapidly with the result that we now have nearly US$1 billion in
our bank accounts and Government has a small surplus in the Treasury in hard
currency.



These are not small achievements and what annoys me is
that so little recognition has been given to the Government and the President
for their stance on these issues which have been very tough on the entire
nation. I am pleased that at least the International Monetary Fund found sufficient
reason at the year end to give us a cautious thumb up for what we achieved last
year despite some serious deviations.



So where are we going in the next decade? Is it more of
the same? We just cannot handle that plus the changes now being inflicted on us
by climate change. Everyone, and I mean everyone, not just those in power, must
accept and acknowledge this – we have to start doing things differently. For me
2019 has set the stage – now we must move on and decisively. I hear that the
MDC is planning a series of large scale demonstrations in early 2020. Is that
really the answer? Will it really bring change or simply lead to more street
violence. I agree with S B Moyo when he called for the Police to escort
demonstrations through the streets of our towns and make sure they do not spill
over into looting and violence. But we all know that these events can only be
managed so far.



Rather I think we need to work together to get things
right in our country. Is that so difficult to understand and accept? But it
will only happen if we put the country first in all that we do – and not the
pursuit of power or wealth.



Eddie Cross is an economist based in Harare, and a
founding member of the MDC

Op-Ed: A new decade has arrived, will it be Zimbabwe’s?

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; MTN’s mobile money service will go live in January in South Africa, allowing customers to send, receive, save money and pay for goods using their mobile phones, the mobile operator said on Wednesday.



Last year group Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter told a telecoms conference in Cape Town that the company would relaunch mobile money services in South Africa, three years after canning the service.



Shuter, who has experience in banking, is in the middle of a strategic revamp of Africa’s biggest telecoms group to hunt for returns in everything from financial services, music and video games.



“The introduction of this mobile money service is a pivotal step in MTN’s strategy and represents MTN’s participation in the next phase of increasing convergence we are seeing between financial services and mobile technology,” MTN South Africa CEO Godfrey Motsa said in a statement.



The service, called MoMo, will run on the Ericsson Converged Wallet. During the initial phase it will be available to MTN customers and offer basic services such as sending money to any mobile phone number in the country, buying prepaid services like electricity and paying for purchases at selected till points, the firm said.



MTN will kick off the service in a country where about 11 million South Africans remain unbanked, while 50% of the adult population remains thinly served, according to MTN South Africa Chief Officer of Mobile Financial Services, Felix Kamenga.



“MoMo aims to bridge this gap with this innovative mobile money offering, providing a payments solution that encourages financial inclusion,” he added.



The announcement comes months after a subsidiary of MTN Nigeria was granted a “full super agent” licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria that would allow it to provide financial services.



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Mark Heinrich

MTN South Africa’s mobile money service expected to go live in Jan 2020

HARARE, Dec 16 (Reuters) &#8211; The wife of Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was charged with trying to kill her husband when she appeared in court on Monday.



Prosecutors say Marry Mubaiwa tried to unplug Chiwenga&#8217;s life support tubes in a South African hospital in June.



She was initially arrested on Saturday by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on charges of fraud, money laundering and breaching exchange control rules, and is accused of illegally transferring $900,000 to South Africa.



She denies all the accusations against her and her lawyer said she would seek bail at Zimbabwe&#8217;s High Court. She was refused bail for the initial charges after prosecutors argued she would flee the country or interfere with witnesses.



The charges follow media reports that Mubaiwa and Chiwenga, who returned to Zimbabwe last month after four months in a Chinese hospital where he was later treated for a blocked oesophagus, were set to divorce.



Opposition politicians took to social media to accuse Chiwenga of using his position to influence a divorce settlement. Chiwenga could not be reached for comment.



Critics of ZACC say it is conflicted because its head judge, Loice Matanda-Moyo, is married to Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo, a top ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and of Chiwenga.



The ZACC denies this and said it will prosecute all corruption cases without fear or favour.



Prosecutors also told the court that Mubaiwa was being investigated for misusing U.S. dollar allowances meant for her husband&#8217;s security details. 



(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Emma Rumney and Giles Elgood)

gettyimages-899231420-594×594

Wife of Zimbabwean vice president charged with his attempted murder

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) &#8211; Angola has recovered more than $5 billion stolen from state coffers so far this year, both at home and from abroad, Justice Minister Francisco Queiroz said on Monday, amid a two-year crackdown on corruption.



The money, including $3 billion stolen from the sovereign wealth fund, had been siphoned off by corruption and money-laundering, state news agency ANGOP quoted Queiroz as telling an international conference in Abu Dhabi.



Queiroz did not give specific details about how the money was stolen.



&#8220;We have argued insistently that these important resources should be returned unconditionally to the countries from which they were illegally withdrawn in order to be used to improve the quality of life of our populations,&#8221; Queiroz was quoted as saying, adding that some countries could do more to help.



An anti-corruption drive has accelerated in Africa&#8217;s second-biggest oil-exporting country since 2017, when Joao Lourenco became president, ending the nearly 40-year grip on power by Jose Eduardo dos Santos.



The government wants to erase the influence of the ex-first family, recover lost assets and privatise state firms.



After taking over, Lourenco fired Dos Santos’s son as head of the sovereign wealth fund and his daughter, Isabel, as chair of state oil company Sonangol.



The son, Jose Filomeno de Sousa, went on trial last week along with the head of the central bank accused of transferring $500 million in state funds to a London account.



The government said a business partner had returned over $3 billion allegedly stolen from the sovereign wealth fund.



Members of the Dos Santos family have denied wrongdoing. 



(Reporting By Noah Browning and Joice Alves; editing by Nick Macfie)

What you need to know about Angola retrieving more than $5 billion in stolen assets amid crackdown on graft

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Plagued by power cuts and with its infrastructure in desperate need of revamping, South Africa’s struggling state power utility Eskom says the country desperately needs an additional 5,000 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity.



Here are some options:



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">HARNESSING POWER FROM INDEPENDENTS</h3>



Eskom’s nominal generating capacity is around 44,000 MW. But it also procures electricity from independent power producers.



Those projects &#8211; mainly renewables like wind and solar farms &#8211; have installed capacity of around 4,000 MW of power. However, a cap on how much electricity they are allowed to sell onto the national grid means they currently have unused capacity.



Lifting the restriction would allow an additional 500 MW to immediately enter the grid from wind farms alone, according to wind industry officials. Harnessing unused capacity from solar projects could contribute around 300 MW more.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MORE INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS</h3>



Under former President Jacob Zuma, approval for new producers was delayed for years. Those projects finally got a green light in 2018. Some under construction could be fast-tracked and brought online before their agreed commercial operation dates.



The government could also accelerate a new round of planned approvals that has been held up by administrative delays. However, those projects would likely not be on-stream for more than two years.



SELF-GENERATION



Private businesses have been clamouring for regulations to be eased to allow them to generate more of their own power. They are currently required to seek a license to generate more than 1 MW of electricity. Even below that threshold they must register their facilities with the energy regulator, a cumbersome process that has discouraged investment.



President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government will consider how to get more self-generation online with excess production directed back onto the grid.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">“FLOATING GENERATORS”</h3>



Ramaphosa has said South Africa will look at the possibility of procuring more power via “floating generators”. While he did not go into detail, barge or ship-based power plants provide quickly deployable capacity.



New York City, for example, has used barge-based power stations for decades.



In Africa, Ghana signed a 10-year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/turkey-ghana-power/update-1-turkeys-power-ship-maker-karadeniz-to-supply-electricity-to-ghana-idUSL5N0OY1WC20140617deal">here</a>&nbsp;with Turkey&#8217;s Karadeniz Holding in 2014 for 450 MW of floating generating capacity for its national grid.



Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom is, meanwhile, developing floating nuclear power stations, though they will likely not be available for commercial use for several years.



Reporting by Joe Bavier and Alexander Winning; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Here are four ways South Africa can get more power generation capacity

Mastercard Indaba: Financial Services in Africa – What’s next?

Press Release



We regret and sincerely apologise that stage 4 loadshedding will move to Stage 6 loadshedding as from 18:00 today, as a result of a shortage of capacity. This follows a technical problem at Medupi Power Station impacting additional generation supply. The heavy rains has caused coal handling and operational problems at several power stations.



We remind and assure customers that loadshedding at Stage 6 is no cause for alarm as the system is being effectively controlled. Stage 6, requires 6000MW to be rotationally loadshed.



Eskom&#8217;s emergency response command centre and technical teams will be working through the night to restore units as soon as possible. Eskom is working closely large industry to assist with further load curtailment.



Loadshedding is a responsible act and highly controlled process, implemented to protect the country from a national blackout.



After 2015, Eskom and the municipalities identified the need to extend the loadshedding stages up to stage 8 and the national code (NRS048-9 Ed 2) was subsequently updated.



Even beyond these schedules, the System Operator will reduce demand in a manner that is controlled.



Stage 6 loadshedding schedules are available on the Eskom website.



Eskom will keep you updated.



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Southern Africa

Global oil prices drop in the midst of U.S-Iran tensions

This African country is being sued by Russia’s VTB over loan in $2 billion debt scandal

South Africa’s net foreign reserves rise to $44.897 billion in December

Bitcoin prices expected to remain stable despite ongoing Middle East tensions

Zimbabwe’s largest bank CBZ issues bonds under scheme to raise funds for maize, soy farming

Angola eases open investment taps

Here’s why the Zim dollar is still not favoured amongst locals

The life and wisdom of business doyen Richard Maponya

Eskom’s new CEO takes charge with power shake-up on agenda, what you need to know…

Richard Maponya – A beacon of hope to millions

Op-Ed: A new decade has arrived, will it be Zimbabwe’s?

MTN South Africa’s mobile money service expected to go live in Jan 2020

Wife of Zimbabwean vice president charged with his attempted murder

What you need to know about Angola retrieving more than $5 billion in stolen assets amid crackdown on graft

Here are four ways South Africa can get more power generation capacity

Mastercard Indaba: Financial Services in Africa – What’s next?

#LoadShedding: South Africa’s Eskom moves power cuts to Stage 6

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Advertise With Us

Southern Africa

Global oil prices drop in the midst of U.S-Iran tensions

This African country is being sued by Russia’s VTB over loan in $2 billion debt scandal

South Africa’s net foreign reserves rise to $44.897 billion in December

Bitcoin prices expected to remain stable despite ongoing Middle East tensions

Zimbabwe’s largest bank CBZ issues bonds under scheme to raise funds for maize, soy farming

Angola eases open investment taps

Here’s why the Zim dollar is still not favoured amongst locals

The life and wisdom of business doyen Richard Maponya

Eskom’s new CEO takes charge with power shake-up on agenda, what you need to know…

Richard Maponya – A beacon of hope to millions

Op-Ed: A new decade has arrived, will it be Zimbabwe’s?

MTN South Africa’s mobile money service expected to go live in Jan 2020

Wife of Zimbabwean vice president charged with his attempted murder

What you need to know about Angola retrieving more than $5 billion in stolen assets amid crackdown on graft

Here are four ways South Africa can get more power generation capacity

Mastercard Indaba: Financial Services in Africa – What’s next?

#LoadShedding: South Africa’s Eskom moves power cuts to Stage 6

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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