Category: In The News

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa has been approached to play a “mediation role” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The President had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday afternoon.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, at least 2.3 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their country since a violent invasion by Russia commenced two weeks ago, with hundreds of civilians and military officials left dead by the military offensive.

“I outlined our position on the conflict that has unfolded, as well as our belief that the conflict should be resolved through mediation and negotiation between the parties and – if need be – with the help of agencies that can help bring a solution to the conflict.

“President Putin appreciated our balanced approach. We believe this position enables both parties to subject the conflict to mediation and negotiation. Based on our relations with the Russian Federation and as member of BRICS, South Africa has been approached to play a mediation role,” President Ramaphosa said.

In a statement, the Russian government said the Presidents will keep communication lines open between the two countries.

“At the request of [President] Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of Russia spoke about the reasons for and goals of the special military operation to protect Donbass.

“He also informed the South African leader about the situation regarding talks with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. The President of South Africa supported the ongoing political and diplomatic efforts,” the statement said. 

Thanking His Excellency President Vladimir Putin for taking my call today, so I could gain an understanding of the situation that was unfolding between Russia and Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/jzuWXyIjfL

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 10, 2022

Photo: Kremlin

Eskom Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer says Stage 4 load shedding will give the power utility enough space to build up fast-depleting emergency reserves and avoid the risk of implementing Stage 6 load shedding.

Stage 4 load shedding was implemented on Wednesday morning following a barrage of breakdowns, shutdowns and trips at power stations across the country. This includes the loss of about seven units in one night, which left the power system under severe pressure.

“We again do apologise for the difficult situation we are placing the people of South Africa in and the negative impact to the economy. However…in order to protect and ensure the integrity of the electrical system, proactive implementation of load shedding is required,” Oberholzer said.

Compounding Eskom’s challenges are the 16 generating units, which Oberholzer said are currently “running at risk” – putting a further 5800MW of power at low to high risk.

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Photo: Unsplash

According to an article published by The Conversation, it’s commonly held that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s objective for invading Ukraine is to install a puppet regime that is pliable to Moscow’s interests. If so, this would be consistent with the approach Russia has taken with its forays into Africa in recent years.

Drawing from its Syria playbook, Russia has propped up proxies in Libya, Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan. Moscow also has its sights on another half dozen African leaders facing varying degrees of vulnerability.

In the process, African citizen and sovereign interests have given way to Russian priorities.

Click here to read more.

Photo: Flickr / GCIS

South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2021, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) announced on Tuesday.

“The fourth quarter was upbeat, with personal services, trade, manufacturing and agriculture the key drivers of growth. An increase in demand for goods and services drove up the expenditure side of the economy, with exports and household expenditure the most significant contributors to growth,” said Stats SA.

The growth seen in the fourth quarter follows an upwardly revised 1.7% contraction (from 1.5%) in the third quarter of 2021.

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries led the growth statistics in that quarter by posting an increase of some 12.2% with the sector’s 2021 annual growth standing at about 8.3%.

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Photo: Unsplash

Due to further failures of generation units, power utility Eskom has escalated load shedding from Stage 2 to Stage 4 on Thursday.

The power utility had implemented Stage 2 load shedding on Monday after seven units lost generating capacity over the weekend.

Currently, unplanned breakdowns at power stations amount to some 15 439 MW of lost power with at least 5505MW of planned outages underway.

In a statement, Eskom said at least four units ran into challenges on Tuesday evening – necessitating the need to escalate the severity of load shedding.

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#POWERALERT1

Due to further failures of generation units, Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 09:00 today until 05:00 on Friday in order to manage the emergency reserves pic.twitter.com/OMmqjLKIUX

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 9, 2022

In recent weeks the world has witnessed the most tense moments in international relations since the end of the Cold War. This was evident in the deliberations and voting by members of the United Nations on resolutions calling on Russia to halt its invasion and withdraw its forces from Ukraine.

The events have also been a stress test for military and political alliances.

Africa yielded significant influence on the voting outcome with 54 countries, (27,97 % of all votes).

Click here to read more in The Conversation.

Breakdowns and shut downs at Eskom’s power stations has led to the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding.

According to the power utility, at least seven units were affected – putting the power grid under severe pressure.

“Medupi Unit 3 broke down, necessitating load shedding to be [implemented]…continuously until 5am on Saturday. This adds to the multiple generating unit failures that occurred over the past 24 hours and has severely reduced available generating capacity.

#PowerAlert1

Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented continuously until 05:00 on Saturday@SABCNews @eNCA @Newzroom405 @ewnreporter @News24 pic.twitter.com/SvvjvmdysY

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 8, 2022

Pope Francis during the Angelus appeals against the Russian attack that “sows death, destruction and misery”. He thanks journalists who risk their lives to allow us “to assess the cruelty” of what is happening in Ukrainian cities.

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