News

The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, recently announced changes to the Board of Directors of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). 

This follows the departure and resignation of some directors. 

The Minister has appointed an interim board with effect from Friday, 21 July 2023, comprising experts in information and communications technology (ICT), legal, audit, finance, human capital and governance. 

“This board composition combines institutional experience and continuity to bring about strategic focus of government to reposition as SITA pivotal instrument to the digitisation of the state,” said Gungubele. 

The board composition now includes:

•    Khathu Sibanda, a seasoned IT professional with over 20 years of experience directing successful technology and business strategy implementation. She holds a Master’s degree in Technology Management and has worked for both the private and public sectors with vast experience in IT. 

•    Dr Lucienne Abraham has vast experience in the digital knowledge economy and ICT policy and regulation. She holds a PhD in Knowledge Economies and has served on different boards, Public Service Commission and various Committees. She brings a wealth of academic knowledge and applied experience and has previously served on the SITA board.

•    Luvuyo Keyise, a multi-skilled and experienced IT executive with a Master’s degree in Computer Science. He has vast experience in information technology and telecommunication. His experience cut across both the public and private sectors. He has previously served as an Administrator for SITA.

•    Sherylee Moonsamy (CA), an experienced Chief Financial Officer with a demonstrated history of working in government administration industry. She holds an Honours degree in Accounting and Auditing and an MBA. Sherylee served on the previous board.

•    Nolitha Pietersen, a seasoned Chartered Accountant (CA) and has worked for different organisations both public and private. She holds an Honours degree in Accounting and Auditing and an MBA. She serves on various boards and committees including the previous SITA board.

•    Kiruben Pillay, a management and engineering professional with broad-based experience in mission-critical ICT environments. He possesses abilities in strategy formulation and implementation, general management, technology and product management, and operations management. He is a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa and a Senior Member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers.

•    Lerato Petlele, a seasoned Human Capital practitioner with extensive technical expertise and practical experience in recruitment administration, labour relations, organisational development, and talent management. She is associated with the South African Board for People Practices as a Master HR Professional and the Institute of People Management as an Executive Professional. She is registered with the Institute of Board of Directors in South Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Commerce and a Master’s diploma in Human Resource Management. 

•    Mandla Martin Mnisi, a practising attorney and a Director at Mncedisi Ndlovu & Sedumedi (MNS Attorneys). He is experienced in providing legal advisory services to corporate clients, public sector clients, and state-owned entities. He also serves as Non-Executive Director at Denel where he was part of the board that developed a governance turnaround plan. Mr Mnisi has a proven track record of carrying out commercial transactions, conducting due diligence investigations, and restructuring processes.  

As the Act requires, the Minister has also appointed the following representatives from the Department of Public Service and Administration, as well as the National Treasury. 

These include Laura Seme, who was also on the previous board, and Renisha Naidoo. 

Gungubele welcomed the interim board and wished them well in re-asserting SITA as the leading expert on ICT matters in government and in changing the realities of service delivery for the nation.  – SAnews.gov.za
 

North West acting Premier, Nono Maloyi, said he was saddened by the passing of two former SABC journalists serving his community.  

According to Maloyi’s Office, seasoned radio journalist, Bobby Serame, 53, passed away after an illness on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, a 33-year-old videographer, Moleboheng Khaeane, lost her life due to an accident on the same day. 

“Bobby Serame worked for the SABC as a radio journalist for over two decades before joining Mahikeng FM last year.”

According to the acting Premier, Khaeane was also one of the few female video journalists in the province.

“She worked for the SABC News - North West region for three years before joining SABC News Free State region.”

Maloyi has described both Serame and Khaeane as critical members of the media who informed the people of the North West about several government programmes and initiatives to address various socio-economic challenges confronting the province.

“Members of the media are critical government stakeholders and without them, we cannot reach and share information regarding government services to our people. 

“Both Serame and Khaeane contributed immensely to empowering our people with information that can better their lives. May their souls find eternal rest. My condolences to their families, friends and colleagues,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, the National Press Club (NPC) said it was mourning the passing of four journalists, under different circumstances.

This includes Khaeane, Serame, veteran KwaZulu-Natal photographer, Bongani Mbatha and respected entertainment journalist, Welcome Skhosana.

“Every democracy relies on the media – as the fourth estate – to ensure its citizenry is informed of developments that affect their lives and when we lose colleagues like we did this week, it hurts our democracy like it did their families and friends,” said National Press Club Chairperson, Antoinette Slabbert.

Independent Newspapers’ Mbatha was shot and killed at his house, outside Durban on Tuesday. Entertainment writer and former Daily Sun and City Press journalist, Welcome Skhosana, passed away on Wednesday, 19 July 2023. 

“The National Press Club dips its flag in honouring these media workers and agents for democracy and the plurality of voices in the media landscape of our country. 

“The club sends its heartfelt condolences to their families, colleagues and friends during this hour of pain and need.” – SAnews.gov.za
 

The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, has undertaken an official visit to Chile from 22 to 25 July 2023. 

According to the department, the Deputy Minister will co-chair the Eighth Meeting of the Joint Consultative Mechanism (JCM) between South Africa and Chile.

“South Africa and Chile enjoy cordial diplomatic relations that were formally normalised in October 1991. 

“Bilateral relations between the two countries are underpinned by the values of respect for democracy, human rights and sustainable development,” the department said in a statement.

At the global level, the department said the two countries agree on respect for the rule of international law, multilateralism and South-South cooperation in pursuit of the development agenda of the South.

“Bilateral and multilateral cooperation between South Africa and Chile is conducted within the framework of the JCM, which is co-chaired at the Deputy Ministerial level and meets every second year,” the department explained. 

The areas of cooperation between the two countries include astronomy, fisheries and aquaculture; mining; education, science, and innovation; social development; sport, arts and culture; trade and investment and parliamentary relations.

The JCM also provides a platform to exchange notes and facilitate cooperation on regional and multilateral issues.

The Deputy Minister will also have a business networking session with South African and Chilean companies.

On Tuesday, 25 July 2023, Deputy Minister Botes will take part in the launch of the exhibition, the 10th Year Remembrance of Nelson Mandela under the ‘The Legacy Lives on through You’ theme. 

The exhibition will take place at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago. –– SAnews.gov.za
 

To help South Africa move closer to the goal of universal access to electricity, Eskom Distribution last week launched one of its first microgrid technology at Swartkopdam, about 150km from Upington, in the Northern Cape. 

Microgrids, according to Eskom, provide an effective, reliable, and easily deployable solution for electrifying geographically challenging areas that are either difficult to access or require extensive capital expenditure. 

“The microgrid technology at Swartkopdam will provide electricity to 39 households who did not have access to electricity before this project. 

“The electricity networks around the area are constrained and practically impossible to extend and connect the area,” the power utility explained. 

Eskom said the installation of the microgrid in the areas follows the successful installations of two pilot microgrid projects at Lynedoch in the Western Cape and Ficksburg in Free State.

“Swartkopdam was identified by Eskom Distribution as one of the high priority needs of the community and due to its remoteness, which also has critical facilities embedded in the grid.”

Meanwhile, the state-owned entity said the microgrid with battery energy storage capability developed by Eskom Research, Testing, and Development (RT&D) was considered the most suitable solution. 

“A feasible conventional solution was to connect Swartkopdam by building a 200km 132kV line from Gordonia substation and establishing Noenieput substation at Noenieput, which was estimated to cost R250 million.”

However, according to the statement, this option was considered extremely expensive and was, therefore, not pursued.

“The deployment of the microgrids at Swartkopdam serves as a proof of concept in installing microgrids in remote areas which are difficult to reach or expensive to electrify through the conventional means of electrification.

“Eskom plans to roll out about 100 microgrids across the country by the end of March 2024 as part of Eskom’s Distribution business strategy,” said Distribution Group Executive, Monde Bala.

Apart from the microgrids being cheaper, they also contribute to reducing carbon emissions because they use renewable energy sources.

“We will continue to close the gap of energy poverty by giving everyone a life-changing experience of having electricity,” added Bala.

Meanwhile, through innovation and collaborative partnerships, Eskom Board Chairman, Mpho Makwana, said the entity can provide clean and reliable electricity to the people of Swartkopdam.

“This project serves as reassurance of Eskom’s commitment to assisting the South African government in achieving its objective of ensuring that every South African has access to electricity,” he said. 

In addition to the installation of the microgrid and as part of ploughing back to the Swartkopdam community, Eskom is donating two mobile containers and recreational equipment to the Swartkopdam Primary School. 

This is central to Eskom’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, which is designed around touching the lives of South Africans. 

“The donation is envisaged to provide a good learning environment for learners and the neighbouring communities.” – SAnews.gov.za
 

Electricity Minister, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says there is a need for Eskom to continuously ensure it improves the reliability of generation units as government works around the clock to end load shedding. 

“I think it's particularly unhelpful when Eskom has to go out from time to time with the announcement of the intensity of load shedding. 

“I think there was one day where we shifted the intensity of load shedding about three times in a space of about six hours. I think that undermines the credibility of our efforts, but also the ability of industries and households to be able to plan because they would have expected lower stages of load shedding,” he acknowledged on Sunday.

Ramokgopa made these remarks during a media briefing where he outlined progress made regarding the implementation of the Energy Action Plan (EAP). 

The Minister told the media that as extra megawatts are added to the grid, some of these problematic units will be taken out for service to ensure they are more reliable. 

“This will give us an opportunity that when we make a promise of a Stage ‘X’ you won't find that much later we have to make amendments to that announcement, which undermine the statements Eskom releases from time to time.”

Tripping units

Meanwhile, he said the additional area of focus remains the work on the Unplanned Capability Loss Factor (UCLF) on units that keep tripping.

UCLF is defined as the ratio between the unavailable energy of the units that are out on unplanned outages over a period compared to the total net installed capacity of all units over the same period.

“It's an area that requires our attention,” he said. 

He noted that Eskom had planned to keep the UCLF at less than 15 000 megawatts (MW).

“But you can see that as part of our optimistic scenario when we did the winter outlook that we’re not keeping to that. 

“We do admit that it's an area that requires attention because of course, it takes on the available capacity and therefore the correction that you introduced as a result of the elevated UCLF, which increases the intensity of load shedding.”

In addition, he said the team was working around the clock to ensure that units do not trip. 

“I did make the point that when the unit trips, it means that they are out there not providing us megawatts, which intensifies load shedding.”

Ramokgopa said additional interventions are needed to ensure the state-owned entity can turn that around. 

“The levels of load shedding are not going down to where we want it to be. Even with this elevated the peak demand in my view when I was sharing with the team is that we should not be in way upwards of Stage 3 but it’s something that requires our collective attention. 

“I do promise that we're going to address this with the urgency that the state is required.”

Winter demand

While there have been challenges, Ramokgopa said they have been seeing some improvement since May this year on the generation side, since adding 1 600MW into the grid. 

“And of course, on the human side, the expectation has always been that when you enter the latter part of June and into July, we're going to see the demand that is spiking. And of course, that is our own projections, you can see that the demand in July has been greater than any other period during this winter.”

He added that Gauteng accounts for more demands for electricity like any other province and that weather conditions also play a role. 

“If you look at national peak demand, Gauteng on average accounts for just shy of 30%, so Gauteng does matter.”

He announced that Eskom was working closely with the Gauteng provincial government and municipalities to be able to coordinate and orchestrate interventions to meet demand. 

In addition, he said the entity also needs to ramp up planned maintenance. 

Koeberg

The Minister told journalists that the delay in refurbishing Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant is receiving attention.

The plant is expected to be decommissioned in July 2024, however, its licence has been extended to help relieve rolling power outages.

“And I'm just saying something that is beyond worrying and exceptionally upsetting. That brings other questions, if you can’t manage why should you have the confidence that you can do other more complex things?”

Meanwhile, he said Eskom is working on an expansion of the grid, addressing issues of regulatory approvals, regional interconnectors and financing all efforts that will help end load shedding. – SAnews.gov.za 
 

Eskom Senior Shift Supervisor from the Matla Power Station and a heavy fuel oil (HFO) tanker driver were arrested for fraud and theft of the HFO.

According to Eskom, the arrests were effected on Wednesday, 19 July 2023, after information was received that tanker drivers were involved in the theft of fuel oil at Matla Power Station. 

“The drivers would offload the fuel oil at unknown locations before arriving at the power station. The tankers would then enter the power station empty. Weighbridge slips would be fraudulently registered and printed as if the ordered oil/fuel product was offloaded. Delivery notes are then signed off,” the power utility said.

Eskom said it pounced on the accused after a thorough internal investigation that started in December 2022 was conducted, supported by the Bidvest Protea Coin Investigation team. 

The team is contracted to Eskom to investigate coal, diesel and fuel oil theft cases, evidence obtained led to the arrest of an Eskom Senior Shift Supervisor from the Matla Power Station and an HFO tanker driver. 

“The arrest was made by the South African Police Service (SAPS),” Eskom said, adding that the accused were charged and brought before the Kriel Magistrate’s Court on 20 July 2023. 

“Theft is classified as an act of dishonesty that violates the conduct expected from Eskom’s employees. All employees are at all times expected to behave honestly and in the interest of their employer as part of their contract.”

Eskom has described the theft of fuel oil as a highly organised criminal activity, and the syndicates involved are being enriched through the proceeds derived from the illicit trade of the stolen products. 

“Eskom continues to lose billions of rand due to the misappropriation and adulteration of these critical commodities, which directly affects production.”

Meanwhile, the entity said it will provide the required support to the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to ensure that the suspects are successfully prosecuted and that a stiff sanction is meted out, as a favourable outcome will serve to deter other would-be offenders.

Eskom has also urged the public to report information regarding the theft of coal, fuel oil, and diesel to the Eskom Crime Line: 0800 11 27 22. – SAnews.gov.za
 

A former Limpopo Police Captain was convicted and sentenced in the Giyani Regional Court for murder and attempted murder.

Dennis Paradise Nghunyulu, 59, who was attached to the Modjadjiskloof Police Station, was convicted of the murder of 23-year-old Osi Mkhabela and the attempted murder of the deceased’s older brother.

This follows an incident that took place at the accused's tavern at Makosha village in Giyani in 2019.

“The court heard the accused was about to close his tavern in the early hours at about 01:00 when a fight ensued between him and a customer. In the process, the accused took his wife's licensed firearm and shot the customer and his brother,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) statement read. 

“Police were notified. The first victim, Osi Mkhabela was certified dead on the scene by the paramedics, while his brother survived and was transported to the local hospital for medical treatment.”

The incident, according to SAPS, caused the community to go on a rampage and the following day they barricaded roads while others went to the accused's tavern and torched it along with his vehicles.

The accused later handed himself to the police.

He appeared before the local Magistrate's Court on 2 June 2019 where he was granted bail.

Last month, the accused was found guilty of murder and attempted murder. 

The court subsequently sentenced Nghunyulu on Friday, 21 July 2023, to 10 years imprisonment for murder and three years imprisonment for attempted murder.

“The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. The case has been handled by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).”

The Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo, Lieutenant, General Thembi Hadebe has welcomed the sentences and hopes it sends a strong message that no one is above the law. – SAnews.gov.za