Research Channel | Advanced Search - Research Channel Africa

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA) and UK-based Cranfield University Centre for Water, Environment and Development (CWED) are partnering to establish a cross-stakeholder consortium to achieve water security in Johannesburg. The Johannesburg Community of Practice for Water Security (CoP4H2O), which was announced during a UJ/Cranfield-hosted webinar on Thursday, aims to address the critical water issues impacting Johannesburg, and across South Africa.

While the cost of doing business is increasing, as companies grapple with ad hoc systems, legacy technology, skills gaps and poor infrastructure, global e-commerce companies with a “wealth of know-how” are rapidly intensifying competition. Hence, the influx of best-in-class global players into the South African market is reshaping industry dynamics, posing a challenge for local companies across the board, according to a report published by global professional services company Accenture.

The deadline for South Africa’s recently launched third battery energy storage bidding round, or bid window three (BW3), has been extended by three months to October 31, following a recent deadline extension for the concurrent second battery bidding round from April 30 to June 6. Independent Power Producer Office head Bernard Magoro indicated during a Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP) briefing that the BW3 extension had been granted on May 8, following requests from prospective bidders and amid ongoing congestion in securing grid-access cost estimate letters (CELs) from Eskom.

Hope fades for 44 trapped in collapsed South Africa building

Published: 09 May 24

Relatives of 44 construction workers trapped under a collapsed building in the South African city of George faced a fourth day of anguished waiting on Thursday as heavy machinery worked at the site in a race against time to find any survivors. Of 81 people who were on site when the five-storey private residential building collapsed on Monday, eight have been confirmed dead and 29 alive, 16 of them in a critical condition, according to the latest figures from George municipality. "A number of families... (are) waiting, not knowing what has happened with their children, with their husbands, their uncles," Thulas Nxesi, South Africa's employment and labour minister, told reporters on site. Nxesi said the government would conduct its own investigation. The cause of the collapse is yet to be established. "We still hope and pray that we can get people out alive," Anton Bredell, a Western Cape provincial minister, said. The identities of the missing have not been made public, but a list of names was circulating among groups of relatives who have congregated at the site since Monday, desperate for news of their loved ones, state broadcaster SABC reported.

Latest content...