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WEIGHTY DECISIONS: The National Energy Regulator of South Africa is facing a heavy workload as it weighs decisions for the electricity sector that will have far-reaching implications for how the transition towards a competitive market unfolds. The draft Electricity Pricing Policy looks poised to add more responsibilities, too. Given the importance of its work, it is surely time for its capacity to be bolstered and elevated. Perhaps the Government-Business Partnership should give this serious consideration as part of Phase 3.
WEIGHTY DECISIONS
4th September 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
CLEARING A PATH: Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala proclaimed that “South Africa is back” in an interview with News24, based largely on the progress being achieved under Operation Vulindlela (IsiZulu for ‘clearing a path’ or ‘open the way’). President Cyril Ramaphosa said recently that he was in a hurry for the reforms being pursued under the scheme to be implemented, so as to stimulate higher growth and employment. That doesn’t mean those being termed “reform resisters” won’t attempt another crunching tackle, however.
CLEARING A PATH
28th August 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
PRICING PRESSURE: With the era of loadshedding now thankfully becoming only a bad memory, the affordability crisis is really biting. The extreme hikes of the past 20 years have already led to some serious demand destruction across industry, with only a few companies still benefiting from special pricing deals. The question now is whether the proposed new electricity pricing policy, which is out for comment, can truly offer any broad-based respite.
PRICING PRESSURE
21st August 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
COMPETITIVE PRESSURE: President Cyril Ramaphosa continues to drive for electricity competition as a way of addressing the structural problems that led to years of supply disruptions. His latest intervention in this regard was the endorsement of the Phase I report of the Eskom Restructuring Task Team. The report recommends establishing an independent Transmission System Operator (TSO) outside of Eskom, which is viewed as key to levelling the playing field. Much attention now will be on the timing of the grid-asset transfer to the TSO.
COMPETITIVE PRESSURE:
14th August 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
MISPLACED ANGER: South Africa’s border management and enforcement have been abysmal. But the recent rhetoric, marches, episodes of violent intimidation, and scenes of vulnerable foreign nationals fleeing the country have rightly damaged South Africa’s image abroad, especially across the rest of Africa. This scapegoating is also largely misplaced, with illegal immigrants taking the blame for a series of societal failures, from poor governance to corruption, over which they have little to no influence.
MISPLACED ANGER
7th August 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
UNSETTLING: Recent developments at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which invests funds on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund, are troubling, to say the least. South Africa has witnessed, and continues to feel, the damage caused by governance failures at other public entities. With more than R3-trillion under management, it is crucial that the PIC’s governance, leadership and unlisted-investment pillars are stabilised without delay.
UNSETTLING
31st July 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
BIG MISMATCH: South Africa’s industrial policy continues to push for mineral beneficiation. But the surge in electricity tariffs over the past two decades has made implementation near impossible. The move to extend discounted tariffs to certain sectors is offering some narrow-based relief. It is far from clear, though, how these discounts can be paid for and sustained, especially given an electricity policy that has been adjusted to force in some expensive new generation solutions and a pricing policy that is piling on the fixed charges.
BIG MISMATCH
24th July 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
PROCUREMENT & LOCALISATION: South Africa has, for years, had an official policy of using public procurement to bolster local industry. Implementing that policy has not been straightforward, either commercially or legally, however. Given ongoing deindustrialisation, calls for a more strategic approach to localisation are intensifying. Regulations accompanying the Public Procurement Act, which have been out for comment in recent months, are meant to offer something of a solution, but it is far from certain that they will.
PROCUREMENT & LOCALISATION
17th July 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
METRO BACKSLIDING: While there were some positives in the Auditor-General’s latest report on municipalities, the ongoing decline in the audit performance of the country’s metros remains a cause for concern. None of the metros, where 24.9-million people reside, achieved a clean audit. Metros that received an unqualified audit opinion and published credible financial statements were listed as the City of Cape Town, eThekwini, and the consolidated group for the City of Johannesburg. Separate financial statements for the City of Johannesburg, without its municipal entities, regressed to a qualified audit opinion.
METRO BACKSLIDING
10th July 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
HEAT STILL ON
HEAT STILL ON
3rd July 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
WEATHER WARNING: In early June, the World Meteorological Organisation confirmed that there were indications of a potentially strong El Niño event developing. Fuelled by unusually warm ocean waters in the tropical Pacific, these conditions are set to influence global temperature and rainfall patterns, increasing the risk of extreme weather over the coming months. For South Africa, that portends a possible drought, with implications for food prices and security.
WEATHER WARNING
26th June 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
TARIFF TUSSLE: After the US Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs to be invalid, a 10% baseline tariff was then introduced. This tariff is due to expire in July. Now the administration is looking to implement tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on 60 countries based on an investigation into unfair labour practices. South Africa, which is facing a 12.5% tariff, insists it is compliant with all domestic and international forced-labour obligations and says it stands ready to engage the US on the matter.
TARIFF TUSSLE
19th June 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
NO LONGER THEORETICAL: International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol has used the “vase is broken” analogy to describe the new global energy context following shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. “It has been always a question in the energy world . . . but it was a theoretical issue. Now it is real,” Birol said. This new reality meant that countries would pursue energy security policies premised on the potential of the waterway being closed yet again.
NO LONGER THEORETICAL
12th June 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
IN A VICE GRIP: Johannesburg residents and businesses are exposed daily to the spillover effects of municipal mismanagement. Driving is hazardous not only because of the proliferation of potholes, but the lack of road markings, as well as working streetlights and traffic lights. Eskom’s warning that it could interrupt power owing to the City of Johannesburg’s payment delinquency is unlikely to materialise. Nevertheless, the threat itself reinforced just how poorly South Africa’s economic hub is being governed.
IN A VICE GRIP:
5th June 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
EXPLOSIVE: South Africa’s latest official unemployment figure is extremely disheartening, having risen to 32.7% in the first quarter and leaving more than eight-million people out of work. Even more worrying are official figures showing that those aged 15 to 24 face the highest unemployment rate of 60.9%, followed by those aged 25 to 34 at 40.6%. Youth joblessness at such levels is a ticking bomb, even before the full disruption to labour markets that is now expected as firms integrate AI into work practices.
EXPLOSIVE:
29th May 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
POLITICAL STORM: Although President Cyril Ramaphosa has decided to legally review the independent panel’s report stating there was a prima facie case for him to answer before an impeachment committee in relation to the theft of foreign currency from his Phala Phala farm, the political fallout continues. Most South Africans don’t seem to have any immediate appetite for a change at the top, but the coming months will be ugly and could shift the mood and test the President’s own resilience.
POLITICAL STORM
22nd May 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
BACK ON TRACK: The Draft National Rail Masterplan sets out an ambitious vision for reviving the role of the railways in South Africa’s transport economy by 2050. The document is out for public comment until July 22, with events being held in all nine provinces in May and June to canvass feedback. While much is said about rail becoming the backbone, the real issue at stake is how best to lower the cost of logistics using all transport modes, including rail.
BACK ON TRACK:
15th May 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
FRAYED BLUE LINE: Revelations at the Madlanga Commission, which is probing criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system, may have brought to the fore what many have suspected for some time. Nevertheless, the level of criminal infiltration is beyond shocking. The parallel institution of charges against National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola point to potential malfeasance and/or criminal infiltration at the highest levels. Perhaps it’s time for all senior positions to be readvertised?
FRAYED BLUE LINE:
8th May 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
BOTTLENECKS: The disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has highlighted, yet again, how reliant the global economy is on that narrow stretch of waterway for critical fuels and other key commodities such as fertilisers. It’s opening is key. Yet it is also clear that this alone is insufficient for a normalisation of trade, given the damage to energy infrastructure as a result of the war.
BOTTLENECKS:
1st May 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
SHEDDING LIGHT: The negotiations between Eskom and the ferrochrome industry on a tariff that could prevent further smelter closures and job cuts were clearly not easy. Given that the 62c/kWh solution will need to be funded and there have traditionally been only two sources of such funding – consumers or taxpayers – it is only fair that the terms and conditions, together with the funding plan, are placed before the public. In this case, it’s up to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa to ensure some light is shed.
SHEDDING LIGHT:
24th April 2026 By: Darlene Creamer
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